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Virginia vs. Southern Miss
Sept. 24, 2011
Virginia Head Coach Mike London Quotes

On what went wrong with defense during the fake punt:
“It was trying to be aggressive on one particular side. You know, trying to cave that side to give them the opportunity to catch it.

“I think the game just boiled down to possessions. When you have three turnovers, that fourth down play resulted in another possession for them. It makes it difficult because that’s an offense that’s been pretty good because of the guy that’s running it. It was unfortunate, and we just got to coach it up better and do better, still be aggressive, but at the same time be smart about how we do things.”

On decision to play Watford:
“Without having the conclusions or the confirmation medically about Michael, I think, got hit in his midsection area and went in at halftime, came back out, thought he could go, and obviously on the last pick there showed that he couldn’t. That’s more of the reason why David went in and started the game that way.”

On QB position:
“The quarterback is Michael Rocco. I’ll find out what’s wrong with him physically, and then after that, we’ll talk about if he can perform. I’m worried about the young man’s health right now. If he can’t go, then obviously that question is ‘who’s going to be the quarterback for this upcoming game?’ Right now, there’s no controversy. I’m more worried about the young man right now.”

On 2-point conversion play:
“That was an athletic play (by Watford) – obviously, the drama with all of that, what happened to escape the rush that’s coming at him. It showed some athleticism and some wear-with-all. Kris Burd ran, got across the goal line because that’s all he needed. David made the throw on the run. That was a good play and we need more plays like that from everyone on the team.”

On Southern Miss’s last few plays:
“I haven’t look at it yet, but you ask what happened, and obviously it was a fake double screen: look one way, quarterback was very crafty and looked the other way and then start backing up. The defensive line started to pursue him and then he just, with the touch of a good quarterback, kind of threw it out to Lampley. We need to have a guy that sets the edge so the pursuing defense can get the guy. The defensive line needs to retrace their steps and turn back toward the line of scrimmage because of that. They executed the play perfectly. We got sucked in and drawn in, and then there was the run after the catch. Guys were falling trying to tackle him and he’s elusive. He’s done that in all the films we’ve seen. Obviously that was a tough one because if we stop him right there, we’ve got a great chance to do some thing.”

On post-game message to team:
“They always stay at the middle of the field and say a prayer before they leave with George Morris, our football chaplain. As we all got there and all came out of the locker room and gathered around, we just talked about last week: close but not close enough. This week, close but not close enough. In order to change the perception of this program and this team in games like that, then we need to come out and win games like that. It’s one of those things that the taste of losing doesn’t taste very well when you’re at home. You’ve got to do better. You’ve got to make those plays. You’ve got to get the coverages. You’ve got to stay onsides. It’s different things like that. We just wanted to reemphasize that preparation for this week’s upcoming opponent has to start in a film room, the practice field and everything that they do to rededicate themselves. These are close games, but you can be on the other side of a close game by just executing. So that’s basically what we talked about, and that’s what we’re going to work on this week.”

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