Post-Game Quotes: Florida Atlantic

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith

On winning game one …

Obviously, we try to win the game, and we got that done, so I was pleased with that. I think the crowd was awesome and impacted the game. I looked at us defensively with some of those stops on third down, fourth down, the crowd noise and energy got into it. I really appreciate everybody coming out and helping us there. Game ones, you are going to learn a lot about your team, and we've got a lot to work on. What I did learn and was pleased with is that there's a response in this group, we are going to play for all four quarters, you win the game in the fourth quarter, and we were able to do that. It's game one, we have a lot to learn and clean up. I look at us offensively and obviously, some things we want to do a whole lot better. First is taking care of the ball. We got three opportunities in the red zone, and we turned the thing over, then don't get a fourth down conversion. We get those, we are feeling a whole lot different, it's 21 points. I want to give some credit to FAU. I thought those guys played hard. That defense contested, especially on the back end. The quarterback played great extending plays; he was a challenge back there. Two teams playing really hard there, but we came out on top.

On managing expectations …

We want to have some expectations for people who were excited about it. We had an opportunity to play well and win a bunch of games, because that's what we signed up to do. I think in Aidan's end, he wants to play better. Well, I think the other 10 guys on offense want to play better. We got to help the guy out. We were hit and miss. Whether we were missing a blocking scheme, a route. A challenge for FAU, those guys contested on the back end. Our run games not where we wanted it to, that's going to help a quarterback. There's a lot we can do to help him out, and I know he'll be back at work and looking to improve in week two.

On going for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter instead of kicking a field goal...and the explanation on the fourth down play at the end of the game with the penalties…

Obviously, we would have loved to have gotten that fourth-and-yard-and-a half. And some of that is going to be a little bit of mentality. I preach it to the team that the difference between 7 and 3 points is huge, and so that opportunity arose. That was probably overly aggressive, because if you kick the field goal and you make the thing, you are up two scores. And so, hindsight 20/20, we probably would've gone the other direction.

After we finally got the explanation, after the review the quarterback went to slide and gave himself up, he is then declared short of the line to gain. We hit him late, so it was a dead ball foul, and the gain has not been gained. And so that's late and so that is 15, and then we got some emotion. I love our guys playing with emotion, but there is another 15, so it is all after the play. That's how it chalks off 30 yards and we got the ball.

On the personal foul penalties …

Too many. Without question we want to play with some aggression, but we got to have some technique at the same time. It's not always a late hit, we got a horse collar here, we got to be smarter around the sideline too. We knew going into the game the quarterback is going to athletic and aggressive getting out. He likes to slide, and we got to be aware when that is taking place. I will say that is not easy. When you tackle a guy with proper technique, you want to go low, and then suddenly, he is coming down right in that slot. It's not easy but we got to coach it better and get better at it.

On how to keep the guys coming with energy next game …

We got to keep coaching it with how we finish plays. Again, it's just about gaining some awareness. We need to keep playing with some energy, but at the same time not such out of whack, that we can't have some awareness. It's about how we are finishing plays, whether It's the sideline or on the quarterback sliding. We got to be great with our hands. We got a hands to the face, and a horse collar. A lot to tighten up.

On updates on Dillon Tatum and Alante Brown...

I got a quick briefing. They will further look at them, but I don't have anything definite.

On red zone offense...

We turned the ball over. We got to run the ball better down there, I know that. Aidan's interception on third down too, so twice we get pretty much nothing. We have got to be able to run the ball and make things physical. That will help our red zone offense.

On the first play call of the game...

I give a little credit to FAU. We had that lined up, for what we wanted to do. He was looking at Velling, and if not, he was going over the top. He went over the top and got one on one in the picture, but the guy made the better play. And again, I am sure that watching the tape a little bit, we need to detail the route more and stair step to be able to separate more. And we got a little bit of pressure where he is moving his feet, so the timing was not quite right. It all comes down to the detail.

On how he approached Aidan after the first play...

I didn't really talk to him after that. First play or whatnot, and then he regrouped. I didn't have a ton to say to him.

On how he assessed Aidan Chiles's performance tonight...

I think that he saw the field decent out there, in coverage recognition he could have been a little more accurate on a couple of easier throws. I do think that he competed out there, ran with the ball, showed up a little bit. We got to keep the thing locked up, because he put it on the ground. I think that he got confused out there on the interception, he thought it was one coverage, but it wasn't. Again, it's the first game and we are still learning out there. I know he will learn from it.

