Quotes Following Tulane's 10-3 Loss To Temple
Dec 7, 2014 | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Temple 10, Tulane 3
Tulane Game 12
Yulman Stadium
New Orleans, La.
TULANE QUOTES
HEAD COACH Curtis Johnson
Opening statement
"Those defenses were good tonight. That game was a slugfest if I've ever seen one. I thought Temple played extremely well tonight. Their team is very similar to ours in that they are a defense-first team. Those corners were outstanding tonight for them, and they played very well. Our defense, on the other hand, played extremely well tonight. I thought they gave us a chance to win. We never could really get anything going. We only made one third-down conversion and one red-zone conversion, and Temple was 0-for-2 in the red zone and 2-for-17 on third down. It's just one of those games where it comes down to who has better field position a lot of the time and that was Temple for most of the night, especially in the second half."
On the impact of a 3-9 record for this season
"A record is a record. We didn't say much after last season when we finished 7-6. What you do is continue to try and improve your football team. Most of these guys are just going to get better. They've been in the system now for at least a year. They won't be having any more first times such as being in a new stadium or playing their first game. A lot of these freshmen really came around this season. Look at what Perry Nickerson did this season as a freshman. I'm very impressed with that. A 3-9 record is a bad record, but if you look at our improvement this year, you can see that we made some great strides moving forward."
On the last drive ending with Tanner Lee's third sack
"The one thing we have to do is protect first. That last play, Sherman [Badie] didn't get out to protect in time, and we weren't able to get the ball out quick enough. We were trying to get the ball out to our receiver on a skinny post route, but we weren't able to do that because we didn't have enough protection. It's just a little thing we have to clean up and work on. Our offensive line made some calls tonight that were a bit questionable. Sometimes I think we just get a little bit too excited and let our emotions get to us. Other than that, I like the way that we fought all night long."
On chop block hurting Tulane's early drive in the red zone
"That was very frustrating. That is one of those mistakes that you can't make. We didn't have many penalties tonight, but it's just an opportune time to score and then we get a penalty. The next one, Parry [Nickerson] picks up the fumble and runs it for the touchdown, but we were in the neutral zone. Sometimes you just have buzzard's luck."
On not scoring a touchdown tonight
"I credit both defenses for the low-scoring game tonight. We knew going into this one about how tough they were, and how good No. 9 [Matt Ioannidis] and No. 72 [Hershey Walter] were for them. We played well on defense. They just played the field possession game very well, and that's what happens sometimes. It was so frustrating, however, not to be able to get the ball down the field and get it in the end zone."
On giving Nick Montana playing time as a senior tribute
"He deserved to get some playing time. We played all of our seniors tonight. We told Montana that he was going to get the third series tonight of both halves, and that's what he got. I thought his drive in the first half was very good. We ended up kicking a field goal on that one. His second drive was unfortunate. Their corner stepped in front and Nick threw that one interception."
On where his offense can improve for next year
"I just think that we need to get in the offseason now. We need to get in the film room and look at the mistakes that we are making. We are really running the same few plays over and over again. Our receivers are seeing their mistakes, and so is Tanner [Lee]. We'll clean it up because that's what you do in the offseason. It's very simple what we are doing. Everyone can tell you the mistakes they are making. We just have to execute better."
On his response to people blaming this on playing calling or the offensive coordinator
"Well, you have to first look at all of the defensive players we've gotten over the past few years and then realize that a lot of our young players happened to be on the offensive side of the ball. You would like to have a quarterback with experience, but we don't have that. You can't really protect his inexperience, but he's going to get better. You can blame whoever you want to, but the thing is, we are going to improve."
On the emotions of today's game
"It definitely was a big day for me. It was my last time out there, thelast time with my brothers. A lot of the guys that came in here, a lot of the younger guys - it definitely was a big day for me."
On the pregame festivities and what it meant to him
"I mean that was major to me. It meant a lot to me, especially my mom because being able to sing the National Anthem. That's something she always dreamed of and wanted me to do. So to accomplish a goal or a dream like that is definitely major."
