Houston-SMU Football Postgame Quotes
11/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 19, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
HOUSTON - 2005 Houston Cougars Football Postgame Quotes
SMU Mustanges (4-6, 3-4 C-USA) at Houston Cougars (5-5, 3-4 C-USA)
Saturday, November 19, 2005 * Robertson Stadium * Houston, Texas
Houston Head Coach Art Briles
Opening Statement "You all saw it as well as I did. We made a lot of errors and you can't let that happen to you. It's very unsettling and very tough. We have to find the strength and fight to finish this thing off right. Tonight was a tough, tough loss to swallow."
On the first half
"I don't know how to explain some of the things that happened early. We got off on a bad note and we never did settle down and get going. By the time we started to do something good, we would either not convert in the red zone or have an unforced error."
On the team in the red zone tonight
"Our lack of red zone execution was the difference in the ball game tonight. I can think of three times when we got zero points. We should be making touchdowns. We have to do better, that's the bottom line. We have to coach better and execute better, no excuses. I was a big part of us not winning the football game tonight."
On getting prepared for next week
"Our guys will bounce back and we'll be ready to play Rice. It's a character test for us next week."
SMU Head Coach Phil Bennett
Opening Statement
"Tonight was a peak and valley game. It seems like every game in our league is like this one. We went out to a 10-point lead and they came right back at us."
"Houston executed really well. I thought we made some really good adjustments in the second half and I thought the kids really responded to that"
"I have a lot of respect for Coach Briles and his program. I think they do a wonderful job. They were playing for a bowl bid and both teams played hard."
We got a 10-point lead and they came right back at us. Houston executed well. The second half we made some good adjustment snad the kids responded.
On the timing of the game-winning kick
"I was going to do it on third down, so that if there was a bad snap we could kill the ball and have another chance. What I didn't anticipate is that we would jump offsides and the clock would start running. I knew the five yards would not be a problem for McMurtray."
On stopping Houston's offense
"We kept the ball away from them by executing long offensive drives and scoring. The way you beat great offenses is to get them out of rhythm and we did a great job of taking them out of theirs tonight."
"It was a tribute to our red zone defense and to how hard our kids played. Our defense held them to nothing after the interception and I think that was the deciding possession."
Houston Junior Quarterback Kevin Kolb
Opening Statement
"We play down to our competition. It's been a disease of this team for a while. This should have been a big game for us with bowl eligibility on the line. We know we are a better football team than them, but we didn't show it tonight."
On the red zone execution
"I didn't execute well in the red zone early and we missed a lot of opportunities. We moved the ball all over the field. The defense created turnovers and made stops. The offense just couldn't put it in the zone."
On the team's struggles tonight
"Once you get in a funk, you have to be really strong to get out of it. We did not do it tonight."
Houston Junior Linebacker Wade Koehl
Opening Statement
"We had a great first half. We didn't finish it. They found ways to exploit us on two-straight drives. We have to be able to clean that up and finish the game off."
Houston Senior Running Back Ryan Gilbert
Opening Statement
"I will do whatever I can to help this team win. When I am on the field, there's nothing but football. If I have to blow my knee out to help this football team win, I will. I would run it 40 times if I had to."
"There's no excuse for losing tonight. The offense never got started and the defense had a good start. We didn't finish it."
Houston Sophomore Cornerback Ricky Wilson
"We did well as a defense in the first half. We made a couple of key stops but we need to get our focus back with Rice coming up. We have to come out and play hard-nosed football."
