Oct. 19, 2004
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) -
Head coach Frank Tavani
on last week's thrilling 14-13 win at Bucknell:
The question of the week has been how many more of these last play, last second games I can take, and as long as we keep coming out on top I can take at least four more as I count them up. I give a lot of credit to our young men who just continue to work their butts off and believe in themselves regardless of what other people try to tell them. Just a tremendous effort out there, and we'll be practicing on a blocked field goal that you can't celebrate until it's actually over. Good fortune came our way, over the five year period of being in this position we've had some things go against us in those situations, so I don't feel badly about finally trying to catch up. Actually, I think somebody still owes us three or four more until we catch up and then we'll be even on that. I think good fortune comes through great effort and a great work ethic and a tremendous attitude by our football team. Again, credit to our senior leadership that just keeps carrying this football team and doesn't let anybody quit, either during the week in practice and certainly on Saturday afternoon. Some of my heart goes out to Bucknell in that situation to be on the short end of that, they had the tough loss at Villanova, in overtime against Penn, and then to have that happen, it's a pretty tough go. That's an outstanding football team and I have to believe that they're going to beat some people down the stretch, and it's just a credit to the conference for being so strong.
A tremendous effort by our young men and now we have to go onto the next goal, another league game and an outstanding opponent in Fordham. They've got some tremendous athletes, over there, especially on defense, we've seen some of those guys before and I think that's going to be their strong point while they're trying to get their quarterback and replacements for some of their All-American players that they lost to graduation. We're going to have our work cut out for us this weekend in the Bronx.
on his reaction to the game's final play:
The bad thing about that whole thing was that I had no recollection of it until Scott Morse showed it to me yesterday on video tape, and that's what happens in all the jubilation and excitement of a victory and I guess I got carried away in the moment.
I saw the block and watched down there and when he got tackled I could see that he was well short of the pylon, and then the ref gave the signal that the game was over. Certainly you're holding onto their heart there. It was just a tremendous effort by Torian Johnson to come out of the middle where he was. Really it was a poor play of containing it who has responsibility on a middle block and we got a little too wrapped up in making the block. It wasn't until I watched the TV tape that I realized how high off the ground Joe Ort really was, and it didn't hit him in the face mask, he caught it right in his hands. He has a great vertical and that's one of the reasons we used him. Honestly, he had never done that before and we had never had him in there before, it was a spur of the moment decision and he made a great effort.
on this week's match-up with Fordham:
They're a real solid football team and their quarterback is getting better every week. He's very athletic, not the kind of guy who picks people apart in the passing game like they usually do, but they have some good people in the backfield running the ball and then they throw it some. Their defense has really held them in there, especially if you throw the ball. Kornegay has seven interceptions, including two or three in one game. I guess people decide to keep throwing it at him and he keeps picking it. They've always had a solid defense and we've had a chance to beat them every year, but unfortunately instead of finding a way to win we've found a way to lose. Especially last year, where we had the game won and then couldn't stop the drive and they kicked the winning field goal. But like every week, last year is last year and this year is this year, and it should be a tremendous football game.
on the team's mentality going into practice:
I think there's better intensity and you don't have people walking around depressed, when you lose close football games it's awfully tough to get your football team off the mat, but this particular group has had to get off the mat and come back after big wins and you have to pack your bags. These kids haven't slept in their own beds on Friday nights since the season started. I think they're tremendously resilient and again, that's a credit to our senior leadership.
on the upcoming off week:
There's no doubt that the bye is right there, the key is to get the win so that you're feeling good and as Coach Foley pointed out, it's a chance to get healed up. Everybody's banged up this time of year, if not you haven't been doing anything. It's a good time for it, getting into the backstretch of the league and it would be tremendous to get up there and get a win, then have a break and get in some extra preparation for the final three games. It will take another great effort this week to get a win.
on the effort of Joe McCourt, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in three straight games:
Two weeks in a row, when you carry the ball 36 and 33 times, I don't care if you're Superman, you're beat up. Joey's intensity level has picked up immensely the last few weeks, I think he's gotten in better condition and continues to pound. We have to get him a break in there, unfortunately Jonathan Hurt was available for the game but he hadn't really taken the reps so we weren't wild about throwing him out there, but he'll be available this week to give Joe some rest and keep him fresh. Where you want Joe fresh is the fourth quarter, where he's just pounding those defenders. They're coming in and grabbing them, they're not wild about hitting him and our offensive line was creating some huge holes. We have to continue to be a physical football team and operate efficiently. Brad Maruer isn't turning the ball over, knock on wood, and he's making great decisions. We get the ball around to everyone, there aren't big numbers to any one person in the passing game but that's a pretty efficient passing game out there right now.
on moving on from victories to focus on the next contest:
I think that we move on from each game regardless of the outcome. This football team has been focused on each goal, we've been pounding that into everyone's head since February, with t-shirts and everything else, one goal at a time, but this football team is focused on trying to win a championship. Years ago we would have been sitting here talking about trying to have a winning season and it's well beyond that, our focus is on winning a championship. Obviously it's still one goal at a time, and each one of these goals are another step towards achieving that and it's going to be a difficult four weeks but it's a great challenge and a tremendous position to be sitting in as we close the year.
