Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcon Football Quotes: Week 13 (Game 12)
November 19, 2007 | Football
Nov. 19, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University football team will spend Thanksgiving week preparing for Friday's (Nov. 23) game vs. the arch-rival University of Toledo. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. at Doyt Perry Stadium. On Monday afternoon, Falcon head coach Gregg Brandon and members of his team met with the media ...
Head Coach Gregg Brandon
What is your feeling on Toledo's quarterback situation
"Well, from what I'm hearing both [Clint] Cochran and their freshman [D.J. Lenehan] will play. But I'm really not concerned with who they are playing, I'm just concerned about my guys. Regardless of who plays at quarterback for UT, I think they have the best talent in the league, year in and year out, and this year is no exception. I think they are one of the top three in the league when it comes to talent and having good players."
You did a nice job of stopping the run against Buffalo. Now you face another very good back in Toledo's Jalen Parmele.
"Yes, we did a nice job of taking away [Buffalo's] run. I think from a yardage standpoint, it was our best game. And, we kept them out of the end zone, which is what we need to do. They had a big play on us, but we stepped up in the red zone, and we've been doing that all season. Parmele is a big, strong back with better-than-average speed; he runs well, he sets up his blocks, he's a north-south guy and we have to get a lot of hats around him."
On a personal level, how gratifying has this season been for you after coming off the 4-8 season?
"I knew what happened last year was temporary. Everything that had happened last year was a result of things we didn't control. We didn't have control of that brutal schedule, we didn't have control over having to play 27 freshmen and we just need to control the things we can control. That's just coaching our tails off and getting the kids ready to play, and that's what we did every game, and we just weren't good enough to overcome some situations last year. But, I knew this team would mature and the thing that's exciting now is the fact that I don't lose many guys off this team, as many will be coming back next year. So I think the pieces are in place. We still need to go out and get a couple of guys, which we will, and I'm excited about the future of this program."
This season has turned out to be a pretty good one after being 4-4 at one point. Would a win over Toledo take it up another level?
"Yeah, I think it would bring it close to being a really good season. Obviously, a great season would to win the MAC and accomplish all those sorts of things, but there are still a lot of things out there for this team. I think to ensure a bowl bid, we need to win this game. To be 8-4 and have the best record in the conference is something nobody can top. But we've still got to finish. That's what we talked about at Buffalo in the locker room, 'let's finish,' and this would be a great game to go out there and finish."
How did you feel Michael Ream played this past weekend?
"Mike did a nice job for us. He's overcome some adversity in his life, which he's still working on daily, but it was nice to see him step up and do a real nice job for us."
It has to be nice to have a few more healthy bodies on the defensive line, isn't it?
"It's pretty good to have a healthy [Jacob] Hardwick and the depth that [Michael] Ream provides; especially with [Sean] O'Drobinak getting close to healthy again with his elbow. We still miss Nick Davis, though. Nick would have been a veteran guy in there that could've really helped us in that stretch where we were banged up. But, it's good at this time of year to be getting guys off the shelf and back in the fray."
Does everyone on the team understand the importance of the Toledo game?
"Well, I think it's something you need to talk about daily. I still have a fairly young football team that hasn't played in a lot of these games and the last time we beat Toledo, these fifth-year seniors were in that locker room right in this stadium, and those guys remember that. But the bulk of this team hasn't beaten Toledo, so we'll need to talk about everyday."
FALCON PLAYER QUOTES
Sean O'Drobinak
On Friday's game vs. Toledo
"This is it. This is a big one for myself and these other seniors. We haven't beat this guys for a couple years and we are due for one."
On the win against Buffalo
"That win was huge. It put us right where we needed to be. We needed to win that game to get to 7-4 and put ourselves in good contention, hopefully, for a bowl bid. It was even a bigger win because coming off of a win going into this game [Toledo] gives you that much more momentum. It is not like you are going to need momentum come Monday of Toledo week but it just adds a little fuel to our fire."
On Toledo
"The thing that concerns me the most is that they started the season off pretty slow but their past five games they have played pretty well. They are finding a way to win in November and that is what Toledo is known for. They may lose a couple non-conference games but in November, that is when champions are crowned. For the past couple of years they have found a way to do that. This is no different. ... Like I said they find a way to win in November and they are a good team in November."
Do you take stopping Jalen Parmele as a personal challenge?
"You better, otherwise you don't belong on the defensive side of the ball. Last week Coach [Mike] Ward challenged us, saying that we were last in rushing defense. He challenged our defense and mainly our defensive interior linemen. We needed to step our game up and I think we rose to that occasion. He is going to have to challenge us again this week because we have our hands full once again."
