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University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Interim Head Coach Jeff Horton
Opening Statement...
"It's obviously been a long, long time, way back in September, since we had a win and it's a great victory for the University of Minnesota. I don't know if I gave our kids much of a chance to win games. Our coaches and staff prepared well and our players played their tails off. There were a lot of times the game could have gone either way. We hung in there and made some plays and it was awesome to see this tribute to them and their character."
On whether he expected a Gatorade shower...
"No, no I didn't. All the coaches should have got that. I'm the guy out front but with all the uncertainty we've had this year, it's great to see the payoff for everybody. I think this shows the kids the biggest thing is to hang in there and to fight and you'll have some success and we need some success. It's been a long time for a lot of things and it's good to have a victory. It's special for these kids because they put so much into it and finally got rewarded for it."
On how the win affects the remainder of the season...
"I think this shows them they can compete. Illinois is a great football team that has beaten great football teams and is athletic. We feel very fortunate to come away with a victory."
On bouncing back...
"I just think there comes a point in time where you say enough is enough. We talked about that last night and tomorrow can be our day - enough is enough. Enough heartache, enough setbacks."
On the mood during halftime...
"Halftime was almost as though it was the end of the game. We had to settle them down because we hadn't had the lead during halftime in a long time. To be up by 10 was a good situation. It gave us more juice."
On the final timeout...
"I wanted to make sure we had 11 guys out there and that we settled down. I felt that if we were short, we had one time out left and we were going to call it. And we were going for the win. We weren't going to go kick the field goal to tie it. We were going to win or lose it right there on that end zone spot."
On the mood in the locker room after the game...
"It felt like we won a national championship and it should be like that. It may be a second win, but those kids deserve it and hung in there. I don't know if people realize how tough the situation is. It's a tough situation and everyday is a battle."
Minnesota Players
QB Adam Weber
On the team's comfort in the red zone...
"At this point in the season, there's really no reason to feel nervous or on edge or anything. Especially when you're in a two-minute drive. The biggest thing you have to do is stay calm, stay collected and try to score points. You couldn't have ended the game any better, especially going for our first Big Ten win and a much-needed win."
On Troy Stoudermire's 92 yard kick return...
"That was huge. Those are the little things. It's a whole entire team game. The defense came up and played awesome this game, then having a big kick return and getting it down to the four yard line, then the offense being able to stick it in. That's what shows a great team. We kept on fighting and never gave up, and we were able to capitalize on those big plays. That's why we won this game."
Did the offense dwell on the fact that your first three drives resulted in punts?
"You can't. That's the hardest thing, is trying to separate each week, but you have to. If you sit there and dwell, if you go in there thinking 'We're a 1-9 team,' you're not going to compete, you're not going to give your best out there. We go into this week, we go into every single week, putting the past behind us and still having confidence that we're a great team. It's just a matter of us putting it together and this week we started to do that, and out there on the field today, we showed it. It was a full complete win for this team."
MLB Gary Tinsley
On comparing this defensive performance to previous games this season...
"This is a 10. We did real well. The defense swarmed to the ball every day in practice and we've been fresh all week, so we were ready to come out and play."
On the potential of the team...
"We have a real talented team. Some people don't know that because of our record, but we are really talented. You saw today when we came together, that's what we do."
RB Deleon Eskridge
On struggling during the drive but being able to score touchdowns...
"It seemed like the whole team changed. They were just real motivated, like 'Let's get it in.' I guess we were fed up as a team. I think they (the offensive line) were blocking well and when we got close, we knew we had to finish. That's kind of been our thing, that we haven't been closing out and finishing. We just said 'forget it' today."
On when the attitude of the team changed ...
"I think when it really changed was at halftime, or even during the game when we were playing. You could just see that we believed. I think that was a big thing, that we believed we could win and we actually did it."
