Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU-EIU Postgame Quotes
8/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Central Michigan v. Eastern Illinois
Thursday August 26, 2008
Central Michigan Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Butch Jones
-On his team’s tackling
“ I thought we played great. Tackling is important and we did that very well. Third down plays are what we need to work on.”
- On the new clock rules
“ As you saw the new clock change are really going to affect college football”
On his team’s pass rush
“I thought we able to give some good pressure...they are a very physical football team, but we did a very good job stopping them. For the first game I thought we tackled very well.”
-On the team’s performance
“I felt like we never got into a rhythm. That’s something we need to work on, getting that rhythm going. We also need to run the ball more consistently. We had big plays, but we never broke that big run. That will be an area of focus this week. We need to be more consistent on our run game”
-On Justin Hoskins
“ Coming off an injury we wanted to get Justin some game reps and those were very good game reps. We wanted to wear them down (EIU). Any fresh bodies and legs we could get in there was a benefit for us.”
On RB Ontario Sneed
“The thing I liked about Ontario tonight was he played physical. Everyone was talking about his running but he picked up a couple blitzes that were critical to some of our completions down the field. I thought he caught the ball well, he ran well and he really gave us a spark.”
“It does not happen by mistake or chance. He has had a great week of practice. He was finishing all his runs, busting 30 extra yards and he had an extra bounce in his step. I told him he was going to have a great game. I just could tell by the way he was practicing. His practice led into how he played tonight. “
On fans/ student section
“ You cant put a price tag on it. That’s why they call it home field advantage. Our student section was phenomenal. Probably the biggest thing we noticed was they stayed after halftime. I want to encourage them to stay each and every game. We really feed off of that energy. That’s what it takes to be a big time football program.”
--On Frank Zambo
“ Frank has a lot of experience now, and we expect great things from him. Frank can be as good as he wants to be.”
Sophomore LB Nick Bellore
--On fans at Kelly\Shorts stadium
“I thought it was unbelievable, the atmosphere was great. It was the best atmosphere since I have been here at Central. It was a huge turnout tonight and they were behind us the whole game.”
-On his playmaking ability
“ I want to be able to provide a spark in every game”
--On the whole coaching staff returning
“Its just great...it’s comfortable. It gets you in a grove. All the personalities are great and great to work with”
--On win tonight going into next week’s game
“It’s always good to get off to a 1-0 start and it helps build our confidence. It’s a good thing to be able to build off of.”
--On tonight’s game
“It was one of our most focused games. There was not a lot of rah rah before the game. Everyone was very focused, locked in and ready to go”
Senior RB Ontario Sneed
- On his performance
“I think I gave the team a little spark. I was feeling pretty confident in my arm.”
Junior DT Frank Zambo
--On his forced tumble
“ To tell you the truth I didn’t even know I got the fumble. I knew I hit the ball, but that’s it.”
--On stepping up after seniors left
“ Its something you have to do. Guys leave and other guys have to step up and lead”
--On team’s strength program
“ I think our strength program has been great. Everyone got stronger over the summer. I know personally I got a lot stronger and that’s thanks to our strength coach.”
Eastern Illinois Head Coach Bob Spoo
“We did exactly what we couldn’t afford to do and that was give them too many opportunities. A good football team like that is going to take advantage of them. They had great field position. Their kick returner (Antonio Brown) really hurt us and things like turnovers and penalties hurt. I thought our boys hung in there. We may be a little out of shape but that’s something we can fix. It’s something we can build on and move forward.
-On Eastern Illinois’ running game
“We really struggled to get things going on the ground even though we kept trying to pound it. They obviously did a real good job defensively taking it away from us and so we had to resort to the pass.”
-On Tight End Sean McGrath
“He’s deceptively fast, has great hands and runs good routes. He’s a good football player, a guy we’ll get the ball to as the season progresses.”
-On injury to starting guard Kevin Mahoney
“It’s discouraging but it’s good to hear that he’ll be okay. Somebody’s going to have to step up though. Everybody gets injured and other players have to step up. Hopefully it isn’t too serious.”
-On CMU’s spread offense going forward
“We’ll face this type of offense again as the season progresses. It should benefit us playing against this team tonight. They may not throw deep as often as other teams running this offense, but they’re effective. Hopefully it prepares us next week for facing this kind of attack and it’s something we’ll try and be ready for.”
-On his team’s mistakes
“I thought we missed a lot of tackles. I’m anxious to see the film tomorrow and get a report on that. I thought we made some contact and let them slip away. At the same time, we just didn’t do a good job tackling.
-What he takes out of the game vs. CMU
“The thing we’ve been stressing all preseason is the term “finish”. We need to finish and I think we did finish the game. We didn’t give up. We gave them a battle as hard as we could, but we just couldn’t make it back. I’m glad that they played hard and the boys can hopefully take solace in that.”
-Ontario Sneed’s performance (88 yards rushing, 43 receiving, 1 TD) for CMU
“He’s a strong back, has good legs and good vision. Good backs have that excellent vision. He took advantage of the openings and they called some things that took advantage of our defense as well. He did a fine job.”
-On Dan LeFevour
“He’s a great player. He keeps his eyes downfield and he lets the game come to him. When plays break down, he can make things happen with his legs and that’s what good players do. We had a couple chances to get to him that he slipped away from us, but he’s a great athlete and you have to give him credit for making plays.”
