Post-Game Quotes: Miami

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker

Opening statement…
It was a good team win for us on the road against a good opponent. Credit to our entire organization. We talk about our trainers, our nutrition, our strength and conditioning, operations, our doctors, coaches, support staff and the players. Everyone had a part in this. We had a lot of challenges that we knew we'd have to overcome to get this done on the road and we were able to do that as a team.

We played complementary football; offense, defense and special teams were all working together. We were able to win the turnover battle, which is huge. We were able to take care of the ball and take it away. We forced some turnovers, we won the battle in the trenches. Stopping the run and making them one-dimensional, forcing that quarterback to beat us from the pocket. And we were able to run the ball.

And so, these are things that we talk about. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter type of game. We knew that we were going to have to strain in order to be ready to win it in the 15^th round, if necessary. That was our motto. The kids brought energy into the game. I want to thank our fans; our fans were tremendous. Spartan nation was strong in Miami, we could feel it as soon as we touched down. We could feel it at the hotel and then at the stadium today.

We're looking forward to that 24-hour rule. We are going to enjoy this victory as a team and then we're going to get ready to come home to Spartan Stadium against a Big Ten opponent in Nebraska. Nebraska is notorious for taking over—they travel tremendously well and take over stadiums. I don't anticipate that happening in East Lansing. Spartan nation is strong. We have a team that's hungry with a chip on their shoulder and we know that we're going to learn from this and we're going to continue to improve and get better. So, we're going to get back to work. But I'm very, very proud of our organization. I'm proud our players because they played extremely hard today.

On forcing turnovers and taking care of the football…
We've been talking about taking care of the ball. We never stop talking about taking care of the ball. Ball security is everything. And we all know what happens when you don't take care of the football. From a takeaway standpoint, we never give up on it. We continue to emphasize it in practice and we know they come in bunches. They come in bunches. And we knew that we had to get some takeaways—we had to force some takeaways—in this game for field position, momentum and the like. So, we just continue to work on it, talk about it, show examples of it—and that's part of our preparation. We were able to get that done in practice and so we were able to carry it over to the game.

On the 15-round mindset and putting the game away late…
We were moving the ball in the first half; we weren't able to finish the drives. And so, we needed to execute better. And give Miami credit; they've some good players and they had a good plan. So, we were able to make some adjustments to what they were doing and we knew that if we would execute and play with really good fundamentals and communicate and finish those plays that we could score points. We knew that we could do that. And so, again, just play the next play, stay neutral, learn from the last play and then move on and keep chopping. We were prepared to go into the 15^th round, if necessary. We were prepared to do that. We talked about that all week. We've trained in a manner that will allow us to do that and allow us to have confidence in a tight, tight ballgame. In the second half and the third quarter and the fourth quarter, we were prepared to do that. We wanted to drag them into the deep water where we live, with the strain and the struggle and the pressure. The weight room, the discipline, the attention to detail—all of those things, that's what we wanted to do. That was a good plan. The players believed in the plan, they believed in the process. So, we were able to get it done today on the road.

What do wins over ranked opponents do for your program and what this game told him about his team…
What we were able is we were able to take what we have done in practice and we were able to take it to a game. We came in here expecting to have success, but only if we did the things that we knew that we needed to do to win the game. And so, we were able to do enough and we were able to do it often enough to get it done. What does that say about our program? Again, this is a marker for where we are right now. We know that our guys will play hard, we know that they won't quit, we know they won't flinch. We talked about that; there is no flinching. There are going to be momentum swings in a game and we know the pendulum was going to swing back our way if we play hard and we play physical and we execute and we play with discipline. We knew that and so we were able to actually take it to a game and do it on the road against an opponent that also plays hard and has good players and is well-coached. So, our players believe in what we're doing, believe in our process and it's only going to reinforce all the things that we preach, everything that we work on every day. And so, our players should be more hungry when they come back in and start preparation for Nebraska. We have not played our best football; we have not reached our full potential. There is still more to do—a lot more to do. The season is still very early and we have some tough opponents. I'm looking forward to getting home to Spartan Stadium.

On using misdirection on offense, keeping Miami off balance and what it means to back a back like Kenneth Walker III…
Any time you can continue to pound the run game, it's going to take a toll on a defense. It helps you stay ahead of the chains and you keep putting pressure on them. They can't pin their ears back and run upfield and get after the quarterback. They have to honor the rock. And so we knew—and we talked about it, but we knew going in the game and we talked about during the game, sometimes the run game, it's going to be a little and then it's going to be a lot. A little, a little, a lot. And that's how it was in the game. And then we started to get some chunks. Obviously, Jay [Johnson] is an experienced play caller. He and 'Coach Kap,' [Chris Kapilovic], coordinator of the run game, using formation, motions, things like that. Obviously, it puts pressure on defenses because you have to adjust, you have to fit all of those runs, you got to be in the right spot. And when you have a player like Kenneth, he's going to run through an arm tackle. When you're defending him, you have to know exactly where you're supposed to be or he is going to make some plays on you. And then we also have tight ends, receivers that can also hurt you in the passing game, as you can see. Payton [Thorne] was taking care of the ball, getting us in good, getting us out of bad plays, things like that. It's really a team offense. Complementary football is what we're doing, not leaving it up to one guy. But certainly, as you can see, Kenneth Walker is not an average player. He's a difference maker.

Michigan State redshirt sophomore quarterback Payton Thorne

On the offense's performance today…
We really believe in our training. We were really falling back on our training. Our strength staff, our nutritionists and our support staff have all done such a great job preparing us for a game like this, down here in this heat. We talked about going into the deep rounds with these guys, in terms of boxing, and I thought that we played our best football in the fourth quarter, which was good. It was a good job by the guys up front, the receivers and we really put it together as a team.

