Michigan State University Athletics
Spartan Football Coach's Quotes
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 3, 1998
REPORT FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
MICHIGAN STATE
COACH: Nick Saban We came out with a little more enthusiasm in the second half; a little more focused. I was pleased with the way our offense played in the game; we squandered a few opportunities early, but I think that we had more continuity in what were doing today. We made a few big plays, mixed it up a little better on the pass, and early on defensively, we were a little disorted on with some of their formations, motions and shifts, which has been a bit of a problem for us, but once we got into the feel of the game, we settled down and played a lot better.
On Ryan Van Dyke: It was good to get Ryan back. He is obviously a little bit rusty. They blitz a lot, so it was kind of a hard way to learn what you are doing or to get your experience, but it was good that he got to play and got a feel of the game. Hopefully, he will continue to improve.
I think Central Michigan has got a very good team. Their players play hard and they are well coached. Shepard does a nice job with directing their offense and they give you a lot of problems on defense with all of their blitzes and movements, but you just have to be patient with them and hopefully make big plays against them.....we were able to do that today, so I was pleased with our overall performance.
On Bill Burke: Bill played well today. I think he is playing with more and more confidence all the time. I think we did a better job with the play action pass today which helped us and it kept them off balance a little bit, and I was very pleased with the way Bill played in the game. There were some other plays we didnt make that we could have made, but we just will continue to work on them.
I just think that we need to improve overall on defense. We are not effecting the quarterback enough in the game. We played with a little better coverage in the second half today. We tackled better, we played the run better in the second half, which we created a lot more situations to play the game on our terms, when in the first half, especially on their scoring drive, we were always a down behind. I think if you are going to play good defense, that is the way to do it.
I think our players were happy to win today. It builds confidence with us to be able to win.
