Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Football Postgame Quotes
11/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Doc Holliday, Marshall Head Coach
Opening statement:
"So I thought any time our team played extremely well. I had great respect for Rice, and I knew coming into that game they had won six straight. They're extremely well coached; that team had won 10 straight games in the last two years. I thought it was going to be a great challenge for us, but I thought our team came out and played well in all three phases. Our defense was tremendous and held 180 yards in total defense and total offense. I'm excited where we are, we have a great challenge next week so we're going to celebrate a little tonight but come back in the morning and get ready for the next challenge."
On the defensive effort
"This may be the best defense we've had since I've been here. But, we could always get better. Any time you play great defense you get off of the field on third downs and our guys did that today extremely well."
On the accomplishments of Cato during the game and this season
"People probably won't appreciate what he's done until he's gone, that's the way it works. What he's accomplished is unbelievable. At the end of the day, he's going to walk out of here being one of the top three quarterbacks in the history of Marshall football without question."
Tommy Shuler, Senior, Wide Receiver
On his connection with Cato
"We just went out there and did what the coaches told us to do. The whole team played good, offense, defense, and special teams. We just went out there and executed and we played a great game"
On being 10-0
"This feels great. I'm just happy that we're playing as a team. I want to thank my team just for going out there and executing and winning the ball game."
Darryl Roberts, RS Senior, Corner
On the defense
"We had a game plan. We wanted to protect the outsides, stop the run, and stop #15 [Jordan Taylor]. We knew he liked to get the ball. That was basically our game plan. Every third down we executed well and that's why we played the way we did. We have good guys up front. Our defensive line gets good push up front. We have fast linebackers running sideline to sideline and we've got good guys coming off the edge. We just cause chaos."
Arnold Blackmon, Senior, Defensive Lineman
On the pressure up front
"It was a combined effort between. I and the other three guys work as one during practice all week. It was a great week of preparation and we took it upon ourselves throughout the week to say that we were going to get to them. We made that happen tonight.
On the game plan for Rice
"We wanted to be physical. We felt that they were more physical than us last year and got ahead on us early. We just tried our best to come out and attack early and try to get some early points on the board and some early stops."
Rakeem Cato, Senior, Quarterback
On our offense
"As an offense, when we started out, we knew we had a great defense. Our defense has been playing great all year. We just had to find ourselves. I think we did a great job of that, of just responding and getting our first three points. We came back out and made the score interesting and forced them to play catch-up the whole game."
On how big the game truly was
"This game was bigger for us. We understood what we wanted from this game and we understood what they took from us. It was a big game for us. Everyone responded well. Coach Holiday and the coaching staff put pressure on us during the week to make sure we responded well to this game. I thought they did a great job of coming in and giving effort during the game."
On the bowl game
"I have no idea about the bowls or the rankings. We're just worried about UAB right now. We're trying to complete our season 12-0 and let everything else take care of itself."
On Chad Pennington
"Chad [Pennington] is like my big brother. We talk all the time. We have a great relationship. We not only talk about football, but I have two kids of my own and he has kids, so I'm learning from him how to be a father. There's just things that, away from football, he has helped me with so much, just becoming a man and how to handle situations and tough times. He's there for the good and the bad."
Devon Johnson, Junior, Running Back
On being back after injury
"I felt great. They really took control of me in the training room and were a big help making me rest and stay off of it as much as possible. Practice this week felt fine. It was just great to be able to get back out there."
On our offensive line
"They do a great job every week. Like I've said, they're the best in the nation. They gave me holes and I just hit it and got in the open field and tried to make people miss."
On getting revenge
" Rice was a great team. But we came out to play and that showed. I'm just blessed that we got the win and got that revenge. Now it's time to move on to next week."
On Rice Head Coach Bailiff's comment
"It feels good. With all the hard work we put in on the off season until now and the way we've gone about it all season long. We feel like we haven't gotten much credit. To be able to get credit from a coach like that, a great coach like that. We look up to him and admire him. His guys are smart, well coached, and a great team. For him to say that about us, we know it's a blessing."
David Bailiff, Rice Head Coach
On overall game
"What a great job Marshall did tonight, Doc and his staff and the team. We are a good football team. We came here expecting to win. They out played us. We have played A & M and we have played Notre Dame. Marshall is right up there with those guys. They are a good football team. They are explosive offensively and we couldn't stop them. They are solid defensively. We came here expecting to win and we have a good football team. We didn't play every well tonight, but Marshall is a good football team. They deserve to rank."
On Marshall
"Really, we came here thinking we would win this football game. The way Cato played, the way the offense ran that, they outplayed us today. They out played us and we got out coached. We just have to do a better job. They didn't look undersized to me. I would put that defense right up there with Notre Dame and A&M. They have a good solid defense that I don't remember that a year ago."
"He is, in my opinion, is the difference. Cato was great last year, but now they have the rushing that they can depend on. When he touches the ball, he is full head of steam, great vision on the field, and hard to bring down. He added an element that was missing last season."
Jordan Taylor, RS Senior, Wide Reciever
On Marshall
"They came to plat this year. Obviously, we wanted to try to come in and run the ball a little bit on them and they did a good job stopping that. It forced us to try to throw the ball a little more in some situations that we didn't really want too. We have to give all the credit to them. They came to play. They were hungry. We couldn't get a rhythm on offense. They did a good job stopping us and we couldn't execute it as well as we would like too. The result was 14 points and a butt kicking, so I give all the credit to them."
On difference between last season and this season
"They were set to be undersized going in. They didn't look it at all. They were fast. Like I said, they just didn't make the mistakes that they made last year. They played well as a team and just executed a lot better than we did."
On how MU looks against A&M and Notre Dame
"Unfortunately, I didn't get to play against those teams, but standing on the side line watching, I don't see much of a difference at all. These guys are 21 in the country right now, and in my opinion should move up a little bit. Like I said, they came to play and we didn't."
Alex Lyons, RS Sophomore, Linebacker
On overall game
"Congratulations to Marshall, they played a great game. They had an energy that it seemed that we couldn't match today. They were firing the artillery, so I just want to say congrats to them on a great game."
On Marshall
"Their crowd had a lot of energy. It seemed like they fed off the crowd, I guess you'd say like a twelfth man. They just fed off the energy and played with a lot of energy on the field."
