University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Postgame Quotes -- Sept. 24, 2005
09/25/2005 | Football
Sept. 25, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Opening Thoughts
"We are very pleased with the victory. It was hard fought and we had to earn it. I thought Richmond played a very good game, especially offensively and gave us a lot of problems. Our guys hung in there and won one that we should have won. I am proud of them for doing what they were supposed to do in the second half and getting us a victory that we wanted. We worked hard this week to make sure that we didn't overlook anybody and I don't think we did. I thought Richmond played an excellent game and that's why they pushed us so hard."
On early defensive difficulties
"We had missed tackles and broken coverages, things that happen when you sometimes don't concentrate completely or are not on the edge that you need to be. We kept them out of the endzone in the first half and we played well when we had to.
On scoring right before the half
"It was extremely important for our confidence, rhythm, cushion in the game. We felt very good about getting the field goal there, especially when we were going to get the ball back at the start of the third quarter. It was very good to come out with three at least.
Vanderbilt Running Back Cassen-Jackson-Garrison
"We played very well in practice this week and came out concentrated. We executed the way we needed to execute."
On Sharing the Backfield with Jeff Jennings
"Sharing the backfield doesn't bother me at all. It doesn't matter who is in the game. He (Jeff Jennings) is going to get the job done and I'm going to get the job done."
On looking past the MTSU Game for the LSU Game
"We're taking it one game at a time."
Vanderbilt Linebacker Moses Osemwegie
"We have a mindset of being able to finish games now. We learned that after last year and years past. We've learned the things we need to do to finish games."
On Defensive Play in the First Half
"We had a lot of missed assignments. We need to correct that for next week. Some of our guys were trying to make plays when they should have been doing something else. Some of our guys were trying to do too much."
Vanderbilt Quarterback Jay Cutler
On Never Having Played MTSU
"They're a good team and are going to come in fired up. We need to work hard and have a whole lot of improvement to do."
On Earl Bennett's Play
"He's a heck of a player. He likes to run around and wants the ball every play. I'll get it to him to see what he can do. He'll be great for a long time at Vanderbilt."
Vanderbilt Wide Receiver Earl Bennett
"I just came out focused and played well. Everything worked out for the best, but it wasn't easy out there."
On Being Mentored
"Erik Davis and other players help me out during the game. They let me know what's going on. I am thankful he's continuing to help me get better."
Richmond Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement
It's disappointing because we're going to look back at this film and see that we had chances to make plays that we didn't make. Wide receivers need to catch the football; when defensive linemen get into the backfield and get near the quarterback, they need to make sacks. We had a chance to make plays, we didn't make them, and going against a team that we were probably mismatched against, if you don't make those plays, you're not going to win.
On costly early penalties
We got down in the red zone and our offensive line pushed us back twice. In the first half, our defensive line - which is supposed to be keying the football - jumped offside twice in a row and that gave them three points. Instead of going in at halftime down one score, we went in down by 11 points.
On playing in a larger stadium
We don't play in an environment like this that often and it's different. Sometimes we lost focus on what we needed to do.
On Vanderbilt's offense
Anytime a team can effectively run and throw the football, they're going to be tough to defend. They've got a great quarterback and enough of a run game to keep you honest, and they've got some guys that can win match-ups on the outside.
On Vanderbilt coming together at 4-0
I'm sure from Coach Johnson's standpoint this has been a four-year process. They've been through their struggles and there were some games a year ago that they were in a position to win and couldn't finish, and this year they're finishing. They scored in the fourth quarter to beat Wake, they scored late in the fourth quarter to beat Arkansas, they shut down Ole Miss inside the 20 last week to preserve that win.
When that happens, you've got some guys who have struggled, struggled, struggled - and now with the help of a great quarterback, they're a heck of a football team.
Richmond Senior Quarterback Stacy Tutt
We moved the ball well from the 20 to the 20. Then when we got inside the red zone and couldn't capitalize. Nobody on Vanderbilt's defense would give up anything. They were coming hard at us every play.
On playing a 3-0 team
They felt like the sky was the limit coming into this game. Most teams like that look past a 1-AA team like us and give a little slack, but they didn't. They definitely know how to win.
On red zone play
Last year we killed ourselves in the red zone. We know we don't want to do that this season and have worked in practice on correcting that, but we did it again tonight. We made mistakes down deep.
On moving the ball
We moved the ball well. We only punted twice in the first half, but we just couldn't get in the end zone.
On Vanderbilt's offense
They run a pretty balanced offense. Their quarterback is their leader. He does a great job throwing it. [Jeff Jennings] and [Cassen Jackson-Garrison] did a great job moving the ball on the ground. Their receivers did a great job too.
Richmond Quarterback Levi Brown
It was great being back in Tennessee. It was the best game we have had offensively this season. We shot ourselves in the foot on the first drive. We had our chances to make this a close game. We play hard, just not hard enough to win.
Richmond Junior Cornerback Damien McCallum
We had a good defensive scheme. They just ran some pass routes we were not prepared for and couldn't stop those.
On Jay Cutler
We didn't feel like he was a huge scrambling threat. We knew our best chance of success would be making him move and throw it. Even when he scrambled, though, he got great passes off. We had sacks, but he was able to spin out of them.
On preparation for Vanderbilt
We went through the same general practices in preparation for them. We didn't do much different. We watched video and prepared ourselves. Our coaches kept telling us the most important thing was overall team speed.
On the rest of the season
Coming off this game we should feel pretty good for the rest of the season. We had a few plays that if they had gone differently, we could've made the score a lot closer.
