Georgia State Head Coach Trent Miles
“We’re very excited for our young men. We’re very excited for our Panther family, our students, administration, the faculty, and anybody that has anything to do with Georgia State University. Our kids fought through a lot of adversity. They never quit believing. The whole time, they believed in themselves and they believed in the fact that we were going to win the game no matter what. They fought through, they stuck with it and at the end, Will Lutz put it through the uprights and we had more points than them. It’s a great day for the Panthers. We’re going to enjoy this. I’m probably going to enjoy it for another hour, and then it’s on to New Mexico State. We’ll get through tomorrow and they’ll be proud when they go to class and then we’ll start working on Friday.”
On the swing of emotions in the closing minutes…
“It shows the resiliency of our young men. You had your emotions go up, and then all of a sudden you look and see a flag and you have to do it again. They believed and stayed steady keel. We had some lulls there. We lost the momentum but they kept fighting back and kept fighting and that’s the mark of a true fighter. There’s going to be times when we’re down against the ropes and we believe no matter what until the clock hits zero. It just showed that they can gather their senses, gather their emotions, and come right back at it.”
“We have a one-game winning streak.”
On what parts of the game Miles felt they did well in…
“Too many turnovers, but there was a lot of things they did well. At the end, when our defense had to make a stop with no timeouts, they got it done. Our kids found a way.”
On fixing the mistakes…
“We’re going to practice. The ones that kill you are the illegal procedures, the self-inflicted penalties. There was a lot of really young guys playing today. Sometimes things happen. You don’t ever want to have that many, but I’ll take the win.”
On Nick Arbuckle leading the team down the field at the end…
“He was able to make a couple great scrambles for us. He kept his composure. He had the presence of mind to look over at me on the side to see that I wanted to wait to clock it. I thought he kept his composure, that’s why we brought him in here. He showed great leadership on the sideline. He had two throws he wishes he had back. The players know who’s our leaders and Nick’s really stepped into that role.”
“We have mentally tough guys.”
On what he said to Will Lutz before the kick…
“It was in the fourth quarter and we were down by nine. I told him the defense was going to hold him, we were going to get the ball back, score a touchdown, and then we’re going to get the ball back again and you’re going to go and win it for us, and he did. When they called timeout and iced him, I laughed and told him that’s was nothing compared to what we do to him in practice. He’s a tough-minded young man and that shows his composure.”
On Joseph Peterson’s interception…
“Huge. Joe Peterson made a great play, ran, and got us great field position. It swung the momentum. There’s a lot of moments in the game of football that’s about momentum. That played swung it back to our side and it picked us up a bit.”
PK WILL LUTZ
“Being able to pull out a win in that fashion is just awesome for the guys. Getting me down there was all them.”
On missing a game-winning kick in a previous situation…
“I haven’t even thought about it to be honest with you. [Matt] Hubbard told me earlier when he asked me how I was doing, he said it’s just like in practice. It’s just another kick.”
QB NICK ARBUCKLE
On the 4th and 19 conversion to Blair…
“I knew the seams would be open, I just had to move to middle safety. I stepped out of the pocket and looked one way and came back to Lynquez [Blair].”
Was he going for the “home run play” before the half?
“I was going for the home run play. I knew I was throwing that post route whether the safety was back there or not. I have full trust in Avery [Sweeting]. I’ve thrown to some fast Division-I receivers in my time, but I’ve never thrown to anyone as fast as Avery. I know he can beat anybody. I just had to buy myself sometime in the pocket.”
On his two scrambles on the last drive…
“On the last one, I saw the linebackers spread out so I called draw. I took off up the middle and tried to get a good field goal chance and I have full trust in Will Lutz to make it.”
On the touchdown that was called back…
“I got excited for a second, immediately turned back and looked for the flag and saw it. For a second there, I was really disappointed, but after that I knew we had to do it again. We can make more than just one play.”
“This is a team that’s going to find a way to win at all costs.”
“Individually, we’re not perfect, but as a team we’re 1-0 and we are perfect right now.”
On coming up one shy yard of tying the school record for passing yards…
“I was really one yard short? I really regret checking into that QB draw now. I guess I’ll try for 415 another game. Anytime we get a win, it’s nice.”
Abilene Christian Head Coach Ken Collums
Last minutes of the game, you were up nine. Tell me what happened?
Well as a fan, it was a pretty cool ending. But as the coach, when you look at how things played out, we blew our foot off at the end, and it seems like we self-destructed quite a bit… Penalties, some of them very, very needless, and that's disappointing. When you force a team to that situation where they have to score twice, you feel good about it. And we struggled running the ball. So I knew if they got the ball back, they were going to have a shot… But they ended up making the play and obviously we didn't. And sometimes, they're not making plays but making mistakes. So a lot of times in game one, all over the country, people make mistakes and give guys a chance. When it comes down to it, you have to tip your hat to them because they made the plays, and my guys didn't.
Coach at first punt, you got it out at the nine yard line, but then after the penalty, you kicked it right down the center. Was that the call or was it trying to get a good kick?
It was just trying to get a quality kick. It was trying to get the ball out and not get it blocked and in those situations, a lot of the times, who knows where the ball is going. But our kicking game, our running game, I think far as our snappers and our kickers, they are some of the best in the business and sometimes that happens.
Coach, you scored with the best of them, but defense let you down. It's early. It's only one game, but what would you pinpoint as the major area of concern to work on, defensive side?
I think just putting more pressure on the quarterback. I thought we could have put more pressure on him. When you don't and let him sit and run around a little bit, then it's going to make it really tough on the back end. Some of those outs, they were hitting. When they are hitting on the inside, it takes a good quarterback, receiver to be able to do that. If you don't get pressure, you may give up stuff like that, so we have to figure out how to get more heat. If we don't, people are going to throw the ball on us.
Talk about Parker's performance today.
I think he did very well. I don't think he made many mistakes. You know, the one interception was just an inability to say no, and he forced the ball. He felt like the guy was open and that was a good route. We were going to where he could get himself in rhythm and balance one time and get the ball out, but when you leave a ball high, in the middle of the field, bad things happen. And he is 5-foot-11. Sometimes, the balls hang in the air a little bit high for those shorter guys. But he is not going to grow three inches before the next game, so we have got to figure out how to not do that. I thought he played well. He threw some strikes in the pocket. He threw some strikes moving around…. But for the first game, I thought he did very well.
We will look at the tape and figure out, okay, where were the break downs? We know when you give up a pass, you know, it's pretty obvious, but we are really not going to lead into that series of events that take place. And you have got to figure out is the right guy out there or not. Is there… were we not being thorough enough as coaches or did the guy freelance or did the guys just make freaky plays? A lot of things that could happen, and it doesn't have to start off with all mistakes focus. Sometimes people make really good plays, and you have to tip your hat to them.
