Postgame Quotes: No. 17 Texas A&M at Mississippi State
October 01, 2022 | Football
Mississippi State Head Coach Mike Leach
Q: What do you think changed after that fumble recovery in the second quarter that was working so well for the offense?
ML: "I'm not sure which fumble recovery, but the biggest thing was just playing together. I thought that we played early on a little too close to the vest. As we opened up, we had more success and they had more stuff to cover. I thought we did a good job of a combination of running and passing so that they had a tough time teeing off on anyone, so I thought that part was good."
Q: What did you see on Emmanuel Forbes coming around to get that block and how big was it to have Decamerion Richardson finish it off there?
ML: "Well, he's gotten close on a lot of them, so we've seem him come close on a lot of them, but we just haven't seen him get them. I thought Decam did a good job as the ball was in front of him. Some guys would sit there and stumble around trying to get their hands on it while it's on the ground. He waited for the second jump. The other thing that Forbes did a nice job of was after blocking it he went down and got several blocks and got in the way of a number of people trying to get to Decam."
Q: How big was red zone defense for you guys?
ML: "I thought it was important. It was tough. They have some really good players and they've got a lot of top recruit guys in the country, but the biggest thing is just do your job. Play them tight and do your job. Play sharp. And I thought we were. Then, of course, you try to keep them off-balance by playing the extremes and the extremes are either come after them or look like you're going to come after them and drop everybody."
Student-Athletes
#13 Emmanuel Forbes, CB
Q: You guys were substituting early and often today, using a lot of guys on defense, and it seemed to keep you fresh. You were able to get a lot more pressure today than previous games. What did you think about the rotation and how some of the reserves did today?EF: "I think they did really well. It was the game plan to get a lot of young faces in the game and execute playing fast and physical. They played well."
Q: Four pick-sixes now for you in your career, what do you feel like has been the difference for you to take that back?
EF: "Just being able to catch the ball and score, it's something we look forward to in the corners room. That's why we call ourselves takers."
Q: You and Decamerion [Richardson] both getting into the end zone, how important is it for you guys to turn defense into offense?
EF: "It's really big. It's a real big momentum thing. I'm sure we have something to work on in film. We are just looking to get better this week."
#23 Dillon Johnson, RB
Q: What did you see from the offensive line and what was the key to success for the running game?DJ: "They were just moving bodies. I have a lot of confidence every day we go out and we practice running the ball. Coach Leach preaches that if we continue to get 5-6 yards then we can continue to run the ball. Tonight, the run game was great. I think we had over 100 yards as a group. We give all the credit to the offensive lineman. They make some big holes for us. "
Q: Talk about the versatility of the offense.
DJ: "People are going to have to respect us. We are just trying to go out there and do our job. The offensive line did a good job of opening lanes for the running backs to do our jobs and we just went out there and tried to make guys miss and make plays."
#2 Will Rogers, QB
Q: What did you think of your receivers today?WR: "I feel like they did a great job. I mean from RaRa [Thomas] all the way down to JRob [Justin Robinson] who hasn't played as many snaps I think it speaks a lot for the coaches, Coach Spurrier, Coach Hollingshead, to prepare our guys to play in this system."
Q: What has led to this upward trajectory that you've had recently and this season?
WR: "It starts in practice. I think after the LSU game, it just kind of lit a fire in this group. We've practiced way better. We've practiced way faster. I think that's translated over to Saturdays."
Q: What did you see on that Caleb Ducking touchdown, on the first pass incomplete and what you saw to go right back to it?
WR: "Last year when we were playing Ole Miss, they were kind of taking away the inside. They don't really want you to be throwing anything that goes in breaking routes. I kind of peeked out there, and I saw the corner was just inside left leverage – the same way that they [Ole Miss] were doing it last year. I just put a little much on it that first fade. We came back the next play and I saw they were playing the man, so I gave them another chance except this time when he did his release you could tell that the DB kind of knew it was coming. He tried to cut it off, so I threw it right on his back ear and [Ducking] did the rest."
Players Mentioned
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