Western Michigan head coach Bill Cubit

On Western's third down defense
It was disappointing that we were unable to get off the field defensively in several critical situations. Some of the third down conversions you simply cannot let happen. These weren't third and shorts that were converted. We forced them into some third and longs that they turned into first downs. Even a third and 25. That just can't happen if you expect to win a game. That was the difference in today's game.

On Western's offense
Our offense played their hearts out today. Our wide receivers made big catches the entire game. Hiller played with poise and had a brilliant game throwing for 471 yards. We were able move the ball well, but when we had to make a play, we didn't. There were a couple passes that went just off the fingers of our receivers that could have turned the game around. There was a fourth down and goal at the two that we just missed scoring a touchdown on, and then CMU drove 98 yards and scored.

On Western's season going forward
We can still turn this into a great season. We only have one conference loss and there is still a lot of season left. We just have to work on some of the things we did poorly today and be prepared to come out next time.

On CMU quarterback Brian Brunner
We figured he was going to play and we prepared ourselves to face him. You don't sit down your starting quarterback the week before a key game unless he is hurting. We knew he was going to play. He has a good arm and he played very well today. I give him a lot of credit for how he performed.

On WMU secondary
They did not play well in coverage. We let too many receivers run free down the sideline or get wide open in the middle of the field. They took advantage of our missed assignments. Central played better than we did in that area and that's disappointing, especially on third down.

On Western quarterback Tim Hiller
He is just fun to watch. We are never out of a game with him under center. He makes good decisions with the football and delivers an accurate ball. He played his guts out today. We can't depend on him throwing as often as he has been lately or we are going to get him hurt.

On Western's running game
We didn't run the ball well at all today. I thought Brandon struggled on the ground and it put too much pressure on our passing game.

On Western's defense
We didn't put any pressure on their quarterback. I don't care who is playing, if you give a quarterback the amount of time we gave Brunner, you are going to get beat.