Colorado-Texas Tech Post Game Quotes
October 14, 2006 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Dan Hawkins
General
“I'm happy for these guys, but this is a pretty proud football program. It has a ton of tradition, and I'm not going to do a back flip over 1-6, that's for sure. It was a good start, and it was good for those guys to get a little wind beneath their wings. But, I've told these guys before, no matter what happens, get back at it tomorrow and try to get better. ”
“They're happy, but, at the same time, I'm just trying to bring their feet back down. They certainly have shown elements of being a champion over the way they've handled themselves in games the last few weeks.”
“They're happy right now, and I want them to be happy. But they need to get back to work, and we want to finish strong. We stare at that national championship trophy up there and Coach Mac (Bill McCartney) goes into the Hall of Fame, and Bobby Anderson is here. Like I said, I'd degrade the
“We've been doing some things indicative of good football teams. We've been moving the ball and our penalties have been scaling back. The turnover thing, we've been positive on that for the most part, so, for a lot of those things, we've been really good. We just couldn't make a play when we needed to, and today we did.”
On the team's defense
“I really thought the last couple of weeks, we'd have a decent plan but we just gave up some things a little bit and our guys had to rework some of that. I think (defensive coordinator Ron Collins) changed some things up and cut a few things out, in hopes that we'd be mentally a little sharper.”
“They're (Texas Tech) an extremely quick-strike offense. So you're never really out of reach with those guys.”
On the most gratifying aspect of the win
“The thing I'm most gratified, and I always say I know this stuff is corny, because out there it doesn't seem to matter much in life anymore, but victory in defeat. They're brothers and sisters, and they dance together. For these guys to understand really how to look the dragon in the eye and keep coming back in the face of adversity, and being knocked down and knocked down and knocked down. We always talked to them about being abnormal.”
“It's easy to hang your head. It's easy to point fingers. For these guys to see this thing through, it's a big message in football, and it's an even bigger message in life.”
“It probably means for me, I get to be a little creative. Instead of being Zig Zigler, I get to be Vince Lombardi for a week. So it probably means for me, they're going ?How many more motivational ploys does this guy have up his sleeve here?' And I would've found some more.”
On S Ryan Walters
“There's a reason he's starting. He's a very heady kid and a good player, and it's nice to have him back there. He adds some savvy to what we're doing, and he's a smart guy and a playmaker.”
On WR Jerell Yates' 29-yard, second quarter touchdown catch
“He ran a little stutter-and-go and I felt like we could get him on that. Good design by coach (Mark) Helfrich, obviously good execution.”
“I look at that play right there, and I compare it to times in the past. You know, he gets open and B-Jack (Bernard Jackson) makes a great pass and Jarell makes the catch, and you're up 14-0. In the last few weeks, it's overthrown, it's dropped, and everybody's going ?Aah you stink! You're terrible!' But we're not.”
On LBs Thaddaeus Washington and Jordan Dizon
“It's good to see those guys have some leadership and make some plays. I think they're learning on the fly and what we're doing defensively isn't any different from what they've been doing in the past, but that doesn't mean anything other than just it being a learning curve, and they're doing a good job.”
On
“It's unfortunate, and I really, really mean that. I'm a person before I'm a football coach, and the person feels bad for him, because he's a great person and he brings a lot to college football, and so I feel bad for him that way. As a competitor, you always want to go against the best, and around here we've talked about the schedule and the way we do things. And if you're the ultimate warrior, a champion, that's what you want.”
Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach
General
“The biggest problem team wise isn't physical. We need to work on our chemistry as a team. We're a team right now that is playing as a lot of individuals and divided up. The biggest thing is that I need to do a better job of is pulling the script together and Colorado deserves some credit. I think they've been struggling with what they've been doing and they've emerged and done better and better as the season has gone on. We've been more of an up and down team. We just have to stick together. We need to be more of a positive team and I think we need to be a team where we're excited to play. Right now, I think there are too many factions on our team that doesn't trust each other and I think that's the biggest thing that we're battling. We just need to have better chemistry as a team.”
On Penalties
“Talking about penalties, you go along our sideline and there's a certain amount of begging for penalties. We have to get out of that phase. Even as coaches, myself included, we need to trust each other and the other thing you hear these guys say is ?this guy is injured so I don't know if we can do this or that,' but the other guy is probably pretty good too. Right now we're a little bit divided and starting this week we need to become a little more of a team that's better together.”
On the Play of Quarterback Chris Todd
“We thought he could spark some things and I think he did fine, but the thing is that we just ended up as a group of individuals waiting for somebody that could make something happen rather than being excited to go out there together.”
