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Head coach Skip Holtz

Opening comments:

"I told the team to never take a win for granted. Half of the teams in the country are going to lose today. We found a way to win. It was not flashy, special or full of big plays. We did not have a turnover. It was solid, smart and a grind-it-out win. I think there are a lot of guys I could sit up here and talk about. I was really proud of what they did offensively. We never hung our head and kept grinding."

"Defensively, it was the same thing. We had given up 100 yards at halftime. The defense was keeping the ball in front of them and flying around. I give FIU an awful lot of credit. Ron Turner is an excellent football coach. I thought he did a great job. Ron Cooper, their assistant head coach, had a great scheme and kept us guessing. I thought Steve Shankweiler, the offensive coordinator, put together some great schemes. Our defense did not give up the home run ball. They continued to play hard and physical up front, controlling the line of scrimmage. Emotionally, this game is hard. When we came in here at halftime, you could tell they were spent. It was not as much physically tired as it was emotional. Last week was hard. We knew it was going to be a challenge. They did not show it on the field. They played incredibly hard and physical."

"Special teams wise, I think our kick cover and punt cover teams did a great job. I think our kickoff return team has a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do on our kick return team. When you have a guy as explosive as Carlos Henderson, you have to find a way to get him going. We have to do something with that and at least give Carlos an opportunity to get to the second level. That is our responsibility as coaches and players. I am proud of the team and proud of the win. It is always nice to win a conference game at home."

"Kenneth Dixon is a stud. I do not think we realize what a special player he is. I think we will look back and say, 'I remember when Kenneth Dixon was doing that in a Louisiana Tech uniform.' I have had the opportunity to coach a lot of great players. I have been blessed with some great running backs, but I do not know that I have seen anyone play harder or more competitive than Kenneth Dixon. I am just really glad he is on our team. With their defensive ends, we could not just sit back and pass on them. We knew we were going to have to run the ball with Kenneth Dixon. He showed just how special he is and he put the team on his back. He scored three touchdowns including a great grab in the corner. I am just really proud of him."

On finishing the game:

"I do not want to say that we did not finish [against Kansas State] when they drove the ball 92 yards with a minute to go to send it into overtime. It is hard to say they did not finish. It was a different team. We were able to run the ball this week. I do not see any similarities between the two. I thought our team competed incredibly hard last week."

"We did what we had to do. They had a little momentum going and took the ball down the field. We did a good job getting the onside kick and we were able to run the clock out from there. We ran our four-minute offense and got some first downs. We challenged our offensive line. That previous drive [FIU] went the length of the field in about two minutes. I thought the offense did what they had to do to finish the game."

On FIU's offense in second half:

"We said that we were not going to give up the big play and make them earn it. They dinked and dunked us and threw the ball underneath. We zone blitzed a little. We were blitzing a lot in the first half and having some success with it. They came out in the second half and said they were not going to try and throw the ball down the field. They were throwing it before the blitz could get there. They did a good job of pitching and catching. Most of the throws were underneath. We were comfortable with that."

On Dixon's first touchdown run:

"It was important. I thought the offensive line did a great job of opening the hole. We ran a similar play on the first play of the game and Kenneth went outside the block. He came back to the sidelines saying, 'That's my bad. Give it to me again and do not go away from that.' The tackle did a great job with the kick block. Then it was one-on-one with the safety and Kenneth made him miss. I think it was huge to get off to a fast start and get up 7-0. We gave our defense a little bit of breathing room. It is like a pitcher in a 0-0 baseball game, you just want to be able to take a breath knowing you can make one mistake and still be okay. I think that is big and give your defense the opportunity to be aggressive."

On Paul Turner:

"Having him back was huge. Carlos [Henderson] went out late in the game. I think Paul is such a competitor and such a huge player. He made a couple big catches with a guy draped all over him. He got a holding call trying to take the guy deep; unfortunately it was offsetting penalties because we had a hold as well. I thought Paul did a great job and it is nice to have him back."

"With Carlos going out, I am looking forward to playing a game where we have Carlos, Trent [Taylor], Conner Smith and Paul Turner all healthy. We have not had a game with all four of them out there yet. We have not even had three of the four out there. We will see what Carlos' injury is and get some treatment."

On rotating the offensive line:

"[Joseph] Brunson is back. Brunson came back last week. I do not think he was ready to play a lot last week. He had a good week of practice this week. We had O'Shea [Dugas], [Josh] Robinson and David Mahaffey. We also had the three tackles with [Shane] Carpenter, Jens [Danielsen] and Darrell Brown. We played seven guys and rolled a lot of them to keep them fresh. They have all earned the right to play and right now I do not see a big difference between any of them. I think they are all playing solid football and did a nice job on the run game. We did not do a good job protecting our passer against two of the better pass rushers in this league."

