Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State-Ole Miss Postgame Quotes
9/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | USATSI 
Tim DeRuyter, Head Coach
Opening Statement…
"We played an excellent football team in Ole Miss. Give them credit, they are coached very well and we knew going into the game we had to take care of the ball on offense and defensively we could not give up explosive plays given the quality of opponent we are. I thought our guys did a nice job at the end of the first half and we had a little bit of momentum. I thought we had the perfect opportunity to get back into the game, but the next play we turn it over and they come back and score. Give them credit."
On overall athletic ability of Ole Miss…
"It was more the speed. We knew they are a physical football team. Our corners knew the speed of the guys and I do not know if we got hands on any of the receivers."
On disappointment of loss…
"Every game hurts when we lose. When you throw pick six's, it is going to get ugly. It hurts because I thought we were going to have a chance to compete and thought if we get into the fourth quarter with a chance, but we did not do that. I thought if we had got seven after the fumbled punt, we may have been in the game in the fourth quarter."
On his quarterbacks…
"I think they have to take care of the football better. I thought Chason [Virgil] played with a lot of poise, other than turning the ball over. He needs to do a better job of securing it. We will look at the tape, but he needs to take care of the ball better."
On biggest takeaway from the game…
"The obvious is you cannot turn the ball over. I encouraged our guys and told them I think we have a good football team and we fought back. We have a lot of young guys who were in the fire for the first time and did not respond well, but eventually we got there. A year ago when we played some top teams, I did not like how we competed. I think our guys did not react the right way. I think they are reacting the right way and we have good senior leadership. I like the fight in our guys, we just got to play smarter."
On Chason Virgil's play…
"I think it was very impressive. He came it and the stage was not too big for him. I like how he competed. We just need to take care of the ball better.
Chason Virgil, Quarterback, Freshman
On playing at Ole Miss…
"Being at Fresno State and coming into this environment, an environment I would have got to be in multiple times if I would have been at Mississippi State, and it was a great experience playing in SEC country for the first time."
On being composed and having success early in hostile environment…
"I have great teammates and great senior leaders. They made it easy for me and everyone did a great job of getting open and it helped me get in a rhythm and made it easy for me. I have to give a lot of credit to them."
On his offense…
"We played like us and our system. We got into some tempo and had some success moving the ball down the field. I had a few costly turnovers and I cannot have those, and I cannot do that. We knew we could play with them and got it done."
Shannon Edwards, Defensive Back, Senior
On returning interception for touchdown…
"I told myself I am picking this ball off. When I intercepted the ball, it was like a dream. For my first career interception to be a pick six at Ole Miss in SEC football was awesome."
On allowing big plays in the first quarter…
"We just were not playing our techniques right. We did a great job in practice of taking away the deep ball. I do not know if we let the environment get to us, but we need to calm down and play football and that is something we did not do in the first half."
On what they need to do to continue to improve defensively…
"We need to stop the big plays. The big plays really hurt us today. We feel like we were doing all the things right and then they throw a deep bomb and that really demoralizes a defense. We need to get back to how we were playing last week."
On secondary's development…
"I feel like we compete in this group and there is no spot that is set and that just pushes us in practice to continue to compete."
