Post Game Quotes
January 02, 2009 | Football
Jan. 2, 2009
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Texas Tech Quotes
Q. Coach, you're up 14 0 right off the start. Did they do anything differently?
COACH LEACH: No, they really didn't. No, they didn't. They played in a fashion that we take a lot of pride in. If anything, they ran a little bit less stuff than they've been running.
I thought they executed incredibly well, both sides of the ball. They were very simple, and it was a funny game. That first half was funny, because you talk about, well, you're up 14 0. Well, and it was funny for both sides.
I mean, we marched down and score, and of course Darcel picks it and that gives us another seven. But we hadn't really been stopping them, slowing them down some, but hadn't really been stopping them.
And then, well, it was a strange game on both teams' part. There was a series of over-corrections, I thought. Both teams were trying to accomplish the same thing. You know, both teams came in with relatively simple game plans. Both teams set out to do very basic things. And I know that and we've already covered this in the previous press conference a lot of times the media thinks that football's a series of tricks. What happened to Vince Lombardi and execution and all that, it's execution more than it's a series of tricks.
And so both sides, I thought, had very simple game plans. And, you know, at key times Mississippi did a better job doing their job than we did. At key times, Mississippi, responded. There were pressure deals back and forth and this happened and that happened, and I thought they did a real good job responding. And this is an incredibly high compliment to them, and it always gets follow up questions, because it just doesn't keep you guys riveted to your seats quite the way you'd like.
But what they did a great job of is just doing their job, doing it over and over and over, play after play, after play. Oh, well, this happened, well now I gotta do something. No, no, they did their job, did their job, and we did that some.
But I felt like in our case we had a series of over-corrections. It's like (our) offense would get to rolling and then defense would overreact this way. Defense would stop them, and then offense would go out there and frantically try to make too much happen.
I thought in our case it was a bunch of over-corrections. They had some and darn could should have, they had a touchdown threw into did you believe coverage and son of a gun the guy caught it. I don't think they'll do it over and over again and play after play, but it worked out good that time. And I think that both sides did that. But I think they did a better job than we did staying composed at the key times of the game as momentum shifted.
Q. Did you get their secondary to match up your receivers as well as they did today?
COACH LEACH: They did and they didn't, I guess. I think they did a lot of good things. I think that I had a lot of respect for them. You're talking about a team that beat Florida at Florida and lost to Alabama. I kept saying two but it's four and at Alabama. They're an incredibly good football team. And it's one of those things that you have to slice it pretty precisely in order to beat them. And I know that we had a lot of success this year. If I had a nickel for every time somebody told me how easy it was going to be to beat Mississippi. I never bought into that and I really don't think our players did. But when you're playing somebody as good as they are and they get you that day, you just gotta congratulate them. There's all kinds of things I wish we would have done sharper or just simple things, do your job, step with this foot not that foot. Put this hand there not there. That type of stuff. That's what it came down to. Simple basic elements I thought they did a very good job of.
Q. Graham's 4th and 4 quarterback sneak could you take us through that call? I don't know how much you paid attention to the defensive side, but seemed like you had a lot of missed tackles is that how you saw it?
COACH LEACH: It's the ultimate doing your job the most important thing you do on defensive is tackle and offense is block. There ain't nothing different about all that. The 4th and 4 call we weren't on the same page. He thought I wanted one thing and I thought I wanted another.
And so miscommunication.
Q. What did you want? It's obvious
COACH LEACH: I'm going to leave that one for the ages. It's not one where either of us are proud of, I guarantee you.
Q. Could you talk about Dexter McCluster and compare him to some of the players that you've seen in the Big 12 this year?
COACH LEACH: Really impressive. Reminds me of the running back at Oklahoma State who I think is really good. They kind of look the same, operate the same. They have, besides being real fast, they have some side to side and burst out of their cuts good. I've always thought coming out of your cuts is more important than real speed.
I mean, Wes Welker is making a lot of money proving that to people every day that coming out of your cuts is more important than speed. Because he would be out of business if it was about speed.
