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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: TCU v BOISE STATEJanuary 4, 2010Andy DaltonJerry HughesGary PattersonDaryl WashingtonSCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA Boise State 17 TONY ALBA: We'll ask Coach Patterson to make an opening statement. The student-athletes will not make opening states. Coach? COACH PATTERSON: Well, first of all, I think you have to give Boise all the credit. They made plays we didn't, the difference in the ball game. Pick six going one the other direction. Two good football teams, you know. The fake punt was a great call, three or four plays in the second half was the difference in the ball game. I thought both teams played hard. We just came up short. I think you got to give Coach Petersen and Boise State a lot of credit. Came in and fought and played without Austin Pettis and made the plays they needed to. Q. Coach Patterson, have you ever seen a team fake punt on a fourth and 9 from their 33 in that situation? COACH PATTERSON: Well, they actually fooled us because they actually called that same fake-off, they had put the guy in a slot, and what they did is they put him on the line of scrimmage later on. That's what the fake was. And then he -- they went behind and the guy got picked off. So they outcoached us on that play. It was a good call. They made an adjustment. We had a guy on him, but they fanned and he came inside. We had worked on the play. They had actually called it off once in the first half. They had it in about on about the 35-yard line. So you -- like I said, you got to give them a little bit of credit. Q. How did you guys try to find holes in that weird defense they brought up tonight? Sometimes a 3-2-6. COACH PATTERSON: The biggest thing is you have to take what they give you. The drive we had at the end of the half, that's what we did; we threw the ball short. Made them try to make plays in space with our good wideouts. We had a couple plays. Had a good play of our own with the punt fake and scored a touchdown. Again I think -- it was one of those situations where, you know, I thought both teams played very well. We just didn't play well enough in the second half. Q. Andy, can you talk about the fact that the offense just couldn't punch it in enough tonight and maybe -- 1 for 12 on third downs and also the interceptions. ANDY DALTON: Yeah, Boise played great. Early on in the game they were doing stuff we hadn't seen. You know, all the looks in practice we were getting, that's not what we saw out there. You know, they had a good game plan coming in. It is hard to win the game when you've got -- lose the turnover battle. That hurt us. They played great. COACH PATTERSON: One of the things that was interesting, you know, is they moved their all-conference corner to safety, in their nickel and dime packages, whichever they did. It was unique because we won the matchup on the inside receivers. That was a more even matchup in passing downs by doing that. Q. Andy, how much did the different fronts and different looks, how much did that affect you guys? ANDY DALTON: Well, they were moving around a lot. They would be lined up in one thing and then shift their front. You know, I think early on we just -- we didn't really know what exactly they were doing out there. But at times we would -- we would know what was going on and that was when we were executing a little bit better. But they did a lot of different things. COACH PATTERSON: One of the things that happened to us early, just so it is answered, our phones went out. So actually -- our offense coordinator had to come down almost the whole first quarter and then a little bit into the second. Finally -- I don't know if you all noticed. We finally -- everybody had to take their phones off in the first half until about three or four minutes left to go. So that was -- that was an interesting concept. Q. Jerry, the only time they really seemed to get offensive rhythm was after the fake punt. Did that have a deflating effect on you out there? JERRY HUGHES: That was huge, was an emotional play to pull out a play of that extent. They obviously had the momentum on their side, and then we were just unable to execute on the defensive side of the ball, which led to them getting a touchdown. Q. You guys accomplished so much this season and had just so much success. How hard is it going to be when you look back to focus on those successes and not just how it ended? ANDY DALTON: Well I mean, we did a lot of good things this year. We'll understand that, but we also have the foul taste in the mouth that we have after this game. All these underclassmen, we're going to take this and just make it motivation for next year. And hopefully we can really improve and win a big game like this. Q. Coach Patterson, what kind of a setback is this for your program? You had hopes of somebody reaching a title -- some day reaching a title game. What's the learning process? COACH PATTERSON: I don't think it is a setback at all. We played the No. 6 team in the nation. We got beat 17-10. The difference in yards was 300 and something to 300 and something. Somebody was going to have to lose tonight. It is like I told them in the locker room: We came into this game, two teams together, we're 48-3. Now our total record is 49-4. Somebody is going to have to win. Somebody was going to have to lose, and that's the way this game was going to go down. But for us, I mean, we got to this point. We played a very good Boise State team tonight. We came up short. For me, I don't think that we backed down the mountain at all. It would have been nice for us to win. That was our intention. But for me to say that we fell, that we stumbled and fell down, that football team there has only lost one ball game in two seasons. So for me to sit up here and say that -- it is like I told them in there. They sit right after our ball game, a couple of those guys didn't go out in the draft, the all-conference corner said he is coming back for one reason, because he came up one short. That's what I told our team. You got to decide, you got to decide how you want to handle this. Just like -- when you are growing up, a kid knocks you down, how are you going to get back up? Okay. Are we going to get back up? Are we going to get back up crying or are we going to get back up, dust ourselves off, get ready and jump right back into it? That's what I intend for this program to do, is jump right back in. We have a lot of young players. We are losing some good players. If you want to be a great program, not just a great team, which I think is what we have become, then we'll regroup, we'll move