Coach Meyer: “We just made a lot of crucial errors. We were able to drive the ball a number of times and get big chunks of yards. There were a couple of drives where we didn’t have second downs because of long plays, but then we would have breakdowns. Special teams also hurt us because they didn’t play very well. We needed to stay on schedule with our game plan and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Auburn Head Coach Tommy Tuberville
“Where’s my toilet paper? I’m going to Toomer’s Corner. What a game? Good gosh! What a difference a half will make for a defense. We couldn’t slow them down in the first half, and they couldn’t move it in the second half. I am so proud of our defense for growing up and start making plays. Offensively, we didn’t score a touchdown. How do you do that and beat a team like that? We scored a lot of points, but you need to keep them off the field. They have a good football team with a lot of speed and a lot of quickness, and we matched up with them pretty good the second half.”
On challenging the defense at the half…
“It wasn’t pretty. I think what was happening is that we were a little bit apprehensive. Guys were thinking too much instead of playing. They were getting to the corner on us so quick running the football. They were 10 yards down the field before we got off the ball. We just basically told them you have to attack the line of scrimmage. You get lined up and you play from where you are at. Will (Muschamp) made it a lot more simpler in the second half. Their offense is one where you can’t drive the length of the field, you have to get a big play. We just fell back in zone coverage, and he threw it right to Eric Brock. It worked out perfect. We got them behind and made them press. That’s what you do when you get a team here on the road.”
On the Auburn fans…
“Our fans started rolling in on Tuesday. I’m really proud of them and thank them for staying with us. This thing could have gone the other way on us very quickly. A lot of young guys grew up tonight, and we still have a lot of work to do. It was just a great college SEC game by two teams that fought hard. It was just well-played on both sides. The collisions were just amazing to watch.”
On the time of possession…
“They had it 23 minutes. That’s pretty good. They have a team that doesn’t make a lot of big plays normally. They are going to nickel and dime you down the field and run the option. They started running it the second half. They kind of remind me of a wishbone team. We just kept telling our players on offense, you go after every first down that you make, it just makes it that much harder for them to win the game. You are just glad some things happen good for us. Last week, we talked about how we didn’t have anybody step up and make plays. We had a lot of them tonight starting with the punt block team and the kickoff return team. John Vaughn nailed one right there at the end to put pressure on them and then Eric Brock. I am really proud of our offensive line. They really grew up … to run the ball against a team that I think had given up 56 yards a game (coming in), says a lot for our offensive line.”
On capitalizing on Florida’s turnovers…
“We capitalized. It’s hard to play in this sport unless you get turnovers. We are not a great offensive team. Everything comes hard for us. If we have to drive the length of the field, it is just almost impossible. We challenged our defense to get some turnovers and help our guys out. We did that. Again, they are a type of team that does that. They run so many formations and plays that they are bound and determined to have some turnovers. They have been capitalizing on other people’s (turnovers) while not turning it over the last few weeks. The ball bounced our way tonight.”
On Florida having six sacks in the first half and none in the second half…
“That’s our offensive line. Coach (Hugh) Nall had an attitude adjustment at halftime. You have to grow up and understand if somebody keeps punching you in the mouth, you have to turn around and punch them back. That is what happened in the second half. It was a lot more physical game the second half from our perspective than it was the first half.”
Auburn Offense
Kenny Irons, RB
On the running game…
“Brad [Lester] and I did a good job of keeping at it. I feel like we did enough to get the job done tonight. There is always room for improvement but we ran it well enough to win.”
On winning the time of possession battle…
“We just kept pounding at them. Especially in the second half, we did a great job of getting enough yards on the ground to allow the passing game to make plays.”
Brad Lester, RB
On the ground game…
“The ground game was good. Florida has the number one rushing defense in the SEC, if not the country. It was big for us to have over 100 yards on the ground.”
On bouncing back from last week…
“We came out and played as a team tonight both offensively and defensively. That was something we didn’t do last week and you can’t win if you don’t play as a team.”
On the chances of winning the West after this game…
“We may be back in the driver’s seat. We have to keep playing hard every week and let this season take its course. We need to come out and execute every game and we will see what happens.”
Brandon Cox, QB
On struggling to score touchdowns on the red zone…
“This is something that is making it really tough on us and it is about finishing. We were consistent moving the ball but we couldn’t punch it in. We owe our defense and special teams this win.”
On winning time of possession battle…
“That is how we play. We try to control the ball. It is something that the coaches stressed to us all week and that is how we won. We try to move the ball and rack up yards and eat up the clock.”
On John Vaughn…
“John was huge tonight. That last kick was major redemption for him. He came off the field and told me to get the ball back down there and he would make up for it. That is exactly what he did.”
John Vaughn, K
On the missed field goal…
“I have to make that. I told Brandon to get me back down there so I could have another chance. It was a good snap and a good hold. It just drifted on me a little bit.”
Courtney Taylor, WR
On people questioning the wide receivers play making abilities…
“People were telling us that we couldn’t play. It was a tough loss last week and it is even tougher getting the number two team in the country the next week. We made the plays to get the win.”
