WMU vs. Buffalo
10-24-09
Sophomore Kicker John Potter
On John's game winning kick:
"It's definitely an experience every kicker wants, and I'm lucky enough to have it this early in my career, and hopefully there will be many more to come. I tried to relax and kick it like every other kick, I appreciate them giving me some extra time to enjoy it out there."
On the missed attempt:
"I just didn't follow through and my foot hit the ground and the ball didn't go where it was supposed to, and it's my fault because it's my job to get it through."
Senior Quarterback Tim Hiller
On the game:
"First I'd like to thank John, because I hate to think what everyone would be saying about me had he missed that kick after I over threw the pass. But he did a great job, hats off to the defense in overtime. It was just a sense of urgency. I don't have much voice left, I got in the huddle and challenged everyone to step up and make a play. It's exciting to challenge everyone when you're a senior and they actually go out and get it done. This is the type of effort it's going to take in the next four games."
On the remainder of the season:
"I think it's that way all 12 weeks, especially in this conference, If you set your goal on a bowl game you have to win 7 or 8 minimum. We just have to put this type of effort in week in and week out for the next few weeks."
On having players step up:
"I think the best thing that Coach Cubit did was tell us to go out and play, and Coach had us in a great situation all game long. We were running routes we were good at, we put ourselves in positions where we feel comfortable. We had players step up, and we're proud of them."
Senior Defensive End Justin Braska
On making the catch:
"I just got up and got lucky. The ball was thrown right to me, so I had to make the catch."
On the defense:
"Just keep them out, on a couple drives they went down and scored, and we can't put the offense in a tough situation like that when we need to come back. We just had to pull it out and get it done."
On going into overtime:
"We were excited to go back out. You want to go out on defense first so you can shut them down and put our offense in a good spot. Hopefully they'll go out there and miss the field goal or we'll block it. We want to put the offense in the best situation."
Senior Quarterback Tim Hiller
On the final pass:
"As a competitor, I want the ball in my hands, but at the same time you do what Coach wants, and I understand that. I was pretty excited when he called the play, but I missed the throw. The offensive line did a great job. Brandon did a great job. It was a great team effort."
Head Coach Bill Cubit
On the game:
" Great job. I know it's frustrating sometimes but you go out there dealing with some of the conditions, and injuries, but our kids kept fighting. Even though we didn't play very well defensively, some of our kids made some great plays. John Potter, going in there, it's a lot of pressure for a young kid, but he knocked it through and we win the game. I'm proud of the kids, really proud. Like I said, there was a lot of adversity going in because of the kids we had out, but they went in and just played, I can't ask for much more. On defense we just gave up way too many big plays. They had 180 something yards at halftime and ended up at 541, that's not real productive."
On the winning field goal:
"There's a lot of pressure, there's pressure on Tom (Harrington - long snapper), and on Robert (Arnheim - holder). And of course John, it's probably fortunate they only had one timeout left so they could only freeze him one time. He kicked really well, he did a good job on the kickoffs. You can see the difference when he kicks into the wind. I'm proud of John, and just as proud of Tom and Robert."
On younger kids stepping up:
"Well, we draw off information and plays, and we say who we can put where. Sometimes when they do something a little different, they took away certain things in what they do really well, and then you have to adjust. You go in there, and I was hard on those guys this week. I'd rather have them practice harder than the games. Seeing Ponder go out there and play so well, he had 10 catches, that's impressive. We got everybody back on that. We lose Tim and Matt Stevens, but we have a chance to be pretty good. I think somebody is going to have to step up in those spots."
On bowl games, and winning this game:
"I know what the key is. You have to get to 7 and preferably 8 wins. That's what we're shooting for. Those kids understand that. We went out and drive down there, it's inexcusable. At the same time, the energy by the offense, they were behind the defense the whole time. Andy Dorcely made a great play, and there's a guy that hasn't played as much, but did a great job. The next one we got fortunate. But you can see in the offense, as soon as they missed it, everybody on the football team knew we were going to win that football game."
Buffalo Head Coach Turner Gill
On the overall effort:
"We're obviously disappointed, but I think our guys were resilient. We'll come back ready to play in 10 days and play another football game. I think we did enough and had enough opportunities to win the game with offense, defense and special teams. The bottom line is Western Michigan made more plays than we did."
On the slow start:
"Yeah, maybe the first few series. Obviously there were a few more plays in the first half where we didn't execute defensively or offensively for whatever reason."
On the defense:
"Defensively, a few guys got banged up. We'll see if they're ready here for the next game or not, but I'm proud of the guys who got in the game and played well. On the defensive side, they only had a few calls they could actually call because we were shorthanded and didn't call as many coverages and so on and so forth. But they played well enough for us to win the ball game and they gave us a chance to win the football game with the guys who had to go in there. That's part of the game. They had injuries too, just like we did."
On having the lead with five minutes to play:
"Obviously you're in good shape when you're ahead. But again, five minutes to go in the football game and they're a very explosive offense and they can put points on the board with Hiller and those guys. You got to play every play to the best of your abilities. They made the plays when they had to make them, whether it was running the ball, throwing the ball, or catching the ball."
On WMU drive to take the lead late:
"It's a little bit of frustration from that standpoint, that they were able to take it down in that situation. They made a great catch there on the sideline and again, that's making a play. We've got to answer that at that time. It's disappointing, but our guys will be able to bounce back. I still say we've got a good football team."
On what's next:
"First of all, we're going to come back and continue to get better. Continue to practice on getting lined up and executing some plays, making the right throws and the timing with our quarterback and receivers. Defensively, getting ready to go and get lined up and tackling."
On the illegal defensive substitution call:
"We had that last week in our game where they didn't allow us to get the player in. The explanation was that the player has to be trying to run off the field. I thought that the ruling stated, which is what I got last week, that if the ball is not snapped, then they can give them the timeout. That's the ruling they told me. I said the ball's not snapped, so we should get that timeout. We had 12 guys on the field. I did get the timeout called, but since the player was not attempting to get off the field, therefore the timeout doesn't count."
On QB Zach Maynard:
"Zach did a good job and gave us a good opportunity to win the football game there. He made some good throws, the receivers made some great catches. Our running game, our offensive line did a great job. I was proud of the way our guys were resilient, they didn't panic, they still kept within the framework of our offense and tried to make plays. But obviously, we didn't make enough of them."
