Texas Tech University Athletics
Postgame Notes and Quotes
October 26, 2002 | Football
Oct. 26, 2002
Recap?|? Final Stats
COLORADO FOOTBALL / Postgame Notes & Quotes
Colorado Buffaloes vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders
(Oct. 26, 2002; Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.)
Colorado Head Coach Gary Barnett
General:
"To state the obvious that was a heck of a defensive effort. All week everybody was talking about their offense and their quarterback and our defensive just set back quietly and waited for the challenge."
"The special teams and the offense carried us and that could have put us in a position to blow them out, but our offense sputtered a little bit."
On The Defense: "It was an unbelievable pass rush. There were guys making plays all over. I thought we tackled well and that was the story of the game along with Mark Mariscal's punting to keep them backed up."
"I think the defense accounted for four of our touchdowns and it was just a great effort and some great plays."
"It was a heck of a performance; I can't remember another one like that - maybe the last time that we played Oklahoma."
"We had four different looks that we gave them and a couple of blitzes off of them so we just found a couple that worked."
On The Penalties:
"We had a bunch of penalties but that was the results of being too aggressive. On another day those might have been damaging."
On Halftime Adjustments:
"At the half we just said 'hey, we're up by three points. Our offense can play a lot better. The first drive is going to be critical but the defense is doing a heck of a job.'"
On The Turnovers:
"We had four but I think we turned it over twice ourselves. I'm probably going to be concerned about ours rather than thinking about the ones we got."
On What The Win Means In The Conference:
"We pretty much take it one and at time and wait to see what everybody else does. All I know is that every win helps and every loss hurts. We're 4-0 but we've got four tough ones left."
On What It Gives The Team Going Into Oklahoma: "We've knew the Oklahoma game was going to be big once we got into the conference. The offense has got some work to do. I guess on momentum, we're 4-0 at this point and they're 4-0. It should have all the makings of a good game."
COLORADO FOOTBALL / Postgame Notes & Quotes
Colorado Buffaloes vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Oct. 26, 2002; Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.)
Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach
General:
"It was a total collapse on offense and special teams. It was a great game by the defense. I'll tell you one thing, we can't be in this business of only playing one or two sides of the ball. We played on one side of the ball today - it was defense. Offense and special teams - anybody on those teams ought to be ashamed of themselves, me included because I'm in charge of both of them. Al should be the most ashamed. That was a terrible effort on the part of special teams, inexcusable at every level."
On Colorado's Play:
"Colorado deserves a lot of credit. They did a great job. They played hard from top to bottom, made big plays and dominated big plays in key situations. They're a great football team and played a great game today."
On The Remainder Of The Season:
"We'll evaluate the personnel when I go over this film. If I find anybody that quit on film, I may consider cutting them on the spot. We've got to step up. We just can't go out there and selectively collapse at key times and selectively collapse in key games and waiting for one side of the ball to carry the other side. We've got too many people on special teams and offense looking at the sidelines waiting for the defense to solve all their problems."
On The Ineffectiveness of Mickey Peters and Wes Welker:
"Colorado did nothing special. The biggest thing they did was played harder than we did; they executed harder than we did."
On The Play Of The Texas Tech Defense:
"They got a ton of three and outs. They played hard the entire game. They got turnovers. They forced Colorado to punt. They rose at key times. I can't say enough about the defense. Our defense played great today. That's one of the better defensive performances I've seen. I'll tell you another thing that really impressed me about the defense: When things weren't going well and the offense and special teams were letting them down, they continued to play hard. They never quit or broke stride. They played hard the entire game."
.
COLORADO FOOTBALL / Postgame Notes & Quotes
Colorado Buffaloes vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Oct. 26, 2002; Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.)
Colorado Buffalo Players
DB MEDFORD MOORER
GENERAL
: "We told ourselves to come out and play harder and harder every down, and we did. They have a great passing game and we just wanted to slow him down. (Kingsbury) is a great quarterback and he never stops reading his receivers. If you put pressure on the quarterback, it always makes it easier on the secondary."
ON HIS FIRST INTERCEPTION:
"I just read the quarterback's eyes and broke on the ball. My mind was set on getting into the end zone, and I just wanted to help my team out."
