|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: CENTRAL FLORIDA v TULSADecember 1, 2012George O'LearyTULSA, OKLAHOMA UCF – 27 COACH O'LEARY: Heard a whistle blow. Give credit to Tulsa. Good conference championship. Q. What did you say to the guys in the locker room after, especially when there's a play with a punt return, when there's especially controversy there? COACH O'LEARY: Some controversy. You have to make plays in the game. It's a championship game. I said to them earlier: You good players have to play great, and you guys of average play have to play good. And we had a chance in the fourth quarter with 5:05 or something left to move the ball and get first downs and an opportunity to control our own destiny. We didn't get it done. I think you give credit to Tulsa. They boned up on defense and I thought offensively in the overtime they did what they had to do to win the game. Q. How difficult was it to move the ball into the wind? COACH O'LEARY: It wasn't difficult if we could run the ball. I don't think the offensive line had a great game again at the point of attack. I thought we should have had more yards there. I think it was tough throwing. Both quarterbacks struggled throwing the ball into the wind. Most of the big scores were headed into the wind, but it wasn't as much throwing as it was the ball was moving as far as some of the throws. Q. Looked like the field goal in overtime was a little bit low? COACH O'LEARY: I thought it was poor execution by the offensive line and protection. Call what it is. I blame the kicker enough. I don't need to blame the kicker on that one. I thought the offensive line was not protecting the gaps that they're protecting. They let too much penetration occur. Q. Tulsa's running game was effective. What did you see from that? COACH O'LEARY: Nothing except we didn't tackle like we should tackle. Too much hidden yardage. We're making tackles. And give Tulsa credit. I think of all of the yards I would be surprised if half wasn't hidden after the first hit. So they did a good job of executing. And, again, it was a good conference championship game. Obviously tough way to lose a game in overtime, but I thought they made plays when they had to make them and we didn't. Q. Can you talk about the thought process about the timeout at the first half? COACH O'LEARY: We were trying to get more players into the game. They were screwed up on the call. So I called a timeout to get that done. Third and 7, I didn't intend on getting the ball back. Normally call it to see if you want to kick a field goal. It was a call to get more their breath underneath them on the passing down and to get some more play at the rush team on the field. Q. The coverage on that deep throw that set up the touchdown, looked like basically a punt and two guys there and just couldn't make the play? COACH O'LEARY: Yeah, they should have made the play. I thought it was a pick. And they both stood there. And that kid, 26, made a good catch. And they got a touchdown out of that where the timeout had nothing to do with that. They basically was willing to get our feet underneath us, and we had some injuries early in that first half and they get the rush people out there. But that was poorly played ball. Good play for Tulsa, bad play for UCF. Q. Fumbling the opening kickoff can be devastating sometimes. How was the team able to recover their poise after that? COACH O'LEARY: They did. I thought they did a good job there, got the stop, got the turnover. And again it was under‑‑ they did check it out to see whether his knee was on the ground or whatever. But for the most part I thought the officials did a good job in the game, controlled the game and kept it moving. But the only time I actually spoke about it was when they, on the punt return the kid said the whistle blew. And more than two or three, that's why‑‑ they know you have to down the ball. You just can't touch it. You've got to down the ball. But that was something that‑‑ you know, that was a score they got that you'd like to get back. Q. What were your thoughts during that punt return, what did you see and then‑‑ COACH O'LEARY: First of all, the kid went up and smacked the ball, which is not real smart. If you're going to do that, grab the ball. And then when he touched the ball is when the kid, the other kids coming down there were in pretty good coverage lanes, said they heard a whistle. Whatever. They should have still played the ball. And that kid made a good play and congratulations to him. And it's something that we probably should have made a play on ourselves, but you don't down a ball‑‑ hand the ball to the official is the only thing you're safe of when you're downing the ball. Q. Blake had some bright moments. I could see you on the sideline trying to get him to calm down. COACH O'LEARY: Get his feet underneath him and step correctly. I thought he had some really good throws and other times I thought his feet were a little bit too shaky‑‑ not shaky, but rattled back there. He had some good heat on him, pressure. You've got to keep your poise. And that's a young quarterback that's only going to get better with those situations occurring. Q. I thought that was huge for him. COACH O'LEARY: It really was. I thought he made some really good plays in the game, just not enough of them when it counted in the fourth quarter. That's the key to the game. That last drive in the fourth quarter was the one we had to get first downs and first downs. And you can't do that, especially when the wind's there and you gotta defend against a long field goal. So you have to punt the ball on fourth down. Q. Have you ever been involved in a game that the wind played such a major factor in everything? COACH O'LEARY: Not really. I tell you what, it affected both teams pretty much as far as throwing ability and what they could do. But, again, I thought the team that won today ran the ball better. And I think Tulsa did. Q. One memory that's going to stick out is Rob Calabrese putting his head down‑‑ COACH O'LEARY: Great play by him. Saved two points. Great effort play by him. As they came to the sideline, big grin on his face. But great effort play by him and again saved two points, which means the difference in the game. It wouldn't have got to overtime. Q. The team has one more game to play. What do you expect from them as they regroup from this? COACH O'LEARY: The kids are resilient. Films pretty much don't lie. They'll look at it. And the only thing I said to them after the game was‑‑ I mean, the only time you need to be really‑‑ we obviously lost the conference championship. But if you didn't play with 100percent effort with your God‑given ability, then you need to be disappointed. But if you gave the effort you need to give and we came in second, you can hang your head high and we'll line up for the next game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports ‘ |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|