USF Football
USF v. Rugters Football Game
November 3, 2010
USF Press Room - Raymond James Stadium
Skip Holtz, Head Coach

"Just another day at the office...Really proud of this football team, I talked in the press conference early in the week and this is a football team that has beat us 80-16 the last two years. We've been 0-4 against them, the seniors have never beat them. We've really been shut down the last two years. I thought there were so many great individual performances and I'll sit here and mention some seniors. I say in order to be a good football team our seniors have to play the best football of their career, and Mo Plancher did that tonight. Jacquin Williams on defense did that tonight. There's some upper classmen that I thought just led the charge tonight and I'm just really proud of this football team and the way they competed, the way they hung in their. It wasn't a perfect game by any means. We gave up the craziest punt return I've ever seen in all my days of coaching. We throw an interception when we were backed up, we hit the guy in the facemask, but yet we gave up a lot of rushing yards in that wildcat formation that they were running, but what they did, they never gave in. They never threw in the towel, they just kept competing. Again, I keep saying this, there were offensive guys in the defensive huddle and there were defensive guys in the offensive huddle. I'm trying to call a play and I grab a guy and it's DeDe Lattimore, it's like get out of here, your not in the offensive huddle. What we were doing, I'm really proud of those guys for competing, seeing the excitement and joy in their faces in that lockeroom, it is the feeling of reward. Someone said this before, one of the joys I have in coaching was that three minutes I have standing in front of this team after a win like this one. It doesn't come easy, and you got to battle, and battle, and battle and it goes all the way down to 60 minutes, one play at a time."

On his appreciation  for Moise Plancher and what he has been through -

I feel, I keep saying this, seniors I mean look at what he's been through, sixth year guy, been through two injuries, injured at the end of camp, he missed the last two scrimmages, he wasn't able to play that much early in the year, when he did play in one scrimmage he had one carry and one fumble, like he's not ready, so I kind of put him on the shelf a little bit. It would have been real easy for a guy like that to hang his head and go 'well this is my sixth year, what did I come back for?" But he just goes to work everyday and he battles and battles. Mo Plancher and Jacquin Williams really sum up the attitude of this football team. I can talk about the unselfish play of Kevin Gidrey, the way Richard Kelly is playing and Bass and Sims, the job he did. Believe it or not, we practice that fumble recovery in the endzone everyday in practice, Terrell McClain and Sabbath Joseph, I mean you look at those guys and what they do and those are the guys that your really excited for and happy for. Mo has 180 yards on the day or something like that. We had Murray come out early and Mo just keep battling, he really did a great job."

On the team's character to fight back from being 0-2 in the Big East to 2-2...

I think that is a real testiment to these seniors, the way that they have kept battling. On the outside, your looking in and we're 0-2, losing to Syracuse and West Virginia, and everyone on the outside is saying you're broke, you lost two games. I kept making the comment 'it's so bittersweet' cause were doing some many good things on special teams, were playing so well on defense, I see a running game that is really starting to come along and when we get it, when it clicks, when we can get the things moving on offense and put up some points, we got a chance to be a really good football team. We didn't flinch we didn't change what we were doing, we just kept doing it and I think it is a real testiment to these players. I think a couple of them, I know a guy like B.J. Daniels, I think has matured  and grown form all these, cause at 0-2 he received a lot of criticism and a lot of people said he can't be a quarterback. You look at the last two weeks I would tend to disagree, cause I think he has played, I mean has thrown one interception in the last two weeks, I think he has done a nice job of managing the team, he's focused, he's dialed in. He throws a huge play to Shields coming over on the void on the last touchdown drive, it wasn't really there and he just lofted that ball right up over the defenders head. I think he is really playing well. I think it's a real testiment to these seniors, it would have been easy to throw in the towel. You set high asspirations for yourself but I continually tell them this is a journey, it's not a destination, you don't build a champion over night, you build it day after day after day. I'm talking about building a champion  in the classroom that graduates. A champion off the field that looks good for the school and makes the right social decisions, and a guy that has a burning desire and wants to be a champion on the field. We knew it wasn't going to be a wave of a magic wand and wiggle your nose. I really think the seniors and the guys in that locker room are really setting the tone for this to be a very powerful team in the Big East."

On the performance of Mo and Mitchell combinded with the efforts of Sims, Shields,  etc..

Absolutely without a doubt, and their were great plays.We didn't have the consitency on offense and I would give them a lot of credit for that. I think they have a good football team, their hard nose, their tought their physical, and I said it early they do a lot of twisting moving and they were moving their front one way or another and it was a little bit of a guessing game. There were some huge plays too. We couldn't get the consitency, but I talked earlier about if you want to put points on the board you have two ways to do it, your real good on third down, you move the ball up and down the field and you find a way to make some big plays. We challenged the recievers with B.J. and turned and were able to find the open guys. Evan Landi makes just a super catch their on the deep ball, I believe that was our first touchdown drive, might have been our second but on the deep ball over there on the sideline he makes a great play. Jacob Sims falls on the ball, nobody gave up, I don't know whose going to make it but you just got to believe."

On Jacquin Williams performance throughout the game -

It was phenomenol. I believe he had 11 tackles, had the big sack there at the end, had two tackles for a loss, he was all over the field. Again, I think Mo had to represent the spirit of this football team, cause the spirit of the football team will take on the attitude of the seniors and when the underclassmen can look at the seniors and go that's how were suppose to work, that's how were suppose to focus, that's how were suppose to come in and prepare for a game, and when you look at guys like that, everyone is looking at the fruits of the labor, again I could talk about every player individual but Jacquin Williams is my hero"

On the defense ability to finish games...