Regardless of the outcome of this game, do you think BG deserves a bowl bid?
"I hope so. I may be a little biased, because it's my senior year, but I would like to think so because we are a 7-4 team. We do have one of the better records in the MAC and we did beat a Big Ten team. Granted, we lost a couple crucial games to Miami and Ohio in conference games but we went to Buffalo in a hostile environment after a long bus ride with the International Bowl there looking at Buffalo. We proved we can win in a hostile environment, and we have done that more than once. Hopefully with a little luck and little gratitude we get a bowl bid even if we may lose to Toledo. That is out of my hands; what I can control is trying to get a victory over Toledo and I think that would assure us a bowl game."
The time you played Toledo at home, they won in OT. How much responsibility do you put on yourself to win as a senior?
"Before that game I think the seven years prior to that, the home team always won. Losing to that team two years ago here. I still remember the last play that beat us. It was a corner route in the south end zone. It hurts, but I think that we owe it Coach Brandon and to ourselves because that is the one thing you hear about when you come to Bowling Green, you have to beat Toledo. That is one of our goals -- `Beat the Team Up North'. You place goals to attain them and if you don't beat Toledo, then what is the point of having that goal?"
Tyler Sheehan
On being named MAC East Player of the Week again
"I didn't think I did too much. Chris [Wright] had a nice long touchdown for me and Freddie [Barnes] made people miss and made me look good. I guess I give it to those guys and the guys up front again. I did have one touchdown reception, I guess that was all right. But, other than that, it was the guys around me that just picked me up and helped me have a good game."
On having that touchdown catch on his birthday
"We knew we had it all along; we practiced it a lot. It was the same thing we did against Minnesota, because we saw how their defense was playing a flow heavy defense and Coach said he would give me a little birthday present there. Then Freddie pretty much gave me another one with what he did with the screen pass and made me look good with a touchdown pass."
What have the seniors and upperclassmen told you about this UT rivalry?
"They stressed it from day one since I came here last year. They talk about, even if we don't win a game all year and we go against Toledo and they are undefeated, this is the one game we have to win. We haven't won in the past three years; I think it is our time and we have a lot of momentum right now. I think we have some good things forming. They know what we do -- we have played each other every year since I don't know when. I think it just comes down to who executes. They have a lot of the same guys back from last year and so do we. It is going to fun to see how it turns out."
How big is this game?
"It's huge. We have a chance to win the most games in the MAC, we have a chance to pretty much assure ourselves a bowl game if we win it, and it's our biggest rivalry. It is like the Ohio State-Michigan thing; they don't care who they face all year -- if they beat one another, that makes their season,. It is kind of the same thing for us."
Do you think BG has done enough to this point to merit a bowl bid?
"Personally, I think so, but that is up to the bowl guys. I kind of stay out of that and leave it to Coach Brandon and all them to decide. I feel that our team has done enough but I think we can put extra emotions on it with Toledo."
How much you want to atone for last year and beat UT?
"It is one of our goals just to beat them. In our player handbook, if you don't play a snap all year and you play one snap in the Toledo game and we win, you get a letterman jacket. You letter for that year. That's how big this game is to us, and I am sure it means the same to them as well. We are just going to go out there, it is going to be a hard-fought battle and the team that plays better will win."
Do you fell any added pressure for this game?
"I'm just going to take it as another game. They were asking me this before the Minnesota game, and it is just another game. I have been playing football for the longest time. It is just like going out in the backyard and playing with my brothers and my friends back home. We go out there to have fun, and ever since we were 4-4, Kory Lichtensteiger just talks about having fun. Go out and playing our game, have fun, do what we have been doing our whole lives. I think that has really gotten to a lot of people. We just want to go out there and have fun. When we have fun, we win."
Kory Lichtensteiger
How big is this game?
"I couldn't put words behind that really. It's big for our program, it's big for me as a senior, and it's big in so many unspoken ways. I think it really means a lot to define our season and to define our senior class as a whole."
On being 0-3 as a class against Toledo
"We are really looking to change that. We are taking the mindset that it is do or die for all the season right now. Without putting too much pressure on ourselves it is something we really need to do for ourselves."
Loren Hargrove
How big is this game?
"It is very big for me personally; we owe Toledo for the past three years. It is senior year and I just want to go out right here at home. This would mean a lot to me."
Do you feel BGSU has done enough to merit a bowl game?
"It is hard to say. We are just trying to focus on this game; focus on getting a win, so that we can try to assure a bowl bid. No, we are not worrying that we have done enough to get a bowl bid to this point. But, we are going into this game telling ourselves that we need to win to get to a bowl game."
