University of Tennessee Athletics
Alabama vs. Tennessee -- Postgame Quotes
October 23, 2004 | Football
Oct. 23, 2004
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POSTGAME QUOTES
Alabama vs. Tennessee
Oct. 23, 2004
Tennessee Head Coach Phillip Fulmer: "We had two incidents this week that are not reflective of our character and our football team. Obviously Brandon Johnson (was arrested for discharging a firearm earlier in the week), and last night we had a really inconsiderate and selfish act at by Chris Brown ... (Brown) didn't play tonight and he will be punished internally."
"We won. That was a wonderful effort and I give Alabama a great amount of credit. They're an outstanding running football team ... I told the team that you have to win the close ones to win championships. I think they misunderstood me and thought I said to keep it close ... Jesse Mahelona is a tough, tough guy. It's hard to single out individuals. Kevin Burnett and Jason Allen kept showing up and kept showing up ... Offensively, we've hit a wall a little bit that we've got to get over real soon. We're living dangerously right now ... It was a game we needed to keep our championship hopes alive ... We haven't helped people very much in the last couple weeks. We made them earn what they got ... (Defensively), we're playing better up front. Our linebackers have always been solid, and our secondary has made significant improvements. John Chavis has done a heck of a job with those kids.
LB Kevin Burnett: "First I want to take this opportunity to thank God. We played to the best of our abilities tonight. Second, I think we just played hard. This was a typical Tennessee-Alabama football game ... We played hard and wanted to win, and I thought that showed tonight ... The coaches said, `Look, this game is on you (the defense)' ... You can see us maturing on the field play by play. We're eliminating busts and not giving up big plays as much ... It's a testament to (defensive coordinator) John Chavis and our defensive coaching staff ... Coach challenged us this week to get a turnover and score on defense. He said, `Don't wait for the offense to score. Go score yourself. Throw the first lick.' Parys (Haralson) said watch me go score a touchdown. Then he went out there and he did. He said that right before (the defense) went out there."
DT Jesse Mahelona: "(Alabama's) offensive line and tailback played really hard. My hat's off to them. They're offensive line was athletic and aggressive. It was a game where you had to fight hard and battle, and that's what we did ... I knew I was going to play ... I played with a broken foot in junior college ... I just tried to focus and be a disrupter and get into the backfield. I was able to play with very little pain thanks to God's blessing."
WR Jayson Swain: "I feel great. I have a lot of friends who play for Alabama. It's special for a couple of hours but then it's time to focus on South Carolina. Obviously we were happy and sang in the locker room, but it's just another win for us and a step to Atlanta [SEC Championship Game].
"Coach Washington really stressed being patient at the line and good technique. Erik [Ainge] did a good job of finding me, and the offensive line did an even better job of protecting."
QB Erik Ainge: "I think Alabama is a really good football team. I think they're better offensively than we might have thought. We played hard. It was a bloody nose kind of game, and we came out on top. We have a bunch of good linemen about one through nine who can play almost any position. We have good linemen who aren't even playing. Alabama's got a great defense. We weren't really sharp running or throwing the football."
DB Corey Campbell: "I feel like I've stepped up as a person and helped the defense toward a championship. I feel like the defense had to step up. Today before the game Coach Fulmer was talking about this being a championship game. That got everyone excited. I felt like Alabama was going to give it all they had.
[On Alabama running back Kenneth Darby] "I feel like he's a tough, fast, physical runner. You've got to gang tackle him."
ALABAMA HEAD COACH MIKE SHULA: "It's a disappointing loss, obviously. Our guys fought hard. Our made a lot of plays, but didn't do enough offensively. Our defense played really well.
"The second play was a miscommunication. It's one we run often and well. When it was 14-10, we felt it could be our kind of day. There was the field goal and the big turnover. They had a big sack that took us way back. It was a great effort.
"There's some disappointed guys in that dressing room. It was a great effort on our part. Spencer Pennington was gutsy. He got hit a couple of times. He has to work on bring more consistent.
"Today answered a lot of questions that we're doing a pretty good job on defense. You have to give Tennessee a lot of credit. Tennessee was a lot of the reason we didn't play as well. They're the best team we've played.
"The effort and the attitude are the biggest things about this game. It will be tough to regroup. We need the rest. When you lose, you want to get the taste out of our mouth. It's tough to swallow.
"We had guys with turned ankles and hyperextended knees coming back in the game. These upperclassmen are doing a good job.
"I thought Darby got better at the end. He laid it on the line. You come back to college to coach guys like that. Wortham's interception was a huge play. We've been doing that a lot this year. You have to keep believing and play every play.
"We wanted to take advantage of their aggressiveness and speed on defense. Our defense gives up one score and the punt return was in the middle of the field, didn't have great hang time and we didn't cover."
Spencer Pennington QB
On the fumble on the Tide's first drive: " Bad plays are going to happen in the course of a ballgame. Fortunately for us we started early, and we had to maintain our focus and keep battling throughout the game and come back from that. We were able to come back and tie it up at 7-7. We just were not able to come out with a win tonight."
On the last pass that was intercepted with just under a minute remaining: "They had been running cover two, and we were in a four wide situation a lot. We were trying to get an in-cut about 20 yards down the field and I was going to throw to a spot, and unfortunately it was intercepted. I was just trying to make something happen, and the guy just made a good play on it."
With the way the defense was playing, did it take the pressure off to make spectacular plays: "The defense has been doing a great job. We were really confident in coming out tonight against Tennessee. They have been doing a great job of getting the offense really good field position the last couple of weeks. As for me I wanted to not force the ball and make turnovers or mistakes, and to keep our offense on the field because we knew our defense would do their job."
Thoughts as you entered the last drive: "This is it. This is what SEC football is all about. This Alabama and Tennessee game is special for a reason. We had two minutes left and we were driving the ball. Our offense was really fired up and we just knew we would get into the endzone and win the game."
DeMeco Ryan LB
What was the game plan coming into tonight: "Coach Joe Hines came up with a good gameplan. Everyone believed in it and went out and played their best game. We fought hard. We knew we could stop them, but we just came up a little short."
What are the thoughts from your team after fighting this hard: "I really can't explain the feeling right now. It feels like someone just ripped your heart out. It is a bad feeling."
Your defense shutting down Tennessee's running game: "We knew the only way they were going to beat us was throwing the ball. They were going to have to make some big plays passing. We knew we could stop their running game and we had confidence in our defense to stop the run, and that is what we did."
