Sept. 1, 2016

Tennessee Head Coach Butch Jones

(Opening Statement)
"First of all, I'm really proud of our players. On a night where just about anything and everything went wrong, we found a way to win, got it to overtime and had a clutch play by Josh Malone. We did a good job on third-down defense, particularly in the fourth quarter and overtime.

"Also, credit App State and Coach Satterfield. I have a lot of respect for that football program. We knew that it was going to be a great challenge. You don't win 17 out of your last 19 games and just expect to come in here (and not compete). They're a physical, tough football team that's very active in their defensive front, which causes some issues up front.

"For us, the formula for winning never changes, and I thought we did some things that were very uncharacteristic for us that we're going to have to get corrected in a hurry. In particular, taking care of the football. We have to take care of the football. On special teams, we have to do a much better job and also the youngsters in that group. I think that they found out the speed of the game. It's a little bit different. I thought our tackling was very poor, didn't wrap up and run our feet, drive for five and (win) the line of scrimmage. But at the end of the day, we found a way to win the football game.

"We had some players step up and make some critical plays. I thought that Cortez McDowell did a great job of really stepping up in a needed situation and not only on defense, but on special teams as well. Aaron Medley did a good job, first time with a new holder and a new snapper, short snapper and long snapper. There are all those things that go into the kicking game. I thought those individuals being in some stressful situations did a pretty good job that way. The first game of the year is always a game of the unknowns. We're still developing our identity for this football team, but we found a way to win, and at the end of the day, that's what it's about, but we have to get a lot better. Credit App State too. They're a really good football team."

(On Micah Abernathy and the game he had tonight)
"We asked a lot of Micah, not only from the safety position on defense, but also from a special teams standpoint as well. I thought he played very well and we'll know a little bit more later but he's very consistent. That's what you expect from Micah."

(On Cameron Sutton's fumble)
"Football is a game of momentum and you're responsible for what you create. For us, that sudden change, you have to embrace sudden change on defense and you go and you take the challenge. We didn't play particularly well offensively in the redzone scoring touchdowns. We had to kick field goals. Again, there's a lot of teaching to be done off of this video."

(On Cortez McDowell and Jalen Reeves-Maybin)
"Jalen brings a lot, it was obviously felt when he went out. That's football. It's next man in and that's part of what we're taking about, about the competitive depth. Again, I thought Cortez really stepped up and did some good things. It was great to see that."

(On Jalen Reeves-Maybin's ejection)
"I'm really interested to see it. I've had a number of calls from coaches already. That's why I was a little bit late and they thought it was 50/50. I'm all for player safety. I think first and foremost, it was a strange play to begin with because the returner called for a fair catch right when the ball was kicked, so here's a young man trying to make a play and he's trying to play hard. I'm all for player safety, but also this is a senior that is trying to give his all and play hard. I hope that there was discretion and it's reviewable, so I trust that they'll get it right. They better have. That's kind of where I'm at."

(On the team's mentality moving forward)
"I've never been part of a frustrating win. A win is a win. Again, in this profession you have 12 opportunities to win. Again, I'm proud of our team. I'm proud of our players. I thought that they showed some resiliency. Again, we played a really good football team. You don't win 17 out of 19 games if you're not a good football team. I have the utmost respect for them. Did we do some things that were uncharacteristic? Absolutely. I can guarantee you this, we will get them corrected. I think there's a lot of great teaching points that came about that we have to get corrected. Again, we found a way to win."

(On the linemen that did not appear in the game)
"It's the flavor of the game and how the game dictates the flow of the game. A lot goes into that."

(On Shy Tuttle)
"Shy has done a good job. We're going to put him out there when he's one hundred percent. With all of the cut blocking and the things that they do, and they do a great job of it, we want to make sure that he's ready to go full speed."

(On the amount of touches Tennessee had)
"I think that's the flow of the game. Again, it's a challenge when they melt the clock down. They did a great job when we substituted and I thought we held the ball a long time on substitutions, so that stifled the momentum as well. I think there were a lot of things that went into it and I give them credit. They had a great game plan of slowing the game down and making it a 60-minute game and trying to work the clock."

