Postgame Quotes: Bowling Green at Mississippi State

Mississippi State Head Coach Mike Leach

Q: How would you assess the team's overall performance?
ML: "I thought we played a good first half and I thought we started the third quarter pretty good. I thought we had an off spot there in the third quarter both offensively and defensively, [but] then had a run in the fourth quarter where the first defense did a good job stopping them and then we marched down and scored. That was kind of when we sealed everything up and got some of our younger guys into the game. I thought some of those younger guys squandered their opportunity. That is an opportunity to show what you can do. We need to see a little more than that. There is no sense putting them in if they are going to play like that."

Q: What did you think of special teams' performance?
ML: "I thought it was good; I thought maybe the brightest part of our play today was special teams because we were solid in all phases. We had some really good punts and punted better than the chart even says because we dropped one on the one-yard line. It was literally the punt more so than the coverage. We had a lot of good tackles and hit a long field goal, [although] I don't know how long it was; it went quite a ways. This was one of the better special teams games I think we've had."

Q: Caleb Ducking has become a prime target the past few games. What have you seen from him the past few weeks?
ML: "I think he just keeps getting better and better. He was a work in progress when he first got here. He has worked hard and is a relatively dynamic guy. When he uses his hands, he is tough to cover and he's fast, inordinately fast. He's gotten better and better the longer he's been here. I think he's been doing a lot of good things and is getting better. I don't think we've seen his best football yet."

Student-Athletes

#4 Caleb Ducking, WR

Q: How far do you think you've come as a receiver and a player in the last couple years?
CD: "I feel like I came a long way, for me, just sitting back behind guys like Makai [Polk], just sitting back and watching him. The year before, I was behind Osiris Mitchell, so I had a lot of guys in front of me who were doing good at this level. I just learned from them and put it to my game."

Q: You're leading the team in touchdowns and receiving yards; how does that feel?
CD: "It feels good. We have a lot of good receivers, and we all help each other get better every day at practice. We just put it into our game."

Q: Will [Rogers] had six touchdowns, of course you caught two; what did you think of his performance?
CD: "He did a nice job spreading the ball around, but we've got some things we have to clean up and get ready for next week. We've got Texas A&M coming in, so we just have to get back to work and get ready for them."

#2 Will Rogers, QB

Q: How good is it to have a guy like Caleb Ducking on your team with the year he's having?
WR: "Yeah, it's nice. You said it. He kind of flew under the radar and nobody was really talking about him this time last year, but I think it's a prime example of working hard in the offseason. As much as we throw the ball and things like that, it takes time. It doesn't matter how good of a receiver you were in high school and things like that. It takes time to learn the system and to catch as many balls as we do."

Q: What did you think about the tempo today?
WR: "I think it was good. I'm a fan of it, personally. I like it when we can really go fast, push the tempo and not wait for teams to set up and come at us and give us their best blitz. I think when we're in attack mode like that, that's when we're at our best. I think it's something we need to continue to work on and something you can see in the weeks to come."

#14 Nathaniel Watson, LB

Q: It seemed like they did some things that are a little different than you guys have seen. What makes them a different team?
BW: "When they do a sprint-out, they come out with a pull game, running game. That was a little difficult to transition from playing so much spread-out every time. Having that offense that we've got, the Air Raid, we usually use the sprint out but we're throwing the ball as well. We like to keep them at no points and less yards, but we've got to get to the drawing board and work on some extra stuff."

Q: What was the mood when you gave up a 97-yard drive? What did Coach Arnett have to say?
BW: "We underestimated that drive, so we just had to go back in and punish them. They just wanted us to play like we had been the whole game."

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Quotes: Bowling Green at Mississippi State

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