Post-Game Quotes: Northwestern
11/28/2020 11:51:00 PM | Football
Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker:
First, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. And another big thank you to our medical staff, and all of our operations staff that have continued to work tirelessly to give our student-athletes an opportunity to continue to practice and to play. My hat continues to go off to them. Football is so important to our players and to be able to continue to play, practice and get better and play, it's just phenomenal for us to be able to do this.
Today was a great win for our guys, very proud of them. A great day for our coaches, our staff, and our support staff. And also a great win for our State fans and all the Sparty dogs out there.
Like I said earlier this week, culture doesn't change overnight. It just doesn't. But wins like today show what type of football that we're capable of playing when we're more focused, when we're process driven, when we play complimentary football, and when we take care of the football. Offense, defense, special teams working together. It was an awesome team effort. And we still have a lot of work to do, a lot of work ahead of us, you know it's a 24 hour rule with us here, because we need to keep this momentum going, this upward trajectory of our football team, our program, we need to continue to move forward continue to work to get better, to hammer in our process, cement our culture, and to continue to develop that mentality of mental and physical toughness that it takes to perform consistently week in and week out in this league.
And so that's where our focus is going to be moving forward. But for today, and for these next 24 hours, really, really happy for our players and happy for our State fans and for our Spartan dogs, you have 550,000 living alumni out there that are pulling for us and deserve to see this brand of football, we're getting closer to the brand of football that we need to play here. It's up to the standard that we set. We were able to control the line of scrimmage today, run the ball, stop the run; we were really able to show the mental toughness that it takes to win and beat good teams. And so, again, I'm proud of his football team proud and proud of this entire organization.
On the ground game…
In some of our previous games, we felt like we were very close in the run game. And from an offensive line standpoint, tight ends blocking, and hitting the hole and just understanding where the power of the play is, and where runs need to hit. We have some plays that we were able to show our guys, that hey, when we do it right, we're efficient in the run game. And we were able to build on those.
We were prepared to go into Maryland we were excited because we felt like we were getting better, especially in our run game. And then we weren't able to play, you know, we continued to go right back to work. And our practices in our team run periods when we had the pads on they started to sound, the practices started to sound like they're supposed to sound, in terms of the pads, the physicality, you can close your eyes and actually hear a physical football team on both sides of the ball. And so when you start to get that feel, you start to get physicality, is something that the players are looking forward to it, and taking pride in our team run periods and things like that, that's when you can start to see improvement. And we knew that if we would execute, play with good technique and fundamentals, play with mental and physical toughness, we knew that we would be able to control the line of scrimmage and make yards today on the ground.
On the atmosphere on the sidelines…
Well, you know, our guys are all pulling for each other. We have to create our own energy on the sideline. The defense is energized when they see the offense run the ball, and not just running, but finishing runs, you know, with authority, and falling forward, yards after contact, and see the surge, that's energizing to your football team, because that's what we talk about, each and every day. We know that that's the brand of football that we need to be able to play in order to be beat good teams. I mean, in order to be relevant, we got to be able to do those things.
So we took it from the practice field to the game, and the players, they're encouraged by that and get excited about that. And then, obviously, conversely, when the offense, when they look up and they see the defense out there setting up an edge and building the wall, and striking and knocking guys back, you know, and 'party on the football,' 11 to the ball type deal, then they're encouraged by that, as well, because that's complimentary football, and that's what we talk about.
It's just sticking with the process, being process driven, believe in what you're doing, blocking out the noise, staying focused, and taking it and getting it done in practice. And then it's not different in the game. Again, two plus two is four; you do it at practice, okay, you get in the game, do the same thing and do it over and over and over and over again. And so what we need is consistency in performance. That's our goal, that's what we need. So, we got a 24 hour rule, and you know, it may be even less than that, we got to get on this tape, and we got to get on these corrections, and we got to build on some things that we got to get ready for the next one.
First, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. And another big thank you to our medical staff, and all of our operations staff that have continued to work tirelessly to give our student-athletes an opportunity to continue to practice and to play. My hat continues to go off to them. Football is so important to our players and to be able to continue to play, practice and get better and play, it's just phenomenal for us to be able to do this.
Today was a great win for our guys, very proud of them. A great day for our coaches, our staff, and our support staff. And also a great win for our State fans and all the Sparty dogs out there.
Like I said earlier this week, culture doesn't change overnight. It just doesn't. But wins like today show what type of football that we're capable of playing when we're more focused, when we're process driven, when we play complimentary football, and when we take care of the football. Offense, defense, special teams working together. It was an awesome team effort. And we still have a lot of work to do, a lot of work ahead of us, you know it's a 24 hour rule with us here, because we need to keep this momentum going, this upward trajectory of our football team, our program, we need to continue to move forward continue to work to get better, to hammer in our process, cement our culture, and to continue to develop that mentality of mental and physical toughness that it takes to perform consistently week in and week out in this league.
And so that's where our focus is going to be moving forward. But for today, and for these next 24 hours, really, really happy for our players and happy for our State fans and for our Spartan dogs, you have 550,000 living alumni out there that are pulling for us and deserve to see this brand of football, we're getting closer to the brand of football that we need to play here. It's up to the standard that we set. We were able to control the line of scrimmage today, run the ball, stop the run; we were really able to show the mental toughness that it takes to win and beat good teams. And so, again, I'm proud of his football team proud and proud of this entire organization.
On the ground game…
In some of our previous games, we felt like we were very close in the run game. And from an offensive line standpoint, tight ends blocking, and hitting the hole and just understanding where the power of the play is, and where runs need to hit. We have some plays that we were able to show our guys, that hey, when we do it right, we're efficient in the run game. And we were able to build on those.
We were prepared to go into Maryland we were excited because we felt like we were getting better, especially in our run game. And then we weren't able to play, you know, we continued to go right back to work. And our practices in our team run periods when we had the pads on they started to sound, the practices started to sound like they're supposed to sound, in terms of the pads, the physicality, you can close your eyes and actually hear a physical football team on both sides of the ball. And so when you start to get that feel, you start to get physicality, is something that the players are looking forward to it, and taking pride in our team run periods and things like that, that's when you can start to see improvement. And we knew that if we would execute, play with good technique and fundamentals, play with mental and physical toughness, we knew that we would be able to control the line of scrimmage and make yards today on the ground.
On the atmosphere on the sidelines…
Well, you know, our guys are all pulling for each other. We have to create our own energy on the sideline. The defense is energized when they see the offense run the ball, and not just running, but finishing runs, you know, with authority, and falling forward, yards after contact, and see the surge, that's energizing to your football team, because that's what we talk about, each and every day. We know that that's the brand of football that we need to be able to play in order to be beat good teams. I mean, in order to be relevant, we got to be able to do those things.
So we took it from the practice field to the game, and the players, they're encouraged by that and get excited about that. And then, obviously, conversely, when the offense, when they look up and they see the defense out there setting up an edge and building the wall, and striking and knocking guys back, you know, and 'party on the football,' 11 to the ball type deal, then they're encouraged by that, as well, because that's complimentary football, and that's what we talk about.
It's just sticking with the process, being process driven, believe in what you're doing, blocking out the noise, staying focused, and taking it and getting it done in practice. And then it's not different in the game. Again, two plus two is four; you do it at practice, okay, you get in the game, do the same thing and do it over and over and over and over again. And so what we need is consistency in performance. That's our goal, that's what we need. So, we got a 24 hour rule, and you know, it may be even less than that, we got to get on this tape, and we got to get on these corrections, and we got to build on some things that we got to get ready for the next one.
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