Head Coach Mike Bobo
Opening Statement …
“It was a great night for our team. First of all, we won the ballgame. And the second thing is that we were able to win it with some adversity and to finish the game. I told the guys in there I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way than to have to win the game the way we did, to have to conquer some demons. There in the second half I thought we kept answering as an offense. And then for us to bow our neck defensively when they popped the long run and then to get the ball back to our offense was huge. I don’t know if we actually won the turnover battle with that blocked punt. I don’t know what that goes down as. We had the one pick and we didn’t turn the ball over on offense and that gave us a chance to win the ballgame. It was great to see the guys keep believing and keep fighting and sticking to the plan and to never really have any doubt throughout the game that we were going to get it done. The toughest thing to me in football is to be able to run the ball when [the defense] expects you to run the ball. I think that’s the sign of a team being close to where you want it to be and have a chance to compete for championships when you can run it and finish games like we did. Hopefully, that will give us some confidence going into next week.”
On whether or not Dalyn Dawkins could have played today …
“I thought he looked pretty good in warmups, but he still was feeling it a little bit when he was running without having having to make anybody miss. He felt pretty good, but you’re going to have to pull and strain to get extra yards and we thought we might lose him so he was an emergency back. He kept staying warm the entire game, but Oden wasn’t tired. Thirty carries, he did a great job. Izzy [Matthews] did a great job spelling him. The two tight ends stepped up really big, Walker and Cartwright. Guys sucked it up. We had 76 snaps on offense and some guys were playing a ton of snaps and did a nice job (and we were) able to finish there in the fourth quarter.”
On the last drive of the game chewing up the clock …
“When you’re running the ball and they know you’re trying to run it and milk the clock, and they have two timeouts and can stop the clock and get the ball back … for us to punch that ball out and end up taking a knee at the end and finishing the game was good to see. It’s the greatest formation in football. We didn’t get to run it again because there was a little clock malfunction, but we finished there at the end and it was awesome to see. That’s what they wanted to do. They wanted to milk it and grind it out.”
On conquering some demons …
“Winning is good for team morale, and sometimes losing isn’t good for team morale. Sometimes we all tend to question what we are doing and what we are about. We talked about sticking to the plan and sticking to the process and what we do and who we are. I told them last night that anybody who watches us on TV or comes to a game, there’s no doubt that they would see that our kids play hard every single snap. In order to finish a game you have to go out and do the little things that matter in clutch time, and I thought they did that tonight.”
Rashard Higgins, Jr., WR
On promising his mom two touchdowns this week …
“I tried my hardest to just put out for my state. It felt good just playing in front of my mom. That was her first game that she has ever been able to make. It felt good [to play in front of her] and I just tried my best to get in that endzone for her.”
On how exciting it was to have his mother here …
“It was exciting. I can’t explain the feeling because this is the first time, but it felt great. Not only that but getting the win as well.”
On how important it was to get the win in a close game …
“That was big. Going into conference with a win gives us confidence. It’s a big confidence builder.”
On what it took to come in and get this win tonight …
“I would say we have to excute better. I missed a lot of blocks and some other guys missed some blocks. On defense we have to wrap up better. We’ll get it going into this next week.”
Opening Statement …
“It was a great night for our team. First of all, we won the ballgame. And the second thing is that we were able to win it with some adversity and to finish the game. I told the guys in there I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way than to have to win the game the way we did, to have to conquer some demons. There in the second half I thought we kept answering as an offense. And then for us to bow our neck defensively when they popped the long run and then to get the ball back to our offense was huge. I don’t know if we actually won the turnover battle with that blocked punt. I don’t know what that goes down as. We had the one pick and we didn’t turn the ball over on offense and that gave us a chance to win the ballgame. It was great to see the guys keep believing and keep fighting and sticking to the plan and to never really have any doubt throughout the game that we were going to get it done. The toughest thing to me in football is to be able to run the ball when [the defense] expects you to run the ball. I think that’s the sign of a team being close to where you want it to be and have a chance to compete for championships when you can run it and finish games like we did. Hopefully, that will give us some confidence going into next week.”
On whether or not Dalyn Dawkins could have played today …
“I thought he looked pretty good in warmups, but he still was feeling it a little bit when he was running without having having to make anybody miss. He felt pretty good, but you’re going to have to pull and strain to get extra yards and we thought we might lose him so he was an emergency back. He kept staying warm the entire game, but Oden wasn’t tired. Thirty carries, he did a great job. Izzy [Matthews] did a great job spelling him. The two tight ends stepped up really big, Walker and Cartwright. Guys sucked it up. We had 76 snaps on offense and some guys were playing a ton of snaps and did a nice job (and we were) able to finish there in the fourth quarter.”
On the last drive of the game chewing up the clock …
“When you’re running the ball and they know you’re trying to run it and milk the clock, and they have two timeouts and can stop the clock and get the ball back … for us to punch that ball out and end up taking a knee at the end and finishing the game was good to see. It’s the greatest formation in football. We didn’t get to run it again because there was a little clock malfunction, but we finished there at the end and it was awesome to see. That’s what they wanted to do. They wanted to milk it and grind it out.”
On conquering some demons …
“Winning is good for team morale, and sometimes losing isn’t good for team morale. Sometimes we all tend to question what we are doing and what we are about. We talked about sticking to the plan and sticking to the process and what we do and who we are. I told them last night that anybody who watches us on TV or comes to a game, there’s no doubt that they would see that our kids play hard every single snap. In order to finish a game you have to go out and do the little things that matter in clutch time, and I thought they did that tonight.”
Rashard Higgins, Jr., WR
On promising his mom two touchdowns this week …
“I tried my hardest to just put out for my state. It felt good just playing in front of my mom. That was her first game that she has ever been able to make. It felt good [to play in front of her] and I just tried my best to get in that endzone for her.”
On how exciting it was to have his mother here …
“It was exciting. I can’t explain the feeling because this is the first time, but it felt great. Not only that but getting the win as well.”
On how important it was to get the win in a close game …
“That was big. Going into conference with a win gives us confidence. It’s a big confidence builder.”
On what it took to come in and get this win tonight …
“I would say we have to excute better. I missed a lot of blocks and some other guys missed some blocks. On defense we have to wrap up better. We’ll get it going into this next week.”
