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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota/Michigan Football Quotes
10/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
POST-GAME QUOTES
Michigan 28 (5-0,2-0), Minnesota 14 (2-3, 0-2)
Sept. 30, 2006
Attendance: 50,805
Minnesota Head Coach Glen Mason
“I thought we played one of our better ballgames. We were playing a very experienced and good Michigan team. Obviously, we made some mistakes, but we made some adjustments and I’m really proud of how the team got better as the game went on.”
“The deficiencies that I saw are fixable, so that’s encouraging. The coaching staff will work hard this week to correct those and be ready for the next game. This is a great group of kids. I’m very proud of them.”
“We ran the ball hard. They were only giving up 18.5yards per game. If you had the luxury of seeing the film like I did, you would know why. They’re big, fast and well-coached. Their defense has a lot of guys that you will be seeing playing on Sundays.”
“I am pleased with how we ran the ball. We had to scratch and claw for every yard, but I was happy with our physical play.”
“That holding call changed the game. I’m just glad we have replay because it gave us two calls that would have gone against us.”
“Our third-down defense- it needs to get better. When you get them in that situation, you should be able to get off the field. But that’s something we can fix. We’ll go back this week at practice and work on correcting the mistakes that were made.”
“Our kids played their tails off. If that’s not good enough for you, I don’t care, because it’s good enough for me. But let me repeat myself because I know sometimes the media doesn’t listen. I’m disappointed that we didn’t win the game, but I’m happy with the way we competed. We don’t have the depth that they do, but we fought hard one every play.”
Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr
“It’s great to have the Little Brown Jug back. I give Minnesota a lot of credit. They were down 21-7 at the half and they really fought hard throughout the third quarter. We talked at the half about the kicking the ball off, getting the stop, getting good field position, which we did. We had good field position several times in the third quarter and even in the fourth quarter, but we only managed to get one touchdown out of it. I credit the really hard-playing Minnesota team. I think it speaks to the Little Brown Jug. A lot of people don’t have an understanding of that. I think you have two teams that the trophy means a lot to.”
“I thought our offense in the first half was outstanding. We punted the ball once and when we did Zoltan [Mesko] had a great punt to change field position. We ran the football and we got Minnesota to where they had to bring eight guys into the box. That really opened up some big plays in the passing game. I thought Chad [Henne] was really sharp. He made a lot of great throws. I thought the first half we really were in rhythm and got a lead, but I would have liked to have put the game away. But Minnesota didn’t allow us to do that. The fourth quarter our defense made a huge stop down there after Minnesota made a great play on the onside kick. There’s no such thing as a safe lead.”
“I think Adrian [Arrington] is a really motivated guy. I think he has had enough success now that he knows what he can do. He should just get better and better. He’s a big guy who can run. He’s tough, a good blocker and he’s got great hands. I like him a lot. He’s given this team a great lift in the last 4-5 games.”
“Today, we wanted to take control and get the crowd out of the game. We were able to do that, but it was still a four-quarter game because they fought their way back in there. We had to come up with a great stop.”
Minnesota Player Quotes
Minnesota Safety Dominic Jones
On the challenges of playing against Michigan:
“We have to give our best effort every game. We aren’t going to be the most talented , the most athletic, but anytime you go out and play hard, anything can happen. We feel we have to prove ourselves every game.”
On what the team can take from this game:
“We have to build and we have to believe. We have to take everything one day at a time and turn the negative into a positive. We have to accept coaching and keep building and go on tomorrow and be geared up assuming there’s a game against Penn State. We have to fire up and come ready next week. The good thing is that the season’s not over and we can come out next week and play this game again. That’s what we have to look forward to. We can’t hold our heads down.”
On Minnesota’s defensive effort:
“There were a lot of good things out there. We shut them out most of the second half, but we gave them two touchdowns in the first half that we shouldn’t have. There were a lot of good things and we have to keep building.”
On battling a talented Michigan team:
“As a defense, we have to want to be out on the field wanting to hit somebody and wanting to get the ball back. There were a couple of big plays that we should have had.”
Minnesota Quarterback Bryan Cupito
On missed opportunities on offense:
“We just missed some opportunities. In a game like that we have to take advantage of every opportunity to score. We hung in there but didn’t win.
“We had some penalties and made some miscommunication in the passing game. Stuff like that is frustrating because it shouldn’t happen. We definitely had chances to be in that game. We just didn’t do it.”
On battling throughout the game:
“We play them tough every year. If we play every game like we played against Michigan we should have a good season. We’re 2-3 right now, but if we play like that every week…We still have tough teams to play, but we know we can play with the good teams if we play like that every week.”
On being able to run the ball effectively:
“I didn’t have any doubts about our running game. They came in only giving up 19 yards a game, but that didn’t really get to me. We’re a great running team. If we weren’t down in the second half and have to throw the ball more, I think we would have run for more yards.”
