University of North Carolina Athletics
Syracuse Player Quotes
September 6, 2003 | Football
Sept. 6, 2003
Louis Gachelin (senior defensive tackle)
(On the defense in the first half) "In the first half I don't think we played like we are capable of playing. Our secondary is young, talented, but young, and the one thing that happened today was mental breakdowns. As you could tell, the penalties killed us. That's what thing we need to be aware of, and that is just mental toughness. The front seven played like they should, they made one or two plays that they got on us and we stayed on the field a lot more than we are supposed to because of stupid penalties."
(On the turning point of the game) "The turning point of the game was when Johnnie (Morant) returned the ball for like 52 yards and then the very next play caught another 50-yard touchdown."
"The offense did a great job, they came out there and punched them in the mouth. They set up opportunities for us to stop them and as the game went on they capitalized on the mistakes we made early on in the game, but we got better as the game kept going. Basically, we are just looking to improve."
(On the final play) "It was Kelvin (Smith). He came off the bench in his first year playing, and he made a big play for us. That was outstanding."
(On whether he could have played another overtime) "I perform well under pressure. Overtime, that's one of the things we look forward to, because starting in January our strength coach did a good job making sure we were well-conditioned and that is one thing that when we come in the game, if you are going to beat us, its not going to be in conditioning. Credit goes to the strength coaches. There were times when we were tired and it was hot, but they would never give us the day off. I think it paid off today."
(On the character of the team in coming back from a 17-point deficit) "I think this game is definitely momentum into the season. A big win on the road and we got three straight home games and I think it's falling in our favor. A lot of the guys on our team are getting a lot of confidence. Johnnie (Morant) is a big-play guy and he's finally coming through for us. R.J. (Anderson) stepped up like he should. We all expected big things from those guys. They just came through for us today."
