Post-Game Quotes: Florida Atlantic
9/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2010
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Michigan State Head Coach Mark Dantonio
Opening statement...
"We're excited to go 2-0. Obviously, there are some things that we need to correct in this football game but as you move through it and you look at the game itself, I thought that first of all, Edwin Baker, running the football the way he did, outstanding job. I think he had about 180 yards. I think our offensive line had a lot to do with that as well. He ran with power through tackles.
"Great job by our special teams when you look at how we won the field position battle. Conroy, three for three. Three big kicks, to come out and do that really in his first opportunity to kick three of them and be perfect on that. Big kicks, all over 40, one 50 yarder. Great job by him. Also, Keshawn Martin with his returns, set ups and different things. That's a big positive and then Kevin Muma kicking off, he had great coverage down the field so those three factors I think lead to, I don't know if I want to say dominance on special teams, but I think today was a very big special teams day.
"When you look at us defensively, you got to put them away. You have to be able to put them away. And they made plays when they had to a little bit. We always had to look at things and say - is that a critical error? Is that a physical error? Is that a mental error or is that a structural error? Every single thing that happens out there and that's what we do. So we'll evaluate that. We played pretty well but two series we have to get off the field. Two different series. We did a good job down there with a jail break screen and we stopped them on the 1-yard line and they ended up kicking a field goal, but we did a good job keeping them out of the end zone so that was a positive. Offensively, I thought we played pretty well. You can't turn the ball over there at the end. You can't turn the ball over on the one yard line. Other than those two, which are critical errors, I thought we played pretty well offensively. We have to come up with more third down plays though. As I said before, we work to get better, we're chasing perfection. Notre Dame comes to us but we're getting ready for that game. That will be exciting, it's a night game. The atmosphere, it's going to be exciting."
On how concerned he is on the tackling of the defense...
"I'm always concerned about the tackling. I thought we tackled very well last week. We did not tackle as well this week on the perimeter. I saw some missed tackles. I saw some big hits and they ran through those. So we need to continue to try and work it. I think you get better as a tackling team as you move through your season. It's tough to go live during the season in practice because you can't risk injury. We work through different drills and we try to alleviate that problem. Trenton Robinson is a good football player. He's a good tackler. We have to respond. The game was played out in space. We have to get everybody running to the ball."
On if he thought his team was there emotionally today...
"Yeah, I did. Coming into the football game I did feel like we were there emotionally. Sometimes, you get a big lead and you have to get over the top. It was 27-7 at one point and we have to go to 35. We have to learn how to reach. They just kept hanging around. I go back to what I said early in the week - Florida Atlantic has a good football team. They are well coached. They do things that complement their concepts. They always had a little wrinkle and they're very patient with what they were doing. They didn't turn the ball over expect for one time. Anytime you don't turn the ball over and you're patient with what you're doing, and the quarterback, got out of what I thought would be sacks, probably three or four times. Once you get out of those, bad things are going to happen so we have to secure the tackle back there."
On how he felt on the whole Detroit experience...
"I liked it. It was a great chance to come down to an away game and play in your home state, that's a positive. We are about an hour and a half from home playing an away game so that's a positive. I appreciate all the people that came. Don't worry about the ones that don't come, I appreciate the ones that do come. That's the way it will always be. I want to thank them for coming. I thought it was a good environment. Field goes fast. There's no doubt about that. The field plays very fast. It's a different environment. It's heated up there in a little bit. You have the chance to dehydrate. But our guys played through that."
On the atmosphere next week against Notre Dame...
"You play Notre Dame, that's a unique situation every year for Michigan State fans, and our football team and our players. So that experience is coming up. It's one of the reasons you come to Michigan State, to play in games like that. That's why you come. That's what makes it special. There's history there. There's a lot of tradition that dates back and we're a part of that and that's a positive for us. A night game at Spartan Stadium especially, you guys all know that...We have not played our best football yet, we flirted with it at times, but we have not played our best football yet."
On the running game...
"I think our offensive line is playing well and I think we have good running backs. I said that on the outset, going into the season. Those guys are a year older now. They're more experienced. They have more confidence. They understand the nuances of the running game. They understand what type of blocking they're getting exactly versus what front, those types of things. They run better. I thought it was a positive that we had no offside penalties on offense and defense. No misalignments as far as formation. We stopped some unforced penalties and that's a positive. I thought our offensive line did a great job. They have done it for the last two weeks. The challenge is going to be next week. Our running backs run hard and they run with power and they run with balance."
