WMU vs. Nicholls State Post-Game Quotes

Head Coach Bill Cubit
Opening Statement
"The first series is probably the best we've had it. All of a sudden, dropped passes, got out of sync there. We gave them seven on the offense, we turned the ball over and that can't happen. It was a good game for our kids to go out there. Some guys who haven't contributed much, we got them the ball out there. I thought Ansel (Ponder), and Dallas Walker went out there. Defensively I thought they were flying around. Some third downs in the first half wasn't exactly what we wanted. I was happy with what went on in the second half.

Thoughts on the defense-
"I think we have good defensive coaches, they made good adjustments, and the kids played harder. So the first half, it wasn't as exciting, or and it didn't have as much passion as you would like. We tried to cut out the mistakes, and I thought they did a nice job with the defense."

Thoughts on Alex Carder-
"He's exactly what we wanted. When he's good, he's real good. He had probably, two bad snaps, but I shouldn't have put him in that spot. The kids a good player, and he's got some weapons around him. So that's not bad for a young kid."

Sophomore quarterback Alex Carder
Thoughts on the game-
"First half, we came out, the first drive was what we wanted. I think as far as my mental, I kind of got in a different mode. We kind of stalled a little bit. We came in at halftime and made some changes, and we came out and played exactly like we planned on."

Senior wide receiver Jordan White
On his first touchdown-
"When you get a ball back, you look for your shot on the field. That's what we were looking to do. We had some good play calls."

Sophomore defensive end Paul Hazel
On his catch-
"I barely out ran them. I was stumbling when I caught it. It looked pretty deep when he threw it. I didn't think I was going to be able to get to it."

 

Nicholls State Head Coach Charlie Stubbs:
On the overall effort:
"It was a game of really two halves. I felt that the first half was evident that it was a nip-and-tuck game, a little give-and-take. We made plays on both sides of the ball. One time we got down there and turned it over in the end zone where it could have been a touchdown that tied it at halftime. And then comes the second half and all three phases kind of fell apart. We got terrible field position on offense and with a good defense like Western Michigan's we weren't able to swing the ball out of there and make anything happen. Then the defense starts getting tired and that's what happens against good teams like this."

"The problem is the last two weeks we've just gotten worn down. And again we were in a position where we get worn down or injuries start affecting us. We just don't have good replacements like a good team like Western Michigan has. The biggest thing is we're trying to teach our team to fight through adversity, so we used every snap we could, including the field goal at the end. I'm just coaching every snap to help us in the future."

On how the defense kept WMU at bay in the first half:
"The big thing is they really stepped us and got us good field position and got our offense out on the field. The other thing was there were a lot of momentum changes in the first half and our team is not well prepared for momentum changes. When we'd turn the ball over and Western Michigan would make a couple long plays. It's such a big swing, if only we could slow things down a little bit and regroup a little bit to make them drive the football to seize the momentum."