University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-Alabama Post Game Quotes
October 20, 2007 | Football
Tennessee Head Coach Phillip Fulmer
???First, I???d like to congratulate the University of Alabama on a great effort and fine job of winning and playing exceptionally well. I do not think we played very well. I said coming in that we had to play really well as a team, offensively, defensively, and in the kicking game and, in my opinion, we didn???t do any of the three well.We???ve been one of the least-penalized teams in the league this season and we helped them a lot today. I???ll be anxious to see the tape. The SEC officials are pretty good, so I???ll be interested to see the tape. We???ll look forward to putting this thing behind us as best as we can, getting healthy and getting back to work.???
On being penalized 11 times:
???We haven???t been a real penalized football team. They did a good job on some of the under routes and things like that; I guess we might have held a jersey or something, I don???t know. It???s hard to simulate the speed of those in practice. I???ll have to see the tape. But we did practice real well this week. Maybe we need to practice crappy and play better.???
On moving the ball well in the first half:
???Other than stopping ourselves I don???t think they necessarily stopped us in the first half.We had a lot of good play in the offense but had our struggles defensively.???
On the second half:
???They kept the darn football away from us most of the second half. (Our) Third down execution wasn???t particularly good; some of our receivers not being in there certainly affected some of that, but the receivers that are in there need to play well.???
On the opening onside kick by Alabama:
???I wasn???t surprised.We work on it every Tuesday. I think Louisville did it to us one year, but I???ve seen it before. It???s no big deal. Our guy should have gone out there and made the play. He got the heck knocked out of him and they did a good job of getting on the ball. But overall, we fought back and even had the lead at one point. All it did was take a possession away from us. Wilson played outstanding and they threw a short passing game and run game to keep us off the field and we couldn???t get them stopped. That little thing (the onside kick) didn???t have anything to do with it except it did take a possession away from us.???
On the play of D.J.Hall:
???They put him in a lot of places, but they did that coming in. The under routes, the corner routes, they did a nice job. When we were in man, they???d pick us a little bit and run away from us. It was nothing we hadn???t seen or worked on. They did the corner route a little more than usual, but we didn???t have any pass rush and the underneath coverage wasn???t there when it needed to be. They hit a couple of third and 16s with post routes and that???s not supposed to happen.???
On the defense:
???We???ve been sporadic. We???ve been better the last two weeks, but today we weren???t where we needed to be. I can???t put my finger on it right now, we???ll go back and study the heck out of the tape and see what we???ve got to do to get to where we need to get to.???
On Erik Ainge???s interception in the third quarter:
???He probably should have put some more air on the ball, but he said he didn???t see the guy. That was one of those things where you let the receiver run under it rather than stick the ball in there. Erik, like anybody else, is not perfect. That was a tough break. There was a chance there to make the game even.???
Jerod Mayo #7 (LB)
On the game:
???It definitely wasn???t the game we expected. Today we came out expecting to play as good as any game we???ve played in the past. It???s Tennessee and Alabama. Those guys came out and did a great job. John Parker Wilson did a great job making shakes at the line of scrimmage and just making great plays.???
On the defense:
???At halftime we said we were going to have to come out and toughen up and they still made plays on us. The defense takes this loss on our shoulders. We just have to get better for next week.???
On penalties:
???It was frustrating. We had penalties in key situations that really killed us. We had one on the goal line, one on a fourth down, so we weren???t helping ourselves.???
Erik Ainge #10 (QB)
On what held them back:
???Third and short and penalties. We moved the ball pretty well and we???d get the ball to third and short then we???d have a bad snap or miscue to the receiver or a bad throw. It was one little stupid thing after another in the second half that kept us from completing drives.???
On Lucas Taylor???s injury:
???We defiantly missed him. He???s a great player and a great receiver. He???s not feeling great. I give him credit for being out there trying to play. Most guys would take some time off when they feel like he does.???
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
???I???m really pleased and happy for our players. I don???t think I???ve ever seen them any happier than they were today. When you really put everything into something like our players did this game and you go out there and play a complete game, it feels great for them. This is the first time we???ve played a complete game. We challenge the players to play each play as if it has a history of its own and try to get them to focus on that play, believe in each other and they did a fantastic job of that today. I know how much it means to our supporters and our fans.
???Offensively we had a great plan, everyone that was out there did an excellent job, other than the glitch before the half and the personal foul. We didn???t do everything perfectly in the first half, but we are very happy at the way our entire team played in the second half. We did a lot of really positive things all around.???
