App State Coach Shawn Clark
On winning a sloppy game in tough conditions:
“These kind of games come down to a few plays, and we were able to make a few more of them.”
On playing in the rain:
“I hope they won’t complain next time I ask them to go outside and practice in February and practice. It paid off today in these elements. . . . We talk in our program that we can only control what we can control. We want to do who we are and do it better than everyone else. The elements are the elements. We play in conditions like this in our conference, maybe not quite like this. But we’re going to be true to who we are and enjoy what we have.”
On playing against an unknown opposing quarterback:
“We had to go back and watch Huddle film from high school. We weren’t sure what we were getting.”
On finishing the season on a 6-1 run:
“To win nine games in a season . .. we were 3-4 in October . . and we end on a five-game run. We want to be champions. We weren’t conference champions, but we’re Cure Bowl champions.
“There are high expectations at App State. It’s championship or bust. And being an alum from here and knowing what it takes to win and being a part of football season championship runs here . . . we were sitting there 3-4 . .. I remember it vividly at Old Dominion. We had lost four games by 19 points and had a chance to win in the fourth quarter. I told our players, if you stick together and believed on one another and played for one another, it would come to fruition. And it did.
“Week by week, we did our very best. All the credit goes to our players. They came to work every single day, put extra time in in the film room, did all the extra things we had to do be successful. Very proud of everyone inside that building. They stuck together. We locked arms. We said, we have the pen to our story. No one can dictate how this story ends except us.”
On the App State brand:
“Our brand is strong right now. The “A” [logo], you go around the country, everyone knows it’s App State.”
App State Quarterback Joey Aguilar (Avocados from Mexico Cure Bowl MVP)
On winning a game in such tough conditions:
“I just get the ball to the receivers and they make the plays. The rain, it was not too much of a big factor for us. In Boone, we practice with snow, rain, cold, wind, all in one day. The rain is just another factor for us to go outside and have fun and get wet.
“We just wanted to stay true to ourselves. The weather is going to be however the weather is is. We cant control that. In practice we’re throwing in the rain We were dumping balls in buckets of water making them even more wet. Our practice helped us prepare for weather like this.”
On celebrating in the rain by sliding around at midfield after the final whistle:
“I told the O-line, once we finish this last snap, we’re going to run in that puddle.”
App State cornerback Nick Ross
On leaving college as a champion:
“It means everything to leave out a champion. At App State, I came to compete for championships. To leave out a champion just means everything to me.”
On preparing to play against an unknown opposing quarterback:
“We just prepared how we prepare any other week. We don’t take anybody lightly. So, we prepared as if the third-string quarterback was as good as the first-string quarterback. We came to practice ready to work.”
On his journey at App State:
“Our journey at App State, it has been far from easy. I came every day to work.”
On winning a game in tough conditions:
“I’m so proud of our defense. We wanted to be more physical than the other defense and create more fumbles.”
Miami Coach Chuck Martin
On Rashad Amos going out of the game on the last drive:
“Just trying to give Rashad a blow. I thought we were going to go all the way down the field and score and win the game. The last drive, I said now I don’t have to punt. I got four downs to get 10 yards. Moze can break any run, but he didn’t finish the run. We were sitting in a great situation, but they got the last strip. Credit to them.”
On playing in such tough conditions:
“Can’t do anything about the conditions. Ball security is at a premium, and it didn’t see like either team could do it. We tried to throw it, couldn’t do it A couple times the ball. If we could just hold onto the ball . . . It wasn’t very clean.”