But that guy did both. I thought he was very impressive. He was better than I thought he'd be.
Q. Coach, can you talk about the pressure that they got, the times they got in the backfield, even if they didn't make the sack, did they disrupt the flow?
COACH LEACH: You know what I thought on that, and it kind of goes back to my doing your job thing, too. What I thought on that was because there were times where we protected real well and flat out stoned them. But the thing was there would be some key times, some key moment where Mississippi had to make something happen or needed a break, and then they'd find a way and they'd get there.
And then somebody would break down or some guy would go through "my bad" this and all that crap. Just played together consistently. There's going to be pressure in the game and then play together consistently at those times, but the thing is just like you mentioned if you're as good and decorated as Mississippi's D line they're going to give you some problems, you know.
Q. Back on that 4th and 4 play, what was the thinking, your thinking about going for it at that point?
COACH LEACH: We weren't going to go for it, we were hoping to draw them off sides. I didn't do a good job communicating it. He thought something different and off we went. It was a very bonehead play. If I wanted a different result I have to communicate it better.
Q. I know you guys have great respect for the Cotton Bowl, but do you think disappointment at all played a role for your players? I mean this is a one loss team that wasn't in the BCS?
COACH LEACH: I don't know. If you asked me before the game I would say definitely no and I still lean toward definitely no. But by the same token there's a lot of rhetoric on that and I don't know if somehow we were successfully brainwashed that direction. I don't know why you would be. I don't know why you would be. They always make a production out of that. I don't think so. It's the Cotton Bowl. This was a full stadium.
This was Ole Miss who has some great players. There's a whole bunch of they've got a bunch of players over there that you can recite their high school pedigree off the top of your head.
And the thing is if we were that way, then we need to do a better job coaching, because that would mean we didn't reach them as coaches. Because if you can't get excited about playing Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl, you shouldn't play football. You should do something else.
I would assume drop off a plane, just have a parachute, extreme skiing may be one. How the hell can you not get excited about playing these jokers, you know? But I don't read articles. I seldom read articles. Did you hear so and so did this and that. And I get a feeling where they're headed and where they're coming and a whole bunch of rhetoric about that. I don't know, did we respond to some level of self fulfilling prophecy, I hope not. But in this day and age with way too much information instead of too little, maybe not. But as I go through my postmortem on how to improve and preparing for a Bowl; that's going to be certainly an issue I'll consider.
Q. Jake, could you talk about the wild offense or McCluster preparing for quarterback. Was it anything you'd seen before?
Jake Ratliff: We hadn't seen anything like that before. We had seen something sort of like that. But we prepared for it all week and we knew what was coming and we knew what to do, knew our assignments, knew what to do. But some occasions maybe somebody was trying to do too much, I don't know what it was. But some assignments were blown on that alignment.
Q. Coach McNeill, give us your impressions of Ole Miss's offense, what they did to
Ruffin McNeill: We knew going into the game they're great going into any game we prepared for the Wild Rebel formation and that particular formation did not hurt us, if you notice that. They caught the long pass, but I thought they did a good job preparing. My hat goes off to Ole Miss. I thought McCluster, we saw him on film and it was advertised. Very quick, really good play maker. I thought we did get some pressure on Snead, which I was pleased to see that. The biggest disappointment was third down conversion for us.
We had been one of the best third down defenses all year long, and we did not stop them in third down. And you've got to give credit to them first. But there's some things we could have done better, I could have done better. Like coach said, when I start looking at it I'll see what we can do to make it particularly better. We felt good about the game plan, really good practices the past two weeks, the week in Lubbock and the week in Dallas. But my hat goes off to Ole Miss. I thought there was some things we could have done better as well.
Q. All three players, you guys had a chance to pull off a 12 win season, could have extended your Bowl streak to three consecutive wins. Just your thoughts on this loss and what went wrong.