Thursday August 26, 2008
Central Michigan Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Butch Jones
-On his team’s tackling
“ I thought we played great. Tackling is important and we did that very well. Third down plays are what we need to work on.”
- On the new clock rules
“ As you saw the new clock change are really going to affect college football”
On his team’s pass rush
“I thought we able to give some good pressure...they are a very physical football team, but we did a very good job stopping them. For the first game I thought we tackled very well.”
-On the team’s performance
“I felt like we never got into a rhythm. That’s something we need to work on, getting that rhythm going. We also need to run the ball more consistently. We had big plays, but we never broke that big run. That will be an area of focus this week. We need to be more consistent on our run game”
-On Justin Hoskins
“ Coming off an injury we wanted to get Justin some game reps and those were very good game reps. We wanted to wear them down (EIU). Any fresh bodies and legs we could get in there was a benefit for us.”
On RB Ontario Sneed
“The thing I liked about Ontario tonight was he played physical. Everyone was talking about his running but he picked up a couple blitzes that were critical to some of our completions down the field. I thought he caught the ball well, he ran well and he really gave us a spark.”
“It does not happen by mistake or chance. He has had a great week of practice. He was finishing all his runs, busting 30 extra yards and he had an extra bounce in his step. I told him he was going to have a great game. I just could tell by the way he was practicing. His practice led into how he played tonight. “
On fans/ student section
“ You cant put a price tag on it. That’s why they call it home field advantage. Our student section was phenomenal. Probably the biggest thing we noticed was they stayed after halftime. I want to encourage them to stay each and every game. We really feed off of that energy. That’s what it takes to be a big time football program.”
--On Frank Zambo
“ Frank has a lot of experience now, and we expect great things from him. Frank can be as good as he wants to be.”
Sophomore LB Nick Bellore
--On fans at Kelly\Shorts stadium
“I thought it was unbelievable, the atmosphere was great. It was the best atmosphere since I have been here at Central. It was a huge turnout tonight and they were behind us the whole game.”
-On his playmaking ability
“ I want to be able to provide a spark in every game”
--On the whole coaching staff returning
“Its just great...it’s comfortable. It gets you in a grove. All the personalities are great and great to work with”
--On win tonight going into next week’s game
“It’s always good to get off to a 1-0 start and it helps build our confidence. It’s a good thing to be able to build off of.”
--On tonight’s game
“It was one of our most focused games. There was not a lot of rah rah before the game. Everyone was very focused, locked in and ready to go”
Senior RB Ontario Sneed
- On his performance
“I think I gave the team a little spark. I was feeling pretty confident in my arm.”
Junior DT Frank Zambo
--On his forced tumble
“ To tell you the truth I didn’t even know I got the fumble. I knew I hit the ball, but that’s it.”
--On stepping up after seniors left
“ Its something you have to do. Guys leave and other guys have to step up and lead”
--On team’s strength program
“ I think our strength program has been great. Everyone got stronger over the summer. I know personally I got a lot stronger and that’s thanks to our strength coach.”
Eastern Illinois Head Coach Bob Spoo
“We did exactly what we couldn’t afford to do and that was give them too many opportunities. A good football team like that is going to take advantage of them. They had great field position. Their kick returner (Antonio Brown) really hurt us and things like turnovers and penalties hurt. I thought our boys hung in there. We may be a little out of shape but that’s something we can fix. It’s something we can build on and move forward.
-On Eastern Illinois’ running game
“We really struggled to get things going on the ground even though we kept trying to pound it. They obviously did a real good job defensively taking it away from us and so we had to resort to the pass.”
-On Tight End Sean McGrath
“He’s deceptively fast, has great hands and runs good routes. He’s a good football player, a guy we’ll get the ball to as the season progresses.”
-On injury to starting guard Kevin Mahoney
“It’s discouraging but it’s good to hear that he’ll be okay. Somebody’s going to have to step up though. Everybody gets injured and other players have to step up. Hopefully it isn’t too serious.”
-On CMU’s spread offense going forward
“We’ll face this type of offense again as the season progresses. It should benefit us playing against this team tonight. They may not throw deep as often as other teams running this offense, but they’re effective. Hopefully it prepares us next week for facing this kind of attack and it’s something we’ll try and be ready for.”
-On his team’s mistakes
“I thought we missed a lot of tackles. I’m anxious to see the film tomorrow and get a report on that. I thought we made some contact and let them slip away. At the same time, we just didn’t do a good job tackling.
-What he takes out of the game vs. CMU
“The thing we’ve been stressing all preseason is the term “finish”. We need to finish and I think we did finish the game. We didn’t give up. We gave them a battle as hard as we could, but we just couldn’t make it back. I’m glad that they played hard and the boys can hopefully take solace in that.”
-Ontario Sneed’s performance (88 yards rushing, 43 receiving, 1 TD) for CMU
“He’s a strong back, has good legs and good vision. Good backs have that excellent vision. He took advantage of the openings and they called some things that took advantage of our defense as well. He did a fine job.”
-On Dan LeFevour
“He’s a great player. He keeps his eyes downfield and he lets the game come to him. When plays break down, he can make things happen with his legs and that’s what good players do. We had a couple chances to get to him that he slipped away from us, but he’s a great athlete and you have to give him credit for making plays.”
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