WKU HEAD COACH TYSON HELTON
Opening statement:
““Great win tonight – very, very proud of our football team. Can’t say enough about them. Just battling back, you know? We had a tough loss last week. The battle like they did again tonight just says so much about them. Particularly, my hat’s off to our defense –phenomenal job. I can’t say enough. I’m very impressed for back-to-back weeks of total domination, to be honest with you, out there on the field. That’s what you want a great defense to do. It was a very exciting, close game but I’m just happy to get the win.”
On the defense holding opposing teams to two touchdowns in the past 10 quarters:
“A mixture of great coaching and a mixture of our kids –they’re very passionate, very prideful, and they’re very honorable men. [The players] want to go out there and do their best. I’m proud of the defense and what they were able to get done tonight. To be able to hold [Southern Miss] down to that low of score is pretty impressive.”
On Devon Key’s and DeAngelo Malone’s WKU record-setting games:
““We’re very, very proud of those guys. It’s a great honor, especially to get to break the record and to get a great win. There’s nothing better than that. [Key and Malone] are very deserving of it. They are our two leaders. I can’t say enough about those guys. They do a phenomenal job. We’re very proud of them.”
HILLTOPPER PLAYERS
Senior defensive end DeAngelo Malone
On beating Southern Miss:
“The biggest key was playing together and communicating all across the board. You know, just finishing and making plays.”
On breaking the sacks record the same game Devon Key broke the tackles record:
“Man, it feels great. I didn’t really know I broke it until I looked at the board, and I went ‘Wow, I really did that.’ Devon is the type of guy; he comes in every day. We just both work and love what we do.”
On what he tries to teach Ricky Barber:
“Basically, showing him the proper way to do it. Listen, Ricky Barber, he’s a young stud, man. He’s the type of guy that’s going to get it done. He’s always going to progress.”
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Ricky Barber
On sustaining a strong defensive performance:
“The biggest key was being relentless after the quarterback. All week Coach Martin and Coach Baker preached: being relentless, don’t give up, we’re going to make them feel us. That’s the key to winning the game.”
On Devon Key’s and DeAngelo Malone’s leadership:
““They’re big-time playmakers and big leaders on this team. This is their team right now. Me being a young guy, I’m just learning from them. I’m trying to do my part to make just as many plays as they make consistently, even in practice.”
Redshirt senior wide receiver Xavier Lane
On getting off to hot start on offense:
“Eliminating mistakes and coach talked about the big plays down the field, the most explosive plays. So, that’s what he had to coming into the game, making explosive plays.”
On Tyrrell Pigrome’s performance:
“He did a great job. I like seeing him move around in the pocket, getting out when there’s trouble. He’s very good at it. He’s a very good dual-threat quarterback and the guy brings a lot to our offense.”
On if this was his best performance of the season:
“The season? Well, numbers don’t lie, yes sir. This was probably my best performance. But there’s definitely more to come, for sure. We’ve got to stick together as an offense and keep moving. We got this win and can go into next week looking forward to another win. We’ve just got to keep rolling.”
SOUTHERN MISS INTERIM HEAD COACH TIM BILLINGS
Opening statement:
“Defensively, we started off a little bit slow. We had some opportunities and couldn’t take advantage of them. Their quarterback is really good and he’s very elusive, very quick and took us awhile to kind of feel him out. But they scored 10 points early and after that, our kids defensively just played, didn’t give up. So, I was very proud of them. Offensively, we struggled all night. We got that one drive, and I was really proud. We just ran right at them, and the o-line just physically knocked them off the ball. Of course, Kevin Perkins ran over them and Frank Gore made them miss and ran hard. I was really proud of that drive. It’s a shame we couldn’t muster up anything the last two drives to give us an opportunity to either tie the game or go ahead.”
