Florida 23, Mississippi State 21
Q. Do you remember the last time you had an interception?
MICHAI BOIREAU: Last time I had an interception was probably like in high school. I had a pick in an All-Star Game. That doesn't compare to this one (smiling). I guarantee you that.
Q. Take us through the play.
MICHAI BOIREAU: I mean, coach called a play where the two D tackles drop back in coverage. I knew where my zone was, dropped back in my zone. I seen the quarterback looking at me, because I read the quarterback's eyes. Seen that ball coming to me, put my hands up and caught it.
Q. Were you surprised they were throwing the ball on that down?
MICHAI BOIREAU: I mean, I didn't know what they was doing at that point. I knew when I dropped back and seen that ball come towards me, I knew what I had to do.
Q. Coach was saying this week, tried to close everything out, tried to shut everything out in your minds. Did you just go in there free of whatever is going on? Was it still in the back of your minds as you were playing?
MICHAI BOIREAU: I mean, all the outside noise, we don't really worry about that. We worry about what we can control. When we go out on the field, it's all about the livingness on the field.
Q. Can you take us through the emotions, for you to come up and make a play like that in that moment when it seems like things are falling apart at the end, your emotions to have been able to pull that off?
MICHAI BOIREAU: Yeah, I mean, it ain't over till the clock hits triple zero. We just know when we on that field, it's all about execution. We got to get takeaways. You got to poke the ball out, intercept the ball, whatever we got to do.
Q. Interesting game for the defense in that you give up a TD on the opening drive, get you in the fourth quarter. Overall how do you think you persevered, particularly with the injuries?
MICHAI BOIREAU: I mean, the defense, we got a strong defense. Every to time we go out on that field, we know what we got to do. No matter if we losing, we winning, if it's 30 seconds on the clock or it's 15 minutes on the clock, we know what we got to do when we're on that field.
Q. How much do you still have confidence in Coach Napier leading this program, all the outside noise?
MICHAI BOIREAU: I mean, Coach Napier is a great coach, honestly. I mean, it's out of my control. Just got to move on.
Q. When did you learn how to slide like that?
MICHAI BOIREAU: Slide? I'll be honest with you, I did not want to slide. I seen the end zone. I wanted to go to the end zone. Shots fired, you got to get down (smiling).
Q. You have good hands?
MICHAI BOIREAU: Yeah, for sure.
Q. What's that based on? Played another position? Good basketball player?
MICHAI BOIREAU: I played a little basketball. I also played a little middle linebacker when I was in little rep ball. I know how to catch the ball when it come to me.
Q. Also the young guys, defenders, that really hadn't played at all, had key roles tonight. How do you think those guys have come along, stepped up?
MICHAI BOIREAU: Yeah, I mean, the young guys, they very intentional about learning from the olders and the vets. They can look at little things that the vets do, they can critique their craft.
We feel confident with them on the field, whoever it is honestly.
Q. The safety back here, 15 tackles, what do you think about that?
MICHAI BOIREAU: 15 tackles, crazy. That's my guy right there. Need that.
Q. You exit through the tunnel at the end of the game, you're applauded. Coach Napier comes behind you. There were boos. There were Fire Billy chants in the crowd. What is your response to that?
MICHAI BOIREAU: When I'm in the game, I don't hear nothing. Whatever coach said, the crowd is just blurred noise. I'm just worried about what I got to do.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports