On the exciting of winning at Tennessee:
“Last year was just exciting because it was overtime, a big victory. This year I think we were just flat out underdogs, I was watching ESPN earlier and Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and even Santonio Holmes, they all picked us to lose. They think it’s impossible to win in that environment, and we have trouble winning on the road. To win that game and to win that way in Tennessee in front of 100,000 people, it was great.”

On his surprise that Tennessee stuck with the pass:
“The run wasn’t going to work. We refused to let that work. Really, I told the d we have to force them to throw. We’re going to make the quarterback beat us. No disrespect to him, but I didn’t think he could beat us at all. I just didn’t think he could do it.”

On penalties hurting the defense:
“It was San Diego State right back over again. Tennessee’s first drive, get over the field, make it third down, and then penalty. It’s like we’re hurting ourselves early in the game. We have to find ways to stop doing that. I don’t know if guys are anxious or it’s anxiety or nervousness. I still believe we could have had a third-and-out in the first series of both games. We need to come out strong. Tennessee didn’t hit us in the mouth like SDSU did.”