POSTGAME QUOTES
Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield
Opening Statement:
"Starting out, our coaching staff did a great job last week of coming up with a great game plan on Sunday and Monday. I told our kids that they did a great job of adhering to the game plan and buying in and really practicing all week. We talk about our preparation all the time, and if our preparation is where it needs to be, then we'll come out and play a competitive football game. That's what we've been doing this year, and we've got to continue to do that. We have some really good leaders on this football team. There's a lot of talk about how young we are, but we have some good leaders that bring these young guys along. These young guys are being led and allowing it to happen. When you have that buy-in, then you can have a special team. We're still early in the season and of where we are right now and where we want to be. We're 1-0 in this conference, and we're excited about that. We look forward to next game, and we take a one-game at a time approach and our next game is against Ark. State and we're looking forward to that. It'll be a big test in Jonesboro. The good thing for us is that we do have a few days to heal up some dings and bruises."
On playing South Alabama for the first time at home since its first season in Sun Belt:
"We've got great respect for South Alabama. They're a program who can beat anybody in this league and really anybody throughout the country. They've proven that over the years. Coming into this game, we knew the kind of athletes that they have. They played Memphis tight and played La Tech, who I think is a good football team, really close. We did not take this team lightly by any means. You look across those sidelines, and the athletes that they have are tremendous. Our guys went out and executed and played really well, particularly in the first half."
On adjustments throughout the game:
"We do that quite often defensively. It seems like early in the game, they'll do something a little bit different, and the defense has to come back and make some adjustments on the sideline. I thought we did that pretty well. They still had a couple of drives that got down and we did a good job of bending and not breaking. We had a field goal block and almost another touchdown on special teams with that. Duck had a great return and almost had that blocked field goal return for six. The teams have been playing great.
Michael Rubino – I don't even know how many touchbacks (seven of nine) – but he had a ton of them today again. That's outstanding. We made our field goal. The (special) teams are playing well, and we need to continue to do that if we want to contend for this championship in this conference. I'm just really pleased with how they did it in all three phases."
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
"We didn't play well on offense, defense or in the kicking game. I was proud of the defense in the second half holding (Appalachian State) to 10 points. We didn't play well though in any phase of the game and had too many penalties. Our discipline is bad. Offensively, we had some opportunities early and weren't able to get points to keep track with App State. On special teams, we gave up a big punt return and had a field goal blocked. There are just a lot of things we need to work on and get better at."
On the turning point of the game:
"It was the onside kick. From that point on, things went bad. I thought we were going to be able to execute the onside kick, get it and that would give us some momentum. They are a good football team, though. They took Penn State to overtime and could have won the game, so I knew that we needed to do something. If I could take (that decision) back, I would. We also got the 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on top of that, and they scored two plays later to make it 14-7. It went downhill from there. We have to learn to bounce back and not let one bad play turn into a couple terrible plays. Right now, that's not what we're doing, and we have to get that fixed."
App State quarterback Zac Thomas
"It was big for our team. A good Sun Belt opponent. We came in here thinking all week it was going to be a fight. We prepared all week as best as we could and came out here and took care of business."
App State receiver Thomas Hennigan
"We have the best running back in the Group of Five, maybe the country, so we have to keep feeding him the ball. When it's our turn to take shots down the field, we have to be able to execute, and I think that's what we were able to do today."
App State linebacker Jordan Fehr
"We had a great game plan going in. Our main goal is to stop the run first no matter who we're playing. Being able to execute, keep our eyes on the right keys and fly to the ball, our goal was to have great pursuit all day, and I think we did that."
