Postgame Quotes
The Citadel at No. 15 Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Finley Stadium
Oct. 17, 2011
Chattanooga Head Coach Russ Huesman
Opening Statement:
"That was an unbelievable effort by The Citadel. For them to be down 27 to nothing and come back and win that football was unbelievable. [Head coach] Kevin Higgins should be credited with an unbelievable coaching job. He did a fantastic job. We did a horrible job as coaches. They did an unbelievable job. Kevin should be commended for that and his football team, unbelievable job by those guys. Their football team never quit and they are over there yelling, hooting and hollering, and they deserve to. Our football team played so bad in the second half, it was unbelievable. It was amazing."
"Well I'll tell you what happened. I'll tell you where I attribute it. We throw an interception and they return it down to the 10 or 15 yard line, at 27 to nothing, that is ridiculous. The only way they were getting back in that game is for us to throw an interception at that time and take it back to the 10 yard line. That's the only way, and we did it, unbelievable. And that is not B.J.'s [Coleman] fault because he got hit. They didn't do anything we didn't practice all week."
On the interception:
Well when you throw an interception and it gets to 27-7 and you can't run the ball, that's ridiculous. I told our offensive line we had to run the ball. Then, we come out our next drive and get two first downs by running the ball. Why can't we do it every time? We get two first downs, we're chunking yards, why can't we? Then we start throwing it and B.J. gets sacked."
On the touchdowns in the fourth quarter:
"A lot of them were missed tackles, yeah. A lot of missed tackles. The one touchdown run they had, we missed a bunch there. That got it to 27-14, and then the blocked punt. We missed a bunch of tackles. It's ridiculous."
On The Citadel's defense in the second half:
"They weren't even blitzing that much. But they were bringing pressure and getting pressure on him [B.J. Coleman]. When they bring four they shouldn't get to him. They were getting him out of the pocket a little bit."
On what can be learned from this game:
"Yeah, that's what I talked to them about in the locker room after the game. They've got a choice: they can tank it or they can come back and have a great football season. We've got a good enough team to win, we should win. We've got to execute better. We've got to play better.
"Here's the other thing that bothered me. It's 24-0, we get the ball and we have to punt to them. They get the ball the first time, we cause a fumble and get the ball on the nine yard line and we can't score a touchdown. Are you kidding me? First and goal on the nine and we can't score a touchdown. We have to score touchdowns. At that point in time, it would have been 31-0. We're playing great defense and we didn't score. We're going to have to figure that out."
The Citadel Head Coach Kevin Higgins
Thoughts on the win:
"It is one of my best wins ever, I can tell you that. We challenged our guys at half time because we didn't play very good football in that first half. Our guys came back, responded and kept believing in themselves. That is what we have talked about all season long. This is a tight knit group of players. They bought in, stayed with it and found ways to make plays. We have got a fun rest of the season to look forward to now with the confidence we get from that game. We are still growing and we have still got a lot of things we have got to do, but this will be a nice bus ride home tonight."
On key defensive plays:
"Brandon McCladdie's interception was really big because it gave us field position and got us going from an offensive standpoint. I can't say enough about the play of our defense when we had to come up with plays. Coverage was good and we got great pressure on Coleman in that fourth quarter."
On Citadel's comeback, keys to comeback
"All I can talk about is our game, our team. Our guys were down 27-0. They never quit and made plays when they needed to. They found a way to keep us in the game. Coleman is an outstand quarterback, we all know that, and we were able to finally get some pressure to him in the fourth quarter. That made all the difference in the world."
Senior Linebacker Rod Harland
Thoughts on key defensive plays:
"I'm not sure who blocked the punt, I had my eye on the ball the whole time, but I scooped and scored. McCladdie's interception was a great play, and we needed that as a defense. It acted as a springboard for the whole team; we took that inspiration and kept bringing it."
Thoughts on the team's moral after the win:
"It adds confidence to a team. We are a pretty confident team, but when you are able to play like this and get results then you actually get true confidence. As a team, we know now we can make big plays and get wins."
On the atmosphere in the locker room after the game:
"It was amazing. I have never seen it before. I have never seen so much love and excitement. This one was one to help us out. We're going to take this one on over into next week."
Freshman Quarterback Aaron Miller
On entering the game for the injured Ben Dupree:
"I think playing early in the game helped when I had to come in on the last drive. It let me get used to the game speed. It is a lot faster out here. We practice it all the time, but obviously practice is different than during the game. We prepare the same way every week. We just take snaps going through practice like normal. I just had to go out there and do my best. I knew my team was going to fight as hard as they could."
On the win:
"It is a very emotional win, especially for our seniors. I have never been a part of a win like this."
