Post-Game Notes
Nov 26, 2005 | Football
Nov. 26, 2005
Post Game Quotes
UM Coach Tommy West "The 16 seniors started it and now have kept it going. I don't know if I have ever seen as much fight in a football team. They just don't give up. I think this team made it happen. I told this team that it would be more special than the nine-win and eight-win teams. What this team has gone through to win six games is incredible."
"We held Marshall under 100 yards rushing and we almost had 250 yards rushing. The defense needed to play well and we did not turn the ball over. When we don't turn it over we can win. Our defense had their offense and we put the game on our running game and our kicker Stephen Gostkowski. We have a great kicker."
"Sixteen players bought into this and now it is easier to buy into this program. I wanted our guys to soak it up and enjoy this and that is the reason I wanted them to come back out to the field and salute the crowd. "
"I don't care what bowl we go to. I am tickled to death we are going somewhere and we get to practice some more. I am excited we can play in three straight bowl games."
"I think our assistants deserve a lot of credit for going through all this adversity."
(In regards to: What was the biggest play of the year?): The onside kick at Houston. When we got it and then scored it was really big. The game at Houston got it started and since that win we are 4-2. This has been a very frustrating season but the most gratifying also."
Marshall Coach Mark Snyder "I thought we made some good adjustments on defense in the second half. That was a big positive for us. I also wanted to get Derek Devine some snaps in a game situation before we get to spring ball. I wanted to get a feel of what Derek could do and give him something to learn off of before we head into the off season."
"Anytime you face a defense like this, you have to be able to win out wide, or you have to be able to run the option. We weren't able to do either of those tonight. So, we had to try to run our offense and spread them out and run it wide, but you can't have three turnovers. You can't come into a hostile environment against a good football team and have three turnovers."
"We stuck to our game-plan and stuck to our guns. We knew we had to be sound on the flanks defensively, and we weren't the first two quarters. We got it fixed though and had a chance to get back in the game, but they jumped on us and stayed tough. That's a good football team, and they just kept building their lead."
"I didn't feel like we had a let down at all today. I felt like our effort was good. The wind got taken out of our sails when they went up 14, but I felt like we got some momentum back. They just didn't let us play good."
Memphis Game Notes:
* Junior Michael Gibson booted a 70-yard punt in Memphis' first series. It tied for the fourth-longest punt in school history with Russell Richards who logged a 70-yard punt vs. Florida State in 1980.
* Heisman Trophy candidate DeAngelo Williams rushed one yard for Memphis' first score of the game with just over eight minutes left in the game. It was Williams' 51st career rushing TD, and his 56th total touchdown. He has scored in 22 of the last 27 games. Williams rushed for another one-yard score at the end of the first quarter for his 16th career game of multiple rushing touchdowns. He now totaks 52 rushing TDs and 57 career TDs.
* Kicker Stephen Gostkowski booted his 64th career field goal when he connected on a 49-yard attempt into the wind to end the first half. Gostkowski ranks third in Conference USA with his 64 made, just behind TCU's Nick Browne who totaled 65 career field goals.
* Stephen Gostkowski connected on a 53-yard field goal in the third quarter, which is a school record at the U of M. Gostkowski's previous high was a 51 yarder earlier this year against East Carolina. With that made attempt, Gostkowski tied TCU's Nick Browne (2001-03) for second in C-USA. Gostkowski connected on a 43 yarder later in the third quarter to tie for the C-USA record with 66 career FGs made. He tied Tulane's Seth Marler who hit 66 FGs from 1999-02. Gostkowski connected on his fourth try of the day, a 42 yarder, to hold the C-USA record with 67 career field goals.
* DeAngelo Williams rushed for 127 yards on 27 carries today to mark his 33rd career game of 100-plus yards rushing. Williams ties the NCAA record which was set by both Archie Griffin (1972-75) and Tony Dorsett (1973-76). Williams ends the regular season with 1,726 yards rushing, which gives him 5,788 career yards. He continues to rank fourth in NCAA history behind Tony Dorsett who totaled 6,082 yards for Pittsburgh from 1973-76. Williams continues to hold the NCAA record for career all-purpose yards with 7,337.
* Sophomore linebacker Heath Grant recovered a fumble in the third quarter, marking his second recovery this season. He also recovered a fumble in the upset win over UTEP.
* Senior defensive end Marcus West was credited with his fifth career fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. The recovery led to Stephen Gostkowski's 42-yard field goal that put the Tigers up 26-3.
* With the win today, the Tigers end the regular season with a 6-5 record and are bowl eligible for the third straight season. Memphis has ended the year with a winning record the last three straight years, marking the first time since 1992-94 (all three years were 6-5) that the Tigers had recorded three consecutive winning seasons.
* The Memphis defense held Marshall to 57 yards rushing, marking the fifth time this season that the opponent has been held below 100 yards rushing. The Thundering Herd was held to just 154 yards of total offense, marking the first time since 2003 against USF that Memphis held its opponent below 200 yards.
* Tiger quarterback Maurice Avery connected on just 1-of-8 passes today for minus 3 yards. It was the least amount of passing yards for a Tiger team since 1966 when Memphis totaled just 6 yards passing against USM. The one completion ties for a C-USA record, and the minus three yards is also a C-USA record.
* Kicker Stephen Gostkowski continues to hold the C-USA scoring record. He entered today's game with 343 points and added 14 points today for a new total of 357 points. Tailback DeAngelo Williams entered today's game ranked third in C-USA with 332 points and behind Tulane kicker Seth Marler. Williams added 12 points today to gain the No. 2 spot with 344 points. Williams continues to hold the C-USA record for scoring for a non-kicker.
