Head Coach Russ HuesmanOpening statement:
"For us to play that well on all three phases, I'm really proud of our team. Any time you can beat a Furman football team, you know you've prepared well. Furman's going to win a bunch of football games this year. They're well coached. They did some things early that had us scrambling. They threw the double move down there, and if they catch that ball and don't drop it, it could be a different game.Sometimes you miss one or drop one and it changes the complexity of the game. Â
"I thought about going for it on fourth down, that's a 3-0 game about midfield and that's a little nerve wrecking. I made the call but
Jeff Durden said 'Hey listen, we have to get some momentum changed.' I agreed and fortunately we got the first down and we actually scored on that drive. I'm proud of our football team. I'm not sure if we can play much better than this. I'm sure we'll look at the film and see some areas of concern. For the most part, we got them on the ground probably other than that one double move. They had the guy open we were in pretty good shape. I'm proud of our guys and we have to keep playing well, keep winning."
How much more did you utilize Derrick Crane?"He carried the ball 21 times and rushed for 138. I thought he did a great job. He and
Richardre Bagley are both good players. A great one-two punch for us. They both work hard. They play hard. They love this place. I'm proud of both of those guys. You trust them. That's the bottom line here.
"We had three drives I think started on the five or six yard line and you have to trust running backs that they're going to put two hands on it and get your first down. When we're backed up like that, they're going to keep the football, and they're going to make sure we have it. Our new offensive line did a really nice job too."
On adjustments being made defensively…"Well,
Adam Braithwaite and our defensive coaches had a nice plan coming in. They hid a couple of things and did a couple of things we hadn't seen, but
Lucas Webb's pick was really a coverage that we haven't used before and we drew it up like that. The other one where
Sema'je Kendall almost picked it, should have had the pick on the sideline, and another one they drew up and we practiced it where we thought we could steal one.
"There was actually another one that he kind of almost threw in the dirt but we probably could have stolen, that one based on the coverage that we were playing. So we did some things coverage wise. We made some adjustments at the half. We really forced our back and corner to play. We put him on the island a lot, but in the second half, we gave him some help. I think Cedrick Netles broke the one up on a little bit different coverage on the sideline. I'm actually proud of our secondary. I thought they played really well. First time all year I think we really played good all the way across the board there."
Do you think offense as a whole reached their full potential?"We scored 24 points offensively. We played games here where we sat on it. We're running the clock. We're getting in the huddle, and there's nine minutes left in that game and we're huddling up and bringing Jacob over trying to run the clock down. The bottom line is, last week and maybe this week had more yards but we want wins. So whether we get 500 yards or 349 yards, it's about winning games. And that's the bottom line; nobody's selfish. If we can win, I don't care how we win. Realistically breaks were off. We ran the ball every snap in the fourth quarter."
On Jacob Huesman…"He's had a great career for us. I don't think he played very well tonight; probably not a great game. Now you watch the film and probably some of us thought he should have hit but he missed some reads. He missed a throw or two, but he's been a fine player for us for four years. What we've done he's been a huge part of it, no question."
Jacob Huesman, senior quarterbackOn offense…"First and foremost I just want to say how great the offensive line did today. Wow. They made it pretty easy for
Derrick Craine back there. Craine had a phenomenal day rushing the ball. Those guys up front were rolling them on out of there. It was aggressive. It was one of the best games I've seen them play in a while."
Can you easily notice how well offense played today?"You really can. It was pretty evident when Craine was ripping off 30-yard runs there towards the end of the game. Those guys were so well prepared, and they really stepped up the physicality. It was impressive. I was really proud of those guys."
Lucas Webb, sophomore defensive backOn his pick six:"That's something we really practiced all week. Making the reads, of course the defensive line is beast up there. Most of the time they have all the action, so I definitely want to make sure when I get an opportunity I have to take it."
On Sema'je Kendall's interception:"He has and I've talked to him about that before. He was pretty serious about it on the field but we laughed about that after the game. It seems like every time one of us gets a pick the other one does too. It's fun when you get to celebrate with your teammates like that."
On what needs to be done to get more wins in the conference:"I mean from here on out the competition gets better and better every week. We're in the middle of our conference play and that just means we have to practice hard. We have to be smart and pay attention to what our coaches tell us to do.
Furman Head Coach Bruce FowlerOpening statement:"Obviously they outplayed us. They were more physical. They controlled the line of the scrimmage. They pressured the passer a lot. They controlled the game. We got off to a good start, had a chance, and had some red zone opportunities three or four times. Those are things you have to do well if you're going to play against a good team."
On Chattanooga getting pick six and interception in the end zone:"Chattanooga did a good job, and they played great defense. They played very solid and ran the ball well. They didn't make any mistakes, but we had two turnovers. Both of them were really good plays. They just outplayed us."
What was the message to the team after the game?"We've got to get back at it. Chattanooga obviously was better than us today. They've been the better team in the league for a while and that's where we have to get to. When we go back to practice that's what we'll start working toward."
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