Oct. 2, 2004

Recap |  Final Stats

MEMPHIS, TENN. - Post Game Quotes

UM Coach Tommy West
"I am really proud of this football team. We had two ways we could go. We lost a tough game a week ago and I watched some other teams to see how they handled it. I challenged this football team this week and I thought they responded unbelievably. We had a choice to come off a loss and hang our heads and come out here and look like we had a hangover. Today we did not do that. We came out from the start and played really good football and we looked like us for the first time this year."

"We gave DeAngelo Williams some chances and when you give him enough at bats (carries) he will hit some home runs (break runs and score TD's) and he did. Houston blitzed us a lot today and he broke a lot of good tackles and the line really did a nice job to pick up all the blitzing and give him a chance to run."

"Defensively we wanted to get some confidence back in our players. We wanted to challenge our guys to play hard and tough and not be tentative."

"I really thought the defense would respond in the right way and I thought offensively we did that. I thought Danny Wimprine played well and the intercept was not his fault. We ran the wrong route and that is uncharacteristic for us."

UH Coach Art Briles
"We definitely had a hard time maintaing momentum and when you go against pretty good competition like we have this year it is hard to be productive play after play and alot of that is my fault. It was sporadic play calling on my part and we did not have our team totally prepared. It is a deal where I did not do a good job but I thought our players played hard. We do not have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves because we have a big game in five days."

"We knew he was a great back coming in and was a great back last year. He is the premeir back in the conference and is a smart and intelligent runner that understands down and distance and everything that goes on with being a great runner. Memphis is doing a good job getting Williams the ball while they have him. He is definitely the catalyst on offense."

Game Notes:
* With his 33 yards in the first quarter tailback DeAngelo Williams broke the U of M all-time rushing record held by Dave Casinelli from 1960-63. Casinelli ended his career with 2,636 yards. With his 262 yards today, Williams now totals 2,866 career yards. Williams also became the first running back to rush for over 200 yards since Larry Porter carried for 206 yards against Arkansas State in 1990. Williams' previous career high was the 195 yards he racked up against Tulane in 2003.

* DeAngelo Williams rushed 24 yards with just over eight minutes left in the game for his seventh touchdown of the season, and his 26th career score (22 rushing, 4 receiving). Williams has rushed for a touchdown in each of the five games this season. Williams scored again in the second quarter off a 39-yard run, and in the third quarter off a three yard run to give him 28 career scores. This was also the sixth career game of multiple rushing TDs for Williams. Today's four rushing TD performance today tied the record that Dante Brown recorded in 2001 against Houston.

* DeAngelo Williams' 262 yards today is the highest total for rushing in a game in Tiger history. Paul Gowen held the previous record of 260 yards against Tulsa in 1969. Williams also tied the mark for points in a game with 24.

* DeAngelo Williams' 262 yards today is the most ever against a University of Houston team. Former LSU standout and current New England Patriot Kevin Faulk held the previous record against Houston, with a 246 yards in 1996.

* Senior receiver Chris Kelley recorded his first score of the season off a 27 yard pass from Danny Wimprine in the first quarter. Kelley now has three career touchdown receptions.

* DeAngelo Williams turned in a 262-yard performance today marking his 18th career 100-yard performance. Williams snapped a streak of 13 straight 100-yard games last weekend when UAB held him to 92 yards rushing.

* QB Danny Wimprine was picked off by Willie Gaston in the third quarter, and Gaston took the ball 75 yards for a touchdown. It was the first time Memphis had yielded an interception for a score since J.R. Reed of USF picked off a pass for a score in 2003.

* Kicker Stephen Gostkowski booted his 38th career field goal with his 47-yard make in the third quarter. He picked up his 39th career make off a 30-yarder in the fourth quarter. Gostkowski is currently 4-of-4 from 40-49 yards. For his career, Gostkowski has hit 39 of his 56 attempts.

* Kicker Stephen Gostkowski was 5-of-5 on PATs today. He now has 72 consecutive PATs and ranks third nationally. His 97 PATs made for his career ranks him third in the Tigers' record books.

* Tim Goodwell recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter marking his third career fumble recovery this season, and four for his career.

* Freshman defensive back Jake Kasser and junior defensive end Tyus Jackson each recorded their first career sacks in consecutive plays in Houston's final possession.