Eric Morris: I think, first and foremost, we're disappointed like any team would be to play in a Bowl of this magnitude. We were excited to play. Like coach said, we had a good week of practice. As far as being on the team and the mentality of me being around them all week, I really don't think we overlooked anything, and that we were disappointed in not going to the BCS or anything like that.
We were ready to play. They came out. My hat's off to Ole Miss. Their defense played well. They ran around, did some good things. But there's a couple key situations in the game where things didn't go our way and we didn't respond like we wanted to.
But we're still a really good football team, and I think that obviously we wish it would have went a different way, but I know this team will rebound well and we'll be back for another go at it next year.
Darcel McBath: Well, first, I think they did a good job executing especially in the second half better than we did. And they made plays when they needed to. Like coach said, we didn't get off the field in third downs, and like we said we were excited to play, you could tell by the way we came out. We were excited to play.
I think we let out the gas a little, let some things slip through the cracks and got a little unfocused. But other than that they played a heck of a game. And we were excited to be here. We gave it our best shot and they came out victorious, though.
Jake Ratliff: Like Darcel said they converted a lot of their third downs that we needed to go our way, and they didn't. It was a great place to play, a great Bowl. But you've got to give them credit, too. They did their jobs. They made the right plays at the right time.
On playing his last game for Texas Tech:
"You never like to lose your last. All losses hurt, and this one was no different. It's unfortunate to be the last game, but it's been a fun run here. It's a tough loss. It wasn't the way we wanted to end the season, but it's the way it happened."
On coming up short on fourth-and-4 at Texas Tech's 37 in the third quarter:
"We just thought we could get it. They had two threes out of there, and I tapped (C Stephen) Hamby and said, 'Go,' and came up a yard short. We went on a hard count, and I thought I saw the opening, and tapped Hamby."
On the 44-yard scramble to the Ole Miss 3 as the first half ran out:
"I didn't think I had a chance, honestly. Once I got down there, I thought I could get in, but when I took off, I was just planning to get a few yards and getting down and getting us into field goal range. Then the safety didn't touch me, and I said, 'What happened there?' Eddie (WR Edward Britton) gets a block, and I thought I could get around him, but he (Ole Miss FS Kendrick Lewis) cut my legs out."
On WR Michael Crabtree's future:
"He'll go wherever he wants to go."
On his future:
"We'll see. Hopefully, I'll get a shot at the next level. I want to stay around football forever. I want to play as long as I can, and then I want to start coaching."
On the Red Raiders' future:
"They have a lot of good talent coming back, a lot of young players. We just need to set the bar a little higher. We're on the national stage now."
On the Red Raiders' play today:
"Sometimes you have a sloppy bowl game. We had a sloppy third quarter, and it cost us. That third quarter we played awful. We got ourselves in a hole we couldn't get out of. We were excited to be here. We were excited to play, and we were excited to be here.
"After we scored late, I thought we were still in it. I thought if we could get an onside kick and get another score, then another onsider ... who knows? This offense can score quickly. We had a good shot at that onside kick. We had a chance and we made a run at it."
On Ole Miss:
"They did a good job on defense. They came up with a good scheme and executed it well."
FS Darcel McBath
On his interception return:
"It was a hot route, and I started sneaking down. He (Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead) threw it and luckily, someone hit the ball and slowed it down. It was a foot race from there."
On his injury:
"I tweaked my hamstring just enough (in the first quarter). I tried to make a go of it. In the third quarter, I went in for the goal line series. I just wanted to exert my presence out there, to be a leader. It hurt me not to be out there. They were looking for someone to say something. My last game as a senior, the Cotton Bowl ... it was an emotional thing. I tried to do everything I could."
On the loss to injury of both himself and CB Jamar Wall:
"He's a leader on defense. We obviously didn't recover from it."
On Ole Miss:
"They're a good defensive team. They played the whole game. They didn't take a play off. You never like to lose your last. All losses hurt, and this one was no different. It's unfortunate to be the last game, but it's been a fun run here. It's a tough loss. It wasn't the way we wanted to end the season, but it's the way it happened."
