Syracuse Student-Athlete Post-Game Quotes vs. Rutgers
Syracuse vs. Rutgers
October 30, 2011
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Junior FS Phillip Thomas
On his dropped interception:
“I can’t dwell on the pasT. It happened; whatever happened, happened. I look back on it and I wish I would have taken advantage of the opportunity though, so we wouldn’t be in this situation, but things happen.”
On defensive effort today:
“We knew all this week that we were going to practice really hard. Coach Shafer teaches that every day. Coach Marrone worries about the little things so we came out to Monday’s practice and went really hard, came out Tuesday the same thing, Wednesday, Thursday, even Friday, even in the walk-throughs we practiced real hard. We knew coming out to the game that it was going to be a tough physical game. We know Rutgers, we just came out here and played really hard. That’s what we did. There is nobody to blame, we are all a team and we win and lose as a team.”
On game plan for Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu:
“Mohamed Sanu is a good receiver. We just played our part and tried to contain him and make sure he didn’t go all out.”
On frustration from ‘giving the game away’:
“It’s very frustrating; you’ve got to go into another week with another game. You’re going to think about that game that you just lost. But we’ve just got to move forward as a unit and just don’t dwell on it, because if we dwell on it, we’re going to be affected for the next game.”
On doubling on big plays and rallying from injuries as a secondary:
“We all knew coming into this game that [Mohamed] Sanu was a good player. So we game planned on him, watching film and making sure to learn the things he wanted to do and the routes he wanted to run. We all know that they won the game in the open field that gave him the ball. And that’s why Coach Shafer tried to limit his mobility and me and Dom Anene tried to triple team him and get him tired. We all knew that Ri’Shard [Anderson] and Keon [Lyn] had casts on but that wasn’t going to stop us from going out there to play hard and play onto the ball.”
On the defensive confusion before the Sanu touchdown:
“On that specific play, I tried to send Dyshawn [Davis] out to the other guy and I tried to stick to him. That’s my man on empty, that’s who I’ve got to stick to. Dyshawn [Davis] was blitzing and he was supposed to go get the other guy. We aren’t blaming anyone, we all failed as one and we just are going to continue to get better as a unit.”
Sophomore LB Marquis Spruill
On the disappointment of this loss:
“It was really disappointing, tough loss. First BIG EAST game, it’s just tough. We had them the whole game and then we just let it slip through our fingers. We’ve just got to go off the film, make the corrections on our mistakes and just keep pushing forward.”
On attitude of the sideline during the game:
“We don’t ever quit until the game is completed. We don’t ever stop and relax completely, we’re always on edge. We were on edge until the final seconds of the game.”
On defensive performance:
“The defensive unit, yes we did, we played an incredible game. Still little things here and there that we messed up on but we can always get better at that.”
Senior DE Mikhail Marinovich
On first sacks of the year:
“It felt good; Rutgers is a big game for us. We’re really disappointed with the loss but I think our defense played pretty well, our special teams did alright and our offense. I’m not going to stand up here and say it was our offense, or defense, or special teams’ fault. If they don’t score, they don’t win.”
On disappointment over the loss:
“I think a lot of guys laid it on the line today. It never feels good to lose, of course, but I think a lot of us played our heart out. A lot of guys that are sitting in our locker room are beat up a little bit and played through injuries. It’s a team game and as a team they got the best of us, so we’re just going to have to come back and work hard.”
On how deflating the loss is to the defense:
“I wouldn’t say it’s deflating, but it’s disappointing. We worked really hard at playing each and every snap to our fullest and then get out of the game as quick as you can so we could put someone fresh in there. I think that the young guys on our team handled it well; they’re just as mad as everyone else. We’ve just got to come back this week and work hard, and not dwell on this.”
On secondary’s great game despite injuries:
“Across the board, if you look at every player, I think every player is banged up. Playing against a guy who, I think he’s leading the country in catches, we’ve got a guy with a cast on, another guy with a hamstring and I think they did an awesome job out there. I think they played it hard and I think they did well.”