On the players
???When you see somebody and when you challenge them to do their best, and they do it, you see how happy that makes them; that???s what we did today as a team and I am really happy about that. With all the Alabama spirit and the tradition, the excitement that the players show when they win a game like this, and to watch them develop and get to a place where we can play an entire game like we did, you can see a lot of self gratification coming from them. We had the fewest errors that we have had all year long, and I think that is why we executed well. They believe in each other and themselves, and they did what we asked them to do, to play 60 minutes in the game. The players did a great job, as did the coaching staff.???
On the player suspensions
???I wasn???t really informed until last night. Obviously we had some players who didn???t use good judgment in what they did. We have a system in place that shouldn???t allow this to happen and obviously that didn???t work. It was poor judgment on the players end and we can???t tolerate poor judgment and they know they need to do what???s right and when you don???t, you have to suffer the consequences.
"I want you to know that we are going to support our players. We want to help them to be successful. They made a mistake and no one feels worse about it than those five guys.???
On the offensive game plan
???We didn???t change anything that we were going to do. We have developed a lot of confidence this past week. For the most part we had good protection on offense. Our receivers did a great job and we weren???t turning the ball over after we caught it. Today it was important offensively that we have a lot of short passes to gain the five, seven, nine yards because we knew we had to control the ball to keep it offensively. We did a great job of that.???
John Parker Wilson
On suspensions
???We found out today. We were in the dark last night and didn???t really know what was going to happen, but it gave some guys the opportunity to step up and they did. They played very well.???
On offensive performance
???We knew what we could do. We just hadn???t put a whole game together. We played good in the beginning against Arkansas and good at the end against Florida State. We hadn???t put 60 minutes together, though. We really talked about that all week, Coach Saban emphasized it, and we were able to do that today.???
How he felt about his ???rhythm???
???I felt pretty good. We got in a good rhythm early, and just stayed in it the whole game. Guys were getting open, the O-line blocked great and it makes it easy when guys are getting open like that.???
DJ Hall
On John Parker making him the #1 target
???It feels good. It just shows the confidence that he has in me. He played great. Today was one of the best days I think he???s ever had. He really threw the ball around today.???
On setting the record
???It???s a blessing, man. I don???t even know how many more records are out there, but I guess I???m going to try to get them all. I???m going to try to get them all and then maybe somebody can come through and break mine. A lot of guys don???t have the opportunity that I???ve had to be in this position.
"Even with the change of coaches, people thought we might not be as explosive, but we???re proving them wrong. We can be explosive when we execute the way we???re supposed to.???
On getting open against defense
???In the first half, I was in the slot a lot and had a lot of one-on-one coverage. It???s hard to cover someone in the slot. In the second half they put a safety over the top of me, so that took me out of a lot things, but that???s how the other guys got open, and they made plays too.???
Wallace Gilberry
On Tennessee???s offense
???There were a lot of quick passes. A lot of match protection. They fan a lot. They make it very difficult for you to get to them unless you have some good moves going inside. Straight rushing them is going to be very difficult. We definitely got to them. Like I said we had some good games working for us inside.???
On getting stronger as the game goes on:
???We really did. I can honestly say that we put it together for four quarters and feel good about it. That was the big thing. The special teams and the offense was giving us some more stuff mental things that we can use. Of course Tennessee is a good team, they are going to have some drives but for the most part we really came together as a unit and really took care of business.???
On Kareem Jackson???s performance:
???Big time players make big time plays in big time situations. That???s enough said. He is a young player. A true freshman so he could definitely be the next Simeon Castille here.???
Simeon Castille
On the player suspensions:
???Coach Saban said that it was just an opportunity for other guys to step up. I think that???s what happened today. Other guys had an opportunity to come in and be a part of the team and do their part, whatever it was. I think we did a good job of focusing on the task at hand and not worrying about who was playing and who wasn???t.???
On defensive effort in the second half:
???It was huge for us because the offense was playing very well. We just set a goal for the second half. I know my dad came up to me and said ???Man you guys need to hold them. You need to hold them to a goose egg in the second half???. Our defense rose to the challenge and we played pretty well the second half. We were able to hold them to no points.???
Rashad Johnson
On Kareem Jackson???s performance
???He had an excellence day. Earlier in the day he was talking about he had some back problems. He was a little hurt. He played tough. He came out and played tough all day and made some big plays for us.???
On being a leader on defensive:
???It just comes a little bit. I do study a lot. It???s just the game plan that we put in. I study a lot. I understand it to the fullest. I try to understand what the secondary has and what the linebacker has just so if something is out of place I can come up and whisper in his ear and let him know. If I feel like they are about to run a trick play or something different we haven???t seen I try to let the guys know. It???s a great feeling to be called a leader. I just try to go out and do my job every week.???
