Arkansas/Mississippi State Post-Game Quotes

ARKANSAS QUOTES

November 19, 2005

Arkansas Head Coach Houston Nutt

“I’m really proud of the guys. I love the effort they put forth on the field. Things haven’t gone the way we would have liked this season, but we’re playing hard.”

On Casey Dick

“He keeps improving every week. Casey gained more confidence in Oxford (last week). He’s making big third down plays and I’m not afraid of opening up the offense with him.”

On Felix Jones kickoff return

“The set up was really good. (Brandon) Kennedy and (Kevin) Woods created a wedge. He hit the crease and went full speed.”

On Darren McFadden

“I knew Darren was frustrated after last week’s fumble (at Ole Miss). He came to practice with a better work ethic every day this week.”

On Defense

“They were playing hard. Our defense has not given up this year. They are causing turnovers and chasing blocks. They are really working together.”

Arkansas Player Quotes

Arkansas Quarterback Casey Dick

“We were really balanced today. We got our running game back on track (after last week). I can’t say enough about Darren (McFadden). There is nobody like him, nobody that is a gamebreaker like him. He’s going to give us all some great things for years to come.”

Arkansas Safety Vickiel Vaughn

“It was a joyous occasion (to win my last home game). It’s always a great feeling to see guys you trust and count on out there giving it their all every play. I enjoyed (my career at Arkansas), I enjoyed being at Arkansas and everything that came with it. It’s going to help me for the rest of my life. You have to enjoy sitting and watching your offense move the ball like (the way they did in the 1st half).”

Arkansas Running Back Darren McFadden

“Our offense played great. The defense held them and did a great job of getting us on the field a lot. It’s a great feeling to be the first freshman in school history to reach 1,000 yards. Our offense has really opened up lately, and our passing game has really stepped up.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE QUOTES

Mississippi State Head Coach Sylvester Croom

“I still haven’t figured out what happened and what went wrong. Arkansas played really well. We had a lack of intensity and made a lot of mistakes. We didn’t execute and we have to figure that out.

“This is very frustrating. We didn’t take advantage of good opportunities. They didn’t even do anything different. It is thoroughly disappointing.”

On Michael Henig

“He made some mistakes but also made some plays. It was only his second game as a starter so you can anticipate some mistakes. He wasn’t given any time. We didn’t protect him and you have to be able to do that.

“This was a surprising outcome. I thought we had a chance to win. The people didn’t give us a chance though and I guess I didn’t do a good enough job of convincing our players.

“I thought we made a huge step back in just 30 minutes. We have done a good job of establishing our character and we lost it. We just didn’t compete in the first half.”

Quarterback Michael Henig

“They did a lot of things. They brought a lot of pressure and we didn’t know where it was coming from.”

“I thought we were going to come out and play hard but I felt like we were dead out there.”

Defensive End Willie Evans

“I wasn’t surprised (with Arkansas running game). I’ve played against them for three years. I said they’re going to run the ball when there up by 40 and they’re going to run the ball when they’re down by 40.

“We got a lot of young guys and a lot of inexperienced guys and it hurt us a little bit but we’ve got to work with what we got.”

Running Back Jerious Norwood

“Their defense was real good. Better than I thought they were going to be. They were quick off the ball and that disrupted what we were doing.”