What did Charles Huff say after the win over South Florida

Memphis beat USF on Thursday to improve to 8-2 on the season, and after the game, Charles Huff met with the media to talk about the win and his team’s performance.

It was clear the head coach wasn’t exactly pleased with his team’s performance, and he kept most of his answers short. He gave the team credit for coming back and winning, but he said there were a lot of things that needed to improve. 

The Tigers jumped out to a 21-0 lead before the Bulls took a lead in the fourth quarter. Memphis was able to get back-to-back stops and Marcus Stokes was able to find Jemyri Davis on a deep pass before running back Jaylin Carter punched in an insurance touchdown to secure the victory.

Here’s what Huff said after the game.

The win:

It was a wild game between the Tigers and the Bulls, but Memphis was able to pull out the win. Huff said the team had a lot of things to clean up after the game, but he gave both the offense and defense credit for what they did at the end of the game.

“A lot to clean up from tonight,” Huff said. “Hats off to South Florida. They battled and did some things differently. We were able to make some adjustments late. Really good job by our defense coming up with enough stops late when we needed it. Really good job my our offense responding.”

The defense struggled for most of the second half, but when the team needed stops, they came up with back-to-back stands to secure the win. Huff acknowledged the stands, but he also added that you’re not going to win many games giving up 41 points.

“We’ve got to get better,” Huff said. “You can’t win a lot of games when you give up 41 points, but we were able to do it tonight. Thank the good Lord.”

Jordan Thompson receiving snaps:

Huff was asked about Jordan Thompson getting some snaps outside of garbage time, and he said that he probably should’ve seen some playing time earlier in the year. Thompson has seen action in three games, but this was the first time he has played outside of blowouts.

“Awesome job by him,” Huff said. “His head coach has probably been holding him back a little bit just because he’s a freshman.”

He recorded 51 yards on two carries, including a 41-yard run, and he gave a spark to the running backs.

“We haven’t had the opportunities to let him go, but he has done exactly what he’s supposed to do. Show up to work every day, wait for your opportunity and make plays.”

Marcus Stokes’ performance:

Huff was asked about Stokes, and he kept it pretty short. He said that his quarterback has been battling and will continue to battle, and he called the Tulane performance an anomaly.

Since that game, he has thrown for 1,004 yards, 10 touchdowns and no interceptions, and he’s accounted for 15 touchdowns. 

“He’s the same kid,” Huff said. “Tulane was an anomaly. The kid is battling. Great job Stokes.”

Decision to attempt 60-yard field goal:

In the second quarter, Huff elected to try a 60-yard field goal on fourth down. It was short, and it allowed USF an opportunity to put together a scoring drive without having to drive the entire length of the field. 

Huff said kicker Philippe Laforge has made longer kicks in pregame, and so he thought it was a good opportunity to give him a chance to make one of them in a game.

“Yea, I mean, he hit 65 in pre-game,” Huff said. “I probably should’ve just punted it down with the lead, but where it was, I thought it was an opportunity to get him that exposure.”

Huff said he hasn’t seen the replay of that kick to see exactly what happened, but he mentioned that some of the snaps on extra points were off during the game. He also said that if he could go back he would probably decide to punt in that situation.

“Got to go back and look at it and see if it was a good hit,” Huff said. “Snaps were a little high tonight on extra points. Not sure why, but I’ve seen him hit before, he hit 64 in pregame, so we felt pretty good about it. Got to make a little better decision there coaching wise.”