University of Houston Athletics
Football Press Conference Quotes
11/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 28, 2006
CONFERENCE USA COMMISSIONER BRITTON BANOWSKY
Statement on the Conference Championship:
"I am very happy to be here in Houston and especially happy to be on the campus of the University of Houston. This is a place with a lot of tradition and football tradition that is being revitalized right now under the leadership of Art Briles and some wonderful seniors. You all should be proud of yourselves for moving the University forward and moving its football program forward. We are excited about the championship game. It's a wonderful format because we are able to reward the team that does the best in the regular season with the opportunity to host the (championship) game and those fans that have come out during the regular season get a chance to see a big game on a big stage. Our goal is to set a very bright stage for these football teams and we have a national TV audience that will be looking at it. It's a time for the conference to put our best foot forward and shine in front of a national television audience. It's something that is very important to us. I talked to Southern Miss yesterday and they are excited about being able to come play this game. I think they (Houston and Southern Miss) had a good game earlier in the year and there is going to be some familiarity between the two teams but this is for the championship. This is what it's all about. I am proud of what you are doing down here (in Houston) and I am glad to be a part of it."
HEAD COACH Art Briles
Opening Statement:
" We are excited that it's (the championship game) on our campus. It's been a long, tough journey and our guys have done a great job of earning the opportunity to play at home once again in front of our fans, families, friends and more importantly our student body because they have done a great job of helping us this season when we are at home. I am very proud of our players and our assistant coaches for bringing this opportunity to the University of Houston and the city of Houston. There are not many champions crowned across the nation and we have the opportunity to be one. These players have worked extremely hard and have been very diligent in their preparation, mentally and physically. We have the opportunity to be called a champion. That's something, especially in the world of sports and football, that you don't take lightly. We've got some guys that have been around and waited awhile and that's what makes it exciting, what makes it important and what brings inspiration and passion into it. I want them to be able to have that feeling and to embrace everything that goes along with being called a champion. In my mind we are already champions, but now we have the opportunity to win a championship and that comes this Friday night."
On the difference between playing Southern Miss the second time:
"I know we are a different ball team then what we were when we played them October 14, and I am sure they are different. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then. A lot of things have changed on our team and on their team. There is a familiarity aspect of it because this is our fifth time playing them in four years. They are known as one of the more prominent teams in our conference, deservedly so, because they have won it (the conference championship) four times and this will be their fifth try. We know where they stand, where we are and where we are headed. I like our direction."
On having a conference championship game:
"If the lights red, I stop. If the speed limit is 70, I drive 70. If they say you play a championship game, you play a championship game. We are in a conference where you play in a championship game. We earned the right to have it at our stadium, which should give us an advantage. If we don't take advantage of that advantage then that's the fault of the coaches and the players. We are going to use it to our strength and benefit Friday night. There is a different feel walking out of your own locker room, onto your own field, with your own people in that stands, then it is on the road. It's tough to win anywhere on the road, but it should be doubly tough to win a championship on the road. We are playing a quality football team and we will have to be at our best game on Friday night to win."
On the team's changes since the first time the two teams met this season:
"I know we are in a different mind set. That stuff you can't put on paper and point to it. The mental aspect of the game is very important. I know we are a mentally tougher football team then we were on October 14, and we a more confident team and a more passionate team now. I can take all that and throw away our 10 best offensive plays and we will be a better team. That's what is important. We are rushing the ball better now then we were then. Defensively we have some guys from that game who have really stepped up and brought it to a new level on the defensive side of the ball."
On the football program's progression over the last four years:
"We bled a lot of blood here the last four years. We strolled in here in December of 2002 and they had won eight games in three years and hadn't been to a bowl game in the previous 15 (seasons). This will be our third year to go to a bowl game in the last four. We are taking this program in a new direction. There was no respect for the University of Houston football program across the state when we got here. I have lived in this state, I have coached in this state and I have been around coaches that have coached in this state my entire career and all my life, so I know what's going on in the state of Texas. I know how the image was when I got here and it has changed. It's changed for the better. These players have changed it. I am proud of them from that aspect. It hasn't come easy but it has come. That's what makes it exciting and that's what makes it worthwhile to me. (There may be) a guy that may not have the self-discipline or self-worth, self-motivation that they need to be a man when they come in here at 19 (years old) and then I see them when they are 23 with self-disciple, self-worth, self-motivation. (He is) going to go out and be a college graduate and a productive member of our society, to me that's what is important and that's where I see this program going."
On Kevin Kolb's play the last four years:
"He came in here as a wide-eyed freshman and got thrown into a situation where we had a great offensive line and we had some good guys on defense. We were able to run the football and we finished sixth in the nation in rushing in 2003. Anytime you can run the football you can take pressure off the quarterback. He has thrown 3,000 yards three out of the four years he has been here and that's a pretty good feat. He has stayed healthy and he has always stayed mentally competent throughout the whole process. He doesn't get to low or to high, which you have to do at that position. I think the main thing that he has matured on first of all is recognition, ball protection and leadership. I think you have to go through some slumps to get to the top and we have had our share of slumps and now we are fighting to get up there on top of the hump."
On the impact of the team's success on recruiting:
"We are sitting here with 15 or 16 commitments already and a bunch more hanging on the table so it has made a big impact. The thing that helps us is being in the city of Houston. We are going to get some guys to look at us because of the city. It's the most powerful city in the southwest part of the United States of America. If you want to do something, be something or have the opportunity to do something this is a pretty good place to be. That helps us in a recruiting standpoint and anytime you throw Ws on the table it makes a huge difference."
