Sept. 11, 2010

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

Miami Head Coach Michael Haywood

On EMU's passing:
We really weren't surprised by it, because Ken Karcher, I've known him since I was about 18 years old, is a gun slinger. We spent a significant amount of time working on their passing game, which they showed us last year (on film). I think we were prepared for their passing game.

On running back Thomas Merriweather:
We received a phone call from the head of officials saying that he was going to be able to play because it was an ejection from a flagrant foul. It wasn't the foul that ejects you from the game. We received that word on Tuesday and so it really helped us in our preparation in getting him in the game. He had a really good game. Merriweather is the type of player that really responds to hard coaching. He is a young man that the harder you coach him, the better he performs.

On the team's play in the second half:
We played with a lot more passion in the third and fourth quarter than we did in the first half. At halftime they made midstream adjustments. They adjusted to the different things we were trying to do on defense. Some of the concepts that we didn't throw out in the first half, we decided to throw out in the second half on offense. They believed and went out and executed.

On senior safety Jordan Gafford's deflection late in the fourth quarter:
That was the smartest football play I've ever seen by a college football player. That was outstanding.

Eastern Michigan Head Coach Ron English

On whether he was surprised to see Miami RB Thomas Merriweather start the game:
No, I knew if he could play that he would play because he is a good football player, so no, I was not surprised. The MAC released a statement saying that the SEC said that it was not a punch and so Merriweather was eligible to play and start the game, so I knew he would play because he was eligible to play.

On opening up his game plan and what he saw of Miami on tape:
You know Miami was just loading the box, and we needed to throw our way out of it so that is what we tried to do. They had nine in the box, eight in the box, a lot of guys down there.

On the trick play:
We worked on that, and Josh LeDuc, the guy who threw it, can throw the ball well so we thought we'd have a chance and it worked out for us. It was a nice play by LeDuc and a nice finish by Kinsman Thomas.

On the play of Kinsman Thomas:
Well he's a good young player for us. He's in his second year, a true sophomore, and he's a big handy kid who can make some plays. He can catch the ball, he can run a little bit, so it's good to see him have a good day. He had a good day today.

On the program making strides:
We are making some strides, and yes I'm acknowledging those strides. But you know we made too many errors, and we made critical mistakes in close games, and you can't win when you make critical errors in close games. Particularly defensively our execution is not where it needs to be. So when you do that and you allow for example, there was a third and long conversion in the first half, where if one of the players does what he is supposed to do we are out of that series. So we are at the point where we are playing harder, we are more physical, and we are doing things that you are supposed to do that way, but execution is an issue, particularly on the defensive side.

On Eastern Michigan punter Jay Karutz:
He did a nice job didn't he? He's a good punter and we knew he'd be a weapon and he was, but we let Miami out a couple times. You know when you have teams down there you can't let them out and we let them out a couple times.