Rice University Athletics
Football: Ken Hatfield's Monday Quotes
10/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
"A lot of times, it seemed like we've had to start all over again to try to gain some experience at the quarterback position throught out the year. Jeremy started the first game, then all of a sudden the next two weeks we're playing with Corey Evans and Ben Wulf. We've started three different quarterbacks, and one week that Corey played he didn't practice until Thursday. It's been a struggle keeping continuity offensively.
"You can practice all you want, but you just have to play. The speed of the game was really good on Saturday, and Jeremy learned from that."
On the start of the TCU game -- "Our chance to win the game was to get ahead and make something happen early in the game. Unfortunately, the big play of the game was the roughing the kicker, which on that field there was not any way you could not rough him. Jeff Vanover tried to stop and did all he could. At that time, we had held them for three downs and had the wind and good field position, and really had a chance to have something good happen. As it turned out, I think that ignited them on the sideline."
On Rice's defense vs. TCU -- "I was proud of our defense. The only two times we turned the ball over in our end of the field, which you just can't do, our defense held them to two field goals. I thought that gave us a great measure of confidence. To keep them out of the end zone both of those times was big."
On Rice's kicking game vs. TCU -- "I told our team that I thought the difference in the game would be the kicking game. If we could hold on and dominate the kicking game, we could win.
"I couldn't be happier with the way our punting team played, especially. Travis Hale kicked the dog out of that ball and we covered well. One time, we had a 55-yard punt and that got minus yardage on the return. That gave us a good chance to stay in the ballgame.
"We did a good job on kickoff cover and return, and we had a good surge on all their field goals. Our guys were fighting hard. I thought the kicking game would be important; I just didn't realize that the first play in the kicking game would be that important."
On Rice's health -- "We're disappointed that we lost some people in the game. B.J. Forguson (shoulder) played hard for a while and then got injured. Kenny Smith (ribs) is out, and we lost Lance Redmon (shoulder) in the game and he's out. And we lost Corey Evans (dislocated kneecap) who won't play any more this year. We lost four good players in the game; we paid a heavy price for some experience."
On SMU -- "SMU played an excellent game the other day. They played well at home and won a game. They've always been aggressive on defense. It's going to be a real challenge for us offensively to move the ball and score. We have played well here the last two times we've played them here and we've won. The last two times they have played us at their place, they won and won big.
"It's our last home game for our seniors and for this team. Our goal is to be at our absolute best."
On finishing strong -- "That's been one of our goals. In the past, we have not done that. We've lost the last game almost every year. We've changed things this year, practice style and in two-a-days, so we wouldn't be depleted of our energy at the end. Finishing strong is important to us. We have three games left, and if we can win all three, we will have won four of our last five. That would be the best ending that we've had here. That's our goal.
"People will remember how you finished more than how you started, and it will give us something to build on for next year."
