UCF Head Coach Scott Frost
Opening Statement:
"It's just great to get a win. I'm so happy for our guys. Our defense and defensive coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for what they've done this year. They were dominant tonight in all phases on defense. After that first drive where we put them in a bad situation, I think it took them a little time to adjust to the speed of what Tulane did. From then on, the staff and the players on defense did an unbelievable job. I tip my hat to Coach Chinander and his guys. It was a great win for the program and I'm looking forward to moving forward."
On the early turnover and Tulane touchdown:
"That's not how we want to start a football game, particularly when you are playing a team that has a different type of offense than you are used to seeing. It takes a little bit, maybe a series or two, for guys to get the feel for what the speed of how they do it is like. Our guys adjusted well and played a great game."
On the halftime talk:
"The message was a little different tonight. The message for our guys was to have fun and enjoy playing football. I kind of got the feeling at a couple of our other games that there was almost a feeling of dread in guys. Like, 'what's going to happen now if we lose?' I don't want our guys playing that way. Tonight we had more guys jumping around on the sideline and getting excited for each other. I think that makes a difference down the stretch."
On defense scoring and playing majority of the game:
"We didn't wear down tonight. The game was slowed down, and our defense took the majority of the reps. I don't know how many snaps on offense we had in the second half, but it had to be less than 20 I would think. When the defense scores, they have to go right back out there and that's a good thing for everybody. Going forward, the one thing we will look at is making sure that we rest those guys. They had a lot bigger share of the work load today. I think being fresh and giving the guys a little time off this week made a difference. We will prepare as well as we can to get them right mentally and physically."
OL Wyatt Miller
On the journey the offensive line has taken these past few games:
"We knew when Tyler [Hudanick] went down that somebody was going to have to step up and we knew there were some guys that could do that. It's just kind of molded into that, you know, you have to have a bond as an offensive line. It's getting used to playing beside other people and getting better. You can tell every game we are getting better."
On having fun while playing:
"Not so much that the fun was getting lost, but we were just kind of lost in that we weren't executing and we were getting frustrated with ourselves.When we do execute, it does make it fun… we need to learn how to finish and that's where we might be having too much fun. We need to learn how to focus that fun and focus our execution into the second half."
RB Adrian Killins
On the mindset of the offense after the turnovers in the first quarter:
"The mindset with the offense was that we just have to execute and we have to feed off of those turn overs. In previous games we did the opposite of that when we didn't execute on the turnovers. So coming into this game we wanted to execute on all three phases of the game and we did just that. Turnovers are a big key."
On team excitement after the defense scores:
"It's great energy. At some point in time the offense is going to have the defenses back and the defense is going to have the offenses back and special teams and so forth. Knowing that the defense has our back is awesome. We still have some things we need to work on as an offense but we are getting better every week as you can see. The defense played a great role tonight and we got the win as a team."
On running the Statue of Liberty play:
"That's something the coaches put in and had shown us previous people doing it. Once we got a chance to do it in the game, we knew it would hit big… it's a pretty fun play."
On the offensive line:
"There was a few more holes to run through today.It all starts with the offensive line and the running backs who just feed off of them.Once we see a hole, we hit it… they opened some big holes for us today.With the help of the offensive line and the help of the coaches with film throughout the week, we were able to hit some big holes in the game and do some great things with the ball in our hands."
DB Shaquill Griffin
On his interception:
"I'm starting to think it's a chain reaction. (Drico) got a pick, scored, and then I got a pick and scored. It seems like it's starting to happen a lot and I feel like I am truly blessed."
On finishing the game:
"It was a very satisfying game. Our whole focus this week was to come in and focus on being us (the defense). We're trying to pick each other up. If the defense is doing bad one game, the offense might have to cover us. Right now it's the opposite. The offense is trying their best, and that is what really matters. The defense just has to worry about finishing the game. It was close at halftime and we just focused on being us and the points came. We had fun tonight and we'll try to bring that same energy to the next game."
On if they spoke to the younger guys of the team during halftime:
"That's something that we definitely keep talking about, just keeping each other accountable. At the end of the day it's a competition between the team we're going against and within our team. When someone makes a play, you want to make a play also and keep that going into the next game. Going into halftime, we talked to the offense. It's not more about showing out the offense, it's about encouraging, just to know someone has your back. The main thing to tell the offense is whatever you have to do, just know we got you. It doesn't matter. Just to know that someone has your back, you tend to play better. You feel more comfortable and that's something we definitely continue to do. This is just a family environment, and we continue to build that."
DB Drico Johnson
On being one win away from a bowl game:
"It feels great; every year I've been here we've gone to a bowl game except for last year. I feel like we are so much closer to a bowl game this year than last year. We have leaders who have stepped it up and are leading the way this year. I feel great about our team. We all want to win out and go to a bowl game."
On getting the win at home:
"It felt great. We all came together as brothers and got the win."
On both scores:
"I didn't think it, but God works miracles. I was supposed to cover the pitch man, and just jumped the ball [on the first touchdown] and got the score."
On the defense doing well:
"We're a team; it's not about us. Without the d-line getting to the quarterback, without the linebackers dropping into the zone and blocking for us, we wouldn't have scored our picks."
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