Postgame Quotes: Head Coach Joe Moorhead (Nov. 23)

Mississippi State vs. Abilene Christian
Mississippi State Head Coach Joe Moorhead
November 23, 2019 | Davis Wade Stadium

Opening Statement
"Heading into the game, it was going to be very much a do-your-job type of endeavor. In all three phases, we're going to have to come out and play with great urgency, great precision, and do it for four quarters. I thought we saw it at times. Across the board, offense, defense, and special teams, we've got to play much cleaner. I thought there were a ton of positive things in the run game. I thought we did some things in the pass game. The defense held them [Abilene Christian] to seven [points]. We did a good job with our PAT's and our field goals. I'm an English major, not a math guy. I know you've got to get to five before you get to six. At the end of the day, pleased with the win and ready to move on to Egg Bowl week."

Q: Tommy [Stevens] has given you guys a lot in the run game the past few weeks. How much has he added and opened things up a little bit?
JM: "It has been a great compliment to Kylin Hill and the other running backs, who I think are running very hard, with great pad level and physicality, while protecting the football. Heading into the Arkansas game that was a discussion I had with Tommy, that he needs to, as he has for the majority of his career, be a threat with his arm and his legs. Not try to pigeon hole himself as a pocket passer and do the things that made him successful. I think we have seen that in the past few weeks."

Q: Is there an update on Tyre Phillips?
JM: "Tyre went a little bit in the second half and then we kind of pulled him out as we got some of the reserves in, but we're banged up. We will get in tomorrow morning and look at the injury report. It is a short turn around, and I think health wise in a sense that there is only five days left in the regular season, and we're fighting.

Q: Your three touchdowns in the first half came off of consecutive drives. What was the difference between that and the first few drives and that result?
JM:"I think we ran the ball very effectively. I think we protected, I think we threw it in the proximity of the receiver, and I think that we caught the ball. I think the difference was probably execution, in those three scoring drives compared to the first few."

Q: Monday you said you would not look at Ole Miss until right after the game and they have had about two weeks to prepare, how much of a disadvantage is that that they're going to have two full weeks to prepare?
JM: "I lied. I looked at them this week. I don't make the schedules and I am not involved in that decision making process. They had the luxury of having a bye week and a bunch of days to get ready and we are coming off a short week. It is what it is. We are not going to complain. We are not going to make excuses. We are going to go in tomorrow and watch this tape really early in the morning, grade it, and then we are going to move on and make a game plan."

Q: The 88-yarder to Kylin seemed to add some creativity, did you know that it was going to work out that well, and how long have you had that in the tank?
JM: "We called that a couple of times this year. It's best designed for the split safety, two-high defense. We get the MIKE isolated on the [running] back, and then you run a power at him, and he is responsible for the three-vertical, and he is also responsible for the C gap. If he had turned it around with Kylin, then the quarterback would have run the ball. We got it off one time this year against Southern Miss and they went single high and we threw it to Kylin and he caught it for a short gain. That was one P10, position and 10, off the sideline it would have been off-split safety stuff so that's why we went with it.

Q: Took a couple of drives for the offense to warm up there, what were you seeing from the teams in the first quarter?
JM: "I was seeing red because I was mad that we weren't executing at a high level. There were just some things within our drive; we needed to play with more precision. We moved the ball a little bit between the 30s and then we stalled out as we got down into the fringe area and in the red zone. We just need to block a little better and we needed to find the guy that was open and throw it to them, then we needed to catch it. I thought what we did on that fourth drive is that we started playing with a little more tempo, running a little more. I think that Tommy [Stevens] hitting Deddrick [Thomas] on that pass down in there, so it was more a matter of execution than anything."

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Quotes: Head Coach Joe Moorhead (Nov. 23)

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Kylin Hill

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