On how good his team can be...
"That remains to be seen. We have to play our way to the situation. I don't think that anything is going to be given to us. We're excited and we have to play better. I think our guys have worked hard, they're excited to play and we're going to have a lot of emotion this week. We'll be ready to play so that should be exciting."
FAU Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger
Opening statement...
"I want to congratulate the Michigan State University Spartans for playing an outstanding game and for not running the score up. I think my football team has improved since we came up here before. The weather was much better and the surface was better. Obviously the defense was just as strong and forced us to make a lot of errors, but I was happy with the offense."
On kicking a field goal with 2:53 left in the game rather than going for it on fourth-and-goal...
"I didn't know if my defense would slow anybody down. I wanted to make sure that we got our second quarterback working in a good situation. I didn't think that was the thing to do (go for it on fourth down)."
On MSU throwing anything different at FAU...
"They are pretty schooled on what they do. They have a lot of things they can do and don't have to do it every game."
On the size of the crowd...
"There wasn't a whole lot we could do about it. I want everyone to know I was very pleased with the way the Michigan State staff, the marketing department and their whole organization on how they tried to help with this. I was pleased with how many people showed up."
Junior quarterback Kirk Cousins
On the interception thrown in the end zone...
" I think I came off my primary a little too quickly and I didn't allow him a chance to get open. By doing that I allowed the safety to recover, he made a great play and you have to give him credit for it. I got hit on the play so I wasn't able to see exactly what happened. It was a big mistake on my part especially when you are on the 1-yard line, when you leave points like that it really hurts."
On troubles with the passing game...
"Well, we only ran 48 plays today and that is about half of what we normally run. So you're not going to have the passing game that you could and in the last 10 minutes of the game we were just trying to run the ball. In a lot of games last year, in the last 10 minutes, we were throwing the ball. We were also running the ball so well early in the game and there was no reason to chuck it. I think that's the biggest thing is the situations we have been in offensively haven't dictated throwing the ball a lot. We haven't thrown the ball as well as we liked and we are still winning games but we have some things to work on and I think that it will just tighten the focus this week in practice."
On problems on third down conversions...
"Well, 1-for-7, that's not going to get it done next weekend against Notre Dame. There were a variety of things that went on, with one third down being extremely long, and we completed the pass to get out of our own end zone. So when we came off the field there we were happy with what we did. Sometimes stats can be misleading, but 1-for-7 is 1-for-7, and that is not going to get it done. I think a lot of them are making the right reads, we didn't turn the ball over and besides that one third down, passing the ball, we didn't throw any passes that were close to getting picked. I am pleased with that but at the same time we have plenty to work on."
On improving throughout the season...
"We can be so much better than we were today, much better offensively and defensively. And we are going to have to be next weekend against Notre Dame if we want to win that game."
Sophomore kicker Dan Conroy
On earning a scholarship...
"It feels good; it's actually my dad's birthday today, so he is a happy man with today's performance, I'm sure, and then also earning a scholarship."
On kicking indoors...
"We tough it out at Spartan Stadium and really it prepares us for conditions like this. Just kicking outside makes you better inside."
On the 50 yard field goal...
"That was my longest attempt and actually (special teams coach Mike Tressel) was getting the punt warning ready. I said coach come on you have to let me kick this, I mean it's a 50, but come on. He then gave me the green light and I went out there and did my thing."
Senior linebacker Eric Gordon
Thoughts on today's game...
"Defensively, I thought we played really well but there is definitely room for improvement. I feel we stopped the rush well and tackled well but one thing is that we need to be able to get off the field. I also think we are going to have to play a little better in space and we have to get off the field on third downs, we had plenty of opportunities. We had a few third and longs and we gave up big plays. Next week we can't give up them plays."
Sophomore running back Edwin Baker
On the 80-yard run...
"I saw daylight and I went. I put the jets on and was able to score."
On the running back rotation and missing sophomore running back Larry Caper...
"Larry is my right-hand man and when he comes back it will be that dynamic duo and we will be able to get it done."
On playing in his hometown with his family in attendance...
"Playing in front of your hometown, it doesn't get any more special than that. There is nothing more important than family. My family keeps me up and going through tough times it always benefits me."
