Gary Patterson Media Luncheon Quotes -- October 15, 2002
10/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 15, 2002
After TCU moved to 5-1 with its 46-27 victory at Army last Saturday, Horned Frog head coach Gary Patterson held his weekly media luncheon Tuesday afternoon at the John Justin Athletic Center. The hot topic was the Frogs' matchup this Saturday at C-USA foe Louisville, the league's defending champ and preseason favorite. TCU handed the Cardinals their only conference loss last season, 37-22 in Fort Worth.
Below are selected quotes from Coach Patterson's session with reporters.
On TCU quarterback Tye Gunn:
"He's done a great job. Last week I said it's one thing to play a freshman at quarterback in a home game but it's another to play him on the road. He made a few more 'freshman mistakes' on the road. I think that this week, against an even better defense, he will be challenged even more to see things. I don't think that (Louisville) will be moving around and doing a lot of things to him. I just think the key will be if he can get it done against the kind of talent-level that we're going to face in a defense like Louisville. They haven't given up a lot of big plays."
On TCU's offensive philosophy going into the game with Louisville:
"We're going to try to do what we can to win the football game. I believe that the way they have played against the run and put people in the box, we're going to have to throw the ball a little bit more to beat that or we might wind up punting a lot. We don't want to do that because their punt block team has scored four touchdowns this year and they have actually set up a couple more touchdowns. Their special teams, as a whole, are very dangerous. Maybe the best in the country."
On how the team will prepare for Louisville:
"I thought that last week we were a little tired on Thursday, so we will try to remedy that with the way we practice. The only way to have a chance to win against a team like Louisville is to be fast. No matter what we do, we will have to be able to run, so how we practice and how long we practice will be a big issue this week."
Overall thoughts going into such a big game:
"Do I know what type of team that we have when matched up with the level of competition that we'll see at Louisville? No, I don't know that yet. Do I feel like we have the athletic ability to play with a Louisville? Well, we were able to do it against them and Southern Miss at the end of last year and we have 48 lettermen back from a year ago. We're not going into this game looking for a 'moral victory.' Our kids believe that they can beat Louisville and we're going to go up there and give it everything we've got."
On the impact of last year's win over Louisville:
"I've used a lot of examples from last year. I believe that our guys' maturity levels are such that we can do that. I've also talked about (losses to) Northwestern State and Tulane. The stars lined up for us last year against Louisville. They had already clinched the (C-USA) title and we were sitting at 4-5. We had two weeks off (beforehand). It was Thanksgiving weekend, so a lot of people were probably thinking about different things, and we came out and surprised them. It probably wasn't a great barometer of where those two teams were. But I don't think that there will be a lack of emotion in this ballgame at all. So I think that we will have a good feeling when this ballgame is over of where we're at with everything we're doing."
On TCU's quarterback situation this weekend:
"Obviously we'd like to have a senior quarterback in a game like this that has played in about 40 games, but we don't have that. If Sean (Stilley) is ready to go, then he'll have an opportunity to be a part of it."
On Louisville quarterback Dave Ragone:
"He keeps a lot of drives alive by being able to scramble out of trouble and go. We have to be able to do a good job of tackling him low. A lot of people try to go after him high and bounce off of him. They say that he weighs about 255, but I'm not sure that it's not more, and he runs real well for a big guy. He's very smart and understands things. If you watch every ballgame, I think that you'll see that he accounts for 3-to-5 first downs a game by taking off and scrambling for first downs, so we have to be able to do something about that. Last year we were able to corral him somewhat, but he still got off and had two or three runs against us, so we have to be very careful with him."
On whether TCU-Louisville is a budding rivalry in C-USA:
"There are a lot of good football teams (in Conference USA). I don't know if they will become a rival of ours or not. I'm sure that Louisville and Southern Miss is a rivalry because they are always playing for a conference title. Just like East Carolina when they play someone from that group. And Louisville and Cincinnati is one of a few natural rivalries because they are so close. But I think it's good to have rivals for the simple reason that it helps kids get motivated and ready to play. The reason that you get especially ready for someone like East Carolina, Southern Miss or Louisville is because that's who you have to beat to win the conference championship. Southern Miss and Louisville have won something like five out of the last six championships, so in order to have a chance to win the conference title, you have to go through Hattiesburg and Louisville. That's just the way it is and that has to be the measuring stick of where you're at and where you're going."
