Nov. 17, 2009
PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
FORT WORTH, Texas -- TCU football coach
Gary Patterson met with the media Tuesday as he held his weekly news conference in the Four Sevens Team Room.
The fourth-ranked Horned Frogs can clinch at least a share of the Mountain West Conference championship Saturday at Wyoming. Kickoff is set for noon (MST) with the game televised on The Mtn.
Included below are excerpts from Patterson's comments to the media.
Opening Statement ...
"It's business as usual. We've got two games left. We need to win one to tie for a conference championship and two to win out and prevent anything interesting from happening. Right after the game Saturday, even with how exciting the Utah win was, we started talking about Wyoming. The last time we went up there, we got beat. We have to be ready to play."
On traveling to Laramie for Saturday's game ...
"We have a tall task at hand this week, playing a team that has a chance to be bowl eligible. They are 5-5. We just need to keep minding our own business. Playing our last game on the road, I think we will be better off just keeping our nose to the ground."
On Wyoming ...
"They've got a freshman quarterback (Austyn Carta-Samuels) who is going to grow up every year. They have gone back to some basics and said we are going to be good at what we do. Both offensively and defensively, they play hard. Dave Christensen is a good football coach. I have followed his career from Toledo all the way to Missouri. He came from a small school in Washington, so he has been at all of the levels and knows what it takes to be successful. He's done a good job of recruiting. You become a head coach to make a team better, and he is on the right track."
On keeping his team playing at a high level ...
"We've been here before. We were here going into the Utah game last year. I don't see why this football team would have a letdown. We will have to try to find a way to win. I see no reason why we would be any different about this game than we have been up to this point. They have done an unbelievable job this season of going on the road, keeping their focus and doing the things they needed to do to take ball games.
"We are going to play against a Wyoming team that was down 27-6 at San Diego State and came back to win 30-27. They don't have any quit. They have an opportunity to go back to a bowl game. We have to get ready for a fight."
On the progression of TCU's football program ...
"Recruiting is what gets you to that next level. Some people have told me that if we make it to a BCS game, we can recruit better players. I like the players I have, but what you do is build better depth. It makes you more of a complete football team. It just makes your program stronger. I'm trying to do something where every year people have to deal with TCU, not just every couple of years. Since 2005, except for the 8-5 season (2007), we've been able to win 10 ball games which is what we are trying to accomplish. I want people to become upset around here when we go 8-5. I think we are getting closer to that."
On TCU's strength of schedule ...
"We played Texas two years ago, Oklahoma last year and went into Clemson this season. Anybody that thinks going to Clemson is an easy game should go schedule them in Death Valley. They are close to playing in the ACC championship game and have a good chance of winning it. We've got Texas Tech and Baylor on the schedule in the next two years with Oklahoma and Virginia coming here in 2012. In 2013, we have LSU."
On TCU All-America defensive end Jerry Hughes ...
"Jerry Hughes is exactly what every coach ever wanted in a great player. A lot of times you get a great player who isn't great off the field or with anything else. Jerry Hughes showed the kind of person he was by deciding that he wanted to come back to TCU to get his degree and win a Mountain West Conference championship.
"He wanted to finish what he started. For all of the accolades and honors he received last year, for him to come back and play like he does, to be the kind of leader and person he is, speaks volumes. I think that when you look at a recruit and he asks you what you want him to be like, I want him to be like Jerry Hughes. He's everything that you want. He's easy to coach. You don't have to worry about him working hard. I'd take a hundred of him."
On remaining fourth, behind Florida, Alabama and Texas, in the polls and BCS standings ...
"It doesn't do any good to complain about it. My job is to have the best football team I can possibly put on the field. All of those people you are talking about started at the top. You have to give them credit and respect for what they have been able to do up to this point."
