Rutgers Head Coach and Player Quotes
2005 Syracuse Football
Syracuse vs. Rutgers – October 15, 2005
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Rutgers Quotes
Head coach Greg Schiano on the play of quarterback Mike Teel:
“I think Mike did a good job of managing the game. Certainly, he made some really nice plays and then he made some plays that I’m sure he’d like to get back, but I’m really proud of him.”
Schiano when asked if this was his team’s best win of the season:
“People watch games on TV and they think it’s an easy win when they look at the score. It’s never easy. It’s hard every step of the way. I’m so proud of our football team because they just kept fighting the entire afternoon. This may have been the first time that the entire football game was very much a fighting, chopping down attitude and we didn’t come off focus. We weren’t always good, but we didn’t come off focus. That, to me, has got to be key to becoming a good football team. We did it for the entire afternoon and that might have been a first.”
Schiano on the number of turnovers his team capitalized on:
“You get five turnovers – that’s the game. Again, if we didn’t throw three interceptions, if they didn’t turn the ball over - that’s part of winning football games. All of this is part of winning football games.”
Schiano on the play of Corey Barnes:
“Corey Barnes epitomizes what we want our football team to be like. We moved him to defensive back and he embraced it. He fought his rear end off.”
Schiano on who his starting quarterback will be next week:
“We’ll deal with all that stuff when we get home. We’ll evaluate everything. But, we made a move at the quarterback position with the program in mind. Right now, that’s where we’re going. That’s why we made the move.”
Shiano on his running backs:
“We came in at halftime and said we thought we could really run the football on these guys. We assessed it. I thought our running backs looked incredibly quick out there today. I thought Ray and Brian looked really fast. They were hitting the hole really fast. I said to the guys on the sideline, ‘If I’m coaching against you, I’m really worried about how fast those running backs are hitting the hole, so let’s keep doing it’.”
Schiano on being 2-1 in the BIG EAST Conference for the first time in school history:
“It’s a good feeling, but it won’t mean anything at all if we don’t go out and do well next week. But, I think it is important. Slowly, you’re starting to see Rutgers get some respect in the sport of football.”
DB Corey Barnes:
“On both TDs, I just saw the ball and was able to pick it up and go in. The punt block was really a big lift for us.”
“This win was very important for our program. It’s exciting to get the first win here for us since 1986.”
QB Mike Teel:
“I did what they asked of me. I made a couple of bad throws and had a couple of mistakes, but overall I feel pretty good about what I did.”
“The early hit on me by the blitzer was a wake-up call for me. It got me into the game flow.”
“They changed a lot of things trying to get pressure on me and blitzed a lot.”
“On the touchdown pass, Tres (Moses) got immediate separation at the line and I could see he was wide open. I had just enough time to get it off before the blitz got there.”
RB Brian Leonard:
“I’ve got a bunch of people out there waiting for me and I’m just going to go out and enjoy our win. This is a huge victory for us.”
“I don’t care about the yards, just the win. They blitzed a lot today and I had responsibility to pick it up. I feel good that one of my pickups was on the touchdown pass.”
DE Ryan Neill:
“They have some good and talented offensive lineman, so I don’t know why they are struggling. Clearly, a weak point for them is when they get into third and long. We blitzed a lot in that situation.”
“Our defense has come a long way this year. I came to Rutgers to win and now we’re doing it.”
