Postgame Quotes

Oct. 21, 2006

Opening Statement... "This is as difficult of a loss as I've ever been apart of. We had opportunities in the second half to regain momentum. We just didn't do that. When that happens you are going to lose football games. I give Michigan State all the credit in the world. They just kept battling. They made plays down the stretch that you need to make. I put this one squarely on my shoulders. We had momentum-we had it and I thought we made good adjustments. Somehow, someway I let momentum slip off of our sideline. I look myself in the mirror first and I take full responsibility."

On the loss of momentum... "As always when you have a big lead you think about making the right calls and giving our guys a chance to be successful, but you don't want to do anything crazy. Maybe just by making that statement, I took our foot off the pedal and that's what happened. When you do that-you aren't going to seize momentum back. We tried to, but especially on third down, we didn't get the job done."

On Nick Roach's injury... "Nick is one of our best football players and to lose him is going to be very difficult. It's time for someone to step up. Not to minimize what happened to Nick. It's a great loss for his playmaking ability and for our team. Nick is tremendous leader. Now someone is going to have to go out there and prepare to take that over."

On starting C.J. Bacher at quarterback... "This really didn't happen until yesterday at 4 p.m. I evaluate everything-from the way we operate in practice, to what we do in a meeting-any thing that we do. I just really felt like C.J. was the most prepared this week. On Friday he did some things, he was mentally sharp, so we decided to make a change. He went out and played well. He'll look back at the film with some regret like we all will."

On the play of Michigan State... "I thought they played extremely well. I really thought the receivers caught the ball well. We were trying to change some things coverage wise, but they still made the catches. For Drew (Stanton) to go 27-37-he's a big-time player. He's an NFL caliber quarterback and we didn't get the pressure on him. There is a reason he is going to be playing a long time in the NFL. On defense, they made some plays when it mattered. I thought we had some throws there early, but at the end of the game they tightened up and played the type of game that I thought they were capable of the whole time."

Northwestern Player Quotes

QB Andrew Brewer On what he plans to do this week to win back the starting QB job... "I really don't know. I'm going to go out and have the best week of practice that I can possibly have and let the coaches decide ...That's part of the game. I trust the coaches to make decision for the team."

On a possible quarterback controversy... "We can't be in disunity-we have to be together. When I go out on the field I need to know that Mike and C.J. have my back, and C.J. needs to know that we have his back. We're all good friends and we all need each other. We're all just going to work together and work in competition with each other and that brings out the best in us. You can't let anything slip in this job, you can't turn your back for second because there's going to be a guy right there behind you."

Safety Brendan Smith

On the tough loss... "It hurts a lot knowing that we're capable of doing it and just not getting it done. It's not a good feeling to lose, we were pumped and we had all the energy on our side. There were a couple of momentum swings and we just couldn't get it back."

On Michigan State's second half adjustments... "They were running crossing patterns and high lows and just kept throwing it underneath us, it really made it difficult for us. The coach gave us the right defensive calls and all we had to do was go out and make the plays; we just didn't do it today."

On Michigan State's comeback... "They made plays and we didn't when it came down to it. In the first half we made more plays and it showed. As a defense we gave a lot of opportunities to the offense. In the second half we didn't do that. I give credit to Michigan State in the second half, they gained a lot of yards on first down which gave them a much easier chance to convert on third down. When you have a veteran like Drew Stanton, as good as he is, he'll make plays."

WR Shaun Herbert

On C.J. Bacher's first start at QB... "I thought we felt confident going into the game. Today you got to see CJ's strengths: he reads the defense and is able to get the ball to the playmakers. His ability to do that allowed us to take that step to being the offense that we're capable of being."

Michigan State Head Coach John L. Smith

Opening statement... "I have nothing to say except that the ones who deserve all of the credit are my coaches. They put together a good plan. They stuck with the plan. They had to adjust the plan as players were bounced in and out and we were losing guys here or there. You just have to keep patching the holes. The coaches deserve a tremendous amount of credit. The ones that really deserve the credit are (the players). They played the game and believed in each other. They continued to fight, pulled together and they deserve everything they got today, all of the positives. It was a positive day. They deserve all of the spotlight, and that's it. Give them the spotlight and everything positive you can because we are going to need it for next week. We are going to Indiana to see if we can get another one."

Michigan State Player Quotes

David Herron Jr., WHIP
On the team's mood at halftime... "I pulled the defense together and I was like, 'Hey man, the only people we got is us. We just have to believe, believe in each other.' And that's what the team did. They came out and played good ball in the second half."

On the turning point of the game... "I believe when the defense went 3 and out. We stopped them a couple of times in our first couple series. They got the big play on us but we still got the interception in the end zone. That brought energy to ourselves, to the whole team and everybody just kept believing."

Travis Key, SS
On the change in team dynamic in the second half... "We just started playing together as a team. We had a couple of leaders in the locker room step up, a couple of speeches at halftime and it motivated all of us. We came together as a team, came back and got the victory."

On his interception... "This is the highest level for me so I guess that's probably my biggest play."

"I knew I was going to get it. The guy when the quarterback looked at him looked wide open and I knew he was going to try to lay it up there."

Kyle Cook, C
On the game in general... "We saved our season. The bad thing is we really should have come out and did that right away. We shouldn't have let it get to what it was. It showed a lot of character of our team that we were able to come in at halftime, ruffle a couple of feathers, and come out and get it done."

On the play of the defense... "We couldn't have done it as an offense without our defense and our special teams... Hats off to our defense because we couldn't have done it without them. If we would have come out staying lackadaisical and played the second half like the first, you know we obviously wouldn't have had the opportunity to score like we did in the second half. Hats off to the defense for stepping up and actually coming out and playing hard, giving us the opportunity."

Drew Stanton, QB
On making the biggest comeback in NCAA history... "It hasn't really sunk in yet. I think it was just a testament of this team working hard. As things started to progress and the gap kind of closed between the score, I think more guys started believing and wanting to make plays. You know, I think the big thing we saw today was how effective we can be when we play together as a team."

On the play of the offense... "I think our offense definitely battled back today. Our offensive line did a great job of protecting me all day and keeping me clean. Our receivers showed up and made some plays for us and that's what we need. They did a lot of great things on the outside and we got the ball in their hands. And maybe the person I'm most proud of today is A.J. because I think A.J. stepped up and really grew up today. We needed him to come in the latter part of the game and he had some very crucial plays that he was involved in and, you know, really helped us out from that standpoint."

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