Post-Game Quotes: Rutgers

Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker

Opening Statement:
I'm really proud of our football team. They really came out today and I felt like they played really, really hard on the road. It was from start to finish. It wasn't always perfect, but the effort was there. Guys continued to just work hard and just persevered to keep working to make plays.

I felt like we played better defensively in the second half. It was all three phases. We made some plays whether it was punts or covering kicks and things like that, defensively making some big making stops offensively, being explosive, having balanced and being able to run the ball, throw it. We had a lot of guys involved and we played a lot of players. We have the 24-hour rule and we have to get ready for the next one.

The team is hungry. We know we still have a lot to prove. We know that and we haven't played our best football. We are going to continue to work at it, but I believe that this group, in particular, they want to get better. They want to play better. They want to be more consistent. We want to have less penalties, do better on third down and things like that. That's special because that way we are not pulling teeth with these guys during the week to get to prepare for games. It's not like they're looking at us like 'why are you working so hard coach?, or 'Why are you tightening the screws here?' or 'Why are you why are you nitpicking about this detail?'. They understand what works. We've also experienced what doesn't work. For everyone to be consciously competent and understand what it takes to have success and be willing to do that day-in and day-out gives us the best chance to have success on game day. That's what we have with this group. Obviously, we have playmakers. When you got some good players, difference makers, that's what it's all about. The more good players you have, the better football team you are going to have as long as guys buy into the team concept and they play with technique and fundamentals where you can go better makes plays. I think that's what you saw.

On the ability to quickly strike back …
We know we can make plays. We know we can score. We know we can move the ball. That's not the issue. It's all about the execution and taking what's there and being able to make the plays that are there and execute the play that's called. We know we can make plays, we know we can drive the ball and we know that we can be explosive and get chunks - one player score on one play - we know we can do that. We've done that throughout the season.

On the defense having to focus on multiple offensive threats …
It's very tough defensively to game plan for an offense or to play against an offense that can run the ball and throw it. That was really tough because it's like pick your poison. If you load up on the run and then you wind up outside, if you're trying to place safety coverage, then you might be a little softer against the run. Then when you're trying to blitz and stuff on first, second down to stop the run, you can run away from it or run into it, increase it. As a defensive coordinator, it is like where do you go from there? That's why it's important for us to just take care of the football as we are going, and every series on the kick. Those extra points, field goals or punts and just keep chopping. We can just keep hammering and keep running our offense and everyone does their job then eventually we are going to be able to move the ball. We are going to be able to score points. We play complementary football. Even if we have to punt, our defense can go out three and out and get the ball back. Then we start hammering again. That's complementary football.

Jalen Nailor's plays in the passing game and developing with Payton Thorne …

They have confidence in each other. The thing I like about this group is they are unselfish. One week you may be talking about Jayden Reed and the next week you are talking about (Speedy). You can't tell on a sideline or during a week or in a locker room, that guys are not 'why am I not getting the ball?' or 'I was open.' We don't have that. There are going to be opportunities for everyone out there and we have to execute. Obviously, they have confidence in each other. The plays are out there. We just have to make them on a consistent basis. We're getting closer, I think, in a lot of areas to be able to do some things.

On the flea-flicker …
It's a play. It's like running inside zone or outside zone or running counter. It's another play. If they don't cover it then it's going to be open. We have other explosive plays. It's execution. We were able to take advantage of some things that we see on tape or throughout the game. If it's there, it's there.

On Marqui Lowery …
We were able to get him going because he had been a little banged up. Obviously, you see his ability to cover and things like that. He's got the balance and body control. He's a willing tackler. Again that's another player we have that we can play and have confidence and that can help us, help our defense, help our football team. He's been working really hard to get back and he had a good week of practice.

On Cal Haladay return in the second half…
We had a number of three and outs there and he plays hard. He knows the defense. He knows where he's supposed to be. He can play fast and he's a tackler. It's always good when the productive players, they're able to go out there and play. It does matter who's out there. Any position, any team - offensively, defensively or special teams - it does matter who you're playing with. Fortunately, we were able to play multiple guys. We have more depth than we had last year. We have more guys that can go in there and be productive for us helps. It's a long season. Things happen and we're still able to get the job done.

