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University of Minnesota Athletics
South Dakota State Postgame Quotes
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
POSTGAME QUOTES
Minnesota (6-5, 3-4) 16, South Dakota State (7-3, 6-1) 13,
Nov. 14, 2009 - TCF Bank Stadium - Minneapolis, Minn.\
Temperature at kickoff: 44 degrees, cloudy, WNW wind 12 mph.
Attendance: 50,805 (sellout) - Kickoff: 11:02 a.m. (CT)
South Dakota State Head Coach John Stiegelmeier
Opening statement:
“I have mixed feelings. I’m always proud of our football team. I’m proud of how we compete. I’m proud of the young men in our program and the term student-athlete. On the other end, I’m tremendously disappointed for them. They had an opportunity to win a game in the Big Ten against a Big Ten opponent. There were a number of opportunities and we didn’t get it done. I think this one will hurt more than a lot. We need to bounce back because we have some things to play for.”
On South Dakota State’s misfortunes
“Finish. We said that day one, minute one against these guys we need to keep having positive yards. We got the ball back with two minutes and however many seconds. We had a first down and four incompletions. When you rise up and we finish in the first quarter, it’s a different football game. I told the team there are a number of players on our football team who can take responsibility for this. The snap that we fumbled down by the goal line or the guy who threw the interception or missed a kick, missed a block or missed a tackle. It’s never been the case and it will never be the case in our program. We lost to the Minnesota Gophers. We lost to their team. We needed to get the ball in the endzone early and we didn’t.”
On freshman quarterback Thomas O’Brien
“I don’t think he played near up to his potential. Until I watch the film I don’t know how much pressure he really had or if he made the right reads. I can subjectively say he had a feel for that. I think Thomas will play in a lot better, ideally next week. He had some unique pressure with being from Minnesota and being a freshman in a big stadium. All that stuff, but you have to rise up and he fell short. Did he lose the football game for us? No.”
On the team’s performance
“We played really well on special teams and defense. We gave ourselves a chance to win the football game. There was no pressure on our football team. There was a ton of pressure on the Minnesota Gophers.”
South Dakota State Players
SDSU Junior LB Derek Domino
On today's loss.
"It stings now, but we have to move on. We've still got one more game to play and there is still season left."
On a possible moral victory:
"We come into every game hoping to win and no, this hurts. We expect to win and there is no second place in a football game."
On if he is bothered with the media's perception of his team being good for "South Dakota":
"A little bit, but you can't let outside people affect how you feel about the program and your attitude, because listening to the media will get you in trouble."
Freshman QB Thomas O'Brien
On the emotions of playing in a Big Ten stadium:
"I would say that I have no more emotion than any other game, just because every game is important. I think a lot of the guys felt the same way. Coach [Stiegelmeier] asked me after the first drive how my emotions were, but it was no big deal."
Senior DE Danny Batten
On the defense today:
"It wasn't good enough [to win]. We lost. At the end of the game, that's all that matters. I thought we played well, but we didn't do enough to get the victory for us. At the end of the day, that's all that matters."
On whether this game made a statement:
"I would say we did, I guess. We didn't win; we played them close. We stepped up at times we needed to, so yeah, you could say that."
Junior RB Kyle Minett
On the position SDSU was in the fourth quarter:
"Our defense put us in position to win in the fourth quarter and that's what we wanted and what we were expecting. Offensively, we just didn't get it done. You can look at one play; you can look at drives; you can look at a lot of different things, but overall we just didn't execute."
