Sept. 17, 2005
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Georgia Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey
What happened to Reggie and how is he doing?
“Reggie started getting sick late in the week and it got worse last night. He’s in the hospital now receiving tests, and we’ll know more in the next couple of days.”
How did your game plan change with Taylor Bennett starting?
“It changed a little bit. We didn’t throw the ball as much and we didn’t feel like we needed to, especially once we got a lead. Taylor didn’t find out he was going to be starting until this morning so imagine how he must’ve felt. He’d never started a college game and it was a pretty monumental task to do what he did and lead his team to victory.”
What did you say to Taylor during the game to try and keep him relaxed?
“Actually, Patrick (Nix) was doing a great job of keeping him calm and focused during the course of the game.”
Talk about your defense in the second half.
“Well, we didn’t allow any first downs in the second half. That’s pretty impressive. It was a great job by the defense. They only gave up a couple of big runs and other than that, they really didn’t give up much else. I thought they played outstanding and I’m really happy for them.”
Were you happy with the pressure that you put on their quarterback?
“That’s basically what our defense does. We don’t stand there and say that we’re going to bend but not break. We’re going to make the other team earn every yard but they’re going to get pressured on every play.”
Do you expect Reggie to play next week?
“I’ll let you all know in the next couple of days as I get more information.”
Was it nice having P.J. Daniels play against Connecticut this year and to also have Tashard Choice?
“It was. I thought they both ran very hard tonight, but they also put the ball on the ground which is something we have to work on.”
Can you talk about the fact that Connecticut made Taylor throw the ball more in the second half?
“Taylor made the throws when he had to. He hit one pass on a 3rd down and 11 and got 11 yards and one inch. He also hit another screen pass later on which gave us a big first down. He hit them when he had to, especially on that drive where we scored a touchdown to make the lead fifteen points. I thought that was a key point in the game.”
What did Taylor say when he was told he would be starting tonight’s game?
“I wasn’t there but Patrick (Nix) told him. He’s a competitor and he wants to play.”
What was your overall assessment of his play during the game?
“He didn’t make any major blunders and to me, the first time you go out there, start a game, and don’t make any big mistakes, then I think you’re playing pretty well. He did enough to get us in the end zone and score touchdowns. He got it to the right people enough times to win the game. You have to give him credit for what he did instead of maybe complaining about what he didn’t do.”
Can you talk about Eric Henderson not being there tonight?
“Our defense really got after their offense and especially their quarterback. I’m not sure how many sacks we got but I know he took a lot of hits. He’s a very tough competitor and I would’ve liked to shake his hand. He ran the option and took shots in the pocket so you have to give him a lot of credit.”
What happened on the play where the punter kicked the ball out of the end zone?
“You can’t intentionally kick the ball out of the end zone and he must’ve seen him that somewhere. We didn’t talk about that during the walk-through.”
Does being 3-0 feel pretty good?
“Winning feels great and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
CONNECTICUT HEAD COACH RANDY EDSALL
“I told our team tonight that they played hard, and I told them that they have to play as hard as they can. But when you give up the pass for a touchdown on the first play of the game, then you throw an interception for a touchdown, then you fumble on a kickoff return that leads to points, then we’re off the field on a third down and we have a holding call that kept that drive going. When you’re playing a top-20 team, you can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes against a team like that, and especially on the road.”
“I’m proud of the way we competed, but I’m not proud of the way we executed. But give Tech credit. Georgia Tech’s a good football team. They took it to us defensively. We had some young guys up there on the offensive line. We competed, but we didn’t get the win.”
On how Bonislawski reacted to Tech’s pressure and defending against the kind of pressure Tech brought – “I thought he did a good job of hanging in there. I thought he took a lot of hits. We had some things there, but once you start getting a lot of that pressure, of course it’s going to get to him a little bit. He stayed out there and competed and did everything we asked him to do. He’ll get better.”
“We’ll grow from this. I think we have to understand just how good we’re going to have to be to compete against a top-20 team on the road.”
On whether the game was lost in the trenches – “I thought out defense held up pretty good. They were out on the field for 84 plays. That haven’t been out on the field for that many plays in the (first) two games (combined). I think that says a lot about the stamina, the will and the heart and the determination. Yeah, we made some mistakes. Georgia Tech did some things in terms of formations that we made some mistakes on, and they gained some yards. They gained 307 yards. If you average that out in terms of yards per play, that’s a pretty good effort, I think, defensively.
“Their defensive line is a little bit older, a little bit more experienced. We had to start Will Beatty tonight because Craig Berry had pneumonia, didn’t practice Tuesday and Wednesday and had only 15 reps, so we made a game-time decision. I wasn’t going to play him unless we needed him. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively. Their defensive line did handle us.”
On his reaction to Reggie Ball not playing – “It didn’t phase us, Chan told me before the game he wasn’t going to play, which tells you what kind of guy he is. But they’re a talented football team. I think they utilized their other people (well), and plus with the mistakes that we made. We don’t care who plays, we just have to come down here and play. We didn’t go jumping up and down saying `Reggie Ball’s not going to play.’ We know if you’re playing at this level, you’re going to be a good player. Just because he hasn’t played doesn’t mean he can’t go out and execute their offense. “
Georgia Tech Post-game Player Quotes
It was kind of a last-minute thing. He woke up this morning and wasn’t feeling well again. They took him to the hospital and we’d hoped that we could get him back for the game but when it came down to it, they told me when I got here at around 4/4:30.
I don’t think I was that nervous. I was less nervous than I thought I would be. I thought I would be a whack-job, but I treated it as a back-up thing. If he goes down in the game, I have to be ready to come in as the back-up. It’s what they tell us to do everyday, that’s what we do.
We didn’t alter it much. A game plan is a game plan and we have to stick to it no matter what and execute it.
I didn’t really feel anything. I was just like, “okay, here we go.” We went out there, the line did good, Calvin worked his magic and took it to the house and did his thing and we just went from there. It was tough to live up to after that.
I try to treat it as much like practice as I can…just because they’re always reinforcing that everyday at practice. I’m pretty fortunate to go against our defense every day at practice. They are a great defense, and they bring every blitz you could possibly think of, so it’s great to go against them everyday and see that so you’re prepared for almost anything when you come out to the game.
He told me to protect the ball, be patient and just be smart.
If Reggie comes back, that’s great. If not, then Taylor can do it.
Taylor did a fabulous job. He kept his composure and didn’t turn over the ball. That’s the key thing. We stepped it up defensively and helped him out with the score, finished off the game and got the win.
Coach came up to me and said that we needed to let the defense know that Reggie was going to be out in the game, and we really needed to step it up.
Last year, we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities, and this year we are. We’re catching the ball more. Our linebackers are making plays left and right, which gives the DB’s a lot more opportunities for them to throw it deep for us to make the play. We’re also reading coverages better, and that’s Coach Tenuta right there. He does a great job of putting us in the right position to make the big plays.
We’re not giving up as many big plays, we’re not having the mental errors, and we are tackling better. If you can rattle the quarterback, you put yourself in a good position. The competition is going to get a lot stiffer as the season goes on, so hopefully we can continue to build on this week.
PJ DANIELS
All I told him was that it was his game, and to go out and have fun. I knew he was ready. That’s the thing about our team. We have a good time and we enjoy ourselves. We come out here and give it 100 percent.
He was calm. He stepped back, threw the ball to Calvin and it was a touchdown.
There is no difference. We just come out and pound and pound and pound. That’s what Coach Gailey likes doing, and I don’t think we are going to stop doing that at all.”