WR Eric Morris
On the Ole Miss defense:
"They really weren't any faster than Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas. But they rallied to the ball well. Defensively, it was a matter of their executing better rather than being better than us. They had a good game plan, and they executed it well, and they stepped up in key moments."
On Ole Miss' second-half pass rush:
"They changed their rush. In the first half, it seemed they were playing more of a zone. But they had success in man-to-man, and they were able to bring people off the edge. We didn't have a chance to get downfield."
LB Brian Duncan
On the Texas Tech 2008 season:
"We have to continue to work on what we've accomplished this year and build on it for next year. I give this whole season to the seniors. They got us to this point."
Ole Miss Quotes
COACH NUTT: Thank you so much. I want to really thank again the AT&T Cotton Bowl. You all are the best. Our players had one of the best times ever in their life. Our seniors will never forget it.
The memories are just awesome, to be in the last historic game right here in this stadium. This is the first time I've seen this stadium. The work done on the stadium was just awesome.
But what I'm proud of is these guys. They have tremendous character. We're down 14 0. Just the thing we talked about not doing, we turned the ball over twice. And that's not who you want to turn the ball over to, not that fastbreak football team. Texas Tech is an excellent football team.
You can see why they're the seventh ranked team in the country. They're spectacular, but these guys have had such great character and it's gotten better each and every week. And the last seven weeks these guys play football, and for their first Bowl experience, I was really concerned because there's so many good things to do, so many functions, the food, everything's great. But when it was time to go to work, these guys went to work. So our preparation was just outstanding.
We knew the type of team we were playing, and I'm just really proud of our defense. Our defense stopped 'em, stopped 'em, time and time again. They never were discouraged when we turned the ball over.
And I'll tell you, I just can't say enough about that, the effort, the attitude. I'm really proud of our seniors, the way they took ownership of this team, and we just got better each week. And it's just a wonderful day.
PETER IRWIN: We have a couple of MVP trophies we'd like to present. Kathy Saunders, the chairman of the Cotton Bowl athletic association will present the Sanford trophy. I hope you have the offensive player trophy, to Dexter McCluster from Ole Miss.
(Applause).
Outstanding Offensive Player of the Game goes to Marshay Green. One of you guys could take it back to him.
Questions for the players.
Q. Dexter, the Tech coaches gave you guys a lot of credit. Also Mike went as far to say that you showed him more than he may have anticipated. Can you take us through your approach in this game, and did you have something to prove out there?
DEXTER MCCLUSTER: It's been great all week. We play as a team, went out and played Ole Miss football, played as one heartbeat. I'm thankful to have Coach Nutt be the head coach. Turned this program around. The players stuck together and we played great.
Q. Peria, can you talk about the pressure on Graham Harrell getting in the backfield and how you thought you guys did with that today?
PERIA JERRY: For the most part we did really good. I felt like we could have did a little better and came up with a few tackles in the backfield, but for the most part it all played off. Everybody worked hard, ran into the ball and that's why I want to thank Coach Nutt for everything and just blessed.
Q. Dexter and Marshay, football is supposed to be the game for big giants and you guys are two of the tiniest guys on the field. Can you talk about that?
MARSHAY GREEN: First of all I want to say maybe not the size, the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.
DEXTER MCCLUSTER: It's been a lot of people looking down on me because of my size, saying I'm in the wrong sport. But I go out there play with my heart and I give it 110 percent every play, I try to do whatever I can for the team because I know they'll do the same thing for me. But I want to go out there, I feel the same size out there as everybody else when I'm out there.
Q. Mike, can you talk about being in and Jevan, if you can talk about this, too, the double coverage touchdown catch, just walk us through that play and Jevan if you thought you made the right decision when you threw that ball up in the air.
JEVAN SNEAD: I knew if I threw it out there as far as I could he'd get it great to have such a great receiver.
MIKE WALLACE: Jevan did it, I stuck my hands out and it was all of him and Coach Nutt for calling the play.