DE TYLER BRAYTON
GENERAL:
"I give all the credit to the secondary. (Kingsbury) did not have his first and second reads, and the secondary did a great job. We just took the mentality to go out there and play 100 plays. Every practice we heard about their offense. Sometimes you get tired of hearing about them, but it's necessary. It's all 11 guys and then some more. It's really a team effort on defense."
ON HIS TOUCHDOWN:
"I came with a different move and got a free rush on Kingsbury. I hit him and I guess he fumbled the ball, so I just picked it up and ran. I've never scored in college, so I didn't know what to do. It was crazy."
OT JUSTIN BATES
GENERAL:
"It took us about three series to get a rhythm and get comfortable out there. In this kind of offense, it is so important to get into a rhythm. They were coming in on crazy angles that we hadn't seen and practiced for, so we had to adjust. On the whole, we did a good enough job, but we can get better by working on the details."
ON THE CU DEFENSE:
"They did an unbelievable job in every aspect of the game. I wasn't one of the people downing our defense. I knew they could do it, and they showed it today. They played lights out defense."
ON CHRIS BROWN'S HEISMAN HOPES:
"I think it's a possibility. He's leading the nation in rushing. Why not? Look at the yards he gets per carry."
SS KORY MOSSONI
ON HIS INTERCEPTION:
"That was all Tyler Brayton pass rushing and hurrying the quarterback. The football came to me, and I'm not real good at returning, but I put our offense on the five yard line and I'll take that any day."
ON THE DEFENSIVE STRATEGY:
"All week the plan was not to allow any yards after the catch. We were OK with them getting three or four yards, as long as that was it. Overall, we had a good defensive effort."
QB ROBERT HODGE
GENERAL:
"Our defense played a great game against a really good offense. They scored points off turnovers and were consistent. We tried to have some long drives to keep the defense off the field, but we didn't do too goof of a job with that. They didn't need it, they did it without us."
DB CLYDE SURRELL
ON HIS INTERCEPTION:
"We were just in bracket coverage and it was just me and Medford Moorer back there. I saw Kingsbury looking at the receiver, and the receiver didn't look for the ball quick enough. The ball went off his shoulder pad and I caught it."
DB RODERICK SNEED
ON SPECIAL TEAMS:
"Our game plan was to make a lot of big plays on special team and set the tone for the offense. Guys were making great blocks, flying around the field like it was their last play. That's the kind of people you need on special teams. It's fun to play special teams. I grew up watching guys like Rocket Ismail and I just try to make a play at any level."
DB DONALD STRICKLAND
ON CU'S DEFENSE:
"All along, people have been telling use we were the weak link of this team. Today, we just wanted to come out and make a statement, and I really think we did that."
OL WAYNE LUCIER
ON CU'S DEFENSE:
"Our defense by far played the best game of the year, I'll take a performance like that every game; they were absolutely fantastic. They wreaked havoc, and were all over the place, making plays."
ON OKLAHOMA:
"If we can keep getting better, then I think it will be a great football game this weekend. They are a really good football team, but we have some weapons, too. It will be a really tough place to play in, but if we come out and play our style, Colorado Football, then I really like our chances."
COLORADO FOOTBALL / Postgame Notes & Quotes
Colorado Buffaloes vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Oct. 26, 2002; Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.)
Texas Tech Players
RB/KR Vincent Meeks
GENERAL-
"The defense stepped up today. Everybody played and did their part. We knew what our game plan was. The plan was to stop Chris Brown and we did that. He's just a great running back." "D played like they wanted to play. We wanted to stop Chris Brown. As far as the offense...I'm not going to say anything but we just didn't make a play when we needed to."
ON SPECIAL TEAMS-
"As far as kick-off returns, we did decent, but on punt returns, we just got beat off the ball. On kickoffs we were just missing assignments and we need to make plays."
ON HIS SLIP ON A KICK-OFF RETURN-
"When the ball came (Geremy) Woods just missed it and when I planted, my feet came out from under me and I just slipped. It kind of threw me off, because I thought that he was going to go for it and I was getting ready to block."
