Popeyes Bahamas Bowl
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Runner-Up Quotes
Head Coach Rick Stockstill
Opening remarks
“Congratulations to Western Michigan. I thought it was a really good football game. We gave up too many big plays. Keys coming into the game were stopping the run and limiting the big plays, and we weren’t able to do either one of those. I really thought that was the difference in the game.”
“It’s difficult to win games when you do that (give up numerous big plays). I thought was the difference in the game, those two factors.”
Where was the turning point in the game, before Western Michigan broke it open?
“I never thought it broke open in their favor until the end… To me the difference was, we just couldn’t get stops. The explosive plays just killed us. I don’t know how many times… the 4th-and-1 there at the start of the third quarter, they break that for a touchdown. I just believe the big plays, the explosion plays were the difference in the game.”
KEVIN BYARD, Sr., DB
“The only thing that’s on my mind right now are the guys in that locker room, the coaches that I’m going to miss. It sucks that we weren’t able to get the job done today. I just wish I had a couple more hours (on the field) with my teammates.”
BRENT STOCKSTILL, r-Fr., QB
“I thought it was pretty simple, we were just bad on first and second down, putting us in third-and-longs. We had a pretty good third-down package, but it’s hard to complete third-and-longs.”
