Postgame Quotes: Toledo 13, Michigan 10
10/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
On his reaction to the game ... "I'm just extremely disappointed and embarrassed. The guys, everybody in that locker room is hurting. They're all disappointed. They're playing hard. They're just not playing well."
On the difference between playing hard and playing well ... "Well, it's obviously execution on a lot of things, in all three phases. We're working hard to try and correct things and then something else creeps up on us. We just got to get back to work and get better."
On the quarterback change at halftime ... "The thing is, the issue is Steve's (Threet) elbow was bruised and he couldn't even throw the ball so we didn't even have a choice there. He was struggling anyway, and he has a bad arm with a bruise. We didn't have a choice. Nick came in and competed. We just have to do better things."
On Nick Sheridan's performance coming in off the bench ... "I think he competed. There's a few things I'm sure we'd all like to have back and a couple throws and decisions here and there, but we just weren't clicking in any phase and it was very disappointing to not play better especially with such a great crowd."
On Toledo passing so much and if he expected that ... "They hadn't shown that, but then again if you're watching us on film all year we've been hurt when people have spread us out and isolated us in space. So after a few series of it, we tried to adjust to it and just didn't get quite a handle on it. So we get back to work tomorrow and try to correct our mistakes and get ready for a big one next week."
U-M Junior/Sophomore Linebacker Obi Ezeh
On the locker room after the game ... "It was kind of quiet. I thought we were going to at least have a chance to win that one, so it is to be expected. People don't really know how to respond to that. So we are going to have to go out and have a good week of practice and see if we can get it together."
On Michigan's third-down struggles ... "They were doing some things to neutralize our pass rush, so they took the defensive line out of the game. Other than that, I thought we played solid, but it didn't roll our way. In defense you have to get off the field. They extended their drives a few times just like last week so we have to get better on our third-down situations."
On where the team is at ... "I feel we're kind of at a crossroads where we could either go down hill or we can hang tough and weather this storm. Obviously, things aren't really going our way right now, but we've got to hang tough and hopefully this will pass and things will start going our way. We've just got to be tough."
On playing Penn State next week ... "People said we didn't have a shot against Wisconsin so you can't give up on us. Like I said, we're going to start figuring out some things. We've just got to hang tough as a team. We know some people are going to say some things about us, but we've just got to handle that and stay together."
U-M Junior/Sophomore Quarterback Nick Sheridan
On the final plays of the game ... "It's kind of how the plays worked out. They really didn't develop. Guys weren't as open as I thought maybe they would be so I just threw it away and made sure I gave us a chance to win. But a game shouldn't come down to K.C. Lopata, he's a great kicker. None of the blame should rest upon his shoulders. We're a team and it's unfortunate that some fans will see it as a one-play deal, but collectively as a team we didn't get the job done today."
U-M Fifth-year Senior Defensive End Tim Jamison
On the loss ... "We lost today, but we still have a chance to win the Big Ten. We are still 1-1 in the Big Ten so my job and this team's job is to keep our heads level and straight to keep pressing on. We'll soak in this defeat for 24 hours like coach said, get back to work, study hard and have a tough practice next week for Penn State."
On what caused the defeat ... "Honestly, I have to watch the film. We had some mistakes and the offense had mistakes, minimal mistakes that could have been corrected. It was just disappointing to me."
Toledo Head Coach Tom Amstutz
On the feeling of seeing his players celebrating out on the field of Michigan Stadium after the game ... "It was a great feeling. I'm especially proud because we were coming off not the smoothest couple of games in the world. Besides the win today, the biggest win was that the players learned that when things aren't going great, you have to stay together and battle. We have been looking at film of ourselves and talking about execution and what it takes to win a football game. We've had little execution problems that have made big differences in games. Today, we executed and that made enough difference to win this game. So it was a matter of execution and we executed. I give the players credit for staying together and staying focused because as a coach, you're trying to teach players about life. If stuff isn't going right, you don't give up and you don't point fingers, but you stay together and battle and work together. We grew together as a team. We started off Monday having a hamburger cookout, and people laughed about that, but it was the first step of staying together as a team. That's what we had to be today. We had to stay close together, battle on both sides of the ball, believe in each other and we were fortunate to come away with a win against a great program and a great tradition."
On where this win ranks for him ... "This is obviously a great, great win. All of them feel good, but this one is a special win for us as a team, and we will remember this one."
On what was going through his head with 18 seconds left on the clock and Michigan at the nine-yard line ... "I said lets block this field goal. We put in a block and went after it. We're going to battle to the last play. It could have gone either way. I could be sitting here right now and you could be asking if they would have kicked the field goal and beat you at the end 'how heartbreaking is it' I wouldn't be that heartbroken because I see the big picture that our players are battling. That's all you can do as a coach is to give them tools to make them better and help them get through hard times and let them know that their efforts will pay off, and big things will happen, like a great win here."
Toledo Senior Wide Receiver Nick Moore
On the game and his career day ... "It's not about me at all. I'm just glad that our team stuck together, especially in the hard times we stuck together and we came out with a big win for our season.
On the game plan against Michigan ... "Our coaches had a great game plan for us. They knew that we had to get the ball out quick and (quarterback) Aaron (Opelt) played his butt off and I'm just glad that we got the win on the field."
On breaking his brother's reception record at Toledo ... "It's not about me, my brother was a great player as you can see and I'm just glad to get this victory."
On what this win does for the season ... "Coming off of three losses all at home, coming into Michigan Stadium and getting a victory it does a tremendous amount for our season this year. I never lost confidence in our defense, they played great the whole game. I just kept telling our offense to keep bringing the defense up and they played a heck of a game."
Toledo Senior Safety Tyrrell Herbert
On his first interception ... "It was a bootleg play, I just read it, we had prepared for it all week. Everything unfolded like it did in practice and I just made the play that I was supposed to make."
On his second interception ... "It was a tipped ball and it was in the air. When it's in the air as a defense you think it's your ball, so I just went up and got it and made sure I secured it and came down with it."
On the shifting momentum with his interceptions ... "Momentum shifts quick. As a team, we came in confident and we knew that we had a chance to win this game. We knew that we were the underdogs but to get a play like that it just fueled the fire. We knew that we could win in this stadium and that we could beat these guys."