On extra emphasis to pressure the quarterback today:
“Of course. We knew that we couldn’t leave him on an island too long because he’s a playmaker, he’s going to make plays. So upfront we made our mission to really affect the quarterback and try and get in his face and make plays. I think we did a pretty good job on that.”
Sophomore Free Safety Jeremi Wilkes
On (cornerback) Keon Lyn and other players overcoming injuries to play:
“We played aggressive, liked we wanted to. It came down to making a play and we were ready. That just shows heart that someone can play hurt.”
On playing against Rutgers junior wide receiver Mohamed Sanu:
“We knew he was going to get the ball and the ball would be thrown to him. We had to shut him down; we had to lock him up. I think we did a pretty good job against him.”
Senior Cornerback Kevyn Scott
On how the cornerbacks played:
“There was a big difference. Over the top, we collapsed on their guys. We made them play and their receivers had to make a heck of play. Most important today, we were on them.”
On holding the Rutgers offense to field goals in the red zone:
“I was proud the way the secondary played back there. We just worked our butts off until the very end. Unfortunately, we could not come out with the win.”
On what they have to work on for next week against Tulane:
“We have to go there and play our game. We have to eliminate the turnovers. We have to get ready for Tulane and to play again.
Junior punter Shane Raupers
On when he found out he would be punting today:
“Thursday after practice Thursday. We knew that Rutgers brings everybody in, special teams, like they did on the field goals and extra points. We switched up our punting technique and only did one step. We were just trying to get the person that could get out there the fastest, just going to have to block.”
On confidence from the first punt:
“Getting that first one out put me in a better place, with a team that rushes like Rutgers does. The coaches were just emphasizing get the ball off, we don’t want this to be blocked so you just get the ball off and try and do what you can do with it.”
On playing this week after not playing last week:
“You can’t give up. This past week and this whole camp I have just been trying to make the best of every situation, and keep working hard day in and day out. Whatever happens, happens. You can’t look back on things.”
On the fear of knowing there’s competition (with freshman Jonathan Fisher):
“It makes both of us better. If I have a bad kick, and he has a good one you have to come back with a better kick. You can’t get satisfied with yourself in open competition.”
On being motivated after not playing last week:
“Obviously, I came back out here and I knew I had a challenge. But it doesn’t feel good for any player to have to stand on the sidelines and watch your team. So, obviously, I wanted to get back out there and do all I could do to help my team.”
Sophomore defensive tackle Jay Bromley
On the pressure on the defense:
“The pressure on the defense was just get off the ball. Our whole defensive line, we wanted to get off the ball as fast as you can. We just try to make plays.”
On “reading” Rutger’s offense:
“Rutger’s is a pro-style offense. I saw a lot of double teams and I just try to play to the best of my ability.”
On Bromley, Marinovich, and Goggins:
“We always just focus. We knew what we had to do today. We all just try to get off the ball as much as possible.”
On handling a tight loss:
We just have to come together as a team and not point any fingers at anybody. The is a long season ahead of us, so we just keep working to get better everyday.”
Sophomore center Mackey McPherson
On the loss:
“We had a few miscommunications. Some unfortunate things happened to us, some things happened to Rutgers but we just didn’t capitalize on some things we should have, and they did.”
On winning/losing/giving it away:
“Rutgers is a good team. I’m not going to say they won it, or we lost it.”
On coping with the loss:
“We lost. We played our best there’s nothing we can do about it. Unfortunate things happened to our players. Maybe we could throw the ball better? Maybe we could hold linebackers longer? We just keep working harder to get ready for the next game, so we play better and we don’t make the same mistakes again.”
Junior wide receiver Alec Lemon
On leaving points on the field:
“We definitely left some points on the field. Five turnovers. We did leave a lot of points on the field, when you’re turning the ball over and you’re not converting.”
On offense on the sidelines:
“When you have chances to score, and you turn the ball over, we can only blame ourselves.”
On the wide receivers:
“They had a very good defense. They threw some coverage that we didn’t see, so we had to open up the running game.”
Michael Hay, Senior OT
On the tide after missing the first extra point:
“Sometimes people team up against us, but there is nothing we can do about it.”
On dealing with a loss:
“At the end of the day whatever is going to happen is going to happen, we just take it in stride, and keep on moving. Get back up.”
