Chattanooga Football Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at No. 8 Wofford
Gibbs Stadium – Spartanburg, S.C.
Saturday – Nov. 4, 2017

Head Coach Tom Arth:
Opening thoughts on the game:
"I was proud of the way we fought back.  It was a tough situation, down eight and they have the ball with a great offense we know can take time off the clock.  Our defense did a fantastic job getting a three-and-out and an opportunity to get the ball back. 

"Then a great play on special teams, get the blocked punt, which is exactly what we needed.  A short field.  We were able to go down and make the play to get in the endzone and the two-point. 

"The story of the game, you just go back to that first half.  Just some missed opportunities.  Down inside the five-yard line twice and get penalized.  It is just hard to overcome that stuff playing against a great team like Wofford.  When you really need to score touchdowns and you come away with field goals, knowing they are eventually going to get something going, it hurts you." 

On the redzone play today:
"It is a totally different game, you have to execute in those situations. It is self-inflicted.  These are errors that we are making in critical situations that are really hurting us and really hurting our chances.  We have to get over that stuff.  We have to stop making those mistakes.  We will be a much better team when we do that.  When we put selves in much better positions where we are not having to come from behind.  Where we are up and our defense can just go out there and play."

On the play of the defense today:
"They played a fantastic game.  They gave us one after the turnover deep in our own end. After that, Wofford really only had one drive the entire game. That is a great offense with a great system.  Defensively, we played well.  We just have to take advantage of those moments on offense." 

On getting better:
"We are growing.  There is no doubt about it.  For us to be a great football team, we have to stop hurting ourselves.  We have to stop making critical mistakes in critical situations.  That has been the story of it." 

"We are down inside the red zone, if they stop you, they stop you.  Ok, you go kick a field goal.  You don't ever want to take away your chances to get points, but when you are stopping yourself with penalties that are inexcusable, it makes it really tough." 
 
Derek Mahaffey – Jr.-DL
"All week we prepared.  We prepared against a great offense. We thought on paper they looked good when it came to controlling the ball with the option. My main thing this week was to come out and dominate, fight.  We knew that coming in they were pretty good.  I thought the first five possessions we showed up and I couldn't be more proud of my team." 

On the play of the linebackers:
"Our linebackers, I love them to death.  They ran all day.  They wouldn't let anything beat them outside.  Overall, they played.  That one hurts because we were right there. We showed up physically.  We told each other that we weren't going to come in and let them push us around.  The physicality is something we had to have.  Coach told us all week we had to come out physical." 

On the difference over the past three weeks:
"Discipline is the main thing we had to get better at.  The more discipline we have, these last three games, we have really showed improvement.  We have shown the fight.  Everybody bought in and everybody played as a team.  That is all you can ask for.  When you play for each other great things can happen."

Alphonso Stewart – Sr.-WR
On the play of the defense:
"I am very proud of the defense.  When they came out with those three and outs, that gave us faith.  Going down and getting points on the board, we felt great at the beginning of the game." 

On his touchdown in OT:
"I caught the ball and I knew where I was on the field.  I didn't want to turn around.  I was just going to power my way in." 

On the two-point conversion trick play:
"We practice that play every day for the whole season.  I actually said in the walk-thru I hoped we get a chance to run it.  We ran it and it worked to perfection." 

On the play of freshman QB Cole Copeland:
"You can tell with his demeanor in practice, he has come ready to work everyday.  I love him.  He has become one of my closest friends and I will put everything on him."