Oct. 4, 2008
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Head Coach George O'Leary:
On overall performance:
"It is good to get a win and keep it exciting. I like to see kneel downs. It's a good was to end a game. I thought Joe Burnett played and outstanding game. He does a lot of things besides defense and the return game. A lot of the yards were from him as far as the return game. Give SMU credit. That young quarterback (Bo Levi Mitchell) throws passes and we gave up some. I think it is a good win and a well needed win as far as the program is concerned."
On Ronnie Weaver:
"He can just take what they give him and not try to be someone that you aren't. He lowered his pads a couple of times and did a really good job of getting some things done out there. I thought he had better vision and got more north and south. I was happy for him because he is a hard working kid."
On quarterback switch at halftime:
"It was divine intervention. I went into the locker room at halftime and sat at my desk and I kept looking up and it just hit me in the head; put Greco in. I think the freshman (Rob Calabrese) was getting a little frustrated out there. I put Greco in there to see what he could get done. From an athletic standpoint he has good foot speed. Sometimes you take (the quarterback) out and let them see what is going on from the sideline then put them back in, but I thought Michael did a good job of controlling the team and putting some points on the board."
On Michael Greco:
"The one thing he did do was throw the ball to the right guy. The last touchdown was a good read on his part and it was well executed."
On play of offensive line:
"I think offensive line has gotten better each week. Last year we sort of got spoiled because Kevin (Smith) would take a two-yard whole and make it into a six-yard gain. We still aren't at that stage yet."
On the play of the defense:
"If we didn't give up that one big play we would have had a hell of a day because they are a team that throws for the yards, and the key to them is where they catch it, tackle them. We blew the coverage for the one 94 yard (pass). We got some pressure on the quarterback and I thought the coaches did a good job of mixing up coverage's on the young kid.
On special teams:
"I thought special teams played real well today in the return game, the coverage game, kickoffs and in the punt coverage. We pinned them down inside the five a couple of times. Brent Key is the special teams coach and I work with them because it stops me from bugging all of the other coaches. I like working with those guys, because no one questions when I take players from different teams. I try to put the best players out there, and obviously Joe is a dynamic kid back there with the ball in his hands."
Defensive Tackle Torrell Troup:
On the team's win:
"We played very well....for a while we became too relaxed but were able to pull together to finish. We practiced hard all week and we were able to transfer that hard work to the game field."
UCF seemed to dominate the life of scrimmage on defense all game long, what was the difference and how does this win feel:
"We just said let's go for it, let's get pressure and get in their face. There doesn't need to be a sack every play, just get pressure and make them fumble that ball. As for the win....it feels great, to be back home and have the crowd behind you. It just gives us a lot of confidence to move forward and get bigger wins."
Cornerback Joe Burnett:
On UCF's defense:
"The defense came out and played pretty well against a spread offense that passes the ball all over the field. We did a much better job today all around with the keys to of getting pressure on the quarterback and pursuing receivers after they made the catch. We made an effort to move forward and we need to keep doing that."
On his ability to make big plays and change direction quickly when being pressured:
"It is something that I feel just comes naturally to me. I catch the ball and I just head down field and blocks line up, it is something I just have a natural ability to do. It's also about confidence in your ability to do those things...I take pride in my confidence, that's the biggest thing for me....having confidence that I'm going to be able to get out of trouble and make it down field. You have got to have confidence in this game; it's as simple as that."
Quarterback Michael Greco:
On when Coach O'Leary said he was entering the game:
"He told me during halftime that I was going in, that I need to start moving the chains and making big plays."
If watching from the sidelines helped his performance in the second half:
"I was able to see what they were doing differently from what we saw on game film during the week. They brought a couple different blitzes that we weren't expecting. They also blitzed a lot more than we expected them to. We came in during half, made the adjustments and we were able win."