University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes
September 03, 2000 | Football
COACHES QUOTES
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH PHILLIP FULMER
"I was pleased and excited with the win. We have a great opportunity to
mature. We will use the open date to get better. I was proud of the defense's
incredible effort. Travis Henry did a great job of running, even though the
line didn't always block. I was proud of the kicking game as well. Southern
Miss had us on our heels as the end, but we had enough to overcome.
On quarterbacks: "We'll see where we are after the film. Both have a lot to lean. We were very cautious with the plays we called with them.
"The kicking game and field position was huge tonight. We played well and showed good poise with few penalties. The kicking game was a big difference tonight. Our punter kept us in great field position all night.
"The last drive by Southern Miss was a disappointment. We had a lot of young people in there. The offense has miles to go.
"We tried to get Eric in there to loosen them up. We popped the counter play, but the offensive line busted the play a couple of times.
"It was incredible how the defensive line got after them. You can't hold the ball against us.
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI HEAD COACH JEFF BOWER
"It's real disappointing. We came here to win. We didn't play well early.
I am proud of the way we competed, We played tentatively at the start, then
we started competing. We had no consistently. I was proud that we were able
to go 96 yards there at the end. We never quit. We had a good effort, but not
good enough. Our players started competing better in the fourth quarter.
"There were times we had second-and-short situations and went backwards. We have no excuses. Tennessee has a lot of talent. They were good on defense just like I think we are. We gave up a big play that really hurt us. Kelly battled and competed and kept his poise. He did a good job of scrambling. It wasn't a real easy game for our quarterbacks.
"There was a real speed factor on the field. They were fast and we were fast. GIve Tennessee credit for how they played. It was a good effort. We're a good team that will get a lot better. We need to be more consistent. We will if we get the effort. We'll get there."
PLAYER QUOTES
TENNESSEE
PLAYERS
Travis Henry - Running back
"I was out there trying and having fun; trying to get the tough yards.
I've got to keep going week-in and week-out, getting this team together. I want
to try to be a leader. We've got to go out there and get ready for a good Florida
team."
Will Overstreet - Defensive end
"We liked a lot of things we did tonight, but there are a lot of things
we can improve upon as a defense. The most improvement is from the first to
the second game.
A.J. Suggs - Quarterback
"It was a lot like I expected it to be. We were prepared well. I felt really
comfortable. The offense was struggling at times, but we got the win. Coach
isn't asking us to make big plays. Just get it to our guys and let them make
the plays. I think we (Joey Mathews) both played well. I don't see any favorite.
It was confidence builder, my first touchdown in Neyland Stadium. I didn't do
most of it, Donte did.
Eric Westmoreland - Linebacker
"The whole team came out fired up. We wanted to go out and set the tempo.
We got a lot of help from our punter and defensive line. With our D-line, they
kept sending people in fresh. We knew they were going to go out and try to establish
the run. When they couldn't run, we knew they would be one dimensional.
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI PLAYERS
Leo Barnes - Defensive back
On interception: "The guy threw the ball right to me. I was just playing
the coverage we had and playing my position."
"We should have come out more aggressive. We had to stop them from scoring and didn't. We just gave up too many big plays and had too many missed tackles."
"I've got to hand it to Travis Henry. He's a hell of a player."
Jeff Kelly Quarterback
"We just came up short. We came up here to win and not to play close. We
did not get things going quick enough offensively."
"We knew they had great speed on defense and that their front seven was their strong point. They put pressure on the quarterback and disrupted what we tried to do on offense. We have to do a better job of executing."
"It seemed like we were coming out of the end zone all night. But if we have 95 yards to go for a score, we have to go 95 yards."
