Nov. 11, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
UNM head coach Rocky Long
“Chris (Nelson) did a nice job. He made a couple of really nice throws late in the game that really put us in a position to win the game. The game was totally a field position game. We turned the ball over early and they scored on defense. It was totally field position, we had the field position all the way in the second half until the forth quarter.”
On the end of the game:
“Their field goal late in the game forced us to score a touchdown. We made a couple nice plays. We probably could have scored a field goal after the second play by Marcus Smith but we were in a position where we had to score a touchdown.”
“I thought our kids really played well in the second half. My worst concerns were realized in the first half. When you have a really, really young football team and they have a bye week and then you play a team that is as fast and as good as TCU is, they aren’t ready for the speed of the game. Our players on offense and defense in the first half were not close to the speed that TCU has. By halftime they were getting used to the speed and played much better in the second half. They are a young football team and not veterans.”
What are the positives you can take out of this game?
“I really thought our players showed a lot of heart to make the comeback that they did. They played much better in the second half. You have to give TCU the credit, they are a really good football team. They are the fastest team we have played all year. I’m proud of the way our players hung in there and came back.”
Rodney Ferguson, So-TB
“We weren’t ready in the first half. Second half, our backs were against the wall. I just wish we had done it in the first half. (On the last drive) We thought we would do it. A couple penalties hurt us but we were confident we were going to get in the end zone.”
TCU head coach Gary Patterson
“How big was that last field goal? If we don’t have that last field goal then they can drive and kick a field goal to tie the game. Don’t look prosperity in the face, we played a team that can really bounce back. We knew they were going to be a second half football team. We can’t turn the ball over, we turned the ball over on the kick off, we don’t get it out of bounds at the end zone. We were down there starting off our drives three or four times inside the fifteen yard line. You have to give Coach Long and New Mexico credit for making great adjustments at half time.”
What kind of adjustments did the UNM defense make?
“They just started coming after us. They didn’t quit, which is the mark of the Lobo team. Like I told my group, you have to give New Mexico a lot of credit. We’re a pretty good football team now, we’re 7-2, we have to give them a lot of credit for how they did things and how they fought back. They lose their quarterback (Donovan Porterie) the other one comes in (Chris Nelson) and that guy goes down and scores.”
On the Lobos’ history of comebacks at the end of the game:
“My thing was, don’t give an easy one to them. Don’t let them in the end zone, make them have to kick a field goal. Even on their last touchdown our redshirt freshman cornerback (Rafael Priest) has the cover and falls down on the third and eight and they scored. I thought our kids battled. You have a team where you play at their home field and they have two weeks off to prepare for it. They were rested, everybody’s healthy, it looked like the off week may have bothered them early in the first half. Then they came out like gangbusters in the second half but I thought our kids finally got the last stop.”