Syracuse University Player and Coach Quotes
#14/15 Iowa vs. Syracuse
Carrier Dome
Syracuse, N.Y.
September 9, 2006
Quarterback Perry Patterson
What type of thing do you think the team needs to do to win?
“I’m not really sure. We try everything. We work hard during the week. We practiced and we were prepared, mentally and physically. It is a bad feeling. We are under a new offensive coordinator for only two games. The team played its heart out. More importantly we wanted to win this for the fans. With all the support they provided, they really helped us out, especially when Iowa’s offense had the ball. We just want to bring that joy back into the Dome again. We are right there but we just can’t do it.”
Did you ever think to check into a sneak at the goal line?
“No, it was too crowded in there. What we wanted to do was try to get the running back inside and cut the line and slip in the holes. Obviously, we didn’t do a great job somewhere.”
Punter/Holder Brendan Carney
How did you get the snap on that field goal up?
“When he snapped it, I caught it in the ground. Luckily, I was able to get it up and Patrick (Shadle) made it.”
Cornerback Terrell Lemon
Do you think you guys proved you could compete with a team of that level?
“No doubt. We need to watch the film of our game like anybody else. When we go into the Carrier Dome, we don’t care what ranking we are, we are going to come out and play our hearts out. We don’t look at the ranking, we just want to play football. I think we came out and caught them by surprise with the way that we came out and played them today.”
Linebacker Kelvin Smith
Is there something missing that is keeping you guys get over the hump?
“No. We worked hard this week.”
How frustrating was it that the defense caused turnovers and the offense couldn’t score?
“Actually, the offense was incredible the whole game. I was very impressed. That was the best I have ever seen them. They were blowing up the ball and getting that ball deep. They just worked with it and ran with it. I am really impressed with them.”
Linebacker Jerry Mackey
What can you take from this, do you think it makes you better?
“I think it definitely makes us better but we want to come and show that we can compete with anybody. I think a lot of people didn’t know that. We just wanted to prove ourselves. We were really gutting for this win. It is tough that we lost this game but now what we have to do is work harder because we were just so close to winning this game. We have to go back to the drawing board, work hard and we are going to rally around each other.”
How much did your approach change when you knew that Drew Tate wasn’t playing?
“Honestly, I didn’t even know. The first snap of the game I ran and I was coming down on the quarterback. He had a roll-out pass, I was getting ready to tackle him and I noticed that it wasn’t a Caucasian player. I was like ‘What is going on?’ I thought Tate was playing the game.”
Kicker Patrick Shadle
Can you talk about the field goal that tied the game?
“What a great holder Brendan (Carney) is. That was obviously a good game for him. He picked the ball off the ground. When I was taking my first steps towards the ball, I didn’t slow down. I was confident that he would put it down. That was a pressure kick but I wasn’t as nervous as I was for the one before that. I wanted a chance to redeem myself.”
Wide Receiver Taj Smith
On his reaction after this loss:
“It hurt. We tried our best and we did our thing like coach told us. We gave it our all. It just didn’t happen but we gave it our all, everything we had. I guess it wasn’t our day.”
On whether he was shocked after not scoring during their last possession:
“We were thinking it was just going to happen for us like it was our day. We practiced hard all week and when we got the opportunity we tried so hard. It just wasn’t happening.”
On the positives of the game:
“We blocked well. Everybody was catching balls. We were running, running the ball. The defense played good. Offense played good. Everything was going good for us but at a time in the game you’re always going to have your ups and your downs. By the time we got down, it wasn’t enough but for the most part, I’m proud of all my players and I know they’re proud of me. We just have to worry about Illinois next week and we can’t stick to this game. It’s over now. What can we do?”
Wide Receiver Tim Lane:
On the game:
“It’s frustrating. A game that was very winnable. We should’ve won in our opinion and we didn’t.”
On what is next:
“We have to keep our heads up. We have another tough opponent on the road next week. I’ll think about this one for a little bit but tomorrow let it go. We have practice tomorrow and we have to start preparing for Illinois.”
On the positives of the game:
“We had guys who came in and made big plays today that really haven’t played before. Taj (Smith) had a good game, Mike Williams had a good game, and those guys are kind of new here so it was good to see that. It was good to see us move the ball. It was good to see the defense. I don’t know how many turnovers they had, three or four, but they played their butts off today and they did good. It’s unfortunate the way it turned out.”
Offensive Coordinator Brian White
On the game and the offense:
“I thought it was good. They had twisting all over the place and they have as good a defensive line as any in the country. I thought our players understood how to handle the twists for the most part. We had some breakdowns but that’s football. That’s going to happen in a game. They did too and they found a way to make one more play than we did. That’s it in a nutshell. Bottom line.”
On what play he would take back if he could:
“I’d like to have any play that didn’t score. I’d like to be able to run it and score. Do I second guess any of the calls, which was asked earlier? Absolutely not…absolutely not because they’re good calls. You have to find a way to get the ball in the end zone.”
On if the offensive line is inexperienced:
“I’m not buying into that. Iowa’s defense played better than we played in that situation. Let’s give credit where credit’s due.”
On if he believes the offense has improved:
“I definitely would say that we improved but we didn’t do enough to win the game so we’ve got to find a way to win.”
On if it is encouraging to find some success throughout the game:
“I would say it should be. We didn’t have a turnover in the game, I don’t think. We had a couple offside penalties that we need to be able to correct but we’ve displayed through two football games that we’re a pretty disciplined team and we’re a team that has respected the ball pretty well. We need to continue in that area and we just need to find a way to win the game.”