On how he would have liked to see Aidan throw differently earlier in the game...

We have a couple different facets of our play-action game. Earlier, we emphasized that because we felt like the coverage would let us put the ball up and stretch the field, so that's what we called.

On how he looks at the defense and their performance after week one...

I do think the effort was there and we played multiple guys. We talked about it coming into the game, rotating the D line and secondary, a couple of guys going down, and the next guy up. Our inside linebackers, we got a third-down package with about six new guys coming out on the field. I loved that we played a lot of guys who played with great effort. We had some communication misses that opened up a couple of things. If we are going to play athletic quarterbacks, we must do a great job trying to contain that. Overall, this isn't a game of perfect, and those guys played really hard for all four quarters.

On Aidan's adjustments...
I think about myself. My first start, we were playing at home, and I had five turnovers. I threw three picks and fumbled the ball twice, and we lost the game by one. And so, it goes back to the response and this thing isn't easy. Again, it is not all on him, and he knows this. We were going to see this route running, our splits, and here or there. I love the kid, he is competitive. And he did some good things, enough good things for us to win the game. So, he is 1-0, undefeated as a starting quarterback.

On FAU's game plan...
They gave us a couple pressures that we did not anticipate as much. They kept on showing up. I could get kind of technical on you. We got some tight split stuff that gave us some issues in the run game, because they added some secondary players. We needed to adjust to that a little bit.

On the complexities of game ones...
You need to have some urgency to address them and to get them cleaned up in game one. I think doing this now, like you said seventh year, I do think a little bit about week one is overreaction. The first impression is the first time that team is out there, then you begin to label they are good on this side or they are not good on this side, these guys can go the playoff, these guys are out. It's overreaction Saturday. We will go back to work. We knew it wasn't going to be perfect, we knew there was going to be an approach, this was good, this wasn't, let's work on this Sunday and get ready for the next week. And that is what I believe in.

On turnovers and penalties...
I give FAU some credit. Those guys battled and gave us some issues. We did not play clean on both phases. Offensively, we left points out there. On the penalty side too, it was a bunch of 15 yarders. We are not just talking about offsides, so it's fortunate in that way because there is a lot of sloppiness in those numbers.

On the impact of the pass rush...
The way the game was playing out, those guys just kept on coming. I think it helped us that our rotation, first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, allowed us to finish well in the fourth. We were fresh up front. We got multiple guys, those two you mentioned [Talley, Bogle], we got Anthony Jones, Jalen Thompson did good things. We got the interior guys rotating, then all a sudden, we got Jordan Hall on the line. He played a decent amount of inside backer as well today. We got multiple guys that we feel confident to put in the game.

On the emphasis of the downfield game...
We want to be efficient, but in this game, you have got to find ways to be explosive. Today our longest play was on counter under the center and then we gave the guy the ball. But, if we can get the run game going, then an action pass. We just got to be more efficient offensively, and then finish. In the red zone piece, you get 21 points versus 0, this thing is totally different.

Florida Atlantic head coach Tom Herman

Opening statement…
I'm proud of the way we fought, the physicality that we played with, and the togetherness. But I told the team there's no moral victories. I thought we had come farther from an execution standpoint. I really thought that the physicality, togetherness, intensity that we saw tonight would manifest itself in some better execution and some smarter play. So, I've got a saying – once is an anomaly, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. To be in this many one-score games against some really quality opponents tells me we are on the right track. We are so close to getting over that hill. We as a staff, myself as the head coach, have to figure out the right buttons to press because the margin for error is so slim when you're playing teams like that in an environment like that. We played good enough defense, say for one play, to win the game. But that one play counts and that's what I told the team. You could play 75 plays perfectly, but that one play where you decide to go 90 percent, or you decide to have a mental brain fart, that could be the play that goes 67 yards. We are so close; we need to close that small gap here quickly. And I think we will, I really do. Playing to our level of competition. I should say this – we need to. We aren't going to beat many American Conference teams with 50-yard penalties on special teams, 67-yard run on touch, two turnovers on offense, can't convert fourth down. I give Michigan State a lot of credit, I have a lot of respect for Coach Smith and what he is building here. He has some really, really good players. I felt like that was a winnable game for us and I was hoping we were a little bit farther than we were, but we have a week to get better and get excited for our first conference game next Saturday.

Players Mentioned

Alante Brown

Aidan Chiles

Jordan Hall

Anthony Jones

Dillon Tatum

Jalen Thompson

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