Defensive Coordinator Scott Shafer
On what you did on defense to shut them down, especially in the first half; anything special:
“No, not really, in fact they changed a bunch. They didn’t stay true to their tendencies. It was a little bit more just working through teams, adjusting to the elements. They changed on offense. They were not the same offense we saw, from a tendency point of view.
On the forced fumble by Dyshawn Davis:
“He had a nice hit, a forced fumble, but he’s got some things he needs to clean up, too. Two or three good things and one bad thing doesn’t work out. The math isn’t good enough. I thought he gave a good effort though, so he just has to keep getting better.”
Senior linebacker Dan Vaughan
On what the defense needs to improve upon next week:
“I don’t think anything major, just going in there with a renewed attitude, the same — our goals are still ahead of us and we just need to go out there and get a win.”
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
On adjustments made from first half to second half:
“We knew we were going to be able to run the ball and that’s what we showed coming out of the second half. They were going to try and stop Ryan in the pass game. We came out running did a really good job with that got to the red zone. The defense was phenomenal. They gave us those opportunities in the red zone.”
On what the team needs to do in the next game against Tulane:
“This is one of those things we can all learn from. Everything, the intensity, everything needs to be increased in practice. Even the small things, we talk about ball security, we talk about the quarterback making the right decisions, all those things are critical and we just need to stress those things more than will normally do.”
Sophomore cornerback Keon Lyn
On the injuries in the secondary:
“No that didn’t play (a part). We have high expectations. There are still high expectations for us. They are still expecting me and Ri’Shard to make plays.
On your one-on-one coverage and being able to cover to the wide receivers today:
“There is a great feeling. It is a BIG EAST day so it’s very important to us. I just looked at it as another game. I still got to fight through to make plays.”
Sophomore center Macky MacPherson
On his feelings coming out of game:
“Never know what is going to happen so you go out there and try to execute to the best of your ability and we didn’t execute. As a whole we didn’t execute, whether it is offense or the offensive-line, we had a lack of communication at times it led to negative plays. We had a couple of good plays then that would follow by a bad play and you can’t shoot yourself in the foot like that.”
October 30, 2011
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Junior FS Phillip Thomas
On his dropped interception:
“I can’t dwell on the pasT. It happened; whatever happened, happened. I look back on it and I wish I would have taken advantage of the opportunity though, so we wouldn’t be in this situation, but things happen.”
On defensive effort today:
“We knew all this week that we were going to practice really hard. Coach Shafer teaches that every day. Coach Marrone worries about the little things so we came out to Monday’s practice and went really hard, came out Tuesday the same thing, Wednesday, Thursday, even Friday, even in the walk-throughs we practiced real hard. We knew coming out to the game that it was going to be a tough physical game. We know Rutgers, we just came out here and played really hard. That’s what we did. There is nobody to blame, we are all a team and we win and lose as a team.”
On game plan for Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu:
“Mohamed Sanu is a good receiver. We just played our part and tried to contain him and make sure he didn’t go all out.”
On frustration from ‘giving the game away’:
“It’s very frustrating; you’ve got to go into another week with another game. You’re going to think about that game that you just lost. But we’ve just got to move forward as a unit and just don’t dwell on it, because if we dwell on it, we’re going to be affected for the next game.”
On doubling on big plays and rallying from injuries as a secondary:
“We all knew coming into this game that [Mohamed] Sanu was a good player. So we game planned on him, watching film and making sure to learn the things he wanted to do and the routes he wanted to run. We all know that they won the game in the open field that gave him the ball. And that’s why Coach Shafer tried to limit his mobility and me and Dom Anene tried to triple team him and get him tired. We all knew that Ri’Shard [Anderson] and Keon [Lyn] had casts on but that wasn’t going to stop us from going out there to play hard and play onto the ball.”
On the defensive confusion before the Sanu touchdown:
“On that specific play, I tried to send Dyshawn [Davis] out to the other guy and I tried to stick to him. That’s my man on empty, that’s who I’ve got to stick to. Dyshawn [Davis] was blitzing and he was supposed to go get the other guy. We aren’t blaming anyone, we all failed as one and we just are going to continue to get better as a unit.”
