Post-Game Quotes vs. Buffalo
Toledo Head Coach Jason Candle
“We lose together and we win together, we celebrate together as one. It can’t be one or the other. I thought we played good complementary football in the first half, our defense was able to give us a couple short field situations.”
On bringing in quarterback Eli Peters in the second quarter
“I thought we needed a little bit of a spark in the passing game. Somebody who can stretch the field a little bit and get their defense off us a little bit. We were able to get that big play to Diontae, but we weren’t really able to maintain any consistency in the passing game.”
On Toledo’s defense
“They played with a high energy, a lot of effort, and really good focus. Hats off to the defensive coaching staff, getting their guys in the right spots and getting them to play with that energy and effort. Part of it is having the belief that they can be that good, and going out there and doing the right thing. When our guys do those things we have a chance to be successful.”
“I thought we had their quarterback out of his rhythm in the first half. To get pressure on him was huge. We did a good job disrupting his play.”
On his young roster
“There were a few negative plays from the first half that stood out to me, and both involved freshmen. That’s not an excuse, because you have to play a lot of guys. Everybody is playing young guys, but those young guys are going to make mistakes. It’s our job to correct them and not let those mistakes turn into bad habits. That’s football, you have to be able to live with those moments and respond to them.”
Sophomore quarterback Eli Peters
On entering the game in the 2nd quarter
“I was just trying to do my job. I always try to prepare like I’m the starter each week. When my number was called I felt like I could get the job done. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case today.”
On Buffalo’s defense in the second half
“They have a very good defense and run every coverage in the book. They made some adjustments in the second half and we just didn’t respond the right way. There’s a lot of things we can do better.”
Junior linebacker Jordan Fisher
On the loss
“Any loss is tough. We just have to bounce back and focus on our next opponent. We can’t do anything about it now. We need to get back to work and get ready for Western Michigan.”
on the defense in the first and second half
“We played with a lot of energy and were feeding off each other in the first half. We were playing as a unit and were able to come up with turnovers. They ran similar stuff in the second half and we just need to keep knowing our assignments and coverages.
Buffalo Head Coach Lance Leipold
“We gave up two explosive plays to a very explosive offense, but after that we were able to prevent the big play and slow them down a little bit. We were solid defensively aside from those two plays.”
On quarterback Tyree Jackson
“He doesn’t get rattled. He never does. Once he settled down we thought we could get some things going in the passing game and we were able to do that.”
On his team’s ability to come back from 10 points down at halftime
“I really credit our upperclassmen. They’re makeup is fantastic. This group has been through a lot on and off the field. Through the good and the not-so-good they’ve really learned to keep their composure and just keep working and playing. There wasn’t any panic at halftime, they just kept battling.”
“It was a tale of two halves. It’s usually pretty tough to create momentum like that in the second half on the road, especially in a place like this where Toledo has had so much success.”
“Our defense carried us quite a bit most of the game, other than those two explosive plays. We were struggling for most of the game running the ball, but it was our passing game that got us going. In the fourth quarter, I’m not sure if Toledo wore down a little bit, but we also executed better and Jaret Patterson did a heck of a job.”
