Postgame Quotes vs. Buffalo
Head Coach Jason Candle
“I’m extremely proud of our team tonight. There are ebbs and flows in every game. I thought our special teams up until the blocked punt were excellent throughout the football game. We had some key defensive stops throughout the game, and it was good to create some turnovers. Offensively, there were some bright spots and a lot of yards gained in the first half. But the turnovers are going to stick like a knife in my side. We have to get those things corrected, get those things fixed, and have a good week as we prepare for this next game. Like I've said before, it’s hard to win games in our league and consistently do it. I’m happy with our guys and we’ll continue to press on here."
“Football is a long game. I view it as a guy getting hot in the first half of a basketball game. The shooting percentages are usually going to balance themselves out."
"I thought it would be critical all week long to take care of the football. We let them back in the game because we turned it over, and did the same thing a couple of times. We had a chance to put the game away and we didn’t do it in the second half and made the fourth quarter a little more interesting than it needed to be. But I give Buffalo credit, defensively they fly with the football. At times they do a better job trying to take the ball away than they do tacking guys, and it’s been a recipe to keep them in football games all year long. They do a good job of making the concentrated effort to take the football away and they got us a couple of times."
Junior Safety Maxen Hook
On the defense and response to the weather
"Before the game, it was a complete blizzard out there. We knew it would be a defensive game and we were in that mindset going into it. We were able to help out the offense tonight when they needed it."
On continuing the success at home
"We just have to keep taking it one week at a time and keep preparing. We have a good formula right now and if we keep taking it one week at a time, I think we can keep coming out of these weeks with a win."
Junior Running Back Jacquez Stuart
On the opening kickoff return and setting the tone for the rest of the game
"Coming in as a new special teams coach, Coach (Stanton) Weber came up with a good punt-game plan this week. He did say we were going to have one good return, and once we get that one opportunity, to take advantage of it. We have taken special teams very seriously since spring, so I think that is one of the most important things on the field. We did a good job today not only on kickoff return but on all units. It set the whole tone of the game. That momentum took us through the whole game."
