University of Toledo Athletics

Toledo Head Coach Jason Candle

“We're obviously very proud of our football team, and the effort that it took to win that game. It was a really strong second half, with a lot of tremendous individuals contributing. Many times in that second half that we could've folded and we didn't; we've stayed together, just like we've preached and talked about. I think that once you set the mantra of what your program needs to be in January, you hope that these words that are all over these walls come off the walls and they start to become actions. For that 30 minutes, I thought our guys did a really good job of staying together. For that, I'm very proud of our team.
“I'm really happy how our fans came out and supported our team today. It wasn't an easy contest for us coming back off that trip. Our guys never used that as an excuse, they kept battling and fighting, and kept playing hard for one another.”

On Shakif Seymour’s performance
“I thought he was awesome the other night vs. Colorado State too. A couple of days ago when we played at two in the morning, I thought he played good that game. He had really good finishing runs. He's doing a good job of getting to the ball. Shakif and Bryant are a little different when they get into the secondary. He's going to put his head down and try to run through tackles. Bryant's going to do a good job of trying to make you miss him and get around you. It's a nice combination, and those guys have kind of fed off each other the last couple of weeks. We're going to need that to continue.”

On words becoming actions
“You have to have the opportunity to do it. You have to be put in a hard situation by a good program and we were. You don't get to simulate that stuff on Carter Field or in the Glass Bowl on Tuesday morning at 8:30 when people are walking to class past you. You get to simulate that on a Saturday afternoon in front of a great crowd. That's a well-coached group and I have a lot of respect for them. I'm glad BYU put us in some tough moments today because our kids responded in some positive ways. It teaches me a lot about our team.”

On being down 14-3
“I had no doubt that if we scored when we were down 14-6 that we were going for two. We were down  a possession, because we didn't get to start the third quarter with the ball. I knew that we had to generate as many points as we possibly could. Sometimes those decisions come out of frustrations, because your offense isn't having the success that you want.”

On handling adversity
I think it tells us that after four weeks of football, we're starting to create an identity. They came up with "eat" at the beginning of the season. They wanted to play with great effort and they wanted to be accountable for each other. They wanted to play with toughness. When they say that, it gives me something to hang over their head to make sure that that's the standard that they wanted to become. Whether it's football or life, that's what you're looking for. You're looking for growth, you're looking for these life lessons that we're teaching these young guys. It's going to be a tough conference schedule, and a tough game here next Saturday.”

On his team’s defense
“There were a lot of outstanding individual efforts and buying into collectively into a really good plan. BYU's quarterback is a really good quarterback. He has the ability to extend plays. He has the ability to hit hands of receivers that allows you to play multiple receivers. He's so accurate, and it's a massive front on the offensive line. Running up the field and trying to sack him isn't the easiest play every time. You have to get hit in the mouth sometimes and continue to come back to fight. And that's what our guys were able to do.”
 
Toledo senior QB Mitchell Guadagni

On what he was thinking during the fourth quarter
“I was just thinking that we needed to help out the defense. They did everything in their power to put pressure on their offense. So we wanted to do everything we could to get in the end zone.”

On the way the offense played on Saturday
“I didn’t have a great first half. I made some mistakes. We came back with a great game plan in the second half, focusing a little more on the running game. Our offensive line and running backs stepped up big time. Even when we made critical mistakes, we still came together as a group and that helped us succeed.”

Toledo senior FS Kahlil Robinson

On his big interception
“I got a pretty good break on the ball, and when I looked up the ball was in the air coming towards me. The defense was just doing what we’ve been practicing all season long. That put me in a position to make a play.”

On what a win like this can do for a team
“A win like this gives us the opportunity to celebrate today, but we need to come back ready to work next week. With MAC play starting, we need to carry this energy with us into conference play for the rest of the season.”
Toledo sophomore DE Desjuan Johnson

On the defense’s play on Saturday
“I feel like our effort on defense today was really good. Even if we had a bad play, we came back to the sidelines with positive energy. It paid off for us today.”
Toledo junior RB Shakif Seymour

On the game-winning two-yard touchdown
“That’s just part of football. Coach Candle talks to me about getting in the hole all the time, running hard, putting your head down and just going.  It felt good. Seeing my teammates even before the play, Mitch was just telling me like ‘you got this baby, you know what I’m saying.’ All of my teammates were just kind of talking to me. They actually wanted me to get the ball, and it just felt really good because they believed in me. I believe in my teammates and they all were sitting there talking to me right before the play started and just saying ‘you got this, just get in the end zone. ‘You go score, you go win this game for us.’ That felt really good.”

On Bryant Koback’s support
“That’s my little brother, plain and simple. We push each other every single day no matter what it is. We will call each other, text each other and make sure we’re on point with what we’ve got going on. When we’re in practice we make sure that we’re talking to each other. We may mess up, we get to the side line, we talk to each other about what we got to do, what we need to accomplish. We always make sure we talk to each other about being a 1-2 punch.”

On Bryant Koback’s fumble
“I told him I got him. I told him I love him and we’ll keep riding. It was a fumble, yeah, but it’s Bryant, and he’ll move past that. He’s a strong kid. He’ll move past that and get ready for next week. He’s fine.”

BYU Head Coach Kalane Sitake
On the decision to go for it on fourth down instead of attempting a field goal on their second possession of the fourth quarter
“I thought we had enough time and we had three timeouts. We’d been throwing the ball pretty well and getting some good yardage against their defense. I thought it was a good decision to go for it at that point.”

On the team’s consistency
“It’s been an issue this year. We weren’t really able to generate much momentum, and when we did have it we seemed to give it up. Give credit to Toledo. They made more plays than we did today. They’re a really good team and I think they’ll do some damage in their conference.”

On the two missed field goals
“It would have been nice to have those points, but nobody played a perfect game today. Our guys played with a lot of effort today, we just weren’t able to capitalize and make plays.”