Temple Post Game Quotes
Carrier Dome - Syracuse, N.Y.
HEAD COACH BOBBY WALLACE:
"I knew that Syracuse is a great team. They have a whole crew of big and fast receivers, a strong offensive line, a QB who is big and strong and can throw the long ball, and talented runners on offense."
"On defense, they have the best pass rusher in the country to go with a strong defensive team. I think they can compete with Virginia Tech and Miami for the BIG EAST championship."
"Syracuse is a lot better team than they were the last two years. They are a much better offensive team."
On Dwight Freeney:
"There is nobody on our team who can block him. He forced us into a very conservative game plan. He can affect a game plan all by himself."
On the game:
"Syracuse is a great team, but we can't come out and have a blocked punt, a long punt return and a long pass play for a TD and then look at 21 to nothing in the first quarter. The game was basically decided then. Our idea had been to play conservatively and hope to get it to the fourth quarter with it close."
On the outlook:
"Where do we go from here? We get ready to play Pittsburgh. From what I saw of the scores, it looks like they're in about as worse as a shape as we are."
On R.J. Anderson:
"He has a great throw on the long ball. He struggles a bit with his short throws, it appears, but he's getting the job done for them."
Freshman quarterback Mike McGann:
"They're a good team. They played a great game. We didn't come to play."
"Special teams killed us. Put the special teams together and it's a whole other ball game."
On Dwight Freeney:
"He's a good player - one of the best pass rushers in the nation. I knew he was going to get to me."
On Temple's running game:
"We didn't do a bad job running the ball. We're getting better with every game."
On playing behind an injured offensive line:
"I try not to worry about it. I try to have confidence in myself. Just do my job and let them do their job. It doesn't really matter who's in there. I have to give 100 percent no matter who?s in there."
On whether it was part of the game plan to hit Sean Dillard more:
"It was just the way it worked out. We didn't do anything special. Sean's a good receiver. I was just trying to get him the ball."
Junior defensive tackle Dan Klecko:
"We thought we really had a chance to come in here and give them a game. We just got down early. It seemed we were playing catch-up all game."
On whether the SU offense threw anything at Temple it didn't expect:
"That offense, that's the thing, they throw everything at you. That's their game plan. We have a lot of film on them, broken down. We expected everything they gave us. We didn't execute to the best of our ability."
On the speed of the SU tailbacks:
"You know what? I think Willie Green was a lot faster. I think Chester Taylor was. I just don't think we were making tackles like we should have been. We missed a lot of tackles. The speed of the college game - once you've played one college game, you get the rest of it. I think we were fine with the speed of the game."
On SU quarterback R.J. Anderson:
"I don't know if he's tough to bring down, but he's a pain in the butt to chase around the field."
On Dwight Freeney:
"He's a pretty good player. They line him up in that Y-knot and let him rush the quarterback and he wreaks havoc back there."
On whether Freeney can win the Heisman:
"I don't know. There's a lot of good backs out there, it's tough to say. But I wouldn't put it past him. I mean, the guy's averaging, after this game, I think he's got two sacks a game again. If he breaks 20 sacks, it would be a shame if he wasn't at least in the running for it."
On SU's chances to win the BIG EAST:
"Miami's number one in the nation and they're number one in the nation for a reason. They're (SU) a good team. I think they'll give them a game."
