You know, hard-fought game. Proud of our kids for battling. Started off about as slow and as poorly as you could have. Self-inflicted wounds on offense. Had the emotion. And made plays, we're moving the football -- I mean, had plays made, get them called back, just silly penalties. Knowing what we're going to do and got to get that fixed. Defensively, didn't get stops coming out. They got the running game going, made plays. We busted the coverage. Took a guy out on center field, jumped down on an over route, and they got a post. About everything you could humanly do to get them a jump start. They're up 14-0, but our kids kept our composure. What I liked about for a young team, could have folded. Like I say, a very, very young football team that kept its poise, kept its composure. Come back and made a heck of a drive coming off the goal line. Got down 14-7. And unfortunately, they made a heck of a drive. We needed to get a stop. We got them down there, but then they jumped and tried to dive. And we got that fumble and make a heck of a play to get back. Of course, we have to drop the snap, so it can't be 14-14. So it has to be 14-13. Thought that was going to catch us at the end, but that was one of the most reliable guys on our team. A battle at halftime to get there.Â
Come out second half. Offense had a great drive, come right down and scored. Defense got a stop. Come back the next drive, had a heck of a drive. Probably had 200 yards of offense on that drive and kept moving back. We had a block in the back on a big run. We had a hold on a run. Takes it down to 9. We end up getting a dadgum field goal out of it and could have gotten a touchdown and got 23. Then we come back, defense held. Then we get another drive, and we get 8 or 9, and we miss a -- had a read on a first down, read on a throw that we hit. It's another touchdown. We could have hit the flag and scored. But, hey, we've got to get that fixed out. And then missed half an inch on the third one, a yard and a half. Then they got some momentum, got a drive back. Then we drove down to the 35 again and had a shot, and we ran into the safety on the shot play. I didn't get it there, and then missed a field goal. They come down and missed a field goal, and we had it out.Â
It was a heck of a game. They've got a good team. We by far, not close to where we need to be. Have to fix the self-inflicted wounds. Got to clean things up, got to get better. But we've beaten two good football teams not playing very well, at the top of our game. But playing well at times and still competing and making plays when we had to. That's very encouraging. Now we just got to get things fixed and grind on it. We're a work in progress in what we have to do, and we have to keep grinding, but very proud of the guys we have.Â
Q. Jimbo, in your opinion, did the -- the fumble return for the touchdown, did that save the game for y'all?Â
I don't know if it saved it, but it made it a lot easier to win. I think we came back and then played well. We had a good drive on offense. We gave up a drive on defense. We got that play, and it was back. That was a big play in the game. That's what big games are. Whether it's a pass, whether it's a run, whether it's a fumble, those are the kind of things you got to have. We were making plays that we had to make to win the game, and they made a great one on defense.
Q. Did you think that last field goal was going to go through?
No. When he kicked it, I thought it was going to be wide right. The angle I had -- I couldn't see. When he kicked it, I thought it was going wide right completely. I really did. Thought ours was going to go through. [Randy] Bond hit his really good. He was right there. When he kicked it, I thought it looked good from my angle. My angles were bad both sides, weren't they?Â
Q. First half you have 51 yards passing. The second half, that first drive, maybe your most efficient drive of the year. How did that set the tone for the game?
We hit things. In the first half, we had the penalties. We had a wide-open post route. We just missed. We just didn't make the play on it. We had that one for another 60, 70 yards. We had a rail route. We had a couple things there. We'll get better on it and just keep grinding.Â
Q. I was just hoping you could comment on Devon's [Achane] game tonight and the play of the offensive line, especially in run blocking.
We're getting better in the run blocking. We're getting better at reading. Max [Johnson] did a good job of seeing the right plays, checking. A lot of those plays were checked, and he got it there. Devon is Devon. That's who he is. How did he play? That's Devon. That's all you've got to say.
Q. You mentioned the penalties early in the game, a lot of those presnap. You had to burn a time-out right after kickoff. Is there a common thread on maybe why it's taken a little time to get those plays.
