Chattanooga Football
Postgame Quotes
November 1 | Western Carolina
Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, Tenn.

Rusty Wright, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after 35-28 loss to Western Carolina.
"I'm gonna look back on it and it's not going to be anything crazy. We don't know how to do just yet [win these types of games] and it's just a matter of doing it while making it better for them as a coach. I have to be better with them, you know, but we have to execute in those moments and learn how to get it done. The good thing about it is, I still think we grew up a little bit tonight. They fought their tails off when things weren't going very good, that's a sign of growth."
 
On mistakes building in games like these.
"You know, we have to learn from it. But, we have some fighters in that group. Got a bunch of fighters in that group in there, and that's the best thing to have. We fought and gave ourselves an opportunity to go win it, and we just have to figure out how to go win those games against good football teams. And that's a good football team. They're playing well and doing things well, but you can't turn it over twice in the redzone and miss a field goal in these kind of games. You can't do those things."

On the team's growth trend.
"Don't get me wrong, I love them, love them to death. But I'm losing my hair and getting grayer by the day, you know. But, I told them at halftime to just keep playing and we're going to put things together, we were just one play away. And this group is doing that, and they'll continue to grow."

Ryan Ingram, Sr.-RB
On playing Western Carolina within the rivalry.
"We definitely felt the tension all week. We were preparing for a dog fight, we knew it was going to be a 60-minute, four-quarter game. We were preaching that all week and that's exactly what it was."

On the relentlessness from the team.
"I think that speaks on the heart of our team. We're just going to fight regardless of the situation. We're going to keep playing until the clock hits zero."

Zion Rutledge, Sr.-LB
On trying to contain WCU QB Taron Dickens.
"During the week, we knew he was a good player and we really stressed on trying to keep him in the pocket. We wanted to get our depth on the passing lanes and really close out on him, that's something we really stressed this week. We just couldn't get it done."

On the play from the defense.
"We saw some good things out of our defense today. Ultimately, it comes down to us though [defense]. The big things we stressed in the locker room is that it's on us. There are a few things we let go and let slip through our hands. We have to come back and just be better."


"We have guys in this locker room ready to fight and ready to put it all on the line no matter what game is in front of us. That's the type of players we have in this locker room. We'll wake up, watch this film and aim to get better."