On impact of this win moving forward…
You know, I thought it was a good win coming down here, on the road. Playing in a stadium like this, it was a good job getting down here and I talked about the heat earlier and being prepared for the heat. We were prepared for it. That's a big win for us and we will enjoy it tonight, but then tomorrow our focus goes to Nebraska next week at home. So, we're going to put everything we have into preparing for Nebraska and that will be our focus here in the next couple of hours.

Michigan State sixth-year senior defensive end Drew Beesley

On evaluating his performance today…
I mean that was just one of many plays that needed to be made in the game. That strip sack fumble wasn't going to mean anything unless we finished the game. It was a critical point in the game. I was telling everybody [on the sideline] that we've got to finish, we've got to finish, and that's exactly what we did.

On message about creating turnovers…
The big message this week was to get the guy with the football and try to take it away from him. You know, the name of the game is 'get the guy with the ball,' and being able to create turnovers and put our offense in a good position, that ends up winning games for us. And we did a really good job with that this week.

Michigan State junior running back Kenneth Walker III

On mindset approaching the run game…
[Miami's defensive line] did an excellent job. At the beginning of the game, we knew it was going to be like that. Coach Tucker just told us to 'keep chopping' and that's been our motto, to 'keep chopping' with one-yard gain after one-yard gain. That's part of the game. We did a very good job on offense.

On meaning of today's win…
I wouldn't say a statement. We always believe we can win. We work at it. We've been working since winter, spring and camp. And we believe in our team and Coach Tucker. We've been doing a lot of work behind closed doors, so we know what to expect.

Miami head coach Manny Diaz

Opening Statement….
Obviously, we are disappointed in our performance and disappointed in the outcome. I have to give credit to Michigan State. Turnovers and the red zone told the story today. Missing opportunities and not creating any turnovers hurt – they won basically all the critical moments of the game. Like I said, it was very disappointing. It was tough on the guys in the locker room. There are still a lot of tight bonds in that locker room and there are a lot of guys who want to play hard for each other and want to make this right. That is going to be our job as coaches to find a way to make it right.

On defensive performance in the second half…
They were creating a lot of one-on-one tackling opportunities with their screen game. They were running harder through our tackles and we were running harder through contact and that's on us. It's very disappointing from where we've been throughout this year. Fundamentally, I thought that [Kenneth] Walker [III], and the way that he ran, and the way that they got the ball to him through the screen game told the story. I don't know that they completed a pass down the field to a wide receiver until the touchdown on the third down in the red zone after the interception. That will be the point of emphasis this week defensively.

On ways to improve prior to ACC play…
We'll have to look at everything we do. We have a system of tackling that we have done for a long time that has yielded really good results. We tackled poorly in the secondary at some positions in the Alabama game. We tackled better last week against App State. This was by far our worst performance and obviously, from a defensive standpoint, it cost us the game.

On addressing the miscues on offense and defense…
It goes two ways. One, we certainly need to continue to address the fundamentals. We can't make those mistakes in a game. I think the more curious part is that it is guys who do not have a history of dropping passes or missing tackles or some of those type of things. When you see older guys, guys that you count on, making those types of mistakes, it hurts you. At some point, you have to honor what the film says and you have to be able to play guys that can make those type of plays and play guys that can get people on the ground on defense.

On message to recruits…
There is still a long way to go in this season. We have recruited at a high level over the past few seasons and that is what we are trying to do – stack big-time recruiting classes on top of one another. This is a temporary situation we are in right now and these guys can be the answer. We had some big recruits in here today who saw a great atmosphere in our stadium. These guys can come be the solution and help this football program take the next step. I think that is exactly what the message would be to recruits.

On difficulties running the ball…
Losing Jalen [Rivers] was a big-time blow and I don't have an update other than he was out for the game. Michigan State made it very difficult. The stat that jumps off the sheet is the 52 rushing yards. It all comes down to D'Eriq's arm and then they can pin their ears back and tee-off on the pass rush. They can make a lot of things happen back there and make things very difficult. Our inability to cover guys up and run the football consistently has created an issue. To your point, we've had to shuffle some guys around and we need to find the five guys we can count on to perform at a consistent level."

On quarterback D'Eriq King…
D'Eriq has been as courageous as they come. I think that's why the team in the locker room is together. How can you quit on a guy who gives what D'Eriq King gives? The guy leaves everything out there and lays it all on the line for the University of Miami. I know, talking to him in the locker room after the game, he is hurting emotionally. He wants so badly for us to be great on offense. He is such a competitor and he is not going to be satisfied until we are.

On morale of the team…
It's hard to see, but the guys in the locker room, the moment that we just had in the locker room before I came here, there is a bond here. There are things that we have to get corrected, as coaches, that we can take accountability for. We still have the ACC to play for and we have the Coastal to play for, so we have to take a look at our personnel. We have to make the decisions on who is getting what opportunities out there because there have been some surprises. There have been some guys that we count on that maybe aren't performing enough. We have to analyze why that is and fine the best team we can put on the field for the last three quarters of our season. Everyone has the right to be disappointed the way the first three games started. There is no defending that. We have not performed the way that we should perform. This coaching staff will get that corrected and will get that fixed and we have guys in the locker room that want to stay together and be a family and fight hard for each other and fight our way out of this.

Players Mentioned

Drew Beesley

Payton Thorne

Kenneth Walker III

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