What Matt Luke said after Ole Miss crushed Vanderbilt
Published 9:56 am Sunday, October 15, 2017
Ole Miss reminded Vanderbilt and the SEC that it plans on making some noise this season, thrashing the Commodores on Saturday with a 57-35 win.
Here’s what Rebel interim head coach Matt Luke had to say after the big victory:
Opening statement…
“I am so proud for these kids. They have kept fighting through a bunch of adversity. It was just fun to see them interact with our fans and to see them feed off our home crowd. We have been gone for a month now, so it was good to be home. To all the fans that are listening, thank you so much. Just for showing up, our kids fed off of you guys, it was just a good atmosphere with some positive energy.”
On the difficulty of winning these games…
“Even at the very end, I am still sweating it out. The overall feeling on the sideline was different with the positive energy. I told the kids in the locker room after they called back Jordan’s (Wilkins) long touchdown, it wasn’t Oh here we go again,' it was just
Hey, let’s keep playing.’ I am really proud of them.”
On the momentum the team has gained…
“The momentum that we felt at the second half of Auburn. I don’t think it was words, it was something that you felt. It was something that was tangible on the sidelines and it was tangible this week at practice. I told them this feeling is not for sale it is for rent. You have got to pay rent every week because every week is different. You just watch it over and over again, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. You just got to come out and go to work.”
On Marquis Haynes’ performance…
“What I saw was him having fun, smiling, lining up, playing fast and celebrating with his teammates. He put us on his back today. All the turnovers and the safety, those were points and those were huge. It is fun when you see the offense feeding off the defense and the defense feeding off the offense and the special teams playing well and everything’s clicking. I am really happy to see us play together as a team.”
On Jordan Wilkins…
“I am anxious to go look at the one they called back and see what it was. I am happy we overcame it, but he continues to run hard. On the touchdown run he made a guy miss and threw a guy down. He is finding ways to get in the end zone and get the tough yards. Because we are able to run it, it gave us some one-on-one match ups on the outside. I think you saw the balance that you are looking for today.”
On the wide receivers as a whole…
“It all fits together. When we can have a balance and the O-line doesn’t have to play on their heels, they can run-block, they can pass-block, and we can get our tempo going. I think our tempo was good at times today and I think it kind of warn down too, it was just a good balance.”
On LSU next weekend…
“To the old school Ole Miss Rebels, this is the game. This is the game that meant everything to them. I know I grew up with pictures of the LSU and Ole Miss game. That was always the one my dad cared about the most. We are just going to enjoy this one tonight and then get back to work to get ready for LSU.”