Michigan State University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes: Washington
9/16/2023 9:50:00 PM | Football
Michigan State Acting Head Coach Harlon Barnett
Opening statement…
Obviously, this wasn't the game we thought we were going to see tonight. We must clean up missed tackles and substitutions errors, we will get those cleaned up and move on. We're looking forward to starting Big Ten play; we still have all our goals in front of us.
On Washington's effective offense…
First off, I got to give them credit, they are a great football team. It was my first time being a head coach in a game and I will remember all of this, every bit of it. Washington's quarterback, receivers, and the offensive coordinator, you can tell they have a good understanding of that offense; they know where to be, they trust each other, the receivers have strong hands, they have seen different schemes over the years. We definitely went into the game thinking we had a good game plan, but not good enough.
On how his faith played a role onto the players…
My faith should never be waivered, and it isn't. That's never going to change, you go up and down, if you're truly to the word like I am, there are valleys you hit and there are mountain tops, and this is a valley moment. You can always come back from valley moments if you truly believe, and we will get back up to the mountain.
Looking back on the whole week, what was the message to the team at halftime…
I'm always trying to put a positive twist on something, you can't go in losing your mind then they go further in the dumps. One play at a time, six seconds a play, keep chopping, don't try to get it all back at once and say that to each other. That's what we tried to do in the second half, I must be better, I will be better, and the team will be better going into the Big Ten season.
On what needs to change in the passing defense and how good it is not to see Michael Penix Jr. again…
It's good, he's in the Heisman trophy running. There are a few things we could change up on how we scheme defensively, we have the defense to do it, it's the matter what we want to call in and play in. We thought we had the right schemes dialed up, apparently, they weren't, we'll tweaked some things to help us not give up those type of yards again, ever. I'm ready to focus on Maryland and watch film tonight.
Overall takeaways from offensive struggles…
We couldn't stay on schedule; they caused us to get off schedule and it caused us problems. It's a good experience to see what top-10 teams looks like right now for our team. Now we know what we must do and start preparing if we want to be that type of team or better, we have to start moving forward. No disrespect to Richmond and Central Michigan, but that was a different group as everybody saw out there and our guys saw it themselves. I spoke with them, and they said we got to do better, you heard leaders speaking up and that was good to see.
On the past week…
Well, I think you have challenges any time when you start something new that you haven't done so not so much so that it was week three, it could have been week one if I had been hired back in January, whatever, there were things that I just didn't have to deal with, you know. I didn't have to do a press conference during the week when I was just defensive-back coach, secondary coach what have you. And so, there were a lot of different things that came about but it's all going to settle down this week, I know that, and we'll get back, I've got some things in my mind I want to do as far as me coaching and trying to get us normalized again where as this past week we were kind of off-kilter, but we still have good enough coaches to get it done but I'm going to get myself back like I need to be doing ad helping and I think that will be better for the team as well.
On galvanizing the team moving forward…
One is, I told them in there 'ok look man, no more penalties like this, we can't be having those type of penalties, substitution errors, missed tackles, and things like that. We can't shoot ourselves in the foot and we can't beat ourselves.' And so I told them, I said, as the leader, as the number one leader here, I have to be better and I will be better and how I do that is kind of like I was just saying with Graham, this past week I had a lot of time away from just the football aspect trying to just connect with the guys more, and I still have to finish up with some of those guys, but I'm just trying to get back to what I was doing and normalize us a little bit and for the young men as well and that way everybody is back to normal roles a little bit if I can say that and we can just do what we have to do. So, you know, when that happens I think it will be better for us, and we are a week away from what happened, so those guys, it's out of their system, we played the game, we played a really great team, and so I think they're ready to go and understanding that hey, all of our goals are still in front of us, so that's a good thing.
On Darius Snow…
I'm very excited that he's back, I love me some Darius Snow, Mr. Snow Flurry as I call hm. But, he's a very, very smart football player, and he's tough, he's a good tackler, and so he was so excited when he got cleared last week, he was running around telling everybody 'I'm cleared, I'm cleared!' He came up, busted the door in the defensive staff room in telling us 'I'm cleared, I'm cleared, I can play!' So, I'm really, really happy for him because he busted his butt to kind of be able to get back because they were at one time saying that he wouldn't be able to get back until mid-season, and so he really busted his butt and he's going to help us.
On Tyneil Hopper…
I didn't (get an update), when I went in, I just talked to the players and then I pretty much came over here, so I didn't get an update.
On the running back room…
Well, every guy that will come here including myself will say that there's no excuses, so even those guys would say that, there's no excuses. We have to just get it done and find a way to get it done, we have the guys that we have and so we've got to perform, it's just that simple, it really is.
