Postgame Quotes: Michigan 16, Miami (Ohio) 6
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Coach quotes courtesy of the Michigan Sports Network postgame show
Player quotes from the Michigan locker room
Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez (FROM THE LOCKER ROOM)
On the victory ... "I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. It might not have been pretty, but we got the win and the team played hard. We made a few good plays in the end and our defense played great. We'll take it."
On the two quarterbacks ... "It's the good, the bad, and the ugly. We got to be patient because they're young guys and we have to make progress each week. Steve got a few nice tries, as did Nick. They will definitely get more confidence as the season goes on."
On freshman running back Sam McGuffie ... "He's slowly getting there. He missed a couple reads today, but he also made a couple he didn't make last week. He's a very competitive guy that loves to play and I am proud to see the way he competed."
Regarding the defense's performance ... "I was really pleased in the fourth quarter. We got after them and pressured them a little bit and as a result got a few sacks. Our defensive line was also pretty good for the most part and responded well to the difficult situations our offense put us in."
On what the goal for next week will be ... "Just to get better. In order to have success offensively, you have to take advantage of the plays that are there. Defensively we need to take advantage of the couple turnover opportunities. We dropped a couple of interceptions and those are the types of things we got to have this year."
U-M Senior Safety Brandon Harrison
On the defense ... "We're molding, we are all coming together and coming on strong. We had a good second half last week, we really got things together and then we came out in the beginning of the game, got everything together and ran with it."
U-M Freshman Running Back Sam McGuffie
On his first two games ... "First game I was nervous, I had first-game jitters, Big House jitters. Now that I had my first game out of the way this game I didn't have to think as much, I could just play."
On the first win of the season ... "It's wonderful; this is one win that meant a lot to Coach Rodriguez, all the freshmen and everyone on the team. We trained all summer to get to this point and we wanted to win today after the bad taste in our mouth from last week."
U-M Sophomore/Freshman Quarterback Steven Threet (FROM THE LOCKER ROOM)
On what he improved on this week ... "I made some of the right reads this week. I had some difficulty seeing some things last week, but I saw them this week. Now I just have to take the next step and make all the plays."
On missed opportunities in the game ... "There were a couple balls down by the goal line that I would like to have back, but that happens. We just have to keep making the plays. Luckily for us our defense played well, and we ran the ball well enough that we were able to get the win."
On the running game's success ... "Anytime you can run the ball it is good for the offense. Being able to run the ball the whole game really helped us out a lot and will help us out a lot in the future as well."
U-M Junior/Sophomore Offensive Lineman Bryant Nowicki (FROM THE LOCKER ROOM)
On what went through his mind when entering the game ... "It is time to go and you better be ready. I am just hoping (Mark) Ortmann is okay so he can get back out there next week. I am just happy I was ready."
On the improved running game ... "It was nice. We definitely needed that touchdown to solidify the game. Miami played a good game, but we just really needed that touchdown to put us over the edge."
Miami (Ohio) Head Coach Shane Montgomery
On the game ... "I was really proud of our guys today. We knew it was going to be a tough game coming in here today. We are two very similar teams in that we both struggled at times in our first game. As a coach and as a team you are always looking to make great changes from game one to game two and I thought that we did today even though the score doesn't indicate it. I thought that we played good today. I thought that that the guys competed, we came in here and competed toe-to-toe. After we spotted them that early 10-0 lead, we went toe-to-toe with them for the other 56 or 57 minutes -- whatever it was.
"I'm really proud of them. You're never satisfied -- there are no moral defeats and we thought we had a chance to win that game and you have to give Michigan credit, they made plays when they needed to even though we shut them down after those first two drives, they stepped up and drove the ball when they needed to, to give themselves a 16-6 lead. We had to drop back and throw every drive which isn't easy for us to do. We have to try to establish the run and give our quarterbacks a chance. I thought we did that except for those last few drives. I'm proud of the way we played but I know there are no moral defeats and I know those guys in the locker room are disappointed walking off the field because we felt that we had a chance to win and we just didn't get it done."
On Daniel Raudabaugh's play today compared to his play against Vanderbilt ... "I thought he played really well today, there are some things that he did better today. I thought he made some better reads today and handled himself a little bit better under pressure. The first game I thought he kind of got his feet out from under him and threw some balls high and was going off of his back foot. I really liked the way that he played today. There were a couple plays that he threw the ball in there and we have to hang on. We had some drops in there that we've got to fix. He got dinged up a little bit in the third quarter and he said his head was hurting but he wanted to stay in and then he took a pretty good shot in the fourth quarter but I think he's gonna be okay.-- we'll have to check him tomorrow. I thought he played well, under the circumstances I thought it was good to get Clay (Belton) in and get his feet wet. That was not the time to put him in, but I think it will be good for him in the long run. I think Daniel played well but we've got to make some more plays around him."
On the dropped balls ... "They were plays that we had a chance on. There is such a fine line between winning and losing, we're playing Michigan who was a two touchdown favorite and next week we play Charleston Southern and on paper we're going to be a really big favorite. There is such a fine line and even though you play between 200 and 250 plays in a game there are just a handful of plays that make a difference and today it's the dropped balls. If we catch two or three of those dropped balls it could be the difference in the game -- last week it was five big plays. When we have a chance on offense to make the plays we need to. I think that we did a good job of not letting them make the big plays -- they only had a couple big plays on the first drive and a couple on the last drive."
Miami (Ohio) Junior Quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh
On his improvements from last week ... "Today, obviously, we didn't play well enough to win. We've got to go back and work on the fundamentals again. I felt like, all week, I worked really hard on my fundamentals to be able to deliver the ball better. I felt like I did that better today. I felt like I was more accurate. Coach had a really good gameplan coming in for us. We executed pretty well at times, and then other times, we didn't hit a play when we needed to. But we did a lot of good things, and we're going to be able to build off of this. Michigan is a good team."
On Michigan's defense compared to Vanderbilt's defense ... "They're bigger and probably a little bit faster. They are both very talented defenses. Vanderbilt blitzed, I think when we broke it down, about 90-some percent of the time. It felt like Michigan blitzed maybe 75 percent of the time. They've got a good defensive line, but I thought we protected the pass rush really well. I was only sacked one time, and Clay [Belton] was sacked once or twice late. Of course, I have to expect them to bring pressure in that situation, and they're also an experienced defense. They've changed coordinators and working under a new system, but they're very disciplined and they played hard."
Miami (Ohio) Senior Linebacker Clayton Mullins
On the defensive improvements ... "They did a few things that we weren't expecting to start off with. With Butch Jones being on [Rich Rodriguez's] staff and now at Central Michigan, I'm pretty sure some of that stuff is exactly what Central Michigan is doing. We adjusted to it. I felt like we played pretty well after that first drive until the last drive. We felt like we could make it happen and that we would be able to stop them. We made the adjustments that we needed to make. After we did that, the defense came together, and we wanted to get back on the field. We just felt like we had everything starting to click, but then we had a few breakdowns at the end."
On Miami's confidence on defense ... "I think we were a little shellshocked to start with in that first drive and didn't know what was going on. We felt like we hadn't seen some of that stuff. But after that, we got together and held them to a field goal, held them to a three-and-out going into halftime. Our confidence level was through the roof. We just felt like we could play with them and put the game on our back and kept holding and holding, thinking our offense would eventually come through. We just wanted to keep getting them the ball back. That's all we could do."
