Gary Patterson Media Luncheon Quotes -- September 3, 2002
9/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 3, 2002
On TCU's offensive performance versus Cincinnati:
"The bottom line is that when you're in the red zone, you have to score (touchdowns). I think that is the key to the ballgame. We were moving the football and doing things, but we had drives start at 25 or 27, one started at the 35 and one started at our 49. All of those drives ending in field goals, but we have to be able to get touchdowns. If just one of those is a touchdown, it is the difference in the ballgame. We can't settle for field goals when we have opportunities to score, especially when we play against good defenses like we are going to see in this conference."
On team's performance in the latter part of the game:
"I wouldn't use the word 'sloppy.' I would use the word 'tired.' I think that the conditioning factor (with TCU having 17 or 18 guys who missed practice time because of injuries) caught up to us a little bit. When that happens, you have to step up and want it more, and we did not do that."
On special teams:
"I think that, aside from the 60 yards in penalties on special teams, we won the special teams battle. We netted out at about 40 yards a punt, ran a punt back for a touchdown, were about even kickoff return-wise and we made five field goals. I think that Nick (Browne) and the whole field goal group did a great job because there were two or three low snaps that (holder) Joey Biasatti was able to get up and Nick still punched them through, especially because (Cincinnati) had a lot of pressure from the inside. So I was excited about that part."
Overall thoughts on first game:
"I take all of the blame for the mistakes that we made. I do think that injuries had a lot to do with the fatigue factor. We have always played well in first games and I think that we played a very good ballgame last night. But we made some mistakes, and they came back to haunt us. It comes down to four or five plays that were critical. Like not being able to get a first down in the final drive, the defense not being able to stop them on the fourth down and the penalty that moved us from the 16 to the 37 when we possibly had a chance to score a touchdown. You come down to those things, which are little things, but that's how you win championships."
On Northwestern:
"They are a Big Ten team. They will be like a caged lion this week. They are going to be back home, they got embarrassed in their first game of the season and Randy Walker teams always come out ready to play. The last time we played them in Evanston (in 1999), they were coming off a loss to Miami (Ohio), where he had coached the year before and they beat us (17-7). I expect to see a team that will come out raring to go.
"They were a little bit timid in their ballgame against Air Force (a 52-3 NU loss last Saturday). They kind of sat on their heels both offensively and defensively. I think a lot of it was because they saw the option and a 3-3 stack defense, which I don't think they were prepared for because Air Force changed to a new defense. I fully expect them to come out and get after us. For us, when you go into somebody else's house, you have to take the fight to them."
On the difference in preparing with only four days in between games:
"We are going into a short week, and the ballgame will also be played at noon, so we will have a short Saturday. There are a lot of things against us, but we can't even think about those things. We have to go up ready to play. I have never done this before, so we'll find out how tough it is. We've played before on Thursday nights, but you play right after a Saturday and get an off day. For this, we will watch film this afternoon, eat dinner, have position meetings for Northwestern and be out on the field tonight. It's new territory for us. I don't know if there are a whole lot of people who have done that. Most people will usually try to get a week off after a Monday game, like Cincinnati, who has almost two weeks to get ready for West Virginia.
"I told the team last night when we were in the locker room (after the loss at Cincinnati) that we would work out the mistakes, but we have to leave the loss behind us because we don't have time to worry about it. That is what we did the last time we went to Northwestern. Arizona came back and beat us on a Sunday night and let it bother us, then we went up to Northwestern and got beat 17-7. Our goal is now is to go 10-1, not 11-0."
