Wow. Just wow. I can't ever recall Tulane winning a game like that, aside from the one the refs handed them against Kentucky in 1980 as an unwitting payback to Fran Curci for the fifth-down loss at Miami.
They brought Justin McMillan and Jalen McCleskey in to the interview room and then Willie Fritz. I missed the beginning of the two players because I was still writing for The Advocate.
MCMILLAN
What happened on the final two plays?
Amare got us about halfway manageable. Naturally, we just wanted to get in field goal range. the catch would have been fine with me. I was fine with just the catch, but he (MCCleskey) hs just wanted to be an overachiever and take it for six. I'll go ahead and let him go for it."
What did the coaches say at halftime for you guys to get this done?
"Obviously it was more than just a team effort. Coach Fritz, as a head coach, you are going to tell your team to stay in. I don't remember what the score was, but it was a margin we were losing. In a game like that against Houston with a great offense and a pretty good player at quarterback (laughs), that alone it is tough to handle him, but our defense did great. As an offense we just stood strong with each other and as a team we stood strong with each other and we got to finish it."
What happened on the first touchdown to McCleskey?
"That first touchdown, at first I can say I saw he was doubled. It was totally out of respect for him to give him a chance. Originally I wasn't looking at it. I saw the safety there. The safety was kind of flat-footed. He took off right by him so I just had to give him a half-way catchable ball and he made the play."
What did you see on the third-down catch he made on the sideline after you almost got caught in the end zone?
"We won. To a catch like that, that's really all I can say. It's been a journey for me and Jalen both. I was one of the first guys that he talked to when he got here. But just the fact that me and him have been working together, we have classes together and it's finally coming along. It's coming around. I know people have been kind of waiting for me and Jalen to get clicking. I put that upon myself to get it going and get the ball to him. He made some plays for me today and I can't be mad at him at all."
You embraced the hype of this game, so how awesome was it to get this win moving forward?
"I'm from Dallas, Texas. You know what I'm saying. I've been playing Houston teams all my life, and I don't like losing to Houston, so this game was pretty big for me. Let's just be honest. For this city, for Tulane, for Yulman Stadium, this game means the world to us as a university, not for the fact that it was Houston, but just for the type of win. ESPN, Thursday night, the stage was set for us to make plays. You've got to play with that D'Eric King, and it can go either way. He can take a game over himself just with one play, throwing or running, so like I said, our defense did what they could. He's a good player. It's going to happen, but this game meant the world to us."
Did you almost feel relieved to be only down 28-14 at halftime knowing you were going to get the ball to start the third quarter?
"Like I said, I know how that Houston offense is. They can move it. If you play with them too much, the game can get out of hand instantly. Originally it looked like it was heading towards the same road as last year, I can be honest with you. The leaders of this team that have been here for multiple years and have consistently lost to teams like that--Lawrence (Graham) and Patrick (Johnson), they fought and they came to me and said we need you. I got here last year and (McCleskey) just got here. We don't understand the severeness of the situation in the past. They get that through our heads real quickly that if we are going to be on this team, we have to contribute for the most part. I'm trying to do my best to play for this team in the time in which I got here and I know he's doing the same."
What does it say about the caliber of this team to not only come back from 21 down but to come back again after the game was tied?
"Grit and grind. There's no other way to say it in football. We are down on the 5 and the defense made an incredible stop. It just shows fight. The fans were in it the whole game. Like I said, this win is big for this city because it shows that we're improving and trying to make a difference. This isn't the same Tulane that people thought it was two years ago. I repeatedly said it in the locker room. This program was almost gone not too long ago. To think that we were looked at as the favorite against Houston, such a good team, that just shows you the strides we've made as a program under coach Fritz and the staff that we have."
What more can we expect from the offense down the road?
"This offense is coming along to be real strong. People may not know this, but No. 11 (Amare Jones), I think he had a broken nose. People don't know that. He had a broken nose a couple of series in the fourth quarter, and you would have never known by how hard he played. Coming from a sophomore, he's playing like a senior. He's easily one of the best players on the field. Our offense is going to move with him. I just love this team that we have. That stable of backs we have, I'll take them with the best in the country."
Was there any talk between the defense and the offense in the locker room at halftime about having each other's back?
