Houston Football Postgame Quotes
9/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 25, 2010
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2010 Houston Cougar Football Postgame Quotes
Tulane Green Wave (1-2 * 0-1 C-USA West) at Houston Cougars (3-1 * 2-0 C-USA West)
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010 * John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium * Houston, Texas
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Kevin Sumlin
On the game
"We talked all week about the weight shifting in our football team. Things like this happen to you all the time. You lose people, guys get hurt, which happened to be the situation that happened to us. The weight shifted, it can shift during the game and the season. One person is not going to fill Case Keenum's shoes. But as a team, you can do that. And today was a really good team victory. "We jumped out to 21-0, and gave up really two plays in the first half on defense. The defense was solid, only giving up those two plays. Those two plays gave up 14 points and they got the momentum. Our special teams were solid. I thought Richie Leone did a good job. His kick offs were awesome. He put a couple of punts inside the 20, which changed field position. He averaged 50 yards punting. Then our defense accepted the challenge because we were struggling on offense. It was great for them to accept that challenge and meet it, get some stops and get some turnovers, putting points on the board. What you see is a complete football team. I love winning football games like that. To come off a situation this week, as a coach you are encouraged because that is what we were talking about all week. The good news is that our football team accepted that challenge really created the success for us today."
On the defense
"Our offensive line did an excellent job in the first half. In the second half Tulane made some adjustments. As coaches we are making adjustments, but with a younger quarterback sometimes it takes him a little longer than the coaches to make those adjustments based on the game plan. Certainly in the matter of a week, Terrence Broadway doesn't get the full menu of plays and there was some adjustments made there. The bye week could come at a better time for us. This is the first break for us in the last couple weeks. We are 2-0 and got about a week to get better and come back with a home game. To be honest with you, it's the first time this year that we got through some adversity and won and that builds confidence. Winning games by large amounts of points or losing games by a few touchdowns doesn't really build character. As a coach you love winning games by large amounts. To be in that situation and see how people respond in particular moments. Our kicking game and defense, we had to have something done by those two phases because our offense was struggling. That spoke volumes about who we are right now. I couldn't be prouder of how they responded in that situation.
On the running game
"I want the perception to be that University of Houston is a winning school. Running, passing, kicking field goals, intercepting balls, whatever it takes to win football games. That is the perception we are trying to create. Our guys are buying in to that. We have to play to our strengths and to our talents. We need to utilize all the tools we have and all the facets of the game we have to win football games. I want the perception to be that we work hard and play hard.
On the defense performing when their backs are against the wall
"It's the first time in a while that we were able to stop the bleeding. There has been times when things have started to go down hill, particularly defensively. We just can't get a stop or get something done. We made some big time plays. We also put some pressure on the quarterback and created some situations there in the second half. That last interception was a good one by Loyce Means, but that was also because there was some pressure on the quarterback. Kelvin King stepped up his game in the second half and accepted the challenge of one-on-one blocking and he made a bunch of stops."
On Terrence Broadway's demeanor
"I don't really know. We didn't really give him much of a chance to talk. We did all the talking to him. He just took a look at the plays. We are going to go back and look at the film."
On adding more to the offense for Broadway
"I don't know. I am going to watch the film. We have to look at where we are. We have to look at our opponent. To be honest I haven't seen any film of Mississippi State. My plate has been pretty full this week. We will get that sorted out in the next couple of weeks. It is a growing process."
SENIOR CORNERBACK Loyce Means
On making two interceptions
"On the second interception, it was really the defensive linemen that caused the pressure and I ended up making a great play. On the other play, I just read the zone and made the play."
On how he pumped up the defense
"The TV timeouts helped us. Marcus and I got a chance to group the team together and just say `listen, we need to make a stop.' We knew this would be a defensive game because we had some key injuries on the offense and we stepped up big. The penalties helped as well. There were some big time plays for the group, not just one person."
JUNIOR RUNNING BACK Bryce Beall
On the game
"We went out there and we played hard. We made some mistakes, but that's why we have the bye week."
On freshman quarterback Terrence Broadway
"He did good, he kept his composure. We have to do a good job with the o-line and protect him out there. He'll be alright though."
On Tulane scoring in the second half
"We just got out of character, we stopped making plays. We looked around and the leaders stepped up and we got the win."
SENIOR CORNERBACK Jamal Robinson
On Tulane in the second half
"They weren't doing anything different. We got relaxed and they started coming back. We stepped back up, but we can't afford to get relaxed."
On proving themselves this week after last week's loss
"We were embarrassed on TV last week, so when we came in this game we were ready."
JUNIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMAN David Hunter
On the outcome of the game
"The weight shifts in football games from quarter to quarter and it just kept shifting today, but we knew that at the end we had to keep fighting that's what we did today."
On the performance and the new quarterback
"Broadway is an excellent player as you saw today. He stepped in and did his thing and I couldn't be more proud of him."
On the fumbles
"We had to let Broadway know that, that was football. Things are going to happen in football--fumbles, sacks. That's just part of the game and we just made sure that he knew we had his back and was still behind him."
JUNIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN Chris Thompson
On how hectic was this week preparing for the game
"It wasn't a hectic week; things are going to happen. Adversities are going hit us and will test the character of the team. We bounced back pretty well today with the win".
On Coach Sumlin leaning on the team leaders
"Team leadership is something we have been working on since the summer. By building the cohesiveness of the team but in general we have to carry the team."
TULANE HEAD COACH BOB TOLEDO
On his initial thoughts following the game
"The story here is 42-23. In the first half our kicking game kind of put us in a bind and offensively we couldn't get first downs so our defense was on the field way too long. They kind of got worn down a little bit. They came out in the second half and made a couple of big plays, got back in the game and then those last couple of drives we just fell apart. Those two turnovers just killed us and then we let them run the ball into the end zone in that last play. We had a chance to make it a game at the end and we let it slip away. But again, I've got to give credit to Houston. They won the football game."
On his team's defensive performance in the second half
"We started getting after them just a little bit more and pressuring them a little bit more. Offensively, we kept the defense off the field more, too, and I think that helped them."
On backup quarterback Kevin Moore's performance
"He did well and then he hurt his thumb. He couldn't grip the ball for most of the last quarter so that hurt him a little bit. But I thought he made some nice plays for us and got us back into the game."
On playing defense against Houston's running game
"Houston does a good job of running the football, and (Bryce) Beall's a good runner. You've got to give them credit, they ran the ball well and they knocked us off the ball."