On Jeff Driskel's rushing ability:

"Last week, [Jeff Driskel] rushed for 80 yards and we had 30 yards in sacks. When people want to start to take away Kenneth, he pulls it. He made a couple of big plays that were momentum plays. I think he is doing a really nice job of executing the offense. If it is not there, he is throwing it away. He is not into stats. Today we got under center and let him hand the ball off. We put the saddle on our offensive line and our tailback and I thought they did a nice job. Jeff's ability to run is a big part of it. We did not have that last year with Cody [Sokol]. When you have Jeff going one way and Kenneth going the other, you create a very explosive running game."

On different formations:

"We saw all of the movement they were doing and the scheme that they put together. We did not come in saying were going to be playing a lot of tight ends and fullbacks. It has always been a dimension in our offense that we have if we need. I felt like with what they were doing, you were in a guessing game. If you guessed right, you maybe gained 10. If you guessed wrong, you got three. Just to try and get some consistency, we solidified our edges with Ricky [Jones] or Marlon [Watts]. I thought Josh Gaston played a heck of a game at tight end. He has waited patiently as a senior to get his opportunity with all of the four wide outs we have been playing. I thought he went in there and did a really nice job playing physical at the point. He really gave us the opportunity to develop that running game."

On the FIU front seven:

"I think their two defensive ends are two of the more athletic defensive ends we have played. They are athletic and rush the passer. They play them wide and speed rush. They put a lot of pressure on your tackles. Last week against Kansas State, they put a lot of pressure on our interior. There was a lot of movement and twisting. [FIU] has two of the better defensive ends, but Kansas State's guys inside were flat out men. I thought they were big, strong anchors in the middle. It was hard to get any inside running game going."

On Beau Fitte:

"Nick Thomason played well last week. Beau Fitte played really well this week. He did some really good things, especially at the end. They are both doing a really nice job. I am sure they watched the film and slid extra protection over to Nick. That probably gave Beau some one-on-one opportunities to get in the backfield. I thought the front four played really well and created some penetration."

On lack of interceptions:

"I do not think the defense is pressing. Other teams pay their coaches and have scholarships too. They watch the film and how we won last year by creating a lot of turnovers. We made a lot of big plays. What we are seeing more of this year is underneath ball control passing and not putting the ball in danger. On offense, we are seeing a lot of quarter, four deep, avoiding giving up the big play. I thought it was a great victory for us as a football team. It was not about flash and sizzle. It was about fundamental football and finding a way to win. Our football team did that. There was a not a lot of sizzle, but there was a lot of substance in that win today."

On watching UL-Lafayette:

"With the early game, we will get to watch them on TV and get a different perspective than the coach's film. We will get the opportunity to watch that a little bit and enjoy this win. We will come back tomorrow morning and get ready for ULL."

On learning about team:

"I am really proud of them. It is healthy to win a game like this, grind it out and find a way to win. We had a close football game in question where we have to run the football and make some stops. I am proud the offense did not have a turnover. I do not know how long it has been since we have gone a game without a turnover. In the last two games, I believe we have had four. We are minus two in the turnover ratio the past two games. We talked as a team and said you can have two turnovers if the defense gets three. If your defense does not get any, your offense cannot have any. You have to make that balance as a team. I thought they came out and grinded out a win today. It was a hard-fought game. It was very physical. There were a lot of guys lying out on the field. I hope everyone is healthy on both sides because it is early in the season. I know they have some injuries in their secondary and on defense, but our team played smart today. We have played hard the past couple of weeks, but we have not always played smart. I felt like we did a nice job of that today."

RB Kenneth Dixon

On his three-touchdown performance and a C-USA win:

"It was great. We just wanted to get back into the rhythm of things. We were playing back home coming off a tough loss from Kansas State. We were just practicing on bringing the juice and today we brought the juice. I feel like our offensive line played well and that we won the battle at the line of scrimmage on offense and defense."

On making the FIU defender miss on his touchdown run:

"The offensive line had such a big hole. I had so many options and I just picked one, put my head down and ran."

On the importance of scoring in the fourth quarter to extend the lead:

"Just keeping our foot on the gas and focusing on what we have to do. We needed to focus on playing Louisiana Tech football and not losing sight of that."

On finishing the game strong:

"That is all we talked about is just finishing. We were real big on finishing."

On the advantage of single-back formations:

"We have such a good offensive line. We felt like our five was better than their four. We put it on the offensive line's back and they brought us home."

On which of his three touchdowns was his favorite:

"They were all good from the offensive line and the one Jeff [Driskel] threw to me - he just threw it well and I had to catch it you know."

QB Jeff Driskel

On the emphasis put on the run game vs. FIU:

"In order to win the game you have to be able to run the football. That was emphasized to our offensive line in order to win games. I think we did a really good job there. Especially when we were in the red zone giving KD a chance to make somebody miss. Giving him a hole and giving him space to move. It's hard to bring him down. I thought we did a very good job up front against a very good line and linebacker group that FIU has. Running the ball really helped the passing game. We ran the T-bone formation and we always run a lot when we run that. We tried to run them out there and KD got free down the sideline. We try to use the run game to set up the pass game. So, I thought we did a good job of running the ball."