DL Lamont Anderson
GENERAL-
"We played good, we played hard, we just wish we could have gotten the win. The offense was not as good as they usually are, but we'll just have to rebound with a win next week."
ON CHRIS BROWN-
"Chris Brown is a great back. He's one of the great players in the country and we did a good job of negating him yards. I think we contained him." "We knew what we needed to do, which was to get in the gaps and make plays."
CB Joselio Hanson
GENERAL-
"We played real hard, but still lost. The defense came together and played hard." "It hurts that we lost. We just need to take something and learn from it."
"We're hurting because we try to win all of our games, but one day the one side of the ball is playing good and the other day they're not."
ON THE DEFENSE-
"We was finally ballin'."
DE Aaron Hunt
GENERAL-"
We were frustrated because we played hard and didn't win, but you can't blame anyone. You can't blame the offense because we've been in the same situation and the offense has helped us out and the special teams have helped us out."
ON THE DEFENSE--
"We really played hard and everyone did their responsibilities. Chris Brown is a good back and he got some yards, but we played hard and controlled him. Everybody just did their responsibilities more than anything." "Everyone came and did their responsibilities. Us playing hard is good, but more than anything, we need to play our responsibilities. If we keep playing hard, we'll do fine."
ON THEIR CHANCES IN THE BIG 12 SOUTH-
"I don't think anything is (out of reach). Maybe if we lose next week it is but right now we just need to regroup."
Postgame Notes
IMPORTANT:
ABC has selected next week's CU-Oklahoma game for broadcast; it will kickoff at 1:30 p.m. MST.
- This is Colorado's second 4-0 start in Big 12 Conference history (seven seasons), its first since the 1996 team opened 7-0. This sets up a showdown next week of Big 12 undefeated division leaders, CU (4-0) at Oklahoma (3-0).
- The game took 3:21 to play; by quarter: 1st-46 minutes; 2nd-49 minutes; 3rd-43 minutes; 4th-38 minutes.
- Today marked the 20th time that Colorado donned all black uniforms, the first time ever for three straight home games. The Buffs are now 12-7-1 when wearing all black.
- Colorado scored 30 or more points for the fifth straight game, the longest streak since doing it six in a row over 1994-95 (last three in '94, first three in '95). It's the first time within the same season since the Buffs did it six times in succession in 1989 (games 2 through 7).
- ILB/SS Kory Mossoni. Mossoni made his second career interception in the first quarter, returning it 41 yards to set up CU's first touchdown. His other career pick came earlier this year at UCLA, and that also set up a CU touchdown. It was Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury's seventh interception thrown on the year (all on the road).
- With two returns today for touchdowns, Colorado now has five on the season (two interception, two fumble, one punt), or 24 scores by return in the last 40 games (and 12 in the last 20). CU set a school record with seven in '02.
- Tech attempted 65 passes, the most ever against CU (old record was 64 by Texas A&M in 1996); the 36 completions were the second most (Fresno State has the most-37 in the '93 Aloha Bowl).
- TB Bobby Purify. Purify scored his first touchdown of the year on his 36-yard catch and run off a screen pass from Robert Hodge. It was also the first receiving touchdown of his career.
- DT Tyler Brayton. He returned his first fumble recovery of the year (second career) for a touchdown-his first points of his career. It was CU's second fumble return for a score in '02; Akarika Dawn had one against San Diego State. The last defensive lineman to score a touchdown was Viliami Maumau, returning an interception 31 yards for a TD at Colorado State in '96 (DT Justin Bannan scored one at Missouri in 2000-but he had lined up at tight end on offense).
- P Mark Mariscal. His 4-for-57.8 average today improved his NCAA leading average to 49.6 (for 39 punts).
- CB Roderick Sneed. His 2 kickoff returns for 110 yards upped his season average to 35.1 on eight returns; he is still one return shy of qualifying for the NCAA statistics.
- COLORADO INJURIES: DB J.J. Billingsley (severe ankle sprain, doubtful for Oklahoma); TB Chris Brown (mild hip pointer, he's fine); TE Quinn Sypniewski (concussion, day-to-day).