Senior QB Joshua Dobbs

(On frustrations of the game)
"We can play better, personally, as an offense and as a team. At the end of the day a win's a win, and we'll take it."

(On minus yards rushing for the first time in career)
"They have a different attack coming in on defense; we knew that coming into the game with the front they played and the pressures they brought but we had different ways to attack them. We will continue to grow as a team."

(On fumble at the goal line)
"The guy made a great play; he stuck me. We talk about covering down as an offense and following the ball. Jalen came to success covering down, finding the football, and being able to recover it in our favor. A touchdown is a touchdown."

(On rhythm of the game)
"We had some big plays. We had a rhythm and now it's taking advantage of those plays. We are in good position and executing."

(On App. State)
"I have a lot of respect for them. We knew coming into the game that they were a team with high energy and has a nose for the football. Their defense stats boast for themselves and we definitely have a lot of respect for our opponent."

(On hit at the goal line)
"I'm a tough guy. Nothing phases me and that's how I play."

(On winning in the end)
"It definitely feels good. Winning's not easy no matter who you play in college football. We are thankful to have this win and thankful to have another opportunity to come out and play in Neyland Stadiums in front of our fans. We are ready to get ready for next week."

Junior WR Josh Malone

(On winning versus losing)
"A win is a win. Winning is fragile, especially on this level. We'll take it. There are still a lot of things we can improve on. We played a great team. We just want to take the win and improve from it."

(On identifying one-on-one match-ups and letting the coaches know)
"That's all we keep asking for. Just give us a chance. We're all just hungry to make plays out there. We have a lot of playmakers. We're all seasoned. We're just ready to go."

(On the locker room atmosphere after the game)
"A win is a win. We take it. We know we still have a lot to improve on, but we enjoyed a win. We'll come in tomorrow, break down the film, and get better from it."

(On the swing of emotions during end of the game)
"Emotionally, I know we were ecstatic. But we knew that we had to snap and clear from that drive and be ready to go back on the field just in case they scored again. We enjoyed that moment, but once we got back on the sideline we starting getting back in focus for another drive."

Senior DB Cameron Sutton

(On what he learned about the team)
"We know how to overcome adversity. Something that we talked about all off season, in the lead up to this point, adversity is going to hit and strike at any moment. It just happened to be the first game, you know we had a lot of adversity throughout this game, things that didn't go our way, but still sticking together, still playing together for each and every one of us."

(On stopping Appalachian State late in the fourth quarter after a big punt return)
"Just got to get a stop. That's what it came down to at the end of the day, just play inspired football. Like Cortez (McDowell) said know that you have the guy to your left and to your rights back, especially at that time. The only thing going through our mind was just making a play. Making a play Getting up the field and stopping them on offense and keep doing what we were doing."

(On his interception)
"Just a familiar set I've seen on film, they had tight splits in the boundary so obviously I was thinking a high concept. Something that was coming back towards the sideline, just because they were trying to give them self space on the sideline. Just bated the quarterback a little bit and just came up and made the play."

Sophomore LB Darrin Kirkland Jr.

(On Cortez McDowell's play)
"Proud. Everything we preach is `next man up'. I felt like he really did a great job when Jalen [Reeves-Maybin] had to go out of the game. I couldn't be prouder of him."

(On the reaction when Jalen Reeves-Maybin was ejected)
"I feel like it was adversity we had to overcome. It was just what situation provided. I have faith in Cortez [McDowell], that he can come in and make those plays that we need to make as a defense. I feel like everything that we did was successful in the first half, and the second half. I thought we really did a good job when Jalen left."

Junior LB Cortez McDowell

(On what the defense needs to do to improve next week)
"Communication, everyone being on the same page. We had some instances where cover guys were off assignment a little bit. But we ended up finding ways to pull this thing though. We played together as a team in the second half and the overtime period to get the victory."

