WMU vs. BSU Post-Game Quotes

WMU QB Alex Carder

Q: How bad did you need this one today?

A: We needed it bad. I mean, coming off of those two weeks, kind of a funky situation for us. Those two games didn't feel like us in any way as far as we executed and the approach we take to games and I feel like this one we came out; we were firing. We just had fun and that was more of the focus this week. When you lose a game like we did against NIU, you start thinking, 'What do I need to do,' and you start buckling down and you lose sight of the fun of football. I think that's what we gained this week.

WMU DT Drew Nowak

Q: Where is this defense at confidence wise?

A: We're up and down but we are all together, playing hard, playing fast. That's huge when you have adversity; you have to have guys stick together no matter what and that's what we have. If we continue to play like that, we are going to be great the rest of the season.

WMU WR Jordan White

Q: How glad are you to have all these records?

A: I don't know, I didn't focus too much on them before. It's nice to be recognized like that behind Greg (Jennings), Jamarko (Simmons), and that. We have a game against Toledo next week and I have some friends that play there and I wouldn't mind whoopin' on them next Tuesday.

WMU Head Coach Bill Cubit

Opening statement: Great win; absolutely fantastic win. You have two losses you're not really happy with. We jumped on them, 7-0. They got seven. Then we turn the ball over and they got 14. I thought our kids displayed a lot of resiliency. We don't make mistakes, don't have turnovers, don't have penalties ... the bottom line is you have to win. And we did. We put a lot of yards up there and I thought our kids went out there and really competed. I really like the way our wide outs played. I thought Alex (Carder) was outstanding. Our third-down conversions were 11-of-15 and that was huge and on the other end of that, fourth-down conversions by them were one of four and that was huge. So great win, can't be happier. You got your money's worth out of that thing. There were a lot of exciting things out there. So we appreciate the crowd output by the community; they did an unbelievable job. I appreciate their support and I'll give them a couple days off and then we have Toledo.

Ball State Head Coach Pete Lembo:

On the overall effort:

"Throughout the game we had some bad tackles and some coverage busts. We had a lot of penalties that didn't help either. We played a little bit better in the second half on the defensive side of the ball, but we still gave up a lot of big plays. It's a little bit frustrating. It's been a lot of things we've been dealing with for weeks. We need to find a way to get these guys better and fix our problems."

"We have really good kids and they've shown a lot of fight. We just need to get them to play a little bit smarter so we can get the lead. We hurt ourselves a lot today with penalties and when you're playing a really good team like this, you have to play closer to perfect. We had a couple turnovers that hurt us, and both were first downs. We've gotta throw those balls away. There were some miscues on defense that we have to get fixed. It's just not habit yet, and we have to get it to the point that it is a habit."

"We were also a little aggressive on offense at times, going for it on fourth down. There were a couple times where maybe we could've taken a shot at a field goal. The wind played a factor in that though. We just felt like we needed to be aggressive in this game and take some shots. We tried to keep some drives alive and go for seven points because we were having trouble slowing them down."

On the last drive:

"A field goal is going to depend on our situation on the field, and then we ended up getting down in so close that we decided to go for it. With the time on the clock we thought we had a chance of going for it and then going for the onside kick.

"We knew that field goals would not keep us in the game, so we had to go for seven. The wind played a factor all day. We didn't want to gamble and come up with nothing. It just felt like we were in a track meet and had to keep up."

On the two crucial interceptions:

"There were several times where you could see that our quarterback just didn't see Western's defenders. There were many times where they brought pressure and you have to throw it hot, but a lot of times you can throw it in the cheap seats and not lose anything."