Quotes Following Football's 44-16 Loss To Houston
Oct 17, 2009 | Football
Oct. 17, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Houston 44, Tulane 16
Tulane Game 6
Louisiana Superdome
New Orleans, La.
TULANE QUOTES
HEAD COACH Bob Toledo
Opening statement
"I was really pleased with the effort of our football team in the first half. But it was like a 12-round fight. They eventually wore us down and knocked us out. One of the big plays was obviously the blocked punt. Our right guard missed the punt block and then the guy broke through our shield and blocked it and they scored. I don't think we stopped them in the second half. And you know, you're talking about one of the best offensive teams in the country, the best quarterback in the country. They score a lot points, and they did. In the second half, they cranked it up. We did a great job in the first half and held them under their average of yards. But we didn't score points."
On Tulane's special teams play
As I told our team, No. 1 our kickoff coverage wasn't good. They returned the ball to the 40, and our kickoff return wasn't good. So you talk about field position there. Then the punt block was instrumental in their turnaround. We lost contain on their quarterback several times. Our tackling was very poor, we got tired and our coverage was not very good. There's a reason why they are one of the best passing teams in the country. They do a great job of executing.
On the offense's performance
"Offensively, we moved the ball and we did what we wanted to gameplan wise, but once again, we can't settle for field goals. We kick and attempt too many field goals - we could have gone for another one at the end. We have to score touchdowns. At times, I thought we did some really nice things and then at other times, it was just the same old story."
On the quarterback situation
"I know a lot of people will ask about the quarterback, and Dan Dodd and I will sit down this week and we'll evaluate the situation and then make a decision. Obviously, Ryan Griffin did a nice job coming in. He was calm and poised. He did make a mistake at the end with the intentional grounding, but again, that's a freshman mistake. We'll sit down and evaluate it."
On losing to a very good Houston team
"As I told the team, it was a tough loss to a very good football team - in my opinion the best team in this conference. So next week, we've got to go down and try to beat Southern Miss. Then try and end this season on a good note down the stretch. We've gotten better, but it seems we take two steps forward and one step back."
On settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns
"That was the tough thing; we go eight plays and kick a field goal. We were moving the ball, we just couldn't get it across the stripe. That was a big momentum swing right there. Coming out for the second half, we kick the ball and they run it back to the 40-yard line. Then they go down the field and score, block the punt and score another touchdown... that was huge."
On his team's ongoing growing pains
"It's a process. We're playing a lot of young people and a lot of young guys make mistakes. We play well for a while and then we fall into the trap again."
On Houston's third down efficiency
"They were 9-of-13, that's pretty darn good, and then in the red zone they were seven-of-eight. You're talking about a guy who was the Player of the Year in this conference a year ago, and is leading the nation in passing this year. You've got to give him credit. He's really good and he's got a lot of weapons. He takes advantage of it, he completes a lot of passes. They do a great job of running after the catch, and our guys missed a lot of tackles. We were out of zones. We're covering people out in space and they get a guy behind us and complete the pass."
On comparing Joe Kemp and Ryan Griffin
"Well, Joe did some nice things. He missed some receivers at the end, and that's when we ended up taking him out. He had a guy wide open and we could have maybe got another first down and he just missed him. He's an excitable guy, his feet are moving all the time and it's hard to sit in pocket and throw the ball. He has really good athleticism, and he makes plays because of his legs, but sometimes he hurts you because of that, too. Griffin has a calming effect. He knows he's not going to beat you running with the football. So he sits back in the pocket and throws the football. He did a nice job of throwing the ball and completing some passes."
On Houston's big second half
"You get worn down. They get the ball and you can't get them off the field. They make first down after first down, and then they score. We try to keep the ball and keep our defense off the field, but we can't score touchdowns. It makes it difficult on both sides of the ball. Then the kicking game, I say I'm in charge, but I'm in charge of everything. You kick off, they run it to the 40. They kick off, and we run it back to the 20. You're talking about 20 yards in field position right there. Field position is such an important part of this game. The blocked punt was also crucial."
