Nov. 6, 2005

Q. Is this the best you've seen your team play all season?

A. Well, I thought we came out in the first half and played with some fire and intensity. We were very fortunate that we got some breaks, made some breaks. The kickoff team did a great job of getting the ball loose and we got a couple of interceptions. We were fortunate to be able to take advantage of them and jump out to a lead early. I thought that early on the offensive line was coming off the ball pretty good and Matt Hall did a good job of running the ball. We came in to the game trying to get the fullback established and I think early on we did that.

Q. Speaking of those early turnovers it really turned the game around. I don't believe they were out of their own end for most of the first half.

A. It really put them behind the eight ball. They turned the ball over and we were able to take advantage of the turnovers and score. When you get behind like that, especially for your mental psyche, it's tough. Especially for them and all that they've been through. I feel really bad for Chris (Scelfo) and his staff and team. They've been through so much. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to win the football game, but I understand what a tough position they've been in.

Q. Is there something you did defensively that made them drop so many passes? It was like they were hearing footsteps.

A. It was good karma I guess. We were just trying to wrap them up and hit them. We needed that. We needed some good things to happen and today it did. We got the ball loose, got some deflections, got some interceptions and they had a couple of drops.

Q. Hall. I thought he ran really well today inside. Can you talk a little more about his effort? He was breaking some tackles and carrying some guys.

A. He really did. I thought Matt ran extremely hard and that's good to see because we haven't gotten the fullback really established like we would have liked. That was a big focus today. I challenged our guys. The offensive line came off the ball pretty well and Matt did a nice job of not going down on arm tackles. I thought Lamar did a nice job of running things the first half.

Q. Was that the most complete game Lamar has played all year? It looked like he made a lot of really good decisions.

A. I thought that Lamar played well. He got us into some good plays, he did some things that gave us a chance to be successful in the option game, I thought Lamar played very well.

Q. You didn't have to throw on the first series.

A. I told you we wouldn't throw on the first series or the second or third.

Q. Did you see a lot of good things out of your offense today? You had over 400 yards rushing.

A. That's a positive any time we can rush for that many yards and that's probably the way we need to play. That's the nature of what we are trying to do. We are a better football team when we can dominate the time of possession.

Q. How about the three interceptions?

A. That was great. How about Ketric Buffin on his interception? He refused to get tackled, all 158 pounds of him. He was determined to get it in the end zone.

Q. Was he a running back in high school?

A. I don't know, but he looked like it didn't he?

Q. You had all these bowl people here today-Poinsettia, Liberty and Houston-do you guys allow yourself to think about that at all?

A. I'm sure the guys think about it. We talked about it on Monday that this was an important game if we have any aspirations to play in a bowl game, but that was the last time we talked about it.