MSU Tuesday Press Conference Quotes
9/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
MSU coach Rob Ash and Bobcat players comment on MSU's game at Minnesota, the bye week, and the upcoming comment against South Dakota...
BOBCAT COACH ROB ASH
Comment on the quarterback switch Saturday, and the quarterback position in general:
“The switch in the game was just something we intended to do. We promised Mark Iddins that he was going to play, and he played. We’re always going to come through on our word when we say that to a player. It wasn’t anything Cody did, we just tried to find the right time in the game to make the move. We thought that was a good time to get Mark in, while the game was in contention. Cody is still going to be our starter, we have decided that while watching tapes. He’s never not been our starter. We’re going to back to our practices this week and see where we go from here in terms of our rotation. I can’t predict that right now.”
Once the Idaho State game arrives will you pick one of the guys?
“I’ve said from the beginning that I would have preferred a situation where we had one guy who stood out and was clearly the number one. If that would have happened in August then we would have had one guy play in the first three games. This wasn’t predetermined, but based on the closeness of the competition that’s how it worked out.”
Comment on Mark’s performance, especially in light of the disparity in statistics?
“I’m not ever real hung up on numbers. They’re part of the equation, certainly, because statistics don’t lie, but I liked a lot of things Mark did. He had one glaring mistake with the interception, throwing the ball into coverage, but he had two or three great plays with the third down run and some of those things. That continues to make the picture muddy to a certain extent, but the one clear opinion we have and the decision we made coming out of this game is that Cody is still our quarterback.”
Is there a danger of a letdown after playing two FBS opponents back-to-back?
“This is a very risky game for us. You come off playing a Big 10 and a Big 12 team and if the mentality on the team is that this one is easy because it’s not Big 10 or Big 12, we’re going to get beat. South Dakota’s a great team, they’re going to be very comparable to a Big Sky team, and we’re going to have to play great football to win that football game. It’s going to give us a reading of where we stand against teams at our level. We have no room at all for a letdown.”
Is this the final stage in the preparation for the Big Sky season?
“That’s exactly how we’re looking at it. I think we’ll finally get a real gauge of where our team’s at, for two reasons. One is South Dakota is at the same level we are, and also because it’s one week from that time to the start of the conference season. We do need to have a reading at that time.”
How important is it to play well heading into conference play?
“This is an important game for us, a big game for us, a must-win game for us. I’m not afraid to say that because we need the momentum. Confidence comes from winning. I know South Dakota feels the same way. It’s a game we need to win.”
How important is it to generate some excitement coming home?
“We need a game here at home. I’m sure it’s been tough on our fans, and I apologize to our fans for that, it’s just the way our schedule worked out. That’s a huge gap, a month early in the season between home games. But like I said earlier, I think as we get closer to the game the momentum will build up, people will start getting their tailgate parties planned and their events planned for the day. By the time it gets here there will be some pent-up demand and excitement and I think we’ll have a great crowd and a great atmosphere for the game.”
TIGHT END BRANDON BOSTICK
How does playing back-to-back FBS teams prepare the team for the rest of the season?
“It was a pretty good experience playing both of these teams. I know the Kansas State game didn’t come out the way we wanted to, but I thought our team did really good in preparing for Minnesota and coming back and playing real hard. I think that says a lot about our team, our ability to stay close with a Big 10 team. It should give us pretty good momentum coming into South Dakota. As coach was saying, South Dakota is a pretty good team at our level, so we should have pretty good momentum going into that week.”
Any chance of a letdown after the bye week? How do you maintain the same mentality as you had the last two games?
“I think we definitely need to keep that mentality. It’s a very important game, not just necessarily because it’s just a non-conference game, but at the end of the year when the playoffs come around it could be an important win for us. We need to focus on this game as hard as we did on the Division I teams and be ready to play.”
How does it feel to see the pass game beginning to work, with guys other than yourself catching balls?
“It’s a big part of the game. You have to have everyone contributing to be real successful. It was really good to see everybody contributing in their own way.”
Has there been talk among the receivers that they needed to make a statement?
“I think they wanted to be involved the whole time. They’re going to do everything they can to be contributing every game.”
How do you not get rusty during the bye week?
“I think what the coaches are planning this week is to do some fundamental stuff, some technique stuff, then focus on South Dakota later in the week and next week. It won’t be like we’re focusing on them so long that it gets old, so I think we’ll do alright not letting down.”
