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Texas 27, Texas A&M 25
HEAD COACH MIKE SHERMAN
“This
is a devastating loss for our team. They worked real hard. We made some
mistakes, turned the ball over four times and they got 17 points off
turnovers. We had penalties in the second half that put us in some
precarious situations. I take nothing away from Texas, they played
well, but it’s a game we should have won and we didn’t. My hat’s off to
Texas, they deserved to win. They made plays when they had to make
them. We came up on the short end. I feel bad for the kids, they’re
devastated. It’s a pretty tough locker room right now.”
6-6 is a disappointing season, what has to change?
“Well
I think if you look at the games, we definitely have turned the ball
over too many times. You are not going to beat anyone with that amount
of turnovers, certainly not a good football team. We have to make the
plays we have to make.”
On Ben Malena’s effort…
“I
thought Malena did a heck of a job. We didn’t lose this game because of
Ben Malena. He gave us everything he had and played very well. (He was)
very physical, and I thought he did a very good job. I think he gave us
opportunities and I thought he played very well.”
Where do you feel like this game got away?
“I
think it’s pretty evident. When you turn the ball over and have the
pens we had in the third quarter, it’s staring everyone right in the
face that’s where the game got away. 17 points off turnovers.”
On Tannehill’s night…
“He
was ready to play. He was excited about playing. He had a great
pregame, he made some good throws and missed some throws. That’s part
of being a quarterback.”
Have you ever experienced a season like this?
“I’ve
never experienced a season like this and I don’t plan on experiencing a
season like it again. This was a very difficult season to swallow. We
have good kids, they work hard, but for whatever reason the ball
bounced funny for us sometimes, and we didn’t make the play when we
need to make it to win the games we didn’t. I felt very disappointed
for (the team), they were ready to play the game. I thought they came
out and played extremely hard. Texas is a good team, probably the best
defense we’ve played this year. We knew there would be some struggles
along the way, which there were. If we could have avoided the turnovers
we might have had a different outcome. But we didn’t do that.”
WR JEFF FULLER
How tough was this loss?
“Real
tough. Probably the hardest loss I’ve had since I’ve been here. I
learned a lot this year, grew up a lot and am looking forward to moving
on and going to this bowl game and winning that.”
What made this one of the toughest losses?
“Many
things…senior year, senior night, last time we play Texas, lot of
things that go into play. But it’s over with now and all we can do is
look forward. I guess you can look back on the year and grow and learn
from it and get ready to win this bowl game.”
Take us through the go-ahead touchdown…
“It
was a crossing route, 12 to 14 yards, and we’d been hitting it pretty
well in practice. I came off the line, caught it at about 12 yards and
just wanted to get in the zone and luckily I got the opportunity to do
that.”
What have you learned this year about yourself and your brothers in the locker room?
“I
learned a lot. Last year we went on a 6-game win streak and it was easy
to stay together and stay joined through that. This year we fought
through a lot of adversity and we had a lot of tough losses and a lot
of missed opportunities. You really can’t make excuses, you just have
to keep on coming to work every Monday and that’s what we did.”
SENIOR DEFENSIVE BACK TRENT HUNTER
How
tough is this last game at Kyle…”This might be one of the most painful
losses I’ve ever had here at A&M. It hurts. It hurts for myself,
for the guys, for the entire team. We worked really hard but didn’t
capitalize on opportunities. It’s by far the most painful loss since
I’ve been here. “
What’s it like in that locker room right
now…”It sounds like it does in here right now. No one saying anything,
guys upset, tears rolling off peoples’ eyes. We had a tough season and
didn’t achieve what we wanted to, it’s offsetting.”
Have
you ever been involved in a season like this…”No, I’ve never been
through a season like this before. It’s one thing to know you’re an
average football team and end up average. We had the same record two
years ago, but we weren’t as talented as we are now then. It’s
depressing. Words can’t speak how hard this hurts.”
How
was the intensity out there during the game…“The intensity was hard,
you can see with all the personal fouls. It’s always going to be like
that with Texas and Texas A&M. The intensity never really let down.”
Can
you talk about how it feels for the rivalry to end this way and know
you can’t play Texas next year…”That’s a better question for the
juniors. This is my last year, I wish I had another year to come back
and play, but it’s not going to happen. It may be one of those things
we’re going to have to live for a while until Texas and Texas A&M
play again.”
On the last drive coming to a defensive
stand…“It’s what we wanted. We wanted it to come down to a defensive
stand and if I could do it again, I’d want it to happen the same way it
did.”
SOPHOMORE RUNNING BACK BEN MALENA
On
getting his first start, but losing the game…Nothing matters at the end
if you don’t get the team win. We came in with a great game plan, but
give credit to Texas, they have a great defense and
On
getting his first start against Texas…It’s a honor for my first start
to be in this tradition game. At the end of the game, we played well as
an offense, but it doesn’t matter if Texas A&M doesn’t get a win.
On
performing well against the Texas defense…It gives me a lot of
confidence. For someone to get a start against a great defense like
that, they’re the No. 1 defense in the Big 12. It’s a great starting
point for me.
SENIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMAN TONY JEROD-EDDIE
How
does it feel to get this loss…”It’s tough. It’s real tough. We wanted
to go out and win that game, not only for the seniors, but for the
younger guys. So they can end up on top and have that going into the
next season.”
What was Coach Sherman’s message after this
loss…”That even through adverse situations, it’s times like this you
feel you’re at the bottom of the bottom, you have to lean on your
brothers for support. He said maybe guys are showing us that we need
our brothers more than anything and we can lean on them. That this
brings us closer as brothers.”
SENIOR QUARTERBACK RYAN TANNEHILL
Talk
about how this year didn’t go the way you guys wanted it…”Don’t know.
Can’t put my finger on it. We’ve been asking that question all year.
It’s a combination of things. I didn’t play well.”
Talk
about the struggles you had out there tonight…”They did a great job all
night mixing up their pressures and beating blocks to get pressure on
me. We knew they had a talented front coming in and they played well.”
On
missing opportunities during the game…”Tough. We had several
opportunities to make plays. I missed a couple throws, we had a couple
drops, it goes all the way around. It makes it that much tougher when
you miss opportunities.”
On the atmosphere of the game…”It
was a great atmosphere, Kyle Field was everything that it is, 12th Man
was rocking all game. You couldn’t ask for a better atmosphere, but
it’s tough when your team doesn’t come out with a win.”
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