Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes (Oct. 10, 2009)
Syracuse vs. West Virginia
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Mike Williams, Wide Receiver
On the way the game started:
“It’s hard. They took away another part of the game. They took away the running part of the game. You have to hurry up and catch up now. It makes the team one dimensional, which they tried to tell us to do to the other team. It’s real hard to try and come back from being down 27-0.”
On the touchdown catch delivered by (quarterback) Ryan Nassib:
“It was a good ball. It was great. He always throws good balls. But it was double-covered, the corner fell off because he thought he was saving the run and I made a move on the safety and was wide open.”
On the mood of the locker room compared to past seasons:
“ It’s a change, we have been changed. It’s just we had a bad game. We went out there and lost the game. The mood in the locker room is we have a bye week . We have a whole bye week to go out there and make up for these mistakes and fix everything. Hopefully we go out there and are ready for Akron.”
On how he was covered:
“They doubled me mostly the whole game. They brought the linebacker out on some plays to jam me. That’s basically what they did the whole game.”
On does he think about records:
“No. I am just trying to go out there and get a win for my teammates. Whatever it takes to get a win.”
On Ryan Nassib’s performance:
“He came out there and played well. That’s what your second string is supposed to do when you take out your first string quarterback. He came out there and played alright.”
Alec Lemon, Wide Receiver
On the game:
“It’s hard to lose. Everyone’s going to be down and we felt during the week we had a good practice. Every day was a good practice. We felt prepared for this game and to come out and not execute like the way that we were during practice hurts.”
On what it was like at halftime:
“They knew we weren’t executing so they told us we need to execute as a team and not as individuals. We need to go out there as a team. And if we went out there and executed as a team we would come back. We felt confident. We went out there and tried to make a comeback.”
On the team’s feeling on the interception:
“Before that we saw that we were driving the ball on them. We knew that with the plays we were running, we could play with them. We made a little mistake and felt like if we bounce back from the mistake we could win the game.”
On the change in quarterbacks:
“The offensive feels comfortable with both quarterbacks. They both know how to lead the team. We feel comfortable with both of them.”
On the bye week:
“We are going to come in and watch film from this game and make the corrections and get ready for Akron. We have to keep this game in the past, and get over it and make our corrections and go forward from this.”
Greg Paulus, Quarterback
Head coach Doug Marrone said he was not comfortable with your responses on the sideline. What was happening?
“It’s just something we need to keep getting better at. Offensively we need to keep improving and getting better. That goes the same thing for me. We didn’t put ourselves in good positions, turned the ball over, and that’s me. On third downs, we didn’t do the job we wanted to do there so as a whole we just have to keep getting better, keep improving, understanding the game, communication, reads, all that kind of stuff. That’s getting back to basics and pushing into that direction.”
On the feelings after the interception:
“One play doesn’t determine the outcome of a game, whether it was a pick or fumble or an incomplete pass. There are a lot of negatives that can take it, but with this offense and myself I don’t think, I know that one play isn’t going to do that to us.”
On the possible effects on the next series after interception:
“I think that we have the same game plan for the next series. My confidence is good. I am ready to roll. I just have to keep getting better and this offense, we just have to keep getting better and break towards the results that we want because this wasn’t the results that we want.”
On his reaction to quarterback change:
“Coach Marrone makes a lot of decisions throughout the game. He knows what’s best for the team. We have complete trust in him, and I feel the same exact way. He is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come back and play football and play for Syracuse. I know he is going to do the right thing for this football team. I know he is going to put us in the best position individually and collectively for us to be successful. That’s a no brainer with Coach Marrone.”
On being the starter for the Akron game:
“We will watch the film tonight and then we will keep learning and getting better from it. Whether there is a bye week or not, we still have to watch the film and still prepare for Akron. I appreciate the confidence in Coach Marrone and I am going to do anything and everything I can to help this team and to put us in a really good position.”
On Ryan Nassib:
“I think that Ryan did a really good job. Ryan works really hard. We compete everyday at practice. He’s teaching me a lot each day. We are pushing each other. Just going with him there every day at practice and in meetings along with the other quarterbacks, we are all learning from each other and all getting better and hopefully we can show the results that way.”
