Rice Game Quotes
9/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 10, 2011
Rice Head Coach David Bailiff
On the streak of not beating a BCS team
"I've been responsible for part of (the streak) for five years. Some of the players have been responsible for six weeks of it. I'm glad it's over because the thing I found is that more people (outside the program) talk about it than we do. It's nice not to have to worry about it. I've always believed since we've got here that we're in the process of building a real fine program. That was a win over a Big Ten opponent. I'm excited. It does show that we are building. We're getting better and the kids believe.
"It was a hard-fought football game. If we continue to eliminate mistakes and play hard, we'll continue to prove we're a pretty good football team.
"Winning in college football, that's hard to do. Your margin of error on offense, defense and special teams is so slim. We made some errors today and we're still getting out of here with a win.
"Bottom line, your goal has to be to improve every time you take the field, be it in practice, be it in games. We're a much better football team game-week two than we were game-week-one. We're still making mistakes.
"Taylor (McHargue) this was only his sixth collegiate start. Chase (Clement) continued to improve when he was here. I think you see Taylor follow in those same footsteps.
"The defense gave up a field goal in the second half and there was a safety. That was it. That says volumes about how hard our defensive coaches worked this week to get the scheme we had and how hard the players played. They are a solid football team.
At the end of the game I couldn't figure out who had the block because there were so many blue jerseys on that side of the line of scrimmage. I couldn't get anybody to talk to me, nor could I talk.
"Today we made some big plays when we needed to. We still need to take care of the football and eliminate some stupid penalties. We need to get better, that's going to be a point of emphasis.
"We work 10-second field goal schemes every day. It's not desirable to be doing (those drills), but it's something you have to have the ability to do. It was a great football game."
Rice linebacker Justin Allen
"Sometimes when (the opponent) is in a rush, they don't get their proper splits. I saw the 'A' gap open in front of me more open than I thought it would be. I took full advantage. I got skinny. I took three quick steps and got my hand up and the ball hit off my right forearm.
"Things just went right for us today.
"It was frustrating. I thought we played great all day, but we didn't set ourselves up well on the last series. We gave them great field position, and it seems like they had great field position all day. I'm sure every one in the stadium thought it was over. The defense responded."
Rice defensive end Scott Solomon
After playing well last week, but not winning, compared to playing well and winning today
"It feels amazing. To have the game swing our way, it feels awesome. I am kind of at a loss for words right now for how good we feel and getting this win today.
The second half
"We played well in the second half and got some stops we needed to. When it came down to that field goal and we were, 'hey we are going to block this.' Sure enough that's what happened. We got that huge surge on the right side. That's exciting.
"We've been playing with confidence, and I feel it comes from our senior leadership, (particularly) our seniors on the field.
"We're going to try and build on this, and carry it over (to the next game) the way we did these first two games. We want to celebrate this win, but we want to forget about it too. We're going to try and get better off of it over the next two weeks.
Rice quarterback Taylor McHargue
"The (offensive) line did a great job of protecting. A lot of today was just pitch and catch.
"Coming out of the second half we did a great job of setting the tempo. When we moved the ball today it was because of the tempo. We'd hurry-up and try to get them on their heels. As long as we were moving, as long as the tempo was up, they were on their heels. That first drive (in the second half) marching down the field was huge. The offensive line did a great job all day.
"We talked about different adjustments, and I have to look at the tape, but I feel most of the time we stopped ourselves. They did a good job getting up field and they got in my face on my turn-over. I should have taken the sack and secured the ball.
"Our defense stepped-it up. They were the reason we were in (the Texas game) so long and they're the reason we won this one.
"My stomach was up in my throat because it shouldn't have been that close. We had done some things to ourselves offensively that we have to eliminate."
