Chattanooga Mocs Football
Postgame Quotes – at Wofford – Oct. 24, 2015
 
Head Coach Russ Huesman
On the big win:
"Great win.  I had confidence Henrique (Ribeiro) was going to make that.  I actually was not nervous.  I felt good. Henrique has got a lot of confidence.  It was an unbelievable job by him.  There was great protection on that thing.  They knew we could not have any leakage."

"For our offense to take it down there like that was a tribute to them.  We had not played well on offense for the rest of the day.  For them to get that thing down there and get some big plays when we had to was huge.  Proud of our offense at the end."

On practicing the two-minute drill:
"With our short (practice) field, we have to start with one minute.  You can't start a two-minute drill from there.  We start from the 42-yard line and it was about that. We knew we had to get to the 30-yard line.  Thank goodness Jacob popped that one to get us even closer.  That's the scenario we practice every Wednesday.  Great job by our offensive guys."

Hesitation on the final fourth-down call:
"None.  We knew we were going to go for it.  We let some time tick off and it got down to 33 seconds.  We knew if we didn't make it, if we can't stop them defensively, then we've got some issues.  Once we got the first down, we did not know we would get that much and we did not know we would get out of bounds, which was huge.  When we got that much yardage, we knew we were in pretty good shape."

On stopping Wofford:
"There was a lot of short yardage plays in there.  Give them credit.  They are really, really hard to defend.  They lean on you, they pound you.  When you are really trying to stop the inside stuff, they can get on the perimeter.  They are really well-coached.  There is no question about that."

"You have to give them a lot of credit.  They have been banged up.  They held a lot of players out.  For them to come here and potentially win this football game, almost get it into overtime, was a tribute to their coaching staff and their players.  They played hard.  They probably out-played us today.  We got a couple of lucky turnovers, but we are thankful we got the win."
 
Junior K Henrique Ribeiro
On having a chance to win the game and coming through in the end:
"It is definitely special for me.  I have never had a game-winning kick in my entire career.  I have not been playing that long, but I have never had the opportunity.  This was definitely the sweetest one ever.  Just to have the opportunity to come in here, get us this win, and help my teammates out is all I could ask for."
 
"It is all about the mindset.  No matter what time in the game it is, you have to be ready.  The main thing is, just hoping that the offense can get as many yards as you can."
 
On getting the road win over Wofford:
"We haven't won here in 18 years, and sometimes you have to be ready to put yourself in the position to do it. The offense and defense played their hearts out, so when they give you the opportunity, you just have to take it all in and help the team out as much as you can and get points on the board."
 
On what his teammates told him before the kick:
"Every week, we practice the two-minute drill and my teammates told me that I got it and that they had no doubt in their minds I was going to make it."
 
Senior QB Jacob Huesman
On the second half against Wofford:
"Really the credit goes to our defense line who kept us in it. Our offensive line also played great today and Craine ran the ball hard. We also have to get a lot of credit to Henrique (Ribeiro) and Emory (Norred). (Joking) Not a lot of credit goes to Emory, but he started it off with a good snap."
 
On the fourth down conversion:
"We knew it was going to Craine, and I'm glad coach believed in us to say that it was in our hands to go and get that first down. It was well-blocked, well-executed and the wide receivers on the outside did a fantastic job. They did a great job on the perimeter which gave us more than enough for that first down to put us in great position.
 
"That play doesn't necessarily have to get us a score, but it needed to get us comfortable enough to put us in to field goal range. We lined it put pretty nicely for the field goal."
 
On playing Wofford:
"Wofford is always a really solid football team. They are well-coached and anytime they play here in Spartanburg, they are going to come here and play. It is a very quality win for us."
 
On Josh Freeman and Isaiah Mack's performances:
"We've really needed Mack to step up in a big role for us, and I thought he had a great game today. Freeman, as always, is Mr. Consistent every day. Those guys were fantastic and gave us a couple of opportunities in the third quarter. They forced a couple of turnovers and that's what we love about them. To know that those guys will keep us in the ball game like that is never a question."
 
Senior DT Josh Freeman
On his career against Wofford:
"It is smash mouth every single time you play Wofford, and we knew it was going to be physical and mentally tough, to where we were going to have to fight until the very last play. It was a nail-biter, but I wasn't surprised by the way Wofford fought and played."
 
On overall second-half performance:
"At the half, we wanted to come out and make sure that we gave our best effort. We didn't feel like we played as great as we could have in the second half. We wanted to go out and give it our best shot, because they gave us theirs. We wanted to go out in the third quarter and re-take the momentum."
 
On freshman Isaiah Mack's potential:
"He showed out for us today and it was really important for him to step out and make those plays for us. He made a lot of really big plays during a lot of very critical times, so we have to thank him for that. Hopefully he just keeps getting better and will grow and learn."
 
On Henrique Ribeiro's game-winning kick:
"It was huge because it was another opportunity for us to learn and grow. Our backs were against the wall on that two-minute drive, Jacob came in and did his thing and the kick was great because we came out on top, and it helps us learn from this situation."
 
On how the team can grow from the win at Wofford:
"We want to show up every week, play our hardest and continue to do that every week, to where hopefully at the end of the year we are at the point to where we need to be."