Sept. 13, 2008
Tulane Head Coach Bob Toledo
Well as I just told the team, I'm honestly very disappointed and I know they are as well. We gave a great effort and there were a handful of plays we needed to make and we didn't make them. Kicking game-wise we had a bad snap on a field goal, had a low kick and they blocked it for a touchdown. We kickoff the second half, they run it all the way back to the 50, score on that possession. Offensively, we get the ball down by the goal line; we can't punch it in. Our defense gets a turnover. We're down there in scoring range and we can't make a first down and have to punt. Defensively, we played hard the whole day. Gave them one pass at the end. And then the long pass for the touchdown. I just thought it was a great college football game. It's very disheartening to play the 14th rank team and come up that short. I'm proud of our football team. They continued to play hard. We just have to learn how to win and learn how to put people away and finish games.
I'd like to thank the people who came out and supported us and the student body. I hope they enjoyed the football game and I hope they come back and continue to support us. Thank you very much.
On Tulane's football team's inability to finish off the game with a win:
I think it's just a learning experience. I think it speaks volumes for East Carolina. They know how to finish a game. They make plays when they have to and we didn't and that's part of it. You have to make plays. Players make plays. And they made some plays and we didn't and what's so difficult about that is most of the game we were making great plays. Our defense worked their fannies off. Offensively, we did enough good things to be very competitive; we just didn't get in the end zone. But yea, you have to learn how to win. You have to learn how to win.
On what he learned about his team after this game:
Well, I learned one thing: it was no fluke last week. We played hard, we played good. That's a good football team. They beat two good football teams coming in. So I just believe we have a good football team. We can't hang our heads. We have to keep getting better each week and eventually things will turn.
On if he thinks they played conservatively on offense during the final minutes of play:
I think we threw a pass and we threw it out of bounds. I don't know if it was conservative. Number one, I was trying to move the ball. Number two, I was trying to get in field goal range and we didn't run the ball very well and then we threw an incomplete pass. And then we tried to get in field goal range to kick another field goal, but it didn't work out.
On if Tulane's defense was tired during ECU's last two possessions:
Possibly, yea. That's part of the thing about keeping teams off of the field. That's one of the reasons we were running the football; to try and utilize the clock so our defense doesn't have to play as much. If you look at it again, we had more snaps than they had. So we're keeping our defense off of the field as much as we can. We've got to convert. We've got to score touchdowns and we're not doing that right now.
On if he believes his team has improved after this game:
Well, lets put it this way. We improved in some areas and got worse in others. We improved on our punt return. But our kickoff coverage was not really good. And of course the field goal with the bad snap and the bad kick run back for a touchdown was really a big play for them in the game.
Tulane junior linebacker Logan Kelley
It's very disappointing. When you have a team like that in your hands to beat and you're up...it's real hard when we played as well as we did. But you have to learn from it and take what you can get out of it and get better the next week. Our mantra, in the offseason and in camp, has been finish. And I guess we're still trying to push that and get to that point where we can finish.
On not being able to stop ECU on their last possession:
Well, it's like Coach Toledo said...they made plays when they needed to and we didn't. They're a good football team and they had some people step up when they needed to and we didn't.
On if anyone had a chance to get Pat Pinkney's dropped snap:
No, it didn't look like it. It was one of those fluke plays. I mean, 9 times out of 10 if you drop a snap you're not going to get any yardage. But it just happened that the ball bounced back into his hands and it might've helped him out even more than if he just tried to quarterback sneak it to start off with.
Senior defensive end Reggie Scott
On what the next step for this program is:
Its just playing hard all game; staying focused; finishing plays. We were doing it for most of the game but we got a little unfocused at the end. So we just have to learn how to play a whole game...not just three quarters.
On the interception he had:
Well, when I see the ball near me I just got to go and go take it. When I got it I was surprised. I was looking around...I didn't really know who was around me. I went to go make a move but my legs just went numb on me and I went down. I could've ran it in. I'm glad I made the play, but I should've done more with it.
Tulane sophomore quarterback Kevin Moore
On the last series:
They ran some twists, some stunts up front. There was a lot of energy. I felt like we had a couple balls, they maybe could have worked out, I missed Casey on the sideline, I put it a little too far out wide. And then with the one with Jeremy, I tried to force it a little bit, but time was running down and I felt like we needed to press it down the field. I think we were at about :28 - :25 seconds at that time. It was a tough last series, I don't think I played well on that last one. They didn't really give us much of a chance on that last possession. They did a great job though, they played hard, they did a good job. You have to make plays. We had them on the ropes. We had them at 1:30 when we got the ball back and that's plenty of time to go any length of the yardage, so like I said, they did a good job. They played extremely well on that last possession. Their defensive lineman played with a lot of energy. Sometimes that happens and you have to overcome it and make plays, but I wasn't able to do that on that last possession.
