Gary Patterson Media Luncheon Quotes
11/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 2, 2004
(On Louisville): "You have to be like them and attack. They're very good at what they do. Louisville's quarterback (Stefan LeFors) scrambles against everyone. Another thing you have to do is tackle well. Their wide receivers are very good at breaking tackles, and they run about five tailbacks at you. Louisville uses nine to 10 personnel groups. There are situations where they get up on you and use new groups against you. Their best tailback in that system might be Kolby Smith. The difference in Louisville from when we first played them in 2001 is their defense is a lot better. I think I read somewhere that 38 percent of the offense they have allowed has come in the fourth quarter when their twos and threes come in."(On having extra time to get ready for Louisville): "We have extra time to get ready and their time is short. Louisville has to play a Thursday night game on the road at Memphis and won't have a lot of time to evaluate. We won't have to worry about as many new things going in. We do enough offensively for them to have problems getting ready. (Head coach Bobby Petino) gave them extra time off after South Florida. Louisville hasn't really been that beat up. It's hard to be when you're up by 35 at half all the time."
(On TCU's mindset): "Mine hasn't changed. We played Louisville when we were 4-5 my first year and they were 9-1 and were Conference USA champs coming in. You have to get ready to play. On any given day anyone can beat anyone. All it takes is to have one bad night at quarterback or some kids (on the other team) step up."
(On Louisville coach Bobby Petrino): "Bobby Petrino has made them a lot more accountable and given that team much more substance. He's done a tremendous job. I like to study coaches and players in interviews. He's done a great job changing that group. That's what they needed. Their players talk about `we' instead of `I.'
(On TCU's past success against Louisville): "We match up well against Louisville for some reason. Both teams like playing this game. Their athletic director Tom Jurich has done a great job building facilities and has a great vision for that school. He's a lot like our athletic director Eric Hyman in that regard. Louisville has great financial and fan support. Their tradition really goes back to Howard Schnellenberger. He was able to recruit Florida after coming from Miami.
"Unlike Texas, there are only two big schools in the state of Kentucky. Louisville has been able to keep the best players in the state because Kentucky is a little down in football. Whenever you can get the best players in the state and get some others from elsewhere you have a chance to be successful."
(On Louisville's quarterbacks Stefan LeFors and Brian Brohm): "One quarterback is a freshman and one is a senior. Brohm will be great. He has a great presence in the pocket; probably a better presence than Tye Gunn had when he was a freshman. It's easy to be a quarterback in their offense because they have so many weapons. The thing that's different now is they're playing well defensively and putting themselves in good situations to win."
(On playing on the road): "It's hard to win on the road. It doesn't matter what year it is. We need to stop spotting people points. We've played well during the last two and half quarters. I've said this before, when you go on the road you have to take the ballgame and not wait to see how it turns out."
(On whether or not fullback Marcus Draper's performance at Cincinnati will affect his play calling at Louisville): "It won't influence my play calling. We always try to get the fullback involved. He's at a point where we trust him more. We're trying to get into more option stuff to involve him in. It helps our outside game and makes him a weapon. We probably could have gone to him earlier than what we did against Cincinnati."
(On TCU in third and long situations): "We have to run the ball better, especially on first down. If I knew the answer I'd solve it. Cincinnati held Memphis to 10 points at home and did the same to us. They're a group that's pretty good defensively."
(On whether or not TCU needs to play with desperation the rest of the season): "If you play with desperation you'll never win because you'll make mistakes. We have to do what has gotten us here. That means pressuring the ball, running the ball, play action passes and causing more takeaways. We had one the other day and got a penalty called on it. We have to play well in the red zone.
"There are no secrets to winning in November. We have to play great defense. It's just like the World Series. The team that has the best pitching is going to win. For us, we're getting better. At times, we have played well. There's not just one answer. One thing is to play well in the kicking game. If we don't miss two field goals at Cincinnati it's 21-16 and a different game on our last drive. If we didn't shank punts it could have been a different game."
(On whether Louisville might overlook TCU): "Louisville won't overlook us. They've got too much at stake and there's too much water under the bridge between us. Louisville wanted to end the season undefeated in the league in 2001 when we beat them."
(On whether or not TCU deserves to go to a bowl game): "It's kind of funny because I got asked that after UAB my first year and I said `yes.' To win 10 or 11 ballgames is tough. It's a hard thing to do with the way college football is. In conference, everyone knows each other so well. You watch Tulane score 59 against UAB and get back and lose to Houston the next week. What's the reasoning? I don't know."
(On Tye Gunn's health): "Tye won't practice today. He came out ok on the MRI. His thing is how much pain he can tolerate the next three to four weeks."
(On Drew Coleman): "The most important thing is Drew Coleman stepped up, and that helps him going into the spring and next fall. He has helped a lot of people."
(On TCU's recruiting): "We've got five to seven junior college punters we'll look at. We still might look at kickers. We need a big strong safety. We need a defensive end. We're trying to decide if we need to get a junior college quarterback. I worry about Tye staying healthy and I'm not happy with the progress of our younger quarterbacks and where they're at. It's good to have potential but it has to turn into something else eventually. It's like the word assume. It'll get you into trouble too."
