Boston College Player Quotes: Quick Lane Bowl

Patrick Towles, Jon Hillman, Truman Gutaphel, and Kevin Kavalec share their post-game thoughts following the conclusion of the Quick Lane Bowl.

GRADUATE QB PATRICK TOWLES

On touchdown reception via trick play: "I think we've practiced it since Week 3. Then we ran it once against Clemson and once against NC State. It actually worked out; we get so much more prep in three weeks that we got to really prepare and we started to do a lot of no-huddle stuff. Through Coach (Scott) Loeffler we were able to see that we got the right look for that play. I'm just glad that I caught it and didn't get ran down."

On the difference between being 6-7 and 7-6 with a bowl victory: "It's huge. It's my first bowl game and my first bowl win – our, as a team, first bowl victory (at Boston College) in nine years. This is something you can really build upon. Going to bowl games are great; I will never take that for granted, but winning a bowl game is a different level. Getting that victory today will only propel these guys forward in the offseason."

On his favorite memory while in Detroit for the Quick Lane Bowl: "I would say the first night we were here we did that fowling thing. When I first heard about it, I was a little skeptical – throwing footballs at pins, how fun can that be? "Len is my roommate. When he long-snapped (the ball and hit the final pin), it was like Manchester United vs. (Manchester) City and a goal in the 96^th minute. It was unbelievable seeing the reaction from our team. That's the stuff you remember; the wins and losses are great, the tropy is wonderful, but you remember you teammates and you remember the relationships you built. I know that I'll have four best friends for the rest of my life.

On his impressions of Ford Field and playing in Detroit: "I love it. Hopefully I can be back here sometime soon (laughter). But it was great. The Lions did a wonderful job; Quick Lane did a wonderful job. We really felt like superstars here. There was the hotel, the events; everthing was A-1. Not hiavnig anything to compare it to, I don't know how genuine my description can be, but this was a wonderful place. My family got to come – since I live so close - and I spent Christmas with my family. Detroit was wonderful to us and we'll remember that forever."

REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE RB JON HILLMAN:

On getting tough yards in the running game: "That's the style of play I like to play. That was the emphasis during bowl preparation; attacking the line faster, make quicker decisions, lower my shoulder, drive and do that type of stuff. That's definitely a style that I'm going to use going into this next season, the offseason, the spring. I know that's a style that works.

On using bowl prep as an opportunity to advance the offense in preparation for next season: "It was huge. We made an adjustment. A lot of offensive gurus may look at that and think, 'that's kind of disastrous,' but we made it work. I feel like it's going to be a big thing for us going forward with the athletes we have coming back. We have a young team this year; a lot of guys coming back with big game experience – not just game experience, big game experience. They're going to come with more confidence. It should be great. It's only going to benefit our offense."

SENIOR DL TRUMAN GUTAPFEL

On a bowl game victory: "For the seniors it's been nine years since BC won a bowl game, so we wanted to change the culture. We got to two (bowls): the Shreveport (2013 AdvoCare V100 Bowl), the Pinstripe (Bowl) in New York. But we wanted to win one. I think our preparation – we prepared really hard – Coach Addazio had a great schedule for us and it worked well for our team."

On the defensive line: "Coach Pasqualoni is an incredible coach. He's taken us from one level to another. We played with a lot of confidence; you know Harold (Landry) on the edge is unbelievable. We take a lot of pride on the inside trying to stop the run. I think we did our job pretty well."

On preparing: "One of their better o-lineman wasn't playing – 76 – so coming out we knew he wasn't playing so we just played the same way we play every team: hard. As hard as we can."

On stopping inside the five twice: "I'm going to remember that goal-line stand forever. It was unbelievable. We just looked each other in the eye and we knew we had it. It's what we've been preparing for all winter. Working hard."

On that entire sequence: "It was chaos. We had them stopped, we had a sack and then we had a facemask that gave them an automatic first down. It was tough; it's automatic first down. It was third down – they were getting pushed out of field goal range, so 15 yards and an automatic first down was killer. But we've prepared for that. We've been in tough situations this year on the goal line. Wake Forest we had a fourth down stop with a fumble and recovery so we've been there before. We were prepared. We just did what we do."

On if he was thinking six on that fumble return: "My heart was racing. I should have hurdled the guy (laughter), but I can't jump very high so he got me."

BOSTON COLLEGE DE KEVIN KAVALEC

On getting the fumble and touchdown in front of so many family and friends from his hometown: "It was amazing. My family has been so supportive the last four years. They come to a lot of games and I think I had close to 100 people wearing those #93 shirts. So I tried to leave it all on the field today. It was incredible all the support I had. As my Aunt Marv would say, it was very spiritual."

On what he saw when he saw T Noa Merritt blow up that play: "I mean he's got unbelievable get off – we've known it since he came in. He can really get off the ball. His first three yards he's faster than anyone. So they were pulling today and he was able to get in there and make some big plays for us. It was awesome to see him finally get paid for all of his hard work."

On if he saw the ball: "Yeah, I saw it down in there. I had to get it, you know. Some people want it, some people gotta have it and I had to have it."

On the game coming down to the defensive line firming up at the end: "They never stopped playing. They competed to the very end. It's a good team. At the end of the day, we all go to the defense as the tip of the spear and we want the games on our back. It was great to go out there and end it with four quick plays."