Along those lines, Tunmise (Adeleye) and Ken (Talley), we didn't see them get hurt last week, what is their status with the program…
They'll be back this week, they were just out this week. We just had them out this week, but they'll be back.
Has anybody said they want to shut it down or not play anymore for the rest of the year with the uncertainty of the coaching situation…
Nobody has said that. None, not one guy, no, not one guy has said that, so that's a good thing and hopefully these guys won't do that. You know, they'll look to 'hey, let's finish this thing out,' you never want to be quitter, you know what I mean, so hopefully everybody will push through and see what's really in front of us. Like we said, all of our goals are still in front of us and so let's go attack the Big Ten season.
Washington Head Coach Kalen DeBoer
Opening Statement…
Super excited about the way they guys came ready to play today and I think it was a lot to do with how we prepared. There was a lot of confidence coming in, not because we were disrespecting Michigan State, it was more about just a great week of preparation knowing that we were going on the road. We know that this is an amazing environment and our guys were fired up to do that and kind of make a statement. I was proud of the way we played in all phases; special teams, offense, and defense from start to finish.
On missing starters and team stepping up…
That was one of the things I was really proud of with our guys this week. We know that the guys who weren't playing are impact players, from Asa (Turner) to Matteo (Mele), and those guys have played a lot of snaps for fifth- and sixth-year guys. So, we played without a lot of guys, but it really didn't feel that way in practice. It was the energy and understanding that we have been through this before and no one is going to care. When people come to our stadium, we don't care that they are traveling and going on the road, our fans don't care and their fans don't care. It is about playing ball and we came out here and knew that there couldn't be any excuses whatever they might be - from the noise, to the grass, to injuries - our guys just came out and really set the tone. I am proud of the way they attacked from the beginning.
On making a statement…
I don't know if there was a statement that we wanted to show, we just wanted to be our best and show what we are capable of. I thought the guys really pushed hard all week long and it is cool when that pays off in the production that we had tonight because it really continues to be a motivator for when we get back on the practice field this coming week.
On Jack Westover breakout game and senior talk to team…
Everyone is going to want to have their senior talk on Friday night now. We rotate the night before a game that a senior gets to speak. He puts so much into this program and it's a place he wanted to be at at a very young age. His heart and soul are in this place and you can see by how he plays and how he works. He loves our team and our team loves him, so, really cool to see him have a huge game. It was just very physical and he does the things that a lot of people don't see. He is involved in special teams and it isn't just always stats, so I was super impressed with Jack (Westover) and the performance he had tonight.
On Jalen McMillan Injury and Zion Tupuola-Fetui impact…
I think J-Mac (Jalen McMillan) will be fine and he will be back and good for next week. But, it was good to have ZTF (Zion Tupuola-Fetui) out there. I felt that the pass rush pressure was there consistently at a higher level compared to what we have had the first two games. So, that takes a whole group effort but ZTF (Zion Tupuola-Fetui) was certainly a big part of that.
Michigan State fifth-year (Graduate) Wide Receiver Tre Mosley
On how they get better in a short term on time…
It starts with just looking ourselves in the mirror first. When you're a team and you go through a difficult time like this, you've got to see what you can do to improve individually and as a team, because we can't worry about what anyone else is doing if we're not doing our stuff right. So, from players, coaches, support staff, everyone, there's improvement that needs to be made, and we're going to do that. We have no choice.
On how much shock and surprise there was this week…as you move further away from what happened last week, how does it stabilize, and how they handle it as leaders…
The first day when it came up it was a shock to everyone. After that, we did a great job of moving on because we had an opponent to get ready for. We couldn't live in the past and start to cry or make excuses because Washington didn't care what was going on with us in our program. We had to still go out there and prepare for this game.
On what leadership looks like for him as a player right now….
Myself, along with the rest of the leaders on the team, we've got to take it up another notch. Especially after a loss like that. We had too many mistakes, self-imposed mistakes, and when you play against a good team like we did tonight we can't do that. So, we've got to clean it up and get back to the drawing board.
On how he handled the challenging week and how it affected his performance…
We're bought in altogether under Coach Barnett. We just made too many mistakes tonight. We play against good teams that capitalize off of that, and that's exactly what happened this evening.
On what Mark Dantonio's presence meant to him this week…
It's always good to have a great mind like that around, just to help out with things, sharing his thoughts on things we can improve and work on. So, it's great to have Coach D back in the mix.
