Head coach Russ Huesman
Opening statement.
"Big win, our guys played well.  I'm proud of them.  We fought, we scrapped, and we hung in there.  I'm proud of our guys.  Give credit to The Citadel.  They're co-champs and they deserve to be co-champs.  I don't think there's a question about that.  Fortunately for us, you know, they go by head-to-head so we're going to get the automatic bid.  But they deserve to be a playoff team.  

"I thought The Citadel was an excellent football team, and they deserve to be in there.  I hope they are, but they should be congratulated for a SoCon championship, especially when you're picked seventh in the conference.   Mike Houston should be coach of the year in the league, no question about that."

How hard was it to get to this point as repeat champions this year?
"This was a hard year.  I mean, it was really hard.  Last year, I don't want to say it was easy, but we had a chip on our shoulder because Chattanooga was only a co-champ one time.  This year you come in and complacency can set in.  Some of the younger kids don't understand what it took to get to that point.  

"It was a pretty hard year.  I think a lot of people were gunning for us, and we got some really good shots this year from a lot of teams.  It was extremely hard, but hopefully we're healthy and can go to Florida State and play well down there.  Then we get to the playoffs and see how we look there."

On players stepping up on defense with injuries.
"Josh Freeman went down there and Taylor Reynolds has been down.  We're going to have to figure out what we're going to do in there at defensive tackle.  But Justin King played today, Brandon Bourk played today, and I believe Isaiah Mack probably played the whole game at the three technique.  Tell you what, he's a tough kid.  I'm glad we've got him."

Jacob Huesman, quarterback, senior
On emotions after the game.
"It feels great, absolutely great.  Especially because they put us in a corner.  It was a must win game.  We came out and did what we needed to do to win the game.  That says a lot about our football team, the fight we have and the will of these guys to keep the season going and keep grinding.  If that game had turned out differently, that might have been the season.  To prolong the season and to know we've got a chance to keep playing is huge."

On the thought process behind the first play.
"We knew their safeties were aggressive. Their line backers are really aggressive.  We said, 'hey why not exploit that on the first play.'  That's not something we typically do on the first play.  I feel like we're a lot more conservative than that but drove through a great ball.  Xavier Borishade is one of the fastest guys on the team.  He punched it in.  I'm interested to see how fast that compares to last year's first play."

On Alejandro Bennifield.
"He's got an absolutely tremendous future.  He's got an absolute laser arm. He's an athlete, and he's a smart player too.  I'm really proud of the way he's come along since he's gotten here."

On playing for his dad and coach.
"It's probably harder on him than it is on me, and I know he's talked about that a lot.  Early on, especially, I think it was tough before I really proved myself and showed what I could do.  He's been great, and I wouldn't want to play for anyone else in the country."

A.J. Hampton, linebacker, senior
On today's game.
"We just had to prepare good all week.  We've prepared for a cut blast.  We knew it was coming.  Often teams have to play really fast and tough and play thorough blocks.  I thought we did a very good job of that today."

How big was getting that score offensively early?
"It got the momentum going, and we just kept going out, giving all we had and came out on top."

On the end of the game.
"We had the lead, and we did not want to give up that lead.  We just kept playing hard to keep the score up pretty much."

C.J. Board, wide receiver, junior
On today's game.
"It was awesome.  Jacob was on his game today.  The line up front blocked really well.  It was a fun game."

On the first play.
"That was awesome.  We've been practicing that all week.  We've been waiting to throw that first pay of the game and it worked.  It gave us a lot of momentum."

On The Citadel's aggression.
"They run the ball.  They're a great team, real physical, big guys on offense and defense, so it was tough."

The Citadel head coach Mike Houston                                                
On rough start today.
"We played a very, very good football team.  You can't make the mistakes we made early.  We had a great drive then a fumble going in.  Then came back with another drive and got stopped on the fourth, short inside the five.  We got in a hole, and you can't get in a hole.  We responded well after half time and got us back in the ball game.  But it was too many mistakes against a very good football team who played very well today."

How hard is it being so close to being the only undefeated SoCon team?
"It stinks to lose a ball game, and that's it.  You want to win that one there's no doubt about it.  We wanted to solidify ourselves as the conference champions.  Credit to them.  There's a reason why they've won this thing three years in a row now.  They're well coached."

On being ranked No. 7 in the conference preseason and finishing as co-champions.
"I told them I don't want to see anyone hanging their head win they leave the locker room.  They are the Southern Conference Co-Champions.  That's it.  They earned it.  They better walk out of the locker room with their heads held high.  We've got a lot of football left.

"I think the Southern Conference should get two teams in the playoffs obviously.  You have two teams who have one loss in conference play.  Two teams that share the conference championships.  If you look at our case, I think we have a really good one."