(On filling in for Jalen-Reeves Maybin)
"Had to go in and fill that role. Had to make guys to my left and my right, the defensive line, and the back-end guys, had to prove to them that I could step in and contribute at any time in the game. I really just do everything I do on the field for those other ten guys that are on the field with me."

Sophomore DB Micah Abernathy

(On reading the last play of the game)
"I knew that they liked misdirections and throwbacks. I knew that if the quarterback didn't have front-sides then he was going to throw it back so I decided to stay home and try to make a play. We wanted to have good eyes in the back-end with all of the defensive backs staying home to read the keys and do their job."

(On closing out the game)
"We knew that the game shouldn't have been that close but at the end of the day, we have a win and they have a loss so that's all that matters. We knew that if we executed we would stop them at third down. They had momentum, but once we stopped them on third down we were good."

Appalachian State Head Coach Scott Satterfield

(On thoughts after the loss)
"First of all, I am really proud of our guys. They came out here and fought. We knew they would. Our program is all about effort and pride and fighting hard all the way to the end. We have always been that way, so I am really proud of that. We have been very fortunate and blessed in the history of our school, especially in the last 25 years, to win a lot of close games at the end, so we have a lot of confidence in how we finish. We just didn't get it finished tonight. I am not into moral victories. We are in it to win it. When you get this close like we did down here and not finish it off, you will learn from it. We went toe-to-toe with one of the better teams in the country right here. We are proud of that fact, but we want to win football games. We will learn from this loss. It hurts, but we will come back strong next week."

(On not using a timeout with 30 seconds left in regulation)
"We had a timeout, but we had the play call before. They made a good call on defense. We ended up getting tackled for a loss. I thought we had plenty of time to line up and run a quick play to save the timeout for a field goal. That was what we were trying to do. It took forever to get everyone lined up to snap the ball. We ended up running out of time. Obviously, in hindsight, you would call a timeout. We were trying to save that to kick a field goal and win the game."

(On Stout's defensive presence)
"He has been doing that this whole summer. As the nose position playing the A-gap, it makes it hard to run on our defense with him in their. He had a tremendous camp. He made some plays tonight. When he has two guys blocking him, he is freeing up the rest of our guys."

(On not recovering the fumble in OT)
"That's football. There were a couple of balls on the ground that we thought we had a great opportunity to get. I thought our defense played outstanding. They were scrappy and got a couple of turnovers. There were a couple of times where we thought we had a chance to get the ball. Our guys didn't quit, their quarterback fumbled and they ended up falling on it. That is just the way the ball bounces. You have to play hard and good things will happen."

(On rushing for more yards than Tennessee)
"I thought if we out rushed them that we would win the game. Usually that happens. We pride ourselves on running the football like they do. One of our goals was to outrush them. We are glad to get that goal. Usually when that happens, when you outrush your opponent, you usually win the game. That is credit to our defense and offensive line. Marcus Cox had another big night tonight. He has been doing that his whole career."

(On getting the passing game where they want it)
"Our game plan was to come in here and run the football. We didn't want to get ourselves in passing situations. We didn't get sacked because we didn't throw many times. Derek Barnett is one of the best defensive ends in the country. We didn't want to put ourselves in a situation where we would get sacked and have a negative play. Our goal was to run the football and control it. As long as we play great defense, we would be able to stay in the game. That is what happened. We knew if we could get to the fourth quarter, we could win the game at the end."

(On their offensive formation)
"We were running it all last year. We didn't know it was going to work that well, but we kept doing it all the way to the end. We had great success at it. That is hard for a defensive unit to stop. It's a hard formation to stop. He had some speed with guys that we bought around the edge. That is the formation we will continue to use. We have been using it since last year."

(On keeping Michael Rubino on track)
"You don't know how guys will react. This is the first game and this is a tough environment to come into for a freshman kicker. I told him to kick the ball and not try to guide it. If he will just swing and kick it, he has a great leg. Those are the things we will work on. I want him to kick it hard because he will make it if he does."

