Everything Old Dominion head coach Ricky Rahne said after South Carolina's 23-19 win
Old Dominion head coach Ricky Rahne spoke to the media following the team’s 23-19 loss to South Carolina on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say.
[Join GamecockCentral for in-depth Gamecock coverage and a great community of Gamecock fans!]
Opening statement
“I expected to win the game. We didn’t play well enough from a fundamental standpoint, which is on me.”
On Old Dominion’s performance on defense
“I thought we played well on defense, and I think we can play better. I thought we played with great effort. We gave them a bunch of different looks. It was able to make it difficult on them, which is a credit to both our coaches and our players – our players for being able to execute, and our coaches being able to design a game plan that way.
“And, then, I just thought we probably didn’t tackle as well as we needed to. We didn’t set edges the way we needed to. We did, however, run the football at a pretty high level, so that enabled us to really miss tackles.”
On quarterback Grant Wilson’s performance, what Rahne told him after the game
“Tell him to keep fighting. He’s a tremendously tough kid. He got some turnovers, and he knows he can’t have those. We’ve got to continue to work on them, and you’ve got to continue to help him through that. We have to push him through that. And, then, all of his teammates, you gotta continue to help him out. That’s the bottom line. I have the utmost faith and confidence in him to be able to bounce back and have a tremendous game against East Carolina.”
On what Rahne learned from his team on Saturday
“I know they’re gonna play hard. They’re going to ultimately do what I ask them to do. I know that I’ve got to continue to put them in positions to hone in on techniques and fundamentals. And I know that I would want 113 (players) in our program right now. I think there’s 74 that were with us today.
“I love these guys. They played with a tremendous amount of effort. You just got to combine that effort and that physicality with technique.”
[Newsletters: Get breaking news and analysis from GamecockCentral]
On how Old Dominion handled the environment at Williams-Brice Stadium
“I thought we handled it pretty well. In fact, I didn’t think that anything had happened that was necessarily an impact of crowd noise or anything like that.
“A lot of guys bounced back, you know, go and turn the ball over. And, then, we almost make a goal line stand and come close and be able to answer back with a big play. So, I think that shows that they weren’t exactly squeezed by the crowd. They expected to win, as well.”
On whether Old Dominion’s defensive changes had to do with South Carolina starting LaNorris Sellers at quarterback
“No. I mean, I think that kid thought pretty well, actually. From watching, I thought he made a bunch of good reads and things like that. I’m sure they’re (South Carolina) going to watch tape, saying he should’ve swung here, should’ve swung there. There’s maybe some plays I thought that maybe he could have been going to a different spot. But, I thought that kid played pretty darn well.
“We did give him a lot. There was a lot of pressure, and he took quite a pounding, too. I mean, that’s a lot of hits for a guy. 22 carries – that’s a lot.”
On whether South Carolina did anything to surprise Rahne
“No. I mean, I think they ran their offense. I don’t think they held anything back or anything like that –particularly in the second half. They were in their offense, and I think they were in their defense. They have a very talented defense that runs around and hits and does some things. I got a lot of respect for their defensive coordinator because he doesn’t try to get you – he plays football. He says, ‘Hey, I’ve got a bunch of guys who can really play’ and lets them go out there and play fast and physical. I have a lot of respect for guys like that.”
Closing statement
“The other thing is – probably for the South Carolina people in here, more than anybody – but make sure these fans understand there was a lot of booing out there today. Make sure these fans understand those kids can be in the other locker room. They deserve to be able to feel good about winning a football game because they just played a heck of a football team, so they shouldn’t feel bad. No one should make them feel bad about, quote-unquote, ‘barely winning.’ So, if that is the headline that everybody’s going to write, I can assure you that is not a good headline.”
