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GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL: TEMPLE v WYOMINGDecember 17, 2011Dave ChristensenBrian HendricksMazi OgbonnaALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO TEMPLE – 37 Q.You knew going in there that they were going to run it, and they certainly did. Just had a tough time to stop it. Was it everything you expected or a little tougher time stopping it than you had hoped? COACH CHRISTENSEN: Yeah, I mean, it was disappointing. We knew they were going to run the football, which they did. We missed some tackles, and against a team like that you can't give them a penalty to give them a first down when you get a chance to stop drives. They just physically played better than us. My hat's off to them. They're a good running football team. They're a good football team. They were the better team today. Q. You had a hard time getting the passing game going. Not a lot of passing yards. Was it pass/rush? Can you put your finger on where the pass game struggled today? MAZI OGBONNA: I think it was just overall. I mean, they definitely had a great defense like we expected them to be extremely tough on that side of the ball. They just executed more plays than we did. Q. Brian, this offense, like we said, you knew they were going to bring it. But what did you see from their quarterback today, and did they kind of run, run, run, lull you to sleep and then hit you with that pass? How did you feel that they kind of exploited that? BRIAN HENDRICKS: Watching them on film, they'd lull a lot of teams to sleep with their run and put it in the air. That's why they're so good. Why they just turned 9‑4. They made those kind of plays. Really impressive. That quarterback made a lot of plays. If you don't prepare for this team, which we did, we saw them on film take care of a lot of opponents. Hat's off to them. Q. Brian, can you talk a little bit about the change in emotions in the final minute of the first half there? BRIAN HENDRICKS: Yeah, I mean, that was tough. We let up a big play. I mean, we just scored, and then to allow that big pass right before the end of the half, that's huge. That kind of hurt us a little bit. We came into the locker room and we weren't feeling bad for ourselves. We came out and fought and just like everyone's been saying, hat's off to this team. They made the plays today. Q. It seemed like Brett did have some guys open deep from time to time, and then he missed them or got it there late. Was it just an off day for him? COACH CHRISTENSEN: Yeah, it was. Brett's played so well for us and done so many things for us. He had some struggles today, without a doubt, certainly not from a lack of wanting to get it done. Obviously, when he has struggles generally other people are struggling with the protection or getting open in a route. Not his best day. But the great news is he's got three more years and he'll work extremely hard in the off‑season. He'll bounce back. He always does. Q. Going back to that last minute of the first half, you had something similar kind of happen against Boise State. Can you compare the two instances Boise State and today? COACH CHRISTENSEN: Well, Boise State, we batted the ball and the guy caught it. Today their defensive back fell down and the guy caught it and ran for a touchdown. They're two different plays. Just you make a mistake and you give up a touchdown. I'm not concerned. I don't think that next year we have to be overly concerned and practice a lot of last plays in the first half. I mean, stuff happens. If you don't fall down, you don't give up a touchdown. That's on any play not necessarily at the end of a half. Q. That last drive to end the game, you guys put one in the end zone. Was that more to kind of build upon next year going‑‑ when you talk to your players next year, that is something you can essentially build upon? You did lose the game, but you were able to put it in there last minute. COACH CHRISTENSEN: Well, we will. What we want in this program is we never want a team that's going to quit at any point in time. We'll continue to battle, and as I told a couple of those kids, we'll get the balls in the hands of Lil Smootie a little bit and get him going for next year. He was able to get a touchdown. We've got a lot of young guys that play on that offense. So we don't have time to down the ball and get the game over. We have to work to get better, and that's what we want to do on that last drive. They went out there and scored and scored a two‑point conversion. We'll take that into the off‑season. The entire thing was a disappointment the way we played today. I'm proud of these kids and taking this program to where it is right now. They've had a fantastic season, compared to where people picked us at the beginning of the year. We're not going to base everything on how we played today, we're going to base it on the entire body of work of the entire season. I'm proud of what they got done, and I'm proud of these kids. We're certainly going to miss the leadership of this great senior class. Q. Brian, the defense has been known for coming up with a big turnover, something along those lines to stop the drive. Were you surprised at all that you weren't able to force them into any turnovers today, really? BRIAN HENDRICKS: We were trying, but they were holding on to that ball tight and that quarterback made some great decisions. Going back to that quarterback, he was a great athlete today and made the plays, and sometimes you can get the ball to pop out, and today we couldn't do that. Q. Coach, you touched on the future a little bit there. But it sounds like you maybe agreed to stick around for a few more years. Just what you see from this program going forward? COACH CHRISTENSEN: Yeah, I agreed to a new contract last night with Tom Burman and president Buchanan. Excited about their commitment to what we've done here. I'm excited about the direction of the program I think the future's very bright. As I keep saying, we have a really young football team. As I told our team, we're going to lose some seniors and key leaders on this football team. Our challenge is to find leadership like we're able to have this year if we want to continue to have success. We've got talent, but talent without leadership crumbles and you can't win. Our biggest challenge, obviously, is to continue to keep recruiting, but it's to find leadership within this football team to lead this team into next season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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