Wofford at South Carolina November 18, 2017

Transcription

1 South Carolina Head Coach Will Muschamp Very workman-like effort. I thought our guys approached this game the right way. We had a couple drops early in the game that were disappointing that put us behind the change a little bit. First drive of the game they out-numbered us on the split-side option, load option series out of a pod look which was a good job on their part. We adjusted in the second half. They hit us one time in the first drive of the second half. It s all a numbers game when you play an offense like that. You ve got to get the numbers right regardless of how fast you are or big you are. It doesn t matter, it s about numbers. They did a good job of outnumbering us on the first drive of the first half and the first drive of the second half. Our guys made some adjustments. Turnovers are key when you play these sort of teams. You ve got to score. We were able to score in those situations. We ran the ball much better in the second half, we were very balanced. Jake was on target. We had too many drops. That was disappointing. I think we came out pretty much injury free. Antoine Wilder had an elbow but I think he s going to be fine. Shi s got an ankle. Other than that, we ought to be good to go for next week. xxx On the lack of pass game: I think a little bit they were dropping eight a bunch. They were bailing, staying on top all of our routes. We had a lot of quick game that we liked. We had a run game we liked. We just took what they gave us to stay on the field and stay alive. They stay on top of a lot of routes. We did have a couple dialed up that we didn t get to. They dropped eight a bunch to fill up the zones. On having senior day today: To me it s a very emotional day. It was emotional day for our guys and so was yesterday. That was one of the things we talked about in our senior meeting. Justin King and his crew made a video for our guys and it was an emotional meeting. It was really neat. They all got up and talked. They talked about culture and they talked about our expectations moving forward in the program. It was really cool to see where they think this program is headed and the culture of the program where it is right now. That was awesome to hear. I just feel like this game was a very emotional game and next week is an emotional game. I think when you double that, I think it makes it difficult on us. It s going to be as emotional as you can get next week. That s the reason for that. Skai s a really good football player. He tied the interception record, I gave him a game ball after the game today. I only told him the way we re going to paint it up is if he breaks it. So, he s got to get another one. On Wofford s offense: They do a really good job. There was nothing we showed them that they haven t seen before. Coach Harris and Wade do a fantastic job as our numbers system. They got on the edges on us a couple times. At the end of the day, it s about winning the game and mission accomplished as far as I m concerned. We spent a lot of time on these guys in the off-season because they are very different from what we re used to seeing. On the run game in the second half: We got a hat on a hat in the run game. We overpowered them in some situations, out-physical on them in some plays, which we should. That s what we should do. That was pleasing to see. We had something open in the pass game. So we felt good about being able to move the ball in the game and we did for the most part. On having a young offense: I think again, we ve had some injuries. Obviously, losing Deebo Samuel affects your football team in special teams and offense. But as much as anything, you lose a leader as well. Shai Smith and OrTre are two players that are true freshman that have played

2 extremely well. They ve done a nice job for us. I think we ve done a good job as a football team of complimenting each other and coming up with some plays and getting the turnover and converting the score. That s good team football. For the most part, we ve been a pretty disciplined group as far as penalties. We re the least penalized team in the SEC, so that s good. We only had three tonight. I guess we had two facemasks. That s just guys running the ball, you re never going to hear me complain about that. We just have to continue to press forward. That s what we ll do. On last year s Clemson game: It s just from a standpoint of competing. At the end of the day, when the chips got down we had some guys that didn t compete. It wasn t our whole team, we had a bunch of guys that competed their butts off. We got out coached and outplayed. It starts with me. That to me was the message from me to our football team. We got out-competed in the game and that can t happen. On talking to the players after the game.: They understand what next week is. It s important to them and our guys will be prepared and we ll be ready to go.

3 South Carolina Student-Athlete Quotes Jake Bentley QB Sophomore On what the game plan was since there were not a lot of throws downfield It did not correlate from last week. I think it is just how they play defense. They really try to make you take underneath routes. We knew that going into the game, so our game plan was to take whatever they gave us and I felt we did a good job of that. On Jake Bentley running the ball more Coach Roper has great play designs and they have been working for us. I thought I got in on that first run, but he (Coach Roper) came back to me. It has been the way things have been working out. We do a great job running the ball with our running backs. It just opens it up for me to get around the edge and just put it in the end zone. On the mindset of the offense after Wofford scored the opening drive of the second half Yeah I felt we had to score to take back control of the game. But that is what we want to do on every drive. Which is go out there and score. The guys responded well after the touchdown by Wofford. No one got rattled and I think that has been something you have seen all year. Offensively we don t really shake, and when adversity strikes we respond well to it. A lot of guys stepped up and responded the right way. We moved the ball down the field and scored a touchdown. Bryan Edwards WR Sophomore On how it felt to get seven catches to start off the game and get some momentum It feels good to kind of get into a grove by catching a few balls and getting some yards after the catch. It made me feel good, and it got me into a rhythm. It made me play even better. On whether he talked to OrTre and tried to pick him up when he was struggling during the game Yeah I talked to him on the sideline. It s a part of the game. We are all going to have those games. I had one of those games personally and you need to talk to your teammates to make sure they don t get down on themselves. Everybody drops passes. It s a part of the game. You just can t get down on yourself so it does not translate to next week. On how it has been important for him to step up as a leader for this young offense I think it has been very important especially for me with Deebo going down. Because he was our older guy and our leader. I think Jake and I just needed to step up a little bit and become a little more vocal. We needed to get out of our comfort zones and make sure that everyone is on point and ready to play every weekend. Skai Moore LB Senior On his performance and Senior Day I think I played all right. You know it was a good win on Senior Day, it was a good way to go out. I think that we played well as a whole also. On the interception...

