Bowling Green State University Athletics
Quotes Following BGSU vs. Ohio
October 08, 2005 | Football
Oct. 8, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Head Coach Gregg Brandon
Opening statement...
"Pretty good crowd for not having the students on Fall Break. I thought it was going to be worse but our fans are starting to step up, just like this football team and that is nice to see."
Defense vs. rush...
"Tremendous job. We have been getting a lot of the flack because of our rushing defense and giving up a lot of points. But the last time I checked, Wisconsin was still rushing the ball and Boise State was still rushing the ball so we played some good rushing teams. It was just a matter of time. Kids have to understand the scheme and the things that we are teaching defensively. And John Lovett has done a great job hanging in there with them and he has never doubted our abilities and he continues to coach with a lot of passion and heart, as do all our defensive coaches. And you saw that out there today...we strangled them."
What did this show you about the team...playing a team that was undefeated coming in in the MAC?
"We showed a lot of character and I just told them in the locker room we were very resilient. To have some of the adversity that we faced today and to overcome that. Our defense never quit playing and we always had a strangle hold on them. And that is why you win at this level because you make plays on defense when it counts and we made plays.
PJ and BJ... especially BJ at the end...
"I thought BJ Lane showed up big time today, especially in the second half. He ran the ball really well, took care of the football. It was nice to see our offensive line take control of that football game in the 4th quarter. We were able to run the ball and eventually put it away. If there was a huge play on the 3rd down when we were backed up and we converted it and drove it down and eventually converted it into a field goal. I thought that was a huge play."
Improvements from last week to this week on defense...
"I though we played a good sound defensive football game. We were in the right gaps, we controlled the line of scrimmage. I think our two ends (Parks and Brad Williams) were dominant. And Thaler was steady up front along with Cooley. It helps when your linebackers are free and can run to the football. And I really thought we tackled well tonight. You have to continue to tackle, which we did."
Charles Sharon
Talk about the offense and how they keep plugging along.
"We put up an okay day today, we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties a few times. We didn't play a great game, but we had to keep plugging along and stop beating ourselves."
How did it feel to play against their defensive back Byrum and score over him?
"I think Omar made a great read and pass, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Byrum is a great player and I hope he has great success over the year.
B.J. Lane
Talk about your offense for the rest of the MAC season.
"The offense line moved great today. Omar and the receivers did great catching balls today, and we need to be able to run the ball the rest of the year.
Did if feel like something was different tonight or did the game just open up a little?
"It was just another game. We put an emphasis in running the ball in practice and executed well today."
How good was it to have a good day running.
"We wanted to run the ball better and control the clock, and we transferred it from practice to the game."
How important was it for you to take the running game on your back?
"I don't look at it as taking it on my back; I just have to play within myself. The offensive line makes the holes and I just do my job and hit them. We all work as one."
Talk about the offensive line and how key they were on you hitting your holes.
"They set the tone early that we needed to establish our running game, and we were successful because of those guys."
What did you have to do to succeed against the OU defense?
"Preparation, we knew that they were going to throw a lot of different looks at us, and we learned that when some things break down don't try to force things. We tried to open things and guys made some key reads, and that opened things for the run."
Omar Jacobs
Was it important for you guys to run tonight?
"We haven't been doing so well with the run lately, and that was our emphasis and BJ and PJ did a great job tonight. The offensive line did great, it starts with them. I think that pass opened up the run and that really helped in this game."
What does the record (career TD passes) mean to you?
"I am not thinking about it. It's not something that I was shooting for, but it's great to do great things and get into the history books here at BGSU."
Ohio Coach Frank Solich
Commenting on getting in the redzone three times and getting no points...
"Whenever we had the ball we needed to make plays and we didn't do it. They fumble the opening kickoff and we get inside the five-yard line and come away with no points, but that wasn't the answer to the whole game. We had several other opportunities to take advantage of. We need to share the blame a lot of different ways. I don't think we played our best game tonight."
"Offensively we were really struggling to get anything going. We couldn't get a ground game going, which we felt we needed to do. With no running game it didn't open up much for us in the passing game."
Commenting on BGSU's running game...
"One thing we couldn't do is let them establish a ground game. They did that. Once they did that they had a lot of things going for them. They are good enough upfront one-on-one and in order to get pressure you have to blitz and now you are one-on-one coverage, which makes it pretty tough."
Commenting on the effective special team's play...
"We put great emphasis on that the last two weeks. They did return a few good punts, but overall I thought we did a good job on special teams play. We thought we would have a chance at a block going in. That proved to be a plus for us. We also had some very good kickoff returns.
Commenting on the lack of an Ohio running game...
"They (BG) are a good physical football team. We just did not get it done upfront. That was somewhat surprising to us."
Mike Thaler
Intensity on Defense...
"I think it was awesome today. As the weeks go by we play with more and more intensity. And that is the key. We don't have any superstars, it is just intensity and hard work.... And right away on that first drive we let them know that they were not going to run the ball on us tonight and we played the whole game with that attitude all game."
Not letting up after the Temple game...
We knew we had a lot of room for improvement. I think last week Ohio rushed for 360 yards against Kent and we knew we could not take their running game lightly. So far, we have not stopped the run and they are going to come in and try to run the ball on us. So we just went in with that mentality and not let up.
Devon Parks
First drive with missed FG do for confidence...
"When the kicker missed the field goal, it was like all of that hard work paid off, because we stopped them cold. Truthfully, they should have gotten three points, but we made a stand."
Stopping them on 3rd down...
"In the past weeks we were not getting it done, but this week we made it an emphasis to get the offense the game and they will make it happen."
