Dec. 3, 2005
Head Coach George O'Leary
Opening Remarks:
"I think you have to give Tulsa a lot of credit. They are a very fine football team and were the better football team today. I thought they controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage. I thought they came in and made plays both offensively and defensively. Tulsa played well and I have great respect for what they have done. We can't turn the ball over like we did and we had some foolish penalties. Give them credit, they played well and were the better football team today.
On the play of Steven Moffett
"I don't think he played as well as we have seen him play. I think he was trying to make plays instead of letting the flow of the game take over. He just made some silly mistakes as far as running with the ball and then trying to throw on the run. He has been our quarterback through the eight wins and by no means was the reason for today's loss. I think when you lose you lose as a team. I think there are a lot of individuals that could have played better.
On the absence of Mike Walker
"I don't think we missed Mike Walker, I just don't think we established the line of scrimmage. I think we went the whole day without any consistency. For us to throw well we have to run too, and I think that was inconsistent. I think Steven does play better. I think Tulsa closed the coverage on some of our guys very well and Steven tried to aim the ball instead of just letting the flight of the ball take over.
On trying to cover Garret Mills
"We had double coverage and the kid blew the coverage on the first catch. In the second half we started doubling up a little bit and I think he only had the one catch. We didn't collapse the line of scrimmage enough. In the third quarter there were too much running yards in there for their running back.
On the play of the freshman
"I don't think the freshman really hurt us. I thought Joe Burnett was his consistent self and he is only going to get better and better, I think he is a very fine football player. I think Kevin Smith had over 100 yards today. I think the other freshman have their good points but are not as consistent as those other two. Jason Vennson is a little more consistent, but I think the others are going to have to be more consistent in order for us to get to the level we want to be at.
On possible bowl destinations
"I didn't hear anything about it and I didn't really want to know. I was concerned about this game because that is all you have control over. Now we will see what is happening with the bowl. I think that (a bowl game) is a heck of a reward for a team that came from where they came from last year. I am happy for the team. I told them they lost to a team that played better than they did today. They did more good things than we did.
Center Cedric Gagne-Marcoux
On losing such a big game
"Obviously it hurt when you know you have to play your best game, but any loss is going to hurt you. When we played South Florida and a lot of people said we could never come back from that one, but we came back and had a good season. We have another game, the bowl game, and we are just going to come out and play hard. Of course this hurts because we want to win every game. We have high expectations and know we can do it. We came out there today and didn't play our best football. I give credit to Tulsa. They came out here prepared and made good plays. They created turnovers, they don't create themselves.
Defensive end Paul Carrington
On the third quarter
"They just did a very good of making plays against us. We were anticipating a run and they were going for the pass. They just executed. We didn't cause any turnovers like we are usually good at. In a championship game you have to cause turnovers to have a chance to win.