On Colorado's Defense Shutting Down Texas Tech's Passing Game
“I think they picked a pretty good time to play us. Colorado has gotten better and better and then I think we've had our ups and downs and we're just too split up right now. They played very hard and are very clever and crafty in every way. But we just need to play better and more together- they played more together than we did as a team.”
On The Rest of the Season
“We've got plenty of time to turn this into one of the least frustrating seasons still, we've got plenty of games left. We just need to pick ourselves up and make the most happen from here and if we're able to do that it would be very fulfilling. “
On Being Distracted
“We were thinking about a whole bunch of stuff that didn't count. Do your job. Of course, everyone is pressing because they don't trust the guy to either side of them. I think we've got coaches who don't trust players and players that don't trust coaches. We've also got players that don't trust each other. I think when that all happens and everyone is looking over their shoulder and is thinking about what the other guy's job is, you end up holding back on yours. The best way to be good is to trust the guy next to you. It was just too much unilateral action on our part. It's like we get on track and then we keep drifting off. I think the seniors really need to commit themselves to guiding this team in the direction they'd like to go. I?ve had teams that were far less talented, but had better results because they committed themselves.”
Colorado Players
ON GETTING WIN - “It means a lot. It took me for years to get where I'm at now, for someone to recognize my hard work and my dedication. I respect the coaching staff and the players and I give credit to everybody but myself.”
ON ALUMNI SUPPORT - “They're a little upset that we haven't been winning like we're supposed to. They're excited to get a win. They showed us a bunch of love and we appreciate it. For them to keep supporting is tremendous for us and the program.”
ON INJURY - “I put my head down a little too far and the guy hit me on the top of my head. I landed on the ball and it knocked the wind out of me. I had to get my breath back. I didn't injure my neck, it's just a little tight.”
ON TD PASS TO WR JARELL YATES - “He's a very hard worker. He works very hard and it paid off this week.”
ON HAVING FIRST WIN OFF BACK - “It's a big monkey off the back. We have to keep fighting from here and hopefully put some more wins together and keep fighting every battle.”
ON KNOWING THEY WERE GOING TO WIN - “I knew in the middle of the third quarter. I felt that all game they couldn't really stop us. There were some things that we did that they couldn't contain. It was fun going out there and executing the way we were and we got a win.”
ON DEFENSE ? “The defense played a tremendous game. A lot of guys stepped up today and made some big plays.”
ON EVER LOSING CONFIDENCE - “I tried to forget about each week. Put it behind me after Saturday and focus on the next opponent. This week my preparation was a little different compared to previous games, but not confidence loss.”
ON PREPARATION - I watched a little more film than normally. I continued to ask questions and would stop in practice to ask about what I didn't understand.”
ILB Jordon Dizon
GENERAL - “We finally got it done. Out of all the teams that have tried to attack our outside, you could see that our corners stepped up big time. They made a lot of good tackles. Cha'pelle Brown did great on the edge and once we got our edges straight we were unstoppable. They could not run at us.”
ON NO PENALTIES - “It's discipline. Bottom line. One of Coach Hawkins' themes is discipline and you cannot have a football team without it. It's funny how from last year we'd lead the nation in penalties and go to this game and not have any penalties. It just shows what kind of leadership we've got on this team and what kind of leadership we've got in the coaches. To keep the discipline is something that we're striving for and we're playing hard and it's showing.”
ON TACKLING - “Tackling is always important. You cannot win a game without tackling and we had a lot of big open play tackles. We plugged the middle and forced them to run outside and when you do that you have to make up for it with tackles. We did a great job.”
ON WINNING - “It's a good feeling. It's our day in the sun. It's like Coach Hawkins said, ?You'll have your day in the sun, but tomorrow will be a cloudy day again.' He keeps us humble, he keeps us going and his words are contagious. You will never keep your head down with those words around. Never.”
DE Abraham Wright
ON THE WIN?“It's almost like a relief, because we've been so close. You would think I would be more excited but I am too focused on OU [Oklahoma]. I'm happy, but we have to put this game behind us like we've been doing all season. Our goal is to get to the Big 12 Championship and that is still in our reach. We aren't working for a bowl game we are working to get to the Big 12 Championship. “I'm sure Coach Hawkins is going to find a thousand mistakes and things we need to work on, like we didn't win. That is good for us though, it's what we need to not get complacent and keep working and improving.”
ON HIS TEAMMATES?“To play next to the guys I get to play with is amazing. The talent we have in the secondary, our great linebackers and my brothers up front with me. Every week coming out I have a ton of confidence because of these guys.”