Q. Michael and Peria, you guys really took over as far as both sides of the line of scrimmage in the second half. Was that necessarily in the game plan or did you see something in the course of the first half that you could do in the second half down the stretch?
PERIA JERRY: Coach has been telling us all week run to the ball, run to the ball. Our guys did a great job. I mean we just hustled to the ball when plays came our way.
MICHAEL OHER: Our coach he's a hard nosed traditional guy. He drilled in our heads we have to be physical. That's what I told the guys on the sideline just to be physical. Through the second and third quarter I mean we just seen that it was they just couldn't do anything. We just came out and kept hitting them in the mouth, and that's all we did, was just be physical with them.
Q. Dexter, how fun is it being in the Wild Rebel offense, and do you feel like it's something that is going to take a while for defenses to learn how to stop as far as SEC and everything?
DEXTER MCCLUSTER: The Wild Rebel formation has been great. I'm glad coach brought it to Ole Miss it's been big time offensive it's been big for our offense. Just to go out there and keep teams off balance like that and all the speed we do have and Coach Nutt knows what plays to call and Coach Austin and the line is so physical. By me being a little guy I need a little hole and I'm out of there.
Q. Marshay, what was it like for you covering Michael Crabtree, you got a lot of one on ones out there. First of all, let's go back to the beginning where you fell down on the one play that resulted in an interception but it was all forgotten by the end when you had the 65 yard TD return?
MARSHAY GREEN: Basically, it was a big time challenge. All week we've been hearing things about Crabtree, Texas Tech, but coach challenged us to come out and play every play like it's our last play. I came out and did that. We came out with the victory.
Q. Coach, will you talk about the fan support that you had today?
COACH NUTT: The band has been great all year long I love the band. I know how many hours they spend working and preparing just like we do. But they add so much and really appreciate their effort, they just bring so much to the stadium and I love going to hear them play there at the end of a game like that.
Q. Jevan, can you talk about your emotions today and coming home and how special this day was for you?
JEVAN SNEAD: Just extremely special to be able to come back home and get a win. It feels great. I'm from about an hour and a half from here. So I had a lot of family and friends in the stands.
Just have to thank these coaches and my teammates for getting us this win.
Q. Michael, can you talk just, when you guys came out, there was a definite difference between the two teams, Texas Tech very quiet. You guys had a swagger to you, looked like you were having a lot of fun out there. Can you talk about that?
MICHAEL OHER: This is my first Bowl game and my teammates, so, of course, we're going to be excited and fired up. And I mean, they they're one top 5 teams. We lost four games by 19 points. We got a lot of great players on this team, and they should have been watching film of it because we're a great team.
And we had to prove it. 91 percent of the country picked Texas Tech. We just looked at that. We felt disrespected and we came out fighting. And we showed up and I guess they didn't.
Q. Coach, can you just talk a little bit about Jevan's performance over the past six games, six game winning streak that turned you around?
COACH NUTT: Last six weeks Jevan really came on. This is his first year to play if you get right down to it. I think he's done a remarkable job. I'm so proud of him. We do a lot of formations he has to be kind of the traffic controller getting the people in and out. He's watching the clock. He's the manager.
But if you look at the last seven weeks, this guy's been so accurate. Our receivers are so fast, and he's been very, very good on a deep ball. The LSU game, Florida game, if you look at those big games, sometimes quarterbacks will shy away from a big game but the pressure doesn't bother Jevan.
With Michael Oher up there protecting you've got Dexter and Michael Wallace, the defense the way they give us such good field position, we've played together. But Jevan has executed the plays that we call and it keeps people off balance when you can stretch the field and also run it, you've got what you want. You've got balance.
Q. Coach, you've been involved in this game before, your time in Arkansas, can you talk about what it means to come here and get a win just for the Ole Miss program going forward?
COACH NUTT: It's just so big. You just can't put it all into words. Our players, the expressions on their faces, every time they went to a function, went in their hospitality room.
