Sept. 21, 2002

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SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH LOU HOLTZ

“I was worried about the defense. I mentioned on the Web site in a Friday column. We didn’t practice well. We didn’t tackle well. Ten penalties on defense.

Give Temple an awful lot of credit. We made some good defensive plays, one a touchdown and the other set up a touchdown. And when we had the one turnover, we stopped them

The younger receivers stepped up, Kris Clark, Michael Ages. Corey Jenkins played well. Turman played well, we protected the ball and ran the ball well.

We did a tremendous job punting and placeking. We were not able to stop the run consistently, but give them credit.

We are going to play an explosive and physical team in in Vanderbilt.

Tremaine Tyler did some good things.

We can get no pressure on the passer. We didn’t play as well on the offensive line as I thought we would. That was disappointing.

Daccus Turman stepped up and did a nice job. We had planned to start Pinnock. But we just had so few plays. Pinnock is an important part of this football team.

Taylor and Faison and Eiland and Robinson played well in the secondary. That was a concern. (Temple) just controlled the football.

This team played Miami well.

We moved the ball better than I thought we would, and they did also. I though there would be more defense.

I am not easy to please. I am very pleased to win because we beat a good football team. But we will have to get better.

We had moments where we played well. We stopped them when we had to. The defense stepped up.

The backs protected the ball well. We caught every pass we had a chance to catch, except the one in the end zone that went through our hands. We didn’t turn it over. We did not have many penalties on offense, but we had 10 on defense, and that puts me in a bad mood.

Seldom does the onside kick work, but it turned out to our advantage because we scored on that series.”

TEMPLE HEAD COACH BOBBY WALLACE

“South Carolina played really hard tonight. Their offense executed extremely well and the most important thing was that they did not give up the turnovers that have been a problem in the past. We were not able to force them tonight.

I am disappointed in our defense and in the way we played tonight. We could not seem to make the big play when we needed to.

To lose our offensive weapons like [RB] Tonardo Sharps was hard, and along with other guys being out, it took a lot out of us on offense.

We tried to cut back their [SC] running game and make Jenkins beat us with his arm, and he did a mighty good job of that tonight. South Carolina deserves a lot of credit. They have a big, physical offensive line and an athletic quarterback. At the same time, we were shooting ourselves in the foot all night.”

SOUTH CAROLINA PLAYER QUOTES

20 Daccus Turman, RB
“The difference tonight was the attitude we had this week. We weren’t going to turn the ball over, we were going to get after it. Practice was tough, it was intense Tuesday and it paid off tonight for all of the hard work we had this week.”

On his touchdown: “There was a great blocking job up front by the offensive line. We tried not to turnover the ball. The offensive line made some great blocks and left some good holes for the runningbacks.”

About next week’s game versus Vanderbilt: “We need to go out and work even harder. We can’t be complacent and expect to do better each week.”

21 Ryan Brewer, RB
“We opened it up tonight and gave the receivers a chance.”

About the win giving a boost of confidence: “Yes, the win gives us a little confidence, but we still have to step it up. We found receivers tonight and they were scrambling. This gives the receivers a lot of confidence because they were open and making big plays tonight.”

About next week’s game versus Vanderbilt: “Vandy is a good team. We have to wrap it up and don’t make turnovers. They have a high-powered offense and a good defense.”

9 Corey Jenkins, QB
“We played better tonight. We didn’t have many turnovers and we created turnovers. The defense put us in a good position tonight. Temple is a great team but we played well. We proved we can play with anyone if we don’t create mistakes.”

About this week’s practice: “We were just a bit more focused! We had a good week of practice. We played with the intensity tonight that we’ve had in practice.”

TEMPLE PLAYER QUOTES

73 Dan Klecko, DL
“I think we beat ourselves. We made too many mistakes. On offense, our running game worked until Tanardo (Sharps) had to leave. But I think the running game really stepped up for us this game. The team is disheartened, this was a must-win for us if we wanted to go to a bowl game, but all we can do now is focus on Cincinnati next week.”

16 Mike McGann, QB
“We beat them all day up front, it just comes down to making plays and we didn’t do enough of that. Tanardo (Sharps) is a good back, but I don’t think we got too down on ourselves when he got hurt. We have some great guys behind him but, for some reason, we weren’t as effective. We weren’t at all surprised with what South Carolina showed us. We were ready for them but couldn’t get the job done.”