How much did the performance against Minnesota increase the team’s confidence?
“I think it was huge. We knew as a team we were better than (we played in) the Kansas State game. There were a lot of mistakes, and we knew that we were better than that. Playing real tough against Minnesota was a real confidence booster, and it will help against South Dakota and the rest of the season.”
How fun was it catching a touchdown pass in Kansas?
“It was pretty cool. I mean, it stinks that it was the only one. But it was really cool being able to catch a touchdown pass in front of that many people.”
On Joe Schreibeis’ reception from Bobby Daly on the fake punt:
“(laughs) He put that in a really good spot for Joe. He did what he needed to do to get the play going.”
Talk about you and Joe (Schreibeis) emerging as threats in this offense:
“I think our coaches have done a real good job implementing Joe and I into the offense really well, giving the quarterbacks another check-down if they need it.”
Were you worried when you heard MSU was implementing a spread offense that the tight ends wouldn’t be utilized?
“In the beginning Joe and I were a little, I guess, worried that (MSU was going to run) a spread offense, but talking to the offensive coordinators, they told us in the beginning that we were going to be a big part of the offense, so that was a real confidence booster for both of us.”
What kind of advantage does the threat of a tight end give the spread offense?
“Obviously it helps the receivers, too, having that extra threat, and I think it will help the receivers get open later in the season, as well. The receivers haven’t gotten the ball as much, so I think that will help.”
LINEBACKER BOBBY DALY
On the ‘ugliest pass ever’ that he completed to Joe Schreibeis out of punt formation:
“When you’re out there under fire you just get it there, in my opinion, that’s all that matters.”
What were you feeling when the play was called?
“It’s something we practiced (last) week, it’s something that we wanted to do to take some pressure off us rushing the punt. I’ve never thrown a pass since I was probably a sixth grader in a game. I just lobbed it up there and Joe made a good play on it.”
Was that the true Bobby Daly at Minnesota, flying to the football?
“I had a tough game at Kansas State, I didn’t make as many plays as I wanted to, I actually missed some plays I should have made. I was just trying to rebound, get the season off, get my season off to a better start. I think I was able to make a couple more plays in Minnesota.”
How do the Minnesota and Kansas State games prepare the team for the FCS season?
“I think we’ve probably played our toughest competition so far this year and throughout the year at Kansas State. It’ll just give us preparation for our level of play. We figured out that we can play with Minnesota so I figure we can play with anyone else that we play this year.”
How important was the good start and Jeff Price’s hit on the first play of the game?
“As a defense we wanted to get off to a good start, we wanted to celebrate with each other early to give us some momentum going in our favor. I felt like we did that pretty well with three three-and-outs to start the game, and Jeff (Price) was a big part of that.”
How difficult is it to not get distracted and rusty during the bye week?
“We’re going to be practicing all the way through. We may not be preparing for South Dakota just yet, but our football skills will be tuned up this week. It’s not like we get a week off just because we’re not playing this weekend.”
Coach called this a must-win game for MSU. Is that true?
“Definitely. Getting off to a 1-3 start is not something we want. 2-2 will get us right back on track and get us some momentum going into the Big Sky Conference.”
Did Eric Decker’s big day expose the defense a little bit?
“They got him the ball in ways we weren’t expecting them to. We figured he’d get some screen passes and catch some seams, but they were getting him the ball on reverses and fly sweeps and things of that nature that we hadn’t seen on film. That was different for us, but in the third game of the season, preparing for South Dakota, they’ll have a lot of their stuff on film. We won’t be surprised.”
Was the Minnesota game a bounce-back game?
“We definitely wanted to compete better this game compared to the Kansas State game. I felt like we did. I felt like we gave ourselves a chance to win. We made a couple mistakes that ended up costing us the game, but we felt like we played a lot better and are definitely excited to keep going in the season.”
How do you keep tuned up this week?
“It will be something like fall camp, I would imagine, this week. There will be a lot of tackling and things like that, keeping our body healthy but at the same time keeping our football skills tuned.”
Describe the difference of playing against an option team, like Minnesota:
“It was definitely more assignment. Against the spread offense on every play you have to have someone accounting for the quarterback and the running back and instead of just reading the keys and going to the football it was more of an option type thing where you had to be on a certain guy at a certain time on every play. Instead of just running to the football and reading the offensive line, it was a little bit different. It’s week to week. Every week’s going to be different. Some weeks it’s going be flying to the football when you know it’s a straight downhill run team, some weeks you have to prepare for the quarterback keeping it.”
