Oct. 6, 2007
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Postgame Quotes
Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen
On today's game:
"Well, I think it was a heck of a football game. We're working on our ratings. I thought our kids played with unbelievable effort; they faced tremendous adversity again. They just kept fighting and I'm really proud to be a part of it. Travis Bell is a heck of a kicker. He's very capable of making a 52-yard kick. It was a good football game and we're very fortunate to win it."
On the team's injuries:
"Rick Costa, from what I've been told is fine. He's still in the hospital. They airlifted him out of here as a precautionary measure. We'll know more after they do some more tests. We had Jordan Steffy not playing and Erin Henderson not playing, and Da'Rel Scott was out, also. We're kind of getting thin right now. We had linebackers playing positions they don't normally play. There was no one else to go in and they kept fighting. We were fortunate to win the game."
On quarterback Chris Turner starting next game:
"Well, right now since the other guy isn't ready to go, I have to evaluate them both when they're well. Chris had some series today where he didn't do very well, but he makes some plays. He was able to correct some mistakes. He made the plays he had to make; he threw the ball up the field. He hit Darrius Heyward-Bey on two big passes. We're definitely going to look at it and we're going to play the best guy."
On the offense:
"Lance Ball, it was his day today. He got in there and he ran. It was kind of a chess game all day. They won sometimes, we won sometimes. When you break some tackles, it helps. The first few series and that last series, I thought Lance really stepped it up. "
On junior linebacker Dave Philistin today:
"I just found out that he had 21 tackles today. I thought he played tremendously hard. I'm really enjoying his success because he's been a guy that's struggled here and has played extremely well for us all year. "
On the injury to Andrew Crummey:
"Andrew Crummey broke his fibula. I think he'll be lost for the season. He's a very tough loss for us. I feel bad for Andrew because he was having a great year. I think he's an all-conference player. It's just unfortunate for him because he's a senior and he means a lot to our football team. He's just a wonderful kid. To have your college career end this way is a sad thing."
Maryland Players
Junior Offensive Lineman Jaimie Thomas
On injury to senior Andrew Crummey:
"It's tough. It's Crummey's last year and he was dominating all season. We've been doing well as an offensive line. He's a competitive and he wants to be out there. But hopefully we'll be able to get him back for a bowl game."
On team's offense:
"I think we did a pretty good job. We still have to pick up our running game and we had some mental mistakes, but I think we did a pretty good job of pass protecting."
On the play of Chris Turner:
"He's playing really well right now. He's making the plays when we need them, finding receivers down field and making good reads. And that's all you can ask of your quarterback.
Senior Defensive Lineman Carlos Feliciano
On today's game:
"I knew we would come through. After last week, the way the defense stuck together, I was confident. We're playing to win, which is something that Coach Friedgen has been saying a lot to us, and we're really starting to take that in.
On the team's injuries:
"It was extremely tough. Everything was stacked up against us, but we fought through it. Offense, defense and special teams, everyone showed heart today and no one gave in. Everyone kept each other motivated."
Sophomore Quarterback Chris Turner
On 79-yard touchdown pass to Jason Goode:
"It was awesome. It felt great and it was a great start. It was the back side of my read, I checked down and it was off to the races. You just have to get the ball into the hands of your athletes and let them make plays; it's as simple as that."
On dealing with Georgia Tech's pressure:
"We practiced for it all week and knew what they were going to throw at us. For the most part, we picked it all up. I just felt comfortable spreading the ball out and getting the ball to my receivers."
On his play:
"I give myself a `B'. I made some bad mistakes and I've got to get those corrected. But you'd have to ask Coach Friedgen, I really don't know."
On upcoming bye week:
"I think the bye week is coming at a great time. We got two big wins and now we get to rest up a little bit and get healthy."
On his first career start:
"It feels good to play in front of a home crowd. We had the student section behind us and my parents were out. It was just a great feeling and it gave me a lot of confidence."
On momentum coming off Rutgers' win:
"It gave me tons of confidence. Coming off a win against the 10th-ranked team, who had a great defense also, I guess we felt that if we can beat a defense like Rutgers', then we can move the ball against most defenses."
Junior Linebacker Dave Philistin
On his play:
"I was reading really well. They would run a play and when they would come back to it, I was ready for it. It did not feel like a 21-tackle day. Twenty-one tackles is not something that happens everyday. They told me that the last person to do it was Eric Barton in 1998 and he's in the NFL now. "
On holding Georgia Tech to 52-yard field goal attempt:
"It was still in the kicker's range, but it was huge to hold them."
Sophomore Wide Receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey
On team's offensive performance:
"We're average. We've got a lot to work on. Losing Andrew [Crummey] and some other guys, we're going to have to step it up even more. But this is a good start for us going into the bye week."
On his 47-yard reception:
"I had it the whole time. I could feel him trying to take it away from me and I thought of West Virginia freshman year, when the guy was able to take it away from me. I wasn't going to let that happen this time."
Georgia Tech Coach Chan Gailey
On Chris Turner's performance:
"I didn't expect anything different from him. He played well last week and that's what we expected to see."
On third and 20 draw call:
"We talked about several plays and thought Maryland would be playing the pass. We thought if we could get some yards our field goal chances would be better. Your odds aren't good of getting it on third and 20 [yards].
On decision to attempt field goal:
"[Travis] Bell's made them from 60 yards in practice, so we had confidence in him."
On halftime differences:
"We told Taylor [Bennett] to just relax and throw the football. In the second half we hit the passes that we weren't hitting in the first. Outside of one drive in the second half our defense was dominant."
On losing to Maryland:
"The loss hurts; any loss hurts. Our odds of making it to a championship game of some kind with three losses are pretty long. It's still possible, but the chances aren't very good now."
On fumble recovery for touchdown:
"You can never understate the importance of a play like that, especially at that point in the game. It was tremendous for us."
Georgia Tech Players
Junior Quarterback Taylor Bennett
On Georgia Tech's improvement in the second half:
"Everyone played a great game. All that first half stuff was on me. I wasn't hitting my throws. I wasn't making some plays that I needed to make. In the second half I came out and had to make the throws, and that's what happened. When you give our guys a chance to make plays, everybody will make their plays."
On his second half turnaround:
"I threw a lot smoother and cleaner, and I felt more in rhythm. I will give credit to my teammate Kyle Manley for sitting me down and giving me a pep talk. He set me straight. It was a teammate to teammate, quarterback to quarterback conversation. "
On Travis Bell's late fourth-quarter field goal attempt:
"I was sure he was going to make it. Travis is one of the best kickers in the land. That's not his fault one bit. That's on the offense for not putting him in the right situation. We got that holding call on third down, and that changed everything. Without that penalty we would have been ten yards further up the field, and that's a field goal he can make day in and day out. He still cleared the uprights easily, but he shouldn't have been in that situation."
Senior Defensive End Darrell Robertson
On preparing for the second half:
"We motivated ourselves. We knew that everything that had gone wrong was our own doing. We corrected the little mistakes and played our game. We executed better in the second half overall."
On staying motivated:
"We have a motivation to win. That has always been our goal this year. We have to be looking for the win going up against Miami next week."
Senior Kicker Travis Bell
On his missed field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter:
"Usually my kicks have a right-to-left movement on them, so I hoped that the kick would go right to left. It went straight the whole way, but I was hoping the wind might catch it. It went straight as an arrow. Against Virginia I kicked my 51-yard kick the exact same way, and it drifted right to left."
