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WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 16, 2010

Bill Cubit

Q. Your initial impressions and the first half, you guys didn't do anything you wanted to do, but yet you were competitive.
COACH CUBIT: Yeah, the third quarter, I thought the big -- we turned the ball over a couple of times. We were moving the ball and the kids had a lot of confidence, especially on the offense, and the third quarter started and they started running the ball at us. And those first two drives, we got bad field position at our end there, and didn't execute as well as what we had done the first half.
So, you know, they get 14 points and all of a sudden it's kind of over there. But we turn the ball over early, we probably could have got it -- you know, I think we were down ten, could have been a lot better.
But you know, our kids fought hard. Obviously they are a better football team than us. There's a reason.

Q. Talk about the quality end of the first half, no time outs, the decision to run.
COACH CUBIT: I thought you put the ball in the hands of one of your better players, saw Alex right there, and told him, sometimes you have to rush up there and just clock it, because it was a second-down play. But you know, Alex, I thought, did a nice job and the guys up front did a nice job. I was a little concerned with them coming up off the corner with a blitz. It was feast or famine and we lucked out. One of those things.

Q. Were you hoping for a big day from Jordan White; can you talk about the fumble?
COACH CUBIT: We always talk about, don't let one play beat you twice, and that's what happened. But he's a great kid, and, hey, he'll come comeback. He'll be okay.

Q. Paul Hazel?
COACH CUBIT: Paul Hazel, I thought they had a lot of problems with him. He did a great job and he's a great pass rusher and I keep saying, he puts on another 130 pounds, he'll be drafted. I thought we put some pressure on the quarterback early which I thought was beneficial for us in the first play. Unfortunately we got down. You know, the guy took his eyes off a little, and we came back and we made it competitive in the first half, which is always a real credit to the kids in fighting back.

Q. Can you talk about the reality of the matchup; are you happy this week's over?
COACH CUBIT: It was a long week. You know, it's kind of funny, of all of the places I've been at before, Missouri, Rutgers, Stanford, you look out there and you see the size of the kids and the physical miss matches. Then I don't even know, whoever 33 is, that guy, holey smokes, he comes in and I'm watching, he's bigger than half our linebackers and some of our defensive ends. That guy comes in there and you're just holding on for dear life. We are playing as hard as we can at the end, but physical, it gets a little exhausting for some of our guys.
That's where I see it. When you get into the third quarter, the physicalness of certain teams when you play them, and we have been to a lot of great places. We have been to Nebraska and Florida State, but today really stood out to me on the type of kids. They go one-deep, two-deep, three-deep, four-deep, and you look out there, and 44 comes over, and golly, I thought I was going to lose a leg. He hit this kid so hard.
But our kids battled. The physicalness of the players, that's what you see.

Q. Getting out healthy, obviously next week --
COACH CUBIT: Yeah, that's one of the things, you hope it's a good game and number two, you hope the check doesn't bounce. And then the third one, you hope you're able to come back and you don't have many kids hurt.
I didn't see many guys hurt, and hopefully you get some guys that have been hurt that we didn't bring with us. We were playing without our four starters and hopefully those guys can come back and get in league play.

Q. Inaudible.
COACH CUBIT: I thought he really competed. He's a guy, he's playing in his first six games, he's played three real good football teams. You know, sometimes he'll go out there, but it's not because of lack of effort, toughness. I think his arm strength, we all like that. The more he gets more of the experience, he's going to be a heck of a player. He's going to do a lot of damage in this league, and even some of the teams we have in our future schedule.

Q. You guys have obviously not been shy of playing big-time programs, but being the first MAC school to play at Notre Dame Stadium. Can you talk about that and how you came out and approached the task?
COACH CUBIT: Well, when we first got this, and I'm not being patronising at all; this has always been a special place, even when I was younger. And it proved that everything was exactly what we said, the first class of Notre Dame, become the host taking us all over the campus yesterday. I mean, everything here is first class, and it's a great thing to be part of it.
You know, we told the kids, you can have destiny on your side. We knew it was going to be hard. If we had -- we got a couple of shots here and there and they had to turn the ball over. I think we turned the ball over too many times, so that was an issue for us.
But what I hope, and we've been in Nebraska, Florida State, Iowa, you name it, we have been there and we'll get some more down the line. I mean, that's just the way we do things.
But I think when kids are talking to their grand kids and stuff and they see Notre Dame football in there, they can have a say, and say, you know, I played in that place there and I competed. I think that's educationally for our kids, can't ask for anything better than that.

Q. Could you feel some of the energy from the team, Carder scoring the touchdown before the half and the sideline explodes and you're still down ten. That's normally not what you would see by a team down by two scores but it looked like they had extra energy on the sidelines there.
COACH CUBIT: Yeah, we have great kids. We have kids that compete. They could have just bagged it. That first play of the game, and we just kept saying, keep playing, keep playing, keep playing. Even at the end, 33, golly, he's one of the older guys, and we just kept telling the kids, keep playing. That's what the game is all about, when the scoreboard says 0-0. That's when we go home. But until ten, we just keep going at it.
And I want to thank Notre Dame, and Jack, it was a heck of an experience for our kids, and any time you want us back, we'll be right out the door to come here. Everybody in the whole operation was absolutely fantastic.

Q. What were your impressions of Floyd today?
COACH CUBIT: I was at Missouri and Roy Williams, I saw him, the guy plays for Texas and I think he's with the Cowboys now. I didn't think I would like to see another guy like him; well, I just saw him. He's a great player. I've been fortunate to coach in a lot of great leagues and a lot of good people, but he's as physical and as good a severe as I've seen. And the thing about it, he plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. He plays with passion and there's no show boating. He's appreciative of the game. I'm not going to tell you it was fun to watch; maybe tomorrow it will be. But he's a great player. He really is. I was really impressed.
Those two inside linebackers, with 5 and 44, good players. They just -- Brian will do a great, great job here.

Q. Were you able to hear the Bronco fans up in the stands?
COACH CUBIT: No, actually I couldn't. That was interesting. I thought I would. When we scored right before the half, I heard them there. You know, it was a great -- I think we had 4,000 tickets that we sold, so it was a great contingent of those people coming down here and showing the pride in the Bronco nation. I was proud of our kids and I'm proud of the university and proud of Cathy and Dr. Dunn and everybody that wants to make this a first-class organization.
Are you sure there's not a free lunch or anything in there? (Laughter) Again, thank you and I hope our kids went out and made it a good game for you guys, and I think they did. Appreciate it.

End of FastScripts

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