Tulsa Post-Game Quotes
11/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 11, 2006
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Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe
Opening Statement...
I'm proud of the team in terms of the way we played and the way they battled. You have to congratulate Rice. They made a play at the end. I thought our guys showed a lot of heart and a lot of character today we just came up a little short.
Talk about the mistakes...
We did make some mistakes today, but again our guys continued to battle back. We put ourselves in a position to get into overtime. Again, I'm just proud of the way our guys thought.
What do expect out of this team after a loss like this...
We have to bounce back. I like this team. I like their character. I like the way they fight and the way they battle. We got knocked down today, but we have to get back up. We'll start on Monday doing that and get ready to go to Dallas and play a good SMU team.
Talk about finishing those drives in the third quarter...
It's important to finish those drives. Basically you should be able correlate about 100 yards of total offense into seven points. We did a good job in the second half finishing some of those drives, particularly in the late third quarter and then obviously in the fourth quarter, but the bottom line is we didn't score enough points today.
Talk about Paul bringing you back in the fourth quarter...
I thought he did some great things today. He managed the offense well and made some plays. He kept some plays a live. He did a god job of throwing the vertical passes down the field. Again, he made a couple plays there, one on the naked bootleg to walk it in, and then again in overtime on fourth down. Again, I thought Paul did a good job of managing the game the way we wanted him too.
Did you get what you wanted defensively on that last play...
Yeah. It was a great call by Keith. I thought Keith called a good game all day long and we did some nice things. They just made a play.
Was there a hangover from the Houston game...
Know I think we showed that. We took the opening drive and went down and scored. We gave up a play or two here and there, but I didn't think there was any hangover at all. I think the way we came out and played early in the game showed that. We had a chance in overtime and double-overtime to win it and couldn't get it done.
What do you do as coaches to prevent the players from getting their heads down?
You just have to stay positive and keep battling. We knew it would be a long game and would go sixty minutes and it went more than that. The biggest thing is you just have to stay positive, accentuate the positive, just like we've done for four years here. When we took this thing over four years ago, nobody thought we would win as many games as we've won so far. You do it by being positive everyday and working hard everyday, and the guys believing in what we're doing and having each others' back. That's what the game of football is about. It's about winning as a team and losing as a team.
On the running game...
We did some good things running the football. We felt like coming into the game we could run the football with effectiveness, and for the most part we did that. Again, we just came up a little short.
Rice Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Todd Graham
They moved the ball up and down the field but you guys did a good job forcing turnovers and making them make mistakes and capitalizing on them?
"Well, I am really proud of the defense. We came in and I told them we need five turnovers to win the game. I think they played with good patience as they moved down the field, we checked off to them, kept talking with each other, we knew they would move the football, we just had to make sure we got turnovers."
"We let them off the hook several times, that fourth and six, we had them, we had the blitz we wanted and they make a play. I give them a lot of credit. I'm really proud of how the defense is coming along and we are starting to understand a little bit better. I am really proud about how they played. I think they kept us in the game for the most part."
"Offensively, we scored 28 points in regulation on the number one defense in the league. I told those guys, I coached them, they are good and give them a lot of credit, they had a great plan, and I knew they would adjust at halftime. They are really well coached. We were doing things to them schematically in the first half that I knew they would come back and make adjustments. I am just really proud of how we played as a team. We were not going to be denied period. I am proud of all our coaches, responding and keeping cool. We had two stupid delay of game penalties there, we made some mistakes there that helped. I was proud that we stayed poised and won the game."
Marcus Rucker, Rice Linebacker
How do you maintain your confidence as a defense after they had success moving the ball.
"The way we maintain our confidence is, we have great leaders on our team and all of us are pushing, each and every player, defensive lineman, linebackers, defensive backs. We are telling each other, we have to keep ourselves composed. Every game I am preaching, hey, guys we have been in this situation before, we just have to understand to trust our coaches. I trusted my coaches to run what they want, when they throw a play out there, if we do what we are supposed to do, things are going to be taken care of. You are going to have to have big plays and some of that has to do with breakdowns in defense, missed assignments, as the game progressed eventually we came out on top in the second overtime."
