Quotes Following Tulane's 38-24 Win Over Rice
Oct 7, 2006 | Football
Oct. 7, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
HEAD COACH Chris Scelfo
Thoughts On The Game
"In games like this, there are always three or four plays that I think really decide the outcome. Today we made them. I really thought our special teams play was big. The field goal that Ross hit was big. The way we were able to convert on third down was big. A couple of them were some big-time plays and I thought the No. 1 thing we did a nice job of today was protecting the quarterback. When they got to us, it really set us behind the chains, but when you give Lester time and our receivers can catch the football, I felt we would be able to move it. Obviously, Matt (Forté) splashed some of his running ability in there today. It all started up front. That was something they were challenged with all week. They were disappointed from last week, and this is a good way for them to bounce back."
On The Offense's Overall Performance
"We still had a couple of big drops. I thought the route running was more precise and they found the open zones. I was happy to see that. Jeremy had a big drop and Preston had a couple of them too, and those will happen at times. We were able to bounce back from them and it didn't get contagious."
On if Tulane pressed the issue to establish a running game early
"We were determined to run the football. Our offensive line was challenged quite a bit last week, and I didn't think that physically, we preformed near our capabilities up front. We are still a very green unit so to speak. We have four new starters there. We felt we were going see what they can do right of the bat."
On using the no-huddle at times during the game
"The thing with a no huddle is that you still have to execute. We probably did it a couple times too much today there late, going down there and driving the football. It gives us a start, but the bottom line is that a no-huddle doesn't mean anything if you don't execute it. We executed it better today across the board - from protection for the pass to the running game."
On Matt Forté's play against Rice
"I thought the way Matt really made himself an all around player today was the way he caught the football and the way he saw the holes. He doesn't have the greatest of speed, but at the end of a run, he'll put his head down and get something going. If he gets his momentum going, he's going to get another two yards."
On the team's ability to bounce back from last week's loss to SMU
"The thing that I think our team showed today as much as anything was the pride that they had and the character they had to be albe to bounce back from last week. And they had to do it against a team that had one of the best wins in the country last week to up to Michie Stadium and win 48-14."
On containing Rice quarterback Chase Clement
"We didn't keep him in containment very well at times, and we need to do a better job of that. We didn't have a spy on him. A couple of times, he got out and our ends took some different pass-rush lanes. But our front four got some pressure on him and that was critical."
On holding Rice to three-and-out and a missed field goal early in the third quarter
"That third down play was one of those plays that we talk about as one of those four of five plays of the game. They had some momentum and it was after a big turnover. Our defense made a big play there on third down with that tip."
QUARTERBACK Lester Ricard
On working out of the no-huddle offense
"We jumped in and went off the no-huddle offense the first couple series of the game after we got our first first down. Our offensive line did a great job of blocking - pass blocking and run blocking - so it made it easier for us to get going today. Coach asked me if I was comfortable with the no huddle offense. Obviously, with our performance last weekend in the fourth quarter, I was more comfortable running a no huddle offense."
"We just kind of wanted to change it up tonight. We are playing some pretty good teams and we have to catch them off balance a little bit and hit them in the mouth early. We figured the no huddle will be a key for us for moving the ball.
On spreading out the ball to eight different receivers
"We run so many different plays so there are so many people that we can get involved. Its tough for defenses to really key in on one guy because you look at last week, DeMarcus (Davis) was our go to receiver. Then you look at tonight and Jeremy (Williams) had a big game catching the football. We do so much and on any given night and these guys can make certain plays so we kind of expect each one of them to step up and play big."
On whether there was one area of the field that was more open then another
"No sir, it kind of felt like everybody was open. They tried to switch their defensive play. They played a lot of zone this game that we didn't expect them to. They kind of switched up and went to man. We were kind of ready for everything. Coach Frank (Scelfo) teaches us to read the defense and we just kind of went on a run that was working for us tonight."
On getting the first C-USA win
"It was great, it feels great. We really needed it. We let the one last week slip out of our hands. We won at home so it was a combination of everything, We needed to get this done tonight, so it was nice to finish it off. Defense played a great game and we got the `W'."
RUNNING BACK Matt Forté
On the affect of the hurry-up on Rice's defense
"You catch the defense sleeping a lot of times and they can't get their calls in fast enough and we just run plays right after another. I think it helps the running game a lot because the defense is off balance."
"Going to the no-huddle really helps us out by passing the ball and opening up the run. When we are passing, they're on their heels a little bit and we were able to run the ball well since the lanes began to open."
WIDE RECEIVER Jeremy Williams
On the success of the slant patterns
"We expected them to jam a lot but they backed off a lot. While they were doing that, it was easier for us to get away from them and break in."
On if he was focused coming into the game
"Yes. This week during practice, the coaches were really on us about looking the balls in every time they came in and not dropping balls. When we would drop balls, they would make us do 20 push-ups and it was discipline for us to make sure we didn't do any of that tonight."
