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Vanderbilt Loss To USC, 17-13- Vanderbilt Player Quotes
Team Quotes
Chase Garnham
On South Carolina’s run game
We’ve got to do a better job on gap integrity and filling gaps on zone
reads. Lattimore looked very healthy to me, and even better than last
year. He’s a great back and runs with a tremendous power level. But, we
have to do a better job of stopping the run and getting that fixed this
week. I don’t think it had anything to do with us wearing down.
On how freshmen did during this game
I thought they did very well. We were pretty gassed at some points, and
I appreciate them being able to come in and take some reps. It was good
for them to get their feet wet, and we look forward to them getting
more reps as the season goes along.
On Shaw
Shaw is a tough kid. I was really impressed with his toughness. He got
bumped up a little bit, but he fought through it. They did a really
tremendous job of running the zone read, and we had problems stopping
that. He’s a really good runner; he was a lot faster than I
anticipated. I was impressed.
On being frustrated with close games
We just have to capitalize on our opportunities. It’s tough, but we’re
getting better and we’ll get back to work. We’re optimistic, we’re not
going to hang our heads but get back to work and look forward to
Northwestern.
On how quickly turnaround is after losses
It’s a 24-hour system. We’ll watch the film tomorrow, learn from our mistakes and correct them this week.
Jordan Rodgers
On the last pass play with Jordan Matthews
They gave us a look we had been seeing in film, and we tried to give
Jordan the chance to make a play. We had been working on that concept
in practice: just giving Jordan chances to make plays. He did the rest.
On interception
We have two options on that play: pass front side, and option back side
with Zac. From what I saw, I thought we were going to get a lineman on
the blocker in man-to-man. I should have eaten that play and thrown it
away, and gotten the chance to kick a field goal. It was just a bad
read, and a bad decision, one that I’ll look back on in film and want
back.
On seeing them score after the interception
It was a huge momentum change. The defense gave us positions to score
early twice, and we didn’t, and that came back to bite us. We need to
learn to play for four quarters; we had a good middle section of the
game, but just didn’t get it done early. Against a good team like South
Carolina, you have to get up on them early and take advantage of every
chance they give you. We didn’t do that today.
On South Carolina’s pass rush
They have a really good defensive line, we knew that in film. They’re
big, they’re long, they’re physical. I think our offensive line did a
great job, but what made it tough was our timing. Our timing was off in
man coverage. It takes me longer to go through reads when that happens,
and that puts more stress on the offensive line. That’s on me, I need
to be able to get the ball out of my hands. But overall, I think the
offensive line did a great job. We just need to find a way to finish
close games, and we’re done losing close games we know we could have
finished. We beat ourselves tonight and we’re not going to let that
happen again.
On close losses
It’s completely frustrating, especially when it’s by three or four and
you look back and it comes down to field goals, interceptions, red zone
misses. That kind of stuff is frustrating. We know to be where we want
to be we’re going to have to win these close games.
Zac Stacy
On running game
“Regardless of what the situation is, I feel like we had a pretty good
game plan for them as far as running the football. I feel like there
were still a lot of plays left out there in the running game.”
On Wesley Tate and upcoming games
“(Wesley) Tate did a great job going back to his roots, running the
football, and he’s going to get better each and every game. This line
is going to get better and we’re going to improve throughout practice
in the upcoming week.”
Jordan Matthews
On game outcome
“The bottom line is, we didn’t get it done. I need to get more open for (Jordan Rogers).”
On big games and mentality for future games
“There’s only big games in wins, so it’s not a big game. It’s not
enough. We’ve got to start getting wins. If not for us, then for Coach
(Franklin).”
On his touchdown
“The play was there; the protection was great by the offensive line;
the pass was great by (Jordan Rodgers)… I just had to do my job. When
you have everybody on the same page, good stuff happens.”
Javon Marshall
On early South Carolina turnovers
“We got a great lift… the two turnovers gave us tremendous confidence, but in the end we just have to finish the game.”
On loss
“It’s hard losing those tough games, the close ones. But we have to
correct our mistakes, do what we can to the best of our abilities. We
have to fix this, we have to finish. We have to show the young guys how
to finish for the Vanderbilt future.”
On future games
“In a football game, it’s every inch. We’re really close. We need to take that next step.”
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