Colorado-Texas Game Notes
October 30, 2004 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Gary Barnett
GENERAL ? “ It's obvious that I didn't have my team prepared to play today and we just didn't get anything going today. We didn't get anything going on offense and we shot ourselves in the foot.
ON TURNOVERS AFTER HALFTIME ? “At halftime, we didn't have a lot of answers on offense and we were trying to find some answers. We came out and threw the ball pretty effectively for a couple plays and then we shot ourselves in the foot and had a couple turnovers. We were, at halftime, trying to figure some things out. We were only down by seven, but it felt like more than that. We didn't have any answers on the field, so we had to find them in the locker room. Our confidence was a little shaken coming out for the second half and when we turned it [the ball] over, we couldn't get it [the confidence] back. We couldn't get any momentum going.”
ON
POSITIVES FROM THE GAME ? “We have to scratch and claw to find some positives. At this point in time, this is a test for us. This is a challenge for us as a team and we're going to have to dig a little deeper and be careful about who we listen to, and this is a real test. There's always positives and they're hard to see right now, but we'll see them as we go through film.”
ON
ON PLAY CALLING ? “It's hard to call plays when you're second and 15. We just made a lot of blunders out there and as a team we weren't well prepared.”
ON MISSED TACKLES -- “[Benson] is a good player. Give him a lot of credit. There have been a lot of good football players who have missed tackles on him. It felt like, if we could have rested our defense a little more in the first half, we could have minimized the missed tackles. We couldn't get our defense off the field for long enough. Their offense is designed to do just what they did. They have two terrific athletes [in their backfield] and a great offensive line who mashed us up in there and did a good job.”
ON TEAM MORALE ? “You don't know [how it is] until you get back on Monday and that's our challenge. That's the challenge for us coaches and players. It comes down to who we're going to listen to. Times like this, teams have to work together. No one's very happy with the way we played and our team performance. This is a defining time for us.”
ON NAMELESS JERSEYS ? “It was a decision we made as a team. We just wanted to send a message that we pulled together and it's about us and not about anything else. It wasn't a big thing, just something we decided to do.”
ON SEASON GOALS ? “Our goals are to get to a bowl game. We have three games left, you do the math. That's where we are.”
Texas Head Coach Mack Brown
GENERAL ? “ We felt like they gained a lot of confidence last week at Texas A&M. We knew they were coming back on an emotional charge. They had a great crowd. What we couldn't do is what we did, and that's turn the ball over.
“Our game plan is the same each week. We're going to let Cedric (Benson) and Vince (Young) be in charge of running the ball and then we let Vince try to throw the ball down the field.
“Joel (Klatt) threw the ball for 364 yards last week and we were really scared of him today, coming in here. (Bobby) Purify is a really good runner and I felt like our defense played well against both young men.
“The turnovers put
“It's really hard for young people on college football teams to overcome adversity. Our guys did it [won] on the road and dominated the game in the last three quarters.”
ON DEFFENSIVE PLAY ? “Our defense never let up at all. They dominated the first quarter, then our offense started clicking in the second quarter. Greg Robinson and the defensive coaches called a couple of safety blitzes that forced some turnovers to start the third quarter and that was the time that Colorado could have gotten back into the game and got something started. Instead we got two quick [scores] and that put them in a real tough spot. We played great defense and I was really pleased today.
“I think you have to look at college football day-to-day. You can't ever tell. About the time you think something is in good shape, there's a hole that pops open somewhere else. Our defense is getting better though.
“Since the beginning of the year, we stressed that we wanted to play together more. Our defense is starting to play off of our offense. Our offense is staying on the field and dominating time of possession in the running game and making some big plays in the passing game. That's really helped our defense.”
ON COMMENT TO VINCE YOUNG AFTER SECOND INTERCEPTION ? “I just told him to keep playing. He knew it was not a good throw. The first one was not a bad pass. (Terrence) Wheatley made a great play and Vince was down on himself. I told him we were going to be fine and I think that was the attitude on the sideline. We knew it would be tough and that there would be adversity early, but we didn't plan on being down seven to nothing because we turned it [the ball] over.”
ON CU PUNTER JOHN TORP ? “He's a great player. He was averaging 46-something yards coming in here and he kept us backed up all day and that's what I was worried about. Until we could get the ball rolling offensively, there were no short fields with him. We got the turnovers in the second half which finally took John out of the game.”
GENERAL: “Today we just couldn't get anything going. They started to wear us down and physically out-play us. We have to go out against
ON INTERCEPTION RETURN FOR TD: “I was covering (Tony) Jeffery. We knew some sort of quarterback sprint was coming and they only have two routes that the receivers run when they do that, one being a 15-yard out. I just waited for him to make his move, then I got in fron of him to catch the ball. After I caught the ball I took off and ran as fast as I could, hoping they wouldn't catch me.”
ON BOWL GAME POSSIBILITY: “Possibly going to the bowl game is one bright spot. We can still prove to people that we are not the team they think we are and make a turn-around in the next three games.”
GENERAL: “Early on we didn't know what they were doing to us. They started throwing everything at us, especially from the middle linebacker position.
“They have a great defense that is fast and physical. We weren't ready and their front six out-played our front six. We can't get down on ourselves and we have to know we do have a couple of games to win if we want to go to a bowl.”
ON 45-YARD CATCH: “It's always nice to get a big play, but unfortunately at that point the game was over. By the fourth quarter we were able to get a few catches, but early on Joel (Klatt) was getting pretty heavily pressured from all over.”
