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University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Football Postgame Quotes vs. Temple
September 19, 2015 | Football
Recap | Box Score | Notes
UMass Head Coach Mark Whipple
On what he takes away from today's game:
"Proud of the way the guys responded from last week, I didn't think that was the football team I had been coaching and the assistant coaches did a nice job of getting the guys ready. They competed and found a way to get there at the end. We probably celebrated a bit too early and that can be happen. Credit Temple.. They made the plays at the end of the game that you need to make and that's why we came up on the short end."
On the uncommon scenarios and plays during today's game:
"That's just football. You see it at all levels so I'm a lot more experienced with all those games in the NFL, you think crazy things can happen and you're dealing with kids and you always talk about finishing. Our guys believe on defense. I think we have a good team I wouldn't have said that last week so we'll see how they respond to that."
UMass senior quarterback Blake Frohnapfel
On today's game:
"With the blocked extra point that they returned for two, you never really see that. Obviously, it's not what you're expecting. It comes down to when we scored that touchdown and everyone is all excited, but you still have to finish every single play. We learned a lesson the hard way, but it is a growing experience."
On a continuation of things that have plagued this team before:
"It feels like it's déjà vu a little bit with those situations where it is almost unbelievable how it unfolds. I'm a redshirt senior so my time here is running out, but I think for these younger guys who have years left in this program, they'll learn from these times and they can help build from it. We said that later in this year, we're going to have the same situation happen and the next time we'll take care of it."
UMass senior linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox
On today's game:
"It's tough, but we have some strong players in our locker room who are going to overcome this and show up to practice tomorrow ready to compete and go against Notre Dame."
On the blocked PAT:
"All I'm thinking is we have to go out there and get a stop now, that's our mentality. Temple made one more play then us, so hats off to them."
UMass senior receiver Tajae Sharpe
On a continuation of things that have plagued this team before:
"A loss like this is always tough, but we have great guys in our locker room and we have a great coaching staff. We're going to have to go back, look at the film and correct the little mistakes. Like Jovan said, hats off to Temple. We made a lot of mental mistakes ourselves, so we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and we just have to come back better next week."
On setting a school record:
"It's an honor and a privilege to go down in the UMass history books. I give all the credit to Coach (Mark) Whipple. He's a great offensive-minded coach. He puts me in positions to get the ball. I also give credit to my quarterback, my whole offense. Even my defense for putting the offense on the field so much and getting stops for us so I can have chances to make plays for this team. It's an honor and privilege, but all that really doesn't matter if we don't come out with the win so we have to find a way to come out on top."
Temple head coach Matt Rhule
Opening statement
"I have the absolute utmost respect for UMass and for the way they played. Their defense played lights out, their wide receivers made plays, they blocked, the quarterback was a warrior. They competed and we knew they would. We knew they were disappointed last week and you make a lot of improvements from your first week. They had a great game plan for us, and they played really hard. I'm sorry they had to lose like that. That being said, I'm really proud of our guys for finding a way to win. Was it the way we wanted to play? No. But games like that we have to find a way to win. I think good teams do that."
Have you ever been involved in a game like this?
"We've unfortunately had too many games like this. I think we've been on the wrong side of some of the games like this. Two weeks in a row it came down to the last play. The only thing I was disappointed with today was half time, we looked shell shocked, like we didn't expect it to be like that. It's going to be like that, that's what college football's like. You're going to play 60 minutes. You go on the road, you play a good team with good players, they're going to make plays. We just need our guys to keep playing. It's about us."
Do you think there was any kind of a letdown today?
"I would hate to say that and take any credit away from UMass. I think they played really well. They schemed us and got us on some things. They had some guys wide open. They just played. We have to play better. I start with myself first. I know I put the energy in this week, but did I prepare them for all those situations? I don't know that I did. I'll go back and I'll get better this week. I don't think it's a letdown. We just did some things we don't normally do. We'll just get back to playing football and keep getting better."
On what he expected from UMass:
"We watched the film from last year. We knew that they would play. You go out to Colorado and deal with the altitude. We knew they would play better than that. We know Coach Whipple. Blake, I think he averaged 420 yards passing a game in the six MAC games. We knew he was going to throw a lot of balls. We just didn't cover the way we need to."
Temple sophomore kicker Austin Jones
On the game-winning field goal:
"They iced me the play before and I had faith in the holder Tom Bradway so I knew it was going to get down and go through."
On the difference between last year's struggles and starting 7-for-7 this year: "The offseason helped a lot. As a kicker, I matured a lot. Coach (Rhule) asked me to step my game up and I did.
On the game being on the line:
"I was a little nervous, I have to say that, but really, it's like any other kick."
Temple senior wide receiver John Christopher
What can you take out from this sort of adversity:
"We look at it like, what's next. Adversity strikes, we know it's going to happen in a game. So we search it out and react to it accordingly."
On being called a hero by Coach Rhule:
"I don't think about it, being a hero. We just try to go out there and do our job. We don't search for our plays, we do our jobs and the plays will come."
Temple senior linebacker Tyler Matakevich:
Is this the craziest game you've been a part of:
"It's definitely up there. That's an excellent team, you can't take anything away from them. You have to give us credit, too. We just kept fighting and fighting when our backs were against the wall. You thought it was over, but it wasn't. It just shows you how we're going to keep fighting to the very end."
On any potential let down after first two wins:
"I don't think so at all. I think that, offensively, we're going to be in full battle in every game that we play, and guys are just starting to get that we're going to get the best out of everybody. You need to prepare like we have been preparing, don't change a thing, because you can tell when guys start changing things. At the end of the day, you just have to go back to the fundamentals, and that's what we have to do."