Sept. 18, 2004
Villanova head coach Andy Talley...
On the weather conditions affecting play:
"Even with the conditions we played in today, our effort was not what we were hoping for. James Madison was better than us and their turnovers were not as critical. When the conditions are as bad as they were, you expect some mistakes. We compounded those mistakes on the special teams. Our special teams were as bad as I have seen in quite a while. The game was up for grabs. James Madison took advantage and we didn't."
On Villanova's offensive line:
"We had nothing going offensively in the second half. Our offense is still a work in progress. We put in Joe [Casamento] at the beginning of the second half and hoped he could provide us a spark, but neither of our quarterbacks looked good in there."
"We haven't had consistency on the offensive line. We have to go back to the drawing board and settle on a quarterback and an offensive line. We have a lot of work to do."
On the offense in today's game:
"We were having trouble running, so we continued to try to pass the ball early in the game. Our offense is mix and match, and we need a passing game to get the running game rolling. That wasn't happening today, but it really was nasty out there. It was as ugly as I have seen."
"We left our defense out to dry and that's a shame. There were too many possessions that were three and out and to make seven turnovers just isn't a good thing. We found every way to defeat ourselves. We found the enemy and it was us. James Madison was really good and I don't want to take away from how well they played, but you can't win by doing the things we did."
On what the loss means for the team:
"It is a long season in the Atlantic 10 and one game doesn't make or break a season. James Madison is a good team and we are a good team. We need to go out and just play, and that's what I told the team. We need to go out and play."
Running back Terry Butler...
On the game:
"The conditions made it a very difficult game. Visibility was a problem too because you couldn't see that far downfield. But those things aren't an excuse to not capitalize on the small things and that cost us the game. I congratulate our defense. They played a great game and we didn't get the job done."
"We weren't that surprised by having a game like this. There has been some mix and match on our offensive line and the quarterback situation is a small factor. Once we get our starters in it will give us more consistency and we should get better every week."
Defensive end Darrell Adams...
On recovering three fumbles:
"The fumbles I recovered were just bobbled snaps where the ball came towards me and I squeezed it tight. I wanted to make sure nobody stole it from me. They were all quarterback fumbles with the ball coming in my direction."
On the game:
"We knew in a rain game like this that they were going to rely heavily on the running game. Our mindset is always to stop the run first. They used three to four plays and basically made us top them. We did a good job, but needed to do even more to give more support to our offense."
James Madison Head Coach Mickey Matthews...
On the conditions the game was played in:
"I think both offenses were affected by the weather conditions. The conditions were as poor as I have seen in 28 years of coaching. We worked hard to be able to throw the ball, but it was difficult on both sides."
On Bruce Johnson:
"Bruce is a good player who we have brought along since his freshmen season. He played hard today and showed what he can do from the strong safety position. He is physically tough and he played very well."
On the game:
"It was a defensive stalemate at the beginning and we expected that to some degree. We thought we had a superior kicking game and that our kicking would be the difference. The game was decided by our two deep snappers. Both teams wasted opportunities and the play of our deep snappers became important in a tight game."
"I don't think this game was an upset. There are a lot of good teams in this conference and it is a long season. Villanova is a good team. I think we need to play three to four weeks of conference play to see who the top teams are."
James Madison Quarterback Justin Rascati...
On the JMU defense:
"Our defense was outstanding today. We wouldn't have won the game without them. It was tough early on and we didn't play well at the start, but it was a big win."
James Madison linebacker Trey Townsend...
On the defensive effort of the team:
"Our coaches just let us go and the defensive line put tremendous pressure on the other side all day. It was a big win for us. We came in expecting to win. We showed what's to come from this team."
James Madison strong safety Bruce Johnson...
On the game:
"We prepared hard all week and when we got onto the field it felt like we were ready. The defense was good all day today and that just kept the ball rolling.
