WMU at UConn Post-Game Quotes
Western Michigan Quotes
Head Coach Bill Cubit
"I like the way our kids battled, it was a little different when
our kids came back there and we gave it back to Alex Carder and got into
our two-minute game and let him take it over. And the wideouts, we said
the exact same thing to those guys, 'you're going to have to go back in
there and win it for us'. We just got a lot of injuries upfront and
the easiest way to protect those guys is to throw it and when you have a
quarterback that does what he does, 37-51 for 479 and five TDs, it
makes your decisions a whole lot easier."
QB Alex Carder
On coming into this game and how the game went:
"Its unbelievable, especially how we started out on offense. I
was messing up a lot and the guys stuck behind me. I got great play from
my wideouts, o-line and everyone. The defense stepped up with the late
turnover. It feels unbelievable and I can't think of a better way to
go into conference play."
WR Chleb Ravenell
On his late 41 yd touchdown:
"I knew Alex believed in me and that I was getting the ball. So I
was hoping the offensive line would hold up, and Alex delivered the
ball and I made a play."
Head Coach Paul Pasqualoni
Opening statement:
"We did some good things tonight but obviously we gave up too
many points. You need to play all three phases of the game, and we
didn't. We had the ball last and (Ryan) Griffin tried to make the play.
Unfortunately, in that situation as a competitor sometimes you try to do
too much. The ball is the most important thing, and sometimes going the
extra yard isn't worth it-but that's easy for me to say now. If that
was me with the ball, I probably would have done the same thing."
On the 479 passing yards allowed:
"Usually, when it's those kind of numbers, it means you weren't
able to get to him enough and weren't able to harass him enough. I
thought we slowed (Cardner) down a little bit in the second half, but he
did a good job of getting the ball to other people as the game went
on."
Thoughts on QB Johnny McEntee:
"Coming into the season, everyone heard the stories of the competition
for the starting role. Johnny made some progress against Buffalo and I
thought he did a good job tonight. He didn't have too many misreads and
mistakes. He wasn't perfect, but he threw for 300 yards and four
touchdowns. I think for two weeks in a row now, John has played a pretty
solid game."
On the injuries of D.J. Shoemate and Jimmy Bennett:
"Thursday in practice Jimmy Bennett hurt his knee and he'll be out for the rest of the season, which doesn't help us. D.J. Shoemate
took a pretty good shot in the Iowa State game and we had the MRI stuff
done. He hasn't had the strength since the ISU game. He has played the
right amount of quarters to apply for a redshirt and put us in a pretty
good position to get it, but he has about a nine month recovery
process."
QB Johnny McEntee
On the slow offensive start:
"We were struggling until we connected on a few plays--Isiah had one
nice catch. I think the offense was doing alright in the first quarter,
we just needed a few plays to get us rolling."
On his confidence level:
"I think I'm a little bit more confident in our offense. We
played well today and we were performing right down until the last minut
