University of Tennessee Athletics
Wyoming-Tennessee Postgame Quotes
November 08, 2008 | Football
Nov. 8, 2008
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Tennessee Quotes
Head Coach Phillip Fulmer: "The players don't owe me any kind of apology. If anything, I should be apologizing to the fans and everybody for this whole week coming about. You get beat if you turn the ball over.
"Our quarterback play has been less than what we would like to have. I did think Jonathan (Crompton) came into the game and threw it around and competed and kept us in the game.
"I congratulate Wyoming. They have a good team. They had a big win last week. They ran the ball on us better than I thought they would overall. But I thought our defense played well enough to win the game. Offensively, we just didn't get it done--again.
"[The players are] 18- to 22-years-old. There were a lot of emotions throughout the week. Youth is resilient, but it's been a tough week. But that doesn't cause a ball to be intercepted. If we don't have that, we win 7-0 maybe, I don't know.
"You're always disappointed when you lose a football game. And you're particularly disappointed when you lose a game you feel like you should have won."
On whether or not B.J. Coleman will get a chance at quarterback: "The full speed work we've been doing for the last four weeks has helped B.J. Do we think that's the catch-all answer? He's got a good demeanor, he's smart. But he's also got some fundamental thing he needs to work on, such as footwork, getting tripped up with the guards, things that can sometimes get you beat. Right now, we'll look at anything. I thought Jon (Crompton) competed (today) and did all right."
QB Jonathan Crompton: On the last drive: "We're trying to make plays to win the game. You have to give credit to Wyoming. They played their game. I don't really know what to say because we're out there busting our butts."
On the pass to Lennon Creer late in the game that was ruled down before he threw it: "It was a bang-bang play, and the referee made his decision. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way."
On his decision to throw instead of run on UT's second-to-last fourth-down attempt: "I'm a quarterback. I throw the ball. I'm not a running back. If I feel like I can run, I run. I felt like it was open. You have to make a quick decision, and I made the decision that I thought if he caught it we had a first down."
DE Wes Brown: On the emotion of the week: "We're not going to make excuses. It's been a tough week, but there's no excuse for how we played. No one wanted anything more than to win these games for coach Fulmer and these coaches. That's all I can say, it's been a tough week."
On the early turnovers: "That's the game of football. You're going to have breaks that go against you, but our game maxims say you have to put on more steam. When things go against you, you can't hang your head; you have to keep playing."
Wyoming Quotes
Head Coach Joe Glenn: "I just thought our defense played excellent today. We made plays to win the game for us. We hadn't had a turnover for a while so to get a couple and to have them mean so much was payback."
"It was a good victory for us on the road. We needed a win, we we're fighting hard. We got to a point in our season were it was easy to pack it in but we battled and fought hard and maintained a great spirit in practice and worked hard in practice."
"We did a great job today and I thought we deserved a victory. We worked hard and went out and played hard and came away with a hard fought victory. You can say what you want but, with Tennessee having gone through what they've been through this week, their kids came out and they probably aren't real happy with their performance but they never went away. They played hard all day long."
Chris Strutzriem, QB: "It was a big win. Like I said two weeks ago; as long as everybody did their job we're going to be fine. Tennessee is a great team, they've got a legendary coach, they played with a lot of emotions but, you can never count out any boys from Wyoming."
(on Eric Berry) "That guy is good. He's real good. He'll be playing in the NFL."
"Yeah, he's a great player and we did want to stay away from him most of the day."
