Postgame Quotes vs. Purdue
09/13/09 | Football
Oregon 38, Purdue 36
September 12th, 2009
Oregon Head Coach Chip Kelly Quotes
On the game:
“We stayed after it. The younger players, Barner, James, and Clay kept at it. Purdue is a good football team. It's a lot of credit to our players. We talked at halftime about going out there and finishing, and that's what we did.”
On Jeremiah Masoli:
“He is a dual threat and opens things up.”
“He made some mistakes, but he is a winner. He never gets rattled and is a calming influence. He is such a weapon with the ball in his hands; it makes the defense have to defend the whole field.”
On youth of the team:
“We're young, but getting players involved in the game. Some of the younger players seemed to be looking at the crowd more than the ball in the first half, but after halftime they started to get going, and LaMichael really hit stride. They have done these things in practice, and now they have done it in a game. I am excited for the future of this team.”
“A little known fact about Oregon football is that we are undefeated when Walter Thurmond scores.”
On the importance of the taste of success:
“It's easier to teach football from the perspective of experience. Now they understand what we need to do in order to win.”
On last week compared to this week:
“We have moved on from last week. I am very impressed with the effort and hard work all of these players have put forth.”
“The offense was better this week. We ran the ball, and got a couple of first downs. It's all about the rhythm, and once we get going the only people who can stop us are ourselves.”
On penalties:
“The turnovers and penalties are what kills you, and we are going to continue to work on that.”
On special teams:
“Special teams is integral to success. We need to clean up the penalty aspect, but I am excited about our kicking game.
Oregon Player Quotes
#55 Casey Matthews
“We had to bounce back from last week. I think we gave our offense good opportunities to score. We had to know what we were doing and fill in the right gaps.”
#14 Javes Lewis
“My teammates got me really enthused. Football is a game of opportunities and we pride ourselves in making the most of every opportunity.”
“We were told to win by any means necessary. A win is a win.”
“We still make mistakes and we have got to get better over the year.”
#21 LaMichael James
On the game:
“We are a young group of running backs. I think, at first, we were scared and nervous. In the second half we settled down and it was better. We just wanted to run hard and gain our yards. I am glad we won this game. We needed it.”
On the importance of the win:
“We badly needed a win. We knew we were a good team. We wanted to put together some good actions. Last week we didn't execute as well today.
On the wide receivers:
“In the first half, we had a couple drops. A lot if it has to do with inexperience. In the second half, we got it together. We had some long drives and things were working out better.”
#46 Michael Clay
On his performance:
“I was just trying to help the team. This fall camp I have been trying to prove myself that I can do good things on this level. When my name was called today, I was ready. The rain helped me cool down. The quarterback was a main threat and I just wanted to stop him. I actually wasn't nervous at all. I was excited for my first Autzen game. At Boise, last week, I was nervous. I felt prepared here. For a freshman I thought I did pretty well.”
Purdue Head Coach Danny Hope Quotes
On game:
“It was a great football game and I'm proud of our efforts. Our goal was to never quit, and our team never quit. This shows we can compete with anyone if we minimize our mistakes.”
“We kept fighting; we just came up a couple plays short. It was a game of inches.”
On learning from game:
“We practiced hard and prepared well, but we didn't play nearly as well from our special teams. We struggled to attack the open field. We turned the ball over twice and that was the difference in making the ball game.”
On challenging Oregon:
“That's what Boilmakers are about. They gave us all they had and we will grow and get hungrier from this. This is a dose of our football family. We did a good job of sticking together.”
On fans:
“I love it when they boo. This is big time football. It is a shame to not have a W, but we had fun.”
Purdue Player Quotes
#94 Ryan Kerrigan
On game:
“We were resilient. Things got tough end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. When it was 24-17 we had a chance to put a nail in the coffin. We didn't, but we kept battling back. This is a sign of a good future for our team.”
On loss:
“A loss is a loss. Now we get ready for Northern Illinois.”
