Southern Miss Interim Head Coach Tim Billings
On the decision to end the game with 41 seconds left...
"That was a very intense football game on both sides. All they had to do was snap the balland kneel down on it. I just don't think they wanted anything else on the field and we didn'teither. We had our opportunity and we didn't take advantage of it so with all the tempersflaring -- both sides played so hard and physical that was probably a good decision."
Overall thoughts on the game...
"Defensively, we started a little bit slow. We had some opportunities and couldn't takeadvantage of them. Their quarterback is really good. He's very elusive, very quick and ittook us a while to feel him out. They scored 10 points early and after that our kids,defensively, they played and didn't give up and keep playing. I was really proud of them.Offensively, we struggled all night. We had that one drive and I was really proud of that. Wejust ran right at them. The offensive line just physically knocked them off the ball. KevinPerkins ran over them. Frank Gore made them miss and ran hard. I was really proud of that
drive and it's a real shame we couldn't muster up anything the last two drives to give us anopportunity to either tie the game or go ahead."
On the defensive eort...
"Starting with Rice and then last week, I saw some of the 'Nasty Bunch' defense back. I sawthat attitude, that confidence, that physicality. I really saw it tonight. That's the old 'NastyBunch' that everyone is used to at Southern Miss and that all the fans have been proud. I'mjust really proud of them today."
On the offensive efort...
"We were just real inconsistent as far as throwing the football. That's kind of what we'vedone and it's a crazy thing again -- Jack [Abraham] practiced as the starting quarterbackuntil Thursday and then all of a sudden we had to revamp things on Thursday afternoon.That affected the gameplan a lot, but still no excuse. We've got to score some points."
On oensive line...
"We're starting to really run the football. I'm really proud of our offensive line. Those guysare really playing hard and everybody has really settled into where they're at now. We'vegot these next four games. We've got to keep running the ball the way we're running it. Wejust have to get our pass game more effective. We've got some skill guys out there. We just have to find a way to get them the football."
On play of linebackers...
"Santrell [Latham] went out and Portlock came in and made some great plays. He reallyplayed hard. I was so impressed with him. Hayes Maples, when you say Hayes Maples, you know it's heart. All you have to do is say his name and you know you have a tough hard-nose football player. Santrell is the same way. Portlock came in and did a great job. Again, early we kind of struggled a little bit, but I really thought the secondary played hard and tackled well. You start 10 points down the first quarter and then hold them to nothing the
rest of the game is pretty impressive."
On lack of scoring...
"I thought they did a great job. Again, with that quarterback moving around and some of thethings he did, I really thought they did a great job tackling after the first quarter. There were some good things to take out of this. We just... seven points. These days you feel like you have to score in the mid-30s to win a football game. We'll get there. There's things we can work on. We'll get Tate Whatley back next week and so we're excited about that. We'll see where we go from there."
On slow start oensively...
"That's part of football. We wanted to start fast but we had a couple of dropped balls thatstopped possessions. But then, we got the momentum. I thought we were in pretty good shape. The last two [drives] we took the sack, which was a killer and then we got it the last time and just couldn't make a play. Until I watch the film, I'm kind of just hee-humming around right now because just seven points. We've got to find a way to get better."
On the fourth quarter...
"I felt like the defense kept hanging in there and kept giving us a little bit of juice. Theoffense was still struggling a little bit. When Perkins took it in there, there was a lot of excitement and energy on the sideline. I just wish we could have cashed in on it. It would have been a great victory for us."
On improvement of team...
"There's no doubt that we have gotten better. It's amazing to see. I've said it before, as a coach, your number one thing is to win, but then you also want to make that the kids get their education, do what's right, become great young men, husbands and fathers. The bottom line is to win. That's what you're graded on no matter what. We've got to find a way when we get the ball and get it in scoring position to find a way to score. We missed a field goal today or it would have been 10-10. We've got to work. We've got to keep getting better. I'm really proud of these guys. One thing they haven't done is with all the adversity they've had this year, they're still practicing hard, they're still playing hard and I was real impressed and proud of how they played tonight."
