Western Michigan Quotes
Head Coach P.J. Fleck
Opening Statement...
"Well I thought we responded very well on defense tonight early, I think that shows what type of team this is with as many youngsters and inexperienced players as we have. I love that because that's the how, that's what this foundation is going to continue to be built on. Now there are no moral victories again, trust me. This team needs to start believing in themselves, and that's what we're instilling in them, believe in yourself. When other people aren't believing any more than yourself, things like this happen. But they're learning that, they're growing on a daily basis, we had our best week of practice that we've had since I've been here in the last 3 days, tremendous."

On defending Northwestern's offense...
"I thought our game plan was awesome, even with [Kain] Colter, we had a guy on him. But if I was in the National Football League still right now, I would make sure to pound the table to draft him for something, I would take him in the first round. He's a football player, you can't coach what he has. And they have a special, special player. And when you have a special player, he makes a lot of things right. We got "out-athleted" at times at that point. We had a spy in the right spot and [Colter] still made us pay. Can't fault the kids for that, they were giving everything they possibly had, and they never, never quit. We just got to be better. I mean, that's the most genius statement of the night, we've got to be better. But we will be. Tomorrow will be better than we were today, and we'll just continue to go forward.

On Western Michigan's offense...
"I thought offensively we got into a rhythm here and there, then we got out of it, then back in, but like I said, their defense is just as stingy as Michigan State. And I thought on film, I said that before, I thought they were just as good as Michigan State, and you saw our team come execute. We got to make sure we don't turn the ball over, throwing the ball away and those types of things, those little things will beat you, but with every game, you're going to learn more and more. And I truly believe we have one of the toughest non-conference schedules, the first four games, when you look at the three Big-Ten opponents. I think, I told those kids in there, it's getting you prepared, it's getting you prepared for something special. I don't know what it is yet, I won't promise you anything, but I can promise you a heck of a change.

"Disappointed. I told them, I'm not mad at you, just disappointed. Because we've got to start to believe with how inexperienced you are, you need to start believing you'll win those games. And I think some of them believe, and some not quite. That's what we've got to get out of our players. And that's human nature, and we've got to break that human nature, and that's youth and inexperience, but those aren't excuses. We've got to break it. We need to continue to have a commitment without exception. Commitment without exception. Quit judging ourselves. Commit, all in, if it's good, bad, ugly, terrific, we're all in. And we're getting there. We just have to be better."

On when it was 3-0 with eight minutes left in the first half...
"I'm thinking, it's 3-0 with 8 minutes left, let's get the ball back, and let's make it 10-0, very simple. That's what I was thinking. I thought we had a lot of energy, a lot of momentum. We were playing very well, playing hard, we were getting in the right gaps on defense. Then you saw the second half, and we miss a gap, and a run comes spitting out. With a team that good and that experienced, you've got to be right. I can't say you have to play perfect, but they're smart, they're sound, athletic and talented, and they have a ton of experience. So like I said, we have to be better."

Player Quotes
QB Tyler Van Tubbergen

On rolling out in the passing game...
"It's something we worked on in practice this week. We were just trying to attack the defense in different ways. That was something we wanted to do against some of their coverages. We had just as good of opportunities in other stuff too."

On Northwestern gaining momentum after Van Tubbergen's interception...
"Anytime you throw an interception the defense is going to be pretty excited. It was a poor decision on my part."

DB Justin Currie
On Northwestern's second-quarter surge...
"It wasn't anything they were changing. We just didn't stay in our gaps."

On stopping the passing game of Northwestern...
"We knew that No. 2 (Kain Colter) was going to run the ball. I wish we could have gotten our gaps and played that a little better. I'm pretty happy with the way we pass defended."