4 We have been going over the passing game for the past weeks and I kind of knew the route that they were running and expanded to the flat. The ball got my eye and then I back on the receiver and the quarterback and it was able to make it happen. You were one of the handful of guys that has played Clemson how are you going to help your teammates. We have to come out here and have an edge about ourselves, that s how we played (referring to the 2013 team) that 2013 team we had an edge about us and that s going to be the motto this year. The saying that we preach throughout the week so we can leave it all out on the field. A.J. Turner RB Sophomore On the commitment to the run in the second half I believe it was both things and wearing them down, second half it just kind of came and Coach (Kurt) Roper saying we need to be more physical so we can run the ball and that s what we did. On Watching Caleb (Kinlaw) have some time to shine... "It s exciting, it s great knowing that were all doing our jobs so that we can get other people in the game. It s great seeing the growth in our room, just looking at the beginning of the season dealing with adversity and injuries. Then to see Kinlaw step up and have a great week of practice. He is a really good learner, just doing his job and not complaining about not playing. He has had a really good attitude about that and I commend him for that. On Jake s two touchdowns Makes us more versatile as an offense and so we aren't looked at as just a back-up ball or receiver running. When you have a quarterback that can actually run, it s a hard thing to produce and it s the hard thing for a defense to stop since no one knows who is going to get the ball. Javon Kinlaw DL Sophomore On the defense as a whole "Overall we played good, striking blocks a lot. I did get confused a little because I had never seen this time of offense before even in high school. They were real short so it was kind of hard and they actually ended up ripping my pants. As for dog, I think I'm more of a Doberman. On if the option offense surprised the defense "The only thing is I thought they were going to cut a lot more than they did, but they only cut me like once. I just needed to change the way and the speed I was playing." Chris Lammons DB Senior On how important the teams relationship with the fanbase is.. I feel like we have the best fans in the country. My job is to show them love because they are out here showing us love when we need it the most." On anticipating that Wofford would have steady rushing yards.. "When you are facing that kind of offence you have to have discipline and realize that they are going to get those kinds of yards because of the kind of offense they run." On how important turnovers with this team were... "We knew that we had to keep the ball away from these guys because they like to drain the clock. So if you let them stay in the game with people it could go the other way."

5 Wofford Head Coach Mike Ayers On turnovers: Turnovers kill you every time, whether you re playing an SEC team or a SoCon team. If you give them too many opportunities, especially when they re a big physical team, you run the risk of getting worn out defensively. I m proud of our defense. They did some really great things against some really great people. I really believe that this game, although we lost it, is going to afford us an opportunity to learn from it and to realize that we re awful close to being a great team. We ve gone 9 weeks in a row now without a break and we re beat up, but that s not an excuse. I m sure Carolina had some folks out as well. Carolina played well. We gave them some fits with some of the option stuff and we felt that we had a pretty good plan, but you got to make sure that you execute at a high level when you re playing a good SEC team. You can t afford to give them anything. If we don t have the turnovers, it s a different game, probably a lot closer. Just proud of our guys who worked their tails off this week to get ready. We tried to make sure that we came down here and did our best. Although the performance wasn t that great, I love the effort that our kids had. On being a top seed in the FCS playoffs I would like to say we will be but I m afraid to say that. I hope and think, but you never know. In 2002, we were 9-3 and thought we were in, but we got a phone call 5 minutes before the announcement and we were out. I think if people understand the game and how it went, then they would understand that we have an opportunity to be a good football team. On having long drives It s exactly what we wanted to do. Bentley is a heck of a player. We did some good stuff to create some pressure on him. He didn t make all his throws but he came down in the second half and settled in. He was throwing some darts. We needed to play keep away and we just didn t do a good job of it. We decided to throw the ball to get down there quicker, and we just didn t do it the way that we needed to and we ll learn from it. On being solo champs of the SoCon It s great. You battle all year, and the conference top to bottom is as good as it s ever been. You slip up during the year, with a game you can win, but lose it right at the end, and then after that the journey was no more mistakes. On his staff and having time off We re looking forward to some time off. I know our kids need it and I know our staff needs it. My staff is awesome. They re great guys, hard workers, and they do a good job of teaching and coaching our kids. On South Carolina defense handling the option They had some good moments and they had some bad moments. When you only face something once in a blue moon, it can create some issues for you. One thing they did well was they chased the ball, and when they tackled us, they really tackled us. We had a few things that worked for us. I would have liked to have had more but I think they really did a good job. They have some fighters. They re tough kids, great athletes, and some special skill players.

6 Wofford Student-Athletes Brandon Goodson, QB, Senior On playing a game in this environment We had a couple of missed cues early on. Once we figured out what they were doing, we were able to move the ball. Offensive line played tremendous today. We just have to execute a little bit better. We had a chance, and that s all we can ask for. On the first drive It was a great drive. Just to get points on the board was key. We figured out what they were doing. They did a lot of great things and we did a lot of great things as well. We came out there and executed, and we just have to execute a little bit better. On how the Gamecocks prepared the Terriers for the playoffs That was a great team, they execute at a high level, and they have great athletes. No offense to anyone in the FCS, but that s probably some of the greatest athletes we will play throughout the playoffs. We saw it as a challenge, and we took it on pretty well. Weston Rountree, LB, Junior On making big plays early on It s always good to get to play on a big time stage like that. South Carolina has a great venue and great atmosphere. I was just fortunate enough to get the start and just tried to do my best. On Rountree s 1 st career start today in Williams-Brice I was a little bit nervous, but I just have to trust our coaches. They ve done a great job of making sure we know what we are doing, so just have to get the call and react and play fast and make plays. On how the Gamecocks prepared the Terriers for the playoffs This is a really good way to prepare for the playoffs, because no one we are going to face is going to be better than they are. Speedwise, height-wise, the physicality of it, it is just really good preparation.