Football: Hatfield's Weekly Quotes
10/25/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Regarding Texas Christian leaving the WAC "We didn't make any mention of it because that is something that is out of our control and out of the players control. I think that from things that were read or that were said, there was probably a little extra motivation at times from some of our players. We didn't make any big deal about it other that we have been playing for 77 or 78 years and that will be a shame that we will not be playing anymore and that is a detriment.
On getting ready for Southern Methodist "Two years ago we certainly didn't play our best. We will be playing in the same environment, but hopefully we have several good seniors and players from the Dallas area that remember that game. They will help keep the intensity this week, which is the key to winning the football game."
The game at Southern Methodist two years ago "We have a lot of people who went up there that will remember that game and the other good thing is that we don't have an off week. I think last time we had an off-week beforehand and that really hurt us bad. We had to sit around for a week and listen to what possibilities were out there and what could happen. Everybody started dreaming and acting like we were already there and we were not.
"We had a lot of people injured in the game. Right away we lost about three offensive linemen in the game and that hurt us. So we had some people playing in the game who had not been playing throughout the year and that made a big difference in the game. And then Ramon Flanigan took the opening drive and made three or four critical plays. I don't think there is any doubt, our lack of preparation and Ramon Flanigan were the factors that day."
On Southern Methodist "They are going to be good. They have been playing their best football the last two weeks. They played their best football of the year (vs. Fresno State) and that is what you are looking for. When you are trying to finish the season one game at a time, you just hope that you are playing a lot better and you are making improvement. There is no doubt, when you watch them play on the road at UTEP, that was a 35-28 game late in the fourth quarter and then you have to come back five days later and beat Fresno (State) in the Cotton Bowl. So they are playing in the same place they won their last big game against a good Fresno team. We are their homecoming game, so there is a lot of incentive to win this ball game, but they are playing really good now and that concerns me more than anything else."