No. Same play, 15 plays. Knew what we were going to be in, just lined up. Guy not in the urgency to go get set. When you bring a motion, you got to get set. Didn't have it. Didn't get lined up on the right side. Knew exactly how we were going to run it. Just maturity. Just keep drilling and drilling and relaxing in the game. That's not discipline. As much as anything, it's anxiety and nerves, I mean it, from those young guys. They've got to just relax at the beginning of the game and get their poise and go play. They are wanting to do things so fast, they've just got to let things slow down. Be quick but don't worry. It will happen.
Q. Any idea of the extent of [Ainias] Smith's injury?
No, I don't.Â
Q. What changed in the third quarter? You guys came out and really took over the game. Went down and scored and then got a three-and-out.Â
Then drove again, then drove again. It was this thing called execution. Relaxing, not having the nerves. And the same calls, the same plays. We just executed them. You know what I mean? I know that sounds crazy. Well, that's what it is. It's relaxing and doing your job. It's that simple. There is no magic formula why you do it why you don't do it. You just got to relax and do it at the beginning and all the way through. It's that simple.Â
Q. Mentioned it a little bit earlier in the press conference, but Max [Johnson] specifically. What impresses you about how he's able to lead this offense?
Well, he's getting better and better at it. He's scrambly. He's tough. He made some great runs and scrambled. His heart is big. He plays hard, plays tough. And he's still learning it, and there's still a lot of things -- I mean, he can even do better. I'm not trying to criticize him in anyway. There's some throws and some plays we had there. And he knows it And some reads we've got to keep going over and over and over. He'll get used to the guys and the players and those guys in them game. And those guys around him have to run them just like they are supposed to run them. He did a great job managing the game, the run checks. A lot of those big runs, he checked and got us out of one play and got us into another and what we were trying to do. He just gets better and better. He's a real competitor. He's a very high-quality young man.Â
Q. Could you speak to the game Evan Stewart had.Â
Evan is getting better and better. He's growing as a freshman. Let me see what he had. He had 36. We hada touchdown. There's some other plays in there we tried to get it to him. I think he was sliding in there. Had one he could have got. But he's just getting better. Evan is going to be a really good player. He's very dynamic guy and can make plays. You saw that one we had called back, he can catch and run with it. He can get deep. He can do a lot of things. He's getting better and better.Â
Q. Could you walk through -- before that field-goal decision to either not take a time-out or let the clock go down. Seemed like either way you could make an argument for.
I want two time-outs. The time-outs in college football, two time-outs and first downs is an eternity. 1:30, we work on that all the time. We're going to have the ball and we need a field goal, I wanted that 100% a time-out. If it had been under 1:00 or 1:20 or 1:15, I might have taken it and would have kept it up there. But I did not want to let that -- I wanted that two time-outs. I wanted that time-out. 1:30, that's an eternity in college football. As a matter of fact, that's one of the exact drills we work , 1:30, two time-outs, got to go get a touchdown. Except we didn't need a touchdown there, we just needed a field goal. We decided that way before that. I was talking that through.Â
Q. Coach, can you talk about how much easier it is to work on your game plan and fix things coming off the win and going into Mississippi State.Â
You must have heard my locker room talk. I'm happy and all that, but I said we got to take a deep second here to reflect. We had a win. We got through things. Now let's take a reflection of why we could have got this thing eased out and played a lot better and had to score a different separation there. It does -- now, they're going to -- we got to clean these things up. I'll be in a bad mood all week, I promise.Â
Q. I'm sure you've seen a lot -- want to go back to the fumble. I'm sure you've seen a lot in your coaching career. But have you seen a fumble recovery like that, where the guy pretty much takes it from another guy to score?
Yes, I have. You see it like that and flips and options. I know that sounds crazy, but I've had those things happen lots of times.
Q. What did you say to Demani [Richardson] after he got back on the sideline?
Really, the fumble recovery, it came down and it bounced and we got it. The ball went flying back. We got it and pitched it back. But, yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but I'm glad it was on our side.
