University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE POSTGAME QUOTES
October 30, 2005 | Football
Oct. 30, 2005
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Tennessee Locker Room
Head Coach Phillip Fulmer: "That's not what we expected as a football team. What you saw out there was unacceptable. We're going to go back to work next week and get it turned around. It seems like we can't make a play ... I congratulate South Carolina. Unacceptable. It starts with me, goes through the staff and then through the players and everybody associated with Tennessee football.
"We were having a hard time handling their zero pressure. We didn't execute throwing the football.
"Arian (Foster) had a good game other than the fumble. I don't know what his stats were but he played well.
"In my 13 years here we haven't had a season like this one. It's been tough. We just haven't made any plays. It's not play-calling; it's not just one position.
"I thought Britton (Colquitt) had a great game. He pinned them back several times. I thought he took a great step in his young career.
"I have never had anything that was easily handed to me, and this (season) is not easy. We'll make whatever tough decisions need to be made ... personnel looks that need to be made. We're going to get this thing back on track."
DE Jason Hall: "It was a tough game for us. We prepared well throughout the week. We made some mistakes. Fortunately we didn't really give up the deep ball. It was the short passes and missed tackles that really cost us."
(On the safety): "I hadn't really made any plays up to that point. I was just trying to get a pass rush."
TB Arian Foster: (On his fumble): "I was just trying to make a play. Coach always tells us to keep it high and tight. On offense we had a rhythm. You go back to mistakes. Little mistakes cost us. We had ample opportunity to make plays. The coaches can only do so much. At some point we have to put it on our shoulders."
QB Rick Clausen: "It's tough. We made too many mistakes. There were a lot of things. We go out and make two good plays and then shoot ourselves in the foot. We've got to run out of bullets sometime. The ball's just not bounced our way this year, and we're not doing anything to help it. There's nothing else to do but go back to the practice field. We've got a good Notre Dame team to play next week."
South Carolina Locker Room
Head Coach Steve Spurrier: "I finally have a new line. God is smiling on the Gamecocks. That was the line I used after wins here when I was at Florida. We had a lot of good fortune. I'm proud of our guys.
"It seemed we were on the 2- or 3-yard line every snap in the second half before their kicker finally kicked one in the end zone. That seemed to help us. It was our best defensive game by far. Our defense kept stopping them. Whatever we did seemed to work. Sidney Rice and Blake Mitchell had super performances. Sidney's close to unstoppable. Kenny McKinley is a little kid from Atlanta who had some big catches.
"This is big for our program and for the University of South Carolina. I hope we can build on the confidence.
"I'm looking forward to seeing Sidney's touchdown catch. He was above all of them and got his foot down.
"I asked Josh Brown today at the hotel if he were ready to kick a game-winning field goal tonight. He said yes. He's very confident. He wanted a shot at it. I knew it was a long one. He hits from 50 yards out in practice."
RT Na'Shan Goddard: "It felt good to beat a team like Tennessee. Their defensive line is incredible. All props go to our defense. They held it down for us. And we made some plays. We are trying to get into a bowl game."
K Josh Brown: "I knew it was good when I kicked it. Like Spurrier said, I knew I had to perform. I couldn't have done it without my holder Ike Crofoot and snapper Scott Morgan." I try to come into every game with the attitude that I am ready to hit the one that will determine the outcome of the game."
QB Blake Mitchell: "Everybody is fired up and excited in that locker room right now. We made history tonight with this win."
Does he feel like he came into his own tonight as a QB: "When you have guys like Sidney Rice to throw to, you don't have much to do. It really has not sunk in yet, but I guess this is a really big moment for us."
"It was real tough down inside our own five, but we kept pecking away and made some plays."
On Josh Brown's kick: "Please make it. We have seen him do it in practice. We knew he could make it. It was a big time kick."
