Postgame Quotes
November 30, 1999 | Football
Washington Head Coach Rick Neuheisel
General Remarks: "We are thrilled to have won the Apple Cup for the second season in a row. It was a hard fought game in a wet situation. I'm very proud of the way our players played. It wasn't faultless by any stretch of the imagination but it was great enthusiasm given what took place a week ago at UCLA. It would be difficult for anyone to rally and respond and come back from that kind of disappointment. We are very fortunate to have the kind of character that we have in this program. I thought the effort level was terrific today. Congratulations to Stanford, the conference champion. They fought the good fight. They were the only team that only lost one time. It's one of those situations were we'll look back and think about what might have been. I think given were we started our season we ought to be very excited about the future of Husky football. We are thrilled to be the champions of the Northwest having beaten Washington State along with Oregon and Oregon State, and we look forward to trying to get that done as much as possible."
On the seniors: "A salute to the seniors that meant so much to this program and had to endure a transition as they began their last year. They were unbelievable in providing leadership to the rest of the guys to finish strong and make sure that this year was not a rebuilding year but a year that we would be in the hunt for a championship crown. I salute them, I thanked them personally but I also wanted to thank them publicly."
On the bowl game: "I'm looking forward to a bowl game. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and continuing to improve. Obviously, they [the players] would have liked to have somebody walk in and hold up a big bouquet of roses but our focus today was beating Washington State and winning the Apple Cup and this is a game that these kids will remember for a long time. All is well in Husky land tonight."
On this year's expectations: "I never quantified how many wins we would have because I didn't now enough about who we were in terms of talent. I was hopeful our team would get better, would believe in itself and would create a standard that we would always try to live up to, and in so doing, as we continue to recruit and continue to build we would continue to climb as far as our abilities on the field. We did taste, at least some measure of, success and we did improve on a year ago in terms of our record. I think everybody can hold there heads high in terms of what this team has accomplished, especially with an 0-2 start."
On Husky fans: "I marvel every time I get a opportunity to coach in Husky Stadium at how good our crowd is. It is a thrill to coach here and I appreciate the intensity that they bring to the stadium in terms of routing for their Huskies. We're fortunate to have fans that travel, we're the only team that doesn't turn back tickets."
Washington State Head Coach Mike Price
General Remarks: "I am very proud of our team, they did not give up at any point and fought for the whole game. We had tons of opportunities to win. When you get down in the red zone and have to settle for a field goal, it's disappointing. We got caught from behind a couple of times, which shouldn't happen. We should be able to run with these guys. Things just didn't click for us today."
Comments to Team at Halftime: "I told them pretty much the same thing I said to them after the game. 'We have a chance, we are in the game.' We came out in the third quarter, put a little wrinkle in the game plan, and tried to move the ball. I felt like we were going to win that game at any point up until about 57 seconds remaining."
On Washington's Defense: "Their defense did a pretty good job of stopping us. They were slanting their defensive line and we weren't doing a good job of picking it up. We didn't execute our offense the way we are capable of doing it. We didn't block well, and we are going to do everything we can in the off-season to correct that."
On Trick Play From Looker to Jarzynka: "We knew that they had that play because we could see him (Looker) warming up on the sidelines. That is the same play we run. We have had a halfback pass called, but Adam Hawkins didn't get a chance to get the ball off, the guy was wide open and we throw to the wide receiver. It's just kind of like our year, we have had great opportunities, our guys played hard, but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty we couldn't get it done."
Quotes from Washington State Players
LB Torry Hollimon
(On Washington's big plays): "They just kept making the big plays on us. There were some fumbles that were on the ground and we did not get to them. It is all just a matter of making the big plays and we did not do that."
(On defensive effort): "The defense played a really hard fought game. We fought and stayed in it with them the whole time. I am not pointing the finger at the offense, but it is too bad that we cannot get that part of the game going. When our offense is sputtering our defense has to pick it up a bit. When you know that someone is not playing well you just have to pick up your game."
(On Tuiasosopo): "He is a great athlete and a great football player. I thought that we did a decent job on him. On a couple of big third downs he was able to scramble and get the first down. It was a killer for us. He puts them in a position to attack us. Everyone played their assignment, but we were very aware of where he was on the field."
LB Brady Emerson
(On defensive effort): "We played a great game today. It was really frustrating. We played a base defense all day and were able to hold them the entire game. We had some young guys in there on defense line against their experienced offensive line and we held them the whole game. A couple of big plays killed us today. It is so frustrating to play so hard and have a couple of big plays lose the game. What can you do? It was a fun game. You cannot beat the Apple Cup. We fought hard, but they came out on top."
QB Jason Gesser
(On his injury at the end of the long run): "I could not breath, and I did not want to waste a timeout. I knew that Steve could go in there and get the job done. I decided that I was not going to be the hero and stay in when I was hurt. I just decided to save the timeout and get Steve back in the game.
(On the energy of the Apple Cup): "It was very exciting. To get in the game and play, and have the crowd roaring at you was great. I was able to feed off that."
RB Adam Hawkins
(On his touchdown run): "That was the single greatest feeling that I have ever had in my life. There is nothing that has given me the rush of adrenaline and excitement like scoring that touchdown. I have even been skydiving and nothing in my life has ever compared to scoring that touchdown. Their linebackers flow well to the ball, but I was able to cut it back. Once I saw that purple rectangle there was no stopping me."
