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Post-Game Quotes
Tennessee 55, Western Carolina 10
Neyland Stadium

Western Carolina head coach Mark Speir:
(Opening statement)
"Congratulations to Tennessee. They are a physical football team. They are a hard-nosed team. We knew that coming in. We knew that they had a disappointing loss last week. It wasn't going to be a week off for Tennessee. They were going to fix whatever things that they needed corrected, and they did that.”

“I thought our guys battled. We just put ourselves in a bad, bad situation offensively. Anytime you turn the ball over against any team – let alone an SEC team – they are going to make you pay, and they did. Our coverage teams in the kicking game had been really good, but we got hurt bad. When you give them two turnovers and two touchdowns in the kicking game, you are just spotting an unbelievably good football team 28 points. In games like this, we just want to go play well. We want to execute, and run our offense, defense and kicking game. Obviously, Tennessee had a lot to do with it, but we killed ourselves tonight too, and you just can't do that. We have to play our very, very best to go in and have a shot and compete in this kind of arena. We have done that before, but we didn't do it tonight.”

“We have an open date. We have to go back and clean some stuff up, and get ready for a conference run. I do want to say that Coach (Butch) Jones and the Tennessee Vols are a class-act. We have been treated with greatest of respect and class, and that says a lot about the University of Tennessee. We wish them nothing but the best."

(On changing quarterbacks in the middle of the game)
"We are moving the ball. Troy Mitchell has been with us for a long time. He came in with our staff and has done a lot of great things, but at the end of the day, it is about moving our offense. It wasn't all Troy. I take the blame. We got way too quick to say we can't run the football. We weren't going to rush for 300 yards, but as a staff, I don't think we gave our players a very good chance offensively to be successful. That is my fault. We have to be able to run the ball. I don't care if it is against two SEC teams. We have to be able to run the football. We got away from it way too fast.”

“Troy got out of rhythm, so we brought in Wes Holcombe. We have a long season ahead of us, and I thought Wes did a nice job. He managed our offense and moved it down the field a little bit. Detrez Newsome had that long run. I don't care if that was their fourth team. The fourth team for Tennessee is still pretty good football players and some of the nation's finest. There were a lot of bright spots, but just not enough."

(On Newsome's game)
"Well, Detrez is a workhorse. I love the guy. He is a blue-collar mentality guy. The offensive line opened up some holes. He didn't just do that on his own. I am proud of Detrez. That is going to give us a lot of confidence in running the football."

(On Tennessee's front seven)
"What they do well is play hard. We knew that coming in. I had said that all week. They play hard, and they match their head coach's mentality. I don't know Butch Jones, but I would like to come over here and visit because I like the way he runs his football team. They are going to play hard. That will give them a chance to do a lot of great things in the SEC. They have a good front seven. They make mistakes. Now when you get in the SEC, are those mistakes magnified against a Florida, Georgia or South Carolina? They are going to be just fine right here in Knoxville. They have the right guy. Coach Jones is a class act, and I appreciate the opportunity to play here at Tennessee."

(On working on things during open date before conference play)
"We have to work on fundamentals and doing the little things right. We are going to have this open date to get back to basics. If a team beats you, they beat you; but if you help that team beat you. You can't turn the ball over. Then our tackling on special teams was just atrocious. We have a lot to work on. This open date comes at a good time. I think we came out pretty healthy from the ballgame. We have a lot to work on."