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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Montana State Quotes
9/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Tim Brewster
On the victory
"It was a hard victory. It was a hard-fought win by our team and I’m pleased for them that we won the football team. Obviously, though we have a ton of work to do. I’m disappointed that we didn’t improve as much from week two to three and we did from one to two."
On Montana State
"They were more prepared to play the football game, than we were today. That is disappointing. I give Montana State credit. We don’t give style points for wins, so we are excited to be 3-0."
On next week's matchup against Florida Atlantic
"The good news is that we got a win. We have a lot of great tape for us to study and grow from. We are to coach them really hard this week. We are going to have to play a lot better against a talented Florida Atlantic football team next week."
On three interceptions on defense
"We got three takeaways and we didn’t turn the ball over. That will take you a long way."
On the play of Willie VanDeSteeg
"He was inspired and really got after it on defense. He was an inspiration or the guys on defense."
Golden Gopher Players
Minnesota WR Eric Decker
“Being a leader on the offense, everyone has that mindset. Adam does too. He wants to be a leader on offense. He is a playmaker and I am trying to help him out. I do the things I can to make this team successful.”
On the difference from last year
“I think overall we are more athletic. We are making plays and the defense is stepping up. As for the offense, we have some drives where we are stopping ourselves and we need to fix that. I was happy with the win but not satisfied with the play like Coach Brewster said and we have a lot of things to clean up.”
About consistency in football
“That is the game of football. If you have the most consistent team on the field, you will win 100 percent of the time.”
About the first quarter and how the game changed
“We were fine. We weren’t worried about it. We started clicking in the second quarter. I thought we ran the ball well. We had a couple big explosive plays. Stuff picks up and when we make a big play, everybody gets excited and it just rolls from there.”
Minnesota QB Adam Weber
“We will still celebrate the same because wins all count and they aren’t promised. We are going to enjoy this one being 3-0.”
On the 6-0 deficit
“Just to relax. We just had to play our style of football, we will be fine. We will be able to move the ball. The first or second drive, it was bad passing by me. I wasn’t throwing the ball correctly so you can’t get too worked up. A lot of people try to make things out of nothing but the thing is we knew we would be okay as long as we stay relaxed and let the game come to us.”
On turning to Decker
“For sure. We are looking for anybody to step up but he is a person that has proven it time and time again. He is the guy that can make the big catches or the big plays. When things were going a little slow for us, you look for your playmakers to step up. Obviously, he was able to make some big plays. He got the drives moving. He is one of the guys that brings that consistency to the offense.”
On playing Florida Atlantic
“I am very excited to play them. We went down there last year. It was a hot box there. We thought we were pretty prepared but we are a different team. I think we will come out of this game a little bit more fiery and know that we let our fans down a bit today because we didn’t play solid football. We know we owe Florida Atlantic a good game because we didn’t give it to them last year.”
Minnesota CB Traye Simmons
Adjusting to MSU’s offense
“I think we came out a little bit flat. I wouldn’t say adjusting to them because they came out running what we practiced but for the most part we just came out flat.”
On the 3-0 record
“It feels good. Being 3-0 feels better than 1-11. We just have to get better. Florida Atlantic is going to be a lot faster. Faster than we have played all year. So, we have to get better in that aspect of the game.”
On forcing turnovers
“For the most part we strive to get turnovers. Coach always tells us that we need to give the ball to the offense in their territory and we can score. Our goal is to get a turnover, whether it’s a pick or fumble, try to get the offense is great field position so we can help them out.”
Minnesota DE Willie VanDeSteeg
On the defense playing together
“A lot of things fell my way, I had a good game, but it was a full defensive effort and I give the credit to all the guys. Good coverage helps you get pressure on the quarterback.”
On how takeaway Tuesdays have helped the team
“It seems like of silly, but it really helps us out because of all the turnovers we got today.”
On being 3-0
“It feels great as a senior and makes you feel bad for the guys who went out last year. Being a senior, 3-0 feels great.”
On Brewster’s intent to improve from Week 2 to Week 3
“I think we made a lot of improvements, but I think we also made a few mistakes that hurt us, but that’s part of football. We’ll work on fixing our mistakes and getting after it next week.”
On being down 6-0 at the end of the first quarter
“We just had to pick it up and start playing football again. The defense was already clicking and we knew the offense was going to pick it up, so we just had to go out there and play.”
Minnesota RB DeLeon Eskridge
On his performance
“It felt good to play today. The coaches said that if I studied my playbook and knew my stuff, that I’d get a chance to play today. I was just really happy I got a chance to play.”
