From The Locker Room
9/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
Michigan State vs. Louisiana Tech
Spartan Stadium - East Lansing, Mich.
September 13, 2003
MSU Head Coach John L. Smith
"There's not a whole lot to say except that we have got to take a look at ourselves. I think that we'll work tomorrow and maybe even today. We'll examine some things, but we really have to take a look at ourselves as a football team, and that starts with us as a coaching staff. There's a lot of things that we may have to pare back a little bit. If we're making the kinds of mistakes that we've been making, then we've given our guys too much. Apparently we're not able to handle some things and I put the blame on us, as a staff.
"We all had a hand in giving the football game away. You have to give (Louisiana Tech) credit, though. They can score, so they have a chance to beat you - we knew that going in. So, we all had a hand in giving it away. So now, those guys that are left, those guys that are healthy, they have to get back up tomorrow and start practicing. We'll see if we can't improve."
On the defensive unit in the second half:
"Well, I think that (wearing down) was part of it. We got some pressure all the way along, but those kids can't stay on the field all day. Defensively, we were on the field all day. We didn't put together anything, offensively, in the second half at all."
On the final minutes of the game:
"I've been through enough of these. I've been shocked more than once. You never get used to them. It really hurts. It had better hurt us, as a football team. It should hurt every individual in that room. If it doesn't hurt...well then, we shouldn't be in that room. So, it's not the first time and it's definitely not the last time, for any of us. That's what I tried to tell our football team. This is only part of it, gentlemen. We've got to learn and we've got to come to work tomorrow with a more determined effort to do things right, every day on the practice field."
Louisiana Tech head coach Jack Bicknell III
"I don't know what to say, I really don't. I just checked about 15 times to see if we actually won. It's unbelievable. I am very, very proud of this football team, unbelievably proud. They had every opportunity to give up, but they never did. They just kept playing, no matter what happened. We had some very tough things happen. It just seemed like it wasn't going to be our day; we just had things called back. I am so proud of this football team for not giving up. This is an unbelievable win."
On frustrations early in the game:
"It was unbelievable. When we had that touchdown callback for holding, I was really like, oh my God, we finally make a play and it gets called back. It was just one of those games where I don't remember everything that went on because everything went on. We just couldn't do anything offensively. We moved it a little bit, but then it just seemed like we'd get down there and for some reason we wouldn't get points. They were very good defensively."
On Michigan State's defense:
"They were very, very good. We had problems protecting the quarterback and they had a lot to do with that. If you're going to take that fourth quarter, you had better gear it up on the offensive line because those guys are big and strong and physical. I thought, defensively, that was as good a team as we have faced in a long time."
Spartan Player Quotes
K Dave Rayner
On his second miss: "It was the whole operation that was bad. The snap was kind of outside and it was hard for him to get the ball down. I tried to rush it and it was just a bad operation all around so we'll have to get back to work on it this week in practice.
RB Jaren Hayes
"It is disappointing for that to happen. We have to regroup and come back tomorrow and get a good practice in."
On his rushing and receiving yards
"All that stuff that I did today doesn't matter to me because we didn't win. I'm a team player. All that stuff that I did doesn't matter to me. I want to win the game. We didn't get a win, so it is disappointing."
"We just have to learn how to put people away, we have to learn how to finish the game."
DT Matthias Askew
"It's hard. Coach always preaches no second chances and we have to cut out the mental mistakes and in this game we had a lot of mental mistakes on defense and offense. You can never win a game with as many penalties as we had today."
On the last two minutes of the game:
"I was shocked myself. They were in the red zone, and somebody had to make a play and unfortunately it was the wrong person that made the play."
LB Monquiz Wedlow
On Louisiana Tech's offense:
"Any offense that comes in and throws the ball like they do is going to make big plays. It is just how we react to the plays."
"The defense has to come out in the fourth quarter and not let anybody score. We haven't won a fourth quarter battle yet and until we start winning fourth quarter battles, that is what we are going to get."
