Temple University Athletics
Saturday, September 26
Lincoln Financial Field
12:00 PM
Temple University
37
vs
13
BUFFALO
RB Bernard Pierce
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Temple Dominates Buffalo, 37-13, In MAC Opener
9.26.09 | Football
Defense forces five turnovers in record-setting day
Buffalo-Temple boxscore
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PHILADELPHIA – Temple celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the 1979 Garden State Bowl championship team with a special performance of its own Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field. The Owls (1-2, 1-0) dominated defending Mid-American Conference champion Buffalo (1-3, 0-1) in every aspect in posting a 37-13 win in the conference opener for both teams.
It marked the first win over Buffalo since joining the MAC and extended Temple's home win streak against MAC opponents to four. The Owls' 7-2 home record since 2007, its inaugural season in the conference, is the best by any MAC school.
The members of former coach Wayne Hardin's team watched from the sidelines as current Owls' coach Al Golden's team turned in the best outing of his tenure. The Cherry and White scored on offense, defense and special teams, including a record-setting interception return by Elijah “Peanut” Joseph and a 92-yard kickoff return by James Nixon.
The TU defense bent, but did not allow a Buffalo touchdown until just under 12 minutes remained in the game. Buffalo's offense entered play averaging 22.3 points and 371 yards of total offense. The Owls picked off four Zach Maynard passes with junior CB Marquise Liverpool and senior NT Andre Neblett joining Joseph with their first career interceptions and senior DB Dominique Harris (2 breakups, 1 tackle for loss) making the ninth of his career. Sophomore DE Morris Blueford also had a sack and recovered a fumble.
Temple's offense was led by starting RB Bernard Pierce. The freshman from Concordville, Pa. (Glen Mills) made 20 rushes for 116 yards and an 18-yard touchdown. Sophomore WR James Nixon had one catch for 48 yards while sophomore TE Evan Rodriguez had a team-high three catches for 17 yards, including a five-yard TD to open the second half.
Special teams, under the direction of Golden, had many big plays. Besides Nixon's run to paydirt, junior Jeff Wathne had a punt inside the five-yard line in the first half and McManus made his first three field goals before his streak ended with a miss from 50-yards. Junior Delano Green also returned a punt 19 yards.
Temple also made few mistakes in the contest. One turnover, an interception by junior QB Vaughn Charlton (6-17, 95 yds), and just two penalties, were the only blemishes by the Owls on the day.
Freshman placekicker Brandon McManus, who made three field goals on the day, opened the scoring with a 35-yarder on the Owls' first possession. The TU 12-play drive featured just one pass as the Cherry and White ground attack moved the ball 69 yards to the UB 16. Sophomore RB Kee-ayre Griffin, the third running back to enter the game, carried twice for 26 yards on the drive.
Maynard, who threw for 281 yards, then marched the Bulls 78 yards before the drive stalled at the Owls 19. A.J. Prince drilled a 36-yard field goal to tie the score at 3-3.
Charlton then was intercepted by Justin Winters on Temple's next drive with the Buffalo defender returning it to the Temple 19. The Owls' defense held, allowing just five yards, with Pierce giving UB a 6-3 lead on a 32 yarder.
Nixon then took the ensuing kickoff 92 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown and the Owls took the lead for good at 10-6.
After Buffalo went three-and-out on the next possession, Pierce led a 13-play, 57-yard drive with 42 yards on seven carries. The Owls, however, could not get into the end zone and settled for a McManus 22-yard field goal.
Maynard then engineered a drive that moved the Bulls quickly inside the red zone. With second and two on the Temple 13, it appeared as if UB would tie the game before the half, but Joseph stepped in front of a Buffalo receiver for his first pick, making the biggest play of the game.
Joseph broke to the outside, following a line of blockers down the right sideline. Buffalo junior RB Brandon Thermilus attempted a diving tackle at the UB 45, but somehow Joseph was able stay on his feet to complete his record-setting 95-yard interception return. It was his first career pick, and a potential 14-point swing made the score 20-6.
Temple used the momentum gained at the end of the half, and quickly made it 27-6. Three McPherson runs to start the third quarter set up a 48-yard pass play from Charlton to Nixon. The Owl signal caller then found Rodriguez in the end zone for his first collegiate score.
The Owls added a McManus 33-yard field goal on their next possession to extend the margin to 30-6, and then Liverpool squelched a 12-play Buffalo drive with an interception in the end zone.
