They brought in DeAndre Williams, P.J. Hall, Justin McMillan and Stephon Huderson, followed by Willie Fritz. I will have all the quotes today but ran out of time this morning before taking my son to church. Check back to get the rest.
DEANDRE WILLIAMS
How does it feel to be bowl eligible this early?
"This is one of our goals and we are happy that we accomplished it so early. We are going to take it a another week at a time and get ready to keep playing."
As a team you had not had many sacks this year, but you personally had one early today to set the tone and you guys finished with a season-high four. How important was that?
"I think it was really important. That's something we went through in practice talking about we had to get pressure on this quarterback. He's a great thrower, so we had to keep pressure on him the whole game."
What was the mindset of the team after losing the last two games?
"The mindset was just keep our intensity high. We know we have a great team and we just knew that the game and the ball was going to start rolling our way. We just had to keep pushing and keep fighting and we were going to get back on the winning side."
Can you talk about the goal-line stand in the third quarter when they had a chance to tie it?
"We really as a defense thrive on getting off the field. Even after they hit a big play on us, we try to pull each other up and keep our brother's head high, whoever the play was hit on or a missed call or anything like that. We just try to keep each other up and keep the momentum up on our side no matter what's happening on offense. If they are busting on us, cool, we are going to make a stop, so that's all it is, trying to keep that momentum from the offense."
Did you expect they were going to try to run and punch it in?
"I didn't. I just know I lined up, got the call from the sideline and gave it my best just like I'm pretty sure everybody on defense did to get that team stop."
Jeffery Johnson had two sacks that forced field goals. How much of an impact does he make on defense?
"Jeffery is a beast. He is a tough guy to move out that middle. I love when he's back at nose. He brings so much extra to our defensive line and helps us so much at the 3 tech and the 4 I. We get one single block because he's taking two every time."
P.J. HALL
You have five deflections and a forced fumble that was picked up and run for a touchdown. How much fun was that out there?
"It was fun but it's always fun going out there and playing with these guys whether I'm the one making the plays or somebody else is making the plays. I love going out there with them."
On that fumble that you forced, did you feel like it was a fumble when it happened and were you worried during the replay review?
"I felt like it was when it happened. To be honest I couldn't really tell on the video, but when it happened I knew it came out. I felt I pulled it out before it hit the ground, so I knew it was a fumble."
From a momentum standpoint, the offense had just scored and the defense scored. How big a swing was that?
"It was real big. Any time you can score on defense, that's a big play. It gives the offense momentum and it makes us feel good as a unit, so any time we score on defense, that's good."
What did they say you did on the unsportsmanlike conduct?
"I don't really know. I didn't look too much into it. We got the penalty. It hurt us. I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."
They were running a lot of out patterns and having success. Was there anything you saw?
"We always make adjustments, but they were running a lot of pick routes. We just had to find a way to get over the top and not get picked, which we ended up doing as the game went on."
JUSTIN MCMILLAN
You have so much depth at running back, and today Stephon Huderson stepped up and had 100 yards. How much does it help to have that many guys?
"It makes my job easier. I don't even know who the back is (in the backfield with him) half the time. I'm not going to lie. I just kind of call it and run it. You could see a team playing a 3-3-5 kind of a prevent defense (as Tulsa did) with the kind of running backs we have, I don't think a safety was past 10 yards at a point, that kind of thing just helps out the offense. The ability of YG and Stephon, people probably haven't seen it here and there, but when you call their number they are ready to play. That's a running back room right there."
The last two years the last game of the season decided bowl eligibility. What does it mean to get it out of the way early?
"The strides this team has made, from talking to people like P.J. I just got here, and I didn't understood fully what Tulane has been through in the past from four or five years ago. To know that we're bowl eligible with three games left, it just shows where we're heading. The leaders on this team, we stepped up a lot, and the young guys stepped up a lot. We're trying to build a program here. We're working hard doing it and we're playing for this city. We're just trying to give them hope, and this team is playing its heart out."
You reversed field on the long run that clinched the game. Can you talk us through the play?
"I just kind of closed my eyes and wished I could pop out somewhere and it happened. No, I'm joking. Just the flow of their defense. We were in that formation a good bit of times. That was probably the first or second keep I had, just consistently going through my fakes, going through reads. understanding how the defense was flowing and knowing where my holes were at. I can't talk too much about that. That's our secret formation, but the O-line did a great job continuing to block and I just squirted out the back side, saw some grass and took off."
As you've done in the past, you bounced back quickly from a bad play on your second interception. What was your thought process going back on the field after that one?