Michigan State fifth-year (Graduate) Offensive Linemen J.D. Duplain
On how much shock and surprise there was this week…as you move further away from what happened last week, how does it stabilize, and how they handle it as leaders…
Always keep the main thing the main thing.
On how he handled the challenging week and how it affected his performance…
Our team bought in to Coach Barnett. We trust him fully. We trust everything he says. I think we had good unity going into this week. I think the guys were bought in. I think everyone was mission focused, we just made too many mistakes and we're going to go back and watch the film. We're going to learn from it because the best teams learn from games like this. We're going to get better.
On how the team gets from where they are today to where they need to be in upcoming games…
We treat every game as if it's the biggest game on our schedule. We're going to attack each week with our best effort and we're going to get better each week. We're not looking past anyone. We have a very talented team. We believe that and we know that. We're going to get better. We're going to watch the film and get better.
Washington Wide Receiver Ja'Lynn Polk
On his initial thoughts about their victory…
We just come out here every day, focus on our preparation, and depending on our preparation, we know we have a bunch of guys on both sides of the ball who are really elite, and we just go out there and do our job.
On whether he thinks this was a perfect storm of a game…
I think we've just been ready and taking advantage of every opportunity. We got a bunch of elite guys, and we know when that ball is in the air, we got to look out for (Michael) Penix and make those plays, especially for this team.
On if that was one of the most unusual touchdowns he's ever had…
I was just being ready for that moment. I remember back in practice that we do something called rare ball at the beginning of practice, and one of those balls was tipped and it was kind of like similar situation, and you never really know when that moment is going to come of a type of play like that. You've always got to be ready and be prepared for that moment.
On wanting to make a statement for this game…
I feel like we know who we are and that's not us. We just continue to work every day and nobody's perfect and we understand that, but we hold a standard with one another. We believe that every pass that comes to us that we can make it no matter how it comes, if it's too high or too low. We just stay hard on each other and keep each other up and know that we can make all those plays.
On what Jack Westover brings to the team…
Westie (Jack Westover) is an extremely hard worker. He brings a lot of positivity to the team. What he did out there tonight is what he brings to practice, so it doesn't surprise us because he works his tail off every single day. So, when he goes out there and does things like that, we support him because he does those same things in practice.
Opening statement…
Obviously, this wasn't the game we thought we were going to see tonight. We must clean up missed tackles and substitutions errors, we will get those cleaned up and move on. We're looking forward to starting Big Ten play; we still have all our goals in front of us.
On Washington's effective offense…
First off, I got to give them credit, they are a great football team. It was my first time being a head coach in a game and I will remember all of this, every bit of it. Washington's quarterback, receivers, and the offensive coordinator, you can tell they have a good understanding of that offense; they know where to be, they trust each other, the receivers have strong hands, they have seen different schemes over the years. We definitely went into the game thinking we had a good game plan, but not good enough.
On how his faith played a role onto the players…
My faith should never be waivered, and it isn't. That's never going to change, you go up and down, if you're truly to the word like I am, there are valleys you hit and there are mountain tops, and this is a valley moment. You can always come back from valley moments if you truly believe, and we will get back up to the mountain.
Looking back on the whole week, what was the message to the team at halftime…
I'm always trying to put a positive twist on something, you can't go in losing your mind then they go further in the dumps. One play at a time, six seconds a play, keep chopping, don't try to get it all back at once and say that to each other. That's what we tried to do in the second half, I must be better, I will be better, and the team will be better going into the Big Ten season.
On what needs to change in the passing defense and how good it is not to see Michael Penix Jr. again…
It's good, he's in the Heisman trophy running. There are a few things we could change up on how we scheme defensively, we have the defense to do it, it's the matter what we want to call in and play in. We thought we had the right schemes dialed up, apparently, they weren't, we'll tweaked some things to help us not give up those type of yards again, ever. I'm ready to focus on Maryland and watch film tonight.
Overall takeaways from offensive struggles…
We couldn't stay on schedule; they caused us to get off schedule and it caused us problems. It's a good experience to see what top-10 teams looks like right now for our team. Now we know what we must do and start preparing if we want to be that type of team or better, we have to start moving forward. No disrespect to Richmond and Central Michigan, but that was a different group as everybody saw out there and our guys saw it themselves. I spoke with them, and they said we got to do better, you heard leaders speaking up and that was good to see.
On the past week…
Well, I think you have challenges any time when you start something new that you haven't done so not so much so that it was week three, it could have been week one if I had been hired back in January, whatever, there were things that I just didn't have to deal with, you know. I didn't have to do a press conference during the week when I was just defensive-back coach, secondary coach what have you. And so, there were a lot of different things that came about but it's all going to settle down this week, I know that, and we'll get back, I've got some things in my mind I want to do as far as me coaching and trying to get us normalized again where as this past week we were kind of off-kilter, but we still have good enough coaches to get it done but I'm going to get myself back like I need to be doing ad helping and I think that will be better for the team as well.
