Post Game Quotes: Youngstown State

Head Coach Mel Tucker

Opening statement…
All right, thank you, thank you for coming out. It was a great atmosphere, I really want to thank our fans. Just a tremendous, tremendous showing. Our players were so excited to get back in our stadium with fans and with the band and the cheer team and the dance team and Sparty. It was very special for our group, for our young men and our coaches, myself included. We were really looking forward to that. And they had a very special moment, at the very beginning in the tunnel where we were able to recognize our first responders and see them take the field and hear the crowd [respond]. So we're just very appreciative of that. And I know our athletic department worked really hard to set the stage for a great day.

I'm proud of our football team for what we were able to get done today. We challenged them during the week to get better, and to continue to improve and grind, to put the work in in the classroom, during film study, and also at practice with physical practices. We've been trying to get the most out of our guys and they responded to that. They didn't back down with me, they responded to that. We push them as hard as we possibly could. And we wanted to start fast. We wanted to start fast and come out here ready to play, ready to play football. I felt like our guys, our players were able to do that.

Credit goes to our players and our coaching staff. I thanked our coaches this morning during our staff meeting at 7 a.m. for the effort that they put in, the effort they put in to get the guys ready to play. And not just the starters but all of our players. I mean the walk-ons, all the seniors and freshmen; it was all hands on deck, and just really rallying with our staff and our football team to squeeze everything that we could out of them during the week so that we could come out here today and perform and start fast and show up. A big part of the game of football is showing up. And we did that.

Youngstown State…Coach Phillips is doing a heck of a job over there. Everyone that you play, it doesn't (matter) what level - you see that in the NFL Draft, they come from everywhere - they've got some good players at quarterback and running back, those guys are good players. And I have a lot of respect for how hard they play. We were playing all the way to the end, they were playing all the way to the end. It was a very physical game. In the end we were able to get it done, we did enough to get it done. And I told the team, I said, listen, I'm proud of you, I'm proud of the way we came out. The way we came out, we were focused we were ready.

Do we have things we need to clean up? Absolutely, absolutely. And we're going to do that, we know what we need to fix. And we're going to put a plan together. We're gonna put plans together for individual players, and make sure to have something specific to work on this week. But I'm excited, I'm excited about our football team. I feel a tremendous amount of energy from our fans, from our students from Spartan nation, behind this football team. And so we're going to continue to grow and get better. That's what it's all about.

It was it was funny, I was telling the team, in a team meeting about a coach I worked with many, many years ago who said that coaching would be a great profession if you didn't have to play games. That's what he said. That didn't resonate with me. That didn't make any sense, but I knew where he was coming from. Because there's so much pressure… you don't know what's gonna happen when you go out there, but that's the beauty of what we're doing. That's why we're here. We're here to do all this work in a weight room, run, lift, meet, the practices, everything that we do, to have some very few opportunities to actually play a real game, and put it on the line, in front of so many of our fans and so many people; and we're built for that. That's what we look forward to. That's why we put all the work in, to be able to play in real games and perform.

On the emphasis of playing fast and with effort…
We knew we wanted to start fast, but it's all about the execution. And when things look good in practice, we feel like they should look good in the game. We didn't know if we were going to start the game on offense or defense, we just don't know. But we were able to get that [first play] done. And it was an excellent execution. A very good design from Coach Johnson and staff. And that's the expectation, is to be able to execute a play and take advantage of the opportunities that we have out there.

On Jayden Reed's performance and Offensive Coordinator Jay Johnson's coaching philosophy with Reed…
We want to have balance on offense, and we were able to get that done today. Jay is a very experienced play caller. And it matters who you're playing with, it matters who's on the field and what type of players you have. That makes a huge difference. And so you always want to make sure that you get players the ball where they can make plays, where they can be effective. Obviously, that factors into your play calling and the game planning during the week - because the game is called during the week, and then we make adjustments as we go. So obviously you want to be able to get your players the ball so that they can make plays that come on one-on-one. And we were able to get that done today.

On the aggressiveness of the play calling that set the tone and energy of the game from the start…
The plan was to come out and attack and be aggressive. The opponents change but the standard does not change. There is no difference. We gotta come out and we gotta set the tone. We have to establish how we want the games to go. Whether it's on offense, defense, special teams, we got to call on stuff, we got to execute and do it fast and be forceful with it and be in attack mode. That's the way we need to play. I don't know any other way to play. I don't know how any other way you would go into a game, any other type of mindset you would have other than that.

