Postgame Quotes
November 02, 2008 | Football
Nov. 2, 2008
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Texas Tech Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Mike Leach
On what triggered the outcome of the game
"Well, I thought we had a really good week of preparation and the excitement of the students, campus, and all the coverage with a team as good as Texas. I thought our players did a really good job avoiding distractions, and I can't say enough about our fans. If I've said Jones Stadium is the best place to play before, after tonight, even more so."
On Graham's (Harrell) performance
"I think after tonight if you don't have Graham Harrell on your Heisman list, you probably should add him after tonight."
On key points in the game
"I think our defensive line did a really good job. We hit some good plays and I think we took a half away from them. I didn't think we'd take the whole game, but we did take a half. He's a good player, but I thought their punter was really good. I think that punter kept them in the game."
On Mack Brown
"If you could let him know nationally, I have the upmost respect for him as a coach. He's the dean of our conference and he's done a tremendous job as being an example, especially for us younger guys."
On next week's game
"Oklahoma State is now the biggest game in the history of this year."
Defensive Coordinator Ruffin McNeill
On the last few minutes of the game
"I am just glad to win that thing. I hate to give up those last couple touchdowns; it was a great team win. You know we had plenty of time, we knew the offense had the ability to move it. The bus isn't leaving until the game is over so we might as well keep playing. That was a great win for Lubbock and Texas Tech!"
On the game
"Boy that was a wild game. Texas is a great football team. Coach (Mack) Brown has done a great job; they have a great football team. We knew we would have our hands full, they have won close games. We knew we would have a tough game, they were going to give a little fight back, it was a great win for our program."
On the mentality of the team
"You know I tell you what; this is a team that handles adversity well. They really pushed themselves, they are happy they won. They are already thinking about next week, about tomorrow, and getting ready for next week. They listen well, they want to please us as coaches and work hard for their teammates."
Running Back Baron Batch
On the last play
"We have trained for this, to be able to just go down and score within minutes. On the last drive, I was having flash backs of the drills we did in the summer. We work on that, go up and down the field and do it in a certain amount of time. It was a big statement for our program."
On the job of the defense
"I never really have an answer on how good we are on defense. We just need to worry about what we do and what we can control. Every defense does the same thing, but we can't control everything, only our execution."
Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree
On the celebration afterwards
"To tell you the truth, after the celebration, I fell on the ground and I couldn't breathe. The whole time I was telling everybody to `get off me, get off me.' It was great, though."
On the game-winning touchdown
"We run a fade route all the time, but this time Graham (Harrell) saw me running, and he connected with me for the score."
On whether he knew how close he was to the sideline
"My eyes were on the sidelines the whole time. I was trying not to step out of bounds because the safety had fallen down, and it worked."
Quarterback Graham Harrell
On the fade route to end the game
"The basis of this offense is the vertical passing game. That's just a vertical that we threw behind, and we practice that every day in practice. We practice going over the top on the fade, and we practice the throw behind. On that one, the corner wasn't looking, and if he isn't looking, throw it behind his head like Coach (Leach) says and let your receiver make a play and that's what I did. (Michael) Crab(tree) made an unbelievable catch, and not only did he make an unbelievable catch, he made an unbelievable run after that and got into the zone and got us a win."
On his feelings prior to the last drive
"As a quarterback, that's what you live for, a chance to bring your chance back down the stretch against a great team. All we needed was a field goal, but a touchdown is even sweeter. If you're a quarterback and you don't want to be in that situation, you should probably change positions. Down one with a minute-thirty left, I knew we had plenty of time, and I knew we had the players to do it out there, so it's a situation you look forward to."
Inside Receiver Eric Morris
On how you feel right now after the game
"Man I don't even know if I can put it into words right now. I am still a little shell shocked, we fought the whole game; Texas is a good team. How about our fans tonight they can't be underestimated. The sold out crowd and students here having faith in us. We had great body language on the last drive, in the huddle with 1:25 left on the clock, everyone in the huddle truly believed we could score."
On Graham Harrell
"That's why he can be tagged the best in the nation. He has made big plays around here for three straight years. He's the leader of our team and we react off him and get emotion from him and swagger and confidence. It's remarkable to me how great he is."
On next week's game against Oklahoma State
"We know they are coming up and after tonight we shift our focus onto them."
Defensive Lineman Colby Whitlock
On the safety
"They are a real zone team and they run a lot of zone. We watched that zone in Tuesday's game planning and as long as we attack we will make plays and I attacked and we ended up in the end zone."
On the level of play against Texas
"I don't know what it is. I wish we played them a couple more times this season. I don't know how to explain it but I am real excited about this win and how the defense played this weekend."
