Nebraska vs. South Alabama
Sept. 12, 2015
South Alabama Head Coach Joey Jones
On stopping the run
“They really ran at will all night against us. We were really worried about their size. When you look at the size of their line and the inexperience we have, we knew it was going to be a matchup problem. I thought their running back, number 34 (Terrell Newby), was excellent. Either he's a really good running back or we're not very good tacklers. We missed a lot of tackles out there. We've got to correct that. I think some of that had to do with how good he was. They were a very good football team, and we knew it coming in. When you play a team like this, we've played them over the last couple years and this wasn't too good of a showing for us. But I'm proud of the way the guys fought, and they never got their heads down and quit. But we've got some things we have got to fix, like I talked to them in the locker room about."
On missed opportunities
"I think when you come into a game like this, to beat them you have to score touchdowns and can't kick field goals to beat Nebraska. We want to score touchdowns because we came here to win, and that's the reason I went for it on fouth and four."
On Wide Receiver Josh Magee and Quarterback Cody Clements
“I thought Cody (Clements) had a great game. I have to watch the film but I thought he stood in there and threw the balls when he got hit several times. He didn't back down one time. He's a fighter and a winner. I thought he made some accurate throws. Josh caught I don't know about five long balls and had one called back and it was a touchdown. He had a great game and he did some good things there. I thought we did some good things throwing the ball. I think we threw for 300-plus yards, but we didn't run it very well. They had some big human beings on their defensive front, so we didn't match up as well in the run game."
On the impact of the atmosphere
"We've got some guys that haven't been in this situation. You look at our defense and I think we had three or four guys playing and their first time being in an atmosphere like this. Some of the older guys have been used to it at Mississippi State and South Carolina and those kind of places. I think it did affect us early in the game. We tried to do all we could in practice, but sometimes you just have to go through it and learn from it."
On positives from today's game
"When we play a team like this that's very good, in my opinion. They expose your weaknesses and they certainly did that tonight. I thought they did a heck of a job coaching and calling the right plays and figuring out what we were doing on defense. I thought they played sound on defense for most of the night. You learn about your players and how they're going to react. I didn't see any heads dropping. They kept fighting and that's what I ask they do, and that's what they did. As far as schematically and technique wise, we'll have to watch film and correct those things. They're a great team and they have great tradition, they've won five national championships. They know how to play the game. They exposed us at times, and now we have to learn from that."