Press Conference Quotes Prior to the Houston Football Game
Sept. 20, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Opening Comments-BR”Our game on Thursday night has been moved from the University of Houston campus to Reliant Stadium. I’ve never been to the stadium, but I have heard it is a great place to play and that the facilities are beautiful. We are anxious to have the opportunity to play in a venue like that for our first road game.”
“The University of Houston is a team with a lot of tradition, especially in the Bill Yeoman era that most of us probably remember. They have 18 starters returning from last season, eight on offense, nine on defense and a kicker. They are going to be a special challenge for us. They were a bowl winning team a year ago, coming out of Conference USA. They have an outstanding quarterback in Kevin Kolb, who was the freshman player of the year in the conference a year ago and they spread the field and like to run the football. They have a lot of speed. With us playing on the road we have to be road warriors.”
On the short week for the Hurricanes prior to Thursday night’s game against Houston-
“First of all, the players did not get the day off today (Monday) as usual and we are combining Tuesday and Wednesday normally scheduled workouts into today’s practice with red zone, goal-line and third-down work. We have to squeeze a lot of work into a short period of time. Ideally I would like to have every game on Saturday, but that is not the case any more with TV. It is disruptive to our routine, but the better we handle the disruptions, the better our football team will be.”
On Houston-
“They have a lot of formations and a lot of movement. It is nothing unique, they still play with 11 players, but it is important to line up properly. They will attempt to mismatch personnel, so everyone needs to be lined up and not be confused. With the short turn around we have, this is something that can cause us problems.”
On the Hurricane’s offense-
“We are happy with some things, but there are other things we need to improve upon. I would like the team to be more explosive and I would like to involve the wide receivers more. I am extremely happy with where the tights ends are; they are blocking well and catching the ball well. I am happy with Frank Gore and Tyrone Moss and with the opportunities Quadtrine Hill has had. As a team we are having trouble with some of the easier catches, which is an area that needs to be improved.”
On the performance of Devin Hester and his penalty for celebrating after returning a punt 92 yards for a touchdown-
“Devin was not happy that he celebrated the way he did. I was probably the fifth person in line to get to Devin when he came off the field. Punishment was given, but the question is did he learn from his actions. Hopefully he and the other players have learned from his mistake.”
“I was pleased with Devin with his returns and also with the decisions he made on the returns. He will continue to return kicks and punts and we would like to get him more work in the secondary so that he can help us as the season goes on. He is probably not ready for that right now, but in the future he will be able to help us some.”
Brock Berlin, Hurricanes Quarterback, quotes September 20, 2004
On having to play Thursday night instead of Saturday-
“The week is shorter and you don’t have as much time to prepare. You just have to get ready for the game faster than usual.”
On how the offense performed against Louisiana Tech-
“We did some good things. We ran the football really well. Special teams did a great job. We just need to keep executing our offense and get better and better each week.”
