Sept. 28, 2002

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

Quarterback Brian Jones

"We had trouble getting things going. Turnovers hurt us. It's frustrating. We moved the ball well, but we had a couple of breakdowns in the red zone."

Wide Receiver Carl Ford

"Offensively we did some good things, but there were a lot of small things that hurt us. Give credit to the Pittsburgh defense. They stuck with us."

Linebacker David Gardner

"We just have to move forward and get ready for the MAC season, get ready for the MAC season, get ready for Ball State in two weeks. Now we have to really focus on the games that count in conference play. Our goal is to win the MAC Championship. Our season really gets going in two weeks."

"Pitt has a great team and a great quarterback in Rutherford. He's tough to defend. He's a two-dimensional threat."

Defensive End Phil Alexander

"Their offensive line was excellent. On the front side they hit hard, and one the back side they did a good job of protecting the quarterback. They shut down everything we tried to accomplish."

Head Coach Tom Amstutz

"Pitt is a fine football team. I knew that coming in. They played Texas A&M nose to nose. I don't feel like they handled us. I felt like we were battling with them. We had 435 yards on offense. Turnovers made a difference."

"We didn't put enough pressure on the quarterback. We put our cornerbacks one-on-one back there for a long time. That's not a situation that anyone can do well in.We did try to blitz but we didn't get to the quarterback."

"These last three games we played will help us with our conference season. The players at Minnesota, UNLV and Pittsburgh are as good as any, if not better, than any team in our conference."