BOBCAT COACH ROB ASH
Comment on the quarterback switch Saturday, and the quarterback position in general:
“The switch in the game was just something we intended to do. We promised Mark Iddins that he was going to play, and he played. We’re always going to come through on our word when we say that to a player. It wasn’t anything Cody did, we just tried to find the right time in the game to make the move. We thought that was a good time to get Mark in, while the game was in contention. Cody is still going to be our starter, we have decided that while watching tapes. He’s never not been our starter. We’re going to back to our practices this week and see where we go from here in terms of our rotation. I can’t predict that right now.”
Once the Idaho State game arrives will you pick one of the guys?
“I’ve said from the beginning that I would have preferred a situation where we had one guy who stood out and was clearly the number one. If that would have happened in August then we would have had one guy play in the first three games. This wasn’t predetermined, but based on the closeness of the competition that’s how it worked out.”
Comment on Mark’s performance, especially in light of the disparity in statistics?
“I’m not ever real hung up on numbers. They’re part of the equation, certainly, because statistics don’t lie, but I liked a lot of things Mark did. He had one glaring mistake with the interception, throwing the ball into coverage, but he had two or three great plays with the third down run and some of those things. That continues to make the picture muddy to a certain extent, but the one clear opinion we have and the decision we made coming out of this game is that Cody is still our quarterback.”
Is there a danger of a letdown after playing two FBS opponents back-to-back?
“This is a very risky game for us. You come off playing a Big 10 and a Big 12 team and if the mentality on the team is that this one is easy because it’s not Big 10 or Big 12, we’re going to get beat. South Dakota’s a great team, they’re going to be very comparable to a Big Sky team, and we’re going to have to play great football to win that football game. It’s going to give us a reading of where we stand against teams at our level. We have no room at all for a letdown.”
Is this the final stage in the preparation for the Big Sky season?
“That’s exactly how we’re looking at it. I think we’ll finally get a real gauge of where our team’s at, for two reasons. One is South Dakota is at the same level we are, and also because it’s one week from that time to the start of the conference season. We do need to have a reading at that time.”
How important is it to play well heading into conference play?
“This is an important game for us, a big game for us, a must-win game for us. I’m not afraid to say that because we need the momentum. Confidence comes from winning. I know South Dakota feels the same way. It’s a game we need to win.”
How important is it to generate some excitement coming home?
“We need a game here at home. I’m sure it’s been tough on our fans, and I apologize to our fans for that, it’s just the way our schedule worked out. That’s a huge gap, a month early in the season between home games. But like I said earlier, I think as we get closer to the game the momentum will build up, people will start getting their tailgate parties planned and their events planned for the day. By the time it gets here there will be some pent-up demand and excitement and I think we’ll have a great crowd and a great atmosphere for the game.”
TIGHT END BRANDON BOSTICK
How does playing back-to-back FBS teams prepare the team for the rest of the season?
“It was a pretty good experience playing both of these teams. I know the Kansas State game didn’t come out the way we wanted to, but I thought our team did really good in preparing for Minnesota and coming back and playing real hard. I think that says a lot about our team, our ability to stay close with a Big 10 team. It should give us pretty good momentum coming into South Dakota. As coach was saying, South Dakota is a pretty good team at our level, so we should have pretty good momentum going into that week.”
Any chance of a letdown after the bye week? How do you maintain the same mentality as you had the last two games?
“I think we definitely need to keep that mentality. It’s a very important game, not just necessarily because it’s just a non-conference game, but at the end of the year when the playoffs come around it could be an important win for us. We need to focus on this game as hard as we did on the Division I teams and be ready to play.”
How does it feel to see the pass game beginning to work, with guys other than yourself catching balls?
“It’s a big part of the game. You have to have everyone contributing to be real successful. It was really good to see everybody contributing in their own way.”
Has there been talk among the receivers that they needed to make a statement?
“I think they wanted to be involved the whole time. They’re going to do everything they can to be contributing every game.”
How do you not get rusty during the bye week?
“I think what the coaches are planning this week is to do some fundamental stuff, some technique stuff, then focus on South Dakota later in the week and next week. It won’t be like we’re focusing on them so long that it gets old, so I think we’ll do alright not letting down.”
How much did the performance against Minnesota increase the team’s confidence?
