Joe Tiller Game Quotations

We had more positives than any game this season. We're very, very close, but the huge negative is the 'L'.

I think that maybe if those guys get more playing time, they'll improve and the energy level will pick up and we can become a better team as a result of doing that. That was according to plan. We weren't going to wait until late second quarter to substitute or later in the game to substitute; we wanted to substitute early and often.

It's very difficult to win a game when you have five turnovers.

I complimented our guys because we didn't have a single player cramp up on the field. They're taking care of themselves in terms of preparing for a game like this. I think it's equally important for us (at Arizona).

We obviously didn't play our A game today and yet we had a chance to win at the end. That tells me we've got some football players and we'll be fine.

I think we're concerned about ourselves. Not that you're not concerned with your opponent, but when you play your first game of the year, I think that you focus on yourself.

Another huge step for our program is that we will have a rebuilt practice field that matches our game field. This will allow us the opportunity to prepare as a team under the most ideal conditions.

What I'm most concerned about is not necessarily his leadership or emotional state as he approaches the game. If he does that, he'll manage the game just fine.

What I'm more concerned about is not his leadership or his emotional approach of the game, but more about how well he manages his emotions on the field. If he does that, he'll manage the game well.

Also, we wanted to change some things in our offense so that we would present some new and different-looking problems for our opponents. The game is a chess game. You're always trying to stay one move ahead of your opponent.

I think the thing that disappointed me a little bit is that I don't think the energy level was as high as it normally is. That might be because we've been getting ready for this first game for six weeks. But things like that happen in the first game.

We think the game is a chess game you're playing all the time,

We felt like coming into the game that if he has a lot of time to sit back there, he can be pretty accurate. If he doesn't have a lot of time, he can be not so accurate.

When you watch nearly every college football game on TV and you're sitting on the sidelines, as a team and as a staff, you get anxious to get out there and play.

He did a great job of managing the game and executing the offense. We're always looking for perfection, but he played awfully well once again.

I don't know about his place-kicking. He's strong-legged, but I don't know about his accuracy. But it wouldn't shock me at all to see him kicking off in the first game of the year.

We have utilized the quarterback as a runner, but not as an option guy. We haven't been convinced we can put all the time into the option and the spread passing game and be equally effective at both. We feel we can do that now.