On the decision to end the game with 41 seconds left...
"That was a very intense football game on both sides. All they had to do was snap the balland kneel down on it. I just don't think they wanted anything else on the field and we didn'teither. We had our opportunity and we didn't take advantage of it so with all the tempersflaring -- both sides played so hard and physical that was probably a good decision."
Overall thoughts on the game...
"Defensively, we started a little bit slow. We had some opportunities and couldn't takeadvantage of them. Their quarterback is really good. He's very elusive, very quick and ittook us a while to feel him out. They scored 10 points early and after that our kids,defensively, they played and didn't give up and keep playing. I was really proud of them.Offensively, we struggled all night. We had that one drive and I was really proud of that. Wejust ran right at them. The offensive line just physically knocked them off the ball. KevinPerkins ran over them. Frank Gore made them miss and ran hard. I was really proud of that
drive and it's a real shame we couldn't muster up anything the last two drives to give us anopportunity to either tie the game or go ahead."
On the defensive eort...
"Starting with Rice and then last week, I saw some of the 'Nasty Bunch' defense back. I sawthat attitude, that confidence, that physicality. I really saw it tonight. That's the old 'NastyBunch' that everyone is used to at Southern Miss and that all the fans have been proud. I'mjust really proud of them today."
On the offensive efort...
"We were just real inconsistent as far as throwing the football. That's kind of what we'vedone and it's a crazy thing again -- Jack [Abraham] practiced as the starting quarterbackuntil Thursday and then all of a sudden we had to revamp things on Thursday afternoon.That affected the gameplan a lot, but still no excuse. We've got to score some points."
On oensive line...
"We're starting to really run the football. I'm really proud of our offensive line. Those guysare really playing hard and everybody has really settled into where they're at now. We'vegot these next four games. We've got to keep running the ball the way we're running it. Wejust have to get our pass game more effective. We've got some skill guys out there. We just have to find a way to get them the football."
On play of linebackers...
"Santrell [Latham] went out and Portlock came in and made some great plays. He reallyplayed hard. I was so impressed with him. Hayes Maples, when you say Hayes Maples, you know it's heart. All you have to do is say his name and you know you have a tough hard-nose football player. Santrell is the same way. Portlock came in and did a great job. Again, early we kind of struggled a little bit, but I really thought the secondary played hard and tackled well. You start 10 points down the first quarter and then hold them to nothing the
rest of the game is pretty impressive."
On lack of scoring...
"I thought they did a great job. Again, with that quarterback moving around and some of thethings he did, I really thought they did a great job tackling after the first quarter. There were some good things to take out of this. We just... seven points. These days you feel like you have to score in the mid-30s to win a football game. We'll get there. There's things we can work on. We'll get Tate Whatley back next week and so we're excited about that. We'll see where we go from there."
On slow start oensively...
"That's part of football. We wanted to start fast but we had a couple of dropped balls thatstopped possessions. But then, we got the momentum. I thought we were in pretty good shape. The last two [drives] we took the sack, which was a killer and then we got it the last time and just couldn't make a play. Until I watch the film, I'm kind of just hee-humming around right now because just seven points. We've got to find a way to get better."
On the fourth quarter...
"I felt like the defense kept hanging in there and kept giving us a little bit of juice. Theoffense was still struggling a little bit. When Perkins took it in there, there was a lot of excitement and energy on the sideline. I just wish we could have cashed in on it. It would have been a great victory for us."
On improvement of team...
"There's no doubt that we have gotten better. It's amazing to see. I've said it before, as a coach, your number one thing is to win, but then you also want to make that the kids get their education, do what's right, become great young men, husbands and fathers. The bottom line is to win. That's what you're graded on no matter what. We've got to find a way when we get the ball and get it in scoring position to find a way to score. We missed a field goal today or it would have been 10-10. We've got to work. We've got to keep getting better. I'm really proud of these guys. One thing they haven't done is with all the adversity they've had this year, they're still practicing hard, they're still playing hard and I was real impressed and proud of how they played tonight."
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