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Rice University Athletics
Ken Hatfield's Monday Quotes
10/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 3, 2005
Opening Statement -- "We seem to be bringing out the best in everybody.
"A good thing in the (UAB) game were the backs. They had the best game blocking since we've been here. All of our guys did a good job. Tommy Henderson made some good blocks early. Quinton Smith made some good blocks. Marcus Rucker. Our fullbacks, John Wall and Andrew Cates, did a tremendous job knocking some linebackers and tackles down. It was a good blocking game overall.
"We moved the ball very effectively. We got behind so much that a couple of passes we threw were ill-advised. That hurt us, no doubt. That was one of our biggest bugaboos.
"I was really pleased to see Brandon King take the punt back 40 yards. We have not had that in a while, an exciting punt returner that can make something happen on his own. That was one of the big pluses in the game.
"I was glad we kicked a couple of field goals. Brennan Landry needed that for some confidence.
"We play on the road again, at East Carolina, a team that has a win under its belt this year. They had about 36,000 people at the game last week against Southern Miss, so I think they're going to feel very comfortable at home. At the same time, we've traveled enough with all our young players. They've been around and they know what they need to do.
"We need to come out of the chute early. We seem to drop way behind early in the first three games. We've got to find a way to get ahead and stay ahead."
On Rice's youth -- "There's no shortcut way to get experience. You've just got to play. There's no doubt about it: we're in this for the long haul. That was our first conference game in our first year in (the conference).
"This is our last plane trip of the year. Either we bus to SMU or bus to Houston, and we play the rest of them at home. We've traveled enough to know what we need to do to be rested and ready to play. We just need to be productive early in the game, both offensively and defensively. Everybody needs to play better than we did last week."
On field position -- "You can't give somebody a short field. The defense did its two best jobs after we gave (UAB) a short field. After the blocked punt, we blocked their field goal. Then after another short one, we stop them on fourth-and-three. We came up with some good plays late in the game."
On possible changes -- "If we knew what the answer was, we would have done it a long time ago.
"The biggest thing is that we've got to eliminate the long, big play. A short pass for five yards where a guy breaks a tackle and goes 65 with it, that's just a back-breaker for us. We can't allow that.
"And we've got to create more turnovers."
On the unfamiliarity of new league opponents -- "Everybody's new and we're the new kid on the block. It was the first time we've played at Legion Field and it's the first time we've gone to East Carolina. It's a new ballgame and we don't have the familiarity that we will have playing some of the people later in the schedule, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP, Houston, even Tulane.
"(East Carolina) has played some mighty good people. They played Southern Miss last week, who's really a good, solid team. They were in the game against West Virginia, and they beat Wake Forest. Wake Forest turns around and beats Clemson last week. They've played good competition, too.
"Both of us need a victory right now, a victory in conference. That makes for an exciting atmosphere in college football."