Buffalo finally made it into the end zone in the fourth quarter as Maynard found Marcus Rivers for a six-yard touchdown pass with just under 12 minutes to play.
The final scoring came following Neblett's interception which he returned 14 yards to the Buffalo 18. Pierce, who was the Owls' workhorse for most of the afternoon, broke off an 18-yard touchdown run on the first play of that drive to complete the scoring.
The Owls next travel to Eastern Michigan (0-3, 0-0) Saturday for a noon kickoff against the Eagles. The game will be broadcast on 1210 AM WPHT.
Temple Postgame Notes
* Temple Team Captains: #12 Vaughn Charlton (defense), #6 Dominique Harris (defense), 86 TE Steve Maneri (offense), and #73 OT Devin Tyler (offense).
* Carrying flags for Temple today were #26 RB Joe Jones, #9 DB Anthony Ferla, and #76 OL Steve Caputo.
* With the win, Temple captured its fourth consecutive MAC home victory and increased its league-leading home field record to 7-2 (since TU joined the MAC in 2007).
* Sophomore WR James Nixon's 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter was the first KOR TD of his career. It was also Temple's first touchdown on a KOR since Travis Shelton's 92-yard TD KOR at Kent State in 2008.
* Junior LB Elijah “Peanut” Joseph's 95-yard interception return for a touchdown was the first interception and touchdown of his career. The last time Temple scored a TD on an interception was in 2001 by Jairo Almonte against Rutgers. He had a 70-yard return. Joseph's 95-yard TD sets the school record for longest interception return. The previous record was 92 yards, held by Rich Lee vs. Delaware in 1971.
* R-sophomore TE Evan Rodriguez's five-yard touchdown reception was the first touchdown of his career. It also completed Temple's trifecta of a touchdown by all three units-- offense, defense, and special teams.
* For the third consecutive game, true freshman PK Brandon McManus put Temple on the scoreboard with a field goal; this time he booted a 35-yarder. McManus added a 22-yard FG in the second quarter, a 33-yard FG in the third, and four extra points on the day.
* R-sophomore Morris Blueford, Jr, recovered the first fumble of his career in the third quarter.
* Junior DB Marquise Liverpool made his first career interception for 28 yards in the third quarter. Senior NT Andre Neblett added his first career interception in the fourth quarter and returned it 14 yards.
* In just his third collegiate game, freshman RB Bernard Pierce rushed for 116 yards on 20 carries and scored his first career touchdown, an 18-yard rush, in the fourth quarter.
* Senior DB Dominique Harris' fourth quarter interception was the ninth of his career.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Al Golden
Temple Head Coach
On the significance of this win:
Obviously they are the reigning MAC champs, so from that stand point it is significant. But when we come tomorrow morning, it is just one win, and it is a good win, but it is only one win and it only counts as one.
On everyone's contribution on offense:
Yes, I was pleased I thought that we had a good look. We had a good look in pregame. I thought we were very confident, and I thought we played really hard. We played with a lot of courage and when it got to the point when they rallied back and it was going back and forth a little bit, that was the first time that a lot of guys on our team enjoyed it. I think we learned a lot last week at State College. We played a very physical game. I don't know what the injury list is for Penn State tonight. Apparently there are some guys that are banged up and I thought that we played physically last week. I think that our guys know that and I think they possessed that coming out into the game. So I know that we got some confidence from that.
On the successful rushing game today:
We have been working three years to get there, and it's not the X's and the O's. It's the Jimmy's and the Joe's. The four freshmen that we played with last year are all bigger now. Our guards are all 318 -320 pounds. Our tackles are experienced. We played eight or nine offensive linemen in the meat of the game, not at the end, in the meat of the game. We played three tailbacks and four tight ends and then six or so wide receivers, so we played a lot of guys. But most particularly the offensive line. They looked like men finally, and it's taken a lot to get to that point.
On freshman Bernard Pierce running harder:
I think he is a big back. I have been anxious to get a big back and get someone that can do the things he can do. He uses his stiff arm well, and he is always moving forward. But I think all three of them compliment each other. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out looking ahead. I don't think that Bernard gets the runs he gets if Lamar (McPherson) doesn't absolutely bully down hill early. We've got into the safeties and linebackers. Lamar had a couple of knock out blows early and that was the game plan going in. Then we kept hanging in there. We had never been able to pound somebody to the point where we knew a long run would come, but Bernard gives us that and mixing Kee-ayre (Griffin) in there helps as well.