On galvanizing the team moving forward…
One is, I told them in there 'ok look man, no more penalties like this, we can't be having those type of penalties, substitution errors, missed tackles, and things like that. We can't shoot ourselves in the foot and we can't beat ourselves.' And so I told them, I said, as the leader, as the number one leader here, I have to be better and I will be better and how I do that is kind of like I was just saying with Graham, this past week I had a lot of time away from just the football aspect trying to just connect with the guys more, and I still have to finish up with some of those guys, but I'm just trying to get back to what I was doing and normalize us a little bit and for the young men as well and that way everybody is back to normal roles a little bit if I can say that and we can just do what we have to do. So, you know, when that happens I think it will be better for us, and we are a week away from what happened, so those guys, it's out of their system, we played the game, we played a really great team, and so I think they're ready to go and understanding that hey, all of our goals are still in front of us, so that's a good thing.
On Darius Snow…
I'm very excited that he's back, I love me some Darius Snow, Mr. Snow Flurry as I call hm. But, he's a very, very smart football player, and he's tough, he's a good tackler, and so he was so excited when he got cleared last week, he was running around telling everybody 'I'm cleared, I'm cleared!' He came up, busted the door in the defensive staff room in telling us 'I'm cleared, I'm cleared, I can play!' So, I'm really, really happy for him because he busted his butt to kind of be able to get back because they were at one time saying that he wouldn't be able to get back until mid-season, and so he really busted his butt and he's going to help us.
On Tyneil Hopper…
I didn't (get an update), when I went in, I just talked to the players and then I pretty much came over here, so I didn't get an update.
On the running back room…
Well, every guy that will come here including myself will say that there's no excuses, so even those guys would say that, there's no excuses. We have to just get it done and find a way to get it done, we have the guys that we have and so we've got to perform, it's just that simple, it really is.
Along those lines, Tunmise (Adeleye) and Ken (Talley), we didn't see them get hurt last week, what is their status with the program…
They'll be back this week, they were just out this week. We just had them out this week, but they'll be back.
Has anybody said they want to shut it down or not play anymore for the rest of the year with the uncertainty of the coaching situation…
Nobody has said that. None, not one guy, no, not one guy has said that, so that's a good thing and hopefully these guys won't do that. You know, they'll look to 'hey, let's finish this thing out,' you never want to be quitter, you know what I mean, so hopefully everybody will push through and see what's really in front of us. Like we said, all of our goals are still in front of us and so let's go attack the Big Ten season.
Washington Head Coach Kalen DeBoer
Opening Statement…
Super excited about the way they guys came ready to play today and I think it was a lot to do with how we prepared. There was a lot of confidence coming in, not because we were disrespecting Michigan State, it was more about just a great week of preparation knowing that we were going on the road. We know that this is an amazing environment and our guys were fired up to do that and kind of make a statement. I was proud of the way we played in all phases; special teams, offense, and defense from start to finish.
On missing starters and team stepping up…
That was one of the things I was really proud of with our guys this week. We know that the guys who weren't playing are impact players, from Asa (Turner) to Matteo (Mele), and those guys have played a lot of snaps for fifth- and sixth-year guys. So, we played without a lot of guys, but it really didn't feel that way in practice. It was the energy and understanding that we have been through this before and no one is going to care. When people come to our stadium, we don't care that they are traveling and going on the road, our fans don't care and their fans don't care. It is about playing ball and we came out here and knew that there couldn't be any excuses whatever they might be - from the noise, to the grass, to injuries - our guys just came out and really set the tone. I am proud of the way they attacked from the beginning.
On making a statement…
I don't know if there was a statement that we wanted to show, we just wanted to be our best and show what we are capable of. I thought the guys really pushed hard all week long and it is cool when that pays off in the production that we had tonight because it really continues to be a motivator for when we get back on the practice field this coming week.
On Jack Westover breakout game and senior talk to team…
Everyone is going to want to have their senior talk on Friday night now. We rotate the night before a game that a senior gets to speak. He puts so much into this program and it's a place he wanted to be at at a very young age. His heart and soul are in this place and you can see by how he plays and how he works. He loves our team and our team loves him, so, really cool to see him have a huge game. It was just very physical and he does the things that a lot of people don't see. He is involved in special teams and it isn't just always stats, so I was super impressed with Jack (Westover) and the performance he had tonight.
