COLORADO-ISU QUOTES
October 16, 2004 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Gary Barnett
GENERAL -- “There really were some tremendous efforts today. John Torp for one and the punt team again, two weeks in a row. Mason Crosby was just sensational. We made enough plays on offense to win the game. Defensively I thought we really played hard. I hate to see the defense give up that one last score. That was the only score they gave up all day. So, it was a win and we are four and two. It hasn't been easy getting four and two and we know it. That may be the way it is. I though that special teams were really good.
“We had way too many (turnovers) on our side. One went for a touchdown. Joel Klatt did a good job coming in. Right when we needed it, when we wanted it, Joel was there. Right now we just want to enjoy the victory, be thankful for the victory, appreciate our fans for being there. We had a great day for football. “
ON IMPORTANCE OF THE KICKING GAME ? “You never know when those (important kicking games) are coming. That's why you get a Torp or a Mason Crosby. When it does come down to these types of games, you have guys like that here. We're blessed to have both those guys. (Today) was a kicking game. We got points off (
ON ADVICE TO
ON DEFENSIVE LINE ? “We got some sacks, especially at the end of the game, when we had to have them. We played hard and it wasn't beautiful and not top 20ish. It was a good hard football game. That's all I could ask from the guys. When we had to get a first down, we got a first down. When we had to get a sack, we got a sack or two. That's what you really relish in, when it's on the line, you go and get it.”
ON PENALTY DISCUSSION AT HALFTIME ? “We didn't bring (our penalties) up, other than we just talked about shooting ourselves in the foot. We sure had a lot of penalties. We must be doing a lot of things more wrong than other people. We have to fix what we can fix. We have to play smarter.”
ON QUARTERBACK SWITCH ? “I just said ?We're playing Joel'. I wanted experience in (the game).”
ON JOEL KLATT ? “I thought he did some great stuff. He made a couple great throws that we didn't hang on to.”
ON OVERALL TEAM PLAY ? “(The team's play) was just the way we have been. Other than last week, we were probably better than the score indicated. I think it was sort of the typical game for us.”
ON TOM HUBBARD'S START ? “Hubbard played because it was a coaches choice to make that kind of decision. Secondly, we won the game. I think Hubbard did some good things.”
QB James Cox
ON QUATERBACK
ON HIS INTERCEPTION- “The route was an out to the X (receiver) with one-on-one coverage; I tried to look the safety with my eyes but the corner just sat on the route and stole it.”
LB Jordon Dizon
ON DEFENSE PLAY- “Yes, for us to give up that many yards and to continuously stop them in the red zone gives us a lot of momentum and confidence and hopefully it will carry over to next week. Today was a stepping block for us as a team, and we just have to continue to build off of this performance.”
PK Mason Crosby
ON OVERALL FIELD GOAL PERFORMANCES- “You feel bad for them (
ON 60-YARD FIELD GOAL- “No, no one really said anything to me (before the kick). (Nick) Holtz told coach to kick it, and Nick Holtz has done a great job holding for me this year.”
ON 54-YARD FIELD GOAL- “Yes, It was a weird kick, I hit it left and it just worked its way back into the uprights.”
ON PRACTICING FIELD GOALS- “I only kick two to three 50 plus yard field goals a day. I usually work shorter than this one was, usually within 40 yards.”
ON REKICKING FIELD GOALS- “It's kind of frustrating because they are all illegal procedures (penalties), and I don't know why that was happening today. But, the line was blocking great and they're expecting me to make them so I still need to go out and execute”.
ILB Akarika Dawn
ON RED ZONE DEFENSE ? “It was one of the team's goals to play well in the red zone and we were able to execute today. We wanted to get rid of those blunders from last week. Our emphasis was getting pressure on the team and giving everything we've got. We have a mentality of bending but not breaking and we might give up yards, but if they're not scoring points, we're doing our job. The defensive unit has been flying around more and not being as hesitant. We're proud of our effort and for being a good unit.”
CB Lorenzo Sims
ON HIS INTERCEPTION ? “I have to give credit to my coaches. On that play, I was just being a student of the game because the coaches knew what was coming and I was able to come up and make a play on the ball.”
ON RED ZONE DEFENSE ? “It was all about making plays today. We did a good job of playing good defense in tight situations.”
QB Joel Klatt
ON HIS PERFORMANCE ? “It's not about any individuals in the locker room. It's all about getting a win for the team. James (Cox) had some tough situations come up while he was playing, but I prepared myself to come in, in the back-up role, so that the team could win. Our team was able to come together and win.”
ON LAWERENCE VICKERS' FIRST DOWN CONVERSION IN FOURTH QUARTER ? “The coaches did a great job calling the correct play. It was just a great call. We wanted to win the game on the field and not give their offense a chance to come back and win the game.”
ON FINISHING DRIVES ? “We had the ball in the red zone a lot today, and we weren't able to capitalize on that. We have correcting to do and hopefully we'll be able to start finishing (the drives).”
