Oct. 23, 2005

P.J.: I'm happy for the football team. Any time you can win like that it's good. I thought we played very well defensively. Offensively we played in spots. We hit a lot of big plays. We weren't as consistent on offense as I would like to be. Any time you win 41-9 you have to be somewhat pleased.

Q. Was it a relief to finally not have a close game?

A. Yeah, it really was. We talked at halftime about coming out and putting their lights out so to speak, but to their credit they kept playing. We came out and scored two really quick touchdowns, but they kept playing. We weren't very consistent offensively, but the defense was keeping them out of the end zone. They would move the ball some from the 20 to the 20, but we would find a way to get them stopped. It was a good win.

Q. You were up 13-3 at the half, but it seemed like it could have been a lot worse.

A. Yeah, we left a lot of points out there. We missed a lot of opportunities. I'll tell you what. Every year that we've played them since I've been here we have had a hard time blocking them inside. They do a nice job with the inside guys. It was kind of feast or famine. We either hit a big play or they got us. We thought that there were some things in the passing game, but we had a hard time of getting them off. We just tried to stay with it and hit a play here and there and we did hit some big plays. The fullback hit a couple of nice plays.

Q. It seemed like Rice would move the ball, but when it really got down to clutch time your linebackers would step up and make some plays for you.

A. We had a lot of sacks and a lot of negative yardage plays and that put them behind some. I thought our defense played really well the whole game. We gave up the one throw down there on third and 15 when the their quarterback made a nice throw and the kid made a nice catch, but other than that we did a nice job of keeping them out of the end zone. They broke contain a few times on us and hit some big plays, but all in all we didn't give up a cheap score and when you don't do that you have a chance to play pretty good defense.

Q. It seemed like one of the big plays that broke this game open was when you scored to start the second half and then Tidwell forced the fumble that set you up to score again and that kind of put the game away.

A. That kind of gave us some breathing room. Karlos Whittaker did a nice job of returning the second half kick. I think it took us maybe three plays to score and then Tyler knocks the ball loose on the next possession and we were able to get great field position and score again really quick. That's kind of the recipe you would hope would happen. Come out and take charge in the second half. Then we kind of went blah on offense a little bit then we kind of hit our gear there in the fourth quarter.

Q. Talk about Whittaker. It looks like he could break it (the kickoff) every time.

A. We haven't had a kickoff returner like him since I've been here. He hits it up in there really hard and if you hit it up in there like that you don't always have to block everyone. We're exited about Karlos. He also made a great run on the toss when he scored his touchdown.

Q. That gave him the most touchdowns by a freshman at Navy in school history.

A. That's great. Hopefully he will continue to keep working and get better.

Q. You had said you wanted your team to put together four quarters. Do you think they did that today?

A. Oh, I don't know. You are never going to be satisfied. I'm sure I can find all kinds of times where I would like to play better, but I thought we competed pretty well. I thought we played pretty consistently defensively throughout the game. Offensively, we were spottier. We played in spots. We had some terrible penalties in the kicking game that hurt us. One cost us the ball and an offside on a kickoff changed about 30 yards in field position. We missed a field goal. There are things in the kicking game that we can do better.

Q. You finally got a game that wasn't decided by a touchdown or less.

A. Yes. That was exciting. It's nice to stand over there in the fourth quarter when it's 34-9. You feel like you have a pretty good chance to win the game.

Q. Why did you start Trey at fullback?

A. Matt (Hall) had been banged up a little bit and missed some practice. He came back on Wednesday.

Q. Ballard?

A. Adam's been out for a couple of weeks from practice. We've been holding him out. Trey practiced and I think he adds an extra dimension. I think he's a little quicker hitting the hole. Having said that, I thought Matt probably played as well as he's played today. He made some really huge runs. That position is going to sort itself out. It's probably going to be a one-two punch with somebody.

Q. What about Tidwell? He's quietly having a pretty decent season. He had about five tackles for a loss today.

A. He plays with a great motor and competes. It's good to see him make some big plays. Nobody plays any harder than he does.

Q. So did you tell the team they are two wins from a bowl bid?

A. No, I told them we have to go back and get better because we have to play a better team next week. Rutgers will be a huge challenge.