“I think it was huge. We knew as a team we were better than (we played in) the Kansas State game. There were a lot of mistakes, and we knew that we were better than that. Playing real tough against Minnesota was a real confidence booster, and it will help against South Dakota and the rest of the season.”
How fun was it catching a touchdown pass in Kansas?
“It was pretty cool. I mean, it stinks that it was the only one. But it was really cool being able to catch a touchdown pass in front of that many people.”
On Joe Schreibeis’ reception from Bobby Daly on the fake punt:
“(laughs) He put that in a really good spot for Joe. He did what he needed to do to get the play going.”
Talk about you and Joe (Schreibeis) emerging as threats in this offense:
“I think our coaches have done a real good job implementing Joe and I into the offense really well, giving the quarterbacks another check-down if they need it.”
Were you worried when you heard MSU was implementing a spread offense that the tight ends wouldn’t be utilized?
“In the beginning Joe and I were a little, I guess, worried that (MSU was going to run) a spread offense, but talking to the offensive coordinators, they told us in the beginning that we were going to be a big part of the offense, so that was a real confidence booster for both of us.”
What kind of advantage does the threat of a tight end give the spread offense?
“Obviously it helps the receivers, too, having that extra threat, and I think it will help the receivers get open later in the season, as well. The receivers haven’t gotten the ball as much, so I think that will help.”
LINEBACKER BOBBY DALY
On the ‘ugliest pass ever’ that he completed to Joe Schreibeis out of punt formation:
“When you’re out there under fire you just get it there, in my opinion, that’s all that matters.”
What were you feeling when the play was called?
“It’s something we practiced (last) week, it’s something that we wanted to do to take some pressure off us rushing the punt. I’ve never thrown a pass since I was probably a sixth grader in a game. I just lobbed it up there and Joe made a good play on it.”
Was that the true Bobby Daly at Minnesota, flying to the football?
“I had a tough game at Kansas State, I didn’t make as many plays as I wanted to, I actually missed some plays I should have made. I was just trying to rebound, get the season off, get my season off to a better start. I think I was able to make a couple more plays in Minnesota.”
How do the Minnesota and Kansas State games prepare the team for the FCS season?
“I think we’ve probably played our toughest competition so far this year and throughout the year at Kansas State. It’ll just give us preparation for our level of play. We figured out that we can play with Minnesota so I figure we can play with anyone else that we play this year.”
How important was the good start and Jeff Price’s hit on the first play of the game?
“As a defense we wanted to get off to a good start, we wanted to celebrate with each other early to give us some momentum going in our favor. I felt like we did that pretty well with three three-and-outs to start the game, and Jeff (Price) was a big part of that.”
How difficult is it to not get distracted and rusty during the bye week?
“We’re going to be practicing all the way through. We may not be preparing for South Dakota just yet, but our football skills will be tuned up this week. It’s not like we get a week off just because we’re not playing this weekend.”
Coach called this a must-win game for MSU. Is that true?
“Definitely. Getting off to a 1-3 start is not something we want. 2-2 will get us right back on track and get us some momentum going into the Big Sky Conference.”
Did Eric Decker’s big day expose the defense a little bit?
“They got him the ball in ways we weren’t expecting them to. We figured he’d get some screen passes and catch some seams, but they were getting him the ball on reverses and fly sweeps and things of that nature that we hadn’t seen on film. That was different for us, but in the third game of the season, preparing for South Dakota, they’ll have a lot of their stuff on film. We won’t be surprised.”
Was the Minnesota game a bounce-back game?
“We definitely wanted to compete better this game compared to the Kansas State game. I felt like we did. I felt like we gave ourselves a chance to win. We made a couple mistakes that ended up costing us the game, but we felt like we played a lot better and are definitely excited to keep going in the season.”
How do you keep tuned up this week?
“It will be something like fall camp, I would imagine, this week. There will be a lot of tackling and things like that, keeping our body healthy but at the same time keeping our football skills tuned.”
Describe the difference of playing against an option team, like Minnesota:
“It was definitely more assignment. Against the spread offense on every play you have to have someone accounting for the quarterback and the running back and instead of just reading the keys and going to the football it was more of an option type thing where you had to be on a certain guy at a certain time on every play. Instead of just running to the football and reading the offensive line, it was a little bit different. It’s week to week. Every week’s going to be different. Some weeks it’s going be flying to the football when you know it’s a straight downhill run team, some weeks you have to prepare for the quarterback keeping it.”
Wednesday, June 10
Friday, March 27
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
