GEORGIA STATE HEAD COACH TRENT MILES
Opening Statement…
“Give credit to Georgia Southern credit for coming in here and doing what they did offensively. Defensively, it's an unacceptable performance by us. We didn't give ourselves a chance. Our offense showed that they could move the ball and score points. There's a few plays they wish they had back, obviously the ball they were trying to throw away and got a pick and then a dropped touchdown pass. We put 31 on the board, it could've been 48, but we didn't. It's unacceptable to give up 69 points. Again, give Georgia Southern credit. They have an excellent rushing offense, the No. 1 rushing offense there is. It's just unacceptable in this program.”
What can your team do to improve?
“Keep working, keep tinkering with schemes, keep doing all we can, trying different personnel, and different people. We won't make any excuses, all we can do is go back to work. We'll go back to work tonight as a staff. We'll go back in there tonight and we'll work and we'll keep trying to give them something to see what they can execute.”
Did you see this coming?
“I knew that was a good offense. I don't think they punted at all in the second half. They did what they wanted. First, we'll evaluate ourselves as coaches and then I'll evaluate the defensive staff and then we'll evaluate the scheme and then we'll evaluate our scheme and then we'll evaluate everything and it'll start tonight.”
On the home crowd…
“I really respect the Georgia State fans. I thought they were loud and showed up pretty well today. Our team is very appreciative for the support they gave us today. I didn't really pay much attention to the other side. We only pay attention to our side.”
On the offense getting out of rhythm…
“What happened was there was so much pressure on the offense to score every single time you've got the ball. Peyton manning has a hard time doing that. He'll score most of the time, but every single time you get the football, you have to score a touchdown… We kept scoring and they kept scoring and then we have a turn and we're in position to score, we're trying to throw the ball away and we throw a pick. We lose our turn… Everything becomes harder when you know you got to go out and score every time.”
Donovan Harden's day…
“Donovan's played well all year long. He had a chance to get five touchdowns in a game. He dropped a touchdown, but the kid had 11 catches for 186 yards and four touchdowns. That means one, Nick Arbuckle is doing a good job getting him the ball, and two, our line was protecting [Arbuckle]. We had a couple of situations early, but I thought they protected well. We threw the ball 38 times and there were zero sacks. The line was doing something right, the receivers were doing something right, and Nick was doing something right. Putting up points is not our problem. We went out last year and fixed our offense through recruiting. Now we have to make a great effort to fix our defense.”
Do you evaluate things after every game?
“After every game, the first thing I do, win or lose, is look in the mirror and evaluate myself. What did I do wrong? What did I do right? What can I do better? It falls on me first. I evaluate myself first and the job that I did and then I look at everything else.”
GEORGIA STATE WR DONOVAN HARDEN
Q: How do you feel after breaking the school record?
“It's hard to get excited about breaking the record, especially when I dropped the potential 5th touchdown pass. That's the only thing I'm thinking about right now. Like I said, “give Georgia Southern credit for coming out here and playing. I don't think we did.”
Q: You've had a pretty prolific two weeks, plus you've been dealing with a few injuries. What has happened the past two weeks?
I'm just sticking to the scheme. Big thanks to the offensive line and the quarterback for getting me the ball. The shoulder really doesn't hold me back too much. I try not to think about it, just like my knee surgery. I feel it from time to time but for the most part it doesn't hold me back at all.
Q: Can you go through your touchdowns, give us a play-by-play?
I think on two of the touchdowns, the defense was in man coverage. I just went deep because I felt like I could beat them with speed. The other two were back shoulder throws from my quarterback, Nick Arbuckle. To be honest with you sir, I don't remember the last one. I just remember the one that I dropped which keeps playing in my head. Thanks to Nick for putting them on the dime and giving me a chance to make a play.
Q: Was this a rivalry game?
In the beginning it did but it started dying off in the end. I like the energy of the crowd, the Georgia Dome was excited for once. I can't wait to play them again next year.
Q: How can you guys bounce back?
A: Go back to the lab. We really just have to flush it, and forget it. We need to continue to work hard. Something is going wrong obviously but we will figure it out. This team won't give up. I love my team, I love my brothers and I know we will get it together.
GEORGIA STATE QB NICK ARBUCKLE
Q: The coach said there was pressure on you guys to score ever single possession. You individuals seem to be handling that pretty well. How do you make it contagious for the entire offense?
A: It's something that we preach every week. Being able to finish our series and score a touchdown. At the very least, we have to be able to flip the field position. We don't want put the defense on short fields. We need to finish every series. We cannot turn the ball over, or a bad pass or a drop. It is our job to score each time we take the field. Our defense did a good job of forcing a punt, so there was a series that Georgia Southern didn't score a touchdown. We should have won by seven in the end if the offense did our job so I put that on us.
Q: Did it feel like a rivalry?
“It felt like a rivalry game. Definitely could feel the fans, they are a good program improving every year. We are still establishing ourselves. We have good athletes and we will dangerous once we get it clicking on offense and defense.
Q: Talk about Donovan how he has been doing the past two weeks
The first week to this game, I try to find the open receivers. It just seems to happen that he's been open the past two weeks. It has to do with the schemes we are running and the schemes we are going against. We have been facing nickel defenses. Three of the touchdowns today were on plays that weren't called. We checked out to them and even on one of the touchdowns he signaled to me. I looked over at him and said, okay. It's a trust thing between us. He has had really good matchups for the past two games.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN HEAD COACH WILLIE FRITZ
Opening Statement:
We're very excited about the win. I thought our guys played extremely well. Defensively, we did good things. Offensively, we made a new FBS rushing all-time school record; we are excited about it. Our receivers, offensive line and backs did real well. We ran triple option. When we run triple option, there are many possibilities of turnovers. We had no turnovers today. I am very proud of our offense and that also helps defensively. We also have great respect for coach Miles and his staff. They do a great job in getting the ball to number of people. Number nine did a great job. We are now excited for the opportunity that is coming up Thursday.
Coach, did you treat this game as more important than the other games?
No. I don't care about that stuff. I told the kids that I want to win every ball game. I want to do well every week. If you take certain games as more important, you will have highs and lows which is not the way to do it. It was great playing in the Dome in front of a great Georgia Southern crowd, but I honestly do not care about that stuff.
How does a game like this against Georgia State at the Dome help with recruiting?
It helps, but I the main thing is that transition into Division I helps most. We are on a different playing field than before. We went through one recruitment cycle before this season, and I think it helped. We will see in a few months.
How important was the bye week for the team to get that rest and do well today?
It was important. It was good. It gave a few guys time to heal up. I always worry we are going to get out of rhythm, and we did a whole lot of good work earlier in the week. We wanted the guys to get acclimated to fast playing, and I think that helped us out a lot. We did a lot of work in the front end.
