South Florida Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. South Florida
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
November 12, 2005
USF Quotes
Coach Jim Leavitt:
“It’s such a beautiful day outside – and nothing against this great facility – I thought when I got up and went outside that maybe we would play there.”
“I was worried a lot about this game, especially with all the distractions of the number 44 retirement. It was a great honor to play in this game that honored such greats of college football. But after traveling to Rutgers and then coming back here, I was really worried about our ability to stay focused.”
“Syracuse is a good team and they had a good scheme on defense with bringing the cornerback in on a blitz.”
“We run the ball because Andre Hall is a good runner. When we saw the corner blitz, we did some things to adjust and Andre made some moves to get free.”
“I told our team this week that we have to remember that we haven’t played half of our Big East schedule – and that we really had to work on staying focused. Now we have to focus on Cincinnati.”
Senior defensive end Jason Allen:
“This is another great win for our team. I was telling the guys all week that this game is big. Every game is big – what we did last week doesn’t matter. I just tried to get guys to play like it’s the last game – like the Super Bowl.”
Allen on his team posting a shutout:
“Anytime your defense can get a shutout - that brings a smile to the whole team. It’s a whole team effort.”
Allen when asked about his team being unknown to the BCS folks:
“Our focus is just to go out and play. Whatever happens at the end of the game, we can’t make those decisions. The decision is made during the game on the field and we just leave everything else out and let the media take care of that.”
Allen on the kind of statement his team made by winning convincingly:
“We have a lot of great talent and some of these guys are playing at a peak level – as a unit. When that happens, anything is possible. Our coach tells us that. We understand that. Being a sixth-year senior, I’m just trying to come across and put that in guys’ heads, that you know, if we go out and battle, anything is possible.”
Allen on playing in the Carrier Dome:
“This was the first time I’ve played indoors. This is a great facility. I’d rather play indoors, it’s cold out there.”
Senior running back Andre Hall:
“This is what we needed. We needed to come out and get another road win. We knew we had to play our best. We needed to go back home with a nice, little winning streak and go get the Bearcats.”
Hall on whether or not he knew USF would be that successful with the run against Syracuse:
“You could see on film that it was going to work. That was our game plan – to come in and run the ball. We knew those guys were hard-hitting guys, a hard-hitting defense, but their defense was pinched in. I think it was a third and short, and they pinched in, so I knew I had the outside. I sort of pushed it up to bring the backers down, so when they came down a little, I bounced it out.”
Hall on whether he noticed a difference in Syracuse after USF took a 10-0 lead:
“After that, I felt they gave us a little more room to run. I noticed then that they switched their defense, that’s what they did. Guys weren’t coming in from the edge as hard and we took advantage of it.”
