Link: Postgame quotes: Middle Tennessee State
RICK STOCKSTILL, HEAD COACH
"They've got a good football team. They did a nice job today and deserved to win that football game. They deserved to win with the way they played today. But I told out team afterwards we're disappointed. I'm disappointed. We're all disappointed, but I'm not the least bit discouraged. It's been a heck of a gauntlet for this team, this first three games. We've battled. We've competed. And I just think moving forward we've got a chance to be a good football team. It's not going to happen just by saying that. It's going to happen by the work and the effort that we put in and getting better at the little things."
On QB John Urzua's play...
"He was solid. Did some good things, did some not so good things."
On injuries limiting Middle Tennessee's abilities..."You take your two best players out of this game and that handcuffs you tremendously. You don't have your quarterback, your receiver, that's tough."
On Minnesota's defense stopping MT before scoring...
"Minnesota didn't really do anything [...] on any of those drives that was any different. We made some plays and then got down there, we either missed a guy, or we had a couple chances to make a couple chances and we didn't."
On the defense's performance...
"I thought our defense played really well, they gave us a chance to stay in that game. I'm really excited about our defense."
On results of a tough non-conference schedule...
"There's a complete different mentality over there. They're playing faster. They're playing harder. We're doing a lot of things fundamentally that are a lot better."
JOHN URZUA, QUARTERBACK
On when he knew he would start….
“As soon as Brent [Stockstill] went down in Syracuse I had a feeling about it and they told me the next day, so I was prepared. I was prepared early.”
On how they adjusted the game plan when Richie James went out…
“We didn’t try to change it too much. He’s a great player for us. We like to give him the ball a lot so it’s hard to not have one of our playmakers in there. We tried to spread the ball around best we could. Not a lot worked for us but we didn’t try to change it too much.”
On making big plays but not getting in the end zone in the first half…
“It’s tough when you can move the ball a little bit but stall out and not score points. That’s what we’ve got to work on this week. We’ve got to finish drives. I think that’s going to be our main focus, finishing. We’ve just got to get the ball in the end zone and score.”
On having a chance to tackle…
“I’m not the biggest guy so I try to get in there and take out the blockers knees, see if I can just trip someone out and make something happen but it’s not an easy position to be in.”
On the rhythm of the third quarter before the interception…
“My main thing this was playing with confidence and I think I did pretty well. I think I felt a lot more comfortable than I have before, especially last season and up until then you know, when we have things going well for us. I felt good back there, I felt comfortable, offensive line was playing well. When that happen there’s just… one of the situations… you have to let it go and bounce back."
JAVONTE MOFFATT, SAFETY
On the opportunity lost in the highly anticipated power conference game for MTSU…
“I think it was a good game for us, and for the future. They are a good team, and I feel like they just played better tonight but we can take some things from it and learn.”
On MTSU’s efforts in the first half…
“I think defensively we played really good as far as stopping the run and keeping the passing under control, but it was just a couple plays that got out of hand and separated the game for us.”
On what the team can learn from starting a season off with three power-five conference teams…
“It was a big benefit as far as seeing a lot bigger bodies, different kind of styles such as running and passing and it should help us in the conference this week (against Bowling Green) and continuing on throughout the season.”
RICHIE JAMES, WIDE RECEIVER
On the final outcome of the game…
“They are a good team. Coach P.J. Fleck has done a really good job with his players and we have to tip our hats off to them. This was an opportunity lost. We got a lot of guys that went down and we had key players that needed to play that didn’t play so at this point you just have to let it go. They played really well. Our defense played really well too. We’ve got a really good team.”
RICK STOCKSTILL, HEAD COACH
"They've got a good football team. They did a nice job today and deserved to win that football game. They deserved to win with the way they played today. But I told out team afterwards we're disappointed. I'm disappointed. We're all disappointed, but I'm not the least bit discouraged. It's been a heck of a gauntlet for this team, this first three games. We've battled. We've competed. And I just think moving forward we've got a chance to be a good football team. It's not going to happen just by saying that. It's going to happen by the work and the effort that we put in and getting better at the little things."
On QB John Urzua's play...
"He was solid. Did some good things, did some not so good things."
On injuries limiting Middle Tennessee's abilities..."You take your two best players out of this game and that handcuffs you tremendously. You don't have your quarterback, your receiver, that's tough."
On Minnesota's defense stopping MT before scoring...
"Minnesota didn't really do anything [...] on any of those drives that was any different. We made some plays and then got down there, we either missed a guy, or we had a couple chances to make a couple chances and we didn't."
On the defense's performance...
"I thought our defense played really well, they gave us a chance to stay in that game. I'm really excited about our defense."
On results of a tough non-conference schedule...
"There's a complete different mentality over there. They're playing faster. They're playing harder. We're doing a lot of things fundamentally that are a lot better."
JOHN URZUA, QUARTERBACK
On when he knew he would start….
“As soon as Brent [Stockstill] went down in Syracuse I had a feeling about it and they told me the next day, so I was prepared. I was prepared early.”
On how they adjusted the game plan when Richie James went out…
“We didn’t try to change it too much. He’s a great player for us. We like to give him the ball a lot so it’s hard to not have one of our playmakers in there. We tried to spread the ball around best we could. Not a lot worked for us but we didn’t try to change it too much.”
On making big plays but not getting in the end zone in the first half…
“It’s tough when you can move the ball a little bit but stall out and not score points. That’s what we’ve got to work on this week. We’ve got to finish drives. I think that’s going to be our main focus, finishing. We’ve just got to get the ball in the end zone and score.”
On having a chance to tackle…
“I’m not the biggest guy so I try to get in there and take out the blockers knees, see if I can just trip someone out and make something happen but it’s not an easy position to be in.”
On the rhythm of the third quarter before the interception…
“My main thing this was playing with confidence and I think I did pretty well. I think I felt a lot more comfortable than I have before, especially last season and up until then you know, when we have things going well for us. I felt good back there, I felt comfortable, offensive line was playing well. When that happen there’s just… one of the situations… you have to let it go and bounce back."
JAVONTE MOFFATT, SAFETY
On the opportunity lost in the highly anticipated power conference game for MTSU…
“I think it was a good game for us, and for the future. They are a good team, and I feel like they just played better tonight but we can take some things from it and learn.”
On MTSU’s efforts in the first half…
“I think defensively we played really good as far as stopping the run and keeping the passing under control, but it was just a couple plays that got out of hand and separated the game for us.”
On what the team can learn from starting a season off with three power-five conference teams…
“It was a big benefit as far as seeing a lot bigger bodies, different kind of styles such as running and passing and it should help us in the conference this week (against Bowling Green) and continuing on throughout the season.”
RICHIE JAMES, WIDE RECEIVER
On the final outcome of the game…
“They are a good team. Coach P.J. Fleck has done a really good job with his players and we have to tip our hats off to them. This was an opportunity lost. We got a lot of guys that went down and we had key players that needed to play that didn’t play so at this point you just have to let it go. They played really well. Our defense played really well too. We’ve got a really good team.”