Sophomore LB Marquis Spruill
On the disappointment of this loss:
“It was really disappointing, tough loss. First BIG EAST game, it’s just tough. We had them the whole game and then we just let it slip through our fingers. We’ve just got to go off the film, make the corrections on our mistakes and just keep pushing forward.”
On attitude of the sideline during the game:
“We don’t ever quit until the game is completed. We don’t ever stop and relax completely, we’re always on edge. We were on edge until the final seconds of the game.”
On defensive performance:
“The defensive unit, yes we did, we played an incredible game. Still little things here and there that we messed up on but we can always get better at that.”
Senior DE Mikhail Marinovich
On first sacks of the year:
“It felt good; Rutgers is a big game for us. We’re really disappointed with the loss but I think our defense played pretty well, our special teams did alright and our offense. I’m not going to stand up here and say it was our offense, or defense, or special teams’ fault. If they don’t score, they don’t win.”
On disappointment over the loss:
“I think a lot of guys laid it on the line today. It never feels good to lose, of course, but I think a lot of us played our heart out. A lot of guys that are sitting in our locker room are beat up a little bit and played through injuries. It’s a team game and as a team they got the best of us, so we’re just going to have to come back and work hard.”
On how deflating the loss is to the defense:
“I wouldn’t say it’s deflating, but it’s disappointing. We worked really hard at playing each and every snap to our fullest and then get out of the game as quick as you can so we could put someone fresh in there. I think that the young guys on our team handled it well; they’re just as mad as everyone else. We’ve just got to come back this week and work hard, and not dwell on this.”
On secondary’s great game despite injuries:
“Across the board, if you look at every player, I think every player is banged up. Playing against a guy who, I think he’s leading the country in catches, we’ve got a guy with a cast on, another guy with a hamstring and I think they did an awesome job out there. I think they played it hard and I think they did well.”
On extra emphasis to pressure the quarterback today:
“Of course. We knew that we couldn’t leave him on an island too long because he’s a playmaker, he’s going to make plays. So upfront we made our mission to really affect the quarterback and try and get in his face and make plays. I think we did a pretty good job on that.”
Sophomore Free Safety Jeremi Wilkes
On (cornerback) Keon Lyn and other players overcoming injuries to play:
“We played aggressive, liked we wanted to. It came down to making a play and we were ready. That just shows heart that someone can play hurt.”
On playing against Rutgers junior wide receiver Mohamed Sanu:
“We knew he was going to get the ball and the ball would be thrown to him. We had to shut him down; we had to lock him up. I think we did a pretty good job against him.”
Senior Cornerback Kevyn Scott
On how the cornerbacks played:
“There was a big difference. Over the top, we collapsed on their guys. We made them play and their receivers had to make a heck of play. Most important today, we were on them.”
On holding the Rutgers offense to field goals in the red zone:
“I was proud the way the secondary played back there. We just worked our butts off until the very end. Unfortunately, we could not come out with the win.”
On what they have to work on for next week against Tulane:
“We have to go there and play our game. We have to eliminate the turnovers. We have to get ready for Tulane and to play again.
Junior punter Shane Raupers
On when he found out he would be punting today:
“Thursday after practice Thursday. We knew that Rutgers brings everybody in, special teams, like they did on the field goals and extra points. We switched up our punting technique and only did one step. We were just trying to get the person that could get out there the fastest, just going to have to block.”
On confidence from the first punt:
“Getting that first one out put me in a better place, with a team that rushes like Rutgers does. The coaches were just emphasizing get the ball off, we don’t want this to be blocked so you just get the ball off and try and do what you can do with it.”
On playing this week after not playing last week:
“You can’t give up. This past week and this whole camp I have just been trying to make the best of every situation, and keep working hard day in and day out. Whatever happens, happens. You can’t look back on things.”
On the fear of knowing there’s competition (with freshman Jonathan Fisher):
“It makes both of us better. If I have a bad kick, and he has a good one you have to come back with a better kick. You can’t get satisfied with yourself in open competition.”
