Postgame Quotes
Sep 17, 2011 | Football
Sept. 17, 2011
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Head Coach Larry Porter
Opening Remarks First of all, I want to commend Austin Peay. In terms of our team, and despite our circumstances, I want to commend them as well because they stuck through it and fought together. I thought that we got off to a very slow start. Offensively, we had three or four penalties in the first quarter and we just can't sustain that kind of play.
I do want to take my hat off to our defense. Under the circumstances, for them to pick up and almost hold an opponent scoreless the whole game is a testament to their character and will.
Offensively, we have got to do better and that is just a fact.
But, all and all, this victory was well needed. It is much easier to correct errors coming off of a victory as opposed to a loss. And that is what we will do. We are going to continue to build from this point forward.
On Defensive Personnel Changes
I am very happy with the job that we did this week, but we have got to continue to grow. When you make a change like we did, the transition is very difficult.
Tonight, we experienced a change in philosophy, technique and personnel. It is a growth process that we will continue over the next two or three weeks, but I do know that the defensive staff has tremendous chemistry and that they are working very hard together.
In the end, we just have to eliminate big plays and play a quality brand of football, and that is what we intend to do.
Do You Feel Good About Tonight's Win?
I do, but my mind is more focused on the mistakes that we made and how to correct those, as opposed to picking up the victory.
We still have a lot of football to play this season, and this team must continue to grow in order for us to have a chance at victory.
On The Last Memphis Defensive Stand On The Goal Line
Well, it was well needed. The one thing that I thought that we did today that we haven't done much of all year was maintaining our defensive front. I thought in the second half, it showed. Those guys were still in a position to play strong and hard. For them to seal the game with an interception was a compliment to the way that this team has fought together all week.
What Improvements Are You Looking To Make Heading Into Next Week Versus SMU?
Defensively, we have got to keep the ball in front of us. Our safeties must tackle well, and our front needs to play better. I really like my front, but they have got to play a better brand (of football) up front to take the pressure off of our secondary.
We have got to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and we have got to stop the run better.
Offensively, it all starts up front. I think that we can have a dominating run game, but we have got to clean some things up there.
I would like for Taylor Reed to have more time in the pocket, and not be under duress so much. But, we have got to have more consistency at our wide receiver position, as well.
Freshman Starting Quarterback Taylor Reed
Has The Game Begun To Slow Down For You?
It definitely has, but I think that you have to give the credit to those skill guys for making plays. When you have guys like Billy (Foster) turning nothing into something, it is a great feeling. And I don't think I got sacked all night, so credit the offensive line for their performance.
On Having The Lead At Halftime
We had the lead, but our coaches were still unsatisfied with our performance. We felt like we still left a lot out there, and we could have done a better job finishing drives.
We looked at the little mistakes like penalties and the fumble, and we knew that we could improve in those areas.
Describe The First Touchdown Pass To Tannar Rehrer
We put that play in this week. We had a long drawn-out fake to suck the defense in and the route was a double post. It (the pass) honestly should have thrown it sooner than I did, but Tannar made a great play on the ball.
Discuss The Play That Resulted In A Kevin Wright Touchdown
We had a circle concept called, and we brought back Andrew (Ene-Ita) across the middle. He made a nice play, but ended up losing the ball and K. Wright made a big play on the scoop and score.
AUSTIN PEAY HEAD COACH RICK CHRISTOPHEL
Opening Remarks
Going into the game, we talked about three things we wanted to improve from the first game, which I think we did on both sides of the ball. We wanted to take care of all our scoring opportunities, and we didn't want to give them any scoring opportunities. We gave them two, but we didn't take care of ours. And turnovers, we had two or three and they had two; it didn't even out. You know when you play an away game, you have to have no turnovers and you have to get more turnovers. I think that was the difference in the ball game.
Did you see any improvement in your team tonight?
I saw great improvement in our team tonight. I thought we played with great effort. I thought we tackled better, I thought we got after the ball carrier better and I thought we executed better on offense and in our passing game. There's a lot of things we can still improve on, but we're getting closer and closer.
What did you see from Memphis tonight? Memphis is a good football team. They've got good athletes, and they're well-prepared. They've just had some bad luck. We had a fumble right at the beginning of the game tonight; they've had some of those plays this year too. They just need to get synchronized and get their identity. When they do that, they're going to be a good football team and something to be reckoned with.