I think it was tough. Our defense played exceptionally well all game and they did last week as well and got us the ball for another possession. And I thought we had good stuff called, but they played well. We had a play-action trying to go up top. They played it very soundly. And then on the last one, we threw a quick slant on the weak side and their safety read the play pretty well and popped Brian pretty good and kind of knocked the ball out and those things happen. I think we were at the 35 and we make that play and maybe its 23, 24 and maybe we're down there and maybe we try a field goal. But things didn't go our way in that possession. And we cant let that happen. That's what you look for on offense. You want the ball with the game somewhat in your hands. And if we go down and get 7, I think how they approach their possessions will be a little bit different in those last 5 or 6 minutes and we weren't able to do that.
It was frustrating. They played extremely well. Those last few possessions they were flying around; they made a bunch of plays on the ball. But, like I said, it's one of those things, you have to rise to the occasion. On those last possessions, it's the offense's job and we have to lead and take advantage of the opportunity to kind of put the game out of reach and wind the clock down. We have to take those kinds of steps. We want to be the football team that we think we can be and I'm sure like everybody said, we just have to make those 1 or 2 plays that swing a game...or that last play. And tonight, East Carolina, their quarterback (Pat) Pinkley, did terrific down the stretch. Lead his team and threw a big-time ball that put them ahead.
East Carolina Head Coach Skip Holtz
They kept fighting and believing and I was really proud of the way those guys hung in there. I thought they did a really good job in getting in there and competing. This is a really good Tulane football team. We made a millions mistakes. We turned the ball over, I believe, it was 5 times inside the 40 yard line when you count the roughing on the punter. You can't just do that to a defensive football team and expect to win, but they hung in there and kept us in the first half and then coming in the second half the offense kind of woke up a little bit and moved things around. I thought the opening drive to start the third quarter was huge.
Defensively you gave up a couple of plays that we didn't see in the first two games
Well I mean we said this was a much more wide open offensive football team. They threw the ball 50 times against Alabama they were more wide open. We were going to get tested more in the secondary than we had been in the first two games. Those two teams were much more power run oriented and we hadn't been really tested down t he field. Rick Smith and I said that this was going to be the biggest challenge in our secondary and we were going to find out how they were going to answer. We had a couple of opportunities to make plays on deep balls. Williams, their receiver went out and made a great play over Travis Williams and Leon Best on the post. We have to get better on the secondary without a doubt. Overall for our defense to only give up 24 points, when you start five times in the 40-yard line, that is one heck of a football day.
On the game-winning touchdown
The corner did a great job on kind of sniffing it out. We tried to run a little double move slant go and the corner stayed way outside and didn't bite on it. Jamar and Patrick did a great adjustment and came back inside of it. Patrick threw the ball on the inside where we are normally supposed to throw it on the outside. Patrick did a nice job of feeling it and seeing where the corner was and then they got on the same page and that is what happens when you get a couple of guys who have been throwing together for three years. They start to feel each other and they have confidence in what they do. Both of them made a great play.
On the first conference win
It is a great win. You can't take any of them for granted. You want to get mad at all the mistakes we made today and everything else but this is a really good football team t his Tulane football team. They are going to win a lot of football games in this conference. To go on the road and come off the two emotional football games that we just came off of and to come out here and play the way that we did and still get a W in this game, I am as excited as I can be. I will take a one point two to nothing or a 44-45 it doesn't matter to me, as long as they find a way to get that win like they did today. They kept competing and they played extremely hard and never gave up and found a way to win.
Junior Defensive Lineman C.J. Wilson
Like I said, they are a very good team. I take my hat off to them, they are a great team. We gave it all we had and we found a way t o win. We had to just keep playing. We learned a lot about ourselves today. We got behind but we just kept fighting.
Senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney
This win was a team effort. We give Tulane credit. Their defense played hard and they were very physical. They are a good team and will win a lot of games this year. A team is going to have a lot of ups and downs but that is when you have to come together as a football team and just believe.
I just had to relax and trust my line and trust that my receivers would make plays and catch the ball. We just had to get in our rhythm and once we did that we started moving the ball.
We just have to keep our confidence and get the ball back in the second half. During the second half is when we started to get a grasp on the game and get into our groove because Tulane's offense had the ball for most of the first half. I just stayed calm and poised in the second and I trusted my teammates.