On Jalen McMillan Injury and Zion Tupuola-Fetui impact…
I think J-Mac (Jalen McMillan) will be fine and he will be back and good for next week. But, it was good to have ZTF (Zion Tupuola-Fetui) out there. I felt that the pass rush pressure was there consistently at a higher level compared to what we have had the first two games. So, that takes a whole group effort but ZTF (Zion Tupuola-Fetui) was certainly a big part of that.
Michigan State fifth-year (Graduate) Wide Receiver Tre Mosley
On how they get better in a short term on time…
It starts with just looking ourselves in the mirror first. When you're a team and you go through a difficult time like this, you've got to see what you can do to improve individually and as a team, because we can't worry about what anyone else is doing if we're not doing our stuff right. So, from players, coaches, support staff, everyone, there's improvement that needs to be made, and we're going to do that. We have no choice.
On how much shock and surprise there was this week…as you move further away from what happened last week, how does it stabilize, and how they handle it as leaders…
The first day when it came up it was a shock to everyone. After that, we did a great job of moving on because we had an opponent to get ready for. We couldn't live in the past and start to cry or make excuses because Washington didn't care what was going on with us in our program. We had to still go out there and prepare for this game.
On what leadership looks like for him as a player right now….
Myself, along with the rest of the leaders on the team, we've got to take it up another notch. Especially after a loss like that. We had too many mistakes, self-imposed mistakes, and when you play against a good team like we did tonight we can't do that. So, we've got to clean it up and get back to the drawing board.
On how he handled the challenging week and how it affected his performance…
We're bought in altogether under Coach Barnett. We just made too many mistakes tonight. We play against good teams that capitalize off of that, and that's exactly what happened this evening.
On what Mark Dantonio's presence meant to him this week…
It's always good to have a great mind like that around, just to help out with things, sharing his thoughts on things we can improve and work on. So, it's great to have Coach D back in the mix.
Michigan State fifth-year (Graduate) Offensive Linemen J.D. Duplain
On how much shock and surprise there was this week…as you move further away from what happened last week, how does it stabilize, and how they handle it as leaders…
Always keep the main thing the main thing.
On how he handled the challenging week and how it affected his performance…
Our team bought in to Coach Barnett. We trust him fully. We trust everything he says. I think we had good unity going into this week. I think the guys were bought in. I think everyone was mission focused, we just made too many mistakes and we're going to go back and watch the film. We're going to learn from it because the best teams learn from games like this. We're going to get better.
On how the team gets from where they are today to where they need to be in upcoming games…
We treat every game as if it's the biggest game on our schedule. We're going to attack each week with our best effort and we're going to get better each week. We're not looking past anyone. We have a very talented team. We believe that and we know that. We're going to get better. We're going to watch the film and get better.
Washington Wide Receiver Ja'Lynn Polk
On his initial thoughts about their victory…
We just come out here every day, focus on our preparation, and depending on our preparation, we know we have a bunch of guys on both sides of the ball who are really elite, and we just go out there and do our job.
On whether he thinks this was a perfect storm of a game…
I think we've just been ready and taking advantage of every opportunity. We got a bunch of elite guys, and we know when that ball is in the air, we got to look out for (Michael) Penix and make those plays, especially for this team.
On if that was one of the most unusual touchdowns he's ever had…
I was just being ready for that moment. I remember back in practice that we do something called rare ball at the beginning of practice, and one of those balls was tipped and it was kind of like similar situation, and you never really know when that moment is going to come of a type of play like that. You've always got to be ready and be prepared for that moment.
On wanting to make a statement for this game…
I feel like we know who we are and that's not us. We just continue to work every day and nobody's perfect and we understand that, but we hold a standard with one another. We believe that every pass that comes to us that we can make it no matter how it comes, if it's too high or too low. We just stay hard on each other and keep each other up and know that we can make all those plays.
On what Jack Westover brings to the team…
Westie (Jack Westover) is an extremely hard worker. He brings a lot of positivity to the team. What he did out there tonight is what he brings to practice, so it doesn't surprise us because he works his tail off every single day. So, when he goes out there and does things like that, we support him because he does those same things in practice.
Players Mentioned
Pat Fitzgerald | Spring Showcase Press Conference | Apr. 18 2026
Saturday, April 18
Pat Fitzgerald | Football Press Conference | Apr. 14, 2026
Tuesday, April 14
Pat Fitzgerald | Football Press Conference | Mar. 31, 2026
Tuesday, March 31
Pat Fitzgerald | Football Press Conference | Mar. 17, 2026
Tuesday, March 17