2004 Florida Football
Post-Game Notes
Florida vs. LSU October 9, 2004
Team Notes w With Cory Bailey’s interception in the third quarter the Gators have picked off opposing quarterbacks three times in each of the last two games. w The Florida defense had a season high four sacks tonight. They had only three coming into today’s game. w Travis Harris blocked a Chris Jackson field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. That was the Gators first blocked kick of the season. w The last time Florida blocked a field goal was Sept. 13, 2003. Keiwan Ratliff blocked a Florida A&M field goal on Sept. 13, 2003. w 10 of Florida’s last 18 games have been decided in the final two minutes of play. Included from halftime notes: w Ciatrick Fason’s rushing touchdown in the first quarter was only the second rushing touchdown allowed by LSU this season. w Fason scored on a 5-yard run following Dee Webb’s interception and Tate Casey scored on a 3-yard pass following Herring’s interception in the first quarter. Florida has now converted an opponent turnover to points in each of the last five games. The Gators have scored touchdowns off eight of 11 opponent turnovers this season. w Florida’s two-play, 15-second scoring drive and the one-play, seven-second scoring drive in the first quarter were the third and fourth scoring drives producing a touchdown under 30 seconds and the fifth and sixth under a minute this season. Thirteen of Florida’s 22 touchdown drives this season have been 1:30 or less. w The one-play, seven-second scoring drive in the first quarter was the shortest of the season. It was the quickest scoring drive since a four-second drive vs. San Jose State last season which was capped by a 2-yard run by Ran Carthon. w Tate Casey’s touchdown reception was the first catch by a tight end this season. w Florida’s 14 points are the most LSU has allowed in the first quarter this season. w Florida started the game one-of-four on third down conversions and has converted on three-of-three since. Individual Notes w Matt Leach has now made 77 consecutive PATs. He needs just four more to move up to second on the all-time list in that category to tie with Judd Davis who made 81 from 1992-94. w Cory Bailey’s interception in the third quarter was the first for him this season and the fourth of his career. w With his 33 passing attempts today, Chris Leak moved to ninth all-time in career attempts with 490. He is also ninth in completions (291) and 10th in career yards (3,650). w Florida had four receivers with multiple catches today, O.J. Small, Andre Caldwell, Dallas Baker and Billy Latsko. Included from halftime notes: w Today’s captains for the Gators were senior O.J. Small, sophomore Channing Crowder, junior Jeremy Mincey and senior Mo Mitchell. w Tate Casey’s touchdown reception in the first quarter was the first time he touched the ball in his career as a Gator. w Casey’s reception was the first time a true freshman had touched the ball this season. w Casey is the first true freshman tight end to score a touchdown since Chris Faulkner scored on a 5-yard reception on Dec. 1, 1979 vs. Miami. w Eric Wilbur’s 56-yard punt in the first quarter was a season-long.
w Demetrice Webb’s interception in the first quarter was the first of his career. w Andre Caldwell’s 36-yard reception from Chris Leak in the first quarter was the longest catch of his career. Caldwell has had a catch of 20 or more yards in four straight games. w With his second reception in the first quarter, Andre Caldwell tied his reception total for the entire 2003 season. Through four and a half games this season, he has already caught 19 passes, compared to 19 in 13 games last season. w With his interception in the first quarter, Jarvis Herring has had an interception in each of the last two games. w Brandon Siler sacked LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell in the first quarter. It was the first sack of his career. w Channing Crowder sacked LSU quarterback Marcus Randell in the second quarter. It was his first sack this season and the second of his career. w O.J. Small’s 18-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter was his third of the season. He has now caught at least one pass in 23 straight games.
LSU at Florida Oct. 9, 2004 Florida Head Coach Ron Zook quotes
Opening Statement: “We were in a situation where we could win the game and we didn’t get it done. We have to get that fixed. We have to stop the defense and be able to keep drives going The time possession is the answer. They had the ball 36 minutes, we had the ball 23 minutes. Offensively we couldn’t keep drives going. One thing we did do was cover the kicks well and kick well. But, we didn’t get up field and we didn’t keep drives going when we needed to keep drives going. On the mood of the team: The players are hurt, as they should be. I think they understand that we can be a good football team. We were in a position to finish the game and we didn’t get it done.”
2004 Florida Football
Florida Player Quotes
Florida vs. LSU October 9, 2004
Wide Receiver O.J. Small On his touchdown: “It was man-to-man coverage and I beat him on a corner route. It was a perfect pass from Chris (Leak).” On the game: “ We knew we had to make plays at curcial times to win this game. We had to make plays and we didn’t today.” Line Backer Travis Harris On the game: “We prepared for a tough game and we got one. We just needed to finish at the end. We played well enough to win. It’s not how you start the game, it’s how you finish it. We needed to finish it.” On blocking the field goal: “I knew we needed to stop LSU and I just wanted it (the blocked kick) really bad. I think I got my hands and my face mask on it.”
Florida vs. LSU Oct. 9, 2004 Ben Hill Griffin Stadium LSU Head Coach Nick Saban Quotes
Opening Statement “I can’t tell you how proud I am of this team. I don’t want to be harsh, but humiliated is what we all felt just one week ago. For these guys to respond and do what they did this week in preparation for this game, getting behind 14-0 on two turnovers, we never missed a beat. We just wanted to compete in the game and try to beat the other guy and wear them out. I was really proud of how we played in terms of physical toughness in this game and on the line of scrimmage. I can list all the mistakes we made and penalties we had but sometimes when you are playing really hard with a lot on the line, those kind of things can happen. I think this team matured tremendously in this experience, and sometimes we need these kind of experiences for young teams to grow up. I think our team did a lot of growing, in this week and in this game, with competitive experience. I think it will be a challenge to make sure that we continue to do that. I really felt for the first time in the locker room before this game and on Friday before we made this trip that this is the first time that this team has been grounded. All year long it has felt like we were standing in a boat. This is the first time after what happened last week that I saw this team get grounded and get together and do things the things to go back to what made us a championship caliber team. I actually told them that I loved them after the game because there aren’t too many times when you get feelings like this. You don’t get a lot of wins like this so you have to have a lot of gratitude for the ones that you are fortunate to be a part of. Florida has an outstanding team. This is a team where I don’t want to single out a guy, an offensive player, a defensive player, a special teams player, it was a team effort. It was about resiliency and how you compete and I was really proud of the way that we did that.”
Florida vs. LSU Oct. 9, 2004 Ben Hill Griffin Stadium LSU Player Quotes
Joseph Addai Running back On the touchdown play: “Coach (Saban) just told us to believe in ourselves. We’ve run through that play a lot during practice. So I mean, it was just like a practice field. Everybody has their man. I criss cross with Skyler Green. I come underneath him. We’ve practiced that play so much, I kept thinking it was like practice.” “It kept our rhythm. The coach talked to us about having to get down and dirty during that last play. I wasn’t just thinking about scoring, but that’s what we needed to win the game. We pulled through.” Marcus Randall Quarterback On coming in later in the game: “We decided to switch it up this game. We started with JaMarcus Russell first, but the whole team has seen me play too. They’ve seen me come out second and they’ve seen me start. We just like to switch it up.” On playing better off the bench: “I’ve been playing well. Whether or not coach thinks I’m better coming off the bench is a different thing. That happened again tonight. I came off the bench and we played well. We came out especially hard on the last drive and finished the game.”