Junior LB Eric Boggs

(On stopping Tennessee's offense)
"The biggest thing is what the coaches did for us. They had a great game plan for us. As a defense, we practiced well all week, and we knew what we had to do to come in and stop them. We were very mentally ready for the game."

(On Tennessee's game-winning touchdown)
"It hurts. Any loss hurts, and especially to see it end like that, it's pretty bad. I mean as a whole, I feel like we did a good job of competing with a top ten team. People weren't really expecting us to come in and play like this, but we played with everything we had."

Junior QB Taylor Lamb

(On App. State's final play of regulation)
"I looked before we snapped it, and I saw it counting down at 15. I think I snapped it at probably about 13. I had to scramble out, and I didn't want to put it into jeopardy downfield because they had good coverage downfield. I saw an opening, and I tried to get to the sidelines as fast I could, but it just wasn't enough."

(On the result from playing Tennessee after growing up around Tennessee football)
"It sucks, to be honest with you. You could point out opportunities where we could have won the football game, and that's a great team over there. They played hard, and they're big and physical on defense. This one's going to sting for a while, but we have to turn our heads to ODU."

(On the final play of overtime)
"We had a pop play to the tight end, and they were deep back in coverage. They had it covered well. But I just took a shot down there because he was our third guy and they had the first two guys covered. I just tried to get out of the pocket and give him a ball he could catch. You have to let it go because the pressure's coming."

(On the play of the offensive line)
"[Victor Johnson] is going to be good. I think he played well tonight, and I think our whole offensive line played well. Our running backs ran the ball really well and I think our wide outs played well down the stretch. But our offensive line is our anchor, that's where it starts for us."

(On Tennessee's fumbled punt return and how it shifted momentum)
"We were moving the ball well in the first half. When they dropped the punt, we just went right into our plays and went down there and scored. I think we moved the ball well, we just didn't execute on key plays down the stretch."

(On the fourth quarter drive following App State's long punt return)
"I missed a read in the run game there and that will come back to haunt you, but they stoned us there, three and out, and you can't look at that."

Senior RB Marcus Cox

(On the offense's overall performance)
"I thought our offense played really well. We were moving the ball almost every drive, and towards the end of drives, we would shoot ourselves in the foot and stop moving the ball, making little mistakes. I feel like we can take a lot from this game. We played well overall, we just have to finish drives."

(On the offensive line's performance)
"The group of guys in front of me are a great group of guys. They come to work every day. They played their tails off today. Without them, we wouldn't have had the success we had on offense. So I tip my hat to them, they did a great job. Not just them, but everybody on offense made little mistakes to shoot ourselves in the foot at the end of drives where we couldn't finish. So we just need to come back to work on Sunday and work on finishing."

(On if the fashion in which App State lost the game hurts)
"Definitely. It's definitely heartbreaking. We put ourselves in a position to win, we just didn't capitalize when we should have. In a game like this when you have a top ten team on the ropes, it's definitely heartbreaking when you feel like you should have won."

(On his role as a receiver out of the backfield)
"We felt like we had some opportunities to get our running backs out of the backfield and catch a couple passes. We had a couple plays in for that, and I feel like sometimes we took advantage of that and sometimes we didn't. So I just feel like we didn't capitalize when we needed to."

(On the targeting penalty that ejected Jalen Reeves-Maybin and how that changed the game)
"It definitely gave us some momentum. Jalen Reeves-Maybin is probably their best player on defense, so when a team loses a leader like that, it definitely hurts. So I felt like that was a big turning point for us in the game, which we could have capitalized on more, but we couldn't. That's a great team right there in Tennessee, they're going to do big things this year and show why they're a top ten team."

(On App State's overall game plan)
"We came in wanting to run the ball and establish the run. We wanted a physical game up front, and I feel like we did that. Towards the end of the game, we needed some big plays, and we just couldn't find them when we needed them. And that's something we just need to work on."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Postgame Quotes: Vols 20, App State 13 (OT)