Baylor, Texas A&M Quotes
11/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 13, 2010
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23/25 TEXAS A&M (7-3, 4-2) 42, RV/RV BAYLOR €ˆ(7-4, 4-3) €ˆ30
FLOYD CASEY STADIUM • WACO, TEXAS
NOV. 13, 2010 • ATTENDANCE: 45,089
Baylor Head Coach Art Briles
Opening statement €¦
"I feel terrible for our athletes, first and foremost, for our football team. I thought our guys played extremely hard. There was a lot of passion, a lot of energy and a lot of effort. All of the things that we asked them to do. Our fans were tremendous. I feel very obligated for them; very disappointed for them that we did not get the win. I appreciate their effort coming out and providing the energy to us coming out of the gates. We just did not do a good job; I did not do a good job of sustaining what we started, and so I take full responsibility for not winning the game tonight against A&M."
On the lack of scoring in the second half €¦
"It is always frustrating. You have got to finish the drive. You have got to score points. You are holding the ball, you have got to score. One of our goals was to score touchdowns on three-straight possessions. We did in the first half, but we did not fulfill some other goals that we had. There is nothing to be enthused about that I can see because we lost to a team that we certainly had a good opportunity to not lose to."
On the disappointment of the loss...
"We thought we were going to win the game. We thought we were going to win the game at 6:05 p.m. It is bad. It does hurt. It does make you feel sick, empty, embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed. All of those things that go with not doing what you are suppose to do, and what we were suppose to do was go win a football game. We did not do it."
Sophomore Quarterback Robert Griffin III
On the offense being held scoreless in the second half €¦
"I don't know what it was. We knew we were going to have to come in and dig and dunk with the coverage they were going to play against us. We moved the ball at times in the second half, but we just couldn't punch it in for six."
On the game and trying to win for the fans €¦
"It was very intense. At the point of attack in trenches guys were battling hard. We should have rewarded them with a victory."
Senior Free Safety Tim Atchison
On losing momentum in the second half...
"I €ˆcan't even tell you. We just didn't get the things done that we needed to get done on defense. We shot ourselves in the foot all day. We got a couple of lucky plays where they got called back on busted coverages. You just can't do stuff like that when you're expecting to win a football game."
On not getting stops in the second half...
"Of course with us on defense we don't ever want to let them score. At that point in the game we felt like we were okay if we still needed to stop the minor things. I €ˆfeel like that's what it's boiled down to all season. On defense, just us playing undisciplined sometimes. That's something we need to get better at. I €ˆthink we're better than the defense we've been putting out on the field. I think we showed them flashes tonight but we didn't finish strong enough."
Senior Safety Byron Landor
On the performance of the defense €¦
"It's terrible. I'll be completely honest. I €ˆdon't even know what to say. We just didn't play well. We didn't do a good job of keeping the momentum. It felt real good at the beginning but they found a way to fight and found a way to get the win in the end."
On dealing with such an emotional loss...
"I €ˆthink the thing that hurts the most is just seeing the crowd out there and seeing how energetic they were in the first half when the momentum was going our way. In the second half, just to see the dejected look on their faces, that's what really makes this loss hard. We're not blind. I looked up and saw the thousands of people up there. We really wanted to bring this one home. At the time, we felt that we were Big 12 South contenders. The good thing is we've got seven wins and we are headed to a bowl game. We have everything to play for and no way do we want to finish this season with a loss. We're going to come and next week and we're going to fight. We have a lot of room for improvement and we're going to continue to get better. It's a process and we're going to continue climbing the mountain."
Texas A&M Head Coach Mike Sherman
On the game €¦
"We came in at halftime and I said, "This is not a time to panic. Let's just get done what we need to get done. Let's fix what needs to get fixed and we talked about what we had to do in the second half. We just had to shore up a couple of things. Obviously, the penalties killed us. They hurt us in the second half too, but not as much. I €ˆthought the guys, as I told them, "Keep your composure. Things are getting a little roughhouse out there, keep our composure. Let's focus on the win and that is all that matters." I thought that is what they did. They focused on the win. We tackled better in the second half. We blocked better and made some plays. That was it. I €ˆtake my hat off to Baylor, they played a great ball game."
On the blocked field goal to end the second half €¦
"We just came out of that timeout and he had already kicked one and the second time through didn't have as much air underneath it. We had a good push in the middle and I €ˆthink that was a huge field goal because you go into half with points, that is always an uplifting feeling for a team. We thought we had points going back the other way, but obviously, we didn't."
On Cyrus Gray €¦
"Anything Cyrus does, does not surprise me. He is the most unselfish, humble guy I €ˆhave ever been around. He is very talented. He just keeps getting better. He is far superior to where he was as a freshman and last year and last game to this game. He just keeps getting better."
On shutting down Robert Griffin III in the second half €¦
"We should have done it in the first half, it would have been alot easier. He is a great player; a phenomenal athlete. He makes so many plays with his arm and his feet, but I €ˆthought we just did a better job of corralling him and not letting him out of the pocket and wrapping up on him."
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill
On the second half €¦
"We knew we weren't playing well the first half. We were moving the ball and put points on the board, but we kept getting taken off for some reason. We were having dumb penalties that really killed us.We knew we were able to move the ball and the guys just came in and we never got down. We knew we had to come out second half and score points. They were putting points up, so we knew as an offense we were going to have to put points on the board. The guys responded and had the will to win and never gave up. We responded the second half and put points on the board."
On staying the course after two touchdowns got called back...
"It is tough. A lot of teams would have given in right there. You score two touchdowns in the same drive and have them taken off, but this team is resilient. We have fighters on this team that will do anything to win."
Linebacker Michael Hodges
On the mood at halftime €¦
"Luckily we came in here and we were really composed. We have had times were we down at half and I €ˆkind of felt like we were worried in here. That wasn't the case today, not by any means. We came in here and we knew what we were doing wrong. We weren't fitting up. Personally, I wasn't making the tackles I €ˆnormally make. I played pretty poor in that first half. We just corrected those little things and fitting it right eliminated those big plays. That made the difference in the second half."
On the blocked field goal...
"It might have been the play of the game, really truly, because if they did that it pulls them ahead a little more and it really showed we were still fighting. I think there might have been some hesitation by people in the stands that they really had us done, but that blocked field goal at the end of the first half showed we were going to fight to the end."