On the SEC West…
“I feel like we are back in the hunt. Some things have to happen and we need some help. We are going to take it one game at a time and see if we can’t get to Atlanta.”
Auburn Defense
Tray Blackmon, LB
On his first game back…
“It is indescribable. The emotions were running wild and I was just trying to make a play. It felt good to finally get back out there because I just love to play football.”
On his fumble recovery…
“It felt good to do that. I knew we needed someone to step up and make a big play in that situation. We had our back against the wall. I was just happy that it was me. My thanks to God for allowing me the opportunity to make that play.”
On how much he played…
“It didn’t matter to me how much playing time I got. I was just willing to do anything in my power to help this team win. Fortunately I got a lot of playing time and got opportunities to do that.”
Eric Brock, S
On his interception…
“It kind of sealed the deal. It was huge. We needed a big play at that moment. We played lights out the entire second half. I knew it would come down to only one or two plays. I am glad I got a chance to make that play.”
On Florida’s offense…
“They have lots of formations. It makes you simplify things and it was big that we were able to keep it simple. We had simplify it at halftime and we came in the second half and did it.”
David Irons, DB
On the defensive emotion…
“We came out and flew around and made plays. You have to do that when you play a team like Florida. They throw the ball around so we had to change our game.”
On Florida’s offense…
“They have a great offensive scheme. We could not figure them out in the first half. There were so many formations and it was confusing at times. We figured it out at halftime and we came out and made adjustments to help us win.
Florida Post-Game Quotes
Auburn vs. Florida
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer
Opening Statement
“We just made a lot of crucial errors. We were able to drive the ball a number of times and get big chunks of yards. There were a couple of drives where we didn’t have second downs because of long plays, but then we would have breakdowns. Special teams also hurt us because they didn’t play very well. We needed to stay on schedule with our game plan and we didn’t do that tonight.”
On Chris Leak
“This is a team game. It doesn’t fall on one player. Their (Auburn’s) best players are their defensive ends and we had to try to contain them. We tried a few things and ran a silent count most of the game because of the noise. Auburn was still able to get pressure. When you face a pass rush like that in this type of environment, bad things can happen.”
On Bouncing Back
“This team will bounce back. We are still a good team, and you can’t try to blame anybody for the loss. We faced a tough team and a tough crowd tonight and we have to move on. We have a bye week and then we have to get back on schedule and ready to face another tough team in two weeks.
We are a first-place team in the SEC. This is a good team in a very tough conference. We just have to get back on schedule and focus on making it to the SEC Championship game.”
On the Challenged Play
“We challenged it because we thought it was an incomplete pass. We will go back and watch it on TV but obviously there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call on the field. We have to live with the call and we have to get better.”
Florida Player Quotes
Chris Leak, QB
On the fumble call…
“I felt like my arm was coming forward, but that’s how those calls go goes sometimes. The main thing is that we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had. You have to give Auburn credit, they played a great game.”
On the interception in the fourth quarter…
“I tired to get the ball to Andre [Caldwell]. I want to give Auburn credit because they called a great defense on that play.”
On Florida’s mindset before the interception…
“We want to drive down and score every possession that we get. We knew that was going to be a big drive in the game. We needed to score on the opportunity that we had.”
Andre Caldwell, WR
On Chris Leak…
“He played an alright game, but he made a couple of mistakes that cost us. That’s what comes with being a quarterback. Sometimes you don’t make mistakes, and sometimes you don’t make big plays. We don’t fault him for anything. He is still a great quarterback. He just has to learn and move forward from there. He is our leader. We expect a little more, but we don’t blame him. We still love him as a quarterback. He’s a great player and I know he is going to make up and make plays in the future.”
On Auburn’s defense…
“We came out there and it was a fast pace early in the game. In the second half, they came out and made more plays, were in the right spots at the right time and ended up with the victory.”
On the fumble call…
“We were a little shocked. We thought it was going to be reversed. When it didn’t happened it stunned us a little bit. That hurt us knowing that they were going to try to wear down the clock and get out of this game with a victory. We had a good feeling in our head that it was going to be overturned and that we were going to get the ball back and kick a field goal.”
On being out of the national championship race…
“That is real bitter, but we are going to move forward and stay focused on the SEC Championship. We are going to look forward to Georgia, move forward and hopefully we will get to see them again in the SEC Championship.”
Reggie Lewis, CB
On the game…
“We went out there and played hard. We hate for it to end like this. They just made the plays that they needed to make and they came out on top.”
On the National Championship race…
“We just have to go out there and stay focused. Anything can happen. Just like we lost, someone else can go out there and lose. We just have to go out there on this off-week and prepare for Georgia. We can’t worry about this anymore. It’s over. Now we just have to get ourselves ready to take care of Georgia.”
On Florida controlling its own destiny in the SEC Eastern Division…
“It feels good, but right now we are down. We let this game slip out of our hands. We were in a situation to take the lead and win the game, but things didn’t go our way. It hurts right now because it’s our first loss of the season and we had high hopes this year. If we make it to Atlanta, we want a rematch with Auburn. We feel like we were the better team, but like I said, they made the plays that they needed to make.”