Texas A&M vs. FIU Post Game Quotes
Sep 18, 2010 | Football
Sept. 18, 2010
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 1 
|
Photo Gallery 2
Texas A&M
A&M HEAD COACH Mike Sherman
"You've got to give FIU a lot of credit. They had a good game plan coming in and they were a challenge, particularly their defense against our offense. And they did nice things offensively as well. I take my hat off to them. But the most obvious thing today I think was the way our fans hung in there with us through the entire ballgame."
On the turnaround in the fourth quarter... "It was going south in that third quarter in particular. We had struggled in the first half but I thought we were still in the ballgame. We turned the ball over four times in the third quarter and kept shooting ourselves in the foot. It's maybe the worst quarter of football I've since I've been here. To our kids credit, we stuck to it on the sidelines and felt that if we could run the ball we'd win the ballgame. We made some runs and took some pressure off our quarterback. I told him at the end of the third quarter, `We'll win the game with you and you will have to lead us'. That showed what he was all about. I've been doing this a long time and quarterbacks have bad quarters in football. It was not all his fault though, we missed on some routes we should have been on. To his credit, and the type of leader he is, he made plays. I take my hat off to him."
On FIU's effort... "Coming into game their defense made me real nervous. They have a lot of good athletes. I knew they were a good defense. We only had one game tape on them, so it was a little more difficult to game plan. We had to kind of feel our way through the ballgame. We really weren't sure exactly which way there were going. We kind of had to go in and figure some things out (during the game). I think they played an outstanding game defensively and gave us all we could handle."
On the play of the defense... "Our defense showed a lot of character. They never griped and moaned. We had four turnovers in the third quarter and they played their hearts out. That's what they're supposed to do. That's the same expectation we have of our offense. The defense carried us today. There will be days where it's the other way around."
On any thoughts of Jerrod Johnson, I knew he'd bring us back and put us in a position to even win the football game. I just have a lot of confidence in him. He's a winner. So's Ryan, but to put him in that position off the bench cold (would be difficult). One thing about Jerrod is that he corrects his mistakes. He led us in the fourth quarter. Our offensive line stepped up in the fourth quarter too and we were able to run some plays at them and gash some runs and take some pressure off our quarterback."
On how this win helps long term... "I think it not only helps me but helps the team also. We needed this win and this could be the mark of our season. It helped us get over the hump tonight." On the fourth-quarter TD run... "From the start (tonight) I was kind of getting impatient. Christine (Michael) told me to stay patient and be humble like the guy I am. On the run, I had to set it up and be patient, and as I got to the third level, I saw the safety coming down to tackle me. I looked to the left and saw Terrence (McCoy) coming over to block him. I cut off of him and made a finish play to the end zone." On the fourth quarter... "You've got to give all the credit in the world to their defense. They came out and played well. We knew we had to put the game on our shoulders late. We were sitting on the sidelines telling the coaches that we've got to run the ball. We said we'd win game running the ball, and that's what we did. The running backs did a great job, and we blocked, and we knew that was the way the game would be won." On the struggles early by the offensive tackles... "You've got to give respect to the FIU defense. They had some guys with great speed. They had guys with speed that we haven't seen yet this year. (Our tackles) got a little anxious with their sets and (FIU) had some pressure into our sets. But we got the problems fixed and we really settled in." On the last tackle... "My mindset is that if I don't make the tackle, who will. The pressure was on, and it was the fourth quarter, and the last play of the game. I just felt like I had to show up." On the momentum the win gives... "I think tonight was a really good win for us. We needed this to keep ourselves humble. Next week we need to go into it knowing that we can't start slow. We need to keep practicing well and hopefully keep winning." On his night, especially the four interceptions... "First off, hats off to FIU. They had me spinning a bit. We had some 3rd-and-longs where I tried to force a couple that I should have thrown away. I was trying to do too much I think. The offensive line really helped me get out of that when we were able to run the ball. The defense kept giving me the ball back. My personality got me in some bad situations there, where after every pick I wanted to throw the ball again. Coach talks about staying the course, and I didn't do that as well as I should have tonight, but give all the credit to FIU. My teammates picked me up today and we got the win." On where he sensed the momentum turned... "I think the momentum turned on the 3rd-and-12 pass I threw to Jeff (Fuller). We kind of had the feeling of `here we go again' on 3rd-and-12. We had a lot of those in the first half. It's hard to beat anyone like that, especially a team as well coached and one playing as hard and as fast as FIU. We got some momentum and tempo from that though. Once we got that first first down we started rolling. Christine Michael ran hard, the line was blocking and once we hit that we got going." On the confidence Coach Sherman had in him... "I definitely didn't want to come out, I tell you that. I wanted to go right back out there and throw the ball. He looked me in the eye and said, `Hey, it's your football team. You got us in this, so get us out.' I think it just goes to show he had a lot of faith in me. The guys rallied around me and had a lot of faith in me too, and I'm glad I could come through for them." On FIU's speed and the fact that may help down the road... "I think this game helped us in a lot of ways. We were talking about (FIU's speed) in the pre-game