Oct 11 | Football
Oct. 11, 2005
On the "Legend at Legion"...
"Obviously it was a big win for our team and our program. Some people call it a miracle, but I am a little more practical and I like to call it an earned win. We felt that we would have to play very well in the game to not only win, but compete with them. I can not remember playing against a better quarterback than Darrell Hackney he is really a great player and a great kid. I was proud of our players for the focus that they had after the devastating loss to Marshall. They practiced well and obviously we had a very good game offensively. We did some things differently to keep us out of third and long situations. Rusty Burns and his staff put our players in a situation to be successful. Looking at the stats, I thought it was a game we deserved to win. We had 27 first downs to their 18 and a 3 to 1 turnover margin. I told the kids it was a sign that when you play a 60 full minutes, it is amazing what happens."
On the play of Quarterback Jerad Romo...
"I am very proud of Jerad Romo. He has taken some criticism since the TCU game, but he has had a variety of ailments and hasn't quite been himself since then. He told me last week that he felt better than he has since the TCU game and that was obviously a good sign heading into the game. He's a tough kid in all situations and he's fiery. He is a great leader and takes what people say about him personally. I have never questioned how much he wants it. This game and SMU are important to him and he knows the challenges that we face. The one thing I've never seen him do is disrespect someone for making a mistake - he's an encourager. To me, that shows great leadership and I am excited about the type of game he had on Saturday."
On the play of Joe Sturdivant...
"He hardly practiced last week with a hip pointer and played a very good game for us with the two interceptions and the fumble recovery. His second interception was on a route we had worked on all last week which is one of their favorite possession routes. I will tell you that Hackney had no idea where Joe was coming from. He set it up just like you would draw it up. I was proud of him and excited for him to do it in front of his family. He is from Atlanta and had 45 people there, almost like the "Official Joey Sturdivant Fan Club" and what a highlight for him to be able to play that well."
On the hail mary drive...
"It was an unbelievable drive and one very few people expected. I thought we would get the ball back with 35 seconds left and we got it back with 23 (seconds). Our offensive staff did a good job of having a plan in place of what they wanted to do. The plan was knowing we would get one shot and knowing we needed to get into throwing range to take that shot. Rusty knew exactly what he wanted to do and he knew we would get soft corners. Bobby made a great catch on the first pass and I was glad to see them review it. They should have reviewed it to get it right and it was the right call. DeMyron (Martin) did a great job of getting what he could get across the 50-yd. line and Reynaldo (Pellerin) did great as well executing and getting out of bounds. Then we had what we wanted. We were on the 31-yard line and we knew exactly who we were going to go to. We had thrown the ball to the right side three times and we put Bobby to the left and he and Jerad did a phenomenal job. It was great execution and a great job of concentration on Bobby's part in making the catch. I can't remember a time in my 28-year career that players felt that good about something that they had accomplished."
On East Carolina...
"They are a team much like us and have played in some very close games. Their quarterback is a returning starter and was Co-Offensive Player of the Week in Conference USA along with Jerad and their tailback is a good player along with their junior college receiver. There is a lot of parity in this league right now and if you come focused and ready to play, either at home or on the road, you have a good chance to win. Both teams realize that and I expect a very even game. The team who makes the fewest mistakes and executes will win."
