Chattanooga Football Postgame Quotes
No. 12 Chattanooga vs. No. 5 Jacksonville State
Guardian FCS Kickoff Classic – Cramton Bowl – Montgomery, Ala.
Saturday – Aug. 26, 2017

Head Coach Tom Arth
Opening Statement: 
"Too many errors early on.  Missed opportunities.

"The big thing for us going forward is going to be our ability to learn from this.  To learn from our mistakes and to realize that we are right there.  We had great opportunities, you just have to take advantage of them.  When you have penalties and make some silly mistakes against a team of that caliber it is just magnified.  There was too much of that tonight.

"I am proud of the way our defense fought through the entire game.  With the exception of a couple of plays we played very well on that side of the ball. 

"Offensively, it was great to see coming out in the fourth quarter and getting a chance to work a two-minute situation and going down and scoring a touchdown.  I think that says a lot about the character of the group and not giving in and not quitting. 

"I am proud of the guys.  We know we can be better.  We will be better, but it is a start for us.  We know what we have to do now going forward to be the team we are capable of."

On the details & execution:
"You can't have a lack of execution against a top 5 team. We had two penalties down in the red zone that put us in a difficult position. After Kareem's (Orr) interception, we're inside the 5 and we get a penalty. Second quarter, we're inside the 20, third-and-short and we take a penalty. It's difficult to overcome that. They're a good enough team on their own, we don't need to do anything to help them. There was a little bit of that tonight."

On what they'll work on:
"We can clean up (the execution issues) that up. It's the exciting thing, but it's also the frustrating thing. Our players and coaches are going to go back and look at this game and see the opportunities that were left out there."

On the play of Davis & Lawson:
"I was so pleased with Tae (Davis) and Tavon (Lawson). Those are two guys who have never played linebacker before...never played behind the ball. That's a big challenge to do that, and they have both been exceptional in how quickly they've learned how to play the position. They give us so much athleticism and that's so important to how we play defense."

On what they'll take from tonight:
"It's just the little things. The things we did to ourselves. Tonight was a great learning experience for everybody. We're going to grow from this. We feel what we put out there today was the floor for what we can be. We're very optimistic. We think we have a good group of guys with a lot of fight and a lot of talent."
 
Nick Tiano – So.-QB
On the play of the offense:
"I think we were really close.  We did some good things, but we just didn't get them.  It was a lack of execution a couple of times and a few things we have to work on." 

On the pick-6:
"It was a play we had completed a couple of times.  It was my fault.  It was a tough throw and they made a good play.  I just have to get better."

Lucas Webb – Sr.-DB
On the play of Rock Thomas:
"He is the full package.  He was a big-time recruit coming from Auburn.  That was part of the game plan coming in.  We knew that he was a good back and we knew that we would have to play with good leverage and technically sound."

On the playoff atmosphere in this game:
"It felt like that just because of the quality of team we played against.  They are obviously a very good team and they have a lot of athletes.  The are usually in the top five and competing for a national championship.  In that sense, they are a quality opponent.  At the same time, week-in and week-out, we want to be able to play to our standard.  We don't want to rise or fall to the level of our opponent."