Opening statement
"We wanted to be 1-0 after the first weekend, answering your questions, talking about the following week, and that's where we are. I'm proud of our football team for the way we finished. You go through training camp, work hard, everyone has an idea the way you'd like the team to look the first time out, but you want to go through adversity, put guys in tough situations and see how they respond. We did all of that. There was a point in the fourth quarter when Ball State had momentum and made a big run, and it wasn't looking good for our team at the time, but character showed and guys stepped up in all three phases. We need to make plays in all three phases and we did. I'm proud of them. It's a lot easier to coach with a win. With that said, there are all of things to improve on, and we've started that process. A lot of young players got their first college experience playing a football game, and I saw a lot of improvement, start to finish, with them. We're excited about getting a win, and now it's on to another good football team. They had 11 wins last year, outstanding year by some of their personnel coming back. When you see a returning quarterback, you know there are some issues you're going to have to deal with. They won a big game against their rival, Eastern Kentucky, last week."
On playing freshmen
"We knew going in that we were playing a lot of freshmen. We knew a lot of freshmen that had a chance to get early time. When you're a young ball club, you want them to get as much experience as possible and get a chance to play. That's where we were at the end of the game. Those young freshmen were stepping up and contributing. Some got time last week, and, probably, more will get time this week."
On freshmen corners Tony Adams and Nate Hobbs
"Tony Adams has practiced more than Nate has. It's tough duty playing corner in general. To be a true freshman, and they're throwing at you quite a bit, we thought they handled it pretty well for the first time out. Nate Hobbs got in and only had a week of practice. One week of practice and he's playing in a major college football game, but he held up and has talent. First time out was pretty good for a freshman."
On the return of Mike Dudek
"We saw excitement and big play ability from Mikey, which he has. He hadn't played in a long time, and he wanted to return punts and get his hands on the ball as much as possible. When I watch college football, a lot of games come down to your playmakers, in critical situations, stepping up and making plays. Mike did it early, and of course getting the punt return was big. That punt return, we needed it. I think our fans got a chance to see what he can bring. We'd forgotten it a little bit, but we got a chance to see what he can bring to the table, which is quite a bit of excitement."
"It's pretty hard to double team someone always. Most of the time it comes down to a one-on-one situation. You can get a little bit of over-the-top help, but it's hard to just isolate one guy. Mike's going to get one-on-one situations, and he's going to win most of those. Having him in the slot makes it a little hard too, so we feel like we can get him the ball when we need to. And, it's our job to get him the ball more and more."
On Mike Epstein
"He's been that way since he got on campus in terms of showing us he deserves early playing time. He stepped up to the plate. He didn't play like a freshman. He wanted the ball whether it was throwing it to him out of the backfield, returning kicks and his production at the running back positions. He couldn't have had a better opening day. That's how he's been, and we'll continue to expect more from him."
On Western Kentucky
"When you play your rival, in state and all that. They were better than Eastern [Kentucky], they beat them. We saw a team with a lot of confidence. You should have that when you win your bowl game and win as win as many games as they did last year. They're looking forward to this game as much as we are. I assume we're big underdogs, so when you're playing a Big Ten football team and you're a big favorite, you should have a good feeling."
"We're playing Western Kentucky. That's enough motivation to get better and try to get to 2-0. It's about us making our improvements to reach our goals."
On Western Kentucky QB Mike White
"He's a mobile guy, but a drop-back quarterback that is more of a pro-style quarterback. Offensively, they use a lot of different formations and shifts. They play a lot of receivers, more of a traditional-style attack. Quarterback wise, he can make all of the throws in the pocket."
