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Rice University Athletics
Ken Hatfield's Monday Quotes
10/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 17, 2005
Opening Statement -- "The good thing about the other day (Tulsa game) is that we are making progress. We held them to the least yardage of any team that we've played this year. And they're a darn good football team, scoring as many points as they did the week before at Southern Miss. We knew they were going to be very talented. Two of the scores came off easy things: the kickoff return and the fumble by Andrew (Cates) where they picked it up and ran it in. Of their other 27 points, they got another (touchdown) off a turnover, too.
"We were scrambling and hustling around the ball. Probably as big a play in the game was the chop block penalty in the first drive when Joel (Armstrong) had scored. We took the ball, drove the length of the field and scored. We get it taken off because of the penalty, and it really wasn't a penalty. It was not a very accurate call on what happened, and I think it had an effect on the game. You have to overcome those things, and it would have been a big point in the game.
"We stayed in the fight good. We did get our first turnover of the game for a touchdown when BK (Brandon King) ran it back for a score. The third play of the second half, Ja'Corey Shepherd had one in his hands, same play as BK. If he had taken that ball in, it would have made a big difference, too. A lot of those young players, the redshirt freshmen, are getting better. They have good talent and skills; they just need to continue to make some plays.
"We need to get better this week with Navy coming off another win. Navy beat Air Force a couple of weeks ago.
"It was good playing at home. We did appreciate the fans who were out there. They were enthusiastic and in the ballgame. We enjoyed them, and we enjoyed the little kids who come out to form the tunnel and what it means to our guys before the game."
On Rice's injuries -- "We're going to try to get Thomas Lott back. We'll look at him (Monday) and see if he can do anything. David Perkins, a center who has not been out there but is a good player. We haven't got anything out of David yet. And we're going to start looking at Mike Falco and see if he can run. Perkins and Falco are two that we need to get back out there, but we can't get them back unless they're completely healed."
On Tommy Henderson -- "One of the guys that has played as well and anybody on this team is Tommy Henderson. You see some of the catches he has made, he is really a gifted athlete. On that third down and four play, the safety had him dead to rights, but he weaseled under there and made the first down. Same thing when he caught a little short pass: it looked like he was going to make two yards, he juked them, and made about five more yards. He has good running skills and he has great hands. He'll jump up and catch the ball."
On Rice's defensive changes -- "I don't think there is any doubt that we played more aggressively defensively. At the same time, you wouldn't expect the personality of the defense to be completely together. You can make changes, but it takes a while to get everybody focused together. Everybody was trying to feel coach (Charlie) Rizzo out a little bit last week and see where everybody fits. The defensive play calling with him is not the same as with Roger (Hinshaw). That's just a fact of life. Nobody does it the same. The players are getting into that, too.
"This week is a totally different game plan, though. You got back to the triple option and what we worked on for about two days three weeks ago. It's assignment football, not letting (Navy) have the play-action passes. They do such a good job of running the option that they make the big plays out of their play-action passes. That hurt us here two years ago."
On similarities between Navy and Rice -- "Both of us are similar in a lot of the things we do. They have a lot more confidence right now by winning."