Arthur Jones, Nose Tackle
On the team’s attitude and moral:
“All I can do to help out the team is to stay positive. I think this bye week is good. It’s a good opportunity for our football team to figure out the little things and to figure out why we are not winning. And we are just going to go from there.”
On the feeling in the locker room after the game:
“ I feel like we just have to eliminate the big plays. That was the main problem. My job as a captain and leader is to keep staying positive. There are guys that look a little down but that’s my job and the coaches’ job to figure out a way to win and we are going to get it done.”
On if the penalties on the second leading to touchdowns causes everyone to get down:
“I don’t think so. We still have to keep fighting. Everything just happened so fast, the speed of the game, we were in the hole early. That’s one thing we just have to work on. We will be alright. I am not worried about it. We still have six games left. We need four to get to a bowl game. We need to just keep working hard. Like I said, the bye week is a great opportunity for everyone to get their minds right and just get after Akron.”
On the game against Akron:
“We are going to go out there and play like anyone else. It’s not anymore motivation than any other game. We just have to figure out a way to win no matter who it is.”
Running back Delone Carter
On the disappointment of the game
“I feel like we took a step in the wrong direction and we are going to have to fix that. I really don’t know what to say. I’m going to have to go back and watch the film and evaluate my performance, as well as my team’s performance.”
Response to West Virginia’s early success
“The goal is to come out strong. We want to score first, if we do that we win. It was a let down for the first parts of the game to happen, but we had to realize that there was still a whole game to play. We need to go out there and win.”
On having a bye week
“I’m really not even thinking about the bye week. I’m really just focusing on today’s performance. I mean we will use that week to get healthy and evaluate our performance. “
Dalton Phillips
On changing positions
“It happened because of injury. They came to me early in the week and said we need you to make the move. So I jumped over and made the move to tight end and fell back on my other football experience in the past.”
On his performance
“I feel like I did okay, of course I could’ve done better. Obviously the game didn’t go as we wanted it to. It is not really about one individual performance, but the team’s performance.”
On the disappoint of another loss
“I feel like we are not putting the finished product on the field. I feel like on the practice field we are working together as a team and we are a lot stronger. But when we come out here, it’s not showing.”
On the early interception
“You know things happen and we need to regroup and go after it again. We can’t let one small error like that be in our head for the rest of the game. Obviously we’ve learned from the past, like with fumbles, you go right back out there, go as hard as you can and think about what matters.”
Cornerback Kevyn Scott
This game versus the steady progress of the past five week
“One thing that you don’t want to do is regress. Everyday we work and try to make that progression. It’s tough to have to come out here and have a big let down. We have to make those corrections. We have a bye week, we’re going to get better.”
On West Virginia’s early touchdowns
“That’s how it goes. I don’t know it’s kind of weird, it happened to fast. All of a sudden I look up and its 27-0. Like I said, we have to make those corrections and bounce back.”
On stopping them at the bigger plays
“I feel we did a great job at stopping them at the really big crazy plays. We didn’t give up on any long touchdown plays but we have to work on the little things.”
Quarterback Ryan Nassib
On stepping into the game
“I was pretty surprised when my number got called and I was looking forward to it. I tried to do what I could do. All season long it was something I was looking for, stepping in to do what I can to bring us back.”
On making his first touchdown pass
“It was really exciting. It happened so fast, I saw him wide open, he ran a great route. All I did was put it up there.”
On one touchdown being a better pass than the other
“I couldn’t really tell you. They both scored the same amount of points, as long as it gets in there, that’s what I care about.”
On the dropped passes
“A lot of the shots weren’t all their fault. A lot of those missed passes were on me. Coming in I put a little too much velocity on some of those throws and I take responsibility on some of them. We just have to work on our chemistry.”
On Coach Marone and (starting quarterback Greg) Paulus
“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary or different from previous weeks.”
Opinion on him and (starting quarterback Greg) Paulus having an equal chance to start
“I trust the coach’s decision on what he thinks needs to be done. I’m going to keep working so I can be prepared for every game. If I hear my number called I need to be ready to step in.”
Comparing a hit to the Tim Tebow hit
“Yes, getting hit in college is a lot different. That is why we wear pads.”
