Chattanooga Football Postgame Quotes
Furman at Chattanooga
Finley Stadium - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Saturday - Oct. 7, 2017

Head Coach Tom Arth
On Cole Copeland's performance.
"He did a great job. There were a couple of third downs where he was able to escape and kind of extend the play, and find an open receiver to make the throw. That was a good job on his part."

On difference in production from the start of the game to later.
"We found ourselves in some 'second-and-longs'. It was tough to get out of that. That was kind of the game plan coming in was to stay out of those 'second-and-longs' and 'third-and-longs'. We tried not to put Cole in those situations. Then we found ourselves in those situations maybe five times, we were in 3rd-and-11-plus. We struggled to run the ball and it makes it really tough."

On the receivers.
"That was kind of the game plan coming into it, be able to get some good completions, some easy completions for Cole. Be able to take some shots. We kind of struggled and found ourselves behind the chains. Playing some different coverages, that really kind of prevent some of the downfield kind of stuff. It comes back to us doing a good job on first and second down, being able to run the football, being able to be balanced. We haven't been anywhere near that."

On players needing to step up on defense.
"We get Dale [Warren] back next week which will be great. Guys got to step up and step in tonight. They've got to play football. I think we saw some guys do that. I think Bryce Nunnelly is a really good example. Bingo [Morton] get shaken up a little bit. Bryce stepped in and made two really great catches. It's good seeing those young guys out there making plays."

On Furman controlling the game.
"They played with better pad level than we did. We were getting knocked back off the ball. We weren't wrapping up and finishing out tackles. We were trying to tackle the guy around the shoulders. That's a big team up front. We knew it was going to be a challenge but we had a hard time stopping just third-down dive plays."

Cole Copeland, QB-Fr.
On practice preparation coming into this week.
"We had a lot of energy at practice this week. It's tough coming in after a loss, but we had a lot of energy. We'll get to where we want to be."

On Alphonso Stewart's big day at WR; offensive play.
"He makes it easy. You just throw it up and he goes and gets it, it's a quarterback's dream. The offensive line played a really good game too. I have to be better and not turn the ball over."

On offensive line play.
"I couldn't be more proud of them. They really bowed their backs and picked me up when I was down. I just can't turn the ball over."

Alphonso Stewart, WR-Sr.
On freshman QB Cole Copeland's first start.
"He played really confident. He came out and played exactly like how I expected. He was great in practice all week and came out and did it tonight."

On 40-yard TD catch from Copeland in the 2Q.
"He trusted me and I trusted him. He put the ball exactly where I knew it was going to be. We practiced it all week and I have faith in everyone to step in there behind the line."

On mentality moving forward.
"We have to focus on ourselves. We can't get down on ourselves and let the losses effect how we prepare for next week."

Isaiah Mack, DL-Sr.
"I give them a lot of respect. They are very strong in the run game. They have a strong fullback who can block. They did a great job of pounding it on the ground."

"It felt good to get stops and change some momentum. It was nice to step up for us inside to get stops on their run game."

"I'm ready to see who the next man to step up will be. It's going to be important to come together as a team and make sure we are ready for next week."