University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes: Bowden
August 30, 2003 | Football
Aug. 30, 2003
Post Game Quotes: Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden
Opening Statement
"That was a good win for us tonight - the most important thing was that we won the game, and the second most important thing was that we shut them out. We played a game last year where we had Iowa State down 31-0 at the half, and they came out in the second half and put up 31 points on us. I was afraid that might happen again, but out kids did not let that happen again, so I hope that shows you a different mentality and a different strain of leadership."
Q: Talk about Chris Rix's performance tonight.
A: "It was excellent - I don't know what his stats were but you can gauge how well your quarterback plays anytime you only have to punt the ball twice. That means you might not be scoring all the time, but your keeping the football."
Q: Was there any sense of payback out there tonight?
A: "I don't think so. We might have mentioned it and our players can read the papers, but I don't think we had to talk about that."
Q: Talk about the play of Greg Jones and are you concerned about Leon Washington?
A: "Jones surprised me because he has not practiced real hard yet this year, even as hard as he did last year. This year has controlled himself in practice and I didn't think he'd be in very good shape to play a ball game, but I saw no effects of that tonight. Washington dislocated his elbow but it was a clean dislocation, and he felt real good after the game, so I hope it's not something that will keep him out for any period of time."
Q: Do you feel like this was more like the Florida State teams you are used to having?
A: "Yes, this is more like it. I'm not going to say we're back there completely, because last year this game with Carolina at our place was tight in the first half, and this one we had a touchdown nearly every time we had the ball. That's why this feels like we're closer to where we need to be.
Q: Did you notice any improvement in the Carolina defense from last year?
A: "I haven't studied them, but I'm not sure if because we played that much better, that we made them look worse tonight. Whether they are a better unit than last year's, I couldn't tell you.
Q: Talk about the performance of your offensive line.
A: "I was very pleased with them. If they continue to stay healthy, they will get better and better."