But what I'm so proud of is the way they went about it. The hotel people said that my guys are such class guys. Some of them went to the medieval deal or different Dallas Mavericks', I kept getting feedback from the classiness of the guys. It starts with our seniors. Our seniors took ownership and they're the example. I wish we could keep this team and bring it back, the same team. You can't leave. Bring it back one more time. But getting back to your question, the Cotton Bowl is special. It's special to me.
And I'm just so thankful. And Rick we'd like to go ahead and just, we'll make the announcement we'll come back next year, right now, let's go.
Q. Jevan, you talked about the emotion of the win, but talk about the talented players around you, and the teammate and the team feeling throughout the season that led to a day as big as this?
JEVAN SNEAD: What coach said earlier about me, I can't do it without these guys, and they make my job so much easier. So I just feel fortunate to be on such a gifted team, and be able to play with these guys, because they're a great group of guys. And I'm going to miss the ones that are leaving.
But I just feel very fortunate to have them.
Q. Peria and Mike, you talked about being physical. Did you feel them wearing down and you all taking your toll on them as the game progressed?
PERIA JERRY: In the first half, it was you know pretty much about equal. But going into the second half, coming in, you could see the guys slowing up a little bit. And all those extra gasses Coach Nutt put us in practice, they paid off. We weren't tired a bit. Run all day.
MICHAEL OHER: Coach Decker, strength and conditioning, they got us a lot better. Like I said, Coach Markuson, he belong in the 1940s. (Laughter). He's traditional. He just stayed on us about being physical. I'm thankful that Coach Nutt came to coach us and I really appreciate what he did for me and my teammates. They got us a lot better. We couldn't ask for anything else.
Q. Coach and Dexter, you two try to answer this question. You guys didn't have a win against SEC opponents. None of you guys have played in a Bowl game before today. What's the difference, if you could point out one thing, what's the biggest difference between last year and the success that you guys had this year?
DEXTER MCCLUSTER: It's more togetherness. That's something we haven't had in the past couple of years. We're just missing one key element. And Coach Nutt came and fed that in and got us on the right track and got us to believe.
Like I said, one heartbeat has been something we've been stressing all year. We never gave up on that. And that's what got us here. And we play for each other now, and that's a big difference.
COACH NUTT: That's it. When I walked in the very first team meeting, I saw these beautiful athletes. And they looked the part. And they fill out a uniform just right in the SEC. But the thing that I saw early was there's a lot of individuals.
And it wasn't all their fault. But they just hadn't had very much success. And they didn't win a game, and I noticed a lot of times they didn't look people in the eye, didn't hold their head up right. But gotta credit our staff. Our staff did a real good job. Coach Rocker played in this league. He coached this guy. Coach Rocker was an Outland Trophy winner, Lombardi winner, he understands. Seemed like they connected really early. Just like everybody else on our staff. Coach Nix, Coach Dickerson, Coach Austin with the wide outs. Takes everybody. Our theme has been one heartbeat. But those are just words.
It takes about going by their apartment. It takes coming out to my house and my wife feeding them. It takes that. And where they know that you're real. Because you can't fool them. They're smart. You can't be counterfeit.
So once they knew that we care, they don't care how much we know until they know how much we care, and when that hit in, that sunk in, we took off. We took off together. And when you look at it we could have won a few more games. But I'm proud of what we won, though.
PETER IRWIN: You guys may not know you all set a new AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic record of 81 points. That's the most in the Cotton Bowl history. Previous record was 73 points in 1985 between Boston College 45 and the University of Houston 28. Congratulations.
Q. Coach Nutt, what can this win do to springboard how do you build off of this, immediately recruiting, your first year at Ole Miss?
COACH NUTT: That's the question. Because we're losing some good players. Michael Wallace, he got by a lot of defensive backs this year. We've got to get a speed guy like that. You lose a Michael Oher that protects the left side, most important side you lose Peria Jerry. You can't draw those people up they're special. What this win does, though, it really helps. We don't have many scholarships left. And they know who they are out there. They need to come join us, and it's going to be a whole lot easier holding up that trophy in the next few weeks of recruiting, though.