On the biggest difference in the game
"It's tackling. We're not a very good tackling football team. It's not something we don't practice. We do form tackling, we do tackling on sleds, we do live tackling. But you can only do that so much in practice because we don't have enough players. You've got to make due with what you've got and we don't have a lot of people. We don't have a lot depth right now. We've got to play with what we've got. We ran out of players in the secondary and at linebacker today. Shakiel (Smith) got hurt, we had to put in another linebacker. The safeties got hurt, we had to put some guys in there, too."
SENIOR RUNNING BACK André Anderson
On missing snaps on a series due to his shoulder
"I feel fine. It was just some cramping I had to get taken care of and try to get back out there quickly."
On his poor exchange with Jeremy Williams on a reverse
"Lack of focus on my part, I took my eye off the ball for a split second and luckily Jeremy was right there to pick it up. It was still going to be a reverse anyway, and it worked. Well. Thank God."
On the running game getting going in the second half
"That was our plan from the start of the game, to run the ball. Some of the runs we had planned, they sniffed out. But as we got going, we picked it up in the running game. I wish we could have run it a little more, but things got out of hand and then we had to start passing. I think we ran the ball well, we just didn't score. You can't kick field goals against a team like Houston. They score points and you have to match them blow-for-blow."
On the biggest disappointment about today's game
"It's struggling to score. And that's what's disappointing. We're moving the ball. Even when we do get penalties, we're overcoming them and making plays and moving the ball down the field. We're a confident group. It's just that when you get the ball down into the red zone, you have to score touchdowns. That's how you beat teams like the Houston's and the LSU's and the teams we've played so far. You've got to maximize your opportunities and that's what we haven't been doing. With the playmakers on this team we should be able to do that. We need to go back, work harder and find something in us to get into the end zone. Whenever you get into the red zone, the field is cut down. The defense changes it up a little bit. We've got to find a way to get into the end zone. It's all about `want-to.' The play calls come in from the sideline, we've got to get in there."
SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK Joe Kemp
On the offense struggling early
"I can talk about for while I was in. We came out flat in the second half. We needed to come out and respond. Other than that, we got some drives going later in the game when Ryan (Griffin) was in."
On momentum swing early in the second half
"That blocked punt was a killer for us. That's the type of thing you can't expect to do and beat a team, any team, much less the number 23 team in the country. Those are momentum killers. We have to cut down on things like that. It's unfortunate that stuff like that happens. There was a really good vibe in the locker room at halftime. Knowing that we had two scoring drives where if we turned one of them into a touchdown, we go into halftime with the lead."
On his interception
"It was a tough throw. Whenever you have to put the ball four yards with about 10 feet of air on it. But it's a throw I'm used to making. I make it every day in practice. They rolled their coverage to Jeremy. I knew I had Kasey outside. If I had it again, I'd [make the same decision], but I have to make that throw."
On being removed from the game
"It's really tough. I've been doing what I can. All I know to do is go back and keep working hard. I thought I played pretty well in the first half. In the second half, we had two short drives. I was a little confused, kind of caught of guard when I was sent to the bench. But all I can do is continue to work hard."
REDSHIRT-FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK Ryan Griffin
On his performance today against Houston
"I just had a chance in the second half to move the offense and we put some points on the board. I thought Joe played great in the first half. He was on the money: short throws, long throws, he was rolling out there. I didn't expect that in the third quarter. But I had to go in and do it. Second-and-goal was wide open, but I missed Tyler (Helm) and third and goal I rolled play-action right, and gave Antoine a chance. It was his first receiving touchdown, and my first touchdown, too."
On Houston's second-half effort
"I thought the defense did a great job in the first half, they were shutting them down. But they moved the ball better in the second half. We were moving the ball in the third quarter. There definitely was a momentum swing with them coming out and scoring right away."
SENIOR DEFENSIVE END Logan Kelley
On Houston's ability to convert third downs
"With that offense, if you can get them in third down, which is tough to begin with, you have to get them off the field. If you don't, they're going to keep going fast, you're going to keep getting worn down and that gives them the opportunity to get the ball to their playmakers."
On the Cougars' effort in the second half
"It's frustrating. They came out in the second half and established what they wanted to do, which was stretch the field laterally with the screen pass and that in turn opened up running lanes. They hit their stride and you can't let an offense like that get the rhythm and hit their stride because they will score on every possession when they get the ball."
