Sept. 19, 2009

Recap | Final Stats

Miami Head Coach Michael Haywood:

On turnovers:
"The first play of the game, they recover the fumble and take it in for a touchdown, we come back and turn it over again with the INT. We turned the ball over five times tonight and we had five fumbles for turnovers and then the one INT. You can't turn the football over and win games in the Mid-American Conference."

"Exactly right, 5-2 tonight, you can't do that and win football games. I think the Broncos did a really nice job of going down and scoring when we made our mistakes."

On young guys getting playing time:
"Yeah, we had some guys come out here for us, we got (Anthony) Shoemaker on defense who is a freshman, a guy who competed really hard all night. You got Roman Lawson who got in there late and competed and then you got (Zac) Dysert, some young players who got in there and competed really hard. Some guys didn't quit, they kept competing really hard, offense and defense, but you can't allow for the Broncos to take a 95-yard down for a touchdown, you can't allow that to happen."

On the offensive effort:
"Well, I think Eugene (Harris) made a really nice catch and Daniel (Raudabaugh) made a really nice play and the offense started doing a better job at that point in time so we got some continuity and started to click. We made some adjustments in protection at halftime because of the different blitzes they were working versus one back and also against empty protection. So we made some adjustments and guys reacted and did a pretty nice job of moving the ball in the second half, but we have to be better and move the ball consistently throughout the entire game."

"Well, we felt like we accomplished that but at the same time they got a level of confidence in themselves finally putting a touchdown on the board they say 'wow, we can really put a touchdown on the board,' and then all of a sudden the next thing we know we're moving the ball with some consistency with good blocking inside and running better routes."

"You're exactly right, one of the things the Broncos did was that they were jumping the short routes and really with the one back and the empty back. One of the things that Peter did was deeper passes out of the empty and also protection with deeper passes out of the one back. We just had to protect and we got beat by the MIKE and still get protection to that. And the backs did a pretty good job of blocking, I think 34 (Thomas) Merryweather on a couple of drives stepped up and protected really well and then 20 (Roman Lawson) had a nice day running and protecting also."

On what's to come:
"You're exactly right, it's something to build off of, now we don't have to worry about that banner being on our back of not putting up any points on the board, and we can come back and play football and play with a little better technique from the offense, defense, and special teams game."

"I agree with you, and I think 90 percent of this is a psychological deal that we have to overcome and we have to get better at it. It's the coaches responsibility and it starts with me, getting guys to have faith, trust and belief in themselves and they can believe in their teammates as well."

Western Michigan Head Coach Bill Cubit

On the Miami game:
"We've still got a lot of things to work on, but I think our passing was the best I've ever seen it. I think Tim did a great job throwing the ball, those two touchdown passes were some of the best I've ever seen. I liked the way we practiced. We won this game from the way we practiced all week."

On Tim getting sacked:
"Yes, that can't happen. It's a concern. It's not always the lines fault, it's not souly the offensive lines fault, sometimes you've got wide out's, it's something we have to work on. It's a concern."

WMU quarterback Tim Hiller:

"We wanted to start out quick, and we were just looking for players to step up, and make plays. We put an emphasis on running the ball, and those guys up front did a tremendous job, Brandon, Aaron, and Dennis, and I felt the protection as well." "I felt like we had a really great week of practice, my end and their end, and you know, we both needed to make improvements, and we wanted to get everyone playing fast, react a little faster, and I think we did a good job."

"I have all the faith in the world in the offensive line. The defensive line did a great job, we were both in sync, the offense and defense."

On the first play of the Game:
"You love to start a game like that, our defensive line did a great job, and the linesmen, and that gets us the ball, and then we're both in sync.