On stable of running backs and the team's potential
Well, we saw that we have we have some balance, we have some depth at the position. We have guys that can make plays, guys that can execute the offense, and we have haven't reached our full potential yet. You know, what does success look like? It's that we reach our full potential as a football team in all three phases. We have room to grow offensively, we have room to grow defensively. Certainly, on special teams, we have room to grow. We're going to continue to work to improve in a week to see what else we can do, what worked, who else can make plays for us and who else can we get involved. During the season, you want to improve and get better every day and every week, keep making progress and keep gaining ground. It's a process, what it is. We have a process, and we stick with the process. We've talked about it before, it's the aggregation of marginal gains: Every player getting a little bit better every day and, if you add that up, your team will get better. So, we haven't reached our full potential as a football team and the season is still young. We're still early and we'll see how we end up. We're a desperate football team and hungry to get better with extreme intensity, focus and attention to detail. There's a sense of urgency, there's hunger and a sense of desperation to get better as fast as we possibly can. Credit to our players, they respond to the challenge because it just doesn't happen (without it). In order to get better, you've got to do something. You've got to work in the lead up and be intentional about it. That's what we've been able to do so far. We need to continue to take these next steps.

On Thorne and Reed (high school teammates) playing together at the same level, whether that helps them on the field...
Actually, that's never crossed my mind. You'll have to ask them about that because that hasn't factored into our thinking in terms of who plays, who doesn't play, how much they play and what plays we call. It's not necessarily relevant, it's all about production and what we see in our practices. I think it's a great story to tell and it's something that I think people would be interested to know how they feel about that.

On chemistry of Thorne and Reed in the passing game with timing after being together for 6-7 years
I see execution. Whether that's chemistry, to me, is too early to tell. Chemistry is also a process. We've worked on that as well, the connection with our team, coaches and players. It's important we have chemistry throughout our entire team because you ought to be able to count on the man next to you to do their job. He's going to count on you to do your job. If you can get the trust, you have the chemistry and the guys care about each other, then you don't have them just playing for themselves, they're playing for the man next to him.

On his view of running game with having multiple backs making an impact...
We need to have multiple backs to be able to go in and be productive for us. We need to keep guys fresh and we need guys to run the ball, hit the hole, understand the power of the play, and we also need them in pass protection. They've got to step up and help protect the quarterback. We need guys to get out in routes and catch the ball. All the guys you mentioned can do that. So, how do you get multiple guys ready during the week? It's important to be able to do that. I'll tell you what, some of the best teams that I've been on and some of the best offenses I've coached against have multiple backs that are fresh and are not all the same. That puts a lot of pressure on defenses, that's difficult to defend. So we need to continue to grow in that area and we need to have tremendous depth at the position.

Sophomore RB Jordon Simmons

On today's performance and the overall rushing attack…
I feel like overall as a team, we came out ready to play last week, did a great job blocking on Friday, so I think they also came out ready to play today, we did the same thing. Personally, I think I came out, got the momentum going to really win the game, and just kept going throughout.

On the atmosphere inside the stadium…
It felt amazing. I want to thank all the fans for coming out today. It was a great experience. It was my first time having a lot of fans there. So overall it was a great experience. And I want to have that again. Come back soon.

Michigan State QB Payton Thorne

On how long did you worked on that first play…
We ran it a couple times. We didn't run it too many times, but we knew Wednesday or Thursday that's what we were opening with, and they came out in the coverage we thought they were going to, and he made a nice play, took his time, and it worked out for us.

On throwing the deep ball better today…
First off it starts up front, they gave us time today. They were playing really well up front in pass pro and running the ball. Credit to them and these guys are running good routes and getting open. I thought we executed that pretty well. There's still room to grow for us and I'm looking forward to getting after this week.

On the importance of starting a game with a first play like that…
I would say that in back-to-back weeks where we start the game, not every play is totally designed to score, but if you execute it well enough there's a chance it could pop. So, I thought that we had two well executed plays to start the game and got us rolling so it was good.

On seeing the student section full and playing on 9/11…
It was outstanding, it's great to see our fans back. I thought they showed up in great numbers today. They were loud. Playing with fans is different especially on the defensive side of the ball when you are getting tons of noise on third down and stuff like that, so it was great to have them back. With 9/11 today it's a great way to keep things in perspective, the 20th anniversary today. We can't be more thankful to live in this country that we live in. The sacrifices that those people made on this day 20 years ago it keeps things in perspective. We are lucky to play this game and live in a country where playing this game is something that's normal, it's not a gift anywhere else in the world so we are very thankful to play on this day and to honor those who sacrificed it all for our country.

Michigan State WR Jayden Reed

On how long you worked on that first play…
Yeah, pretty much what he said, we started working on it probably Wednesday so a few days before the game actually, so we executed it well, popped it, and got the touchdown.

On the importance of starting a game with a first play like that…
Honestly, I wish we could score every play, on the first play, so we did it last week and this week and that's the standard. Sso we are going to make that the goal for next week as well. Coach (Jay) Johnson is doing great play calling so as a team we are going to trust him and follow behind him.