On next week's game
"It's like Coach Leach told us in the locker room if we don't come out there next weekend and get another `W' this win doesn't mean much to us. I look forward to coming back and playing another great opponent and its going to be a great atmosphere. It's just another game you know. We are all going to treat it that way."
Safety Daniel Charbonnet
On his interception
"They ran that play a few times and I just kind of felt it out, I can't believe he threw it everything just went in slow motion from there. I don't know, I guess I just went out a little bit and I saw the route and I just sat right there and as soon as he threw it I just got so excited and focused on catching the ball."
On the overall performance against Texas
"We played well in the second half, a few big plays, other than that we were playing pretty solid except we let two big plays get out on us. They have an incredible quarter back and awesome players on the field they are going to get their points but we got more tonight. I am still in shock and everything just happened so fast. (Michael) Crabtree and Graham (Harrell) and the offense just moving down the field it was awesome."
On the offense rising to the occasion
"All that matters is rising in key times and that's what they did, after Jamar (Wall) returned that kick we all had hope."
Head Coach Mack Brown
On his thoughts of the game
"First I would like to congratulate Texas Tech on the great game they played throughout the night and I would like to apologize to Coach Leach for not finding him after the game, I think that is the first time I haven't been able to get to a coach and shake his hand and he sure deserved it. They did a great job with his team and they played really well. I was proud of our guys because we didn't play consistently well tonight. We had a lot of problems and to there credit they kept fighting back and all we did was score to quick at the end, we should have took more time off the clock. Two great players made a great play at the end of the game to win it."
On Tech's defense
"I knew they were good (Tech's defense). I was disappointed in us offensively because we didn't play very consistently and we dropped four or five passes and we just didn't play very well. I was proud we came back and played well in the second half."
On the offense struggling
"We couldn't stay on the field, offensively in the first half, and we weren't in sync and then in the second half we were. I thought we played a great second half, the one interception, had so many penalties that backed us up and I think we were trying to hard on that play. Our kicking game really nearly saved us because we had some great kicks in the second half. Give Tech credit, great teams answer and we answered them and they turnaround and answered again."
On what was said after the game
"I told them I was disappointed in all of us because we didn't coach or play consistently well all night. But give Tech credit because we have won a bunch of these against them and tonight was their night and we need to be classy in defeat and give them credit. The loss didn't come down to that last play we have got a lot of things we need to fix to get ready and play better next week against Baylor."
On the last play
"A great play by a great player that was doubled team. It's unbelievable we get out hands on the ball to win the game the play before drop it. It was just one of those nights where many things didn't happen for us."
Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp
On the last play
"We were mixing up cover four and cover two rushing four guys and we didn't want to get in single coverage on (Michael) Crabtree and we doubled him on the last play. We had some opportunities to deny the ball and when we got them into pressure situation he (Graham Harrell) went directly to him (Michael Crabtree) and he is a good player so we had to stay rolled up on him and keep him doubled. They made the plays when they had to."
On Texas' defensive scheme
"They did a good job and really more than anything he (Graham Harrell) did a good job of buying time and he really evaded to his right a lot and we had a hard time getting to him. We changed some things in the second half to get our left end up the field and we changed our rush pattern and we did a little better in the second half. When we had middle field coverage they went to Crabtree and that was a tough thing. The first part of the game that is how they converted some third downs."
Quarterback Colt McCoy
On believing at halftime in comeback
"That's what we had to do. We didn't play well the first half. They played harder than us the first half that's the bottom line. The second half we came out scored some points, went up at the end but it's a tough loss. We've got to keep our heads up."
On bad first half play
"At least in the first half, I mean give them credit. Great atmosphere, great crowd, crowd was behind them the whole game. They never quit, they kept fighting. They played tremendous."
On 91 yard pass giving momentum
"We had to find something. The defense made a big stop and we converted. Their offense can score points. They're a good football team. We missed out on a lot of opportunities the first half and that hurt us."
Covering Shipley
"They did a nice job putting their hands on him past five yards. They were covering the flats and our deep-out routes good. They had a good scheme."
Bleeding during game
"Yeah, I got busted in the face a couple times. They did a good job of putting pressure."
On breaking record with 91 yard pass does it matter in a game like this
"No. All that matters is a win. We're disappointed but we're going to keep our heads up and keep fighting. There is still a lot of football left to play."
On showing so much emotion and being so upset
"When you lose it's tough. That's a hard thing to deal with but this team is awesome and this team fought. We didn't play good but we fought till the end. You can't argue with that and like I said, we're going to keep our heads up and keep fighting because there is a lot of football left to play and we've got to move on. We've got to put this behind us."
