CMU-Indiana Post Game Quotes
9/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 3, 2005
Post Game Quotes
CMU Head Coach Brian Kelly
"It's not good enough ... we can't continue to go down the route of we played hard. The bar is set too high for us to be satisfied with the way we played. We didn't score enough points.
"I think the momentum of the game definitely swung on that procedure penalty on our kickoff (Indiana fumbled the kick and CMU recovered; CMU did not have four players on each side of the kicker). Indiana went on to score 14 straight points. I've never experienced that in 22 years. It was the key play of the game.
"I saw good signs for us on defense. All 11 pieces are working together. We did some things to do that the defense will be able to build off. We feel our defense can impact a game this year and we didn't have that mentality before.
"I don't consider it missed opportunities tonight. Our coaches have to continue to put our players in position to make plays and they will make them.
(On kicking away from Lance Bennett) "We definitely wanted to keep the ball out of his hands. However, in retrospect, not kicking the ball to him put our defense in tough position because we did not execute the squib well enough.
Indiana QB Blake Powers:
"We had some first game jitters. All we needed was one big play to get our confidence going.
"We definitely have to take advantage of field position better.
"Winning is a great feeling. I'll take a win no matter the score."
Indiana coach Terry Hoepper:
"Congratulations to [CMU] Coach Bryan Kelly, his staff and team. They were well prepared, a good football team. They had a good plan for us."
"Our defense played great. We made plays when we had to.
"James Hardy - wow, what a special player he is. The throw from Blake to Hardy was huge. And I'm proud of Blake Powers. It was his first start and made huge plays for us.
"We still have a lot of work to do. We'll learn so much from this. Everything was new to us.
"I learned [from this game] that we have a lot to work on. I was a little surprised that we didn't run the ball as well in the first half. But I learned they are tough, they respond and are coachable."