Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery

Kent State at Miami
Yager Stadium - Oxford, OH

Miami Head Coach Terry Hoeppner

Opening Statement
"Today was one of those games that you look back on with an early 14-0 lead and everything goes exactly as you had planned. The offense goes out and takes the ball down the field to score. And the defense held them to very little yardage. However, the really great teams keep putting people away and holding them down. We didn't do that today. But, I told the team I was proud of them. Our offense responded to [their seventeen points] and they didn't quit. It was a good win for Miami."

Rushing vs. passing
"I was happy that we were able to run the ball the way that we were. For us to out-rush them was obviously a key to this football game. I felt we were a little off on our passing game today. We weren't able to execute that part of the game as well as I would have liked. Overall, I was proud of the guys."

On the rushing gameplan
"We intended to come out [running the ball]. We wanted to come out and establish the run right away. Our ability to run the football was key to this football game today."

Running back Luke Clemens

The rushing game and the offensive line:
"I knew coming in that we were going to try to run the ball a little more, but I wasn't expecting it to happen that much. [The offensive line] did a great job. They are the ones that do all the work. I just pick the holes and run."

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger

On his passing game
"I was a little out of sync today. I give a lot of credit to their defense. They came out and played hard just like we thought they would. However, our running game was dominant today and Luke [Clemens] did a great job. Some times when the passing attack isn't working you have to run the ball. I think we did a great job of adjusting today."

Kent State Post-game Quotes

Dean Pees - Head Coach

Opening Comment
"We played a very good Miami football team, a hard fought game on both sides of the ball. Thought we were getting tired toward the end on defense. Miami did a good job with the ball with 80 plays. They ran the ball almost better than I thought. We started the game out with two poor special teams plays that gave them great field position which lead to their first two touchdowns on a short field,. I thought we fought back hard but made a couple of mistakes on offense, basically in the second half with the interceptions and things to give them some points. I thought our kids fought hard but when we watch the films I think we are going to see that we didn't tackle well on defense."

"We didn't do a very good job of stopping their run."

"First of all, we got in too many third down and longs. That's the problem. We were in too many third down and longs and that's not really what our offense is geared for. That was the biggest problem, it's the distance we had on third downs, not the fact that it was third down."

"I don't think we make some blocks when we needed to make them. The same was on defense we didn't make some tackles when we needed to make them. That was the difference in the ball game. We had a good game plan, they had a good game plan. I's just that simple - a seven-point ball game. They made the play and we didn't."

"This is a tuff loss. A tuff loss on the road to a good football team. The difference is, they made more plays then us, period."

Joshua Cribbs - Quarterback

"We came out and played football. We matched up against them and we should have made plays when it was time to make plays."