TCU vs. Army Postgame Quotes
10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
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TCU Head Coach Gary PattersonOpening statement:
"It wasn't pretty but it was a win. We're 6-1. I didn't think we did anything particular offensively, defensively or special teams but it was a W."
On the game at halftime:
"I told the team we should be embarrassed. We weren't playing very hard or smart in every phase of the ballgame. There wasn't an emotional connection for us coming into this game. I've got to give credit to Army for coming out to play."
On Army:
"I don't want to take any credit away from Army. They played hard and did some nice things to slow us down on offense. It was one of those games we had to come play and we did enough to win."
On Jeff Ballard's performance:
"I think we missed some people who were open in the first half. Army did what it had to do to get to us."
TCU Quarterback Jeff Ballard
On the TCU Offense:
"I expect this out of the offense. I know what we're capable of, and in parts of the game we showed it. I thought we had some good drives and did some nice things. We sustained a couple of drives and went 6-for-6 in the red zone. All in all, I think we played a good game. Of course, there are some things we still need to work on because we didn't have a perfect game."
On Playing Army:
"We've got to get up for every game. They are a team that plays tough every time we've played them. We expect it. They come to play all four quarters. You've got to give them respect because they really brought it to us. They come out and play hard."
On Playing With a 7-Point Lead in the Fourth Quarter:
"We never got nervous. We knew what we're capable of and that if we just played slow and steady, we'd win the race. We knew what we had to do to seal the game."
TCU Offensive Tackle Herbert Taylor
On What Coach Patterson Told the Team at Halftime:
"Coach made a point to let us know that we were looking sluggish. We made it look easy on the first drive and it was like we expected to do it every drive. He told us we needed to play hard and with unity. We knew we needed to play with a purpose in the second half."
On Tailback Robert Merrill:
"I think when someone comes in and does what Aaron (Brown) has done, they tend to get a lot of attention. Rob is just so consistent. Even when he's got four guys hanging on him he keeps on trucking. He can get overlooked, but when he lines up, people know how talented he is."
Army Head Coach Bobby Ross
On his team's performance:
"I was pleased with our effort. We played hard and gave ourselves a chance to win against what I think is a very good football team. The interceptions were killers for us. We can't allow that to happen. We knew coming into the game we couldn't turn the ball over and we had to play almost a perfect game. The three turnovers were big plays."
On his decision to go for an onsides kick in the middle of the fourth quarter:
"Something I would be open to second-guessing was going for the onsides kick when it was 24-17. My thinking was that we had momentum and I was thinking positive as opposed to negative. I thought we had the opportunity but we didn't execute it like we needed to."
On his team's first road game in nearly a month:
"The attitude was good and our kids played hard. They came here to play."
On the return of starting running back Carlton Jones:
"Carlton is our go-to guy. It helped to have him back. He had his ankle tweaked at the end of the game but I don't think that it's anything serious. We try to give him the ball as much as we can because he's a big playmaker for us."
Army Quarterback Zac Dahman
On the offense:
"Offensively, we made a lot of plays but we were unable to capitalize on them. Overall, I think that we came out and we worked really hard. It was great to have (Carlton) Jones back. He made a lot of great plays."
On becoming the all-time career offensive yards leader at Army:
"It doesn't matter to me. I'll take a win any day over individual stats."
On playing in his home state:
"It's fun to play here. I had a lot of family come out to watch. It would have been fun to get the win. I played here as a sophomore two years ago. It was pretty much the same story as this year."
