Sept. 16, 2006

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UNC HEAD COACH SCOTT DOWNING
On fallen punter Rafael Mendoza...
We mentioned Rafael Mendoza several times, not only in the pregame prayer but postgame prayer. He was close to our hearts today.

On the second-quarter blocked punt...
I know this - if you can block a kick and score off that block - 90-95% of the time you win the game.

On Texas State...
I have to give Coach Bailiff and his staff a lot of credit, they're a very, very good team, and they'll get many more wins down the road.

On his team's play...
We did a great job of sticking together, of being family, and supporting each other, and I think you saw that out there today. I would say (our performance) shows how resilient these young men are. We tell every player (that) they're only one play away from going in the game. I knew somebody would have to step up, and D.J. Craft and Michael York did at the end of the game.

TEXAS STATE HEAD COACH David Bailiff
Opening Statement...
We started the game slow and picked it up as the game went on. I thought we came out in the third quarter and played exceptionally well. But you can't have 11 penalties. We've got to eliminate our mistakes. We've got to cut out our turnovers. We fumbled in the red zone and had two missed field goals, one of them blocked. We have got to take advantage of our opportunities.

On Northern Colorado's Performance...
You knew Northern Colorado was a good football team. The biggest concern was actually that they had a cause to improve because of what the punters did, and that gave them cause for them to come together as a football team and I thought they did. Prior to this game they had a lot of turnovers and they didn't have any tonight. They protected the quarterback well. My hat's off to Coach Downing because he did a fabulous job of guiding that football team through the obstacles they were faced with this week.

On Changes In The Lineup...
We changed the lineup a lot from last week. We're going to play people who produce and we're going to play people who are passionate about this university. I'd really like to look at the film and make decisions based on fact rather than something I thought I saw during the game.

On Why Bradley George Played The Entire Second Half...
Bradley ignited us somewhat there right before half time, and I think we came out in the third quarter and he showed what he's capable of.

On Who Next Week's Starting Quarterback Will Be...
We'll look at the film and make a decision that's best for this football team. We have a lot of talent in our offense. We're just experiencing some growing pains. In the locker room these players understand how talented they are, and I think you'll see a team that will improve every week this season because of the age and stage that we are. Every time we take a rep we're improving this football team, and I think by conference we're going to have all the right pieces of the puzzle in the right places.

On Why He Went Onto The Field And Talked To Northern Colorado's Punter When He Got Hurt...
That's a program (Northern Colorado) at that position (the punting spot) at that time you just hate it when a kid gets hurt. When he was out there for such an extended period of time, I thought I'd check on him and see if there was anything we needed to do for him.

On The Team's Reaction To The Loss...
I'm not going to panic. This team is not going to panic. You're going to see a coaching staff that is going to work harder than they've ever worked and a football team that's going to come out here on Monday more compassionate and retain more than they've ever retained. You're going to see progress here. It's almost dumbfounding the mistakes we made to keep us out of the end zone.

On What The Team Talked About At Halftime...
At the half we just talked about the mistakes we were making. What we were doing was self-defeating, and we needed to eliminate the self-defeating mistakes and assignment errors. If we did that, we really felt we could take the ball game over.

On His Concern Right Now...
The concern right now to me is we've got to figure out our red zone offense. We were two of four tonight, and our third down ratios were awful. We've got to stay on track and move the chains.

TEXAS STATE QUARTERBACK Bradley George
On The Offense's Struggles...
I thought I could have made a couple of more throws toward the end. Like Coach (Bailiff) said, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot against quality opponents, and that's not going to cut it.

On How He Feels At Quarterback...
I feel better. I'm slowly coming around. I'd still like for things to slow down a little more, and that's why I'm going to be in here every day next week watching film and getting ready. They call your number, and you don't really have time to be nervous. You just go out there and react.

TEXAS STATE WIDE RECEIVER Morris Crosby
On His Career-High 160 yards...
I was just going out there and playing football. That's all that was. Coach Bailiff always tells me to go out there and play great football, and that's all I was trying to do. We've got great coaches. They always have you prepared no matter what the situation.

On The Offense's Mindset...
There's no selfishness on this team. There's no "Give me the ball." We just have to put the ball in the end zone. If (Bradley George) sees something, go for it. We're all out there for a common goal. We're trying to win games. That's it.