University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
TCU Coach and Player Quotes
11/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
TCU Coach and Player Quotes
TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson Quotes
TCU vs. Southern Miss, November 20, 2003
Opening Comments:
"When you come to somebody else?s' house, you can't turn the ball over. They had 200-something yards, we had 400, but the difference is we gave them a short field and they took it. That's a good football team Jeff Bower has. Guys like Pruitt, Davis, Boley; they did a tremendous job tonight. I'm proud of my kids and the way they came back in the third and fourth quarter, and fought back, and after they got out there and settled down they just about pulled it off. We tried to live a dream and we came up a little bit short."
On when the momentum in the game changed:
"I think it was about the middle of the third, they're trying to run the clock down, we get the ball back and get the long touchdown pass. We didn't think they would be paying any attention so we tried what we call our little onside kick, where we just kick it Gomer Pyle, and get ready to play back at the fifty, and we were fortunate enough to get that, and then we go down. Then all of a sudden you've got a ballgame, and I don't think they really realized that until we kicked what we call a hurricane kick. They were trying to say that they fair caught it, but he didn't get a fair catch signal so we caught it and got another score. You've got to take chances. We didn't come in to lose this game. The thing I should have done is I should have kicked another one. We felt like we once we got down three points we could kick it deep and hold them, then get the ball back with about four minutes left and go for it. I felt like that was smart football. But we had both of our starting corners out, we had a junior college transfer and a redshirt freshman for about the last quarter and a half, and it hurt us a little bit. But no excuses about anything else, we just turned the ball over and gave up a couple of big plays.
On what he said to his team after the game:
"I told them I was proud of them. They showed a lot of character and a lot of class. There's a reason why we've won twenty games and lost two out of the last twenty-two. We're still a very good football team. We only have five seniors on offense and only one starting. There's a lot of future out there. The second thing I told them is that we have not won eleven ball games in 60-something years here at TCU. We have a chance next week against SMU to go 11 and 1, and that should be our goal. Southern Miss wanted to win a conference title and they made more plays that what we did to do that. The last two years we've tied with Southern Miss for the Conference title because we beat them at our house. We came to their house and they beat us here. That's what rivalries are about."
On losing the chance to go to a BCS bowl:
"I knew if we were going to do that we had to win out. I think the only way you're ever going to get anywhere in life is you've got to be able to dream. It started about six years ago, and now this is two times in six years we've had an opportunity to do that and we've come up short. A lot of people never have the chance to do it, but in 2003 we had a chance to do it. Someday we'll wind down that road."
TCU Player Quotes
#21 DE Bo Schobel:
?We really wanted this one and we came out and played hard. They made fewer mistakes than us and they got it. I think our main thing is we did not quit tonight. When everybody counted us out, we stepped up and kept on going and with five minutes remaining, we were in the football game. When they thought they had taken it to us, we kept fighting.?
ON THE FOURTH QUARTER RALLY:
?We had a change in momentum and we fed off of it. We on believing we were in the ballgame.?
ON THE POSSIBLE BCS GAME:
?We knew we had to win out, and we have been going one game at a time since the first game against Tulane.
#55 Anthony Alabi:
?They are a very good defense and in the first quarter we did like we normally try to do and drive the ball down the field and do as much as we can. I think our offense we did achieve the fact that we were gaining yards and moving the ball, but at times their defense shut us down and we were not able to punch it in when we were in the red zone. I think their defense turned the heat up and they put a lot of pressure on us and it only allowed us to pick up a few yards here and their and didn?t allow us to get the big spurts that we are used to. Coach said win or lose, forget it right away and start talking about SMU.
