Oct. 23, 2003
GEORGIA TECH VS. MARYLAND POST-GAME QUOTES
GEORGIA TECH 7, MARYLAND 3
October 23, 2003 – Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field
Georgia Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey
Comment on the fumble that Cox recovered:
“I thought that we had it about three times, and it kept popping out. Finally I saw J.C (Cox) and I thought that he was going to score. We knocked the ball loose, and had our hands on balls and it was great to finally get one like that.”
Comment on not kicking the field goal at the end:
“The only way that you can lose is to get a field goal blocked and for them to run it back for a touchdown. That’s the only way that you can lose, in my opinion.”
Comment on defense:
“Unbelievable Unbelievable. You know, they played great and you say that it would be hard for them to play better. They played better this week than they had played before. I was amazed at the job that they did. I was really impressed.”
Comment on Reggie’s play:
“Solid. He didn’t make any dumb mistakes, which is the best thing. Even the throw that he had for the interception down in the red zone, it wasn’t a bad read, it’s just that the guy broke on it and made a great play. So he threw the ball away when he needed to, he ran the ball hard, and he didn’t make any dumb mistakes. That’s the mark of a veteran quarterback, and he’s not that.”
After picking of the fumble:
“I knew that we needed to score a touchdown right there.”
Excited after big win. Special?:
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited. Especially because it’s tonight. They’re all special. There isn’t a win that isn’t special. There isn’t a win that isn’t special. When everything goes perfect, it’s still hard to win. For these guys to find a way to win is amazing, now, they’ve done a great job. The character on this football team is what I’m proud of and excited about. We can play better, but the character is the bottom line on this football team.”
Comment on Tech’s running game:
“We knew that we had to run it. We came out in the third quarter and new that we had to try to loosen them up a little bit, so we threw it a decent amount early in the third quarter. And then when we held them and they punted down to the four yard line, I thought that was a key drive for us. We were able to bring it out to the 40 or 50 yard line, and punt it and keep them backed up. We took seven minutes off the clock, and you have to do those types of things. I went back to the line after we scored the touchdown and told them that we’re going to have to run the football to win this game, and they accepted the challenge.
Comment on Butler:
“He’s a big-play guy, and an excellent football player. He’s a guy that has good instincts, good talent, and he’s smart. That’s a pretty good combination of things to have. “
Underdog status. What’s making the guys play like they are?
“The character of the football team. That’s the bottom line. John Tenuta and his staff have done an unbelievable job. We’ve had a freshman quarterback come in here and play beyond everyone’s expectations, we’ve had a running back that was a walk-on last year that’s gone above everyone’s expectations, we’ve got receivers that are complementing each other, making good plays. A lot of good things are happening to this football team right now. But right now, the character of the football team is the bottom line.”
Concern about punters.
“Very concerned. You have to go out and work at it. They just have to go out and work at it. Somebody has got to gain some confidence out of that group.
Comment on Maryland’s offense.
“I thought that if we could stop the run, it would be great. They did a little bit more underneath stuff, tried to run the football a little bit more, but we didn’t change what we were doing.”
Maryland Head Coach Ralph Friedgen
On Georgia Tech’s defensive play in the first half:
“It was nothing that we hadn’t rehearsed. I’m really disappointed with the way that we handled certain things, because it wasn’t anything that we hadn’t seen before. We just didn’t do a good job with it.”
“They blitzed a lot and we do that. The guy blitzes 90 percent of the time on third and seven to 10. I’d say that’s a tendency, we just didn’t do a good job of picking them up. They’re very quick and do a good job and they were just beating us, it’s as simple as that. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure that out.”
“I thought their secondary was very good, especially their safties. I think they are very physical and are big kids that can cover a lot of ground.”
On Maryland’s defensive effort:
“I thought we played well. The drive that we had them backed up was a big part of the game. They ate up about six or seven minutes at that point and then we went and threw the interception. That’s where we were at the end of the game. I really thought about going for it on fourth and six, but the defense had played well all night and Adam (Podlesh) is a good ‘sky punter’ and it worked out just the way we wanted it, but we just couldn’t get it done.”
On quarterback Joel Staham:
“I’m not disappointed with him, I’m just disappointed that we turned the ball over. He’s going to learn how to read coverages better and things along those lines, but that will happen as he matures. To go in there like that, I thought he did ok, especially at the end of the half. He made some big plays, but unfortunately, he gave up some.”
“When he came in, we tried to not do a whole lot of things that were real complicated, but we had to do some things. He didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes as far as the game plan was concerned. He made a couple of late throws and throws into coverage that he got away with, that really should have been picked off. He’s got to start seeing coverages better. Right now, he’s just throwing at people.”
On quarterback Scott McBrien’s play:
“It was ok. It’s kind of like it has been, he’ll miss one throw, but that’s going to happen.”
On the play of Maryland’s offense:
“Under the circumstances I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed with our blocking and really I’m disappointed with everything about our offense. I’m not pleased at all. I’m not sure what we can do. I thought we had a really good week of practice. We practiced as well as at any time since I’ve been here and then we come out and play like this. I’m just really disappointed right now.”
On taking the loss:
“It was a tough loss because everything was there. Now we’re right back with the pack with two losses. Florida State is playing much better and we’ve just got to finish strong and hopefully get better and see if we can get to a good bowl game, but that’s not a lock the way we’re playing right now.”
Player Quotes for Georgia Tech
Reggie Ball
“We just found a way to win. It was ugly, but we found a way to pull it out against a tough opponent.”
“Yes. Everybody on the offensive line and on the offense knew that we had to put it in. We were down inside the 20, the defense got us the ball and we knew we had to put it in.”
“No. That’s what good teams do. You play good offensively and you play good defensively. They’re doing their job, what they are supposed to do.”
“I wanted to cut him, but I wasn’t sure if they would call a penalty so I stayed up and got in his way and got put on my butt.”
“That’s why we stay in the weight room. I’m not trying to be a quarterback who slides, but I’m not going to run full speed when they’re running full speed, nothing like that.”
“They came out with a great scheme. We just knew after the first couple series that it was going to be one of those games that we had to just grind it out.”
“I saw it bouncing around, so I picked it up and thought I was going to score, but I looked up and the lineman was in front of me.”
“I got people teasing me, ‘why didn’t you score’, ‘a lineman tackled you’.”
“As a defense you need something like that to happen. Come up with something big and put the offense in a position to score.”
“Players up front did a good job putting pressure on the quarterback and forced him to throw bad balls. I just sat back there and made plays.”
“The game plan was to stop the run. Once we stopped the run we made them one-dimensional. We make an offense one dimensional, we play better.”
“The ball just hung in the air forever. I was watching it and saying, come down. Reuben (Houston) did a nice job on the two-seem, and Dennis Davis did a good job jabbing the number one receiver.”
