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NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 28, 2019Ross BowersMitch BrinkmanJack HeflinCole TuckerNashville, Tennessee Vanderbilt - 24 - NIU - 18 Q. No moral victories, but what do you like about the way there was fight in the second half? ROSS BOWERS: I thought we came in as a team at halftime, we weren't satisfied with the first half and I thought we did some good things at times in the second half. MITCH BRINKMAN: With the defense we spot them 14 points right off the bat the first few series and we didn't fold, so it shows a lot with our team we have and the guys we have and believing in each other. So I was really excited just to be out there playing with them. COLE TUCKER: The offense kind of was lack luster in the first half kind of came out firing in the second half a little bit. We got to stop them and put four quarters together next week. Q. Cole, the way you took that hit there in the second half, to bounce back from that, were you still feeling it at that point or kind of shrug it off? COLE TUCKER: In this part of the game getting hit obviously that kind of hurt but just got the wind knocked out and I went back in and I was fine. Q. Mitchell, the two-point conversion play there, like the aggressiveness from the offensive staff to say we're going to go for this and try and get it right now? MITCH BRINKMAN: Yeah, it was definitely sweet. Coaches on the sideline were saying if we score we're going for two. We practiced that play all week and we knew we were going to execute and Ross threw a great ball. Q. Ross, what needed to happen for this to come way with a win this week? ROSS BOWERS: I think having more points on the scoreboard than them, that would help, and then just us executing on offense better. Q. Jack, you guys finally found some way to get home on defense this week. A few sacks and some more hurries this week. What was working there as the game wore on in terms of getting some pressure? JACK HEFLIN: We just structured the scheme and executed the plays that the coaches put us in. We got good guys up front and the front seven, our whole defense, we got a lot of playmakers. So it was nice to see, it was a long time coming, finally saw or finally broke through the ice. So hopefully it keeps going. Just keep working and trusting the technique and listening to the coaches. Q. From your perspective to see Cam get through there and make a big play, what has he kind of shown that some of the younger guys can do on this defense right now? JACK HEFLIN: It's big time. Any time you can get your first career sack it's -- we had two of them today -- Marcus Kelly got his first career sack and Cam got his first career sack. It's a huge boost of confidence. I'm excited to see what the kid's going to do and how he's going to grow. I think he's a very good young talent and we got it across all of the positions on defense. So just getting the ball rolling for him. Q. Cole, Mitchell, Ross, what about the game plan started to click through the second half that you were able to find some success? ROSS BOWERS: I think Coach E had a good game plan going into the game and it was just a matter of execution and sometimes we flashed a really high level of execution and sometimes we really dropped the ball as an offense. MITCH BRINKMAN: Yeah, like he said, execution's the main thing. We messed up and shot ourself in the foot with some penalties, but. Q. Ross, on the trick play where you had the chance there, was it just a matter of the ball being like an exchange or was it just like your foot catching or what happened there? ROSS BOWERS: No, just a simple as I just dropped it. I just, it wasn't, sometimes it could be the center and quarterback, it wasn't, it was a great snap, hit me in both hands and just didn't catch it. Q. Guys, does playing in a game like this put you in a good place heading into MAAC play? Are you at a point where it's still frustrating or where do you think the team stands mentally? ROSS BOWERS: Of course it's frustrating like when you lose three weeks in a row it's tough. So we got to come back as an offense because the defense has played well enough for us to win in every game. So it's just we got to come back and I got to take it more personal. Stop having plays that kill us and get the guys around me having a better sense of urgency and not allowing it to press the defense more. MITCH BRINKMAN: Yeah, it's frustrating losing. We treat every week the same. Coach always says treat adversity and prosperity the same. So win or lose we're going to look -- it's Trophy Week coming up so we're going to look into it and prepare in the same way we have. JACK HEFLIN: Yeah, they said it all. I mean this is, when we get into conference play, every game matters for sure, it's frustrating to lose and I don't know any of these guys in this locker room that like to lose. And I mean, we're in conference play and that's what we are here to do is, we are here to win the MAAC and that's what we're going to take a step forward and get that. Q. Any different messaging from you upperclassmen to the younger guys about what conference play means? JACK HEFLIN: I mean, they haven't really got to experience it yet, but they're going to this week. And there's a sense of urgency every week, but it's Trophy Week, conference play, and we're playing rivals every week. But it's time, it's time to go and we're going to get, we're going to get the ball rolling soon. I know we are. It's not like our non-conference schedule, any of these guys, we played an average football team in any of our non-conference schedule. LSU, two of the losses -- or Vandy's losses are to top 3 teams. And we played Utah and Nebraska, so I like where we're at. We got talent, it's all going to fall into place and we just have to believe in each other and we're going to and we got each other's back no matter what. ROSS BOWERS: It's just a matter of execution. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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