University of Houston Athletics
Football Bayou Bucket Luncheon Quotes
11/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 22, 2005
HOUSTON -
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Quotes from the Houston-Rice Bayou Bucket Luncheon
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 * Houston, Texas * UH Hilton * UH Campus
Entering Rice game and following SMU game
HEAD COACH Art Briles
"It's a huge game, a lot of fun game. This is fun for the city of Houston and both our universities. There aren't many cities in the nation that can put two Division I schools out there and play. We are excited, and we are excited about the opportunity for the University of Houston.
"Rice is a much-improved ball club, especially over the last month of the season. Anytime there is a rivalry game, you can throw everything out the window. Our guys will be intense and ready as Rice will also."
On pressure from Athletics Director Dave Maggard saying UH should beat Rice in all sports: "Every time we step on the field, we expect to win. We feel like that's our job to go win. That's not a big deal. What we have to do is go out and take care of our business, and everything else will fall into place."
On bowl implications: "There's some stuff laying on the line. As a team, we decided on Sunday to just focus on Rice and not get caught up in the speculation game. That's not our deal. If we go out and take care of business for 60 minutes, then we will see what happens after that. There are some things hanging out there, but if we don't take care of business Saturday, none of that is a reality.
"I know we will be focused; I know we will be ready. It's going to be a fun afternoon, a fun game"
On putting SMU loss behind them: "We don't have a choice. That wasn't the first tough one we have had. We have put them behind us before, and we have to do it this week. We will be geared up and ready to go Saturday, no doubt."
On having only a week to prepare for Rice: "Defensively, it is a hassle because they have a unique style of offense. You don't get to see it. It's hard to get everything in in three days and be prepared. That's a definite issue and a concern. Going into last year in the opening game, we had all summer to prepare and go with it and had a great defensive outing as did they against us. It's a whole different scenario this year. Our guys will have to retain some of what they did last year and use it for this week."
On what he will do with Bayou Bucket Trophy if UH wins (Rice coach Ken Hatfield joked that the trophy looked nice in his living room): "I share it with the whole University. He won it; he can do whatever he wants with it last year. I just want to get it back."
HOUSTON JUNIOR LINEBACKER Wade Koehl
On rivalry with Rice: "This is a huge rivalry, and it's a must-win game. We're 5-5 right now. If we want any chance of going to a bowl, we have to win this game. Rice got us last year. We have something to bring back to them. We need to step up and make the plays this game."
On what he remembers of Rice's style of play: "They are real aggressive on defense. Their offense was as good as they have always been. They are good at the triple option, and we have to figure out ways to stop them."
On difficulty of preparing for Rice in a week: "It's always been nice because, since they have been the first game, it gave us more than one week to prepare for their offense. Hopefully, we will be able to get in done in one (week). We might have to spend a little more extra time on them this week."
HOUSTON SENIOR DEFENSIVE END Kade Lane
On playing his last game at home: "It means everything, because if we don't win this, nothing else can happen for us. We just have to come out and perform well."
On putting SMU game behind them: "It's a painful memory. We aren't really thinking about that. We definitely have to look ahead for Rice."
On bragging rights: "Definitely. It's the city of Houston, so you have to have some bragging rights in there."
On difficulty of preparing for Rice: "It's difficult. Over the past three years, we have hung with it pretty well because we have had the whole off-season to prepare for it, because we've had them in the beginning of the season. It's going to be pretty hard. They're very different from what everybody else runs that we have played against. We are going to have to key in and make sure we do all of our jobs."
On new 3-4 scheme against Rice: "We're basically going to run some of the same stuff that we ran last year. We will see how it works out."
