Miami vs. Northern Illinois Quotes
12/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 4, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
2010 Marathon MAC Championship Game
Miami vs. Northern Illinois
Dec. 3, 2010 - Ford Field - Detroit, Mich.
MIAMI POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Mike Haywood
Opening Statement
"What an outstanding accomplishment by these young men to overcome to adversity in which they were involved from going 1-11 to being 9-4 and winning a MAC Championship. I'm so happy for them and all the adversity they have overcome and all the hard work they have done."
On the play of quarterback Austin Boucher
"Austin did a really good job. Anytime you run an offense and you don't turn the football over, I think you do a tremendous job as a quarterback. The thing you need to know about Austin Boucher, is that young man studies more tape then any man in that organization. He understands his strengths and his weaknesses and he studies tape to make up for his weaknesses."
On Armand Robinson's game-winning touchdown
"Everyone was on the sideline screaming because we saw the blitz coming. What a tremendous play on Austin's part to get Armand the ball."
On turning around the program...
"Players had to buy into change their lifestyle. The quality of life we were living as a team wasn't conducive to a winning organization. They really changed their life. They started living a better quality life. Our GPA goes up over five points. We started having less problems off the field. They started developing into better men and as we develop into better men we get better results on the football field."
Freshman Quarterback Austin Boucher
"Sometimes I say it's better to be lucky then good. MAC Championship game, you couldn't ask for anything more. Plays like that happen and we were fortunate to have a play happen for us. We still had to score and that's exactly what we did"
"We knew it was going to be a dog-fight to the very last second, so that's what we kept telling ourselves. From the beginning, we were saying this wasn't going to be easy and we needed to stay in the game for 60 minutes."
On the feelings of winning a MAC Championship...
"We put ourselves in a position to have this opportunity. When it came we took advantage of it and everyone's mindset was that this is why you play the game and this is why you put in all the hard work. It paid off and this feels great."
Senior Wide Receiver Armand Robinson
"They started to blitz a lot in the fourth quarter. The guy that was on me blitzed so I changed it to a slant route and Austin put it right where it needed it to be. It was an unbelievable play and I still can't believe it happened."
Senior defensive back Jordan Gafford
On defensive game plan and shutting down the run...
"We knew if we took away the big plays we would be in a good position. We knew we had a good scheme and if we didn't give them big plays we'd be all right. Everything they do in their passing game comes from their run game. When we were able to stop the run it took away their play-action game and that allowed us to be successful."