If you’re a college football fan, you might have heard of the phrase “winning the press conference.”
Putting up results on the field is the most important thing in the business, of course, but it’s an added bonus when you can add an exclamation point to a big win on the microphone afterwards.
This week, yet another batch of coaches brought their team’s momentum off the field to their postgame media availability and delivered memorable quotes. Here are the best lines from around the college football world in Week 12.
“Thank you for staying with us. Sorry for what the first half looked like …” — Texas A&M HC Mike Elko
It was a tale of two halves for Texas A&M in a Week 12 matchup with South Carolina — the Gamecocks raced out to a 30-3 lead before the break, before the Aggies stormed back in a furious second half rally to win 31-30 in College Station. The win marked the largest comeback by an FBS team this season and the largest comeback in Texas A&M history, according to ESPN Research.
After the dramatic win, Elko expressed his appreciation for the home fans sticking around and staying engaged despite his squad’s first-half struggles.
“50/50 ball was a 100/0 ball.” — Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman
With “College GameDay” in town for its matchup with Pittsburgh, Notre Dame knew the spotlight would be on them on Saturday and the Fighting Irish answered the bell to the tune of 387 total yards of offense in a 37-15 win.
A big part of Notre Dame’s offensive success was the play of wide receiver Malachi Fields, who caught seven balls for 99 yards and a pair of touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was a physically imposing snag by the 6-foot-4 graduate student, with Freeman remarking after the game that Fields’ stature and ability in the air changes the calculus on certain throws.
“So you’re saying he played pretty good? How ’bout that?” — Oregon HC Dan Lanning
Oregon kept things rolling in its quest for a College Football Playoff berth on Friday night, amassing a 28-6 halftime lead before cruising to a 42-13 win over Minnesota at Autzen Stadium. Ducks quarterback Dante Moore was on target throughout the victory, finishing 27-of-30 for 306 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Upon hearing Moore’s statline ahead of a postgame interview segment, Lanning had a simple reaction to the gaudy numbers.
“Ain’t no quit in that bunch, and there ain’t no quit in me” — Clemson HC Dabo Swinney
It hasn’t been a season to remember for Clemson, but the Tigers got back to .500 on the campaign in Week 12 with a hard-fought road win over a ranked Louisville team. A pair of fourth-quarter field goal misses by the Cardinals helped Clemson hold on and leave the Derby City with their first win in a one-score game this season. The Tigers had been 0-3 in such contests previously.
After the game, Swinney was effusive in his praise for his team’s ability to stay resilient and keep fighting even after a poor start to the season.
“MACtion, it’s a whole weird thing …” — Central Michigan HC Matt Drinkall
For just the second time since 2020, Central Michigan will be going bowling this postseason, securing its coveted sixth win in front of home fans in Mount Pleasant on Wednesday night against Buffalo.
Drinkall, who is in his first year coaching the Chippewas, took time following the game to touch on the intricacies of coaching around one of the Mid-American Conference football’s most distinctive traits — late-season games being played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — including the fact that some players need to be in class before going to the stadium for game days.
“Everybody is talking about QBs for Heisman, so we put him in at QB today for a TD.” — Texas Tech HC Joey McGuire
It’s always an uphill battle for non-quarterbacks to win the Heisman Trophy — just five players who weren’t signal-callers have won the prestigious award in the 21st century. That hasn’t stopped Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez from putting together quite the compelling case this fall, with the ultra-productive linebacker racking up seven forced fumbles, three interceptions and 88 total tackles across the first eleven games of the season.
In the first quarter of the Red Raiders’ Week 12 game against UCF, McGuire opted to give his star defender a unconventional but relevant resume boost — letting him play a little quarterback. Rodriguez took a wildcat snap at quarterback on a second-and-goal play, powering into the endzone for the score and adding a Heisman pose celebration to boot.
“I think we’re in the good old days now” — Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin
As the great Joni Mitchell once sang in her iconic hit “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Don’t it always seem to go. That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?” Kiffin must have had that on his mind when talking about living in the moment and enjoying how well Ole Miss is doing.
And, truth be told, they’re doing quite well. Other than a close loss to Georgia in Week 7, they’ve beaten every team they’ve played. Sure, it was an unusually close 34-24 win against Florida this week, but a win’s a win. If things keep going this well, who knows where they’ll end up by season’s end?