On his time at Tulane
"We had the ups and the downs. A lot of guys that I came with left last year. I look at it as all a part of God's plan - just stay positive, stay optimistic about it and just keep moving forward."
QB Nick Montana
On Senior Day and not getting the outcome he wanted
"It was still a fun night, fun going out with the guys. I wish it would have ended in a win, but we still played hard and still went out there and competed."
On his career at Tulane
"I had a good time. I've had a lot of fun the last two years with the coaching staff, and this group of guys is a great group of guys to play with. Obviously it didn't go the way I wanted it to, but it was still a good time and I learned a lot. I just appreciate the time."
RB Dante Butler
On how tough it was going into his last game at Tulane
"It's tough. I mean it hasn't hit me yet, but it's been an amazing four years. It came quick. It's so cliché when people say college goes by fast, and I didn't believe that my freshman year. I thought it was going to take forever, but I can remember my first time coming in with Bob Toledo my first practice - three-hour practices and stuff like that, going full gear three times a week. It's a bittersweet feeling and it came quick. I would've liked to go out on top with our last game for all the seniors because they really do deserve that, but the future is bright for those guys."
On the fans and his thoughts on the program he's leaving behind
"The fans have been amazing. They've had our backs through thick and thin this year. We know we had a down year, but the sky's the limit for this program and I really hope that our fans really stick around for something special."
On this game being a snapshot of the season and the fight of this team
"Definitely. There were a lot of games we could've said we're down and out, we can stop playing, but we always kept fighting. We always kept pushing. That's a testimony to these guys and that's a testimony to these coaches - never give up because at the end of the day you never know what can happen."
TEMPLE QUOTES
HEAD COACH MATT RHULE
Opening statement
"I thought it was a great college football game, especially defensively. I sure would've liked to have more scoring, but I thought there were a lot of guys who flew around the field and made a lot of plays. At the end of the day, we were able to make a play on offense, and our defense just did a great job of keeping the field flipped and keeping it in scoring range. We missed a couple of field goals, but made it out with a win".
On the offense
"We just had a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We had some plays that we thought were going to be touchdowns, and jumped up and they caught it. But, we made one more play and that's the thing we haven't done. It wasn't pretty, but I am proud of the fact that we made one more play than they made. We had the turnover in the end zone, but other than that we didn't turn the ball over. We kept them down on their side of the field. Our defense kept stopping them. We were able to stay in striking range."
On QB P.J. Walker
"I think he threw for 255 yards, but more importantly, I thought he ran the ball really well and made some key plays to keep the chains moving. The decision at the end to throw the fade to Romond [Deloatch]. I think for him to be a sophomore starting quarterback, for him to beat a SEC team, for him to beat a Top 25 team and to get his team bowl eligible, it hasn't always been pretty or great, but that's an accomplishment as a sophomore we can build on."
On becoming bowl eligible
"I think I lean on the conference for that. You know those guys do a good job, and I'm sure Mike [Aresco] has a scenario for us. I think at the end of the day if you beat a SEC team - you know we hear about the SEC all of the time - a Top 25 team, we played seven bowl eligible teams. We don't play a cupcake schedule. We've played two Power Five teams and Navy. You play the schedule that we've played and you're bowl eligible and 4-4 in the conference. I think you deserve to go to a bowl game to play against someone else, especially in this conference. So I look forward to Mike Aresco and his team doing a great job helping us out with that."
QB P.J. WALKER
On leading team to bowl eligibility
"We had to just keep our head up and keep fighting. We have opportunities after opportunities after opportunities. At some point, it's going to hit. We just have to keep battling and just keep fighting. Fighting for the defense. Fighting for each other. The defense has been out there holding it down. We have to go out there and keep playing for each other."
On the success of the fade route
"We had one-on-one coverage on one of our best fade guys in the redzone. They were playing true one-on-one. They had a safety slightly over but he wasn't able to make the play if I put it outside. I was just going to give him the opportunity to make the play and that's what I did. I knew he would have made the play if I gave him any opportunity. If I put the ball anywhere near him, he would have made the play."
