University of Toledo Athletics

Toledo head coach Jason Candle
“Great team  win for us. Obviously we had some moments in the game that we’d like to take off the video tape, but for the most part I saw some really consistent play. One thing that can’t get lost is there are a lot of young guys playing out there, and they were maybe in some situations they’ve never been in before. When you look at the box score you see a lot of these young guys performing at an elite level and a consistent level.”

“I liked the game today because our young guys had to stay engaged for a full 60 minutes of football. There’s some anxiety there because you know you need to answer the bell every time on offense, but this will be a good video tape to watch for us to figure out what we have and where we’re going.”

On the two special teams touchdowns
“The punt block was a huge play and I thought the kick return was even bigger. Any time you can create scores that are not generated by the offense that’s a huge boost for your football team and it really got the crowd going, which was a major plus.”

On punter Bailey Flint
“He’s a confident guy. His comfort level in his role and knowing what the coaches are expecting of him have helped him make a major upgrade in his game from year one to year two. When you’re the punter you may only get four or five opportunities a game, but when you’re out there everyone is watching you, so there’s a little more anxiety created, but he has been great so far.”

On the play of the defense
“Hats off to Nevada, they had a few playmakers who were able to get into open space and we weren’t able to take them down. But, we’re going to have to do a better job at stopping the run, do a better job of stopping the opposing team’s best receiver, and do a better job of staying in our run gaps. We’ll just need to watch the film and decide the best way for us to attack those issues moving forward.”
 
Toledo WR Cody Thompson
On the win over Nevada
“No matter who you’re playing, wins in Division I college football are not easy to come by. It feels good to be back on the winning end of things and we hope to keep that feeling going.”
On his three-TD day
“It felt great. I love scoring touchdowns, I don’t think you’ll find anyone who says they don’t. The coaches put together a good game plan for us, Coach Candle and Coach Wright always put us in a good position to succeed. It was a fun game for us on offense.”

Toledo S Kahlil Robinson
On getting back in the win column
“It’s a wonderful thing for our team to get back in that winning mode and get that routine going. That’s where we want to be and hopefully this sets the tone for the rest of the season.”

On preventing big plays from opposing offenses
“We just need to stay locked in on defense and play together. We had a few breakdowns in certain parts of the game today, but we’ll get back in the film room and figure out what we need to fix and get back to where we want to be.”

Toledo WR Desmond Phillips
On his trick play touchdown pass
“Going into it I thought ‘I better get my arm warmed up’, I felt like I was back in high school again. I trust Cody, I knew if I put in in a place where he could get it, he’d get it. It was my opportunity to make a play so I knew I needed to make the best of it.”

Toledo QB Mitchell Guadagni
“Getting to go out and score as many points as we can, and making play calls we know are going to be successful is just a lot of fun. It was a good feeling being a part of the offense today.”

On getting Cody Thompson more involved this week
“That connection has always been there, but sometimes the play calls go to a different receiver. We have some of the most elite wide receivers in the nation and obviously they can’t all get the ball every single play. Cody made some really good plays today getting open and I got him the ball.”
 
Nevada head coach Jay Norvell
“I was disappointed with some of the mistakes we made early, especially in the kicking game. It’s hard to overcome a kickoff return for a touchdown and a punt block return for a touchdown, especially when you’re playing a good football team.”

“We did some good things offensively. We moved the ball through the air and on the ground well. But when you rush for over 200 yards against a good football team like Toledo you should come away with a win. We just couldn’t stop them when we needed to. At the end of the day we didn’t play well enough.”

“A lot of young guys did a lot of good things today and we’re excited about what we can be as a team heading into conference play.”

“The quarterback was tough. The scrambles that he had really killed us. We would play pretty good defense, but he would just tuck it and run and move the chains. Toledo is a very good offensive team, they’ve proven that over the last few years. They’re capable of scoring a lot of points.”