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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Postgame Quotes
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
California 35, Minnesota 21
Minnesota Postgame Quotes
Minnesota Head Coach Tim Brewster
Opening Statement...
I'm really disappointed for our kids because they fought their guts out. We weathered the storm early in the game and I know I say this a lot but I'm extremely proud of our football team and the way they competed and fought today against a very good opponent. We didn't make the plays near the end we needed when we had the chance to win the game and in that I'm very disappointed.
On late opportunities...
We had chances and what we have to do is make sure we take advantage of every opportunity we get. They put the ball on the ground a little bit and we have to take advantage of turnovers and go score. Like I said the opportunities were there and we have to take advantage of them.
On more players seeing the field...
We've got some depth and it's quality depth with good football players. Again I'm just so proud of our defense and the way they fought and scrapped against a talented Cal offensive football team, my hat's off to them. But again we cannot turn the ball over. We had a great opportunity to move the ball and we had a fumble. We cannot turn the ball over and when they do, we have to capitalize on it.
On halftime adjustments...
Our guys really do a nice job at halftime. Our team believes that in the second half we are going to play better than them. I thought we wore them down in the second half but then we have to be able to finish. When the plays are there to be made at the end of a tough game like this against a really quality opponent we've got to make the plays. That long fade they made on third down is a killer. We've just got to convert in those situations.
On Eric Decker's health...
He's going to be fine. I think he has a little sprain on his ankle. I think Eric is going to be fine, he's as tough a kid as there is. Obviously again today he showed up really big and I think he's going to be fine.
Minnesota WR Eric Decker
On big plays:
"There were certain plays and moments when we could've toke over the game. If we could've stopped them on that third and long we could've played some offense. Obviously, things didn't go our way, but you have to take the positives out of the game. Cal is a great team and they are ranked for a reason. We have some confidence going into Big Ten. We have the skill and the mindset to do well.
On Jahvid Best:
"He is a great athlete. He is a Heisman candidate. He had five touchdowns. He definitely stepped his game up and played well. I thought when he scored a touchdown it was my turn to answer back.
On Minnesota's comeback in the first half:
"We've never been down 14 points right away, and we weren't ready to give up. We needed a spark and we got some more consistent drives together, a couple big plays and then finally we punched it in and got into the end zone. That is one thing in the last two games that we kind of struggled with was finishing in the red zone. I think that is one reason we finished well."
Minnesota LB Lee Campbell
On Jahvid Best:
"He's fast. He's probably the fastest running back I've ever played against. And we just had to try and keep him corralled. You saw what happened when he gets to the outside. So, sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't."
On play against Cal's offense:
"It was good to play a team of Cal's caliber and their offense and see how our defense matched up. We still let them have over 400 yards overall on offense. That's something that we need to correct. I think we personally as a defense hold ourselves to a higher standard. Thirty five points is too much. It's good to see that we were hanging in there. We were just 21-21 but we're going to definitely make some corrections and be that defense that can pull out a win for us."
On getting ready for Big Ten:
"We hung in there. We had chances to win the football game. We had several chances. We have to learn how to transition. We had a long third down. We should have capitalized and gotten the ball back for our offense. So we're definitely going to study film and get ready for the Big Ten season."
Minnesota QB Adam Weber
On Eric Decker's play:
"Under the circumstances, with the shot he took. I think he's got a couple of stitches in his face right now. Not knowing what the injury was at the time, thinking it was probably really serious, he hung on to the ball. Very, very impressive. I was happy that I just didn't kill him on that play. I was happy that he came down with the ball but more so that he got back up and was able to keep on playing."
On passing more than running:
"I think looking at the numbers today we wanted to run the ball and be effective at it but obviously Cal's got a very very strong defense, especially stopping the running and they proved that today. We were able to make plays when we had to throwing the ball and sometimes even big running plays. But yeah later on in the season, as far as the season goes, especially when we get into the Big Ten, we're going to have to run the ball. We're going to have to establish the run."
On gaining confidence by playing Cal:
Obviously our first two games we didn't feel at least offensively that we played up to our standards and today we showed spirts of it against one of the best teams in the country. This team can be good when we play well. Making mistakes, especially in crucial situations, you can't not be able to beat teams of the Cal caliber. We had an opportunity and you know going into that fourth quarter we had momentum. I felt like we had it. I thought we had something special. That's something we'll learn from. We'll come out of it and make positives out of it."