FS Ryan Walters
ON THE WIN?“I feel good, but at the same time we made some mistakes. We gave up some yards that we shouldn't have as well as some plays that we shouldn't have. Like Hawk [Coach Hawkins] said we can't be happy with a win, we have a great tradition here at CU and we have to keep working to keep that tradition alive.”
ON PLAYING THROUGH HIS VARIOUS INJURIES?“The trainers are doing a great job getting me ready to play; they have really helped me loosen my hamstrings and got me a neck roll to help with my stinger.”
ON PLAYING SAFETY?“Playing quarterback in high school gave me the opportunity to lead the team. There are a lot of the same things at safety, I help the coaches and players, by making sure the players are in the right place and kind of being a quarterback for the defense.”
TB Hugh Charles
ON CU'S ABILITY TO RUN THE BALL?“A great team has to be able to run the ball. Everything we've seen from Georgia until now we've seen before. We saw it on film and worked against it all week in practice, this week we were really able to get it done during the game.”
ON LONG RUN?“[After the fumble] I had the coaches chirping in my ear, but at the same time they are the ones that believe in me. I was just able to translate my fury from the fumble onto the field and made a nice run.”
ON THE WIN?“It feels great. Once we, as a team, tasted this win it is only making us hungrier to go out and get more.”
WR Jarell Yates
ON HIS TOUCHDOWN CATCH?“I can't really explain it, we have been working on that play all week in practice. Once they called it in the game all I could think was here is my chance, and I went out and was able to make the play.”
ON THE WIN?“This feeling, right now, is off the charts. It was my first game here at CU, first Division 1 football game, first catch, first touchdown, first win just everything. It just blew it off the charts.”
ON QB BERNARD JACKSON?“Bernard is a phenomenal quarterback. Coming in as a freshman, I knew from the beginning he was a great quarterback and I looked up to him from my first day on campus. I got with him in the beginning and have been working with him to develop some chemistry, he is just starting to show what he can do.”
ILB Thaddaeus Washington
ON DEFENSIVE GAMEPLAN?“We didn't really simplify our defensive playbook this week, we did a lot of things, a lot of coverages, blitz schemes and everything. We just came out and executed and were able to do some things well.”
ON DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK?“We just went out there and practiced, kept working to get better and keep fighting for that win. Coach brought in some guys, [former linebacker and Butkus Award winner] Matt Russell and a few others, and they just talked to us and told us that they know we are close and that they are still behind us.”
ON HIS INTERCEPTION?“I just kept on working, staying focused on what I need to do and wait for my time to make a play. My time came today.”
GENERAL?“We just have to keep taking it one game at a time, keep working hard and improving. Go out at practice and work hard, work to get the win every week.”
Texas Tech Players
RB Shannon Woods
ON COLORADO DEFENSE - “They played really well today and mixed up a lot of coverages. They threw some things at us that we haven't seen, but nothing that we shouldn't be able to play against. They were just better prepared and more focused coming into this game. It really comes down to mental preparation and they were better than us in that area today.”
ON TEXAS TECH'S RUNNING GAME - “To be able to run the ball effectively everyone has to be in sync on every play. If a fullback or wide receiver misses his block, then the play is dead. If the halfback, myself, misses the hole or misreads coverage then the play is blown and it seems as though our heads just weren't there today.”
LB Keyunta Dawson
“Its frustrating to lose the game but [Colorado QB] Bernard [
QB Graham Harrell
ON COLORADO DEFENSE - “They were dropping back and playing a lot of cover two defense today, at least a lot more than they had shown on tape. That is to be expected against a team like ours that is based around a passing attack. They were dropping back the defensive backs and the linebackers and forcing us to take short yardage gains which in the end we weren't able to convert them into first downs. Coach told us all week how talented this team was and that it was only a matter of time before they came together; their defensive line played really well together today and forced us to do some things that we didn't want to.
“I thought that today at times, especially after some of
WR Danny Amendola
ON TEXAS TECH'S OFFENSE - “We were not in sync. We couldn't get it going early on and then we couldn't set the tone. The [
“It is hard to come back when you are down 30-6. It is hard to win with turnovers that change field position as much as ours did. We need to get back to work by looking at film and practicing hard.”
LB Brock Stratton
“It was just a rough day. We didn't play like we were capable of playing and I don't know why. We just need to make small changes because we have the talent we just have to get it done. We just need to get back to doing our job. We can't be afraid that good things are going to happen to us during the game. Our team has had a lot of adversity thrown at us this season. The team that overcomes adversity best will be the one that can come out with a win.”
