Quotes from Tuesday's Press Conference
Sept. 15, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Quotes from University of Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Larry Coker at Tuesday, Sept. 14 press conference in Coral Gables:
“This is hopefully going to be a normal week with the Hurricane past us. We are back with a Saturday game in the Orange Bowl, which we are excited about. We are playing 2-0 Louisiana Tech, a team we played last year. They have an excellent football coach, but a little different look this year. They have eight starters back on offense and eight on defense, but a new defensive coordinator in Tim Rose. People don’t like to play against a Tim Rose defense, because it is so unorthodox from what you normally see. The thing you see that is different offensively is you see them running the ball a lot. They have the leading rusher in the country right now in Ryan Moats. He is a terrific football player. Louisiana Tech is a very dangerous football program and it is a very important football game for both Louisiana Tech and us.”
On how the team feels following the victory over FSU and preparing for Louisiana Tech:
“There shouldn’t be a let down. We have an opportunity to play at home and we are in a great position now and we are right where we want to be at 1-0. We had 30 days of preseason practice to prepare for one team and now we have two teams to prepare for in 12 days. We have to get prepared for the games and be prepared early. The win over FSU was a great win and it gives us a glimpse of what we can do. Our defense played really well. We struggled some and made some mistakes on offense, but we are getting better.”
On his team’s defense:
“The defense is always important especially at the start of the season. I was very pleased with the defense and I like what I have seen thus far. They have given us a strong start, but we can’t expect them to win games for us. It has to be a team effort and the offense has to come along and continue to develop.”
On the play of running back Frank Gore, including the game-winning touchdown:
“I am extremely happy for him. It was a great play for us and we won the game on the play. We were getting ready to kick a field goal on third down had he not scored.”
On the play of the offensive line:“Florida State’s defensive group is pretty good. Tyler McMeans had his first start and even though he made a few mistakes, he played hard and he was tough. With everything we saw up front, we think these guys have a chance to do real good this year.”
Brock Berlin, Hurricanes quarterback
On what the offense needs to do to improve upon their performance in the FSU game:
“We need to score more, but you have to give a lot of credit to the Florida State defense. When we have opportunities we need to take advantage of them. We made some big steps and we did a lot of good things during the game.”
On Louisiana Tech:
“They have a lot of good football players. We are not going to take them lightly. Our goal is to get better each week. We are going to prepare for this team and we know every team that steps on the field to play us brings their best game, so we have to be ready to play.”
On how the team was able to defeat Florida State:
“We were very focused. We have a lot of guys with character on this team and it showed the other night. We stayed together as a group and went out there and won.”
