Gary Patterson Media Luncheon Quotes
10/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2004
FORT WORTH, Texas(On the UAB game): "What you have to understand about UAB is they're athletic as anybody. Five of their top six linebackers are seniors. They are a very physical team. Watson (Brown) has talked about them being proven having won some big games. What's good for us is we have all of our bullets back. UAB is very good and when you go into a place like that on national television you have to take the game. You can't play field position like when you're at home.
"We're not out of the race if we lose it, but it's a big game for us to stay in the hunt. We play every team that is undefeated or has one loss in the conference. Out of the six games left none of those teams are playing bad football."
(On UAB's strengths): "One thing they've done is add Reggie Lindsey. He leads the conference in kickoff returns and he returned a punt for a touchdown last week. They'll run the ball and pound you down. Darrell Hackney has a strong arm and you have to stay with the guy. UAB hasn't had a lot of penalties, but they're still physical. We're about the same in turnovers with them. They have a lot of people back this year. UAB had to play twos and threes last year because they were so banged up. They have almost all their starters back this year. I told everybody in the preseason I thought they were the dark horse of the league."
(On who will start at quarterback for TCU): "We'll see come Thursday who'll start at quarterback. Tye and Brandon are both getting healthy. Chad Andrus has missed a couple games and is getting healthy; Anthony Alabi is healthy; Chase Johnson is back at full strength; Reggie Harrell and Quentily Harmon are healthy. We're faster than we have been the past few weeks."
(On stopping UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney): "The biggest thing to do is not let Hackney scramble. You have to get him on the ground and tackle him low. The best thing he does is run to the sidelines and throw the ball. He's very athletic and very gifted. He'd be a guy to come off the bench in basketball and score 30 points. You have to surround Hackney. You can't let the ball go over your head and you have to pressure him.
"If you want to beat UAB you must stop the run on first down. That's how they get you on the long ball and they know that. That's why sometimes you have to play back on first down. Their best play is play action. I think all of UAB's touchdown passes this season have come on play action."
(On scoreboard watching): "I don't think it means all that much. It all comes down to playing at home and on the road. Texas Tech has scored 140 points in the only two home games they've played. You have to be able to play on the road. I have to give Southern Miss credit for being 4-0 because they've only had one home game and were able to win at Nebraska. If you look at Army when they play at home, if you aren't ready and don't give them your A game plan they'll beat you. We went in with our third quarterback and our second guy had to play the second half. I give us credit for doing that. It depends on where you play and what you do. I'm still upset about South Florida because you have to protect your home field in this league and we let that one get away. If you want to win the league you have to win at home."
(On TCU cornerback Drew Coleman): "Drew has been cleared to play. He'll be used in certain situations. He's made a lot of plays in practice."
(On TCU's running backs): "Lonta Hobbs leads the country in touchdowns. That speaks for itself. He had a great spring and summer. I think things happen for a reason. Robert Merrill has struggled this season because he's been injured ever since preseason practice started. He still isn't back to being the Robert we all remember from last year."
(On whether or not TCU needs to outscore UAB): "I hope not. We've gotten better on defense. We just have to play with confidence. If we don't give up the big play we have a chance to win. We have the potential and run well enough on defense to give them problems. We have to tackle because we haven't played well when we don't."
(On tackling): "When we had LT here we could still have a scrimmage with a guy like Ricky Madison because LT would never scrimmage. We haven't had the chance to tackle good backs in practice because Lonta and Robert don't scrimmage either. We don't want those guys to get hurt. We don't have any guys around that can do what they do. I think healthy teams tackle better because they can run better. The key to playing defense is tackling and playing great leverage."
(On what he thinks UAB is concerned about): "One thing I think concerns them is we do a lot on offense and they haven't seen a lot of our players play. They haven't practiced as much as usual. Watson has said they have to have their legs. It seems like UAB is cutting back on their practices and watching more film."
