University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis-Nicholls State Post-Game Quotes
Sep 20, 2008 | Football
Sept. 20, 2008
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Memphis Head Coach
Tommy West
"We had to get a win. We needed to get a win. I thought our team did exactly what I asked them to do. I challenged them to out-rush a rushing team and win the turnover battle, which we hadn't done this year. We haven't been able to out-rush a team or win the turnover battle, but that's how you win football games. I really thought we gave up the special teams play in the first half, which was horrible to let that happen, but I thought we answered in the second half the way we were supposed to play. At the end of the day I'm very pleased that we were able to run the ball the way that we did. We didn't turn it over, and our special teams came back and got us two turnovers. I thought our defense was really good. They gave up three points on the night."
"You saw they had us going on the perimeter early in the game. Tim Walton made two nice adjustments and put a stop to it, but really, before we could get into the half to get it stopped, he made an adjustment on the field and got it stopped. He did a nice job of having a plan and we executed well in the second half. "
About the run:
"We challenged our guys. I thought that we are playing against that style of offense that you know that you are not going to get many possessions. Basically, both teams had the ball three times in the first half. We had it three and got it back with a minute and forty seconds for our fourth possession. That's what we challenged, we have to out-rush this football team, but we don't often see that style of offense. "
What did you tell the team at the half?
"I told them what I really felt. Don't tighten up because this game is 10-10. Everybody wants to holler at you coming in. Don't tighten up. Go do what we asked you to do and you'll blow this game open if you go and do what you are supposed to do. And they did. I didn't think they were bothered. It was 10-10 at half. I've seen it happen before, but I have been on the other end when I was in Chattanooga. You can be right there at the half, but eventually you start wearing down."
That's what we did. Nichols State played their tails off and played really, really hard, but there was a time where if you keep pounding it, then they just started to wear down
Nicholls State Head Coach
Jay Thomas
"When you're talking about having 14 days off and missing two games, we had an idea that the conditioning would be off a little bit. You could really tell. It was evident late in the first half and really (evident) in the second half."
"The couple of drives that we had, we shot ourselves in the foot. We had a big run that got called back on a clipping penalty. We had signs of being able to do some things. You could tell we were very rusty in a lot of areas, but we've got a starting point finally. We can go get things fixed. We had no idea what we had. I think we have a really good football team, and I'm looking forward to coaching them the rest of the year."
"To go through everything this team has gone through; all the adversity. You've got to give Memphis a lot of credit. They have a good football team; no doubt about. They do a great job of coaching and have a great game plan. The strategy they were using against us tonight was really smart. I'm extremely proud of our guys. They came out pumped during the game. We didn't give up at the end. We came out fighting. It wasn't pretty a lot of it, but we've got a starting point."
