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CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: MISSISSIPPI STATE v GEORGIA TECHDecember 31, 2014Beniquez BrownDan MullenDak PrescottFred RossMIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA Mississippi State - 34 DAN MULLEN: Obviously a tough loss for us. Give Georgia Tech a lot of credit. I think they executed at a very, very high level out there on the field tonight. You look at what they were able to do, they scored touchdowns in the red zone, converted real well on 3rd down, didn't have penalties. They only had three penalties on them all night long, one was with a minute left in the game or something. They called a penalty on them really late, and the other two were on the same play in the first place at the beginning of the game. I give them a lot of credit. They executed very, very well, I imagine they followed their game the way they wanted to. For us I thought we did some good things. We didn't do things well enough. We had some opportunities. We didn't score in the red zone when we had the opportunity to. We had three of our red zone trips netted only six points. I guess we probably could have used the other 15. And there it is. That's the difference in the final score, those 15 points. You know, just the little things we have to do. They did a little better than us, and give them the credit tonight. I'm proud of all of our guys, proud of how our guys played tonight, continued to battle and fight. I'm proud of the senior class that leaves us. It has really set a new standard at Mississippi State and really set a new standard historically at Mississippi State for the future. Q. Dak, a couple of records accomplished in this game, and I think 13 overall this season, but what would you trade to get the 11th win, which would have been a school record? DAK PRESCOTT: Pretty much all those records. It's about the team. I guess those are good, but without winning these last two games, it doesn't sit very well. So the records don't mean too much. Q. Dak, it was said during the broadcast that you were coming back next year. Is that true?  And if so, what did you feel that was the best decision for you? DAK PRESCOTT: I mean, I talked with Coach Mullen and my family, and decided that I don't remember making any remarks about it. Q. Several times it seemed like y'all had the momentum but just weren't able to turn it I guess there in the first half. Just talk about that. DAN MULLEN: Well, I think we missed some big opportunities there and didn't execute as well as we could. We've got to keep making sure I'm putting guys in good situations to make plays throughout the course of the game. I thought the play at the end of the half really swung momentum our way, and then start of the second half they had a long run. We missed some open‑field tackles, which sometimes happens with a long layoff, just getting back accustomed to the speed of the game, and we didn't make those. Q. You talked about Georgia Tech was able to do some things. As far as your game plan were there certain things that you weren't able to do that they were preventing you from doing? DAN MULLEN: On offense or defense? Q. Either one. Well, offense. DAN MULLEN: On offense we had 600 yards of offense, we just didn't score enough points. That's a lot of yards of offense. I think we executed, we did some things, but I think early on we had to settle for two field goals in the first half in the red zone. So I mean, I think at that point we could have had‑‑ you look there's some opportunities there. If we score touchdowns in the first half, you take a lead going into halftime, which I think would have been a huge deal for us. But you know, that's on me. I've got to make sure we're getting the plays called to score when we get in the red zone. Q. Dak, I know you haven't been given much time to reflect, but I think before the game you said without an Orange Bowl win, the season might be viewed as a failure. Do you still feel that way or how would you describe the year? DAK PRESCOTT: No, we did a lot of things that this school has never done. The senior class led us to, like Coach said, new standards, and that's a success itself for setting a standard for this university and this football team. And I think we did that this year. Q. As stats go, you owned the air, they owned the ground. Fred, can you talk about your score? And was there a lot of opportunity out there to catch? FRED ROSS: That's a play we practice all the time in practice. Line did a good job blocking. Dak did a good job just throwing the ball deep, and I was just in the right spot. Q. Beniquez, can you talk about what Georgia Tech was able to do with their running game? BENIQUEZ BROWN: The first half we really just tried to shut down the dive. And at halftime they went in and made some adjustments, and they started hitting inside, they started bouncing it outside. We flew around, missed a couple of open‑field tackles that we usually make, and that just comes with the process. But overall I feel like we did a great job, but just needed to make a couple more plays. Q. Dan, can you talk about Josh Robinson declaring for the NFL before the game. When did you know that was his decision? Your thoughts on that? DAN MULLEN: Probably when he put it on Twitter or something. I don't know, usually we talk, like Dak said, we get all the draft grades, and so we sit down and talk with the kids and their draft grades about it. You know, great opportunity, I guess, for him to go on and continue his career, try to continue his career, I guess, at the next level. I think we've put a lot of guys in the NFL over the last couple of years, and so I'm sure we'll put a whole bunch more in this year. Q. Last time you were here you won the national title. What are the emotions like now coming here and not being able to get that win? DAN MULLEN: Yeah, I don't know if I can‑‑ the last time was kind of one of the most surreal, weirdest experience you'd ever have in your life, I ran on the field, took a picture with the crystal ball trophy and ran to get home to get to sleep and have a team meeting, to try to build a program that could come back here. I think everybody doubted that. Everybody everywhere doubted that we could build a program that actually could come back here, and then here we are. I couldn't be more proud of our guys. I couldn't be more proud of the senior class, what they've established here for us. Obviously it's very disappointing to end the season on a loss, but you end the season on a loss to a very good Georgia Tech team, and we've got a lot of build on. And got to find a way tonight to get some sleep and wake up tomorrow morning, and find a way to make the 2015 edition even better than this year. Q. Beniquez, how difficult or demoralizing was the defense? At halftime you pull within one and then they come back down second play, and go back up by eight points? BENIQUEZ BROWN: It was really just missed tackling. We had the player wrapped up and he just kept on running. It was really a big picture of wrapping up, making tackles. Like Coach Mullen said, the layoff over the break, you know, not really able to make the tackles that we needed to make. So that's really the big difference in the game, not making open‑field tackles. Q. Fred and Dak, that last‑second Hail Mary at halftime, what was going through your head? DAK PRESCOTT: Just to give the guys a chance. The line blocked the guys up front. Just gave them a chance to get down there in the end zone. And I threw the ball up, and they did all the rest. FRED ROSS: I was just doing my job running down the field bearing, he tipped it, and like I said, I was in the right spot at the right time. Q. Can you talk about the performance of Justin Thomas. Was there anything that maybe you guys hadn't expected or hadn't seen before? DAN MULLEN: No, we knew he was a great football player. He throws the ball fairly well and made some great throws down the field there. Did a good job. To me, what made him dangerous, not really just the throws, his extending of plays. Taking a negative play and even making it a neutral play, scrambling out of the pocket and throwing the ball away. Instead of having a negative play and a sack got them back on kind of a neutral play. He did a great job running the ball, made some great open‑field runs, made people miss in the open field, but we knew he was a great player coming in. Q. You said during the week that maybe Benardrick's decision might be made available after the game. Any word on what he plans to do? DAN MULLEN: That's Benardrick. He and I have had a lot of discussions about that stuff. I'll let him handle that, what he's going to do and what he wants to announce. But I've had a lot of discussions with him. I'm pretty confident I know what his future holds. But that's for him to announce to everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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