On the performance after Villanova and Penn State:
It wasn't perfect today either, but we played hard. We made some plays. We made some stops in the red zone, made some plays on special teams. The coverage was good. The return was big obviously, but it was a team effort. The guys played with energy. We went out there to win. We went out there to play. We played with courage and energy, and we started fast, and we played fast which is good.
On the defense being energized after last year's last-second loss to Buffalo:
That stuff is over rated. I'm sure it as on the ESPN coverage, and all that today but for us, let me just say this about our kids and our organization, people talk about the Hail Mary, and they forget the second part of that is 'full of grace'. Our kids handled it with grace for a year, and it was in our grill everyday for a year and through the holiday season and everything. We didn't make excuses, and we handled it well. Hats off to those kids in that locker room, because they handled it well for a long time, so I don't think it had any baring on the game. But I do want to compliment our players and coaching staff for not making excuses and just moving on a year ago, because it made a big difference I think.
On the importance of scoring the first touchdown more so in this game and how did that weigh on Buffalo QB (Zach) Maynard and how did it make a difference for you guys to be the team that scored first:
He is younger, and we got him out of there. Once we went up by I think 17, clearly the game got away, because that's not what he's comfortable doing yet. I think he is going to be an excellent player. There is not question about it. I can't say enough good things about (Naaman) Roosevelt, and the type of competitor that he is. But the reality of it is at this juncture in his career. That's really not in his comfort zone, and we got him out of there a little bit. Obviously we were able to make some plays, because of it some fumble recoveries and some interceptions. I think it was important for us to come out and establish a run early on, because we felt like we could always go back to that, because the secondary was good. They played an eight-man front most of the time, and so we ran the ball against an eight-man front. We haven't done that most of the time in our career so far here.
On LB Elijah “Peanut” Joseph's interception return:
The kid made a good play. So much for coaching. Most coaches would say to go down once you get that ball, because nothing good can happen. You can fumble, but he found a lane, and he ran with it. So there was a lot of great effort on that play to make that happen, and I just think that Peanut (Joseph) that is kind of who he is now. I don't think he gets enough credit. I think he is a heck of a football player. He runs down in our kickoff coverage, and he makes just about every tackle. He is very physical. He is an excellent leader and really one of our top guys. I was really happy for him.
Turner Gill
Buffalo Head Coach
Opening Statement:
A disappointing loss, but I have to give credit to Temple. They played a better football game. That's the way it goes sometimes, and they executed better. That's really the bottom line. On offense, defense and special teams, they made plays, and we didn't make plays when the opportunity presented itself. We just got to get better, and we will. We'll get back to practice. We've got to get better focus, and we'll see how they respond. We have plenty of more football games to play and that's somewhat of a good thing that we have enough games to play to do what we need to get accomplished. But number one we just need to get ready for Central Michigan and take care of that.
On eliminating turnovers:
It's some of that, but also from an offensive standpoint we've just got to run the football better, and we got to do some things that put yourself in a better situation where you don't have to throw so much. Yes, Zack (Maynard) is going to have to do some things better, too, but I don't see it totally as all on him. Defensively we didn't execute. There was poor tackling, protecting our gaps. We had people in position to make tackles, but they didn't tackle properly, so obviously you can see the problem is turnovers, but there are also some other things that people are going to have to take care of. Kicking field goals, kickoffs, and giving kick off returns, those are all things where they answered, and we didn't have an answer to come back.
On QB Zack Maynard's confidence level and mindset in the second half:
No, I don't think so until the last interception, that one may have, but all the rest of them. I don't think affected his play from that standpoint. The last one, I think that's the only one that maybe affected his play.
On problems with the running game:
Oh, we're going to evaluate. We'll sit down tomorrow and evaluate and make some amends about what we need to do to improve our running game. Whether it's personnel or whether it's plays or a combination, so that's possible, but I can't state it at this point in time.
On how to deal with Zack Maynard after a game like this with four interceptions:
Just learn from it, that's the key is will you learn from what occurred. Whether you win or lose, it's really the same thing. It's no different whether you had a good game, or a not so good game. What do you learn- from every game you learn something. Even if you have a good game, you still learn something. That's all I'm talking about. It just wasn't our day today, and we'll come back and we'll learn from this, and we'll get some things corrected. We also made quite a few good throws, so it's not a total loss, but some of it may be receivers, too. Sometimes you see it right during the game, and you say your quarterback made the wrong decision or did this or did that. Maybe our receiver didn't get the right route or right depth, didn't get the right read, so that's why I say until I watch the video tape. Obviously the stats are going to say interception by Zack Maynard, but it may not be totally all of the situation.
