Aug. 29, 2002

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

TOLEDO HEAD COACH TOM AMSTUTZ

On the first game and playing lots of players:

"I look at every game the same way. We can't take anyone lightly. We planned on rotating a lot of players and that's what we did. Everything seemed to go really well tonight."

On Brian Jones:

"I thought he did a real nice job in what was his first real start as the leader of our offense. There's still room for improvement, but I was pleased with his leadership and his performance in general."

On William Bratton:

"My heart goes out to him for all the pain and trials and tribulations he's gone through for the opportunity to be the starting running back."

On the freshman:

"I was real pleased with the freshmen. It's a lot to ask of a true freshman to play in the first game of the year. There's so many new things that they have to prepare for. They've gone through a lot in two-a-days."

CAL POLY HEAD COACH RICH ELLERSON

"We had a lot of guys on defense playing for the first time. Things went real fast for them and it was baptism by fire. My guys had never seen that much skill, speed and execution on the perimeter."

"It was a war in there and we took the worst of it pretty consistently. Any first game like that with so many new players.you're still going to get some good things out of it."

"We had a lot of breakdowns and we were exposed by the physical mismatches. We just had it handed to us up front some times."

SENIOR TAILBACK WILLIAM BRATTON

General comments:

"I was really excited to get out there and play and show everybody in the crowd that I can still play."

Comments on getting off to a pretty fast start:

"The offensive line did a great job. I was just following them. Whatever hole they gave me, I followed."

Comments on how does it feel to get back out there and play:

"It feels good and I was really excited to just play. I put a lot of pressure on myself to come out and show everybody that I can play hard at a high level."

Senior LB Tom Ward

General Comments:

"Our defense prides itself on swarming to the ball. I thought our defensive line did an unbelievable job. We had a great d-line last year, but I will tell you what our d-line stepped up tonight and they showed that they can play at this level."

Comments on starting out the season on a good note at home:

"It is hard to explain it. It is great to have all those home fans out there. We broke the school's record for season ticket sales. It was incredible. Our defense had a great game up front and in the DB's and our offense did a great job with the O-line and with the running backs, QB's and receivers. They all did a great job. We are looking to improve this week. We have a big game next week against Eastern Michigan."

Comments on being a leader on defense: stepped up "I relish the role of being a leader of this defense. We have a lot of leaders like David Gardner right next to me is a great leader. You go right down the line and you will see there are a lot of leaders on this defense."

Senior WR Carl Ford

Comments on the screen pass:

"That is one of our patented plays. We spend a lot of time working on that. It has been pretty successful the last two years."

Comments on scoring a touchdown at home:

"It feels good to score a touchdown at home. Last year I had a couple on the road. To start the season off with one at home is a good feeling. Hopefully, we can keep them coming all year."

Comments on your weekly preparation:

"We prepare for every team the same. We prepare for Eastern Michigan and Cal Poly the same as we prepare for Marshall and Minnesota. We are going to prepare just as hard for every game."

Senior QB Brian Jones

On tonight's performance: "I felt good. I was real confident on what we were trying to do on offense. We have a lot of depth on this team. I just wanted to go out there and get the bugs out and run the offense."

Comments on how much pressure did you feel out there tonight:

"To start off I felt a little bit of jitters, but I had a lot of confidence in what we were going to do tonight. We were well prepared for the game, so I was confident in what we were going to do."