University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes
September 07, 2002 | Football
Sept. 7, 2002
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TENNESSEE QUOTES
HEAD COACH PHILLIP FULMER
"I have to give congratulations to Middle Tennessee. I hope they go the rest of the way and do well. They are a hard-fighting football team.
"I was proud of the win, proud of the defense and special teams. The special teams will give us a chance to be in games. Offensively we played well at times. We were our own worst enemy with penalties. There will be an opportunity later for the offense to pick up the defense. We could have helped ourselves with no penalties in the Orange Zone. I'm pretty cool about it not, but come Monday I will be hot.
ON KEVIN SIMON: "Kevin was nationally recruited player. He was ready for his opportunity. He is very tough and fast linebacker. He will learn a lot from this film. He's not quite 100 percent. We have to him at practice.
"Give Middle Tennessee credit, they challenged us at the line. They did a good job. We did not break enough tackles or play well on the perimeter.
"Casey was not as sharp in this game as he can be. He didn't get a chance to get a whole lot done, especially on the perimeter.
"Our wide receivers are young an growing. I think Jonathan Wade will be a playmaker. I was proud of Corey Larkins and the spark he has given to the special teams.
"Alex (Walls) pulled quad in warmups. We were fortunate to have Phillip (Newman) here. He did a good job on kickoffs. I was impressed with his maturity and effectiveness. The blocked field goal should not have happened. I will look at it on Monday and find out was the problem was.
"We controlled their tempo. We conned them a lot on defense. It was a cat-and-mouse game. We showed them a lot of coverages we weren't in. I think the looks bothered him (Andrico Hines.)
QB CASEY CLAUSEN: "I thought I threw the ball pretty well. One of the biggest things for us was penalties. Number two was guys need to make plays. We were able to move the ball down to the 15 or 10 yard, but for whatever reason we self-destruct. I think a lot of things will change in the next couple of weeks when Kelley (Washington) comes back. And he will be back!
CB JABARI GREER: "Everyone's out there busting their butts, flying around. Good things happen with the great effort we gave. We knew Kevin Simon would step up. He's a great athlete who went out and made plays we knew he could make. We had all the trust in the world in Kevin Simon.
LB KEVIN SIMON: "You don't ever want to win a position by injury. I felt I had to take the position and roll with it. I couldn't just sit back and feel sorry. I had to step up and play as well as I could for this team.
ON TD: "I thought it was going to be a safety. I thought he was going to hand the ball off and I would have a safety in my pocket. It was just as well we got the touchdown. Either way, I'm scoring.
MIDDLE TENNESSEE QUOTES
HEAD COACH ANDY MCCOLLUM
"It's no different than what I told the kids in our locker room. `We took two of the top teams in America to the fourth quarter with a chance to win.' Tennessee closed the door and finished the game. They did a tremendous game. They are a very good football team. We had some people who grew up on defense. If we execute and don't fumble on the 2-yard line, we have a chance to get it to 17-10 and that makes all the difference.
"The blocked punt was inexcusable. We've never had one blocked at Middle Tennessee. You have to do the little things right to win. These guys didn't come to play close. They came to win. There is a pretty good football team in the other locker room.
"We had a chance to make the plays and didn't. We have an off week to get better. There is a pretty good 0-2 football team in that locker room next door. Tennessee's speed and athletic ability on defense was the difference. They rush the passer well and have a really good football team. I think we gained some respect. We got to the fourth quarter with a chance to win. We should have won at Alabama. Tennessee just shut the door for the second time. They responded and made the plays. Our kids will be fine. It's tough to play at places like Alabama and Tennessee.
RB RESHARD LEE: "Defensively they crowded the box. You have to give Tennessee credit. They have a good team and they made it hard for us to run. It's never easy to lose, but it helps us build character. We're going to have build on this and practice to get better.
RC MUHAMMED RASHADA: "As far as the defense goes, we knew what they were going to do. We watched enough film and we came out and played. It wasn't good enough as a whole. As a team, we played pretty good, but we can't be satisfied with two losses.
