Sept. 2, 2002
Columbia, S.C. – “To be a good defense, you have to be able to stop the run. New Mexico State averaged 5.6 yards per run. On the perimeter our run defense was a problem as was the quarterback scrambling.”
“In the first half, they had two 12-play drives and were about 60 percent on third down. To give up the big run, don’t’ stop the run, allow the quarterback to scramble, you are not going to do very well. Overall we did not play very well.”
“Lance Laury, Darel Slay, Jonathan Martin, and Langston Moore all played very well.”
“On the positive side, offensively we scored six out of nine times we had the ball. We were 60 percent on third down and had just a couple of penalties. Our goalline offense was very positive, we scored every time inside the 10 yard line. We had a couple of big plays also from our receivers.”
“I thought Corey Jenkins played excellent, particularly in the second half. In the first half he ran well, second half he played like a quarterback. Andrew Pinnock did very well even though he averaged 3.2 or 3.3 yards per rush. He played well without the football and blocked well. I thought Ryan Brewer played very well without the football. Two receivers stood out, Matthew Thomas and James Adkisson performed well with and without the ball. I felt Michael Ages also played well as did our guards.”
“I was disappointed but at the same time I relish this. The time doesn’t drag right now, I can promise you that. Let’s look at the first games. This is what scares you as a coach. Four teams in the Top 20 lost on Saturday. The first game is crazy, you don’t know what is going to happen.”
“University of Virginia is very talented and return 13 starters from last year. They have some outstanding young players they are playing and they will just get better. The way they finished against Florida State no doubt will help them.”
“They have a great receiver in Billy McMullen and two very talented quarterbacks. Matt Schaub is a picture-perfect pro-style quarterback, tall, strong and accurate. Marques Hagans is a red-shirt freshman and he is very fast. I’m sure we will see both of them and we have had problems against both type quarterbacks.”
“Their defense is very talented. Al Groh is an excellent coach, been in the coaching profession a long time and has a great resume. We are going up there with more questions about our football team then we had last week.”
“I enjoy this but I don’t enjoy the reasons why. I don’t know the answers but we have to find some. There is nobody’s job on defense safe, with the exception of (Langston) Moore, (Lance) Laury and (Jonathan) Martin. We have problems in the defensive backfield as illustrated by the perimeter run coverage, third down passing and lack of pressure on the passer.
