Oct. 26, 2002

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

Toledo Head Coach Tom Amstutz

On Miami QB Ben Roethlisberger

"We knew he was an excellent quarterback and he showed poise in the pocket tonight. He has a big arm and he is an all-around outstanding quarterback. He is a good football player, who has great field awareness. When we put pressure on him, he found an open man. To his credit, he is a real good football player."

General Impressions of Miami

"I give their team a lot of credit. They executed very well tonight. Things just seemed to go their way and they got the breaks tonight."

On condition of William Bratton

"I was told he should be able to come back and play. It is not a broken ankle. Right now, we don't think it will end his season."

On not being able to score in the first half

"We had some chances. We had some great drives, but we turned the ball over and that ended our drives. I thought we controlled the ball, but we just need to finish the drives."

On the Miami defensive line

"Usually our offensive line dominates, but tonight their defense was pretty tough. Their defense is very good and very physical. They gave us a lot of different looks and they are very well coached."

Senior LB Tom Ward

"He (Ben Rothlisberger) is a good football player, and he has good football players around him. His receivers go out there and make plays when he is in trouble, and we just didn't make the plays tonight. They made big plays when they needed to and we didn't." "Every loss is a huge loss. The streak ended but that isn't on our minds. Our goal is not to keep a streak, our goal is to win a championship."

Senior QB Brian Jones

"It wasn't our night. They came out and were ready to play. They were confident. We knew they were a good team and they played hard and well and at times the ball didn't go our way, but that's how it goes sometimes."

"We just haven't come out and execute in the first half. We are not putting the ball into the end zone. We are moving the ball but once we get into the red zone we make mistakes, turning the ball over and doing things we can't be doing."

Senior LB David Gardner

"They have a phenomenal offense. If you look back at all of their games the key is their quarterback. He's able to scramble and get the ball out. We were able to get pressure on him but we were unable to contain him."

Senior TB William Bratton

(On ankle injury suffered in the first half) "It's really frustrating, but this won't put me out for the rest of the season."

Miami Head Coach Terry Hoeppner

"We knew it was going to be a quick-paced game. We knew it was going to be a quick-paced game. We know what happened last week (Toledo comeback at UCF) and we had to put up. This was a championship game and we couldn't afford to lose."

"Two confident teams played each other tonight. We're proud of our offense and our defense. I'm glad No. 7 (Ben Roethlisberger) is on my side. He plays, he checks, he gets us right into the play."