HEAD COACH HOUSTON NUTT
On calling two touchdown passes to the tight end:
"We saw it was open early on, but we didn't know if it would score. We thought it would be a first down or gain eight or nine yards. Man, I'm just really proud of the whole offense."
On whether he expected the highest-scoring game in Cotton Bowl Classic history:
"I was hoping that we would be able to score. I knew they were going to score. I was thinking about 35 points. I was really proud of what our defense did. (Texas Tech WR Michael) Crabtree scares you to death. I thought our corners were awesome. Our defensive line kept pressure on them. Although we might not have had as many sacks as we wanted, we hurried their quarterback. That's what makes it go - when you hurry him."
On the Ole Miss offense:
"We had 35 minutes of time possession. That's huge. We wanted to keep the clock going and make first downs. ... The turnovers early were frustrating. But they kept hanging on. They've got character."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR KENT AUSTIN
On WR Dexter McCluster's performance being a surprise:
"I don't think I would be surprised with Dexter. Dexter played well but a lot of other people around him played well."
On having WR Dexter McCluster in the Wild Rebel formation:
"It's not just his ability to make people miss and how good he is in space; you have to have ball skills and ball-handling skills. He played quarterback in high school some as well as tailback. You have to have a little moxie about you. You can't be flustered being put in that situation out in space like that. You have to have the intangibles to be able to be in that personnel group and in that formation and he's got it."
On the success of the Ole Miss running game:
"We always want to run the football. We play in a conference where you have to run the football to be successful. Our offensive line took ownership of that. We've been gradually getting better throughout the year running the football where we can sustain our aggressiveness and our physicality for a longer portion of the football game and not just have it in spurts. When they (the running backs) got called upon in the second half, they took ownership of it."
On Jevan Snead:
"He's come a long way and he's got a lot of room to go too, which is good. The game slowed down for him finally and it only happens by playing. As a quarterback, you can't get better just in practice. You've got to play real games in real situations against really good teams and in all different kinds of pressure scenarios because, as a quarterback, the most valuable thing you can gain is experience playing."
DT PERIA JERRY
On the week in Dallas:
"It's been a long week. It was kind of rush before but it finally came. For the most part I'm just glad we got a win."
On how big it was to get a safety just after the Ole Miss offense had turned the ball over:
"That gave us another level of energy. It was one of the big plays in the game. We hadn't had a safety all year, and it was something we needed to do at that point. For the most part, our defense played well."
On whether Texas Tech was surprised by the Ole Miss defense:
"I don't think they were surprised by the game plan. I just think they were surprised by an 8-4 team playing this way. We knew we could come in and win. We've been playing well all year. This was the last game. We couldn't look back."
On not giving up big plays to Texas Tech:
"Basically, everything they showed us we were already prepared for. They made some catches. We missed some tackles. But for the most part, we hung in there. Coach (Tyrone) Nix prepared us for everything they showed us."
CB MARSHAY GREEN
On the punt return for touchdown called back for stepping out of bounds:
"I don't think I stepped out of bounds but the cameras don't lie. I was too excited I guess."
On today's game:
"Basically, we knew this was going to be a big time game. Texas Tech was ranked No. 7 coming into the game. They had (Michael) Crabtree who was a Heisman candidate and was also (Harrell) was a Heisman candidate. We knew that, in all of the fuss, to win this game we were going to have to run to the ball and we were going to have to bring our A game. That's what we did."
On what makes the Texas Tech offense so difficult to defense against:
"I would say it's a little bit of the spread offense and the no huddle. Anytime you have that (on offense), you're going to be tired and it makes it hard to focus (on defense). We focused and were able to come out with this victory."
FL MIKE WALLACE
On the success of the Ole Miss offense against Texas Tech:
"First of all, it just came down to wanting to win the game. Our offense line, I just think is real big up front. We average about 315 pounds up front. Our offensive line really got off the line of scrimmage and moved them back. Dexter (McCluster) and Brandon (Bolden) really did a good job running the ball today."
