Post Game Quotes: USF & Miami

Dec. 3, 2009

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No. 19/21 Miami 31, USF 10
Post Game Quotes
November 28, 2009
Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, Fla.

USF Head Coach Jim Leavitt
Opening Statement
“They beat us on the line of scrimmage pretty good. Part of it, we’ve got to keep recruiting, no question. You all saw that. They’ve got some pretty good players but we should have played better. They’re a very good football team. Miami’s a very good football team and they just beat us. They beat us on the line of scrimmage as much as anything; on the offensive and defensive lines. And you know, when it’s 21-10, at least we were kind of making a move.Our defense didn’t play good enough and our line of scrimmage on defense got whooped, really got whooped. But we’ve got to do some things offensively as well. I mean they beat us both sides, you know. Kicking game was okay except for Delbert didn’t hit his punts very good. We had the first kickoff return that was decent. But you know, they’re just a better football team. And they showed it, they’re very well coached. They’re a very good team. And we had turnovers, can’t have turnovers, that’s for sure. And we had a number of those. We got a very young football team and our day will come. We beat Florida State earlier and we lost to Miami. We’ve got UConn coming up. Some guys played very hard tonight, I saw that. We’ve got a lot of guys banged up as you saw. We had some struggles on the kicking game. We lost at least four or five guys. When you lose four or five guys it’s hard to be deep enough to get everybody out there. We really were thin at the end of the game. A lot of guys got banged up.”

On B.J.’s game tonight…
“I got to watch film and see. You have to protect the football. You know, you can’t do that. But, one thing about B.J., he’s a battler, he’s a warrior, he fights, he tries. It’s not all B.J. I got to look at film and just see. I thought he competed hard. During the game, there was some things we felt that were there. But you know, he’s always going to compete. I’m sure he made mistakes here and there. But you know, there’s a number of things, you got to wait and see. There’s a number of things during the game that I know about. He’s always a battler.”

On if he was surprised of how well Miami ran the ball…
“I got to watch film and see. You have to protect the football. You know, you can’t do that. But, one thing about B.J., he’s a battler, he’s a warrior, he fights, he tries. It’s not all B.J. I got to look at film and just see. I thought he competed hard. During the game, there was some things we felt that were there. But you know, he’s always going to compete. I’m sure he made mistakes here and there. But you know, there’s a number of things, you got to wait and see. There’s a number of things during the game that I know about. He’s always a battler.”

“Yeah, I knew they were pretty good running(team). That’s where we’re, we got to get better upfront. You know, one of our weaknesses is getting stout, big, physical people that can play inside. And we’re just not that big and physical inside. I mean, I’m not trying to make excuses. I’m one who will never do that. But we haven’t always recruited the same guys. And all those guys over there, we tried. And games like this don’t help; well they might help a lot. They see that we have some needs. But we’re not big and physical up inside. But the problem I have is maybe, were we high on some double teams. There is some things you can do even though you’re maybe not as big and physical and strong. I’m anxious to look at the film and see. I saw them get quite a bit of movement on some double teams on some of our guys inside. I mean really moved them off the line. I don’t know what else you’re going to do there…””I got to watch film and see. You have to protect the football. You know, you can’t do that. But, one thing about B.J., he’s a battler, he’s a warrior, he fights, he tries. It’s not all B.J. I got to look at film and just see. I thought he competed hard. During the game, there was some things we felt that were there. But you know, he’s always going to compete. I’m sure he made mistakes here and there. But you know, there’s a number of things, you got to wait and see. There’s a number of things during the game that I know about. He’s always a battler.”

Miami Coach Randy Shannon
On the game…
“It was a big win for us tonight against South Florida, we played a team out of our conference which was big for us, and they gave us the opportunity to get some wins outside of our conference, which is always something that you shoot for.  It’s an opportunity for us to get nine wins, which we haven’t done in the last couple years.  Also playing another in state rivalry game is big for us.  I think that we came out and played fast and then we slowed up a little bit as the defenders sprang up and got protection, which tells you a lot about this team this year.  I am very proud of this team and the coaching staff and everything that we have done this year.  We still have another game to go, and we still have things that we need to accomplish but it’s all one step at a time and we have to stay focused.”

On Jacory’s injury…
“You always get nervous, and as coaches we can’t get nervous, we have support staff and doctors that tell us yes or no on whether the guy can go back.  So we really trust those guys and what they are trying to get done and we were very happy that Jacory came back and got the quick strike to get us back into it and get us back on our feet.”

On B.J. Daniels….
“If you get him out of the pocket he is dangerous, but if you keep him inside the pocket you can contain him.”

Miami Quarterback Jacory Harris
On the early score…
“That was really big, like at Florida State and Georgia Tech, we scored in the first drives and we had the momentum so it gave our defense the momentum to go on the field and get another stop so we could put up points.”

On the preparation for the game…
“I had a pep talk before, I told myself that I had to come out and how I was last week in the second half and just do my regular stuff.”

On how the program has grown…
“It shows that Coach Shannon is really taking the time to put a lot into the team, and it has progressed since he has been here the last three years.  We are just going out there having fun every day in practice, in the weight room and on the field. Wherever we are we are just having fun and that is the reason we are 9-3 and that’s the reason why we have had such a success this season thus far.”