Syracuse Player Quotes
Syracuse University Football Quotes (Post-game)
Syracuse vs. Miami (OH)
Carrier Dome / Syracuse, N.Y.
September 23, 2006
Sophomore Running Back Curtis Brinkley:
What was it like to get a touchdown?
“It was exciting, but you can’t really do too much. It was all about the character. I just want to stay humble and move on.”
What about the fact that you got your first 100 yard game?
“I didn’t even know that. That’s exciting too. This is all about the offensive line. I knew what I had to do and I did it. I thank my whole line. I haven’t scored that many yards in a long time.”
Is this completely different from last week where you stayed strong?
“We did all we could. We came out and we executed. It was fun watching the one part of the game where we came out and flipped and then turned it on.”
What was the switch from last week?
“I don’t know. We just came out after halftime and turned it on.”
What about Taj Smith being down?
“I’m hurt about it. I feel just as bad as Taj does, because I have love for him. But, we have to move on.”
How does the two game win streak affect the team?
“It feels good. It picks our confidence up so we can go out there. We’ve always had the winning attitude, we just haven’t always come out on top and now we are coming out on top and our confidence is up.”
Senior Linebacker Kelvin Smith:
Can you explain what happened on the blocked field goal?
“We knew that it was weak on the inside so we targeted that and it worked out.”
How did that blocked field goal affect the rest of the game?
“It just showed that our defense was there. It showed that we can make the big plays at the key times. So that was a good thing.”
What did you do in the third and fourth quarter to turn it back around?
“We just really had to focus in on the blocking.”
Talk about (Miami Wide Receiver) Ryne Robinson today.
“He deserves credit. He made a couple good plays, but it couldn’t be all about him, we like to focus on the whole team.”
Your first two games were tremendous. How has that affected the rest of the team?
“I’m a leader on the field. I believe that I lead by example. I’m going to go out there and give it all I have. You have to go out there, and do what you have to do. We play hard.”
Talk about Jameel McClain’s contributions.
“He was really pushing for us. You always focus on the guys that left, but what about the guys that came in? He’s making a difference, and I’m very, very happy for him.”
How did you get so much pressure on the quarterback?
“That’s the defensive line. You just have to put the pressure on him. We made a lot of coverage there. We were really trying to cover him up.”
Talk about the second win and how that emotionally affects the team?
“It’s great. We’re about to get this crazy momentum going, so we couldn’t be happier.”
How does it feel to get a win at home?
“It feels great. We’re tired of playing tough games and not coming out with a win. So it feels great to go out there to get a win and have fun with it. We love having a huge crowd here, and we just have fun with it. We just can’t wait to come back next Saturday to play Wyoming.”
How’d the blocked field goal happen?
“That was the game plan. I just pressured him in there and got my hands up.”
Quarterback Perry Patterson
On the progress of the team:
“The intensity of practice everyday is real high. We just have to make sure to stay focused and get better as a team because we have a saying in this program, ‘it’s all about us.’ No matter who we’re playing, whether it’s a top 15 team or an unranked team, we have to come to play and take care of our own business.”
On what he’s happy about with the team:
“With Wake Forest, we didn’t really have the ball going at all. We have something that we have to do to really battle for the top part of the BIG EAST, to get better with these conference games and I think we’re on the right track.”
On the offense in the fourth quarter, in particular picking up the intensity:
“We challenged ourselves. I challenged the O-line because we really didn’t finish out the game last week, so I challenged them to go out and finish out the game this week, to show a side of maturity. And they did a great job. When they go, you see how the offense runs smoothly. I think just as much pressure as I put on myself, I put on the O-line because we have to be together as a unit as far as the core of the offense. As long as we’re able to go out there and function, the whole rest of the offense will go along.”
On Taj Smith’s injury:
“It’s a tough blow. He’s our spark plug in the offense and I hate to see him go down like that. He’s a strong guy. He’s from a tough area in New Jersey so he’ll bounce back. We’ll be alright.”
Center Justin Outten
On if the team is capable of going to a bowl game:
“That’s our goal. BCS is always in the back of our minds. We’re not putting anything on the back burner. We’re just going to play one game at a time, get more wins first and then see what happens.”
Defensive End Jameel McClain
On the fans tonight:
“It was great to have the crowd around us. The fans, they have to understand that they’re the 12th man out there. It makes the job hard for the quarterback so I’m happy that the fans were out there, supporting us. However many there were, it doesn’t matter, because it was enough for us.”
Tight End J.J. Nesheiwat
On his touchdown:
“My job is to run a wide hook and the O-line’s is to fight long enough to get enough time to throw that ball. He (Perry) started throwing using his lower body. He had a person on his back and he just threw it on the money. I saw the ball with my eyes wide open and caught that ball.”
On Tom Ferron’s career day and what he was saying:
“He was excited. He had five or six catches so he was talking a lot, trying to get us pumped and we were. We were having a lot of fun out there.”
On Taj Smith’s injury:
“We’re all down. Taj is one, he always gives great effort. He’s the guy that we look to as a leader, by example. He’s always 100 percent, 110 percent, goes full time. He’s injury is a big loss for the team but one of the young guys has to step up and make plays for us.”
Tight End Tom Ferron
On his catch:
“I saw the corner bite down on the guy underneath on the down flat and I knew I was open. I saw Perry (Patterson) throw the ball and I had to go up and make the catch before I got knocked out of bounds. I took a pretty good hit on it too.”
On J.J. Neshiewat getting the reception and touchdown:
“I was happy for him. I got mine last week. I told him he was going to get one this week and hopefully we both got one but he got his and I was happy for him.”