On what he saw on FIU's film to exploit:

"You are going to have to run the ball against anybody. They have really good pass rushers off the edge and some really good corners that are not scared to play man. It's not always going to be easy to throw and catch every time, so we want to put ourselves in third and short opportunities. We really did hit some big plays, but I think the offensive line really carried us especially when they knew we were running the ball. They still made a push and helped make one big play after another."

On lining up under center:

"I think there at the end, that was just a four-minute offense. You are trying to run down the clock and they know you are going to run it. We know we were going to run it and it was just a matter of imposing your will. I think the offensive line did that today. We did it in the game and we knew going in we were going to have to run some bigger sets and use a tight end. It is just a matchup of who is better than who whenever you are running the ball in between the tackles and I thought we were better today."

On Dixon's early touchdown:

"That was huge. I think that is something we have struggled with especially the past two [games]. Scoring on our first drive was huge for us. That's not all we needed but it was close because the defense played great today. We had good energy in the crowd and good energy on the sideline so when you hit a big play at the beginning it is a big momentum booster."

On the return of Paul Turner:

"He is huge. He is a guy who can get on top of you but he is also a guy who can come off of a route and make a tough catch. Having him in there is huge for me. I am really comfortable throwing the ball to him and he is a guy who is going to have to continue to be out there. He is a guy that I really trust in a one-on-one matchup. I think he is going to win every time."

On gaining momentum late in the game:

"We never took our foot off the gas on offense. We knew they were not going to fold out there. They played hard and I thought they stayed focused the whole time but we wanted to step on the neck when we had the chance. I thought we did a really good job of finishing the football game."

On his 32-yard run compared to Dixon's:

"I don't know. I'll have to look at the film. I know when I did it that it felt really, really good. We will have to look at it. KD's are all the time so I think me slipping one in there will give me some extra points. Luckily, I didn't fall down."

LB Beau Fitte

On what he saw on tape:

"It is just coming out and watching film every day and perfecting our technique on the field every day to be ready for them."

On how he is able to get in the backfield often:

"It is just my ability that God gave me. It is just watching film and being prepared to know what they are going to do before they do it."

On telling Nick Thomason he was taking control this week:

"It is just coming out and trying to make myself better and everyone next to me and doing my part."

On having an early lead and the mindset of the team:

"It is just keeping our head down and keeping our foot on the pedal. We have to keep on going."

On what he thought about Dixon's day:

"He is awesome. Having a running back like him on our side, there is no telling what he can do. I know that he is going to do his part to help out our offense so that we can get the win."

On feeding off the offense:

"However they produce, we just have to turn up our level [of play] and make the defense hold them."

On Dixon being on his team:

"Like I said, he is a great athlete and having him on our side and watching him is just awesome."

On if Dixon shakes him in practice:

"There have been a couple of times. He is good so he might have his up days and I might have mine."

FIU Head Coach Ron Turner

On the game vs. LA Tech:

"Well, first off, I want to give Louisiana Tech credit. They are a hell of a football team and they played one hell of a football game. They are well-coached and well-disciplined and they are a very, very good football team. To play and to have a chance to beat a team like that you have got to play well. I was extremely disappointed in the way we played. I don't think we focused on the right things. I don't know what we were focused on but it wasn't the right things. We were very undisciplined which we have not been and we will get that corrected immediately moving forward. I'm just extremely disappointed in the way we played."

On whether FIU beat itself:

"We absolutely did. And again, they are a good football team. I don't want to say that, take that away in any way from them. They are a very good football team and they took care of business; we didn't. They took care of business; we didn't. We have a bunch of stupid penalties, stupid things, stupid mistakes that we haven't been making and we weren't very disciplined."

On the run defense:

"We weren't very disciplined. We weren't very disciplined on offense. We weren't very disciplined on special teams. We weren't very disciplined on defense. We weren't very disciplined on anything - offense, defense, special teams. Guys weren't filling in the right gaps, weren't doing what they were supposed to do. You can't do that against a good offensive line and a really, really, really good back. You can't do it; can't do it against anybody. Offensively, it is the same thing. We made too many mistakes that we haven't been making. It is just a matter of you have to focus on the right thing. That's just each man doing his job and I don't know what they were focused on, but not that. Make a mistake against a good back and he is going to take it 70 yards for a touchdown, or however long that first touchdown was."

On frustrations with stopping LA Tech on third down:

"It was one of them. There were a lot of frustrating things. No. 1 was guys not doing their job. If you do your job and get beat then, hey, that's the way it is. They are a better team. And they were a better team than us today. No question about it. They are a much better team than us, but we did not give ourselves a chance."

On what the staff needs to address looking to next week:

"The same thing we address every single day, discipline. Same thing we address every single day, discipline and doing your job and obviously, for whatever reason, they didn't listen today. And that's what we are going to address. It is really not that hard."

On injuries:

"I don't know. I'll find out. I don't know about any of them and we've got about 30 guys we could ask that about so I have no idea. We'll find out more as the week goes on."