Rice Post-Game Quotes
9/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 18, 2010
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Rice Head Coach David Bailiff
(on the team's performance tonight) "We are a pretty good football team. But we're not good enough to overcome our mistakes. We have to continue offensively to work on ball security, eliminating the dumb penalties, and establishing the line of scrimmage. We are getting a really great effort defensively out of those kids. The first half they absolutely played their tails off. They gave up six points in that first half. We've got to finish what we start. We didn't have any missed tackles the first half and we had missed tackles the second half on the bubbles and different plays. We have to execute. We have to have guys that are playmakers--too many drops the first half, too many penalties. I believe we had four turnovers, and you can't win football games like that. We have to continue to work hard and improve. We're really close. We're either an inch too short or an inch too long with the ball. We've got to execute and be perfect in everything we do."
(on 1st half defensive performance) "I was really proud of them. They gave up two field goals to a Big 10 football team. We have to play as a football team. We have got to have a great offense, a great defense, great special teams, and they all have to be consistent. Late in the game you saw those guys miss tackles on the bubble plays. We had been making those. We're close. We just have to finish what we start."
(on offensive struggles) "We just can't get a rhythm. When we hit a rhythm, all the sudden we drop a ball or get a penalty. Every time I've felt like we've achieved something, all the sudden we've thrown an interception, we got a holding penalty. I think we are extremely close to hitting the rhythm we need. We are just inches away on some of those big plays. I think that is an encouraging sign that we are that close."
(on actions to be taken to improve) "We as coaches still have to do a better job getting these kids in a position to win. That is our job. I think as we've learned what (RB) Sam (McGuffie) is capable of, and (RB) Turner (Petersen), and obviously (RB) Charles Ross. We've got to get Sam (McGuffie) in more space. We've got to do some things to create some more running lanes in there. Our offensive line is pretty good. They're going into their second year operating together. We've got to establish the line of scrimmage to open everything else up."
(on QB Taylor Cook's entry into the game) "(QB) Taylor (Cook) is a very talented young man. He worked hard going into this week. We had told (QB) Nick (Fanuzzi) that he was starting. We told him we were going to put Taylor in to get him some experience. It wasn't we were displeased with Nick (Fanuzzi), we just wanted to get him (QB Taylor Cook) some playing time."
(on QB Nick Fanuzzi's return after QB Taylor Cook's interception) "Nick (Fanuzzi) came off the bench last week to spark us to a win against North Texas. I have a lot of confidence in all of them (QB unit), but it was time to go back to Nick (Fanuzzi)."
Rice Quarterback Nick Fanuzzi
(on team's performance) "We've got to stop beating ourselves. Tonight we had plenty of opportunities. We missed those opportunities. You can't win when you have four turnovers. We had penalties that killed us. Ultimately, we are a great football team. We've just got to figure out a way to win. We're going to figure that out this week. We've got to find ways to win. There was a part of the game today when we had some good drives going, but we have to finish those drives. I felt like the effort overall with both the defense and offense was great; we just have to execute.
(on what has happened to improve the offensive performance) "We went to (WR) Donte (Moore) a few times tonight. It's great when we get the ball to him. He's got a lot of athletic ability and he played well tonight. That shows and I'm sure that we continue to get the ball to him in the future. We've got to work around with what we've got and take it from there."
(on learning curve of new offensive players) "We want that (understanding the offensive scheme) now. It does take time. (RB) Sam (McGuffie) is a playmaker, so we've got to get him the ball as much as we can. When the ball is in his hands we can get some big yards. It showed tonight when he got the ball in the flat, downfield, in swings, and screens. We've got to find ways to get Sam (McGuffie) the ball because he is a playmaker. We had some big time plays tonight, but we have to finish those plays--finish drives."
(on identifying struggles offensively) "We came out a little slow tonight and that makes the difference in the whole ballgame. If we had come out faster and stronger in the first few drives of the first half--we don't have some turnovers--it's a completely different ballgame. Some of it's just rhythm. If things are working well on offense then it makes things that much easier on the defense. The defense did a great job tonight keeping us in this ballgame. It could have been worse than it was. The offense was struggling to put points on the board, and they did a tremendous job of keeping us in this ballgame. They only had 14 points in the half. They did a great job. Everybody is giving a great effort. We've just got to find a way to get it started early. That can change the whole momentum of the ballgame."
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
On Northwestern defense:
"I thought we had a really good plan tonight and I thought we executed it well and in all three phases. Our defense really stepped up... I thought they played well - created turnovers left a short field."
Halftime adjustments:
"I have to give Rice a lot of credit I thought they had some good adjustments in the second quarter. We came in at halftime and had a really good plan coming out to the second half offensively and really moved the ball well."
Weather and Conditioning:
"We feel like our depth is really one of our strengths we also feel like we are in pretty good shape conditioning-wise. I thought the way that we performed tonight made a little bit of a statement. To come down here in this humidity - we have not since this kind of weather since two-a-days. We tried to manufacture a little bit of it up in Evanston.
"Our strength coaches got our team ready to play this year and we had the best summer that we've had and it showed up today."
Offense struggled in the second quarter:
"I have to give a lot of credit to Rice. I thought they had a good plan and were playing well. We expected the things we saw and we just had to go in at half-time and settle down and make a couple of little tweaks to our game plan. I thought we did that and it paid dividends - we moved the ball pretty well in the second-half."
On Quentin Davie interception:
"He's got three holiday pickoffs now - he's been wide open and he was even open on a fourth that he dropped. The good news is he caught that one and took it to the house and that was a big play.
"There are a lot of things we can clean up and correct, especially that turnover on the goal line that really would've put the game away. A lot of credit to Rice. David's doing a great job down here and it was a big challenge for us weather-wise and also with a very good football team and I thought we handled it well."
