Oct. 28, 2003
Head coach Frank Tavani:
On Colgate and reflecting on Fordham:
"Certainly I think they're every bit as good as their record indicates. We're on our Top 25 swing right now and our football team knows this is the biggest challenge of the year, especially coming out of last week which was very disappointing. It was a hard-fought game. I don't know if it's any consolation, but I don't know if I've ever been prouder of the effort or the way our kids battled in there. Unfortunately we came up a little short. We need to find a way to make those critical plays in critical situations. That's how tight these ballgames have been; they were like that a year ago and they're like that now. Give or take a couple plays here or there and you wind up on one end or the other. Right now we're in more of the short than the long. We have an opportunity this week to play the best team on our schedule and one of the top teams in I-AA. When you look on film you can't really find any weaknesses. They're an extremely strong football team. Offensively they have an outstanding quarterback, a dynamic athlete at running back and an outstanding wide receiver and an offensive line that is physical. Defensively they're not giving up a lot of points to a lot of people and again very physical and very athletic. We understand clearly that we have our biggest challenge in front of us. I still contend that our football team is capable of beating anyone any given Saturday and this is yet another opportunity for us to be able to do that."
On Colgate's offense:
"This year they have a much more dominant running game. This running back has just been dominant. He's about 6-2, 220 and I haven't seen anyone like him since maybe Kenny Gamble. I don't think it's any secret it's going to be good, old-fashioned football. They're going to run the power and the counter and maybe a little option here and there at you. They're going to come downhill at you with a little toss and hit some seams and they're going to be determined to do that and only throw the ball when they have to."
On Colgate's defense:
"The nose man, as we all remember, ate us alive a year ago. Sabo is big, strong, quick and very aggressive. He concerns you the most because he can disrupt things right in the middle. The kids in their secondary are outstanding, as are their corners. And Tem Lukabu looks like somebody from out of the NFL. He's just an incredible specimen. There's a bunch of scary people over there on that defense."
On Robert Stroble stepping in at center against Fordham:
"He did a very nice job. He really came of age. He made some nice blocks and started to do some things that we would like to see him do. But understand, as a sophomore at that position he did a real nice job."
On kicker Michael Beatrice:
"Mike's had to overcome a heck of a lot. He arrived hurt coming out of a high school all-star game, which we seem to have had a rash of those things. He was one of the outstanding kickers coming out of the state of New Jersey and to have a cheap shot done to him in an all-star game, which is just what it was, I can attest to it I saw the film, and to have to go through knee reconstruction and a whole year of rehab and all that. He missed an entire season and then came back and had to sit and wait. We talk to the team all the time about opportunity, and here's a guy who's opportunity is now and he's making good on it."
Senior kicker Michael Beatrice:
On his approach to the game:
"Coming into the season the job was in question, as you guys all know. Coach had had a talk with me last year and told me that he needed somebody who could win the job. My mentality all through the summer and coming into camp was that I needed to win this job and keep it. Kickers are independent of the team sometimes. The team needs to do what it needs to do to win and I need to do what I need to do to make every field goal. Regardless of whether we win or lose I need to keep making field goals."
On whether he would prefer to see the field more than as just kicker:
"I'm not used to being a kicker. My senior year of high school the football coach talked me into being the kicker and pulled me off the soccer team. I played baseball too. I love being in the game and being the person who makes a difference in a game. When you're a kicker it's really hard to do that when you're only on the field for maybe 20 seconds combined the entire game if you have a busy day. Would I rather be on the field right now? No, I would get killed. I'd love to go back out on a high school field though - those guys are a little smaller."
