Temple University Athletics
POST-GAME QUOTES, MIAMI AT TEMPLE
9.14.02 | Football
"It was about what we expected, from the standpoint that we knew it was going to be a tough football game. Temple has tough football players; they're well coached. We knew that. Of course, playing here at their home, it really wasn't a surprise that the game was as tough as it was."
On Temple cutting the lead to 21-14:
"There really is no safe lead. I think that's something you learn. Hopefully we learned that you've got to just play (until) the horn blows off and the game's over."
On the halftime score:
"There was (concern) with me... The thing, especially when you're on the road, is you don't like to lose momentum, and we lost momentum. I think Temple had a lot of momentum. The two-minute drive helped us. When we went down and we hit the field goal, I think that was pretty good. We had a shot at the end zone, but didn't make it. We were able to hit the field goal at the end of the half -- I think that was a pretty good momentum swing for us."
On the problems on the offensive line:
"Well, I think a lot of it was Temple. They had 10 starters back on defense and they put a lot of pressure on us. They have an eight-man front, they bring a lot of people... Give them credit -- we had a tough time blocking Klecko."
TEMPLE HEAD COACH BOBBY WALLACE:
"We played just a tremendous football team today. Obviously, they're number one in the nation and well-deserved. We probably caught them at a good time, too. I was very proud of our players when we fell behind 21-0 to not give up. I never thought they would, but they way they came back and played hard -- great effort throughout the game."
"We've always felt like Miami was really explosive in the third quarter. No matter what happens in the first half, they usually come out -- last year they scored 21 points on us in the third quarter. It was a 14-0 game at half. We really talked to our players a lot about the first five minutes of the third quarter, and then we fumbled the first play, so that was disappointing... Besides that, I'm proud of our players. They fought hard, they had to come out of this game with some confidence."
"I've been coaching college football for 26 years, in the SEC most of my career as an assistant, and the last two years, I haven't seen teams as good as Miami, in 26 years. They're just NFL guys behind NFL guys at every position. It's just amazing."
On Temple's fourth-and-short attempt:
"I was excited the fans got into it at that point in time. There's only been two times, really, since I've been at Temple that I can remember the fans getting into a game with that kind of intensity. That was West Virginia, I believe it was in this stadium also, three years ago when we took the lead with five minutes to go in the game, and then today. That was a great crowd; they were enthused; they were into it... That's the thing you want to get at college football games."
