Sept. 17, 2011

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

Head Coach Steve Spurrier

Opening Statement…
It was a typical game I guess when we play a team that runs the triple option. They stayed on the field awhile, but we stopped them at the end. I told our defensive guys that I was really proud of our defense for stopping them in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line. Our guys had two good stops there at the end of the game. Obviously Marcus (Lattimore) had a tremendous game. We figured the best way to try to win the game was to just hand it to him and keep blocking. It was good for the defense to have some success and the offense had a lot of running success. We did end up throwing for around 200 yards somehow or another. Everybody contributed. Jay Wooten kicked a big field goal the last play of the (first) half to put up the three points that we ended up winning by. Maybe it’s a good sign that we’re winning close ones. If you have a big year, you always look back at some of those close ones that you win. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Vandy is a very good team coming in here next week. We’re happy to get this one behind us.

On the onside kick call…
We were struggling and our defense was tired. I didn’t know that we were going to line up in onside kick position. I thought we were going to try to surprise them. When I looked out there and saw them…I think that was one of my best timeouts. I called it right as he was jogging to kick it. He didn’t kick it very well. Fortunately, we got the timeout. I told Coach Butler that I wanted a surprise one and he said `well we haven’t worked on that.’ Anyway, that was a good timeout.

On Navy’s offense converting on third down…
They only made nine out of 14, but most of those were third and one or two. That fourth and 15, I was a little concerned. I can only do so much. I can’t worry about everything. I’m trying to get our passing game in a little bit better shape. We seem to be struggling a bit throwing also. I don’t know if we can consistently stop anybody. We haven’t yet this year. Hopefully we can. We think we can. But we stopped them in the fourth quarter and that was crucial to win the game tonight. We couldn’t stop Georgia or the other team we played (East Carolina), but we stopped these guys tonight to win the game. That was a positive. That was good.

On the close games…
I’m embracing it. This is the kind of game you lose. In the first half we both had four possessions, two in each quarter. We scored 17 points in four possessions and I thought we were playing lousy. We should have had four touchdowns. That’s the kind of game that teams can upset you. That clock keeps running when you play a team like Navy. When they stay out there with seven or eight-minute drives and you don’t go score or go mess up, that’s how you get beat. That’s how Navy beats a lot of teams.

Stephen Garcia – Senior – Quarterback

On improving each game…
We had some guys that got open tonight. We had some good plays. Some guys made some good plays and we had some good runs after the catch. Nick Jones had a great game. That third down catch was clutch. We’re still practicing every single week and trying to get better as the season goes on. We still have to get a lot better than we are right now.

On the team’s mood…
If you look at Auburn last year, they came from behind several times. They did it against us as well. That’s what we’ve been focusing on the whole offseason: playing well in the fourth quarter and getting out of there with a win. We’re pretty happy we’re 3-0 right now.

On Marcus Lattimore…
You can’t thank that guy enough. The offensive line did great again tonight and opened up the lanes for him. He’s hard to tackle as everybody can tell.

Antonio Allen – Senior – Defensive Back

On making big plays…
My ultimate goal is to come out, play full speed, and make every play that I can. The interception just fell into my hands. It was a poor throw and I just took advantage of it.

On responding to criticism…
We just have to show up and play. The crowd was behind us a lot and they couldn’t get the play in on a couple of snaps. We did what we had to do and showed up when it was time to.

Nick Jones, – R-Freshman – Wide Receiver

On his role…
We were just playing our role. If we have to run the ball 48 times or throw the ball to Alshon (Jeffery) 10 times a game, we just want to win. It doesn’t really matter to us.

Marcus Lattimore – Sophomore – Running Back

On getting tired…
I’m fine. We condition better than any team, I think. When it comes to the fourth quarter, as I get more carries, I get stronger.

On Navy’s game play…
Hats off to Navy. I’m glad they’re not in the SEC. They are the best team I’ve ever faced assignment and fundamentals wise.

Melvin Ingram – Senior – Defensive End

On Navy’s execution…
They were everything I expected. They were hard to defend because they run that offense to perfection.

Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo

Opening statement…
First of all, want to congratulate South Carolina, great game; they made a couple more plays than we did. Got to tip your hat to their program. (Marcus) Lattimore, had a hard time tackling him. Guy is a heck of a back, heck of a program. First and foremost congratulate them. Very proud of our men but we didn’t come here for any moral victories. Felt like we were well prepared, prepared for the noise. At the end of the first half we missed a big play. We had a chance, we had a wide open play action, (and) we felt like we had a chance to get seven there. To me that was a huge play because they come right back and get three there. Proud of our young men. I thought they played hard, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough.

On what makes Lattimore so effective…
Kid has great vision, the guy is very powerful. You try to stay back and have some lane integrity, and if you commit too early he bounces outside. He is a very patient runner, but so explosive. He gets hit at the line of scrimmage and drags us for more yards. He is everything he was built to be. We knew he was a great back coming into this game, but he was better than advertised.

On getting ahead early…
We wanted to get up a couple more scores. First series Coach Spurrier is throwing the ball around but you could tell he got a little more patient at the end, and just started running the ball down our throat. We knew he was trying to run the ball, we were trying at least to get up two scores, get up on them so we could dictate tempo. That’s a good team. That’s a good football team.

Alexander Teich – Senior – Full Back

Overall thoughts on the game…
I’m not going to lie, I think we were the better team. It hurts that we didn’t make the plays down the stretch that we needed to. Our defense stood up and we have a veteran offense and all we do is fumble at the end. That’s unacceptable.

Kriss Proctor – Senior – Quarterback

On the last play…
It’s just a play you wish you had back, the safety was coming down in the final play and I just didn’t make a good throw.

On if South Carolina is the fastest team he has ever played…
Yeah we have played some good teams but SEC teams, they have those linebackers with that sideline to sideline speed. It’s hard to get tackles up on them. We thought we had a good game plan but it just didn’t work out.

Tra’ves Bush – Junior – Safety

On facing the defense…
It just presented a challenge. We never back down from a team, no matter what their ranking is. If we are given a challenge we are going to take it on.

On the environment…
It was a great feeling to play in the environment, to come down and play in the SEC. We came up short; we wanted to win. We just have to go back and work harder.

Kwesi Mitchell – Senior – Cornerback/Safety

On Marcus Lattimore…
He is the best, maybe San Diego State’s running back Hillman, but other than that, Lattimore is the best we have ever seen.

Gee Gee Grene – Junior – Running Back

On playing South Carolina…
I mean it was just like any other game. I was real nervous coming in. We didn’t know what to expect, what the call was going to be. It was a good experience but at the same time we didn’t get the win.

On the future of the program…
We are excited about where the program is going. Every year we are constantly trying to get better.