"For sure. Like I said, Pat and Lawrence came up to me personally. They went out there way to tell me, we're going to hold our end of the bargain and you do the same. I told them to trust me. I'm going to make sure this gets rolling. The first half, a lot of it was my fault, my mistakes. I could have played better in the first half. I can't take that away, but I said moving on from that in the second half we just got to go as if it's 0-0. The game isn't over until it's over."
MCCLESKEY
Were you waiting to absorb the hit so you could down and set up the field goal?
"Justin put it on the money right in the middle of my chest and I knew I was going to get hit. Just hold on to the ball and then they missed the tackle and I had open field and it was just off to the races."
Can you talk about your first TD catch?
"The corner played low, so I knew I could just go right past him and Justin's throwing that ball to me in practice enough times, so I knew it had a chance to come to me, and I looked back and I just saw him cock back to start the throw and I was like, I just have to come up with the catch."
The catch you made straddling the sideline when it was third down deep in your territory kickstarted the tying drive. Can you talk about that play?
"I just saw Justin throw it. I knew the sideline was right there just to get a foot in, and I knew it was a big third down. We needed the momentum, and after that the whole line, they played their butts off the rest of the game."
What did you like best about this win?
"Man, I just liked how we went out there and fought. We had a deficit in the first half and we went to the locker room and were like, we just had to stop the penalties and stop killing ourselves. We knew we could drive the ball on offense and we trust our defense the whole way. We knew they were going to get stops, so it was just coming together as a team, keep fighting until that clock hit triple zeroes."
What was the hardest part for you getting adjusted to this offense?
"It wasn't necessarily the offense. Me and Justin just had to get clicking, keep working in practice, so it was just that. We knew it would click at some point. We weren't really stressing over it. We just had to keep working and that's what happened."
What more can we expect down the road?
"Just big plays by the offense, big plays by the defense. All the receivers and running backs played their butt off today. We couldn't have done it without the line. We couldn't have done it without the running backs. Darius (Bradwell) ran the ball hard. Amare (Jones), like he always does, ran the ball hard. Corey (Dauphine) ran the ball hard. It's just a whole team effort. We just come together on the sidelines during halftime and we just knew that we just had to keep fighting if we were going to win the game."
Is there any ribbing between you and your dad?
"No, I was mostly talking to the players. I never lost faith in our defense. I knew when the time came they were going to get the big stop and then it was just up to the offense to go out there and execute."
They brought Justin McMillan and Jalen McCleskey in to the interview room and then Willie Fritz. I missed the beginning of the two players because I was still writing for The Advocate.
MCMILLAN
What happened on the final two plays?
Amare got us about halfway manageable. Naturally, we just wanted to get in field goal range. the catch would have been fine with me. I was fine with just the catch, but he (MCCleskey) hs just wanted to be an overachiever and take it for six. I'll go ahead and let him go for it."
What did the coaches say at halftime for you guys to get this done?
"Obviously it was more than just a team effort. Coach Fritz, as a head coach, you are going to tell your team to stay in. I don't remember what the score was, but it was a margin we were losing. In a game like that against Houston with a great offense and a pretty good player at quarterback (laughs), that alone it is tough to handle him, but our defense did great. As an offense we just stood strong with each other and as a team we stood strong with each other and we got to finish it."
What happened on the first touchdown to McCleskey?
"That first touchdown, at first I can say I saw he was doubled. It was totally out of respect for him to give him a chance. Originally I wasn't looking at it. I saw the safety there. The safety was kind of flat-footed. He took off right by him so I just had to give him a half-way catchable ball and he made the play."
What did you see on the third-down catch he made on the sideline after you almost got caught in the end zone?
"We won. To a catch like that, that's really all I can say. It's been a journey for me and Jalen both. I was one of the first guys that he talked to when he got here. But just the fact that me and him have been working together, we have classes together and it's finally coming along. It's coming around. I know people have been kind of waiting for me and Jalen to get clicking. I put that upon myself to get it going and get the ball to him. He made some plays for me today and I can't be mad at him at all."
You embraced the hype of this game, so how awesome was it to get this win moving forward?
"I'm from Dallas, Texas. You know what I'm saying. I've been playing Houston teams all my life, and I don't like losing to Houston, so this game was pretty big for me. Let's just be honest. For this city, for Tulane, for Yulman Stadium, this game means the world to us as a university, not for the fact that it was Houston, but just for the type of win. ESPN, Thursday night, the stage was set for us to make plays. You've got to play with that D'Eric King, and it can go either way. He can take a game over himself just with one play, throwing or running, so like I said, our defense did what they could. He's a good player. It's going to happen, but this game meant the world to us."