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PHILADELPHIA – Temple celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the 1979 Garden State Bowl championship team with a special performance of its own Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field. The Owls (1-2, 1-0) dominated defending Mid-American Conference champion Buffalo (1-3, 0-1) in every aspect in posting a 37-13 win in the conference opener for both teams.
It marked the first win over Buffalo since joining the MAC and extended Temple's home win streak against MAC opponents to four. The Owls' 7-2 home record since 2007, its inaugural season in the conference, is the best by any MAC school.
The members of former coach Wayne Hardin's team watched from the sidelines as current Owls' coach Al Golden's team turned in the best outing of his tenure. The Cherry and White scored on offense, defense and special teams, including a record-setting interception return by Elijah “Peanut” Joseph and a 92-yard kickoff return by James Nixon.
The TU defense bent, but did not allow a Buffalo touchdown until just under 12 minutes remained in the game. Buffalo's offense entered play averaging 22.3 points and 371 yards of total offense. The Owls picked off four Zach Maynard passes with junior CB Marquise Liverpool and senior NT Andre Neblett joining Joseph with their first career interceptions and senior DB Dominique Harris (2 breakups, 1 tackle for loss) making the ninth of his career. Sophomore DE Morris Blueford also had a sack and recovered a fumble.
Temple's offense was led by starting RB Bernard Pierce. The freshman from Concordville, Pa. (Glen Mills) made 20 rushes for 116 yards and an 18-yard touchdown. Sophomore WR James Nixon had one catch for 48 yards while sophomore TE Evan Rodriguez had a team-high three catches for 17 yards, including a five-yard TD to open the second half.
Special teams, under the direction of Golden, had many big plays. Besides Nixon's run to paydirt, junior Jeff Wathne had a punt inside the five-yard line in the first half and McManus made his first three field goals before his streak ended with a miss from 50-yards. Junior Delano Green also returned a punt 19 yards.
Temple also made few mistakes in the contest. One turnover, an interception by junior QB Vaughn Charlton (6-17, 95 yds), and just two penalties, were the only blemishes by the Owls on the day.
Freshman placekicker Brandon McManus, who made three field goals on the day, opened the scoring with a 35-yarder on the Owls' first possession. The TU 12-play drive featured just one pass as the Cherry and White ground attack moved the ball 69 yards to the UB 16. Sophomore RB Kee-ayre Griffin, the third running back to enter the game, carried twice for 26 yards on the drive.
Maynard, who threw for 281 yards, then marched the Bulls 78 yards before the drive stalled at the Owls 19. A.J. Prince drilled a 36-yard field goal to tie the score at 3-3.
Charlton then was intercepted by Justin Winters on Temple's next drive with the Buffalo defender returning it to the Temple 19. The Owls' defense held, allowing just five yards, with Pierce giving UB a 6-3 lead on a 32 yarder.
Nixon then took the ensuing kickoff 92 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown and the Owls took the lead for good at 10-6.
After Buffalo went three-and-out on the next possession, Pierce led a 13-play, 57-yard drive with 42 yards on seven carries. The Owls, however, could not get into the end zone and settled for a McManus 22-yard field goal.
Maynard then engineered a drive that moved the Bulls quickly inside the red zone. With second and two on the Temple 13, it appeared as if UB would tie the game before the half, but Joseph stepped in front of a Buffalo receiver for his first pick, making the biggest play of the game.
Joseph broke to the outside, following a line of blockers down the right sideline. Buffalo junior RB Brandon Thermilus attempted a diving tackle at the UB 45, but somehow Joseph was able stay on his feet to complete his record-setting 95-yard interception return. It was his first career pick, and a potential 14-point swing made the score 20-6.
Temple used the momentum gained at the end of the half, and quickly made it 27-6. Three McPherson runs to start the third quarter set up a 48-yard pass play from Charlton to Nixon. The Owl signal caller then found Rodriguez in the end zone for his first collegiate score.
The Owls added a McManus 33-yard field goal on their next possession to extend the margin to 30-6, and then Liverpool squelched a 12-play Buffalo drive with an interception in the end zone.
Buffalo finally made it into the end zone in the fourth quarter as Maynard found Marcus Rivers for a six-yard touchdown pass with just under 12 minutes to play.
