Michigan State University Athletics
News From The Lockerroom
11/11/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
MSU HEAD COACH BOBBY WILLIAMS
"What a sweet win. I tell you what guys, I was really proud of the way this team came out and played this football game today. This was a game that our guys really made a commitment and dedicated to our seniors. This was a game that I felt we deserved to win. We have had a very frustrating year, and this win set the stage for our program to move forward. I am really proud of the way these guys came out and we are looking forward to next week."
(On Jeff Smoker) "I was really proud of the way Jeff played today. He made some outstanding plays. We put a lot of the game into his hands, and he really put us into some good situations and got us out of bad situations. He made some great throws, scrambled well, ran the option with control and ran some key draw plays. There's no question that he really performed well today."
(On the defense) "We really mixed the coverages up on them. We had Richard Brown playing half defensive end and half defensive back, and they really couldn't tell what we were doing with the scheme. Bill Miller and the defensive staff really came up with a great game plan today."
(On offense) "Well, we got some execution for a change and we scored some points. We have been moving the ball all year, we just haven't been able to put it in the endzone. We finally got the ball in today. We got some good production in the red zone."
(On team) "We have been in every game this year with the exception of the Northwestern game. Execution was the key for us today. I thought last week we came out and did some things well, but we turned the ball over. We got a great team effort today."
(On program) "There was a lot riding on this game. Purdue has a chance of going to the Rose Bowl and they have a Heisman Trophy candidate. But this was a program game for us. We had a lot of exposure and a lot of recruits here, and it shows that this program is moving forward."
Purdue Head Coach Joe Tiller
"First off I want to congratulate Michigan State, who outplayed us in every phase of the game. The credit goes to them for the great effort put forward."
"It's a big disappointment, like I say, when you play in the Big Ten, you have to come out and play every week. I am not proud of this effort. There was nothing exceptional about it. When we came on the field, the guys we're saying the right thing. They seemed emotionally ready to play, but what you say and do are two different things."
"We didn't help ourselves in this game. We came out of halftime planning on going into our two-minute offense, hoping to pick-up the tempo of the game. I felt that is how they were controlling the game. But every time we got something going, we managed to do something to stop ourselves. There were so many drops and ugly plays in this game, we just couldn't get a drive going."
(On defunct offensive passing attack) "You can't throw the football anymore than we do in this game and if you follow us, you know that once we get off your hand in dropped balls, we're in trouble. We definitely had more than five dropped balls."
(On Smoker's performance) "I think he did a good job running the option. They had a good scheme prepared for our defense and were very aware of the blitz. He would see the blitz coming and audible out of it. He did an very good job of pulling down the ball and taking off with it. A lot of times you don't account for the quarterback being that nimble.
I thought if we could get him on his back a few times in the first-half, we could keep him out of his game. But, he managed to elude the rush and step up. You can see him gaining confidence as the game went on."
MICHIGAN STATE WIDE RECEIVER MARCUS WATERS:
"This week in practice we emphasized that we had to make plays. We wanted to win for the seniors. We knew we had to put up points today. We put it all together today with a good game plan."
MICHIGAN STATE DEFENSIVE TACKLE JACE SAYLER:
"Today was just perfect timing, we came together as a team. The offense came together and the defense played strong. Now we just have to keep it up."
"We wanted to come at them a lot of different ways, we used the three-man rush, sometimes we brought everybody, used man-to-man coverage and sometimes we balked off and dropped into coverage and that is going to confuse anyone. We got the better of them today.
MICHIGAN STATE LINEBACKER JOSH THORNHILL:
"Today was unbelievable. All along we knew we were a better team than our record showed, we just needed to come together. Today, that is what you saw... Michigan State football come together."
"Right now everyone involved with the Spartan football program is on cloud nine. Everyone expected them to come in and roll over us and go on to the Rose Bowl. This team has potential."
MICHIGAN STATE TAIL BACK T.J. DUCKETT:
"We came out and played great today. The (offensive)line played great today and I just followed them, I give them a lot of credit. It was definitely a great win. "
On rebounding from last week:
"We were still hungry to get back in the bowl picture. We had some bad breaks here and there last week. Today we came out and didn't make mistakes and we capitalized on their mistakes."
MICHIGAN STATE CORNERBACK RENALDO HILL:
"We knew to win today it was going to take a team effort. We knew they were a passing team but we still wanted to come out and stop the run. We also wanted our corners to get in and pressure Brees. On the outside we wanted to stay disciplined but physical at the same time."
On his interception:
"It was definitely a big play, they were threatening to score. We had seen that formation before and we adjusted to it."
