Nov. 7, 2009

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Post-Game Quotes:

Western Carolina Head Coach Dennis Wagner
Opening Statement:
"I am really disappointed with our football team. I felt it was the first time this year that we quit. We didn't play hard in the second half and we acted satisfied with our first half performance. It's as much as my fault as it is theirs. I am extremely frustrated with the way we let it slip away in the way we did. We had something in our hand that would have been a big turning point in our program and we let that slip away."

On play in the second half:
"It comes down to being able to finish plays and not making critical mistakes. For two weeks in a row, we muffed a punt which breaks your back. Elon has a great offense and we couldn't get off the field. We knew we had to score points. Offensively, I thought we performed very poorly in the second half."

On the running game:
"We have to continue to run the football anytime, whether it is now or three years from now. If you run the football and have success, that sets everything else up. We are a type of team that has to get to second and six because if it's second and eight, it's not our advantage. We've got to sit back there and pass protect for two or three plays in a row and that's not our strength right now."

On Elon's resurgence in the second half:
"The bottom line is they just played harder than we did. That's what I am frustrated about because they didn't do anything different. They didn't a thing different. They played the same players and scheme, but they played harder than us. At halftime, they made up their minds that they were going to play."

On matching Elon's intensity in the first half:
"That's what we talked about the entire week. We had to match their intensity and play harder than they do because they probably have more talent than we do right now. So, we have to play harder than them and make every moment count. For the most part in the first half we did that. We did struggle on offense at times. We were able to put some drives together, but even then we were in the red zone a couple of times and got zero points. We got backed up because of sacks or whatever and you can't let that happen."

On offensive woes in the second half:
"The problem was they were bringing a safety blitz and a linebacker blitz and there was some confusion with the running back and the tackle on who was picking up whom. It's a communication issue. It wasn't anything that we didn't prepare for. We practiced it, but the guys didn't perform, especially in the second half. When we are not running the ball well on first down, we get behind the eight ball."

Senior LB Adrian McLeod
On the teams play in the first half:
"We came out to play in the first half with great energy. We felt we had a good chance against them. We had real good practices this week. We had a spark from Ja'Quayvin Smalls' family coming in during pre-game. We used that spark from them to stay with Elon in the first half."

On Elon's play in the second half:
"They definitely came out with more intensity in the second half. We couldn't match their level in the second half and they stepped it up a notch. There a good team. You can't make a lot of mistakes against good teams."

Freshman RB Michael Johnson

On the increased presence of the running game:
"The offensive line has stepped up tremendously. They have played well by coming off the ball hard. Anything that I have received, I give them credit first. They have stepped it up in practice. They have been more intense and more focused."

On today's performance in the first half against the No. 6 team in the nation:
"It is something we can build off of. We just have to keep up the intensity throughout the entire game."