SENIOR LINEBACKER David Kirksey
On Houston converting third downs
"When you have an offense that keeps the defense on the field, and that defense can't get off on third down. They are pretty good at doing what they want to do, and we weren't good on third and short or third and longs. To get them off the field, we have to convert on those. Those are critical downs in the game and we allowed them to get nine first downs on those third down plays. Those are momentum killers for our defense and for Tulane... our offense needs a chance to get out there and score some points themselves."
On the Cougars getting going in the second half
"They just kept themselves in the game and kept doing what they had to do. We got out of sync. We got out of rhythm, and they came out and continued to execute and run their plays. They didn't change, they just kept the same pace. Their tempo increased in the second half from the first half, and our tempo decreased from the first half to the second half."
On coming up short in the win/loss column
"We felt like we could have won that game. This is another game that we've let get out of touch in the second half. This would have been a big win for us if we had come out in the second half. They came out and scored on their first drive and we felt we were still in it, but then we got worse and that's not how you win."
HOUSTON QUOTES
HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN
On his team's performance today
"I thought we were playing tight in the first half, and at halftime we talked about having fun. I thought we were pressing. We were a little bit off, I thought Case was a little bit off. He missed some throws. I thought Tulane did a good job of ball control and limiting our possessions. I thought we had more energy in the second half, and we made some breaks. It just didn't look to me like we were having fun. A lot of guys were beating themselves up at halftime, but we had only given up two field goals so there was no reason to panic. We just needed to play."
On his teams injuries
"Leaving the game, I don't think we were in any worse shape than when we came in. I think it's a situation where we got here, and got threw a conference game. Hopefully our young guys got some experience, and hopefully we will get some guys back next week. That's the good thing coming out of winning this game: Getting a win on the road, having young guys get some experience, and hoping that we will get some guys back next week. We got a win, and I don't think anyone is beat up too bad. Its that time of year. Its week 6, everybody has this problem so we are not alone in this. Hopefully we will get the flu conquered and get a couple of guys back. I am just trying to get to the next game with what we got. We have some depth, not experience, but some depth. I think they are trying as hard as they can. That's all we can ask."
On his team's response in the second half
"You know, I'm proud of them. I thought they came out and created their own energy. They moved the ball offensively to score, stopped them on defense, and blocked a punt. Those are the kind of things that on the road, you couldn't have a better series of events to start the second half."
On Case Keenum
"Like I said, in the first half he was off a little bit. He missed a few guys, and I thought he was pressing a little bit. I think they did a good job on defense. They mixed it up and gave us an umbrella look. We took some shots down the field, but we didn't hit them. We missed a couple. They had a good plan, and played hard. I think the fact that we didn't turn the ball over was a big factor in the game. We limited our penalties. When you are on the road, those things are big. Our second half red zone production was much better in the second half than it was in the first half. That is key anytime you play, but especially on the road."
QUARTERBACK CASE KEENUM
On his performance today
"We came out a little mellow in the first half. We weren't executing in the red zone like we needed to. The defense played really well, held them to six points in the first half. We came in, and didn't really have to make adjustments, just came in and realized that we just needed to have fun and start playing the way that we know how to play. Tulane came in and had a really good game-plan. They did a good job of keeping us on our heels in the first half. We came out and took care of business in the second half. The defense did a great job of getting stops. Special teams had that huge play, and I think that kind of ignited us and got us going. It was pretty cool there in the start of the third quarter, which is something we have been focusing on."
On what Coach Sumlin told the team at halftime
"He wasn't upset with us. We knew what we had to do, we just had to do it. We just had to let loose and play. We were all kind of uptight, and we just needed to go out there and have fun and play football because it's a fun game to play."
On finding a spark
"You need to find your own energy in a place like this. At home, you have a lot of fans screaming for you and away in a big atmosphere, everybody is yelling against you. In a place like this, you need to create your own energy by making plays. Like the guys on special teams who blocked that punt, that created some energy for our team. Our fans did a great job, the ones that were here. I thought they were extremely loud and we were all very thankful that they came down and were cheering us on."
Overall thoughts on the game
"Anytime you get a win against a good football team, you got to be happy with that. We just came in and took care of business like we needed to. Now this next game is the biggest game."
