Appalachian State

Head Coach Scott Satterfield

Opening Statement

First of all, I'm just really proud of the way our guys came out and played. For us, it's been a long offseason. We ended on such a high note at the end of last year, and obviously we wanted to continue to play, but we had to start our offseason.  We went into our offseason and our guys really worked hard throughout the last six months, had a great summer and a really good fall camp. 

The thing about first games is you really don't know what to expect out of your opponent. You watch film from the previous year, but there's a lot of new players that are coming in so you don't know what to expect. Even with scheme,  you have to prepare for everything.

I was really proud of our guys and the way they came out in the first quarter. 

On the success of opening week and then looking forward to the challenge of Clemson next Saturday

I think the preparation that we put in, it showed today. Now, we're glad we got a win no question about it. That's why we're playing the game, is to get W's. I'm more interested in our team, how our teams play, how they react, how they fight and how hard they play. I'm more interested in that. I'm more interested in us. It'll be the same next week.

We obviously have to win football games and our goal is to win the Sun Belt, and we've got four games before we play the Sun Belt. We want to get as good as we can possibly get. So we've got to get better, we've got to look inward. What can we do to get better? What fundamentals can we do to improve our football team? We'll go back and look at the film and do what we need to move a player to a different position, whatever it may be, we'll really critique ourselves after this first game to see what kind of adjustments we need to make. But you always celebrate a win. They're too hard to come by in college football.

On the balance of attack between run and pass

We pride ourselves on running the football, and I don't think that's a secret. We want to be able to run the ball and control it, but we also know that you have to throw it in certain situations. We have a talented group of wide receivers and I think we saw that today. It really wasn't just one guy, it was several players. And then also we have several running backs. I've been saying that all camp of how deep we are at running back.

On the upcoming challenge against Clemson

Everybody knows that Clemson is one of the best teams in the country. I think several people have picked them to be in the final four in the playoffs at the end. They have a Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback that's outstanding. They have some wide receivers that are some of the best in the country. Their defense was No. 1 in 11 categories last year. I think today against Wofford, they proved that they're still pretty dad'gum good. We're going to have our work cut out for us. We're going to get better and we're going to go down there and play the best possible game we can play and see what the outcome is.

RB Marcus Cox

On the 68-yard touchdown run in the second quarter

First off, I have to give my hat off to my offensive line. Without them, that wouldn't be possible.

I felt comfortable running it, I got the handoff, bounced outside and then I had to cut out and saw a defender and I'm thinking, 'Let's just get some yards, just try to run through them and get some yards.' Next thing you know, I was running free, and then after that, that was it.

QB Taylor Lamb

On the great balance on offense 

We have a stable of backs, and with our offensive line ,we'll let it go downhill, so we know we can run the football efficiently. But it was good to see the passing game come through today.

We did a good job, and there was great protection.  We missed some here and there but overall, I think it was a good day. 

WR Shaedon Meadors

On whether the ball was easy to catch today

Yeah, [Taylor] throws it pretty easy for the receiver to catch. He throws it hard and it's coming, but you get used to it after a while.

LB John Law

On whether Marcus Cox's touchdown run energized the defense

Anytime we see any of our players get a long run, a big run, a long touchdown,that always energizes us. It's like, even though we practice with these guys, it's kind of amazing still to see them make a big play like that. So, catching or running a guy over and going for 60 or however long it was, it's amazing to see every time. 

Howard

Head Coach Gary Harrelll

Opening Statement

“We wanted to come out and give a better performance. We did somewhat okay offensively and defensively, and kept the ball game going back and worth. Somewhere we lost momentum at the end of the first quarter going into the second quarter. We didn't tackle well or make the plays necessary to be in the ball game. We have to get better and have to have a better performance.”

On Kalen Johnson's performance

“It's a process. Kalen is a very smart guy. He's very competitive and has the will to win. It's the small things he needs to work on. We tell him all the time, we don't expect him to go out and win the ballgame, just manage the game and don't turn the ball over. This game will get him the game time experience against a very tough opponent in Appalachian State. Kalen will get better as we go. We feel good about our quarterback situation.”

On troubles on third down

We had his problem last year. We harp about it all the time about third down and red-zone conversions. The big thing is to get off the field. We need to tackle better and get back to the fundaments once we get back to campus. Running the ball is a mentality and stopping the run is the same thing.

QB Kalen Johnson

On what Apps defense did to make it difficult on offense

They did what we expected them to do defensively. They gave us the looks we saw on film. We did some things well. We just need to be able to string drives together. That is partly my fault. Some of the details I will definitely get better at. The offensive line did a great job giving me some time in the pass protection. I think their depth really affected our running game. We weren't able to get as much of a push as we wanted to. There are positives we can take from this, but we have mistakes we need to correct on film.