Chuck Amato Quotations

We are going to make a change at quarterback. We're going to hand the ball to Marcus Stone. There's something missing (with the offense), and it's a shame that it's always pointed towards the quarterback. We're just going to take a look at this. We discussed it this morning with Jay and Marcus.

Nobody expects it to take real long, but it takes a while to build a program anywhere. In addition, we expanded this league. The good news is we're getting better. The bad news is, so is everybody else in this league. We've lost an awful lot of close games, but we're very, very close.

One play did something to turn it around. We're all over that thing, and we miss an opportunity to make a play. They go down and score, and it just steamrolled.

My grandparents on my mother's side owned a farm, and I grew up on the farm. If it wasn't for an opportunity to get an athletic scholarship ... to pay for my education, to this very day, I would be a farmer up in Pennsylvania with my cousins.

No doubt. Those corners played their fannies off against the best wide receiver in the country.

One of the biggest things is the fact that he doesn't have Philip's name hanging over him. That's not an easy name to hang over you, with everybody comparing him to the best football player to ever play here.

I was feeling that we were going to win this the hard way.

If they're focused on me, they're focused on the wrong dude.

I felt comfortable that they could go out there and do really good things themselves because they're all playmakers, and I think they deserve that. It had nothing to do with injuries at that point. I just wanted to get them in there.

He has really stepped his preparation up and how he's going about it. He's better now than when the season ended last year.

We talked about we'll play the game and chat after that. I know nothing.

When he walks into a room, you say that's what (a defensive end) looks like.

We've got to win, period. Home or away. But we do have to win a game here for everybody involved. Could you imagine this place if that game (last week at Georgia Tech) was played here, won here, how crazy the fans and everything would have been on that last play.

His stats, throwing-wise, may not be super, super good, but he doesn't make many mistakes. Since that first game, he has made very few mistakes and that is why we have been on this roll.

He's been a great contributor to this program. He's already helped start a tradition on the defensive line. ... We can recruit other players, but there'll never be another Mario Williams. When we're out recruiting defensive ends, that is what they should look like.

I think it adds excitement to all of us. All of us are dreamers. None of us have lost a game yet.

I was just totally disappointed with the way we played defensively.

I was just possessed to do it, I couldn't wait. We actually took that 5-yard penalty intentionally.

Jay's been so good. He really has. But he didn't have his best game. I felt we had to make a change.

I saw it about a month ago, I laughed. You know me, you know I like to have fun, I like to enjoy life. If you're going to laugh at other people, you have to be able to laugh at yourself.

Penalties set up a touchdown for them and took away scoring opportunities from us. We had some foolish penalties and some guys got one who hadn't had one in two years.

Penalties, penalties, penalties. But you know what, nobody on that team ever gave up. Nobody on that team ever quit. Nobody thought we wouldn't hold them and go into overtime or do something big in the end zone.

Stay at State and run the basketball program into the ground, Herb.

I tell it like it is. Nobody can make that decision except the man himself. He's the one that's got to make it, and don't look back. Don't you dare look back.

I was more concerned about my players than me. All they did was just go out there and give everything they had.

We have stressed penalties and turnovers more than anybody in the country could. Silly penalties now, silly penalties that really cost us big.

We had four shots to win it and he's the guy who got us down there. He's just so much better this year than last year because he's got those 11 games under his belt and now he's got four more under his belt.

We have a hard time waking up everybody.

We've been getting them up early. We've been practicing early. It don't know if that has any consequence. Whether that makes a difference, I don't know.

We fought hard and that was Jay's best game yet. He really commanded our team. Our running game looks good, but we need to dominate more up front on defense.

Those are such nagging things that help keep drives going. There's no excuse for that.

The opening kickoff set the tone. Oliver Hoyte goes down and makes the hit of the season. Maybe one of the biggest hits that's been at that stadium in a long, long time. We go in and score, and that really did set the tone.

We've hit a little bump, and we're going full speed ahead.

With Dunlap, we're taking it real slow. It's only been eight-and-a-half months since Dunlap had his operation, so we want him healthy.

We are dropping too many passes. If that continues, then that'll answer your questions about what we are going to do with all those running backs. We'll put the wishbone in.

