Post-Game Quotes at (RV/NR) Texas A&M, Nov. 1, 2014
ULM Head Coach Todd Berry
Opening statement…
“We're hurting right now. I'm so very proud of the way we played. We have some things we need to work on, but this team will go to work with things that happened before and during the game. I'm proud of how they responded. I think that is a true measure of character and commitment. As our coaches, that's our job to get them to that point. We didn't accomplish that as coaches today. I'm hurt for them. Only good thing is the SEC games are over. That's the good news.”
On preparing for the game…
“As I mentioned last week, we are getting back to who we've been in the past. I think the grand experiment, in terms of feelings that we can just line up and run the football, that obviously did not come to fruition. So, it was time to move things back. We played a lot of our 2's today on offense by mandate. We had one really bad slip up by a 2. That's what gets hard, because it was a huge play.”
On Pete Thomas' play…
“I don't think you have to be a great runner. I think you just have to choose your moments, and I thought Pete played a good game. I am really proud of him. A lot of this game plan, just like it was for Colton in the past, was on his shoulders. I'm really proud of the way he played, his toughness, and the way that he worked. He's not as loose as Colton but he is as fast as Colton. Some of the plays that he made were huge, because they moved the chains. So, I thought he played really well.”
Cody Robinson, ULM Junior Linebacker
On playing the A&M offense…
“Going in we knew they were a good team. They are an SEC team. They are big; there offensive line is probably the best offensive line I've ever faced. We knew they were going to be explosive, and we knew they were going to try to throw the ball. But, they really tried to run it more than we thought.”
On playing an SEC team…
Going into every game, not just the SEC, we want to win every game. We see opponents as they are. We just try to get the win. Our team, coming off those loses and playing like this, it shows how much we love to play football, and it shows how much we care. We never want to slow down; we never want to give in. That's what I'm happy about—to move forward with.”
Pete Thomas, ULM Senior Quarterback
On running as a quarterback…
“A lot of it came on scrambles on pass plays, so obviously those weren't designed runs. But, when you throw the ball as much as we did today against a good defensive team like Texas A&M that has an active front you are going to have to scramble a little bit. I would rather sit back there and throw the ball, but if the opportunity presents itself, I'll tuck it and run and try to do what I can for the team.”
On running trick plays…
“It's a lot fun. I'm disappointed we didn't win the game. I think that stuff obviously helped us today. Throwing the ball around, trick plays, a two quarterback system, against this great defensive team you have to keep them off-balance.”
On trying to bounce back from previous weeks…
“Our motto is 'We didn't come here to play. We came here to win.' They put their pants and jerseys on just like we do. We came here to win the game. We had an opportunity and we didn't get it done. That's very disappointing.”
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Head Coach
On Myles Garrett's performance…
“He's been playing since week one. He's no longer a young guy. He's one of the leaders in this league in sacks. You saw Jarrett Johnson and a couple other guys that were out there today- a bunch of big guys-that haven't been in that role playing a substantial amount of time. Did they make mistakes? Yeah, but I think there's confidence to be gained from playing as many plays as they did and doing things to win a football game.”
On young players' confidence going forward…
“We need to win. It's been a while since we've won. Anytime you win, you put everything you have into this. There's a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of time and energy spent. Regardless of the opponent, you play to win the game. That's what happened. I'm happy that those guys are happy. You didn't see crazy ordeal in the locker room. I think they understand that we have work to do. But certainly the attitude is a lot better right now than it was in the course of the last few weeks.”
On adjusting plays and going scoreless in the second half…
“It can be frustrating. I think we had the ball twice in the third quarter, so that was one issue. Our defense was bending, but not giving up points. It turned into a different kind of game that we maybe we aren't used to here. We set out, if you look at it formation-wise offensively, to play that style of game. Did we want it that close? No. did we want to win? Yes. We had the ball twice in the third quarter. We had the sack and Kyle Allen's fumble when we started the fourth quarter, which held us back. No doubt, we've got work to do. We're going to continue to work at it. I think the attitude, regardless of what people outside the program think, the attitude in the locker room is a heck of a lot better than it was last week.”
On takeaways from game against ULM …
“That's a good football team. They beat an ACC team. They played two other SEC teams- the first halves were really close. We had the ball a couple times. We were able to do what we needed to do to pull a win. We did enough to win the game. I think there's a lot of things from today that a bunch of our players can learn from. It'll be another learning experience for us. We'll get back to work. We'll see how much we improve from today to next Saturday.”
On the game's rushing statistics…
“We've just got to be better. We had some good plays. We had some negative yardage plays. You add in the three sacks. Now you get back to 3.3 instead of 4 or 5.We need to run the ball better, and we'll continue to work on it. Germain Ifedi getting hurt didn't help. We had to make and in-game adjustment. Ifedi is big part of what we do. To be able to adjust and put those guys in there, then add Ben Compton in the mix, there was a concerted effort to try to run and continue with that plan even though one of our better players got hurt right in the middle of the game.”
On the physicality of offensive line…
“Can we be better? Yes. It's something that we can build on schematically and from a personnel stand point to give ourselves a better chance. As I said, were we dominant? No, but at the times we need to do things, we were able to do it. Do you want more points? Obviously you do. I thought for what we had to do at the end to move the football- take time off the clock for our defense to get the three stops that were necessary to win the game- that becomes a team effort.”
