Tom Amstutz Quotations

(Hopkins) making all-conference was a tribute to his hard work, but also maybe a tribute to our tight ends as a group. He sort of represented the group with that honor.

Clint Cochran is the guy with the best grasp of the offense right now. He has a good arm, he can run the offense and he has the most experience. So obviously he will have the early advantage.

You have those fumbles right before halftime and give a team like that a short field, and that's going to hurt. We have to rebound and get our focus back together and raise our whole level of football before next game.

He's willing to do anything to help the university and the football team look good, and it's all honest and genuine with him.

He had a nice practice last night, and all indications are he should be able to play this week.

I don't care about all that stuff. I don't believe in voodoo or jinxes or the curse of the Bambino. Quite frankly, Ball State has outplayed us. Our mental attitude has not been quite right and they've played hard. We need to make sure we're emotionally ready. We called on our seniors this week to make sure our preparation is done right and that we execute and play with emotion in the game.

I was pleased with our defense at times, especially with the turnovers we created early in the game. We want to keep offenses out of sync and off balance. That helps you make big plays.

We played our style of football. It may be a little different than what they (UTEP) are used to seeing. We tried to establish a little bit of a run. Once we got the run going, using different formations, then we used our passing.

We came out sharp tonight, and I really can't ask for too much more than what they did in the first five series. The execution was sound and we had a good of mix of runs and passes. Bruce did a nice job of executing the offense and we had other players make players for us. We just have to keep it going.

We've done this three other times before, actually. Remember, we had to teach Tavares Bolden a whole new offense in 2001. Our staff is experienced at it. We know it's a process you have to go through. Patience is required of us to give a guy a chance to develop and become a good quarterback.