TULSA POSTGAME QUOTES VS. USF
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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TULSA HEAD COACH Bill Blankenship
Q. You said this week you felt like you guys were close to tipping it over. How close was it?
Bill Blankenship: Half a quarter.
Q. What was it that they were doing that was different in the second half?
Bill Blankenship: Well, they had a match up of a really, really good receiver that we couldn't cover when it came down to it at the end.
Q. On the offensive side, what did you expect?
Bill Blankenship: A little bit of everything. We had a little tougher time with the running game. I thought they made some adjustments, brought their big guy in inside that we had trouble blocking a couple times. I think he was just fresher. I can't really put a beat on it right now in terms of what exactly I know we really hurt ourselves with penalties on those drives. That really put us behind the chains a few times.
Q. You talked about that receiver. Just talk about the mismatch he presented because it seemed like he just got stronger as the game wore on and you had no answers.
Bill Blankenship: Well, when we got isolated one on one, he made I don't know how many of them at the end, but really great throws and catches on the fade balls. The last one where he I don't know if it was the last one, but one of them where he ran by A Mac on that one, that's a guy making a great play, and we couldn't match up very well.
Q. Your team hasn't been in that situation before, having a big lead. Do you think that was part of the issue, maybe a little bit of unfamiliar territory?
Bill Blankenship: It could be. It could be. Everything in the locker room, there was no joy, and we got this. It was 100 percent keep your foot on the accelerator, and everything we talked about, not just me, I'm talking about the team, the coaches, the players to each other, was staying aggressive and staying after it. I don't think we let up. I think we let them make some plays, and we didn't match it.
Q. With the second half, was there anything you would like to see maybe you would have done offensively a little differently in the second half?
Bill Blankenship: Yes, but we got behind the chains a couple of times early with the running game where we missed some things and we got like into 2nd and 11s, 2nd and 12s. That created some issues for us. We dropped a few balls that could have been 1st downs. We didn't do that in the first half. We were very efficient in the first half. I thought Dane did a really good job of seeing where he was going with the ball and getting it to him.
Q. Have you already addressed the players in the locker room?
Bill Blankenship: Yes.
Q. What did you say to them?
Bill Blankenship: I didn't have a whole lot I could say. I just told them how much I loved them, how much I know it hurts, and they're never going to get less than my very best, and I'd just ask the same from them.
Q. Where does it go from here starting next week?
Bill Blankenship: You have no choice. The choice is the same choice we had week one. It comes back week two. It's a very boring answer, but you have to improve week to week and you have to come in and you have to strap them up and pull your big boy pants on and go to work. We've got to fight out of this hole.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
TULSA SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK Dane Evans
On what he saw in the second half, after a successful first half
"We needed to score thirty nine points, and we only scored thirty. We lost. We had a good first half. In the second half, we just didn't score enough points."
On feelings of confidence going into the second half
"The first half of the game is exactly how we practiced all week. We were on. We were sharp. Obviously in practice, you're not going to have any stupid penalties, but we had a couple right at the beginning of the game, but none in the second quarter. We just have to put two halves together like the first half."
TULSA JUNIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE Derrick Alexander
On giving up key big plays in the second half
"It hurts. We had such a good first half, and then to come out in the second half and play the way we did hurts. They didn't do anything outside of the game plan. We have to play better defense."
On the difference between the first half and the second half
"We let big plays happen. They started having big plays. That's one area that we have to correct, and we have to lower the number of big plays that we have. They started getting big plays, and we had fewer big plays."
On the changes that USF made in the second half
"They did start doing more play action out of some sets that they didn't usually run them out of, but they didn't do anything outside of the game plan. They just made more big plays than we did."
On the expectations going into the second half
"It was positive. We expected to come out there with guns blazing, and we expected a lot of good things to happen in the second half. We didn't expect this outcome."
USF HEAD COACH WILLIE TAGGERT
What changed from the first half to the second half?
"Our guys started to make plays. They made plays in the second half. It's something we talked about earlier in the week. We talked about learning how to win and we constantly heard that term around our program and our guys. We never did define what learning how to win is. This week we defined it. We talked about making plays. We call it MAP. We need guys to make plays when those plays are needed. We talked about coaches making the right calls when the right calls are needed. We did that today. We talked about me, myself, as the head coach making the right decisions for our team and I thought we did that today. Our players gave us great effort and we played fudamentally sound. It was good to see our guys come back and compete."
What was your tone at halftime?
"I told them we need to make a play. We need to go back and make a play. That scoreboard is a lie, is what I told them. It's not the truth until the end of the game. Our guys bought into that and went out and took care of business.
At any point did you think about pulling Mike White?
"We did early. Then we decided, no we're not going to do it. We told him, `Hey Mike. Give it another shot. Go be Tom Brady.' And sure enough he went out and played ball. That was great to see."
Is this a turning point win for the program?
"You'd like to think so. You'd like to think we can build off of this. I think the way that we won was much needed for our football team. Our young football team. I know we will take a win any kind of way, but I thought a win like this was much needed. Our guys know that. No matter what the score is, you have to play until the end. Since I've been here we haven't been in that position. But it showed if those guys played together, they can win ball games. We needed that, and now we have to build off of it."
On how they adjusted to Keevan Lucas
"We made some adjustments at halftime, and made sure we understood where he was when he came underneath. We knew he was a good football player and knew we had to find him, because he is the go-to guy when things get tough."
USF QUARTERBACK MIKE WHITE
On the last touchdown pass to Andre Davis
"We've been running bubbles. They were attached to our run plays all day. And they were doing a good job shooting the corner and then tackling us on three yard plays at most. So we figured, let's run a bubble-takeoff. So we had one-on-one coverage, and I'm going to take Andre Davis with one-on-one everyday of the week and twice on Saturdays. He went out there and did what he does best, made a play."
USF WIDE RECEIVER ANDRE DAVIS
Was this a turn-the-corner kind of win for the program?
"I would say it's a start. We have a great opportunity in the conference still and I feel like it's a big win for us. We are definitely on the right track."
What was the tone in the halftime locker room?
"We have a great leader in Coach T. All week throughout practice he was telling us how to respond. And no matter how the first half goes, we need to respond in the second half. That's what he told us at halftime, respond. This game will be won in the second half, the way you respond is going to be the difference in winning the game and losing the game. And we responded as a team and we got good results."
