Oct. 23, 2010

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Cincinnati Head Coach Butch Jones

Opening Statement:

First of all, I’m proud of my kids. They could have stopped playing but they played until the end.  Had the opportunity and score we couldn’t. We aren’t going to use the excuse of being young as a crutch.  We can’t have self inflicted mistakes. We can’t be a team that beats ourselves. We moved the ball from 20 to 20 and didn’t cash in on drives. We had to many dropped balls. It was the most drops we have had in three weeks including practice. We go back to work tomorrow and try to correct your mistakes. I believe in our football team. It was a good football team we lost too. So we will come back to work and correct those mistakes.

On Collaros

His leg got a little stiff. We don’t know. He will undergo examination. We will know a little bit tonight and tomorrow. It occurred on the fumble.

On Chazz

It’s a difficult position to him into. I thought he did a good job coming in. Our team has great faith and great confidence in him. We were just a little short.

On USF defense

For us to really be effective we have to be able to run the ball. They took that away from us and we were forced to throw the ball. I thought they did a great job tackling in space. They did a great job athletically.

On Barnett

I kept saying to him that he has been helping us win with his blocking on the perimeter. He really stepped up and kept us in the football game. He gave us an opportunity. He made some difficult catches. We are going to need him down the stretch.

On the Loss

It doesn’t matter if you lose at home or on the road. The only way to combat that is to come back in practice. We have to learn from it and move on.

On Rogers

It’s a great accomplishment for Jake. He has had a great career here. He is really having a great year for us. We expect him to kick well as a veteran player. We are going to need him as the season progresses.

Players Quotes

Jake Rogers

On breaking UC’s all-time scoring record.

It’s a great feeling but the thrill of it all is lost when you lose. Its an exciting achievement but we still have a lot of games to play.

Marcus Barnett

On being involved on offense

Well today every game all the receivers came in with the mindset that today this game could be our big game. I guess tonight my number was called so the ball started falling my way. It could go to anybody but it just happened to be me tonight.

On the win streak

With the win streak we tried our best to be prepared for every game. We were prepared for this game. But little mistakes add up. It’s just something that happened. It’s unfortunate that we let it happen. So its just something to learn from and move forward.

Jk

On his playing tonight

I’m not going to make any excuses about it, I came out of coverage when I probably shouldn’t have. I left a little whole in my defense. I should have stayed in the middle of the field. But a guy like that you don’t want him getting lose especially when it is third and six, third and seven. You don’t want him getting lose on the permitted. It was little mistakes that led to big problems.

On frustration

We were a little frustrated just because of the big plays. If you want to win football games you cant give up big plays. We need to work on stopping those for sure.

On the end of the BIG EAST Conference winning streak

For us, it’s time for us to bounce back and start a new streak. Streaks are always broken. It cant go on forever. Our ultimate goal now is to win out in the big east. So we do control our own destiny. We have a lot of work to do. I have a 150% confidence in my team that we can bounce back and start a new winning streak at home and winning streak in the BIG EAST and overall.

USF Head Coach Skip Holtz

Opening statement

“It was great win. I’m really proud of this football team. With everything they’ve been through these last couple of weeks, it’s really bittersweet. It’s not as broke on the inside as it looks. Special teams have been playing so well, and the defense has been playing so well. I was really proud of the way they came out here tonight and competed. The offense has had a lot of pressure on it this past week, and I think B.J. [Daniels] came in as focused and dialed-in as any quarterback I’ve ever been around. He was really special tonight, and I was really impressed with him. Defensively, I thought we did a good job. I kept looking up at the scoreboard, and I was like, ‘Gosh, turn it off.’ We had given up 600 yards. We did a good job of keeping the ball in front of us. We didn’t give up any deep balls, and we contested deep balls. We gave up some big plays, but I told them to make [Cincinnati] earn it, and they did. Those guys went up and made some catches in the end-zone and one-on-one, and they just came down with the ball.

On Cincinnati…

 I salute Coach Jones and the job that he’s done with this program. This is an impressive offensive football team, an impressive football team, an impressive defensive team. We really struggled running the ball. They’re very physical up front, and I talked earlier in the week about that being their strength and how important it was for us to be able to throw the ball today. I think that’s one of the best football teams we’ve played. I’m really impressed with them. I think they did a great job. I’m glad we don’t play them again this year. Zach Collaros, he’s just a great competitor.”

On getting the win…

“I’m proud of the football team. I’m proud of the way they came together, and the way they just kept grinding and kept playing. In this league, it’s always going to be a game that’s going down to the wire. Cincinnati is a competitive football team that’s not used to losing, and you knew they weren’t going away quietly.”

On USF’s offense…

“We really weren’t able to drive the ball without the run game. We put the ball in B.J.’s [Daniels} hands and probably ran a lot more play-action this week than we had up until this point. I thought he was really dialed-in, and he did a nice job of it. I’m really proud of him. I thought a lot of guys played their hearts out tonight.”

USF Defensive Coordinator Mark Snyder

Opening statement…

“Cincinnati is a really good football team. That’s one of the best two or three offenses we’ve seen all year, and we were outmatched out wide, big time. [Armon] Binns came up and made some big plays, and D.J. Woods was everything we expected him to be. [Zach] Collaros was everything we expected him to be.”

On defensive stop at the end of the game…

“We got a stop at the end of the game when we needed it. Our kids persevered. They left everything on the field, and that’s what I’m most proud of. Whether we gave up 1,000 yards or two yards, it’s about the win. This team got a win tonight, and I can’t say enough about our offense. They showed up and excelled tonight. It was a great team victory no matter what the yards were. We knew this was probably going to be a high-scoring game. This is maybe the best offense in our league.”