GENERAL: “
ON BROKEN COLLAR BONE: “It's a little bit sore right now, but hopefully it will heal quickly and I'll be back with my team soon. On the play that I hurt it I caught the ball and then a guy was right there and kind of drove me into the ground. My shoulder hit first and there it went.”
CB Lorenzo Sims
GENERAL: “They're very good on offense and defense. They have All-Americans and young guys stepping up and that's why they're so successful right now. We have to keep focused knowing that the bowl is still a possibility and we have to take it on our next opponents.”
ON FIRST QUARTER INTERCEPTION: “That was a big play on defense. We knew that we had to make big plays to give us a shot to win the game. On that play, I was basically just staying with the receiver and playing the ball.”
ON HIS PLAY: “That situation is one those bittersweet things. Knowing that I did something well but then having the team lose. In the end, it really doesn't mean anything at all.”
ON WR PLAY: “It is really encouraging knowing that we as a (receiving) unit are really coming around. We seem to be getting our timing down and making more plays.”
ON PLAY OF OFFENSE: “
ON NEXT THREE GAMES: “The next three games are absolutely winnable games and we need to win all three if we want a chance at a bowl game.”
WR Blake Mackey
ON DUSTY SPRAGUE'S INJURY: “I feel bad for Dusty because he's having a great season and really coming on strong and making a difference. Now the receiving core has to step up our play and fill in where he's been doing a good job.”
ON PLAY OF OFFENSE: “
LB Jordon Dizon
GENERAL: “We played our hearts out the whole game and my hats go off to the defensive line for playing a hard game against a Heisman candidate. Our first interception, we were able to build on and I felt like we were playing like the No. 1 in the nation and things started to not go our way. We tried to play our game but they did what they had to win.”
ON
QB Joel Klatt
GENERAL- “I think that it was a combination of both; we didn't play very well and
“(I give) tremendous credit to them; they played an excellent ball game and we played one of our worst. Our goal is to beat
ON LACK OF RUNNING GAME- “I think that it affected us. You saw how stagnant we were running the football on first and second down, and you can't really run it on third-and-12. That allowed them to apply pressure and really tee-off on the passing game.”
ON FALSE STARTS- “I don't know, they were stunting the front seven and moving the line around, and I think that it just confused us”.
LB Derrick Johnson
GENERAL ? “We knew it would be a big task coming in here, but it's one of the best games we have played. We knew we had to stop the running game, but we got it done and didn't let them [
ON LB AARON HARRIS ? “Aaron is a great player. He pushes me to make plays when he is out there beside me. He's one of the best linebackers in the country.”
RB Ramonce Taylor
GENERAL- “They got a huge momentum shift after the first quarter interception, but we kept pounding the ball and put up 14 on the board. From that point we just had to play how
ON RB CEDRIC BENSON ? “Benson is a great guy. I'm learning a lot from him. I'm trying to follow in his footsteps. I like his vision and the way he sees things. He just wears people down because he has so much energy.”
S Michael Griffin
GENERAL ? “When we win the turnover battles, we always win the game, so we had to win that battle and it was a team effort.”
“We knew they [
ON INTERCEPTION ? “I went on the same blitz as before when I caused the fumble. Aaron Harris tipped the ball and I just jumped up and caught it. There was a little basketball in there.”
RB Cedric Benson
GENERAL- “ After the interception we came out and made a couple of big plays defensively. We knew that we had to get the game and momentum back on our side, if we didn't have those plays it could have gotten out of hand.
“Their early TD had more of a shock effect on us than anything, it was still the first quarter and we knew that they got a good break. We just had to get things rolling, play our game and get the crowd out of it.
“I sensed the beginning of our dominance in this game late in the second quarter. They were successful at first, they were bringing eight to nine guys in the box creating hard running matches and very few big plays. We just had to keep pounding them and I knew we would pull out a win in this one.
“We are a very good team because we stay positive with each other, we have each others backs and we use the game plan the coaches designed for us.”
ON RUNNING SUCCESS- “It has been created by moving forward, running north and south, squaring my shoulders, pumping my legs and running hard.”
ON DEFENSE PERFORMANCE- “I can't say enough about the D (defense) they played awesome today, they got some huge picks and turnovers at key moments. They have been doing this all season, having our back and I am very impressed with what they have done, I just hope that they can keep it going.”
ON TEXAS DOMINANCE- “I think that we dominate by getting prepared early in the week to play, the coaches do a great job of this, and they get us to understand that this is an important game, that every game is an important game. We are taking this one team, one week at a time.”
ON 5000 YARD RECORD- “I am very honored to make it, I've put a lot of hard work into this and it feels really great right now. Today, just like all season, the O-line was opening up great holes for me, taking care of the defensive line and getting me into the secondary where I can make plays.
LB Aaron Harris
GENERAL- “We were told all week that CU was a physical team, so we knew coming into this game that we had to at least slow down CU's running game, make them a one dimensional team. Not enough can be said about what we did today, we took it a step farther then slowing them down, we played a physically dominating game. We're just doing what the coaches tell us, added in with making some plays. That is how this game was won.”
ON DEFENSIVE PREFORMANCE- “Once we step out onto the field we think, we have to think that we can stop anything that comes our way. We have one of the best D-lines and secondary in the nation, and we are playing like it right now and running on all cylinders.
“We play as a team, win as a team, lose as a team and we are in this together. Right now we are rolling, everybody's supporting one and other and that's getting us the win.”