On being motivated after not playing last week:
“Obviously, I came back out here and I knew I had a challenge. But it doesn’t feel good for any player to have to stand on the sidelines and watch your team. So, obviously, I wanted to get back out there and do all I could do to help my team.”
Sophomore defensive tackle Jay Bromley
On the pressure on the defense:
“The pressure on the defense was just get off the ball. Our whole defensive line, we wanted to get off the ball as fast as you can. We just try to make plays.”
On “reading” Rutger’s offense:
“Rutger’s is a pro-style offense. I saw a lot of double teams and I just try to play to the best of my ability.”
On Bromley, Marinovich, and Goggins:
“We always just focus. We knew what we had to do today. We all just try to get off the ball as much as possible.”
On handling a tight loss:
We just have to come together as a team and not point any fingers at anybody. The is a long season ahead of us, so we just keep working to get better everyday.”
Sophomore center Mackey McPherson
On the loss:
“We had a few miscommunications. Some unfortunate things happened to us, some things happened to Rutgers but we just didn’t capitalize on some things we should have, and they did.”
On winning/losing/giving it away:
“Rutgers is a good team. I’m not going to say they won it, or we lost it.”
On coping with the loss:
“We lost. We played our best there’s nothing we can do about it. Unfortunate things happened to our players. Maybe we could throw the ball better? Maybe we could hold linebackers longer? We just keep working harder to get ready for the next game, so we play better and we don’t make the same mistakes again.”
Junior wide receiver Alec Lemon
On leaving points on the field:
“We definitely left some points on the field. Five turnovers. We did leave a lot of points on the field, when you’re turning the ball over and you’re not converting.”
On offense on the sidelines:
“When you have chances to score, and you turn the ball over, we can only blame ourselves.”
On the wide receivers:
“They had a very good defense. They threw some coverage that we didn’t see, so we had to open up the running game.”
Michael Hay, Senior OT
On the tide after missing the first extra point:
“Sometimes people team up against us, but there is nothing we can do about it.”
On dealing with a loss:
“At the end of the day whatever is going to happen is going to happen, we just take it in stride, and keep on moving. Get back up.”
Defensive Coordinator Scott Shafer
On what you did on defense to shut them down, especially in the first half; anything special:
“No, not really, in fact they changed a bunch. They didn’t stay true to their tendencies. It was a little bit more just working through teams, adjusting to the elements. They changed on offense. They were not the same offense we saw, from a tendency point of view.
On the forced fumble by Dyshawn Davis:
“He had a nice hit, a forced fumble, but he’s got some things he needs to clean up, too. Two or three good things and one bad thing doesn’t work out. The math isn’t good enough. I thought he gave a good effort though, so he just has to keep getting better.”
Senior linebacker Dan Vaughan
On what the defense needs to improve upon next week:
“I don’t think anything major, just going in there with a renewed attitude, the same — our goals are still ahead of us and we just need to go out there and get a win.”
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
On adjustments made from first half to second half:
“We knew we were going to be able to run the ball and that’s what we showed coming out of the second half. They were going to try and stop Ryan in the pass game. We came out running did a really good job with that got to the red zone. The defense was phenomenal. They gave us those opportunities in the red zone.”
On what the team needs to do in the next game against Tulane:
“This is one of those things we can all learn from. Everything, the intensity, everything needs to be increased in practice. Even the small things, we talk about ball security, we talk about the quarterback making the right decisions, all those things are critical and we just need to stress those things more than will normally do.”
Sophomore cornerback Keon Lyn
On the injuries in the secondary:
“No that didn’t play (a part). We have high expectations. There are still high expectations for us. They are still expecting me and Ri’Shard to make plays.
On your one-on-one coverage and being able to cover to the wide receivers today:
“There is a great feeling. It is a BIG EAST day so it’s very important to us. I just looked at it as another game. I still got to fight through to make plays.”
Sophomore center Macky MacPherson
On his feelings coming out of game:
“Never know what is going to happen so you go out there and try to execute to the best of your ability and we didn’t execute. As a whole we didn’t execute, whether it is offense or the offensive-line, we had a lack of communication at times it led to negative plays. We had a couple of good plays then that would follow by a bad play and you can’t shoot yourself in the foot like that.”
