Postgame Quotes From App State's Win at South Carolina

POSTGAME QUOTES

App State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz
Opening statement:
"Just proud of the focus and effort our guys played with. Proud of the way they battled all game. They never flinched. The poise on the last drive, our defense gave up those two long fourth downs, and still be able to make a play at the end. Proud of our coaching staff. It was a tough draw, especially after last week's loss to have to come on the road to an SEC opponent and nobody flinched. We just went into work and said, 'We're going to be 1-0 this week whatever it takes.' We had the expectation coming down here to win. Hats off to our defense they played lights out. Nick Ross stepped up with a big play right before the half that was the difference in the game. Proud of our guys."

On how they prepared for South Carolina:
"We felt like we had a great plan of how to attack their run and our guys played with great effort. We tackled better than we've tackled all season."

On Appalachian State's two wins over Power Five teams this year and what that means for the program:
"We're excited about where we're at. We're just excited about being 1-0. We'll measure the Power Five stuff at the end of the season, but our goal is to win the Sun Belt Conference championship and go to a bowl game. Georgia Southern lost today, so we're back in control of our own destiny for the bowl series."

On the defense's performance late in the game:
"It's never easy. They got a couple of fourth-down conversions that we obviously wish we would've been able to stop, but I'm just proud of those guys. We talk all the time that every play has a life of its own. You just got to play that play, and when it's over you go to the next play, and that's what we did."

On kicker Chandler Staton's performance:
"He did a nice job, especially on the ones from a distance. It's the difference in the ball game obviously when you win by five and he made two field goals. I think the biggest thing for all of us is we put last week behind us. We don't let last week carry over to this week, and we can't let this week carry over to next week. That's just a mentality of maturing and growing up."
 
South Carolina coach Will Muschamp
Opening statement:
"I'm extremely disappointed for our football team and our fan base. Give Appalachian State credit, they did the things they had to do to win the game. Two kickoff returns to gain field position, the interception and pick six was a huge momentum boost for them. I'm disappointed for our seniors. When we don't have the ability, where we are offensively, to run the ball, we're going to struggle. We had a bunch of drops, one led to the pick-six touchdown. Ryan threw the ball well, but it's hard to rely on some things in the passing game right now. We're just so inconsistent with personnel and different things that are obviously affecting our football team as far as those things are concerned. Give them credit, they made the plays they had to make and we didn't. We weren't efficient enough to have any production offensively until the end."

Senior OLB Akeem Davis-Gaither
On the final drive:
"You have to know what you're playing for. You have a big crowd that's counting on us, different people that are counting on us, coaches that are counting on us, and we're counting on ourselves, too. We knew we were going to have to fight for 60 minutes, and that's what we did."
 
Junior QB Zac Thomas
On winning a second game against a Power Five team:
"It makes you know all that hard work in the offseason is paying off, so I'm super excited for these guys. These seniors deserve it. They've been through some ups and downs in different seasons, and we got them two this year."

On being patient offensively:
"I think with that team they had some good corners and safeties, they were playing over the top a lot so you are not going to get those deep balls that you wanted to get. Most of the time we were working on the under routes. Just trying to get the balls to our players and just trying to make them make a man miss and get the 10 yards."
 
Senior TE Collin Reed
On beating two P5 teams in his last season:
"Everything you do is so much more important because you know it's the last ride. It meant a lot to me what this team did, going out there and getting that W. You just try to soak everything up and embrace every single person that I see and let them know how much I love them. This team is something special. It's something we've been doing for a long time, and we just have to keep moving forward."
 
Junior CB Shemar Jean-Charles
On a strong performance after the opening two drives:
"When your backs are against the wall, you basically have to knuck up and do what we're here for. Football games, it's back and forth, there are momentum swings, and defensively, you have to learn how to handle adversity to win the game at the end of the day."
 
On Nicholas Ross' interception return for a TD:
"That's a big play, especially in a game like this. Proud of him, too. That's a young guy. That's a freshman. He was able to step up for our team, our defense, and I'm proud of him for that."

Redshirt freshman OLB Nick Hampton
On the last drive:
"Just having faith on the person next to you that he's going to do his job and do it to the best of his ability. At the end of the day, when you have that faith in the person next to you, it just makes your job easier… Just not being new to the situation, just going over the situation over and over so when it actually comes, it's not new to our team and defense."