Russ Huesman, head football coach
Opening statement after 52-31 win over Mercer.
"It was a great win. I thought the first half was probably as good of a first half as we've ever played here in all three phases - offense, defense and special teams. If you can play like that and get to that point (38-3 halftime), it'll be hard for teams to come back. Obviously, the second half got a little sloppy. I would have liked to play a little better, but we'll take it. It was a great win, 6-0 and 4-0 is all that matters."

First half performance.
"We have some great players. When you have a back like Derrick Craine, you have a lot of capabilities. I think Alejandro (Bennifield) played excellent and our wide receivers made some great plays. The defense for the first two-and-a-half quarters played as good as they possibly could."

On not trailing this season.
"It means we are getting off to some fast starts. Defensively, we are playing pretty good early on, but not trailing in six games is pretty remarkable."

On play of wide-receivers.
"We have some pretty good wide-outs. I feel pretty good about all those guys catching the ball. All of those players contribute in some way whether it's blocking, catching or running the ball. I'm pretty pleased of that group no question."

Preparations of Mercer coming in.
"They played us so close the last two years and last year, they were more physical than us. I told our guys that we have to be the more physical team today. I challenged our defensive and offensive front to be the more physical group and they were, but they have a good team and they are scary. We made some plays and converted some third and fourth downs that were back-breakers. We just got something going early and kept it going."

On tight ends catching touchdown passes.
"Those guys work hard. They made those catches early in the game. Bailey Lenior had a big catch and so did Malcom Colvin. I'm glad to see the ball thrown to those guys and them (Colvin and Lenior) make catches in crucial times."

Thoughts on The Citadel next week.
"We have some great players so we do feel good going in. We are healthy and when you're healthy, that's a bonus. They are going to be a test, they're always hard to beat. We are going to have to prepare really well if we want to win."

Nakevion Leslie, linebacker, senior
Intensity of the game.
"We had a chip on our shoulders because they beat us last year. So we wanted to come out here prove who we are, prove what we are and what we can do as a team."

Talk amongst the team leading up to this game.
"We treat it as another conference game. We go every week and treat it as a conference opponent that we have to win to get to where we want to go. You could tell some guys had a little extra pep in their step all week after last year's loss."

Corey Levin, offensive lineman, senior
On offensive output.
"It's a testament to the week of preparation we had for Mercer. We didn't want any let downs like last year. We didn't focus on revenge. We focused on us putting in the work that we know we can do and it came out and showed today."

First half outburst.
"It was a great way to start, but we were actually kind of upset about the field goal because it was in the red zone. We want touchdowns when we're down in the red zone, but that amount of points to the half is incredible."

Montrell Pardue, defensive back, sophomore
Week of practice leading up to Mercer.
"Coach Huesman said we have to prepare for every game no matter who it is. We're a very competitive team. We come in and practice day-in and day-out no matter who we're playing. We just try to come out here and play our best every week."

On the pick-six in the third quarter.
"Trevor (Wright) made a great play on the ball when he tipped it up, I came under it, grabbed it, and went for six. It was a real exciting play."