Georgia State Head Coach Trent Miles
Opening Statement
“I am very disappointed in the result today. We had our opportunities and didn’t start well nor finish the way we wanted to. As a result, we came out two points short.”
On fake punt in fourth quarter…
“We have a play when we punt to roll out to keep away from pressure and they had already blocked one for a touchdown. We were supposed to punt the ball and we did not punt they ball, so that’s my fault for not making sure that I communicated well enough that if they gave the look they gave, we have to punt the ball. I’ll take the blame for that. We should have punted the football. Do not blame Wil, I'll take responsibility for that because if he was unsure, then it comes back to me.”
On GSU defense playing well enough to win…
“After the first few series. First series, they (Lafayette) drives down the field and gets three points then they block a punt for a touchdown. Our special teams today was shoddy. We missed two field goals. Defense in the second half gave up two field goals so I thought they played well. Once they started getting a beat on what they were doing I thought they did a great job.”
On special teams…
“It was out of whack. Trey Payne, our starting inside linebacker, was also our snapper on field goals. A guy just got thrown into duty trying to get it done. I think it threw off all of the timing ad it hurt the kicker’s focus.
Georgia State QB Nick Arbuckle
On Keith Rucker’s amazing one-handed catch
“He made a great adjustment. (The play) didn’t work out like we thought it would. We thought he would be looping to the back of the end zone outside, and a safety jumped outside of him. He didn’t really see that, so he squared up like we practiced. I saw the safety, so I tried to throw it inside he just made an incredible adjustment. Making that kind of catch in a 10 yard radius is hard…so for him to be able to make that kind of catch as a 250 pound tight end is pretty incredible.”
Arbuckle’s message to his teammates as the game wound down
“You have to want to win the game on the last play, and that is something we have to do. So many people talked about blowing a team out and how nice it would be to sit on the sideline in the fourth quarter with a hat on…. You want to win like that, but nothing is better than winning on the last series on the last play. Nothing is better than taking the game away from the other team at the end. I want to be in that position. I pray that we get in that position again where our offense has to take the field with two minutes left to go and has to put together a drive to win the game. I can’t wait, because that is what we play football for.
On leading the Sun Belt in passing yards
“I would much rather lead the league in touchdown passes than in yards. Yards don’t mean anything if you don’t put the ball in the end zone in the end.”
Georgia State LB Kaleb Ringer
On not having Joseph Peterson
“It was hard not having Joe-Pete out there because that’s kind of the quarterback of our defense, but he and Trey Payne did an excellent job on the sideline making any adjustments for us, keeping us updated on any keys that we had from the sideline. He wasn’t out on the field, but he was still making a big impact.”
On what Coach Miles said at halftime
“Coach Miles just said, ‘Guys, we’ve been here before. This isn’t our first game; we’ve been here before. Just keep playing hard, keep doing what you’re doing, stick to your fundamentals, stick to your keys, stick to your reads and everything should play out.”
On holding Elijah McGuire under 100 yards
“That was a big key for us this week: stop (McGuire). We knew that he was the Sun Belt Player of the Year last season. We knew that he was going to come in and that he was going to be tough. We knew that he was going to be a big part of that offense and if we could slow him down, then we could probably slow the whole offense.”
UL Lafayette Head Coach Mark Hudspeth
Opening Statement:
I am really proud of this team, the way they came over and over came a lot of adversity. It just seemed like every call was going against us today, and we found a way to overcome those things and made plays when we had to. Our special teams, I thought could not have played any better; they were a critical part. Defensively, the second half, I thought we played exceptionally well. Offensively, when we needed to, we were able to get the ball down the field put us up. We didn’t move the balls as efficiently as we would have liked. I give Georgia State credit too. They have a great football team. Coach Miles has done a great job of building this program, and they are really close to being an excellent football team.
On the first punt block:
No, it was planned all week long. We knew we were going to come after on the first one. We thought we had a pretty good plan put in place and boy, did it work to perfection. We needed a quick start and gain the momentum early.
About the defense in the fourth quarter:
I just think some of our guys just wear you down. Dominque Tovell (52) is someone that will wear you down and play hard every play, and Savion Brown (6) getting us that interception was huge as well, even after he had couple PI’s.
On the secondary:
We had 12 penalties called against us tonight, and we had to overcome a lot of those, but we did and proud of the way we responded, and the way we work and prepare every week.
