Sept. 6, 2003
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GEORGIA TECH VS. AUBURN POST-GAME QUOTES Georgia Tech 17, Auburn 3
**Georgia Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey
Opening comment: “The only guys that thought they would win are the guys in that room and on the practice field all week. That’s what makes this win special.”
Comment on is this your best win “Yes it sure is, because it is today. Hopefully, there will be more in future.”
Comment on the Tech defense “I have to give a ton of credit to John Tenuta and his staff for the scheme they came up with, being out mansized, wise and to stop the running game. That is just an amazing job. We let them (Auburn) move a little bit, but they never could get it down in the end zone.”
“Secondly, you have to give a ton of credit to our players who performed. I knew they played hard, I challenged them to play smart.”
Comment on Tech’s offense “We thought we could throw the ball deep a few times. We knew we were going to have to have to throw some deep balls to have a chance. We would have to pick and choose how and where we would have to run it. We knew we would have to run Reggie to get some yards in crucial situations and he did it.”
Comment on Reggie Ball “He handled himself very well. He made some freshmen mistakes, which are expected. We have to keep working to cut them down.” “No telling what he will be able to do in the future. He has a great feel for the game.”
**Auburn Head Coach Tommy Tuberville
Opening Comment: “Well, it was another long day for us. Obviously if you can’t score points, you can’t win ball games. I give all the credit to Georgia Tech and Coach Gailey, they got after us from the word, go. It was basically the same thing that we saw last week for the opponent’s defense with guys flying around and making plays, but we didn’t step up and make plays. Defensively, I thought we bent a little too much, and we gave up too many big plays on third down. The first play of the game pretty much set the tone.”
“I thought we were ready to play today. Right now, we’re looking for answers. We’re getting ready to start conference play and we’re going to have to play a whole lot better. I think we’ve got a good football team, but we’re not playing like a good football team right now, and that starts with me. I’ve got to get the job done, and we’re going to get it done, starting next week. I just told the team that. I’m disappointed that we didn’t make progress this week from the first game, but again, they had something to do with that. We’ll come back tomorrow and get ready for conference play next week.”
On the play of Auburn’s offensive line: “Everyone’s doing a pretty good job of zone blitzing and making us hold the ball a little bit longer. We’re not seeing as many zone defenses and four-man rushes, people are bringing five and six, which is making us hold the football a little longer and I think that’s getting to us. It was the same way last week, but that’s another place that we need to step up and be able to block five or six guys to give the quarterback a little bit longer to throw it.”
On his team’s offensive play calling: “Well, we didn’t score any points, again. Obviously we’ll look at that, but you can’t tell about the plays until you look at the film to see how close you were. We were close a couple of times. The first screen pass was wide open and would have been a touchdown, but we didn’t execute on some of the plays that they gave us. You only get so many plays a game, and we have not taken advantage of those.”
On the play of quarterback Jason Campbell: “It’s hard to assess him when he’s got people hanging all over him. He’s going to have to get rid of the ball. We took way too many sacks and we’ve had more sacks in two games than we had in half the season last year. He’s going to have to learn to throw the ball away and we’re going to have to find a way to get open. We’re going to continue to see the same thing, including next week against Vanderbilt. We haven’t scored a touchdown in eight quarters, and that might be a record. We’re going to find the answers, but if we’re going to do that, we better start this week.”
**Georgia Tech Player Quotes
Reggie Ball “Last week we had to adjust to BYU’s defense. Not many teams run that type of defense so it took awhile to adjust. This week Auburn ran a standard defense so we were able to call some different plays.” “The opening play definitely gave us a boost. I was upset that we didn’t punch it in, but we knew that we could move the ball.” “How many turnovers did we have last week? Four. How many did we have this week, none, one. That makes a big difference. We moved the ball last week but made some mistakes, this week we didn’t.” “I came one phone call away from going to Auburn. But I’m not concerned with that now, God showed me the way and now I’m at Georgia Tech. This is where I was meant to play and I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else.” “We knew what we could do in the BYU game, but when you loose, you start getting doubts. But after today’s performance, we have that boost and confidence heading to Florida State.”
Keyaron Fox “Stopping them at the end of the first half was big. We knew that heading into the half that we had to stop them to keep the momentum on our side. That’s exactly what we did. Giving up just the three points was big.” “We weren’t surprised. Everyone was saying that we were not going to be able to stop the run because of what happened last week. Well, we knew that we could stop the run and that’s what we did. So I wasn’t surprised that we were able to hold Auburn’s offense in check.” “I think we have a lot of leaders on this ball club. Not just seniors, but even freshman. I mean you can go up and down this roster to find leaders.”
Dennis Davis “We had to move a bunch of people in different positions, so I think the first game was a learning curve. We moved people around on defense today and adjusted to playing different positions.” “The first play on offense was a big boost for everybody. We were standing the sidelines and say Reggie hit the long pass and the defense starting jumping up and down and got really excited. That set the tone for the rest of the game.” “I knew that we had a chance to win the game if we went out there and executed the way we know how. Each possession we got more confidence. The defense was stepping up and the offense was moving the ball.”
Jonathan Smith “It gives us a huge boost heading into next week. We knew that we could play with anybody if we executed and today we did. Now we know that we can play with top teams and it gives us confidence heading to Florida State next week.” “I’m real excited about heading to Tallahassee next week. I live a few hours up the road so it’s going to be pretty fun. I know a couple of those guys on the team so it should make for an exciting game.”
Travis Parker “We weren’t really ready for what happened last week. The altitude, the different style of offense, it threw is off just a little bit. This week we were in front of our home fans and playing in an atmosphere that we were familiar with, so I’m not shocked that we did what we did this afternoon.” “That was our main goal on defense today. Get back to the quarterback and apply pressure. I don’t know a single quarterback that can make good quick decisions on a consistent basis. That’s our goal every week.” “It definitely helps us heading into next week against Florida State. We have a brutal schedule this year and picking up this win over a ranked opponent gives us confidence for our next game.” “We expected to win today. I know that a lot of people didn’t feel that we could, which motivates us in practice to prove people wrong.”
Mark Logan “Playing in front of a packed house, with that kind of atmosphere and to play the way we did, it’s a great feeling.” “I was kind of surprised, but I give all the credit to our defense. They played a great game today. They had a good game plan and executed it really well this afternoon.” “We are determined to do great things this year. This win shows that we are capable of accomplish that. It shows that we can compete with anybody. This is just a sign of more to come.”
**Auburn Player Quotes
Auburn QB Jason Campbell “We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We’d get going and then shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and that is extra yards we have to get on offense.”
“The players were just running all over the field and getting their hands up to tip the ball. They were making plays on the ball the whole game.”
Auburn C Danny Lindsey “We have to do more things better up front. We have to maintain our box and give the quarterback time to throw the ball.”
Auburn WR Courtney Taylor “Like I said last week, I don’t thrive on personal goals … especially when we are not executing on offense. If we win and I get the stats, that’s great, but I have to do more. After the catch, I need to make people miss. I need to make big plays and score.”