meal. We knew they'd be fast and better than people would give them credit for. We didn't take them likely. But I think this game made us stronger as a team. Adversity makes you stronger. I think in a way I needed the struggles to make me stronger as a person and a quarterback. We didn't break apart. If you take anything from this game it's that we can stick together. We are definitely a full, solid team." On the defense performance... "We're going to go back and fix what we need to fix. The fourth quarter we have to attribute to our 12th Man. They could have left, but the fact that they stayed was great. That put FIU in a hard spot, they couldn't get their calls off. That's a tribute to our 12th Man. We just kept playing hard defensively." On the offensive struggles... "You can't have a doubt about our offense, it wasn't long ago that we were at the top of the nation offensively. We have Jerrod back there, the duo of Christine Michael and Cyrus Gray and an offensive line that's come out of nowhere. There is going to be a time when the offense will have to pick us up." On winning in this way... "Even though we had several turnovers last game, we haven't met adversity like when we get to the Big 12. Us overcoming that adversity is a milestone, we know we can do it now." On the offense coming alive... "It was staying focused that brought us back, every day in practice we talk about focus. Intercepting the ball, fumbles by myself, there was a lot of adversity everywhere. It's was just a matter of staying focused." On what they changed to get rushing success... "It's not that we changed anything, it's just seeing who wants it more. We couldn't let ourselves down, couldn't let our coaches down, couldn't let the 12th Man down." On the FIU defense... "They were everywhere; they were a great defense. We came off slow, which is something we'll pick up when we get to conference. The front five guys were tremendous today." On the mentality it took to come back... "That 12th Man, they didn't want us to let them down and we couldn't let them down. We had to get out there and give the 12th man something to look forward to, get it together and put points on the board." On the fourth quarter comeback: "Going into the 2nd half, we knew we had to pick it up offensively. The defense was playing well the whole game. Bad things kept going wrong for us in the third quarter, but things finally started picking up and going our way in the fourth." On the rank of his long TD catch: "First place. Everybody made that catch. There wasn't one point in the game when anybody gave up. The 12th Man kept getting louder and louder, got to give them credit. Making that catch, hearing everyone get loud, having my teammates right there with me. It was definitely a first place catch for me." On getting redemption after his false start: "I saw Matt Allen picking up the ball and I was looking t the safety and just false started. The next play we called for Ryan Swope, but the safety came down at the beginning of the play, and the corner was on my back shoulder. Jerrod made the perfect throw." On being the home team in a comeback: "It's so much fun, you can feel it so deep inside of you. The 12th Man is like no other team and I've never been to another stadium that has anything like the 12th Man. I've never been a part of a comeback like that. We never gave up on the sideline. When we finally took the lead, it felt so good." On when the team turned its mentality: "We were in that mode where we had to stop playing around. It wasn't just after a certain play. At half time, coach made a great speech to us. He told us someone had to make the big play to start us off. Christine Michael had tons of energy on the sideline. He was leading the pack. Then he hits that big run up the middle, he really got us going." On the crowd's intensity... "It was crazy; it was like a movie. Everybody on defense was darn tired and we just found a way. The 12th Man, we appreciate the fans keeping us up." On being down in the fourth quarter... "I looked everybody in the eye, though I'm not really a talker, and let them know that I was here for them and I was going to give my best, and I expected the same out of them. I told them this is the fourth quarter, it's time, let's go and take it. I really think it was the Aggie Spirit that kept us alive out there." On the team refusing to lose: "I wasn't going to give up, they were going to have to drag me off of the field. I knew if I had that mind set, there would be 10 other guys behind me with the same mindset. Today we got lucky, but we just refuse to lose. Any giving Saturday, you can lose. You see teams lose that shouldn't every week, that could have been us today. We just need to take it week-by-week, game-by-game, play-by-play, and try to come out on top." On what the team learns from this game: "It prepares us for the future, humbles us, let's us know we can get beat. Hats off to FIU. We just need to take it play-by-play, day-by-day, and get ready to face Oklahoma State." FIU HEAD COACH MARIO CRISTOBALFIU
"A&M played good football. They wore us down a little bit and started running the football with success. We played some real good defense throughout the course of the game. A&M was executing better than we were. We have to control the ball more, when you're in a place like this you have to keep controlling the ball. Our running suffered a little bit, we tried playing the passing game a little bit. On the last play of the game we ran one of our plays where we try to get the ball to T.Y. [Hilton]. It looked like he ran by the linebackers, he might have slipped I couldn't tell. We had a good defensive effort that will continue to get better and better. A&M has a great offense. Our guys played their hearts out. No one in there is happy, and we never will be happy with moral victories."
FIU LB TORONTO SMITH
"We have to finish, as a team we have to finish. We've come too far too many times and didn't finish. This season we're going to have to work harder on finishing. We definitely got in Jerrod's [Johnson] head. We take pride in trying to mess up the quarterback and his reads. We try to throw him off his game. It hurts to get this close. We stopped communicating in the fourth quarter and it really hurt us. It was good playing on a big stage like this."
FIU S JONATHAN CYPRIEN
