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NCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: NORTH DAKOTA STATE v ILLINOIS STATEJanuary 10, 2015Chris HighlandDontae McCoyTre RobersonBrock SpackFRISCO, TEXAS North Dakota State – 29 THE MODERATOR: Coach, this was the absolute most spectacular game in the five games that we've had here. Could you give us your overview? BROCK SPACK: It was a tremendous football game played by two very good teams, and I felt that‑‑ I just told our players after the game that you didn't lose the game, you just ran out of time, just one of those scenarios. Like we have all year long, we fought really hard to get back in the game after some mistakes and were able to take the lead, and they made some big‑time plays at the end to win it. It was just very, very close, but very proud of our team. Our team is a great group of kids, and we've got great seniors, and some very good players coming back. We have high‑character men and couldn't be prouder of them. Q. Tre, the last play where you just‑‑ what did you see on the field the last offensive play? TRE ROBERSON: Yeah, time was running out. I was trying to make a play and I made a dumb throw in the middle of the field. I shouldn't have made that throw. That's what happened. Q. Brock, you'd had success with a safety blitz on the play before. Did they just pick that up better? BROCK SPACK: Yeah, that's a good question. We kind of ran out of gas rushing the passer a little bit down the stretch there. Sometimes they kept a tight end in, sometimes they kept a back in, and it's hard to get through a four. We tried to get after the passer and they protected a little longer, kept the back in, and picked up the blitz. I thought that our guy was in good position, he just didn't play the ball great. It was a tough throw, kind of a back shoulder looked like to me where I was standing. You probably had a better view of it than I did. It was one of those deals, you kind of throw it up, and their guy came down with it. But I felt‑‑ I wouldn't question the call at all. I felt it was the right thing to do, and we had to try to put some pressure on the quarterback. He was back there patting the ball. Q. Brock, could you just relay to us what your overall message was to the team in the locker room after this? BROCK SPACK: Well, just basically I couldn't‑‑ I was very proud of them and told the seniors we appreciate everything they've done. This has been an unbelievable season for us. These guys have made history. No team has ever won more than 11 games. They've won 13. Never been to the National Championship Game. So we've got a lot to be proud of. Obviously we came here to win it, came up a little short. I told them they were always welcome back in our eyes, and I told our young players that are coming back, remember what this feels like when you go back out and start training when we get back to school on Monday. It's not a great feeling, obviously, and we've got a good core group of kids coming back, so we can hopefully get back here and maybe win it next time. But that's it. Just told them, hey, I was very, very proud of them, the way they competed. Q. Brock, your thoughts after you score the go‑ahead touchdown, just your thoughts in general? BROCK SPACK: You saw Roberson do that the week before. We didn't know if he was going to score on that particular play, but I thought we were in pretty good shape. There wasn't a lot of time left. They had their time‑outs, so we knew the quarterback was a very good player, and so we just‑‑ my thoughts were we had the lead and they had to score a touchdown to win, so I thought we were in pretty good shape. But it wasn't to be. Q. With Coprich and Roberson returning next year, how bright is the future for ISU football? BROCK SPACK: Very bright, I think. They're very good players. We have to replace some very good players, obviously, when you're one of I think five starters on both sides of the ball that will be leaving us. We have some good young players in the program. We've had a lot of experience, we've had a lot of practice time here in preparation for the playoffs and the championship game, so it bodes well for the future. I think we have a core group of guys that are really good kids and really good players, so I think we'll be in good shape. But as usual, we have to replace some good players. Q. Dontae, can you describe your emotions after a game like that? DONTAE McCOY: First of all, I want to congratulate the North Dakota State Bison on the win. It was a very good game, very hard‑played game. Definitely my emotions are running wild. That was my last collegiate football game. I want to thank God for the opportunity. I want to thank all of my players for putting out their blood, sweat and tears for me the whole year, grinding hard together. Facing defeat is never good. It's always a sour taste. But you've got to‑‑ you can't take for granted being in this position, and I just thank God for being in this position. I wish the outcome would have came out in our favor, but we just‑‑ I know they're going to come back harder next year and work harder because that's the type of guys that we've got. Q. Brock, you had talked before during the bye week that the passing game sometimes was the toughest thing. Was that what you saw in the first half a little bit just coming around? BROCK SPACK: God, I hoped I wasn't going to be right. Yeah, maybe it was a self‑fulfilling prophecy, I don't know. But our passing game was not what it has been. But to our quarterback's credit and to our receivers' credit, they came back and threw the ball much better in the second half and made some plays. As I said before, it's a difficult part of the game to simulate when you take some time off and you don't have a game. But that's no excuse. We worked really hard on it, and we were just a little‑‑ timing was a little bit off in the first half. But we did enough, I thought, in the second half to win the game and just didn't fall our way. Q. Tre, just kind of following up on that, do you feel more comfortable in the second half? Did you need to just get the rust off almost in the first half, or what was the difference there? TRE ROBERSON: Yeah, with the time off, we were out practicing