University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Arizona State: Dirk Koetter Postgame Quotes
October 18, 2003 | Football
Oct. 18, 2003
Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter:
Opening statement - "What an awesome job by our team of hanging in there and just battling to the very end, not giving up. For the defense to stop them when it was third and one, third and one, no timeouts left. It was looking bleak right there. Defense stops them, Daryl Lightfoot and the punt return team gets a nice return. Matt Miller makes a real nice catch. Good play by Derek Hagan, if he had any speed he would have scored right there. I told him he played a great game, but he should have had two touchdowns if he had any speed. After the spike, the play to Skyler (Fulton), that was exactly the play we wanted. It was very close. Then the last play, Derek Hagan was the first option, Skyler Fulton was the second. He went to Skyler on number two. It was a great throw, great catch. "
On the win - "I'm just so proud of our players, our coaches for hanging tough and our fans were great. The ASU fans in that one corner really helped today."
On what was going through his mind on the Derek Hagan catch - "Score, Score. Derek is a slasher, so when he made that cutback, I thought he might score. That guy was able to pull out the tackle. I don't know how he does it. I knew we were going to have to spike it, so I was hoping he'd score on that play. We were having a hard time all day scoring inside the ten."
On the defensive play by ASU - "I was very impressed. North Carolina did a better job running the ball then they had. We spent all of out time preparing for Durant who is a very special player. We stepped up and made the plays when we had to and that's what counts.
On the mood of the offense late after being stopped - "I think it was frustrated because we actually got a first down. There is a play call there where Derek Hagan makes a great play. That was clear across the field from me. I didn't see it at all. I think our offense was frustrated because we go from first down in their territory to now it's fourth and 20.