On Kenneth Walker's 94-yard touchdown …
We were playing on our end of the field, quite a bit, and Bryce (Baringer) was doing a good job when we had the punt to get it out of there. You'd be surprised how many plays we've had this season, even today before that or last week, where we were saying 'if we just get one block' or 'if we just hit it this way". Touchdown. There's no one surprised with that type of play. Everyone's happy and pumped up about it but no one's surprised. He hasn't done 94 yards, but he's had big plays. It doesn't matter where it is, he can go. We've got other players that can go. It comes down to execution. Block, run, make some guys miss, get what you can get. Then be able to finish, which is, which is conditioning, and it's the weight room and how you practice. In practice, we will give him the ball and he'll run all day. Blow the whistle and he'll just keep going. The reason why is because when you get into a game, you've got to be ready to go. You don't want to get run down. You want to be able to score. That's the way they practice and the way they train so they can be able to get into the game. It was just good execution and an outstanding run by him. I'm sure he'll give all the credit to the offensive line even if he made two or three guys miss. It's just a good football play.

Balance of the team and putting together a complete game…
Football is not a game of perfect. We just want to reach our full potential and we know that we haven't done that yet. We leave plays on the field – offense, defense and special teams. There are plays to be made that we don't make or maybe with a self-inflicted wound or penalty. I don't believe in self-imposed limitations. We don't how good we can be because the team has a collection of individual players. It's about how good can each player get. We have to leverage everyone's talents so that we can know have a strong team and get stronger. I know that we have not played up to our full potential yet. Our players understand that. We told them in the very beginning, it's never going to stop. It's going to be relentless. We're going to keep chopping. We're always going to look to get better. You're never going to arrive. If you feel like you've arrived, and you're as good as you can get, then why keep playing? You might as well stop playing. You're never there. As long as we understand that then we can continue to work to get better.

On refocusing the team after the win …
"We've been doing it all year. They come in on Monday and we put up the goal sheets and we talk about what we did well, what we didn't do well and what we need to improve. Then we go to work on it. That's been every single week after every single practice. That's the way we go about our business. I don't know any other way to do it. If you're not always working to get better, and try to improve individually or as a team, then you're fooling yourself. This is a very competitive league and every week, you've got to be at your best. The teams that are usually the better teams are the teams that have good talent and good coaching, but there are teams that get better. They get better throughout the year. We know that our best football is ahead of us. What's most important is what we do next. All of our opponents are going be tough.

Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano

Would Noah [Vedral] have gone back in the game if it was a closer score at the end or was he injured?
Right now we're figuring it out. He was injured. With time it felt better. We asked him to throw. I didn't see any of this. I was coaching. And we looked at it and Sean just didn't feel like he was sharp enough to put back in the game, so...We'll see how that is tomorrow.

Any update on Aron [Cruickshank]?
He has a shoulder. I'm not sure how bad it is yet. We'll know that tomorrow. But it was bad enough that he couldn't play anymore.

I know it wasn't just the offense that was the problem today. You struggled to score in the red zone, two top playmakers out. What level of concern do you have with that unit overall right now?
I look at this game, we gave up big plays. We gave up four big plays. We haven't done that. We haven't given up big plays. You give up big plays, it's going to be hard to do anything, right? You're behind the eight ball.

I thought we did some things offensively that I was happy with. We are missing some guys, but that's the way college football goes, right? You have to play with who you have.

Uncharacteristically we had seven penalties today. I think we had four holding calls. That's something we've been really good at, we've worked really hard at. It's hard to understand why, right? You go five games... It's not like we didn't play elite competition. Sometimes the elite competition will raise your penalties.
But that hurt us today. If you think about some of those drives, then you get grabbed like that. But it's tough. We have a group of guys that are really working hard and didn't get discouraged. They knew they were a little shorthanded today and they went and fought.

I thought we had an opportunity to win. We had an opportunity to win for the better part of this football game even though we didn't play well in areas. Some guys did play well, but in areas we didn't play well enough to win and that's why we didn't win.

But it was still a game for the better part of the game. That to me shows that we just got to keep going. It's not time to panic. Got a lot of football left. After six games, we're back to neutral. So here we go.

Was there anything in the first half with [Jalen] Nailor that you just didn't execute? 200 yards in the first half. Better job of shutting him down in the second.
A lot of things, yeah (smiling). No doubt there was, yeah. You know, one of the things that we talk about is eye discipline. In football you have to keep your eyes where they're supposed to be. When you don't, you can get in trouble. That's exactly what happened to us. We just didn't have great eye discipline. When you do that, it's not where you do something that's really bad. You're really actually trying to help more. But you have to do your job. Your job is to keep your eye on that guy. When you don't, it can affect you.

Players Mentioned

Cal Haladay

Marqui Lowery Jr.

Jalen Nailor

Jayden Reed

Payton Thorne