Did you almost feel relieved to be only down 28-14 at halftime knowing you were going to get the ball to start the third quarter?
"Like I said, I know how that Houston offense is. They can move it. If you play with them too much, the game can get out of hand instantly. Originally it looked like it was heading towards the same road as last year, I can be honest with you. The leaders of this team that have been here for multiple years and have consistently lost to teams like that--Lawrence (Graham) and Patrick (Johnson), they fought and they came to me and said we need you. I got here last year and (McCleskey) just got here. We don't understand the severeness of the situation in the past. They get that through our heads real quickly that if we are going to be on this team, we have to contribute for the most part. I'm trying to do my best to play for this team in the time in which I got here and I know he's doing the same."
What does it say about the caliber of this team to not only come back from 21 down but to come back again after the game was tied?
"Grit and grind. There's no other way to say it in football. We are down on the 5 and the defense made an incredible stop. It just shows fight. The fans were in it the whole game. Like I said, this win is big for this city because it shows that we're improving and trying to make a difference. This isn't the same Tulane that people thought it was two years ago. I repeatedly said it in the locker room. This program was almost gone not too long ago. To think that we were looked at as the favorite against Houston, such a good team, that just shows you the strides we've made as a program under coach Fritz and the staff that we have."
What more can we expect from the offense down the road?
"This offense is coming along to be real strong. People may not know this, but No. 11 (Amare Jones), I think he had a broken nose. People don't know that. He had a broken nose a couple of series in the fourth quarter, and you would have never known by how hard he played. Coming from a sophomore, he's playing like a senior. He's easily one of the best players on the field. Our offense is going to move with him. I just love this team that we have. That stable of backs we have, I'll take them with the best in the country."
Was there any talk between the defense and the offense in the locker room at halftime about having each other's back?
"For sure. Like I said, Pat and Lawrence came up to me personally. They went out there way to tell me, we're going to hold our end of the bargain and you do the same. I told them to trust me. I'm going to make sure this gets rolling. The first half, a lot of it was my fault, my mistakes. I could have played better in the first half. I can't take that away, but I said moving on from that in the second half we just got to go as if it's 0-0. The game isn't over until it's over."
MCCLESKEY
Were you waiting to absorb the hit so you could down and set up the field goal?
"Justin put it on the money right in the middle of my chest and I knew I was going to get hit. Just hold on to the ball and then they missed the tackle and I had open field and it was just off to the races."
Can you talk about your first TD catch?
"The corner played low, so I knew I could just go right past him and Justin's throwing that ball to me in practice enough times, so I knew it had a chance to come to me, and I looked back and I just saw him cock back to start the throw and I was like, I just have to come up with the catch."
The catch you made straddling the sideline when it was third down deep in your territory kickstarted the tying drive. Can you talk about that play?
"I just saw Justin throw it. I knew the sideline was right there just to get a foot in, and I knew it was a big third down. We needed the momentum, and after that the whole line, they played their butts off the rest of the game."
What did you like best about this win?
"Man, I just liked how we went out there and fought. We had a deficit in the first half and we went to the locker room and were like, we just had to stop the penalties and stop killing ourselves. We knew we could drive the ball on offense and we trust our defense the whole way. We knew they were going to get stops, so it was just coming together as a team, keep fighting until that clock hit triple zeroes."
What was the hardest part for you getting adjusted to this offense?
"It wasn't necessarily the offense. Me and Justin just had to get clicking, keep working in practice, so it was just that. We knew it would click at some point. We weren't really stressing over it. We just had to keep working and that's what happened."
What more can we expect down the road?
"Just big plays by the offense, big plays by the defense. All the receivers and running backs played their butt off today. We couldn't have done it without the line. We couldn't have done it without the running backs. Darius (Bradwell) ran the ball hard. Amare (Jones), like he always does, ran the ball hard. Corey (Dauphine) ran the ball hard. It's just a whole team effort. We just come together on the sidelines during halftime and we just knew that we just had to keep fighting if we were going to win the game."
Is there any ribbing between you and your dad?
"No, I was mostly talking to the players. I never lost faith in our defense. I knew when the time came they were going to get the big stop and then it was just up to the offense to go out there and execute."
