University of Memphis Athletics
Post Game Quotes
Nov 22, 2008 | Football
Nov. 22, 2008
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Tommy West Post-Game Quotes
Overall thoughts on the game
"I thought we matched up pretty well with UCF from a physical standpoint, not disappointed about that. The second thing is, coming into the game, we knew we weren't supposed to help them get points and that wasn't the case today. We helped them to 14 points in the first half and that is the reason we didn't win the game. I am disappointed that we made the errors early in the game and that put us behind. We made a great run at the end but we were unable to close out the game and get the win. We shouldn't have ever been down in that game."
On the blocked punt and the fumble
"We punt the ball right in the back of our guy. We had worked on Arkelon (Hall) punting the ball for the last two weeks. It was just a horrible play by our guy. With the second turnover, it was just a horrible snap and we needed to jump on the ball, but we didn't and they were able to recover the ball and run it all the way in for a touchdown."
On Curtis Steele
"Curtis was good enough to play in the game. He was sick and we didn't know if he was going to play in the game. Curtis and Carlos (Singleton) both got sick yesterday and I didn't know whether either of them would play in the game. They both toughed it up and both played in the game. I think the leg was good enough to play in the game."
George O'Leary,Head Coach UCF
Post Game Quotes
Opening Statement
"Anytime you win it's a good win, but we didn't do anything to help ourselves in the last three or four minutes in that game. Thank god the defense rose up and got us some good stops. Obviously we're yelling for the kid to go down at the end of the game, but we had enough time just to take a knee so we had to run one play and then take a knee. They got a chance after he fumbled the ball. I'm happy for the kids because they stayed in it. It wasn't a pretty fourth quarter, but I just feel that we didn't do anything very frantically. I think we had some penalties. I'll have to see them on film to make sure they're accurate. We gave some free yards away with those late hits on the quarterback. We can't do that and that's what happened there. It's a great win for our kids and anytime you win away in a conference game it's a big win, so I'm happy for them. I was pleased to see Joe Weatherford go in there and do some nice things. I'm happy for that, but I was also happy to see Rob Calabrese go out there and move the team down the field for the first touchdown. Then he didn't get much help in protection and had trouble getting rid of the ball in the second half. "
What was different offensively in the second half from the first half?
"Nothing. They just put eight and nine men up there and they had an extra guy to ours. I thought we should have thrown more quick plays in. They were sending more in than we could block. I thought that we did some good things offensively, and defensively, we just really got in trouble because of some penalties. Joe Burnett is a winner for a reason. He comes up with a big pick towards the end of the game. I thought it was going to be the end of the game. I didn't think we were going to give it back to them. I think the defense hung in there and did some nice things. They really did, and I'm just very happy with our players right now."
