Sept. 14, 2003

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

Head Coach Tom Amstutz:

"It's tough for anybody to come away with a win in this stadium. Marshall has a lot of tradition and a lot of pride. For us to come away with win we had to match their enthusiasm and pride, and just keep believing in ourselves."

"We believed we could run the football and burn up the clock, and we did it just enough to win."

"In the last two years it came down to the last possession and I thought it would this year, too. We were playing against the clock and try to be the last one with the ball or the last one to score a touchdown."

"Lance Moore did a good job returning the ball. He's sure-handed back there and has great speed. Coach (David) Walkosky is doing a great job with our special teams. We're getting great blocking on our punt returns."

"I thought our defense came up big. They were on the field a lot. They worked hard the whole time. They went after the football. We're playing to try to get the ball on defense."

"It's tough to win here. They have the crowd behind them. Mentally they step on the field and expect to win. That's what we tried to do-believe we could win."

"Bruce (Gradkowski) did a great job. He's getting better and better every week. He's a special football player and a competitor. He's a leader on offense."

"Our offensive line did a nice job of battling all night long."

"Our secondary, especially Patrick Body and Brandon Hefflin, did a great job of preventing the long pass."

"This is just one of our eight Mid-American Conference games. We treat them all like championship games because they are. This gets our feet on the ground for the MAC race.

Trinity Dawson

(last drive) "I attribute that drive to the offensive line. They got after it and refused to lose. They kept playing hard and gave the skill players a chance to make plays."

"It's real big. Last year, the MAC Championship Game was my biggest game, but the biggest stat is that W. If you don't get that W it puts a dent on everything."

Bruce Gradkowski

"When the offense was struggling the defense came back on the field and stopped them again and again. But we put it in the end zone when we needed to."

"This was a team win. We can build on this game. We faced adversity in this game and learned from it."

"When we scored the touchdown to go up 14-10 I though, wow, we can score every time we get the ball. It felt that good. But you have to realize Marshall isn't giving up. It was a hard-fought battle to the very end."

"To win in a place like this you have to limit your turnovers.

Lance Moore

"When I get the blocks it makes my job easier. They do the hard stuff. I'm just catching and running. That's the easy part."

"The defense kept us in it. Not many teams can contain Marshall's offense. But our defense forced turnovers and put us in a position to win.

Patrick Body

"When we needed a stop, we got a stop. I think the defense can use this game as a stepping stone for the rest of the season."