University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Takes Down Duke: Postgame Quotes
09/06/2009 | Football
Sept. 6, 2009
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Richmond Head Coach Mike London
"I've always said the offensive line is an indication as far as experience goes of where your team can go. We have a very experienced offensive line. They can block and make holes and they can also protect and that's a good thing. We won't have that luxury next year because they'll all be gone, but I'm glad we have them right now.
On being undefeated
"There are a whole lot of games to be played in 2009. We are going to just take it one game at a time. We started out with a win in our first game last year. The next game is the most important game right now."
On quarterback Eric Ward's game
"There were some passes that were dropped. He put the ball in peoples' hands and the receivers have got to make those catches. We'll get better at it. The first game, you're always not sure because you practice so much against each other. But tonight I thought he ran the team and managed the team and got the ball and distributed the ball. That's what Eric can do so we're excited about the team getting better and we're hoping we can better next week."
On the state of CAA Football
"I tell you it's the black-and-blue division. It's a testament to CAA football and particularly the south because those are the teams that we have to go against every week."
On what they need to improve upon for next week
"Obviously at the end of the first half we were 1-for-7 on third downs. We got to improve that. First and second downs, we need to get in situations where there are makeable third downs. Some things in the kicking game defensively we have to shore up. Defensively we can't let the ball get thrown behind us. So I mean there are things you can practice and now there are tangible things you can see that other teams can exploit. So you just have to make sure it doesn't happen again or minimize it."
On the team's effort after the 2008 championship season
"The effort was tremendous. The effort was such that it looked like I thought in the third and fourth quarter we were in better shape than they were. Our guys were in there battling. I give all the accolades to our strength coach because he got our guys prepared for games like this."
Duke Players: QB Thaddeus Lewis
On Richmond's experience and defensive pressure
"It was a veteran group and obviously, you know they've been playing together so they are able to do the things that they did and they played hard. They played harder than us tonight, so that's why they came out with the victory."
FS Matt Daniels
On expectations of season and the loss
"Yes it is definitely unfortunate but hats off to the Richmond Spiders they really played their butts off they really came out and competed with us. They are a great team and I expect them to go a long way and compete for the [FCS] national championship. Things just didn't go our way tonight, but all we can do is keep our heads up and look forward to tomorrow because next week we are playing another ball game."
On Richmond Quarterback Eric Ward's
"Absolutely, Eric Ward's is a great quarterback. He really has great pocket presence and we had a hard time getting back there to him. When we did, he kind of scrambled away and made plays with his feet while at the same time still looking downfield to make a throw. He is a great player."
RB Re'Quan Boyette
On difficulty rushing
"Yes they did. They had a lot of things schemed up but what it all boils down to is that we didn't execute. Richmond did a great job, they have a pretty good defense but we didn't execute in the running game and the running backs didn't hit the hole as hard. Running is a team effort. It takes the quarterback, the running back, the receivers, the [offensive] line. We didn't execute as well as we should have in the running game."