in the snow and in the rain. We had bad weather, so we weren't able to get the proper like how the weather is now, where it's nice, dry and clear, and I throw with a glove on, so I was throwing without the glove for a little while, too. There's no excuse. I came out of whack, out of rhythm, and for a game like this, I need to come prepared every time. Q. Chris, can you tell me what's running through your mind right now? CHRIS HIGHLAND: You know, that's a tough way to lose a ballgame, especially being a senior. But I'm extremely proud of my teammates and the way they played. You've got to give James O'Shaughnessy, a senior, a lot of credit, a guy who stuck his neck out there all game and went down on a big kickoff right after we take the lead and makes a huge play for us, and that's one guy who laid it all out there for us today. There was 11 guys on both sides of the ball almost every single play that laid it out there. You know, we fell short like Coach Spack said. We just ran out of time. This isn't a feeling that you enjoy, but it's something that we have to learn from, and the guys who will be back will be better for it. Q. Tre, can you describe your touchdown run? Was it the same play that you broke for a touchdown in the last game, or can you describe how the play developed? TRE ROBERSON: It was a simple zone read. The end came crashing down on Marshaun Coprich and the tackle sealed the end so I was able to run. My job was easy. Q. Obviously you don't want to make excuses, but do you think there was a pass interference when you guys failed on that two‑point conversion towards the end? BROCK SPACK: Are you asking me? I don't think the officials are going to make that call in that situation. I think they let the players play. It's been that way‑‑ I think it's been that way through the whole playoffs. The officiating has been very good, and they've let us play. That's just part of the game. You've got to‑‑ I think it might have been a little ticky‑tack foul there. It could have been. But I think they called a very good football game, and I'm letting it go, and I think that's what the players decided. Q. Brock, there's another playoff that's going to happen in a couple days. Can you talk about the experience that you have with your playoff to what these guys will be seeing, and Tre, coming from a power five conference, what was it like to get this experience knowing that it was something you never would have had at Indiana? BROCK SPACK: I was in the FBS, whatever they call that now, for 22 years of my life. The bowl scenario I think works for them. I think the plus one or whatever you're calling this is interesting. I think it seems like it's a very good equation because I don't think they would have picked the two teams that they're going to play Monday night. I really like the playoff scenario. It's unique to our level football. I've really enjoyed it. It's difficult. Our guys went from both coasts, they played on the West Coast one weekend and played on the East Coast the next and have a tough road to get here. They had a little time off, which was nice for them to get their bearings, so this part of it felt like a bowl game. I don't think for‑‑ this is just my opinion, that they should get away from the bowl scenario. I think that's unique to that level, and maybe four teams is the magic number. I'm not in that position to make that decision or really have an opinion. It seems to be working out very well. Will they go to six or eight or whatever? I think you've got to be careful with that, particularly with these unprofessional players. You're talking about academics, and we're trying to reduce the risk of injury, and obviously the more games you play, the more you expose these guys to injury. TRE ROBERSON: Yeah, I mean, coming from Indiana, there was a chance to go to a bowl, but there wasn't a chance to play in a playoff like it is now. I'm glad I made the decision to come to Illinois State, just being able to play football. I love playing the game of football. I could play this game all day every day, and being able to play in the playoff system and play all the way until January, that's awesome. Any time that you can play the game that you love and do the things that you want to do, it's always awesome. Q. Brock and Dontae, did you feel that North Dakota State was kind of their physical style of offense maybe wore you guys down in the second half and kind of led to the touchdown drives and missed tackles? BROCK SPACK: Well, you've got to hand it to them, too, obviously, but it's more on us than them. We're a physical team, as well. We knew this was going to be a physical game. We've played them before in the past, and there are some guys on that field that hadn't played them last year. We weren't surprised by that at all. We were saying that we were going to have to win the game in the fourth quarter because that's where they pride themselves. When we took the lead with a minute, a little bit over a minute left, we come up with a play or two, I think we would have won it. And they won it in the passing game. They won throwing the football. Yeah, is it part of the equation? Maybe, but I thought we hung in there pretty good. Maybe that was part of the reason we weren't rushing the passer very well at the end, but I'd have to look at the tape and watch it closely to grade it. I didn't feel that on the sidelines. I thought we had some energy at the end. DONTAE McCOY: I wouldn't say that it was, no. I would say there was plays to be made on the field on defense that we didn't make. After Tre scored that touchdown, we've got to come out there as a defense as get stops, and we didn't make stops. We got guys in positions and they didn't make stops. Like Coach said, hats off to North Dakota State for executing and making plays when we didn't make plays. As a defense, it hurt to see that the defense, that we didn't come out and make stops because the offensive guys did the great job that they did. We definitely take full responsibility for that. I feel we've got to come out and we've got to make stops for our team and for our offense, and we didn't do that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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