On WR Dexter McCluster:
"He's so quick and has so much body control. He's an unbelievable player. I really like playing with Dexter. He really has me trying to do the things he's out there doing. He's cutting across the field doing all type of things so that makes me want to try to do those things. It's really fun playing with Dexter. You can't ever sleep on Dexter. If he's at running back, you can't ever stop blocking. He doesn't ever want to go down. He's a really good player."
LB PATRICK TRAHAN
On the success on the Ole Miss defense today:
"It was just a team effort. Everybody held their own with no weak links on the defense. That's one of our mottos as team. We saw this as a big stage to make a stand and earn some respect in the nation's eyes. We knew that our offense could score and could put up points. We knew we had to make stops and that would be a wrap for the game."
WR DEXTER MCCLUSTER
On the attitude of Ole Miss players coming into the game:
"All week, we had great practices. We've been having a ball out here. ... We just wanted to come out here and play Ole Miss football no matter what everybody else said. We knew we could get the job done if we played our game, and that's what we did."
On whether Texas Tech was surprised by the Ole Miss schemes:
"I think they were surprised by some things. In the past, we would get ahead and not finish it. We finished today. ... We had a lot of speed out there. All I need is one crease, and I'm going to hit it. My hat goes off to (strength coach Don) Coach Decker for getting me faster and bigger. We had a lot of speed on the field today."
On whether Tech did anything that was not expected:
"It was pretty much what we planned for. We knew we just had to come out there, execute our plays and get the job done. ... This was more of a zone team, so we had to find the open hole. In the SEC, there's a lot more man-to-man coverage. ... Texas Tech is a great defense, but we executed our game plan and got it done.
OT MICHAEL OHER
On the Ole Miss offensive line play:
"It was about being physical and getting that mindset. Practice makes perfect. We had a month to get ready and to learn about their defense. We came to play today."
On attacking the Texas Tech defense:
"We were told by Coach (Mike) Markuson to run vertical and get physical. That's what we did. Once we did that, it opened up things for us. ... I knew we were going to come to play. I don't know if we caught them off guard or not. I just know that we have a great football team. We can play with the best."
On the Ole Miss confidence level coming into the game:
"I kept telling my teammates we should blow them out. Watching them on defense, they weren't one of the better teams we had played."
On his personal performance in his senior year:
"I saw something fresh when Coach (Houston) Nutt came to Ole Miss. It was a fresh start. He made me believe. To come to the Cotton Bowl and dominate is big for me. ... I expect Ole Miss to be in the top 10 next year. I expect the program to go up. I feel like Coach Nutt is going to retire at Ole Miss."
QB JEVAN SNEAD
On having an interception returned for a touchdown in the first half:
"I have been in that situation before unfortunately. I knew I couldn't dwell on it. I knew I had to pick my head up and keep going. It's important for a quarterback to have a short memory. ... I knew I had to play for my teammates."
On being able to utilize WR Dexter McCluster:
"He makes my job a whole lot easier whether he's in the backfield as a running back, playing as a wide receiver or at quarterback. Just having him there provides a spark for our offense and makes the rest of us better."
On growing up in Texas and watching the Cotton Bowl as a child:
"Watching Cotton Bowls like this one, you always dreamed of playing in them. It's huge. It makes it pretty special. I am excited to be here and have my family and friends here. To play against a team like Texas Tech is a huge accomplishment. To play them and win is unbelievable. I feel fortunate to be here and couldn't be more excited. ... I thank God for leading me here."
On falling behind 14-0:
"We have matured as a team. That is the kind of thing we are able to handle better now. Our players did a great job. Our coaches did a great job. We knew we were not out of it. We have been in this situation before. It's one of those things you learn as you go. You can come back from 14-0 down and win. We gained confidence throughout the season to know we could be in situations like that and win. It was pretty calm. We calmed down and realized there was still a lot of time to play."