"Don't throw another pick. It's a four-quarter game. Throw a pick, throw a touchdown, I'll be excited, I'll be mad, but in the next 10 seconds I'm back to normal. You see I get real excited on touchdowns and whatnot, but believe it or not, I'm back in it in within a matter of seconds. You've got to take the good with the bad as a quarterback. The ball's in your hands every play. You can't be up and down. The offensive guys look at me after a pick just like you would. They look for my reaction, and if I react bad, it will slow down the momentum of the team, so these guys next to me (Williams and Haall) held me down, gave me another chance and I just had to do what I had to do."
You have 12 rushing touchdowns now and the school record for a quarterback was eight going into the season. Did you envision that going into the season?
"This is the most I've ever run in my career, and it's not crazy runs of forced runs. It's within the flow of the offense. I've never been in an offense like this. I've been in multiple different offenses, but in this offense I'm asked to run. I don't have a problem with it. I just try to give this team all I've got, so when I run I feel like I'm holding the team with that ball in my hand, so I give all I can. I'll take the 12."
On the fourth-and-goal sneak at the end, did you feel like you were clearly in?
"Yeah. I didn't know they were reviewing it."
Was the sun a factor?
"When we got back to the sideline I found out the sun was a problem on the touchdown I threw to Hud. He said he lost it in the sun a little bit, but he got down. If anything the wind was more a problem than the sun. It kind of dried out my hands and it was hard to grip the ball, small things that amount to a lot. but as far as the sun for me, I don't have to catch the ball. From the looks of it we were all right."
What did coach Fritz tell you guys after you lost two in a row?
"He's won a lot of games in his career. You've got to respect what the mans says and he knows where to come from as far as winning and recovering from losses. He gathered a couple of us and said our team has to be player led for the most part. We've taken it as a team and tried out different methods. We don't want to lose. We don't like losing. I know he doesn't like losing. He's in here all day every day, and he's put pressure on us as players to ask more of ourselves. In practice our intensity is crazy. Nobody wants to lose. This team isn't a losing team anymore. This isn't going to be the name of Tulane. This isn't going to be a one-year thing. We try our best to continue to climb from this year to the next year to the year after that. We want to be known as a team to be (contended) with in this conference, so we're striving."
STEPHON HUDERSON
You had your first 100-yard game. How did it feel today?
"It felt good. (Running backs) coach Fobbs said when your number's called, make a play, and coach Hall had a great play call and then I just executed the play and it was there."
How much do you guys (running backs) push each other to be successful?
"With a running back room that deep, people think there's selfishness, but everybody loves to see the other one succeed so when I'm doing good, they lift me up. We're all going to be family in the room."
Can you take us through the 55-yard run?
"Justin turned and reversed it to me and the O-line did a great job, the backer floated to the left and it just opened, a big hole. The run was a long run."
DEANDRE WILLIAMS
How does it feel to be bowl eligible this early?
"This is one of our goals and we are happy that we accomplished it so early. We are going to take it a another week at a time and get ready to keep playing."
As a team you had not had many sacks this year, but you personally had one early today to set the tone and you guys finished with a season-high four. How important was that?
"I think it was really important. That's something we went through in practice talking about we had to get pressure on this quarterback. He's a great thrower, so we had to keep pressure on him the whole game."
What was the mindset of the team after losing the last two games?
"The mindset was just keep our intensity high. We know we have a great team and we just knew that the game and the ball was going to start rolling our way. We just had to keep pushing and keep fighting and we were going to get back on the winning side."
Can you talk about the goal-line stand in the third quarter when they had a chance to tie it?
"We really as a defense thrive on getting off the field. Even after they hit a big play on us, we try to pull each other up and keep our brother's head high, whoever the play was hit on or a missed call or anything like that. We just try to keep each other up and keep the momentum up on our side no matter what's happening on offense. If they are busting on us, cool, we are going to make a stop, so that's all it is, trying to keep that momentum from the offense."
Did you expect they were going to try to run and punch it in?
"I didn't. I just know I lined up, got the call from the sideline and gave it my best just like I'm pretty sure everybody on defense did to get that team stop."
Jeffery Johnson had two sacks that forced field goals. How much of an impact does he make on defense?
"Jeffery is a beast. He is a tough guy to move out that middle. I love when he's back at nose. He brings so much extra to our defensive line and helps us so much at the 3 tech and the 4 I. We get one single block because he's taking two every time."
P.J. HALL
You have five deflections and a forced fumble that was picked up and run for a touchdown. How much fun was that out there?
"It was fun but it's always fun going out there and playing with these guys whether I'm the one making the plays or somebody else is making the plays. I love going out there with them."
On that fumble that you forced, did you feel like it was a fumble when it happened and were you worried during the replay review?
"I felt like it was when it happened. To be honest I couldn't really tell on the video, but when it happened I knew it came out. I felt I pulled it out before it hit the ground, so I knew it was a fumble."
From a momentum standpoint, the offense had just scored and the defense scored. How big a swing was that?
"It was real big. Any time you can score on defense, that's a big play. It gives the offense momentum and it makes us feel good as a unit, so any time we score on defense, that's good."
