Opening Statement “We’re thrilled to get a win. Wins are important, no matter who they’re against or when they occur. We’ve been in this long enough to know that, and the joy that’s in that locker room right now is special. The kids are having a blast in there, and it’s been a while since they’ve been able to rejoice, so I’m very excited for them. We have got a long way to go, and we look forward to getting back to work next week for UTEP. I’m very, very happy for our young men and our coaches and the Rebel Nation that we can start the season 1-0.”
On adjustments in the second half “Dave (Wommack) made a lot of adjustments defensively. We didn’t make a lot offensively. It was just execution. The times we didn’t do well in the first half, we had some blown assignments up front and some gap schemes that allowed some run-throughs. That gave us some negative plays, and we didn’t protect very well there at the end of the first half. Offensively, we didn’t do a lot. We hit them for two touchdowns. Other than that, that’s the only thing we did offensively. We played a lot of young kids. They were hyped and excited and we were a little undisciplined with our eyes defensively, and that cost us some. We’ll go back to making sure our kids understand that’s not acceptable. We have to play better fundamentally for the entire game. We can’t do that against teams in our conference and have a chance.”
On settling on a starting QB “Bo started this game, and he’ll start the next one. But again, I’m not ready to say that Barry is out of it. Barry did some real nice things too, but certainly Bo had a great game, and I’ve always known that he’s a gamer.”
On feeling of win “We came out, and the receivers did a good job. The offensive line protected me well and it was really fun out there. It feels good to get the win, but we have to get back to work. We’ll celebrate this tonight and get back to the film room tomorrow.”
On the TD run “That’s how the play was designed, and we ran it well.”
On the TD pass to (Donte) Moncrief “He just beat his man and I got him the ball. He did a great job.”
On his TD run and overall game “Before I came into the game, our team was doing a great job with the flow of the game. When I got in, I just tried to do what was asked and get the job done. They were great.”
On the TD pass to Jamal “It felt great. Being from the same hometown, it felt good. He’s a great receiver and he made a great catch.”
On halftime adjustments “Coach Freeze was great! He came in, he didn’t panic. He told us that we needed to find something in us to win, and that’s what we did. No one panicked. We got everything going and got the win.”
On first game “It felt good. We worked hard all summer for this, and we came out and got the win.”
On preparing for next week “We just take it one day at a time and prepare like we would for any other game. We have to practice hard and get ready at the end of the week.”
On feeling of first win “It feels amazing, it feels good to win again.”
On preparations for UTEP “We have to get back in the film room, and pay attention to every word that coach says. They’re a very smart team, we have to prepare for them.”
On feeling of first win “I came out excited and ready to play. It feels great to get a win.”
On preparations for UTEP “We have to practice every day to get better.”
Defensive end CJ Johnson
On getting first win “It feels good. It’s always hard to go out and win that first game, but it gives you a lot of confidence. We fought a lot of adversity in the first half, we had to battle in the second half. We played a lot better in the second half and showed a lot of character.”
UCA Head Coach Clint Conque
On game “I thought that we prepared well, we came in with a purpose. Our gameplan was good on both sides of the football, and I thought we executed that plan fairly well. I didn’t think we executed our plan as well in the second half. Ole Miss found a rhythm on offense, and their size wore us down a bit. After they scored on the opening drive, we had an opportunity on third and two, but we didn’t execute that third down. I thought that was a key play in the entire game. We needed to establish some field position and keep our defense on the sidelines. We will learn and grow from it. We came here to win a football game, but we knew this was going to be a tough environment. Ole Miss’s offensive and defensive line, that’s where the game was won, we just couldn’t keep our offensive line on the field.
QB Wynrick Smothers
On the first series “It felt pretty good. It was a great experience to come to Oxford and have over a thousand fans but we weren’t worrying about that. We were worrying about executing our plan. It felt really good to have the first drive. It was a great feeling in the beginning, but of course you have to finish it. We didn’t do that.”
On second half “I couldn’t pin point one thing that was different in the second half, we felt a good deal of pressure. Their defensive line stepped it up a bit, and their offensive line, they just wore us out.”
LB Justin Heard
On difference between first and second half “I think we played well the first half, the second half wore us down. We just need to come back and finish it.”
Ole Miss (36-20, 15-15 SEC) vs. UK SR LHP Jerad Grundy (6-5, 4.75 ERA)1. LF Tanner Mathis (0-for-7, 3 BB)2, SS Austin Anderson (2-for-6)3. C Stuart Turner (2-for-3, HR, 2 BB)4. 3B Andrew Mistone (5-for-9, 3 2B, 3B)5. CF Auston... read more
No. 6 Ole Miss (36-20, 15-15 SEC) vs. No. 11 Kentucky (30-24, 11-19 SEC) May 22 | 9:30 a.m. | Hoover, Ala. | Fox Sports Net/ESPN3 UM Jr. RHP Mike Mayers (4-5, 3.21 ERA) vs. UK Sr. LHP Jerad Grundy... read more
My name is Austin Miller, and I am the new writer and blogger for OleMissSports.com. I graduated with a bachelor's in journalism from Ole Miss less than two weeks ago, and I will be attending graduate school there in the... read more
It was exciting news this week as Rebel favorite Tom Luke returned to the Ole Miss football program as Assistant A.D. for Player Development. A second-generation Rebel and the brother of fellow Ole Miss standout and staffer Matt Luke, Tom... read more
A little more than a year into his first term as Ole Miss Athletics Director, Ross Bjork made his first trip to Starkville this week but did so for a good cause. Bjork and Bulldog AD Scott Stricklin joined forces... read more
Despite losing the All-American twin duo of Marcel and Chris Thiemann and playing in the toughest conference in America, Ole Miss finished the 2013 regular season with a ranking of No. 7 in the nation.The regular season was highlighted by... read more
The Rebels' uniform modifications for the 2013 football season were released during the BancorpSouth Grove Bowl. Facebook Photo Gallery Follow me on twitter @CampbellKyle.... read more
Injuries have riddled the Ole Miss football team this spring, and after evaluating the situation this week, the coaching staff determined a full scale scrimmage would not be an option for this year's BancorpSouth Grove Bowl. As a result, the... read more
Former Ole Miss All-Americans and collegiate top-10 doubles duo Kristi Boxx and Abby Guthrie have reunited to compete in the $25,000 USTA St. Dominic Pro Circuit women's event in Jackson. The event, which began Sunday, will run through April 7... read more
Panama Trip Photo GalleryTwo weeks ago, I wrote about a group of six Ole Miss football players who went on a mission trip to Panama over spring break. They have since returned to Oxford and been knee-deep in schoolwork and... read more
Ole Miss' run to the SEC Tournament title and the Big Dance received national coverage for the team and university during the March Madness. Below is just a sampling of mountain of press the Rebels have gotten including a tweet from King... read more
Michaela Quinn, a member of the 2013 Ole Miss track & field signing class, turned in a great performance at the World Junior Cross Country Championships over the weekend.Competing as a member of Team Australia, Quinn placed 25th in the... read more
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Colton Walls, a sophomore linebacker who started his career at Clemson, is among the non-scholarship players to join the Ole Miss football team this spring. Rebel fans will be quite... read more
A long list of ex-Rebels are planning to work out for the NFL scouts at Ole Miss Pro Day on Thursday. Of the 21 former players putting their talents on display, 16 concluded their Rebel careers in the fall, while... read more
It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating a bowl win in Birmingham. Now that that and an historic signing day are in the rear view mirror, it's time to gear up for spring drills. The Rebels take to the... read more
|
