Cam Ward is now the Heisman favorite on FanDuel after another dominant performance (19/28, 346 yards, 5 TDs). He met with the media after the game to discuss the win:
On the 3-0 start: It's good, especially with the work that we had to put in. Practice is supposed to be hard, but it's good because it's paying off for a lot of people, even the backups, who never thought they'd see the field. That's why it's good for everybody to lock in and prepare the right way.
On the receivers: They had urgency. The first drive, we didn't have a lot of urgency from myself and that position. The biggest thing we have to continue to do is play hard. We're doing that on both sides of the ball. The defense had a shutout. The more we just have urgency with each other and keep preparing, it's gonna get right.
On the throws he wishes he could have back: The missed throw that I threw to Sam [Brown] high. I missed the switch verts, I missed the wheel not getting through the progression. I see it, so I know I gotta correct it. I just gotta get better at that.
On the backups getting in every game so far: It’s good for everybody, especially with how well we want to play this year and how deep of a run we're trying to get to. It's good to know that we can rely on the backups and twos.
You see Emory out there, he's throwing seeds. That boy played good. He should have had two TDs. The one to Ray Ray, if he'd have thrown a little bit farther, it'd have been smooth, but he threw a good ball. But it's smooth to see him playing out there, especially what he went through in the past. He's there for me every day, Reese is there for me every day. We watch tape on the sideline after every drive. We all motivate each other, so it's good to see Emory out there.
On the receiving corps: We just have a different group of wide receivers. We have speed all around. Every guy has speed in our wide receiver room. Everyone has their own finesse to their game. From JG, X obviously, Sam, even Zay Horton. You see the tight ends doing it, Elijah Arroyo. Everybody has a smoothness to their game and it just adds up together.
On the USF game: We’re looking forward to it. But we’ve got to prepare the same. That's a physical team. We pride ourselves on being physical. So we’ve got to play our brand of football. If we can do the right things, keep playing together, keep having urgency, I think we'll put ourselves in a position.
On what they did during the break: Watching the games. I was watching the Apple Cup over there. My boy John [Mateer] got him one. That's smooth. So I was watching the Apple Cup and just vibing in there. I was watching the LSU game a little bit.
Once it got later, we turned it off, started locking back in, playing music. It felt like kind of like little league halftime. We were in there snacking. But it was a good time with the team. They ordered some Jimmy John's, had some sandwiches. We got the oranges, too. Them halftime oranges hit different. And then they had some pineapples and other fruits.
On having his own celebration: Nowadays, everybody has a celebration, so why not have one? When I first did it in the spring, Elijah was the first one to hit it. So I know he’s gonna keep the movement going.
On Xavier Restrepo: He's real good. Especially where we started from in the spring, even through fall camp, me and him had some bad days together, just not seeing the field. But we honed in on that, and every time we watch tape, he's always there. He's the first one there, whether we watch it two times a day or three times a day. His schedule is hard, but he always finds time to do it. And I think that's why it’s showing off for him on the field.
He just knows the spaces where we need to get to, whether it's man, whether it's zone. Like the one we ran today, it was zone, and he just drop stepped. We work on that at practice every day. All the practice stuff is paying off, and that's why he's doing so good.
On his mentality when his backup is in: Constantly just motivating them, same as they do for me. I'll be telling Coach Dawson to throw the ball. Like Reese last week, we're trying to see him throw the ball. But the running back room we’ve got is good, so we’ve gotta run a couple times. But I'll say to see how our offense can change from ones to twos, especially in the O line, there isn't a drop off. Even with the threes, it wasn't a drop off. They were able to run the ball good tonight. Coach Mirabal, he gets those guys right.
On the defense pitching a shutout: Tyler Baron, Simeon, Ahmad [Moten], Kheem [Mesidor], when he was out there, it was good. We’re deep. The battles that the trenches have to go through in practice are showing off in the game. I think that's why they'll be able to play more games like they did today.
Even the back end, like Meesh Powell, Jay Harris, they're going to get some of the best receivers every day in practice. So I think both of us, just the way we compete, it's starting to rub off into the field.