forward, and we'll get ready to go. Q. Coach, did you think that the team was nervous to start the game, the way the first quarter went? Was it nerves? Was it being on the stage for the first time? Did that impact things at all? COACH PATTERSON: Andy could probably tell you. I thought we were probably a little nervous in offense. I think we were tight. The other thing I would tell you, I wish I would have pulled them off practice-wise probably one day more. I thought we looked a little bit tired. I thought they were a little bit more fresh in the first quarter, a little bit quicker. If I was going to do anything, if I was going to play myself, I would tell you that I would have probably pulled off one more practice. Q. Is that what you saw, Andy? Did you see the nerves? ANDY DALTON: I think nerves had something to do with it, but, you know, they were doing some different things, especially with the phones going out, the communication and everything coming in. I think that really had something to do with it. Q. Gary, you noted that you had watched five years' worth of film on Boise State. Did you ever see anything compared to what they were doing defensively that they did tonight? COACH PATTERSON: Oh, yeah, I had seen them jump from a four-man front to a three-man front. They had done that before. Not the way they did it tonight. They hadn't moved their defensive linemen around. Key to it is, good programs, you get a month to prepare; you know that they are going to come in and do something that you're not ready for. I mean, that's what good programs do. That's something we are going to have to move forward and make sure the next time we do it we can make the adjustments we need to to play the way we need to. We had people open. We dropped some balls. We overthrew some balls and we turned some over. You got to give Boise credit. They did what they needed to do to win the ball game. Now, we played three ball games against them, these two programs have. They beat us 34-31 back in 2003. We won 17-16. And then tonight was 17-10. I think you have really two good programs that know how to win, and every time we get together it will be exactly like this every time it happens. I just think you have to give both teams credit. You have to give both coaching staffs credit for getting to this point, and go from there. But it was fun to watch. I'm glad I'm not -- I'm not very happy we're on the losing end of it. We knew coming in somebody would have to make some plays to win because somebody was going to have to lose. Q. Andy, can you take us through that first interception? Did you see the guy at all? ANDY DALTON: Yeah, they were just in man coverage. We had a slant called. The receiver kind of slowed down and, you know, gave him a chance to undercut it. I mean, it was a little miscommunication on our part, but the guy made a good play. Q. Daryl, can you talk about the challenges of facing Kellen Moore and this offense, as efficient as he is? DARYL WASHINGTON: Kellen Moore is an unbelievable quarterback. He did some great things, very accurate with his throws, very quick release. We watched him on film. You would be amazed how quick he can get the ball out. He is a smart quarterback overall, knows football. Got to give him credit. COACH PATTERSON: I teach them well, don't I? (Smiling). Q. Gary, you reflected in the press conference yesterday about this game setting you up for next season. You obviously didn't win. You obviously played competitive and well against a top team. Can you just talk about the importance of that and the perception coming out of here to put you guys in a position to be where you want to be next year? COACH PATTERSON: Well, number one, we came in doing the right things in the first place, not whining, and we are not going to start now. Everybody across the country, you got 64 Bowl teams playing. I think that's how many -- 32 are going to win. So the key to it is how we're going to handle this. We've got to grow some people up as a program. We got to move forward, and we need to recruit and try to replace the guys here that have left. But, you know, it's -- we started 12 years ago in this process. Nobody would even have thought we should be sitting in this room. We proved ourselves. We played 11 Bowl games in 12 years. We finally got to a BCS game. And there is a lot of teams that lose BCS games that have won National Championships. And so for us, you know, we're not going to take any backseat at this point in time. We are going to keep trying to move forward and do the things we need to do. I'll be honest with you -- let me say one thing to you. I'm very appreciative of the people that are sitting in this room, because at some point in time you decide to change your mind and give us a chance as a program, give Boise a chance as a program, and some day what we tried to do tonight is try to prove you right. That's where we are right now. They did just a little bit better job than we did. Q. Jerry, talk about your senior season, wrapping it up tonight the way you did and how you feel about the program and how do you leave with tonight? JERRY HUGHES: It was a great season. I said I wanted to help the team do things and we were able to do it. We were able to get the conference championship. It was a huge goal. And to be up on the BCS stage, a national stage like this, it was just icing on the cake. This really just puts TCU's program out on the map. There's no setback or anything like that. Just lets the nation know who TCU is, where we're at and how we're going to play football. It is just a great year. I'm very thankful and blessed to be a part of such a great team and established program. Q. Jerry, can you talk a little bit about what the Broncos were doing on the offensive line to try to slow you down? JERRY HUGHES: I seen a lot more tight end helps and back shifts than all season. They did a great job of preparing. It's really hard to kind of fight through that when you are getting chipped around a lot. Boise, I got to give them all the credit. You know, they came out. They had a game plan and they executed it. Q. Andy, you and several other key players are coming back next year. How are you going to lead this team in the off-season, going into next season, and what do you want your senior legacy to be going into next season? ANDY DALTON: We've got a lot of guys coming back, a lot of starters. Everybody knows the feeling of this loss. I think it is just going to be motivation for us. We're going to work really hard this off-season and hopefully get back here. COACH PATTERSON: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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