Selected quotes from the players and coaches in UF’s 51-21 win over LSU
Coach Urban Meyer
“First off, I want to thank the crowd tonight. That was as fine of a crowd as I have ever seen. I think that our team had the most well-rounded performance of the season. We were able to jump out to an early start against a great team with great football players. They’re the reigning national champions.”
On the touchdown in the third quarter to answer LSU’s score : “That was a classic Tim Tebow performance on that drive. We had a lot of discussions in the headsets about which way we wanted to go. We usually pass on third down and it kind of gets predictable. That was a great call by Dan Mullen. That was one of the biggest drives of the game.”
On the team going into the second half: “Our coaches did a great job getting into our guys’ ears at halftime. We came out with lots of juice in the third quarter which was important. The score was 20-7 going into the locker room and all a sudden it’s a two-score game. That first touchdown drive was a pivotal play for our momentum.”
Junior Quarterback Tim Tebow
On the game: “It was a great win for us. We knew it was a big game coming in. LSU is a very good team. We wanted to start strong and we did that. They rallied back and made it a game, but we responded with maturity and took over at the end.”
On the success running the ball: “This game we had to pass to set up the run. Usually we run to set up the pass. It was a great job by all our guys, especially our little backs who came in and ran well.”
Redshirt Sophomore Defensive Tackle Lawrence Marsh
On the defense stopping the run: “We knew they wanted to come in and play physical. They have a couple good running backs, and a strong offensive line, but our game plan was to stuff the run and we stuck with it. We focused on penetration and getting off blocks, and that disrupted their running plays.”
On the crowd at the Swamp: “We fed off the crowd. It fired us up to hear the roar.”
LSU Coach Les Miles:
“We played a very talented team today at Florida. They executed extremely well. We spotted them 20 points in the first half. We never got out of that hole. I thought our effort was good, but we made too many mistakes in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams. Certainly when you play quality football teams you can’t afford to make those mistakes. When you make those mistakes, you give your opponent the short field. They’re very talented as it is, so they get the opportunity to score. They did a good job on defense bottling up our run. We did not have the run early on. They were getting first downs and were scoring. That’s how it started. We never really got momentum in that game and never got in-tune except for a few drives on offense. That’s what happens; You play quality teams, make mistakes and you give up easy scores.”
On cutting the deficit to six in the second half: “We turned the ball over enough on offense. We did not control the ball in the first half. In the second half when they needed to score, they came down there. When we closed the game and made it a six point game, they (UF) turned it around and got seven.”
On not having Ricky Jean-Francois: “I don’t know if it hurt us at all to be honest with you. I know if Ricky Jean would’ve played he would’ve played and played well. That’s not the reason (LSU lost).”
Jr. WR Chris Mitchell
On Florida’s defense… : “Their defense took us out of the game. We couldn’t execute the things we wanted to. They made us pay for all of our mistakes.”
On rebounding from the loss to Florida… : “We’re going to regroup one day at a time. Luckily we play next week and can put this game behind us.”
FR. QB Jarrett Lee
On playing in The Swamp… : “It was a great environment to play in. The crowd was so rowdy; they made us have a lot of communication problems”
On the game versus Florida… : “UF played a great game. I made some misreads and their defense took advantage of them. They are an outstanding team on both sides of the ball. I thought we fought back well, but they were just too much in the end.”