We've been playing great defense the last six games. The front has been playing great and the kids just played their butts off today.

We got a great quarterback that we're really pleased to have. That youngster's going to be something else.

What they did five of the last six games has to rank as one of the best things this football program has ever done. You know, historically, we might look back and this could be one of the greatest wins. Because it could be a stepping stone for something big.

We're very fortunate because we're starting fall break tonight. Could you think about missing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday classes two weeks in a row? But, you know they do it in basketball and do it in other sports.

We are very excited about this year's class. It really solidified our depth on both sides of the ball at the skill positions while filling needs at other positions. This is one of the more athletic classes we have put together.

Consider the source. Losing is frustrating if you've never put a jock strap on in your life. But for people that compete and know how to win and know what this game is all about, it's not hard. It can be if you don't have character, if you don't have a winning attitude. But if you're a winner, let's live to fight another battle.

There's some way all of them can contribute one way or another.

There's something a little bit missing ... and we're just going to take a look at this.

They are another good football team that the record may not show it. Boston College, overtime. Miami, overtime. They beat a good football team in Texas A&M. They beat a good Maryland football team, as we are seeing.

I've talked to our trainers and managers. If we can't get (the running backs) in the game, we'll let them run the water out during timeouts. That way I can tell their parents they got on the field.

I've never seen so many long runs on kickoffs. Darrell Blackman is an awfully good athlete.

Coach Bowden certainly realized that speed made it happen. That's what we've been trying to do here.

As a parent and as a coach, you always hate to see an athlete leave any place before they get an education, before they get their diploma. That being said, I am 100 percent supportive of this young man's decision, in anything he does.

That one play did something to turn it all around. We missed the opportunity to make a play, and they just went down the field and steamrolled.

You're always concerned about that. As I've told our players, half of our young men haven't played in a bowl game either, and of the half who haven't, there are an awful lot of them who are playing and starting. It is a big, big day in the history of South Florida to play in their first bowl. Hopefully, we can make it a day that they won't want to remember.

The youngsters that come in here are 15 days behind, and everything is all Greek to them. Everything is clear as mud to them. But someday it's going to open up like a rose petal for all of them.

This might be one of the biggest wins, when its all said and done, that this university could have had. It could be the steppingstone for a lot of things.

There's a lot of stuff that's correctable. We're doing everything we're capable of to eliminate mistakes. It's time these kids are accountable.

It's about time we got one, and we almost didn't for the same reasons -- penalties.

It's going to be hard. Because all I know is that one time, two true freshmen are in there and one guy made a mistake on the first play, and then on the second play the other guy dropped a pass. They're true freshman. They've just got to get in there and play.

It's nice to be important, but you know what, it's more important to be nice. ... If you live with that, you'll have friends all over the world and you'll be a friend of everybody.

It's not an easy decision because they're (tugging you) from every direction. He has been a great contributor to this program.

The blueprint, from the way they went about putting in a football program, has been outstanding. I think it's a model of how people should go from nothing to where they're at.

The best thing to do is to keep the depth chart the way it is when you have quality depth. (But) you have to somehow get the best 11 on the field.

The belief of these young men in never giving up ... we talked about character and walking around knowing you can win. This might be one of the biggest wins, when it is all said and done, this university could have had.

It's what they eat the night before (that's important).

They did it properly. They didn't rush it. Just look how smart they were in going from one division to another, to get where they're at and being part of the Big East.

That might be Jay's best game he's ever played here.

I'm really not worried about it. We're going to start the game and see how it's going.

I'm a very blessed person to be here.

I don't know if we were in as good game condition as we have been in the past.

I did 730 of them. And I did them the right way.

I don't think there's any question it looks like they're left-handed, and rightly so. If you have those kinds of people on the field, you might as well take advantage of them.

I don't pay any attention to that. They only thing you pay attention to is when you win or lose. But it's nice.

He ran by us like we were standing still. That scares me.

You know, Sterling is a young man that really has stepped up. He got dinged a week ago, but we expect Sterling to help us quite a bit. He's having a good camp.

The Heisman Trophy was originally made out for the best football player in America, but I think it's been redefined recently because of the fact it's now the best player on one of the five, six or seven best teams.