On looking at the sideline and feeling like you are having yourself a day after the second deep ball…
For sure, yeah. I mean it's kind of like, I don't know, I'm kind of blind to it in the moment if that makes sense. I definitely feel it in the moment. Spartan nation was out there, and it gave me a huge spark, it built my confidence really and it was just great having Spartan Nation back and hearing them out there after catching balls and stuff like that, so that gave me energy and stuff like that.

On seeing the student section full and playing on 9/11…
I mean seeing that, the crowd, everything people from 9/11 and everything that just gives me butterflies and it added a little bit more energy to my soul really. I mean just hearing them and stuff like that gives me chills and everything. I mean that's one of the reasons I came here is for that environment right here. There's not much to ask for really, I mean this is really all I can ask for. I'm just blessed to be here.

Senior safety Xavier Henderson

On the importance of playing a physical game and setting the tone…
So you mentioned intensity, looking at their stats from their last game, we knew this was going to be a physical game. We really didn't do the best at stopping the run, so that's something we gotta clean up and will want to look at. A round of applause to Youngstown State, they really played a good game.

On the scoring drive on the first play of the game…
The first thing I said was, 'Coach Tuck is crazy!' I saw them practicing the play, but I had no idea it would come out in the first play of the game. But that was Coach Tucker's mindset, he wanted to get the jump on these guys quick, and we executed that play well.

Sophomore DE Jeff Pietrowski

On the importance of playing a physical game and setting the tone…
Being from Ohio, any team that you beat that's from Ohio means a little bit more. You know, a lot of guys can definitely argue that you want to beat them more, you want to have those bragging rights. But a team like Youngstown is a tough team, those are tough kids. And we knew that it was going to be a physical game right from the jump, so we needed to match their intensity and raise it.

On the scoring drive in the first play of the game…
It definitely gives you a little bit more juice when you see something like that. I think we had the same reaction as everyone else in the stadium. We were surprised; it was an awesome play, an awesome throw by Payton [Thorne], awesome blocking… it was a quick start and that's something we wanted to see.

Youngstown State Head Coach Doug Phillips

On the first play of the game being surprising…
It did shock. We knew coming into the game that we had to handle the atmosphere and the emotion and knowing they just rushed for 250 yards that a flea flicker would probably be a great first play. It definitely got the ball rolling for them. I thought when they got up 14, we settled into the game a little bit, had opportunities. I think on that interception drive, the kid made a great play on the ball. Then they got momentum rolling again before halftime.

On how big that interception was…
It was huge. You'd like to score there; finish the drive you know be at 14-7 and try to gain some momentum. In games like this you got to keep it close. You start keeping it close the other team that is expected to win the football game starts getting worried or concerned so we did it. I'm proud of our kids every week, doesn't mean I never get disappointed, but we kind of saw glimpses of this in practice and we are still in that process. We are real with our kids that at halftime we didn't really talk about it. All we talked about at halftime was 0-0, and I just wanted to see fight. It's easy to play the football game when things are going the right way. It's tough when it's not, and we needed to see and go out there and play a second half with effort and attitude. It goes back to Tuesday's practice, probably wasn't the sharpest practice. And the mistakes we see on a Tuesday practice, we saw today. So, we are still in that process of learning how to practice because you got to believe in your preparation in order to believe when you play a game on Saturday and when you see similar mistakes maybe on a Tuesday practice which we went pretty hard after them the next day, pretty hard, those are the areas of my concern that we got to get better. We got a bye week, so we have to get back to fundamentals. We have to get back to run fits, tackling, blocking and we have to continue to try to grow as a team.

On how satisfying to see a touchdown on the first drive after halftime…
I truly believe we have an offense. Again, it's not there yet so we knew this was a great opportunity for us to grow offensively, try to work on our passing game, try to develop our young quarterback, try to put him in a situation so he comes out of it better, stronger, more confident. If you talk to Demeatric, he'd probably be the first to say he grew today as a quarterback. He had his first turnover but he's going to make mistakes, we understand that and what we got to do is keep putting him in a position where he keeps growing as that quarterback leader.

On what you hope to get out of the bye week…
We are young so for us to be able to get back, I look at today, I don't know if you noticed, we started another redshirt freshman at left tackle so to be able to continue and develop those offensive linemen and to be able to get in the weight room. Where are young kids lift early in the morning, our developmental lift, a lot of our starters are in the developmental lift because they are developing. That's where we have to get bigger, we got to get stronger, so we are going to try and do that this week. Get to the practice field and work on our fundamentals and emphasize the things we didn't see right here. Like I said defensively, run fits, tackling, eliminating the big play and let's give credit to Michigan State, that's two weeks in a row with the explosive plays. Their quarterback was throwing dimes on deep routes, their running backs are big strong and physical so we got to do a better job in those fundamentals, and it starts with me as a coach, and I told the kids I got come back and be a better coach so I put you in a situation where you can be successful on Saturday.

Players Mentioned

Xavier Henderson

Jeff Pietrowski Jr.

Jayden Reed

Jordon Simmons

Payton Thorne