Sept. 10, 2005

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Toledo vs. Western Michigan (Sept. 10, 2005)

Toledo Head Coach Tom Amstutz

(on the offense producing early in the game)

"We came out sharp tonight and I really can't ask for too much more than what they did in the first five series. The execution was sound and we had a good of mix of runs and passes. Bruce did a nice job of executing the offense and we had other players make players for us. We just have to keep it going."

(on the defensive pressure)

"They answered the call and put some pressure on Western early in the game. We made the quarterback move around and we're going in the right direction with putting pressure on the passer. You have to make them uncomfortable back there."

(on the tight ends involvement in the offense)

"We had them in the gameplan based on what we saw on film and they answered the call for us tonight."

Senior QB Bruce Gradkowski

Comments on the Offensive Line "I thought our offensive line did a great job tonight and that is where it all starts."

Comments on Tonight's Fast Start
"Our goal tonight was to come out fast and strong, and we did that. Our offense wanted to set the tempo tonight, because the defense did it last week."

Comments on the Tight Ends
"We have some tough tight ends that really work their butts off. Josh Powell, Chris Hopkins and John Allen all do a great job. They always do a great job for us blocking, so it was time to reward them with a couple of catches.

Senior RB Trinity Dawson

General Comments
"I felt good tonight playing. Our offensive line did a great job of opening up some holes for us. It took us a little bit to adjust to what WMU was doing, but once we made some adjustments we were able to make some plays."

Comments on the Depth at the Running Back Position
"We're always competing for spot in the lineup. I think the competition makes each of us better. We're always running hard and trying to do our best to help the team. It does not matter which one of us is in the game, we don't miss a beat.

Junior LB Mike Chamberlain

Comments on the Defense's Focus
"We wanted to come out and put some pressure on their quarterback and not give them a lot of time to throw the ball. We also wanted to shut down Greg Jennings and the way we went about doing that was by putting pressure on the quarterback. Our defense loves to blitz and with our new scheme, we get the opportunity to blitz quite often. Tonight we were able to make some plays."

Western Michigan Head Coach Bill Cubit

"I was just hoping that he would give us a spark out there which I thought he did. He was 20-of-33 and didn't turn the ball over and it looks like he'll be ready for next week. We just didn't run the ball effectively early but then we got a little bit better. But then at that time it was pretty much out of hand."

(on Bruce Gradkowski)

"He's a really good quarterback. It really helps him when you can run the ball with the play action to suck in the safeties. What really killed us was Toledo converting 12-of-17 third-down plays. We had him stopped a few times but he scrambled and made big plays. If you don't stop the run you're going to make him a better quarterback."

(on where the team goes from here)

"We have to move on. I don't care what the score is but it's about the process. We have to do the right things because we've taken over a program that didn't do the right things. We have to keep doing it the right way every single day. We had a couple of days we didn't practice real well and this is the end result. We played real well against Virginia and the players think they've arrived but they haven't. We have a lot of young kids and we're getting good leadership from our older guys so hopefully they can show them what they need to do."