Oct. 2, 2004
Recap | Final Stats
Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley:
On the game:
"We got into a shootout tonight. We were definitely concerned about this team because of their ability to put points on the board. They have a fastbreak offense and because of injuries to Raymond Ventrone and Allan Bacchus, it put a crimp on how we prepared for them. We put a true freshman out there and a guy coming back from a broken hand. When you have a couple of injuries, you're going to put some freshmen out there pretty fast. That's the reality of scholarship football at this level."
"New Hampshire came out a little flat at the beginning of the second half, and we weren't able to take advantage of that. Our offense was back on its heels a little bit. We are facing a heavyweight on the road next week at Northeastern and we have to get back in the dance or we are going to get knocked off again. I told our seniors that they need to play better across the board. They will be the ones remembered if we have a sub-par season, or if we have a successful season. They can't come to play from time to time. They have to do a better job in critical situations."
"We didn't blitz New Hampshire a lot tonight because they can hurt you and we didn't have the match-ups to play them man-to-man. We tried to stay with them and match them touchdown for touchdown and hope that we could get the ball last. We have had games like that here before."
"We were happy that we found our offense tonight. The way our defense usually plays, 40 points will win a lot of games for us. But it's disappointing to lose. We had a capable wideout drop a ball and a tailback fumble on a touchdown opportunity."
On New Hampshire:
"New Hampshire is an excellent team. Sean has done a wonderful job with that team and we knew they would be packing for us and come ready to play. If they make some improvements defensively they are a team that has a chance to win a title. It's tough to come in with the best defense in the country and get ripped up like that. We had the answers on paper to stop them defensively but we couldn't implement them, in part because of the injuries to Ventrone and Bacchus."
Villanova Quarterback Marvin Burroughs...
On the game:
"It is definitely a positive to be able to go out and get 40 points. It's a confidence builder for us, and with our defense, we usually won't need that many points to win a game. We knew tonight could be a game like this and that it would be a defensive challenge to go out and stop them."
On New Hampshire slowing them down in the second quarter:
"They didn't do anything differently, but we didn't execute on the small things."
Villanova Defensive Tackle Darrell Adams...
On the game:
"Their hurry-up offense caught us a little off balance at the beginning of the game, but that's something we prepared for all week. We consistently didn't make plays and failed to execute. We'll bounce back and get back tomorrow."
"It's disappointing to have a game like this. We always come out and try to stop the run. We played at a high level, but it wasn't enough tonight."
New Hampshire Head Coach Sean McDonnell:
On the game:
"It was an unbelievable game. It was like an Arena game for a while. We felt that it would be difficult to run against them, and Ricky did a great job and distributed the ball very well for us."
"I thought a pivotal point in the game was with 10:40 left in the second quarter. We had gone back and forth a couple of times and we were able to slow them down. We didn't stop them but we slowed them down and then got a couple of big scores at the end of the half. We knew that whoever had the ball last in the half would probably get a score going into halftime and we were able to have an advantage."
"Both teams worked very hard tonight. I wasn't surprised to have a game like this. Some people said that Villanova was struggling offensively, but they have never struggled against us. We just made a couple more plays defensively than they did. Villanova is an unbelievable talent. Their offense came into it a little bit tonight. Their kids made big plays."
"Both teams have a similar philosophy. They have always been ahead of us defensively but we are starting to catch up with them there."
New Hampshire Quarterback Ricky Santos...
On the game:
"I've never been a part of a game like this at any level. It's a tribute to all of our guys. It was a great team game. The offense and defense both played very well. Our defense, despite giving up 40 points, made big plays at crunch time. I think that was the deciding factor."
On Villanova's defense:
"They ran a cover two and I was able to get down the middle and make open passes. John Williams did an outstanding job of getting through their defense and into the middle of the field. He is a great athlete. He makes big plays in practice every day and he just did what he always does."
New Hampshire Wide Receiver David Ball...
On the game:
"This was definitely one of the most exciting games I have ever been a part of. Villanova is a great team. We were very well prepared, and I think this is the hardest we have played all year. We came back from adversity tonight. It was a total team effort."
On his own performance:
"I just do what I'm told and run the routes that are designed for me. The lines do an outstanding job and Ricky does a great job getting me the ball and distributing it. I just do my job and catch the football."
