Postgame Quotes: Purdue 38, Michigan 36
11/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
• U-M coach quotes courtesy of the Michigan Sports Network postgame show
• Player quotes from the Michigan locker room
Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
On the game ... "It's disappointing. We play well in phases, but you got to play a little better than that if you want to win games. It's frustrating for everybody involved I'm sure, but you just have to go back to work."
On the defense ... "What hurts you is the cheap [touchdowns]. They're uncontested. If [Purdue] makes great plays, that's one thing, but to just let guys get behind you or let guys get wide open or a couple times we blew coverage. We had a guy man-to-man and eyes were somewhere else other than our man and that's just frustrating. Again we've got to fix them and move on."
On the offense ... "You score 36 points you ought to be able to win it. Again we had opportunities missed there as well. Offensively we had some execution issues. We can't do that and expect to win."
On the loss ... "You give [Purdue] credit. They made some plays too. Again we're not good enough or talented enough right now to overpower people. The other teams are going to be coming at us pretty good, and we've got to be able to handle that. We got to control what we can control, and that's just play better."
Purdue Head Coach Danny Hope
On the game ... "It was a real big win. It's huge for our football team. It's an opportunity for our football team to make history. There are a lot of strings out there or consecutive type games out there that it's big for our football team this year. We beat a ranked opponent a few weeks ago and that was huge for our football team and adds for our opportunity to have a special season in 2009. For us to come out here and win at the Big House today is another opportunity for us to have a special season."
On anticipating a win ... "We didn't have any second thoughts about winning here today. They're a very good football team despite their record. They have some young guys and we're similar in some ways. They're great at times and at times they have some mishaps and we knew that was going to happen throughout the game. It was just a matter of time. The bottom line was the team that wavered first or most often was going to be doomed. That wasn't going to be us today. At halftime we were down by a couple scores and we still felt good. Last week they were ahead at halftime, they had some mishaps, and the other team found a way to win. We had thrown and caught pretty well in the first half, we protected our quarterback, and we had guys open in the first half, and we had a few drops in the first half. In the second half, we had to come out and manufacture some drives and manufacture some points. They have some great skill players on offense, they have a great scheme, and they are on the cutting edge of executing that scheme. We knew that defense would have to play hard."
On the onside kick ... "We've had it greased up all year long and we're excellent at it in practice. We've hit it almost every time in practice. It has to be at the right scenario. Coming off the drive that preceded that and lining up and hitting that was huge for our team. I think it created some energy and momentum. It was a lot of fun."
