Sept. 11, 2010

 

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

 

Head Coach Jerry Kill

Opening statement...

"I think it was a unique game. You go by the first half and look at the yardage we had offensively, and look what they had. We didn't score touchdowns tonight; we have to finish the job, and we missed a field goal. That part of it was a little bit disturbing. I thought defensively, as the game went on, I thought our kids rallied and played pretty well. I was very proud of a youngster named Rashaan Melvin; he's had to play a lot of football for us. He did some good things. We had some young kids that I thought stepped up and played pretty good on defense. It was a tremendous goal line stand by those kids. The way the defense played the last two or three plays of that game were great. We're getting better in some areas, and then there's areas that we need to continue to improve on, but until you watch the film, you won't be able to diagnose it as much as you want to.

On how NIU improved defensively...

"There is an active of winning and scheduling. North Dakota, I knew, was a good football team; they really improved from week one to week two. They've always done a good job; I've got a lot of respect for that program."

On the offensive performance, and Chandler Harnish's rushing numbers...

"We had 510 yards. You look at that, and that's a pretty good number. But the most important stat is how many points you put on the board; so I definitely think we made some strides offensively. That's the best I've seen him (Chandler Harnish) run the ball since I've been here by far. He ran the way I want him to run."

NIU Players

Quarterback Chandler Harnish

On gaining 185 yards on the ground...

"I've gotten to the point where I just want to help the team win. I think the whole quarterback group as a whole believes that. Taking shots, that's part of the game, you're going to take a lot of shots, especially when you run the ball 21 times -- that's going to happen. We're a tough football team, I think that's what we are built around. We have guys who are ready to go."

Running Back Chad Spann

On his 79-yard touchdown on his first carry of the game...

"It definitely got us pumped up a little bit. It got the sideline pumped, got the defense pumped. That's what we need. We need to continue that pressure on them and keep that tempo up the whole game. I kind of wish we could have kept it up, but it definitely got us off to a good start."

Cornerback Tommy Davis

On the goal line stand right before halftime...

"I think the biggest thing about it is that we've seen that scenario so many times in training camp; We practiced it and practiced it as a defense. We would have times when we would do gassers -- if the offense got in, we had to run gassers, and if the defense stopped them, they had to run. I feel like when [the play] happened, it was almost like the guys were ready for it and we were excited. We were ready to make a play, and we ended up making the play. I saw him get low like he was going to jump and so right when I saw him leave the ground, I just jumped up. It was more reaction than anything. I wasn't really thinking about it, I just jumped up and hit him."

Linebacker Alex Kube

On the goal line stand right before halftime...

"I was definitely ready for the situation. During camp, coach put us in so many scenarios and that was one of them."

On scoring first...

"We came out fast and they didn't lie down. Our goal was to come out fast, hit them in the mouth early, and a lot of teams will lay down, especially the lower level teams. But they didn't, they kept fighting back, and that's part of football."

North Dakota Quotes

Linebacker Ryan Kasowski

On improvement from last week ...

"Last week wasn't us. This is the team that we are. It was nice to see us go out and make plays on both sides of the ball, and on special teams. It was impressive. Obviously we're disappointed with the outcome, but great strides from week one to week two."

Cornerback Dominique Hawkins

On his interception return for TD...

"Obviously on defense we needed to make something happen. The coaches kept harping about playing more aggressive on the outside perimeter, and they were running out routes for most of the first half. So I just sat on it, picked it off, and took it to the house."

Head Coach Chris Mussman

On NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish...

"He took some shots too - our guys stuck him a couple times, so he's a tough kid. We had some problems with our zone read with our inside linebackers getting to where they needed to be with the quarterback. For the most part, those two kids are a pretty good combination, tailback and quarterback, when you run the zone read."

On the feeling of the team following the close loss...

"I feel a whole lot better after this one than I did after Idaho. I told the kids this week and on the trip down, my whole focus was to play disciplined football. Tonight, we got better as a football team and a football program, and made a huge step from week one to week two, and that's really all I wanted to see. We have an opportunity to do some good things with this football team, and we took a huge step forward tonight."