They're having too, we had the oppurtunity to finish the game on offense, we just couldn't make that first down. We gained five and it's like 'cool', liking that it's second and five and no gain, and now your in third and five and at that point I wasn't going to throw the ball, I'm just going to run it and make them use their timeouts and turn around and punt the ball away, but you got to trust your defense and those guys are doing a good job of keeping the ball in front of them, rallying, tackling, competing together. I mean you look at it and I know on the sideline I was frustrated as I can be and they gave up 238 yards tonight, and I'm over there thinking 'Gallee' get off the field (chuckle). But that's kind of the expectations that you have because of the way those guys are playing and the things they are doing. One touchdown drive they had, they had 30 yards of penalties. They had the horse-collar penalty, we had the guy wrapped up for about an eight yard loss and all of the sudden the have a first down off a 15 yard penalty going the other way. Then we had one. Terrell McClain's helmet pushed up and his chin strap was in front of his eyes so he had to take his helmet off to take his chinstrap off and put it back om, in college football if you take your helmet off it's a penalty, its one of those things were your like 'please don't tell me that is going to decide the outcome of this game. Again, the defense came up big, give credit for keeping the ball in front of them . I thought the secondary really played well tonight. I thought the defensive coaches, coach Synder, coach Smith, all of them really did a great job of mixing some things up"

 

USF Football
USF vs. Rutgers- USF Player Quotes
November 3, 2010
Press Conference Room- Raymond James Stadium

Evan Landi, WR

When the offensive lineman scores a touchdown, what is that celebration like?

"It's something we have never seen before. It's just a really great thing for Jake. Good heads up play."

How does it feel to beat Rutgers?

"It feels great! They are a great program, obviously. They are well coached and they fought hard out there."

Are there some wins that are more important than other wins, and was this one of them?

"You really can't take anything for granted, win wise. Every game we want to win, but the Big East games always have a little more emphasis, so it was great to get that win tonight."

Do you think this game was a turning point for USF?

"I believe that it could be. Those games that we had lost are in the past. Before this week, it was Rutgers and next it will be against Louisville."

Jacob Sims, OT

We have obviously seen this team struggle against Rutgers in the past, how does it feel to finally beat them?

"It was nice. It was pretty satisfying. I have been here since '06 and we have always lost. It was pretty satisfying, and the game winner was the icing on the cake."

About the seniors leading the team...

"Well, it was especially important tonight because we haven't had a win against Rutgers in my class. We talk about the seniors being the leaders and we are on a one year plan, not a five year plan, with Coach Holtz. So we really have to step up and take on the leadership role."

About the fumble recovery...

"I just see a loose ball on the ground, and I didn't know what had happened, but my first instinct was to grab the ball."

How does it feel to find out that it was the game winning play?

"It was pretty exciting to have a game winning touchdown."

BJ Daniels, QB

About beating Rutgers...

"We just never gave up, not going to give up no matter what."

What about the running game tonight? That makes your job easier...Talk about Mo and what he has done...

"Mo, being a six year, he has done a great job. He doesn't get a lot of praise, but he has been around the football for a while and has done some great things. I'm really excited and happy for Mo. He is definitely an all around team player. Mo is the guy that has done the dirty work for the past five years, and for him to have his night and do as well as he did, is really good."

What about the first touchdown tonight?

"That was really good. We scored quick. Evan just found an open pocket, and I was lucky to find him."

Moise Plancher, RB

185 yards, how do you feel about that?

"I feel good!"

Did you feel a rhythm or something happen tonight?

"The teams did a great job and BJ did a great job in checking out the plays. Everything was there."

You're a six year senior, and haven't beat Rutgers since 2005, how sweet is this win?

"It feels good. I got a little worried at the end when we didn't get a couple first downs, but the defense did an amazing job."

Was the win sweeter having the home crowd?

"Yeah, it definitely was. The fan support was amazing. They got loud when we needed them too."

What about National TV, having everyone watching you?

"Yeah. Wednesday night game, it doesn't get any better than that."

USF Football
Rutgers Football Coach Quotes
November 3, 2010
Raymond James Stadium
Greg Schiano, Head Coach

On your chance tonight with at least three fumbles…

“Traditionally, you've got to catch the ball and some nights it's not bouncing your way.  I don't want to chalk it up to anything, but it was not from a lack of fight, and it was not from a lack of awareness, they were diving in there, the kids were trying. I mean they caused the fumbles. It didn't happen by accident.  It just didn't bounce to us. I always look at fumble recoveries and if you are swarming the football and there was no lack of swarmers, so we just didn't get any.”

On the offense…

“I thought we were more efficient coming in and going in the seventh ranked team in the nation with sacks, so we had to make sure, or try to make sure, that they didn't get us in several off schedule balances.  It's very hard for our schedule against this team, and I thought the guys did a very good job of that and came up one play short.”

On the problems Plancher created…

“Yeah, it was a good little screen move they did. I think they took away things we like to do and they were good adjustments, but I think our kids adjusted.  As you can see, it was a game of cat and mouse out there a lot of yell and checks on the field, some delay of games, it was definitely a great battle.”