Oct. 4, 2014

Recap | Final Stats

Head Coach Terry Allen
Opening statement
"Hats off to Youngstown. I thought they came in here and played very well. ... It was not a pretty ballgame for us, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But, again, in this league you're going to have days like that, and there will be dogfights for seven more weeks after this. ... It's going to be a battle each and every weekend, we just need to be a little bit better offensively next week."

What was Youngstown State doing that was causing trouble on offense?
"Going into the game, I thought that they were pretty good up front and they got some pressure on Kierra [Harris]. We weren't able to run the ball as well as we would have liked to, and we obviously struggled throwing the ball offensively."

How frustrating is it to have your defense play so well and lose?
"It's football. Even looking at the statistics coming into the game, I think people would've have expected we were going to have a shootout. Well, that's not always the case when teams in this league lock horns."

Was Youngstown State disguising its run defense?
"They did a nice job of getting the drop-down safety in there to make a couple plays. It was a good defensive scheme. For what would normally be an eight-, nine-yard gain, he was tackling him for two- and three-yard gain. We weren't able to take advantage of that as much as we would've liked to."

On the fake punt ...
"We were struggling offensively at the time. I thought we could get some momentum going before the half, and fortunately the defense saved me because I called the fake punt. But there are nobody's hands I'd rather have it in than Caleb [Schaffitzel's]. There was a run-pass option on that. He just tried to do what he thought he could do for a first down."

Senior Quarterback Kierra Harris
On lack of offensive flow ...
"For the past four weeks, teams have showed to be different tan what they showed on film, but ... we had our chances."

On penalties ...
"They're going to happen. Coach said during the pregame that bad things are going to happen, you just have to move forward ... can't let that set you back."

How frustrating is it when you are inside the 5-yard line and it takes a long time to get in the end zone?
"It can frustrate you a little bit, but you can let that hold you back. Our defense was outstanding. I take my hat off to those guys, the work so hard every week in practice. They got us the ball down there. It's frustrating to not come out and score [quickly], but you just have to keep fighting and find a way."

On halftime adjustments ...
"[We wanted to] just establish a run game. We can pound the ball with anybody. So our run game did pretty good. I don't know how well we did but I'm pretty sure we did great. Just pound the rock and then maybe that would open up so passing lanes."

Senior Tackle Zack Cooley
What did you see today?
"From the get go, I think they popped us in the mouth and we didn't really respond. They were running a three-down front on third downs, and we had seen everything that they showed us, we just did not execute at all."

Is that disappointing after the bye week to not be at your best today?
"Yeah, I don't want to blame it on the bye week. We knew what we had ahead of us with an eight-week conference slate, and it falls on us, the leaders, the old guys, we didn't have our team ready."

How do you keep this from being a major setback?
"I think we have to have a short memory. This is a pretty big loss, it's in conference, but the fact is we're 3-1 versus FCS opponents. It's only one loss, and we just have to focus on what we have ahead of us and that's South Dakota State."

Sophomore Linebacker Dylan Cole
What happened on Youngstown State's first play of the game and the long touchdown run?
"I don't think we had people in the right spots. We had people overflowing. It comes down to execution, just like the offense."

Redshirt-Freshman Linebacker Kurran Blamey
You made a big play in limited action today. What do you tell yourself to stay ready when called on?
"I knew that I was going to have to do whatever they needed me to do to make this team better."

What happened on the punt-return play?
"We've been practicing for two weeks now since we had the bye week so we had a lot of time to prepare. Our special teams coaches do a good job of watching film and seeing what we need to do. It had been designed for that we were going hit them in the gaps, and if one broke free, we were going to go. That's exactly what happened."