Post Game Quotes
11/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 27, 2004
Recap | Stats | Notes
Tulsa
Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe:
Opening Statement
"Obviously this is great for our seniors to have a chance to win their last game, of their careers. It is very special to have it at home in Skelly Stadium. I'm going to really, really miss this group of guys, I wish we had the chance to have them for one more year, one more day, one more game; unfortunately its kind of a bitter sweet day, good win but we have to say a very fond farewell."
The mentality of the team coming into the game:
"I think there is a little to be said about playing a Top-25 team in the country and we talked about that. You know, I'm going to go home and watch TV all night long, as long as that bottom line is on. We just beat a Top-25 team and so that's going to be on all night long. That's what I told them, I said we have a chance to make a bit of a splash here in the last game of the season, beating a team that's going to a bowl game and is in the Top-25, as well as traveling with us to Conference USA.
The team's character:
"Just like this season, this team stayed the course through out the game, I've never seen these guys with a `poor me' look. It's been very impressive to me, I've seen a lot of individuals and a lot of teams that at various points in time where if things weren't going the way they wanted them to go would have checked it in. We jumped out to a big lead, then we relinquished the lead, we had to come back and regain the lead. We block a field goal which is a big play and they missed a field goal. Michael LeDet makes three interceptions, the only screw up I made is I should have probably played Michael at wide receiver, I didn't know he caught the ball that well."
The rarity of a defensive player having such an impact on a game:
"Yeah, I think its pretty rare and I mean obviously statistically your going to see the three interceptions, but there was a caused fumble, and numerous tackles. There were tackles behind the scrimage and a lot of quarterback pressures off the blitzes, I think there is no question he saved his best for last. He has played awfully consistent all year long and through out the course of his career. But I think today was a shining moment and a defining moment, putting the star on the Christmas tree so to speak, just a great career."
Game Strategy:
"Well, two things we wanted to win the turnover margin and then with the wind the way it was, we wanted to win the field position battle. I think we did a good job of that, we had a hard time standing in prosperity today, we had a lot of opportunities where we got the ball up around midfield to put some points up on the board. We had some critical errors on third down where we don't get off the field. We had some penalties that hurt us in those situations also, after an interception we roughed the quarterback, but again we were good enough to overcome those errors today and win the football game. You've always heard me say we want to win by one, well we won by two today.
"With as many drives as we gave up in the third quarter, we really responded well on defense in the fourth quarter. Again that is an area where you can say the ball is really rolling down hill with a lot of momentum, and they've got it rolling now we have to find something to anchor down and stop that big sucker from getting down the hill. We did that, we stopped the momentum and reversed the tide so to speak and our defense did a great job over the last seven or eight minutes, when they had to step up on the field and they did it."
Ashlan Davis' touchdown kick off return:
"I think we do a good job of configuring our kick off return, and Ashlan made a play obviously that was excellent. All ten guys did, Matt Wells and Bob Schultz our special teams guys, in that role on that team did a good job of scheming it up. We were trying to get the ball in AD's hands as much as we possibly could today, we got it into his hands a couple of times and he almost broke a couple others. Certainly that was a spark, (the touchdown return) I don't think there is any question, you've heard me say before that I think some of the biggest momentum plays in football happen on special teams. You know that was number five, and gosh I thought we might get six or seven at one point today with the way we were returning."
UTEP Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Mike Price
On UTEP's slow start
"Our effort was good. We battled hard, we tried hard but we just weren't sharp at all. We did things that we haven't done all year long. Way too many penalties, the kicking game was really bad, didn't play smart on offense, they broke some big plays against our defense. We didn't come up with one turnover on defense. It was uncharacteristic of us. We played just about as bad as we could possibly play. We said `here's the game' and we still had a chance to win. It was a crazy game. I think the kids were just trying too hard. We didn't play a good game. We were better then them statistically."
On Ashlan Davis
"We probably should have just kicked the ball to him and went down there."
Missed Field Goals "I think the wind had something to do with the missed field goals. We make them all year long and in this game we don't. It's kind of typical of our year."
On the many turnovers "I think that we fought like warriors. We came back in the second half and had an opportunity to win the game but we just kept giving it back to them. Just about every phase we did that."
Mike Perez, Linebacker
On Covering Ashlan Davis
"He's really the best in the nation. We tried a lot of different looks for him but they got it set up well even if you bloop it or squib it, he'll get the ball and try and run it in."
On Davis's status among the top returners in college football
"He's good. I'm not going to say he's bad. But he is good."
On the pressures of containing Davis
"We knew we had to stop him we didn't feel the pressure. We stepped up to the challenge. But the times that we did kick it deep in their territory and those were the times that he got out."
On UTEP's readiness for the game
"I think we were ready. We didn't do anything we hadn't done before any other game. We practiced the same. We just didn't come out on top today."
On Tulsa being better the record suggests
"They are a lot better team then their record shows. They aren't a 4-7 team, or whatever their record shows, they are better then that. They just couldn't get the ball to bounce their way and it seems like today they could."
Jordan Palmer, Quarterback
On UTEP's slow start in their games
"We've started slow the last two weeks. It's a little too extreme. We started slow the last two weeks against SMU and Rice. In those two games, we started slow and we just didn't score, we got field goals. In this game, we got started slowly, we turned the ball over, I turned the ball over, we didn't turn the ball over, and I turned the ball over. We got started slowly and it was just extreme, that cost us the game. They really didn't give us a chance. They kept fighting and fighting and we just trying to close the gap. They impressed me. I thought that after watching the Boise game they were going to play not to lose in the end. They blitzed the last couple of times. That last throw was to Jake Sears and that got picked off. I was hot and they blitzed. They kept playing hard. That is a tribute to their coaching staff and their players."
On the adjustments TU made to UTEP's play
"They just did a lot of things, not things we hadn't seen before. They did a lot of moving around and found ways to get to me. It was tough, but it was nothing we shouldn't have been able to stop. We just shot ourselves in the foot we just gave it away. "
Robert Rodriguez, Linebacker
On UTEP's slow start
"Defensively, it wasn't so much of what we were doing, it was what we weren't doing. The calls that were made defensively were great. I think that Coach (Tim) Hundley did a great job calling this game. We just did a bad job executing. As a defensive captain and as a middle linebacker, I have to take responsibility for that. I feel we weren't executing. You'd be a hard pressed to find, in the first half, a call that we completely executed flawlessly, the way we usually do."
