Ball State Football Postgame News Conference Quotes, October 19: Game 7 vs Vanderbilt
Coach Neu
Opening Statement
A: "I'm proud of the fight of our football team there coming out in the second half, getting the score tied 14-14, but at the end of the day, in the 4th quarter, we had some plays there. We had too many negative plays from an offensive standpoint, and obviously we had a couple of opportunities there at the end, defensively to get off the field on third down and weren't able to get that done. So, credit Vanderbilt, credit Coach Lee. But, for us to be able to win a game like this those moments just simply can't happen."Â
Q: "What do you think a game like this does for the team's confidence?"
A: "I think the guys feel very confident in what we can do. We knew it was going to kind of be a street fight type of football game, and we fought and scratched, and then at the end there we had some negative plays that hurt us. So, it's really a matter of us more than anything else. I listen to those guys in there as soon as I finish with the prayer and remarks with the football team, and the attitude is where it needs to be."Â
Q: "Do you think this is the best game your defense has played this season?"
A: "I think without question, the way they battled for sure was the best four quarters in terms of battling that we had. Obviously, there's still things that we can clean up, and we still have things that we might need to get better at from a situational standpoint. When you're talking about holding those guys to field goal attempts, that was awesome."
Q: "What makes a loss like this so difficult?"
A: "It's 14-14, you know, at the end of in the third quarter right there, and so that's the part that that stings more than anything else, It's not always how you start. It's how you finish. I know this team continues to believe in each other, and they got the right mentality where they're gonna continue to fight, and and stick by each other's side."
Joey Stemler
Q: "Did you see improvement out there today?"
A: "I did, yes. There were a couple. There were multiple plays where, you know, one on one, open field guys were struggling to make those tackles early on in the season. Tonight, they got them down, or, you know, disrupted the pass, and it really, really helped us out."Â
Q: "Is it hard to have a sense of success and a loss?"
A: "It can be, but no, our team has the right attitude. Like I said before, it's a confidence booster. We went into that game knowing what we can do, what we can show, and we can keep building off of that. Obviously, it's a hard, gut wrenching loss, but you know, we got to look at the positives from it, and you know, we can keep stacking days and keep stacking weeks."Â
Q:Â "What was that energy like battling there late in the fourth quarter?"
A: "It's awesome. I wish everybody could experience it. It was awesome on my end, just to be out there and try my best to help the team get off the field and do what we do."
Kadin Semonza
Q: "What do you think is the biggest boost of the conference going forward?"
A: "We took a lot of steps forward today. It's unfortunate we didn't get the result we wanted at the end of the game, but we stepped up in a lot of different ways. I mean, defense made a lot of stops, made a lot of plays out there. Offensively, we made plays, but, you know, we've got to be better and we could help the team win. But I think for sure, we took a lot of steps forward."
Q: "What's it like having a sense of success even with a tough loss?"
A: "The goal is to win, and we didn't get that done today, but, we took a lot of steps forward. There are positives to take from this, but we're not walking away feeling like we've won because we lost the game at the end of the day. We were a handful plays for being five-and-two, and we're sitting here at two-and-five. There's stuff we've got to go back and figure out. We've got to go undefeated the rest of the way."
Q: "What are some improvements that you'd like to see communication-wise moving forward?"
A: "Just being all on the same page. There's no excuse for why we're not [communicating] at this point in the season. I mean, we've got a lot of moving parts, You know, guys playing different places, but at the end of the day, we're professionals. We've got to take care of what we got to take care of."
Coach Neu
Opening Statement
A: "I'm proud of the fight of our football team there coming out in the second half, getting the score tied 14-14, but at the end of the day, in the 4th quarter, we had some plays there. We had too many negative plays from an offensive standpoint, and obviously we had a couple of opportunities there at the end, defensively to get off the field on third down and weren't able to get that done. So, credit Vanderbilt, credit Coach Lee. But, for us to be able to win a game like this those moments just simply can't happen."Â
Q: "What do you think a game like this does for the team's confidence?"
A: "I think the guys feel very confident in what we can do. We knew it was going to kind of be a street fight type of football game, and we fought and scratched, and then at the end there we had some negative plays that hurt us. So, it's really a matter of us more than anything else. I listen to those guys in there as soon as I finish with the prayer and remarks with the football team, and the attitude is where it needs to be."Â
Q: "Do you think this is the best game your defense has played this season?"
A: "I think without question, the way they battled for sure was the best four quarters in terms of battling that we had. Obviously, there's still things that we can clean up, and we still have things that we might need to get better at from a situational standpoint. When you're talking about holding those guys to field goal attempts, that was awesome."
Q: "What makes a loss like this so difficult?"
A: "It's 14-14, you know, at the end of in the third quarter right there, and so that's the part that that stings more than anything else, It's not always how you start. It's how you finish. I know this team continues to believe in each other, and they got the right mentality where they're gonna continue to fight, and and stick by each other's side."
Joey Stemler
Q: "Did you see improvement out there today?"
A: "I did, yes. There were a couple. There were multiple plays where, you know, one on one, open field guys were struggling to make those tackles early on in the season. Tonight, they got them down, or, you know, disrupted the pass, and it really, really helped us out."Â
Q: "Is it hard to have a sense of success and a loss?"
A: "It can be, but no, our team has the right attitude. Like I said before, it's a confidence booster. We went into that game knowing what we can do, what we can show, and we can keep building off of that. Obviously, it's a hard, gut wrenching loss, but you know, we got to look at the positives from it, and you know, we can keep stacking days and keep stacking weeks."Â
Q:Â "What was that energy like battling there late in the fourth quarter?"
A: "It's awesome. I wish everybody could experience it. It was awesome on my end, just to be out there and try my best to help the team get off the field and do what we do."
Kadin Semonza
Q: "What do you think is the biggest boost of the conference going forward?"
A: "We took a lot of steps forward today. It's unfortunate we didn't get the result we wanted at the end of the game, but we stepped up in a lot of different ways. I mean, defense made a lot of stops, made a lot of plays out there. Offensively, we made plays, but, you know, we've got to be better and we could help the team win. But I think for sure, we took a lot of steps forward."
Q: "What's it like having a sense of success even with a tough loss?"
A: "The goal is to win, and we didn't get that done today, but, we took a lot of steps forward. There are positives to take from this, but we're not walking away feeling like we've won because we lost the game at the end of the day. We were a handful plays for being five-and-two, and we're sitting here at two-and-five. There's stuff we've got to go back and figure out. We've got to go undefeated the rest of the way."
Q: "What are some improvements that you'd like to see communication-wise moving forward?"
A: "Just being all on the same page. There's no excuse for why we're not [communicating] at this point in the season. I mean, we've got a lot of moving parts, You know, guys playing different places, but at the end of the day, we're professionals. We've got to take care of what we got to take care of."