Thoughts about the game:
“It was a heck of a game. It was kind of a throwback game with the elements. Everybody was slipping and sliding and falling around and the defenses were playing pretty good. It was kind of a field position (game), a little bit of a throwback game. We had a hard time blocking ’em up front and we had some key missed assignments. They’re a very good defensive football team.”
On Justin Thomas:
“He makes plays towards the end a lot of times to help win the game. And certainly, he did today.”
Going forward
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but the bottom line is we’re 1-0, and that’s about as good as you can be right now.”
On the difficulty running the ball:
“It’s surprising, but I think that they were giving (Thomas) some looks. It was hard to play offense out there. Their I-formation, running downhill, might have been a little easier, but for us, we’re kind of precision and spread it out and read it and pitch it around, and it’s hard to do when guys are slipping and falling. I don’t think we ever had an (A-back) catch one full speed on the option plays.”
On Dedrick Mills’ touchdown:
“The last touchdown by Dedrick, we called two plays in the huddle. I wanted to get him the ball because I really think he’s going to be a good player, and he didn’t disappoint me. I mean, he got his pads down.”
On Harrison Butker:
“Harrison did a great job kicking off and making the field goal when we needed it. Then, what goes unnoticed is the one at the end of the game. There was some discussion, the coaches asked me if I wanted to sky kick. I went to him and I said, ‘Can you kick it out in the back of the end zone?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Well, kick it.’ No use to sky kick when they can’t return it. He put it deep enough to where the kid didn’t have a chance to bring it out.”
