Miami Head Coach Al Golden
On Miami's overall performance: We played well, we were efficient on offense. I don't think we had a punt, if I'm not mistaken, until the third -- maybe later. You know Stephen [Morris] did an unbelievable job, for the lack of practice he had. I thought he was efficient and that we ran the ball really well. I thought we called a good game early on and I thought the defense settled down after that first 15, which I was concerned about coming off the bye-week. They [USF] did what we thought they would do, but they executed better than we did and that's why they scored. Again, good, tough game on the road and now it's time to go back and get ready for the ACC.
On Stephen Morris's condition: He [Stephen] kept saying that he was [feeling] good. We had enough lead, I thought, that we could move on. I gotta be honest with you - you guys see what I see with Ryan. It's a lot different than last year. He's in a groove right now. He's playing with a lot of confidence and the team has a lot of confidence in him. So when he comes in, it's good and efficient and he did a nice job.
On Stacy Coley: He's coming along. He's making a lot of progress. He's more confident and more comfortable and he's relaxing. Again, he's a competitor. He comes everyday and he works hard and he's having success.
On the blitizing performance: It was a situation where we saw a couple things that we wanted to go after, and part of the pressure was the realization that they really want to be a running team. They want to run the ball, so you can get some TFL's there; and obviously, you can end up in a 8-man front in a lot of those pressures. It worked out well. Hats off to them. They came out sharp, ready to go, and start that early drive in on us. But again, I think we were ready to go and we invested in this week and now we have to go get ready for next week.
On Shayon Green's first quarter sack: I'm happy for him. He's a warrior and he is so unselfish. So much of what we're doing against the run right now is the fact that he's unselfish and he gets the ball spilled when he has to. Sometimes he's a little undersized against some of the tackles, but he does a great job.
On Ryan Williams coming in for Stephen Morris: We feel very good about Ryan. When I was watching pre-game to see what kind of shape Stephen was going to be in, I went to bed last night thinking it was going to be Ryan, to be quite honest with you. So that's how much confidence we have in him. If he plays, hey, we're good; and if Stephen gets dinged somewhere along the way, Ryan comes in and we're good and we'll just move on.
On USF's and Miami's football programs: It's a transition year. He's taking over a new team and again, I can't assess where they're at. All I know is what we're trying to build and we have a lot of guys on our team that have been growing and building. To be honest with you, we went through that year last year and we were fortunate enough to scratch and claw and get to seven wins, but that was really what we were facing last year with all those young guys and it was tough to look at a lot of times, but clearly a lot of those guys have grown up now.
Tyriq McCord
On how it feels to play at home and making an interception: “It feels great. All week I was thinking about being back home, playing in front of my home town. A lot of friends and family came by, and it was a great feeling, just making that play. It was a dream come true. ”
On collecting two interceptions in two games: “I’m just trying to help my team out the best way I can…Sacks, interceptions, whatever the case may be.”
On the interception: “I was just trying to set my block and everything, and I think he was trying to throw a shallow cross. (It was a hook, Jenkins said). And then I just made a play on the ball. I put my hands up, and it just came into my hands.”
On what changed after allowing a touchdown on USF’s first drive: “Leadership. Everybody just staying locked in, staying calm…Just making sure we play just like we do at home.”
On whether the same systems that allowed them beat USF last year helped them this year: “Pretty much. They did a great job studying film. I take my hat off to them and I appreciate them for that.”
On how it felt being back home: “It was a good feeling, just being back home. Everybody from Tampa was talking about it this whole week, just going back home, playing in front of the home town, getting so many tickets to be able to bring our families.. For the Tampa people it felt like a home game. It felt great.
Rayshawn Jenkins
On his mindset coming into the game: “I have the same mindset every game, just help my team be disciplined. It did feel great being back in my home area, because most of my family and friends can’t really travel weekend after weekend, and they got a chance to come see me play.
On whether he played harder because he was close to home: “I want to make an impact every game, but I played a little more passionately, just seeing I was supported in the stands.
Duke Johnson
On struggling to hold onto the ball: “Just my concentration holding onto the football. Not really taking my training into the game… trying too much to score.”
On the offense: “Last game we had a good game. We come back and have another good game... The offense did a great job, first protecting Stephen. He wasn’t as mobile as he could have been, but they did a great job making sure nobody really got to him so he could stand back and throw the ball.
On his injury: “It’s fine. A lot of times it is precautionary measurements just to get me checked out before I go back in.”
On his kick return: “We had a penalty, nothing we can do about that. But we did a great job of answering after they scored a touchdown. Even though it got called back it gave us momentum to go on to the next drive.”
On Dallas Crawford: “Dallas is a hardworking guy. He was just waiting for his chance to play…he’s doing a great job at doing what he’s been practicing and doing everything they teach him to.”
