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Rice University Athletics
Rice v Vanderbilt Quotes
9/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 13, 2008
Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Rice Head Coach David Bailiff
"We gave up good field position too often in the game. We have to make plays. I was frustrated with our kicking game, especially our coverage. We've been practicing it throughout the week and we'll have to work harder at it.
"Vanderbilt is a physical team and that wore on us. We couldn't establish any rhythm or timing in the second half. We also had some dropped balls by seniors.
"We were missing some players tonight. Our starting defensive ends didn't even make the trip. However, our young players need to step up and make plays."
Rice Safety Andrew Sendejo
On Vanderbilt running the clock out
"We knew they were going to try to run the clock out at the end of the quarter, so we were just trying to get a takeaway because that was the only way we'd be able to get the offense the ball and have a chance to win the game."
On what contributed to the shift in momentum
"Like Coach (David) Bailiff said, a big part of it was just making plays. We had plenty of opportunities to tackle guys and we had lots of missed tackles. I don't know as far as missed assignments until after we watch the film, but I know we didn't make the plays we needed to and that was a big factor."
"I know for the first three quarters, we had them going. That is something to build off of. For us, we just have to work on finishing in the fourth quarter. We can definitely build off what we did early in the game."
Rice Quarterback Chase Clement
On the difference in Vanderbilt's defense in the second half
"(The Commodores) started mixing up their fronts. They started changing between three down and four down (linemen) and that was kind of screwing with some of our protection. We had opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them."
Rice Defensive Back Bencil Smith
On the play of the defense despite the injuries
"This is football, so if you play the game you know it is going to be hard on the body. Of course we were hurt by the losses of our two seniors, Vernon James (LB) and Brian Raines (LB). We talked about it in practice and that's when you count on those guys to step up and fill the void. That was on their shoulders and it was something they had to do. I think they did a good job. We were in the right places at the right time, but we have to learn how to finish. We knew that we were good enough defensively to come in and get a win."
Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson Quotes
"Tonight was an exciting game, there is no doubt about it. Our team has to give Rice a lot of credit, they came out there and put us on our heels during the first half. The one thing that I liked about the first half was our offense responded to everyone of their scores.
"I thought defensively we did a great job of shutting them out in the second half. Sometimes luck helps out your football team and I think they dropped a couple of passes on key situations but sometimes you make your own luck.
"I was very proud of the way our guys hung in there and our coaching staff didn't panic. We came out of halftime and put together a very good second half.
"We knew coming into this game that they scored 98 points in their first two games so we figured they would get their points. Although, when our guys had to step up, they did. Our offense and defense came up with some big plays tonight. Our offense controlled the ball the second half. I was very proud that our offense didn't give them the ball back during the last drive. We were able to run for first downs and run out the clock."
