Tulsa vs. Rice Postgame Quotes
10/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 22, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Head Coach Bill Blankenship
Opening Statement
"Overall just a great win for our program. This is a place that's hard to come into and get a win. Rice plays very well at home. Obviously we took advantage of the turnovers in the first quarter, I think that was really huge for us being able to get out in front. Also, we had to weather the storm, because they did a good job of coming back and fighting through, but I thought there were a couple drives and then the turnover at the end was huge, but a couple of drives where we had to go down and put points on the board in that third and late in the fourth quarter that I think was able to put it away."
On the offensive line not allowing any sacks...
"That was my understanding. I didn't look back at the statistics but the pressure that Rice had really decided that they were going to man up outside, especially the wide receivers, bring a lot of pressure on us and I thought being able to do what we did was a great tribute to the offensive line and to G. J. managing the game well."
On if he gave game balls to the offensive line...
"Yes. They just kind of like being the old nasties, but they did a great job. I just thought the offensive line, not only the sacks but the drives there late where they knew we had to run it, we knew we had to run it."
On if it was tough to get above .500 with the difficult schedule...
"I hadn't thought about that, I guess that feels good. More importantly we're 3-0 in conference play. That's a big deal for us to be able to at least be where we can still control our own destiny."
On the early turnovers...
"Sometimes it's a lack of focus. There are some times the defense will generate the turnover by putting a helmet on the ball or a guy doing a good job of stripping. Early on in the season we've been very poor about focusing, certainly last week, on taking care of the football. I thought we did a better job today.