Q. When you look back at Max Johnson and especially because his dad played in this stadium before and he played for the (Dallas) Cowboys, how important is it -- or how monumental of a moment is this for him to celebrate and be able to pick up a win as well?Â
It's another great win when you're a quarterback and to be able to lead your team, that's what it's about. No matter where it's at, no matter if it's in a parking lot. When your team wins and you have a big part of it and you made plays that changed the game and did the things you had to do -- He has continued to grow. Love Max and he's going to get better and better.
Q. Not to bring up adversity, but back-to-back top 15 wins, do you think maybe losing to a team like Appalachian State puts a little bit more fire underneath your team's butt.
Well, I don't know if it puts any more fire. It wakes you up. I told them, Thank God we had those two teams. Thank God we have Mississippi State next week. It's going to be the same way. Going over there and playing them, their defense, what they do on defense is a pain in the tail. Offensively, they're a pain in a tail. No-huddle, throwing that ball around 40, 50 times. I think [Will] Rogers threw five or six touchdowns today. They'll be ready to play. They're a tough place to play. Listen, you jump in this schedule we have in this league, you'll get humble real quick. We have great opponents. You just step up and play.Â
Q. Was just wondering, you mentioned this in your opening statement being down 14 and having a young team that comes out a little bit nervous or whatever. When you look at the way you guys responded to that when it could have gone a different direction, can you --Â
There's heart and character in these guys and there's want-to and there's competitiveness and there's talent and they can make plays. We just have to learn to be consistent and learn to take a deep breath and let one play come at a time and just do our job and go to the next one and next one, and not get outcome-oriented and not want to do too much too early. You know what I'm saying? And just play the play in front of us. When they do their job, their ability comes out and they really play well and you can see what kind of football team they have a can to be. That's just an educational thing we've got to continue to harp on and get better on. The practice starts fast that we get the execution early in practice and we get execution late in practice. We've got to harp on that. And when they don't, I've got to stop it and say Hey, this is what we're talking about. This is what's happening, this is what's here, and educate these young kids as much as I can.Â
Q. Not to be overly philosophical, is this the type of moment or the type of response that a team needs?
Yes, there's no doubt. You can learn some valuable lessons. This week, last week, all the things that happened. There's one three weeks ago, we didn't make those plays. We had plays to make, had a kick to make, could have made it. We could have been sitting here undefeated and be top five in the country and still be the same football team. You know what I'm saying? We learn to gut it out. Now, I'd rather been that way. But at the same time, from your standpoint, it wouldn't have made us a better football team. We're finding out about ourselves a lot right now and what we're trying to do. These kids have fight and grit. We've got to eliminate those things in the beginning. That's the challenge they have to have right now.Â
Q. Jimbo, can you talk about the emergence of Donovan Green. Three huge catches for him today.Â
He's just growing and growing, more and more, and you can see him evolving and getting comfortable. Some of these young freshmen, you want to play them but you've got to make sure you don't ask them to do too much too early. We're trying to feed him in there, and he's getting better and better. That catch he made on third down, the one that got out there, and then the one the first drive, he made a catch and run. You can see what he's capable of. We have some other good young tight ends, too, but he's starting to play really well. And Max Wright did a great job.Â
Q. I wanted to ask you, there at the end of the half, you looked like you were contemplating maybe trying a 60-yard field goal. Why did you change your mind?
Because they didn't -- I noticed they didn't have the return team on, so I didn't mind it. Then with a 60-yarder right there, we have what we call a cover field goal team. In other words, when you kick a long one, knowing that there's a possibility of it being run back, we have a more athletic group of guys that can cover the kick. And I sat there and said, You know what? We're 14-13. We're lucky to be here. We don't need to do something stupid right here. And the odds of making that kick aren't great. You know what I'm saying? 59 yards. And the odds of maybe them catching one and running it back, change the momentum of the game. Said, you know what? Let's try. We're getting ready to throw a Hail Mary and they blitz us, I said, Let's get out of here. We're lucky to be 14-13 and live to fight another day. If they hadn't had got their guys on the field when the time-out come, then I would have, because they didn't have anybody back there. I would have kicked it. I knew they were setting up for a return so I didn't want to do it. When we talk about -- believe it or not, that's something we learned a long time. You think about those things.