On whether he expected to share carries today
“Coach said that we both would get some series and whomever was looking better might get a chance to play more.”
On feeling comfortable
“At the beginning I felt comfortable because I’ve been studying the playbook hard so that I can feel comfortable out there. I was comfortable by the first play.”
On his opportunity to parlay his performance today into the primary RB role
“I basically came here to get a chance. That’s what all the freshmen came here for to get a chance to play. When you get that chance, you’ve got to make the best of it. I wouldn’t say [I’m the main back] because we’ve got a good group of running backs and everyone is still learning.”
On what sold him on the Minnesota football program
“It just seemed like home. I like the city; I like the coaching staff. The coaches, players, the campus - everything. It just seemed like home.”
On establishing the running game
“Coach said that if we establish the running game, it would open up the rest of our offense. Coach said that our goal should be to get 5-6 yards on first down.
Montana State Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Rob Ash
Was this a moral victory?
“I don’t believe in moral victories. Our guys wanted to win the football game. We knew it’d be a tall order, and it would be tough, but we hung in there, and I think our guys are disappointed that we didn’t win the game.”
Can you talk about the battle for starting quarterback?
“I don’t think it got any easier to make a decision. I have to watch the tape and see. We have a couple weeks to practice and sort things out, but this will be an important tape to evaluate.”
How impressed were you with (QB) Mark Iddins on that touchdown drive (in the fourth quarter)?
“That was a great drive. You know, that’s one thing we thought we could get with these quarterbacks was some mobility out of the pocket, and Mark showed that. And that’s really the first time I’ve been able to see it. When you practice with quarterbacks wearing the red jersey in practice all year, you don’t really know what you’ll get until you get into a game, and that was a big drive. I thought C.J. Palmer ran hard that drive, as well, and a lot of guys came of age.”
How impressed were you with the fact that the defense didn’t give up a score until about five minutes remaining in the first half?
“The defense played very well. They showed their quickness today, and they were very solid, and very sound. Minnesota’s Eric Decker is a tremendous football player, and he made a few plays, but other than that, I thought our defense played tremendously well, and we’re going to be fine. We just need to stop giving other teams a short field, and that really hurt us again this week. We would love to be able to play the game again without giving them the short field (by turning the ball over in Minnesota territory).”
Talk about the coaching decision to kind of run out the clock late in the first half
“Well, we wanted to run our two-minute offense, but we didn’t want to give them the ball back. If we had been closer to midfield, we would have been a lot more aggressive, but we got to midfield right as the time was about to run out.”
What are your thoughts looking forward?
“I’m impressed with what we learned today. I think our team got better today. We punted the ball better, made a lot of progress, and I think our confidence is back. So, moving forward, I think we need to build on this, and eliminate the turnovers.”
Bobcat Players
Bobby Daly - MSU senior linebacker
On the special teams trick play
“I was very excited to run the trick play. The play was on and I wasn’t about to run, so I threw the ball.”
On Montana State’s performance
“This performance gives us a little bit of hope. We felt that we could’ve won the whole time, but a couple of things didn’t go our way. Today was a lot better than last week’s slaughter. Today’s performance gives our team a good energy going into the rest of the season.”
On his performance
“I definitely played better than I did last week. However, I still have a lot of improvement to make for the rest of the season.”
On Montana State’s defense
“We know that we have a good defense and we know we can play with these guys. We have a long season ahead of us and hopefully we can continue the good defensive play for the remainder of the season.”
Jeff Price MSU junior linebacker
On the mentality of the Montana States players
“Everybody knows what they are doing, so not one person has to fire the team up. We all know where we are supposed to be mentally as far as the game is concerned.”
On the performance of Montana State’s defense
“I thought, overall, that the defense played well. We really didn’t give up to many big plays and we made sure we kept our heads in the game. For example, when we were down we still made the plays we needed to. We try to limit how many big plays we give up and we forced a lot of three and outs. It seemed like we were going to stop their drives every time, but it always seemed like Minnesota would bounce back and make the big play. To fix this, we need to do one on-one-coverage, and make sure that everyone plays their assignments.”
Demetrius Crawford - MSU senior running back
On kickoff return for touchdown:
“I had some great blocking on that play. We have been studying Minnesota’s wedge and we went right at. I was excited after the play to celebrate with my team in the end zone, because they did a great job of opening room for me to run.”
On being out after he returned the touchdown
“I do my job whenever the coaches need. I can go back and return kicks whenever the coaching staff needs me in that role."
On if he every felt they were out of the game
“We never felt like we were out of this game. Even when we were down two scores we felt like were in it. We just knew we needed to hurry up and get some scores to get back in the game.”
