Oct. 23, 2008

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Auburn Head Coach Tommy Tuberville

(On West Virginia coming back from a 17-3 deficit):
'We didn't have an answer for their quarterback (Pat White). We knew we were going to have problems. I thought we would have tackled a little bit better than that. Their team speed when we got to them, it seemed like we couldn't wrap them up. They have a good football team. We knew that. That is the best team that we have played on both sides. They attacked us on the line of scrimmage on offense, and we just didn't give Kodi (Burns) enough time in several situations when we had receivers open. We looked better in the first half. The difference was we had it 21 minutes in the first half and they had it nine, and we had a lead there, but we were just holding on. The key the second half is we just didn't do anything with the ball the first few times we had it and put our defense in a bind then it got away from us."

(On West Virginia's sustained drives):
"They did a good job mixing it up throwing the quick passes on the outside. Pat White is as good as you will see now. The kid can play. It is hard to put a guy on Pat White and then put one on Noel Devine and then try to one on one tackle them. It puts you in a bind. I am proud of our guys with the effort that they gave.

"In the second half, it looked like we got stunned a little bit on the first two drives on offense and we just never recovered."

(On Kodi Burns' play):
"I thought Kodi did a lot better. The key for Kodi in what he is going to do for Auburn the next few years is he is going to give you that extra run down the field and that extra guy. We haven't had that. This was the first game. I think he had (82) yards with the ball in his hand. We didn't give him a lot of time when he was in the pocket. He made a couple of pretty good throws and had one dropped there at the end. We played with a lot of passion the first half and Kodi was a part of that because he was making plays in there. Then, we kind of hit that lull. This is the eighth game in a row that we led at halftime. We just came out the second half and when you are playing on the road like this, you can't give them the momentum. Once they got it, we couldn't get it back."

(On Auburn's injuries):
"Injuries are mounting up. We lost Neiko Thorpe the first half and we were basically down to two corners and Jerraud (Powers) was about three-quarters speed. That put us in a bind because we had to play him off. We couldn't play man coverage on that side. They were running the options right at him in the first half, and we were trying to take the option from the linebacker position. Normally, you take the pitch from the secondary and they had us and they knew it. They saw Jerraud over there and they picked on him the first half. Then when Neiko went down, we weren't able to move him in and out to give him a little help and have a guy nickel him. Of course, one touchdown they ran a crossing route and Neiko Thorpe would have been nickel, but we had to play a safety in which you don't like to do on nickel and they just outran (Zac) Etheridge and of course got the easy touchdown."

Auburn QB Kodi Burns

(On getting off to a good start):
"It looked real good in the first half. We came out with fire in our eyes and intense and we did some really good things in the first half and obviously we fell short in the second half and we lost so we really have to get a lot better finishing ball games.'

(What do you think has happened in the second half):
"We are just not executing. We had many plays and many opportunities to come away with field goals or touchdowns and we didn't do either of it. We scored 17 points in the first half and we didn't put up any points in the second half. Obviously, we have to get a lot better finishing the second half."

(On your performance in managing a whole game for the first time this year):
'I felt a lot more comfortable than I have had. I started to get the groove of things and I felt pretty good out there, but obviously I didn't do well enough because we fell short in the second half. I have to make a few more throws and we have to make a few more plays on offense and come away with these wins."