Tulsa-Stephen F. Austin Post-Game Quotes
8/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Tulsa Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe:
"Obviously, it's good to get off to a good start and go 1-0. I was pleased with the way we played, particularly in the first half. I thought we came out and played well in all three phases-offense, defense and special teams. One thing we challenged our team with was to come out and have a fast start. We did that and took the opening drive down and scored and then held them. We did some good things in our punt return game to set up field position and then obviously capitalize on a couple more scoring opportunities. It got a little bit sloppy in the second half, but we got alot of guys some playing time. It will be a great film to look at when the guys get back on Monday. I'm just really happy to be 1-0 and happy the way our team came out focused the way they did and play the way they did.
I thought SFA had some talented players. They have some guys on their offense that I was really worried about coming into the game because they had a lot of explosiveness and big play capabilities. But I thought our defense did a great job. I though Paul managed the game extremely well. Our running backs ran the ball with authority. It was a god overall night.
"I think it was a pretty efficient game in terms of taking care of the football, not turning it over, playing pretty clean as far as penalties and substitutions. That's one of the things we wanted to be in the game."
On Courtney Tennial:
"I thought Courtney played well. He did some good things for us, He made some big plays and caught the bal well. It looked like he was back on the horse riding, like he was back down in high school. It's fun to see him out there. I think we have four really good running backs. It keeps those guys fresh. You see in the fourth quarter we're still running hard and running with authority. If we can continue to do that I think it will help us as an offense."
On Paul Smith's performance:
"Paul managed the game well. He did a good job of getting us in and out of plays, getting in and out of the huddle. We snapped the ball 39 times in the first half, which I thought was good especially with the new rule change. He took care of the football, made good decisions distributing it. I thought he was very efficient tonight and did the things we wanted him to do as our quarterback."
Courtney Tennial:
What did it feel like to get in the endzone the first time?
"It felt great. I just looked over to my team-mates and I was like thank you"
Its been a real long time for you, since you have seen serious action?
"Its been a long time, when I got in the endzone, I was like thank you Lord"
Was it kind of like riding a bicycle for you?
"It kind of comes back to you. It might take a little bit to get back in the mix of things"
How about the way the offense was going overall tonight?
"I thought we did pretty good. There is always room for improvement, but I thought we moved the ball pretty well, especially in the first half. We did a lot of good things out there and we have some things we can improve on, but all in all we won"
Paul Smith
Do you feel that the offense was efficient?
"Our motto is always offensively that perfection is our goal, but excellence will be tolerated. That's something we've said a lot in the past couple of years here and I think tonight we proved that we weren't perfect. When we watch film there are a lot of errors that everybody can improve. Specifically there are a couple of things I could do better, but we were very efficient, efficient enough to get the job done."
On coach Stubbs preparation... "Coach Stubbs did a good job of setting us up in fall camp. We had a lot of motions and shifts, we brought some referees in and they picked out if we were doing anything wrong, lining up offsides or shifting too early. I think that's something that carried over to the game. The guys were truly prepared."
Coach said that was the fastest start you had gotten off to in a game offensively...
"I think so, especially with me at quarterback. We really didn't know what to do after those first couple of drives. We were putting points on the board and we were looking around saying `how did we do this', we're used to coming back from a couple of touchdowns. The look on the linemen's faces had a little more smile and less anxiety."
On winning the first game of the year... "It's better to win, but sometimes losses, those first losses, they set us up for the next game. It's a lot easier to sleep at night after a win than it is a loss."
On Courtney Tennial and the backfield...
"That was pretty neat to see him out there moving around a little bit, gaining some confidence. I can mention we have a strong backfield as well with all three of those guys, as I've said before, it's not really a 1-2 punch, it's a 1-2-3 punch."