On the 3-0 start: It's good, especially with the work that we had to put in. Practice is supposed to be hard, but it's good because it's paying off for a lot of people, even the backups, who never thought they'd see the field. That's why it's good for everybody to lock in and prepare the right way.
On the receivers: They had urgency. The first drive, we didn't have a lot of urgency from myself and that position. The biggest thing we have to continue to do is play hard. We're doing that on both sides of the ball. The defense had a shutout. The more we just have urgency with each other and keep preparing, it's gonna get right.
On the throws he wishes he could have back: The missed throw that I threw to Sam [Brown] high. I missed the switch verts, I missed the wheel not getting through the progression. I see it, so I know I gotta correct it. I just gotta get better at that.
On the backups getting in every game so far: It’s good for everybody, especially with how well we want to play this year and how deep of a run we're trying to get to. It's good to know that we can rely on the backups and twos.
You see Emory out there, he's throwing seeds. That boy played good. He should have had two TDs. The one to Ray Ray, if he'd have thrown a little bit farther, it'd have been smooth, but he threw a good ball. But it's smooth to see him playing out there, especially what he went through in the past. He's there for me every day, Reese is there for me every day. We watch tape on the sideline after every drive. We all motivate each other, so it's good to see Emory out there.
On the receiving corps: We just have a different group of wide receivers. We have speed all around. Every guy has speed in our wide receiver room. Everyone has their own finesse to their game. From JG, X obviously, Sam, even Zay Horton. You see the tight ends doing it, Elijah Arroyo. Everybody has a smoothness to their game and it just adds up together.
On the USF game: We’re looking forward to it. But we’ve got to prepare the same. That's a physical team. We pride ourselves on being physical. So we’ve got to play our brand of football. If we can do the right things, keep playing together, keep having urgency, I think we'll put ourselves in a position.
On what they did during the break: Watching the games. I was watching the Apple Cup over there. My boy John [Mateer] got him one. That's smooth. So I was watching the Apple Cup and just vibing in there. I was watching the LSU game a little bit.
Once it got later, we turned it off, started locking back in, playing music. It felt like kind of like little league halftime. We were in there snacking. But it was a good time with the team. They ordered some Jimmy John's, had some sandwiches. We got the oranges, too. Them halftime oranges hit different. And then they had some pineapples and other fruits.
On having his own celebration: Nowadays, everybody has a celebration, so why not have one? When I first did it in the spring, Elijah was the first one to hit it. So I know he’s gonna keep the movement going.
On Xavier Restrepo: He's real good. Especially where we started from in the spring, even through fall camp, me and him had some bad days together, just not seeing the field. But we honed in on that, and every time we watch tape, he's always there. He's the first one there, whether we watch it two times a day or three times a day. His schedule is hard, but he always finds time to do it. And I think that's why it’s showing off for him on the field.
He just knows the spaces where we need to get to, whether it's man, whether it's zone. Like the one we ran today, it was zone, and he just drop stepped. We work on that at practice every day. All the practice stuff is paying off, and that's why he's doing so good.
On his mentality when his backup is in: Constantly just motivating them, same as they do for me. I'll be telling Coach Dawson to throw the ball. Like Reese last week, we're trying to see him throw the ball. But the running back room we’ve got is good, so we’ve gotta run a couple times. But I'll say to see how our offense can change from ones to twos, especially in the O line, there isn't a drop off. Even with the threes, it wasn't a drop off. They were able to run the ball good tonight. Coach Mirabal, he gets those guys right.
On the defense pitching a shutout: Tyler Baron, Simeon, Ahmad [Moten], Kheem [Mesidor], when he was out there, it was good. We’re deep. The battles that the trenches have to go through in practice are showing off in the game. I think that's why they'll be able to play more games like they did today.
Even the back end, like Meesh Powell, Jay Harris, they're going to get some of the best receivers every day in practice. So I think both of us, just the way we compete, it's starting to rub off into the field.