On gaining some momentum late in the game:
“Down 28-7, it’s tough. After we scored we knew we had to get the onside kick. It never usually happens, but we got it. So it was 28-14 and we were at the goal line and there was still three minutes left. We just couldn’t finish.”
Minnesota Linebacker Mike Sherels
“I think this game was a learning experience. As young as our defense is, it is just important that we keep getting better every game. For the first half to the second half the adjustments we made, we are proud of, it is something we can hang our head on, it was a step in the right direction. It’s good that we are moving forward.”
On Michigan’s offense:
“They [Michigan] are a heck of a team. We are unhappy with our performance, what happened is that we at least improved, we got better. If we are going to take any positive out of this game, it’s the fact that our defense got better. It is just important that we get better every game. They have a lot of player-makers and a lot of athletes and that’s why they are number six in the nation right now.”
Rest of the season:
“We just have to keep practicing hard everyday. We have to get in there and watch film, try to fix the mistakes from this game and get better week by week.”
Positives of game:
“The second half was a big half for our defense. We only gave up seven points, it is a step in the right direction.”
Junior Tailback Amir Pinnix
"I think every game is a learning experience. Michigan is a great team, but we wanted to put the emphasis on playing hard and I think we did that today. We came out and we played extremely hard until the last second.
On the difference in the game:
"I think they just made a couple more plays. It was a tremendous difference. They made a play here and a play there. We had a couple miscues."
On if Minnesota is a better team now:
"I feel like we played extremely hard. We played a little harder than we did last week."
On not knowing when the Penn State game will be:
"All I can say is we'll find out tomorrow. If we play, we'll be ready to go."
Senior Wideout Logan Payne
"Michigan is a great team. They've had the same guys a lot of years and they have a lot of experience on that team. I'm not disappointed in the way we played. I've got to give a shout-out to the fans because I thought a lot of people started leaving but there were a lot that stayed. That really helped us a lot. It's not disappointing. I'm not trying to take anything away from Michigan, but we kind of shot ourselves in the foot on a couple plays. When you play Michigan, you can't make those mistakes."
On the passing game:
"I thought our passing game was pretty efficient. The coaches made some great play calls and we executed them fairly well. That's probably one of the best defenses we'll see all year. Rushing the ball, I think up until this game they were only allowing 18 yards per game, so I thought we came out with a great attitude and we got some yards on them. We moved the ball."
MIchigan Player Quotes
Michigan Running Back Mike Hart
On putting the game away:
“We know there was one thing that we wanted to work on and that’s closing games out. We knew that once we got a first down, the game was going to be over. When it opened up, I went and kept on going. I wanted to stay in bounds.”
On the ground game:
“We always want to pound the ball on the ground. There are some situations where we won’t be able to because there are too many people in the box. Early in the game, they did not have that many people in the box so that’s why we were able to run so easy. When they brought people down in the box, we were able to pass. I guess those things go hand-in-hand.”
“They are one of the best rushing teams in the country. Every year they have two 1,000-yard rushers. We knew they had a strong rushing team. We knew we would have to come here and control the block because their offense can move the ball. We have a great defense; they have a great offensive line and a great rushing and blocking scheme on offense.
Michigan linebacker David Harris
On the performance:
"The offense put up 28 points on their defense. It’s our job to keep them out of the end zone. They made a comeback toward the end of the game, but we had them at the end."
On Minnesota’s rushing game:
"We knew that they were one of the top rushing teams in the nation. We just had to do our thing. We made some corrections at halftime and eliminated their rushing yards."
On getting the jug:
"It was a great feeling to get it back. Last year they beat us in a good game, we knew we needed to get it back. We wanted it back, we didn’t plan on it was just a spur of the moment thing to go over as a team."
Michigan cornerback Leon Hall
On the second to last drive:
“Towards the end of the game, we started to make some mistakes, but eventually we buckled down and finished the game out. We can’t keep doing that, we need to get it right the first time.”
Comparing to last year when they had trouble finishing games:
“Regardless of what everyone is saying we have to get our offense the ball so they can run out the clock and finish the game. We’ll go back and look at the film; make those corrections and not let it happen again.”
On how defense played today:
“We felt pretty good, we got the win and you can always feel good about that. However, I am sure when we go back and look at film there is always stuff you can correct. We’ll also see some good performances. You just have to the good with the bad.”
Michigan wide receiver Adrian Arrington
How the team played on offense:
“We played well as a team all together. Everybody played well, both on offense and defense. We didn’t’ finish to well, but we will go back and work that.”
On how tough the Minnesota game would be:
“We knew it was going to be a tough game. You always have to expect that in the Big Ten play, especially when you are playing for the “Jug”. You know everyone on both sides is going to give it their best shot.”
On catching his first touchdown to put Michigan ahead:
“It felt great, but it really felt like a normal play. I didn’t think anything of it, it just felt natural like a practice play.”
On how much Michigan passed on offense:
“The defense we saw during the game, was the defense we had prepared for all week. So we just had to put the game plan to work, and things fell into place.”