WR Ron Monteilh
ON TODAY'S WIN ? “It's a key win anytime you get a Big 12 win and it's not any better what team it is versus or how many points you get. Any conference win is a big win.”
ON MASON CROSBY ? “He's the best kicker I've ever seen and I'm glad he's on our side.”
Iowa State Head Coach Dan McCarney
GENERAL
“I don't think I've had a more frustrating game in all my career as a player, a graduate assistant, part-time coach, coordinator, and head coach. To play that hard and have that many opportunities to win a road game in the Big 12 and come up short is a sickening feeling. Congratulations to
“We did a lot of things better today than we have all year long, but it wasn't good enough and it's a sickening feeling to let this one get away. I was real proud of the effort of the defense with the exception of about three to four plays. All day long they played well.
“This was a hell of a football game today. We don't have anything to be ashamed of. I'm very, very disappointed. This team fought and stretched and played hard and tough. We played to win but we just have to cut down on some of the obvious mistakes we had today.”
ON RED-ZONE OFFENSE
“We moved up and down the field and then we get to the red-zone and we go 0-5. Two missed field goals, two fourth down stops and a fumble in the red-zone.”
ON SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY
“We had our punt team cost us 10 points. (Todd) Miller swears he didn't touch the football but I want to see it on tape.
“On the second muffed punt Ryan Baum did not hear Terrance Highsmith yelling behind him, so they run in to each other and
“I don't know what to do with the kickers. I'm not going to send them home on a van, even though I feel like doing that instead of putting them on the plane. Sooner or later you have to have enough focus and concentration and courage to make a kick. It just turns in to a comedy of errors.”
Iowa State Assoc. Head Coach/Kicking Coach Terry Allen
GENERAL
“I really felt that we let the team down. Had we played better we would have won, and our kids deserved that. It's easy to second-guess and point fingers. Most high school teams have kickers who can make short field goals like those on a consistent basis.
“We probably won the game on offense and defense but we were all just devastated after the last miss. (Mason Crosby) has my vote for Big 12 specialist of the week.”
Iowa State Players
QB Bret Meyer
GENERAL?“We have to stay with each other at this point and have each other's backs. We have to come back and do what the coaches tell us to do, because we know they'll have the right game plan for us. We just need to be more mentally prepared.”
ON THE RED ZONE TROUBLES--”It's been hard on us all year, but we need to make it a strength. We have got to work hard on it this week and come out against Baylor and prove that we're a team that can finish in the red zone. We proved we could move the ball on a pretty good CU ?D' but we just have to lose the small mistakes, penalties and turnovers. It's all mental mistakes, the turnovers and penalties caused us to beat ourselves. The bottom line is that we didn't execute like we needed to. I have all the confidence in the world in our coaches play calling; we can't blame any of this on them.”
ON THE KICKING GAME--”It's just part of football, there's going to be different stuff thrown at you each game, and this week it was an adverse kicking game. But I still have faith in our kickers and I feel that if it comes down to it at the end of a game that they will get the job done.”
WR Todd Blythe
GENERAL?“We know we're a good offense at times, but we just can't get into the end zone. We had a phantom holding call, a fumble and mental errors we just can't have. We'll have to come out in practice and nail down our fundamentals. “We're going to get the red zone figured out, I promise.
“We went with Bret (Meyer) the whole game and he really played well and kept our offense moving today.”
RB Stevie Hicks
GENERAL?“It's real tough to lose when you're in the game the whole time. To win a Big 12 game, you have to play a complete game. You can't get down on each other, you have to finish in the red zone and play a complete game.”
ON FINISHING IN THE RED ZONE?“We've got to come back to practice and keep workinbg hard, we just need to finish in the red zone. I'm not sure what they threw at us, and I have no idea why we couldn't finish, but it looked like it came down to mental mistakes.”
WR Jon Davis
GENERAL?“We proved today we could move the ball, it was just the small things once we got inside-the-20 and stalled before the end zone. We've got to come out in practice this week, do the things we do best, then come out next week, concentrate and punch the ball in.”
ON THE OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE?“We see the ?D' doing their job, getting interceptions, turnovers, and getting us in good position to do what we have to do. It becomes disheartening when you can't finish over and over again.”
LB Brendan Brown
GENERAL?“We got turnovers, we made some opportunities for ourselves to score, but couldn't pull through today. It's tough on everybody to play hard all game and not finish, but there's always room for everyone to do more. We can't come out and point fingers at any single person. I have a job to do, we have a job to do, and that's what we need to practice this week.”
DE Tyson Smith
GENERAL?“We came out here to get a win and just came up short. We definitely need to move beyond this game, not forget about it, but not dwell on it. We need to be ready for Baylor next week. It's one of the more frustrating games I've been in, but if we look back on it, we're not going to improve. We just need to keep playing how we did today and just need to finish.”
