Pitt vs. Syracuse Postgame Quotes
11/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 7, 2009
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PITTSBURGH - Pitt Head Coach Dave Wannstedt
"I don't give many game balls in the locker room to players until I take a look at the film. But one player who has always been one of my favorites on and off the field got one today. I didn't realize he had his first touchdown today, since he's been at Pitt. Cedric McGee got a game ball. He's one of our outstanding guys here that has been a program guy. He's been here and he's stuck with the program. It's great to see players like that have success."
"I knew that this was going to be a challenge for us. You get a week off and you win the way we won against South Florida and the players go home for the weekend and everybody is talking about rankings and patting them on the back. It's very difficult for 18 year old kids."
"I thought we had a great week of preparation during the bye week and the kids bought in. If our players didn't buy in and weren't mentally ready for a four quarter fight and best effort from Syracuse, it would have been easy to let one mistake compound into two or three."
"I was very pleased with how the kids responded. The last two weeks our coaches have done a nice job of keeping their feet on the ground, knowing the importance of this conference game to put us at 5-0."
"Dion Lewis did a good job. He had his runs. Billy Stull played extremely well again."
"Jarred Holley is a playmaker. That interception he had was great. He has a lot of responsibility back there for a redshirt freshman. He's making the check downs. I'm very, very pleased with Jarred. We thought he'd be a back up this year, and a cornerback. Now he is a safety and starting, and not just starting - he's playing extremely well."
"If you stay with the run, it's not going to be easy every game. Every team knows that's our lifeline. We made some plays in the passing game early to soften them up. Syracuse was forcing us inside the box area, bring their safeties up."
"The Syracuse players played hard and we knew they would."
Pitt defensive tackle Gus Mustakas
"We definitely stepped up to the plate [defensively]. We set the tone each week. [Syracuse] had a couple of long runs, but other than that, we did a good job."
"Greg Williams taking that pick for a touchdown, and Holley's interception, it just makes it a lot easier on us. We have a lot of playmakers in the secondary. It starts up front, getting some pressure to help those things happen and make it easier on those guys to make plays."
"We had six sacks, so we had a real good day getting out there, getting up to the ball and getting after them."
Pitt offensive lineman Jason Pinkston
"Their run defense was fast to start the run. We just kept on running it, it was a big win. We just stuck with it, just kept on running the ball. Their rush defense was one of the best in the Big East. Coach Wise challenged us with that. We had a nice rushing game today."
"They showed a different look two or three times. They came out with five defensive linemen, we weren't ready for that, but we picked it up well."
"The interceptions helped us. That took a little bit of pressure off of us. But we knew it was going to be a hard game. Syracuse always plays us hard. They jumped on us early up there last year, so it wasn't a secret that they were coming with their best effort."
Pitt tight end Dorin Dickerson
"We do have a lot of the young guys playing on our team, and for the future that's just great to get that exposure. Dion, he's still a freshman. Ray Graham still is a freshman and Mike Shanahan is a freshman. It's good for us. I think they've handled it really well. Dion, just look at him, he's one of the leading rushers in the country. I like to pat him on his back whenever he gets those runs because he really deserves it. He runs hard. They play like they're seniors. It feels like they've been in here forever. You can kind of see the future with this program."
"You never know who is going to get the ball every week [offensively]. You never know, in our offense, who is going to make the play. That's the good thing about our offense. You don't know who to matchup on, you don't know who to double-cover, you don't know if you need to bring nine guys in the box for Dion. We have so many threats on this team."
"Bill should get a lot of credit. I give a lot of credit also for our offensive line for holding up on protection. I also give a lot of credit for coach Cignetti, because he finds the matchups. He's studying film and he's doing such a good job with the playmakers on our offense. We just need to go out there and execute it."
Pitt safety Jarred Holley
"We had a great week at practice, knowing their schemes. We practiced real hard, and I think that was a big part today. I think we came ready to play."
"It's a great experience as we get into the heart of our season. We've got to elevate our game and just be ready to play next week. Our defense played great. We were staying in coverage, and everyone knew what we were doing today."
"Just watching film, studying their keys and everything, we did a good job of preparing for the game."
Pitt tailback Dion Lewis
"Every game counts right now, this four-game stretch is crucial. We got one out of the way and we need to just keep on knocking down whoever steps in front of us."
"Everybody is excited about Notre Dame. Everybody's going to be ready and fired up for this game."
"Our offensive line does a great job, those guys work hard all the time. They deserve all the credit. They just keep pounding and blocking guys, clearing the way. I'm just staying patient, letting the game come to me."
Head Coach Doug Marrone
"I thought we had a good plan today. We came out early and stayed close and then we just didn't execute."
"We had some injuries occur. We only traveled with 55 players. Some of those injuries forced us to come out of our packages. That obviously limited us on both sides of the ball."
"We have to learn how to finish a game. We come out and keep things close to a certain point and then something occurs and we never get back on track."
"I never got the sense that our kids gave up. They've worked too hard and have been through these type of situations before. Give Pitt credit today. They came out and made some plays."
"We've faced a lot of good (running) backs. I think from an overall scheme, he (Dion Lewis) is one of the best backs we've faced all season."
"When you look at our football team, things are in place for us to be successful. It has to come down to the execution and that starts with me as a coach."
"I told the team after the game that the year is not where we want it to be. We're 3-6. We can still finish this year 6-6. How are we going to react to this adversity? Of all the players, who's going to step up as leaders? Who's going to talk to the younger players as they prepare for these next three weeks? Are you going to be part of this foundation that's going to turn this team around as we go through these next three weeks? That's what I'm looking for right now in this team."
Running Back Delone Carter
"We didn't execute, we didn't score and that's disappointing."
"Having a good game today is fine but it doesn't really matter to me. What matters is getting the win and we didn't do that today."