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to Home Games 2008 front page Alabama Closes Out Ole Miss 24-20
John Parker Wilson is a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. These are the post game comments and interviews with John Parker Wilson following the Ole Miss game … Press Pool ... Do you think if you keep throwing the ball the way you do team will find a way to stop you? John Parker Wilson …Yeah, it's got to be one thing or the other. Right now, they're playing the run so we're going to try and throw the ball. As well as we've been running the ball, they kind of have to (play the run). If they don't, then we'll gash them with the run. How do you feel about your confidence out there compared to this time last year? I'm the same confidence I've always been. We've just got guys around us that have put it together. Guys want to win. We've kind of figured out how to win. Right there at the end, it's tough. We knew they were a good team coming in. To put them away is good. Have you seen anything in the 2nd half, a common theme maybe, as to why you haven't been able to come out and execute in the 2nd half? No. We're just not executing. It's the same thing it's been for the Kentucky and Georgia games. It's not an intensity factor, it's not anything like that because we talk about it all the time. But it's just putting things together and sustaining drives. Do other teams make adjustments on you? Yeah. Yeah. They're going to come out after halftime and do some good things. They're not just going to let us score on them the whole game. But at the same time, there's opportunities out there that we have to execute and really put them away. We had a chance to score and a couple of turnovers hurt us bad. What did you think when (Terrence) Cody came trotting on the field for that goal line play? Well, we've been working on it all week. We knew we had something there against what they were running. We've got him and Andre (Smith) and Travis (McCall) over there. That's a load to stop those guys. Once their momentum got going there was no stopping them. Were you excited when you actually saw they were being used in the game? The guys were excited, but I was just trying to keep everyone calm and execute. I just told them to go out there and do their job. The fans ... you could tell everybody was really getting into it. So we just had to keep our poise in there We did a good job and didn't let anything affect us. Coach Saban talked about how there's a lack of self-discipline in the 2nd half ... do you see any of that? We just try to come out really focused. We've got the team. We've got the pieces to do it the whole game. It's just carrying it over into the 2nd half and not going into halftime and being comfortable. It's coming out and just focusing, and knowing that when we are really struggling that we can overcome it. There have been some games where this happens ... do you just get comfortable you think? Maybe a little bit. But I really don't think our team does that, especially on offense. We come out and want to do good. But they're going to make adjustments. Those guys get paid to come out and figure out what we're doing. We just have to overcome it. We had some 3rd and shorts, and then two turnovers. We can't let that happen. We have to just finish out the game. Ole Miss scored first ... what was your thought about coming from behind for the 1st time? Just go out there ... we knew we had to answer. I think scored on the next drive didn't we? I think it was good for our team. It was the first time we'd been down all year, but we came back, put together a good drive and regained the lead. It hadn't happened to us yet, so it was good to see that. Which play are you the most proud of? The victory play at the end, I love running that! (smiles) But proudest of? the flea-flicker probably because we've been practicing it for so long ... five years ... and we finally ran it. Five years? Seriously? Yeah! Everybody's got the flea-flicker in there. You haven't run it in your whole time? Nope. Ole Miss kept coming back ... what was you thoughts on them staying close? They're a really good team, we knew that coming in. They went on the road and beat Florida. It wasn't going to be us going out there for a walk in the park. We were able to make more plays than they were. We made some big plays and our defense held at the end. question inaudible ... about Ole Miss' secondary scheme ... They started playing more zone once we beat them in man-to-man. I think we did a pretty good job in the passing game ... a lot better than we had been doing execution-wise ... getting open and getting them the ball. We've worked hard on it the past couple of weeks and I think we did a good job. Did that first long reception (to Julio Jones) set the tone for that? The slant? Yeah. You know, the slant, you catch it and break a tackle you have a good chance of scoring. He did a good job of looking it in. Knowing they were in man and knowing that I could get it to him was good. It was a good way to start the game out. John Parker, how do you explain the difference in this team from the 1st half to the 2nd half. Execution. We're not coming out and executing like we can. We have chances and we're putting ourselves in good situations, but we're not finishing.
click the link to read the post game comments following the Ole Miss game ... click here for other Homes Games 2008 interviews John Parker Wilson (#14 QB Sr. 2L 6'-2" 211 lbs. Hoover High, Hoover AL)
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