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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Postgame Quotes
11/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota vs. Michigan State - Oct. 31, 2009
Minnesota Postgame Quotes
Minnesota Head Coach Tim Brewster
On Saturday's victory
"A great victory, and we did it without our best player in Eric Decker, who I feel is the best receiver in college football. We did it for Eric Decker, and gave him the game ball after the game. We were really committed to doing something special tonight; very emotional and very resilient effort by the Golden Gophers."
On Adam Weber's performance
"He was absolutely outstanding. Did a great job all night, made great decisions. We had a lot of guys step up all night - Da'Jon McKnight, Nick Tow-Arnett... A lot of great efforts."
On the crowd at TCF Bank Stadium
"The crowd was absolutely outstanding. They were fired up. The Gopher Victory Walk was really something. Our football team was jacked up to play this game. I was really pleased with the fans, they were really great... They gave us a home field advantage."
On the play of the Gopher defense
"The defense really stepped up and played well, especially during that goal line stand - that was outstanding defense right there. To be first and goal at the one-yard line and hold them three times is really outstanding."
On the play of Garrett Brown
"These guys were so inspired, to go out and play well and dedicate this game to Eric Decker. Eric has meant so much to this program. There was a lot of emotion in that locker room before the game. To go out on the first play and score a touchdown was the way we wanted to start the game."
On the amount of penalties
"I was obviously disappointed some of the penalties and some of the calls during the game. Obviously I'm going to reserve judgment, but it was disconcerting to say the least."
On the Gophers' offensive line play
"I thought that our offensive line did a really good job of protecting those guys. We had some good runs, the running game had a couple of flashes. But obviously the protection in the passing game allowed us to throw for over 400 yards."
Duane Bennett
On the first play...
Just a great call by the coach. From film study we saw something we could expose and we were really gunning to take advantage on the first play and that's what happened.
On the touchdown off the Nick Tow-Arnett deflection...
My initial thought was to obviously get open on your route, be an option for (Adam) Weber. Then I saw him throw the ball to Nick and my initial thought was Nick has a great set of hands, so I knew he was going to catch it, so my thought was to try to make a block, and once I saw the hit the ball just fell in my lap. And it was just try to seize the opportunity.
Lee Campbell
On the game...
It was definitely one for the books. Offense played lights out the whole game. I got to give this one to the offense. Defense when we had to I think we played really well. We've got to work on not giving up the big play. We have to stop the big play and that will be the emphasis for next week, but hats off the offense.
On Adam Weber's play...
I think it shows a lot of character. He's been getting a lot of heat these last two weeks. Most people would go and hide in a corner and not attack every day, and Weber he's in there. He spends extra time and I'm really happy he played well today because he wants it more than anybody and to come back from that kind of adversity, it means a lot.
Adam Weber
On the first play...
Right off the bat, we knew we had something. A tendency off the play-action fake, they tend to lose the running back. The outside receiver, the safety will run with him and so will the corner, and we knew we had potential. We were just hoping that they were lined up in that same defense and sure enough, first play walking up to the line they're in the defense we want them to be. And that's how you want to start a game off, especially one as critical as this one. It was a great feeling to execute that play.
On the protection of the offensive line...
It's an amazing thing back there, our offensive line did an amazing job. We were anticipating them blitzing a little more, but they were doing a little bit more line stunts. Out front five did an amazing job, and anytime as a quarterback you can go back there and go through three receivers and back down to a check down, you're going to move the ball and execute. It was just an unbelievable performance by our front five.