The final scoring came following Neblett's interception which he returned 14 yards to the Buffalo 18. Pierce, who was the Owls' workhorse for most of the afternoon, broke off an 18-yard touchdown run on the first play of that drive to complete the scoring.
The Owls next travel to Eastern Michigan (0-3, 0-0) Saturday for a noon kickoff against the Eagles. The game will be broadcast on 1210 AM WPHT.
Temple Postgame Notes
* Temple Team Captains: #12 Vaughn Charlton (defense), #6 Dominique Harris (defense), 86 TE Steve Maneri (offense), and #73 OT Devin Tyler (offense).
* Carrying flags for Temple today were #26 RB Joe Jones, #9 DB Anthony Ferla, and #76 OL Steve Caputo.
* With the win, Temple captured its fourth consecutive MAC home victory and increased its league-leading home field record to 7-2 (since TU joined the MAC in 2007).
* Sophomore WR James Nixon's 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter was the first KOR TD of his career. It was also Temple's first touchdown on a KOR since Travis Shelton's 92-yard TD KOR at Kent State in 2008.
* Junior LB Elijah “Peanut” Joseph's 95-yard interception return for a touchdown was the first interception and touchdown of his career. The last time Temple scored a TD on an interception was in 2001 by Jairo Almonte against Rutgers. He had a 70-yard return. Joseph's 95-yard TD sets the school record for longest interception return. The previous record was 92 yards, held by Rich Lee vs. Delaware in 1971.
* R-sophomore TE Evan Rodriguez's five-yard touchdown reception was the first touchdown of his career. It also completed Temple's trifecta of a touchdown by all three units-- offense, defense, and special teams.
* For the third consecutive game, true freshman PK Brandon McManus put Temple on the scoreboard with a field goal; this time he booted a 35-yarder. McManus added a 22-yard FG in the second quarter, a 33-yard FG in the third, and four extra points on the day.
* R-sophomore Morris Blueford, Jr, recovered the first fumble of his career in the third quarter.
* Junior DB Marquise Liverpool made his first career interception for 28 yards in the third quarter. Senior NT Andre Neblett added his first career interception in the fourth quarter and returned it 14 yards.
* In just his third collegiate game, freshman RB Bernard Pierce rushed for 116 yards on 20 carries and scored his first career touchdown, an 18-yard rush, in the fourth quarter.
* Senior DB Dominique Harris' fourth quarter interception was the ninth of his career.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Al Golden
Temple Head Coach
On the significance of this win:
Obviously they are the reigning MAC champs, so from that stand point it is significant. But when we come tomorrow morning, it is just one win, and it is a good win, but it is only one win and it only counts as one.
On everyone's contribution on offense:
Yes, I was pleased I thought that we had a good look. We had a good look in pregame. I thought we were very confident, and I thought we played really hard. We played with a lot of courage and when it got to the point when they rallied back and it was going back and forth a little bit, that was the first time that a lot of guys on our team enjoyed it. I think we learned a lot last week at State College. We played a very physical game. I don't know what the injury list is for Penn State tonight. Apparently there are some guys that are banged up and I thought that we played physically last week. I think that our guys know that and I think they possessed that coming out into the game. So I know that we got some confidence from that.
On the successful rushing game today:
We have been working three years to get there, and it's not the X's and the O's. It's the Jimmy's and the Joe's. The four freshmen that we played with last year are all bigger now. Our guards are all 318 -320 pounds. Our tackles are experienced. We played eight or nine offensive linemen in the meat of the game, not at the end, in the meat of the game. We played three tailbacks and four tight ends and then six or so wide receivers, so we played a lot of guys. But most particularly the offensive line. They looked like men finally, and it's taken a lot to get to that point.
On freshman Bernard Pierce running harder:
I think he is a big back. I have been anxious to get a big back and get someone that can do the things he can do. He uses his stiff arm well, and he is always moving forward. But I think all three of them compliment each other. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out looking ahead. I don't think that Bernard gets the runs he gets if Lamar (McPherson) doesn't absolutely bully down hill early. We've got into the safeties and linebackers. Lamar had a couple of knock out blows early and that was the game plan going in. Then we kept hanging in there. We had never been able to pound somebody to the point where we knew a long run would come, but Bernard gives us that and mixing Kee-ayre (Griffin) in there helps as well.
On the performance after Villanova and Penn State:
It wasn't perfect today either, but we played hard. We made some plays. We made some stops in the red zone, made some plays on special teams. The coverage was good. The return was big obviously, but it was a team effort. The guys played with energy. We went out there to win. We went out there to play. We played with courage and energy, and we started fast, and we played fast which is good.
