Nov. 8, 2014

Recap | Final Stats

Head Coach Terry Allen
Opening statement
"Tough loss. Came in here with a nice game plan. They came and threw some football at us and they didn't mess around. They were able to get the big fake field goal to a touchdown, then the two-point conversion. We fought back and got the lead in the second quarter, and the drive before halftime was tough on us, but the biggest thing was we settled with field goals when we needed to score touchdowns and we couldn't hang in there with that."

On the Southern Illinois hurry-up offense …
"They've done it some, the biggest thing is they just came and pounded it as us between the tackles and were able to have good first-down production. When we did well on first down defensively, we got off the field. We had some chances there that we just didn't take advantage of."

On the matter of being consistent …
"Our kids fought, they fought last week, and they've been through a real tough stretch, and it's all hard. You just got to keep fighting. I told the guys last week, assuming that North Dakota State beats Northern Iowa later on this afternoon, you get a chance to play the number one team in the country. Our dreams for this season have gone by the wayside, buy we've got a lot of good young players here and some older kids, and hopefully we can give them something to remember."

Senior Quarterback Kierra Harris
On consistency …
"That's probable the story of our season in regards to our offense ... Our passing game is probably nonexistent right now. The O-line and our running backs are doing a great job, but I think the key is just finding the drive to stay consistent."

What do you guys play for here on out?
"We're playing for each other. That's what you play this game for. Play for your teammates, and if not, find something to play for, because we need some more wins. Winning the next two we will be at .500. It's not the season that we all wanted, but it will be a stepping stone for the next year. We just need to stay together and stay focused, that's the biggest key.

Senior Linebacker Caleb Schaffitzel
On Southern Illinois trick plays …
"We knew they were going to come out and do some funny stuff. They did it last year, and so did we. They came out and executed a really good play, and then came out and had the conversion. We knew we were in for a ride, and we needed to just settle down, and play together as a defense."