Rice University Athletics
Football: Ken Hatfield's Monday Quotes
10/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
On the Hawaii game -- "This Hawaii team had a great victory the other day against SMU. It was a two-point game in the third quarter, and they came on and made the plays they needed to. They're already been to Texas twice this year, to play Texas-El Paso and TCU, so they know about the trip and the travel, and what they need to do to adjust.
"Hawaii is an excellent football team. When you look at their TCU game, when they were decided underdogs, they take the kickoff and score two plays later. It was a 14-14 game in the second quarter and 17-14 right before the half. I know that (Hawaii coach) June (Jones) is really high on his quarterback, and I know they'll play hard this week. We'll have to be at our best."
On Rice's health -- "We have the situation where almost everybody could be back. I don't know that B.J. Forguson will be back, but he has a chance to be back during the remaining four games. That would be a big boost.
"But for everybody else, your body's worn down. We have to get back in, get toned up, and get ready to play football once again."
On the Rice kicking game -- "That's one area we're really focusing on hard. We have missed a key play in all three of our conference losses in the kicking game. Against Tulsa, it was a long punt return. Against Fresno, a couple of missed field goals, or in the San Jose game, there were some key plays that could have made a difference. We really have to play the kicking game well. If we do that, I think the other parts will come and we'll have a good game plan for Hawaii."
On the Fresno State game -- "I really thought we came together as a team was the week of the Fresno game, even though it was a short week. When you look at how we we played, with a chance to win against a good team, that's when I really thought we came together as a team. To allow them to come back in the last 4:23, that took a lot out of us. I felt that we had come together and gained confidence, and felt like we could play against a great team in our league. We made some big plays and created some turnovers.
"When you came down to it, we had a chance to win the game in all three areas in the last four minutes. If we make the field goal or get the good punt; offensively, if we make one first down, and we had a chance to make that first down if a guard doesn't slip down; and also defensively, where we had plenty of chances to stop them on that last drive.
"That was tough psychologically for about three days to handle. I told them, we had to make just one more play, and that was against a team that we felt was as good as any in the conference.
"But we have to do it every week, and that game's over. If we gain anything out of it, we need a few more players willing to step up and make that play, then this team can gel. We need to do it."