On the defense being energized after last year's last-second loss to Buffalo:
That stuff is over rated. I'm sure it as on the ESPN coverage, and all that today but for us, let me just say this about our kids and our organization, people talk about the Hail Mary, and they forget the second part of that is 'full of grace'. Our kids handled it with grace for a year, and it was in our grill everyday for a year and through the holiday season and everything. We didn't make excuses, and we handled it well. Hats off to those kids in that locker room, because they handled it well for a long time, so I don't think it had any baring on the game. But I do want to compliment our players and coaching staff for not making excuses and just moving on a year ago, because it made a big difference I think.
On the importance of scoring the first touchdown more so in this game and how did that weigh on Buffalo QB (Zach) Maynard and how did it make a difference for you guys to be the team that scored first:
He is younger, and we got him out of there. Once we went up by I think 17, clearly the game got away, because that's not what he's comfortable doing yet. I think he is going to be an excellent player. There is not question about it. I can't say enough good things about (Naaman) Roosevelt, and the type of competitor that he is. But the reality of it is at this juncture in his career. That's really not in his comfort zone, and we got him out of there a little bit. Obviously we were able to make some plays, because of it some fumble recoveries and some interceptions. I think it was important for us to come out and establish a run early on, because we felt like we could always go back to that, because the secondary was good. They played an eight-man front most of the time, and so we ran the ball against an eight-man front. We haven't done that most of the time in our career so far here.
On LB Elijah “Peanut” Joseph's interception return:
The kid made a good play. So much for coaching. Most coaches would say to go down once you get that ball, because nothing good can happen. You can fumble, but he found a lane, and he ran with it. So there was a lot of great effort on that play to make that happen, and I just think that Peanut (Joseph) that is kind of who he is now. I don't think he gets enough credit. I think he is a heck of a football player. He runs down in our kickoff coverage, and he makes just about every tackle. He is very physical. He is an excellent leader and really one of our top guys. I was really happy for him.
Turner Gill
Buffalo Head Coach
Opening Statement:
A disappointing loss, but I have to give credit to Temple. They played a better football game. That's the way it goes sometimes, and they executed better. That's really the bottom line. On offense, defense and special teams, they made plays, and we didn't make plays when the opportunity presented itself. We just got to get better, and we will. We'll get back to practice. We've got to get better focus, and we'll see how they respond. We have plenty of more football games to play and that's somewhat of a good thing that we have enough games to play to do what we need to get accomplished. But number one we just need to get ready for Central Michigan and take care of that.
On eliminating turnovers:
It's some of that, but also from an offensive standpoint we've just got to run the football better, and we got to do some things that put yourself in a better situation where you don't have to throw so much. Yes, Zack (Maynard) is going to have to do some things better, too, but I don't see it totally as all on him. Defensively we didn't execute. There was poor tackling, protecting our gaps. We had people in position to make tackles, but they didn't tackle properly, so obviously you can see the problem is turnovers, but there are also some other things that people are going to have to take care of. Kicking field goals, kickoffs, and giving kick off returns, those are all things where they answered, and we didn't have an answer to come back.
On QB Zack Maynard's confidence level and mindset in the second half:
No, I don't think so until the last interception, that one may have, but all the rest of them. I don't think affected his play from that standpoint. The last one, I think that's the only one that maybe affected his play.
On problems with the running game:
Oh, we're going to evaluate. We'll sit down tomorrow and evaluate and make some amends about what we need to do to improve our running game. Whether it's personnel or whether it's plays or a combination, so that's possible, but I can't state it at this point in time.
On how to deal with Zack Maynard after a game like this with four interceptions:
Just learn from it, that's the key is will you learn from what occurred. Whether you win or lose, it's really the same thing. It's no different whether you had a good game, or a not so good game. What do you learn- from every game you learn something. Even if you have a good game, you still learn something. That's all I'm talking about. It just wasn't our day today, and we'll come back and we'll learn from this, and we'll get some things corrected. We also made quite a few good throws, so it's not a total loss, but some of it may be receivers, too. Sometimes you see it right during the game, and you say your quarterback made the wrong decision or did this or did that. Maybe our receiver didn't get the right route or right depth, didn't get the right read, so that's why I say until I watch the video tape. Obviously the stats are going to say interception by Zack Maynard, but it may not be totally all of the situation.
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