What did they say you did on the unsportsmanlike conduct?
"I don't really know. I didn't look too much into it. We got the penalty. It hurt us. I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."
They were running a lot of out patterns and having success. Was there anything you saw?
"We always make adjustments, but they were running a lot of pick routes. We just had to find a way to get over the top and not get picked, which we ended up doing as the game went on."
JUSTIN MCMILLAN
You have so much depth at running back, and today Stephon Huderson stepped up and had 100 yards. How much does it help to have that many guys?
"It makes my job easier. I don't even know who the back is (in the backfield with him) half the time. I'm not going to lie. I just kind of call it and run it. You could see a team playing a 3-3-5 kind of a prevent defense (as Tulsa did) with the kind of running backs we have, I don't think a safety was past 10 yards at a point, that kind of thing just helps out the offense. The ability of YG and Stephon, people probably haven't seen it here and there, but when you call their number they are ready to play. That's a running back room right there."
The last two years the last game of the season decided bowl eligibility. What does it mean to get it out of the way early?
"The strides this team has made, from talking to people like P.J. I just got here, and I didn't understood fully what Tulane has been through in the past from four or five years ago. To know that we're bowl eligible with three games left, it just shows where we're heading. The leaders on this team, we stepped up a lot, and the young guys stepped up a lot. We're trying to build a program here. We're working hard doing it and we're playing for this city. We're just trying to give them hope, and this team is playing its heart out."
You reversed field on the long run that clinched the game. Can you talk us through the play?
"I just kind of closed my eyes and wished I could pop out somewhere and it happened. No, I'm joking. Just the flow of their defense. We were in that formation a good bit of times. That was probably the first or second keep I had, just consistently going through my fakes, going through reads. understanding how the defense was flowing and knowing where my holes were at. I can't talk too much about that. That's our secret formation, but the O-line did a great job continuing to block and I just squirted out the back side, saw some grass and took off."
As you've done in the past, you bounced back quickly from a bad play on your second interception. What was your thought process going back on the field after that one?
"Don't throw another pick. It's a four-quarter game. Throw a pick, throw a touchdown, I'll be excited, I'll be mad, but in the next 10 seconds I'm back to normal. You see I get real excited on touchdowns and whatnot, but believe it or not, I'm back in it in within a matter of seconds. You've got to take the good with the bad as a quarterback. The ball's in your hands every play. You can't be up and down. The offensive guys look at me after a pick just like you would. They look for my reaction, and if I react bad, it will slow down the momentum of the team, so these guys next to me (Williams and Haall) held me down, gave me another chance and I just had to do what I had to do."
You have 12 rushing touchdowns now and the school record for a quarterback was eight going into the season. Did you envision that going into the season?
"This is the most I've ever run in my career, and it's not crazy runs of forced runs. It's within the flow of the offense. I've never been in an offense like this. I've been in multiple different offenses, but in this offense I'm asked to run. I don't have a problem with it. I just try to give this team all I've got, so when I run I feel like I'm holding the team with that ball in my hand, so I give all I can. I'll take the 12."
On the fourth-and-goal sneak at the end, did you feel like you were clearly in?
"Yeah. I didn't know they were reviewing it."
Was the sun a factor?
"When we got back to the sideline I found out the sun was a problem on the touchdown I threw to Hud. He said he lost it in the sun a little bit, but he got down. If anything the wind was more a problem than the sun. It kind of dried out my hands and it was hard to grip the ball, small things that amount to a lot. but as far as the sun for me, I don't have to catch the ball. From the looks of it we were all right."
What did coach Fritz tell you guys after you lost two in a row?
"He's won a lot of games in his career. You've got to respect what the mans says and he knows where to come from as far as winning and recovering from losses. He gathered a couple of us and said our team has to be player led for the most part. We've taken it as a team and tried out different methods. We don't want to lose. We don't like losing. I know he doesn't like losing. He's in here all day every day, and he's put pressure on us as players to ask more of ourselves. In practice our intensity is crazy. Nobody wants to lose. This team isn't a losing team anymore. This isn't going to be the name of Tulane. This isn't going to be a one-year thing. We try our best to continue to climb from this year to the next year to the year after that. We want to be known as a team to be (contended) with in this conference, so we're striving."
STEPHON HUDERSON
You had your first 100-yard game. How did it feel today?
"It felt good. (Running backs) coach Fobbs said when your number's called, make a play, and coach Hall had a great play call and then I just executed the play and it was there."
How much do you guys (running backs) push each other to be successful?
"With a running back room that deep, people think there's selfishness, but everybody loves to see the other one succeed so when I'm doing good, they lift me up. We're all going to be family in the room."
Can you take us through the 55-yard run?
"Justin turned and reversed it to me and the O-line did a great job, the backer floated to the left and it just opened, a big hole. The run was a long run."
