Mark Farley Quotations

We're going to have to play great defense. They could score anytime.

The reality is, we played a very good football team, fell behind, and then came back to our game plan. We know what kind of football team we have now.

We need to make that defensive secondary better, we need to find some linebackers, and we need to compete and make those defensive linemen tougher.

I was pleased with the game. Initially, we were going to let the quarterbacks go live and see what they could do. Had we done that, I think it would have changed the course of the game.

He needs to just go out and play like he's been playing. He needs to play with a clear head and just go play the game.

We took him out of high school hoping he'd develop into a player in two or three years. But within the first year he started to make an impact and, in 2003, he became a starter on special teams and made some big plays.

He's done a nice job with our kids here. I thanked him for his efforts and everything he has done here the past few years, and wished him well.

We may spend a lot of time working the second quarterback with the first group. I think we know what Eric is.

It could have been a game we had under control in the first quarter had we done the things we need to do. We all know that the downside is we made some turnovers and the upside is the defense played very good football and kept them at bay all day long.

I think that has been the best thing that's evolved from these two football games. It also allows us, as coaches, to go back and find the calls that best use their talents.

Law is more of a power running back, while Corey has more speed.

Our goal was to win the line of scrimmage in all three phases of the game, and I think we did that.

Overall, our offense, I thought there was definitely something there that we could make special.

Playing in the national championship game is priceless in many ways.

Our offense moved the ball against a very good defense,

We were looking for great teachers - teachers with great enthusiasm who have a passion to coach. Then, we needed some wisdom, as well. I think we got all of those things with the combination of the three guys we hired.

We're catching them as a very confident team.

You always think you're going to have a chance. That's the way competitive people are. You get up for a challenge.

We're down in numbers at receiver and we have so many new guys coming in, that's where we'll have to find out a lot more during the summer and two-a-day camp.

The real story on Ryan is how he has overcame his setbacks. Because when you climb to the top - become a starter - and an injury occurs that keeps you out for a long time, you have to start back at the bottom rung. Ryan fought his way back up.

We will have coaches come and go. The better coaches we bring in, the more guys will end up leaving. But if we can keep the core and manage the system, I think the players can get better each spring and carry it over to the fall, and they can do it for all five years they are here.

We'll have two evenly matched teams and that will keep the score down. But it's good competition and we are looking forward to seeing who can step up.

We just felt we had to become a power football team, and if we were going to make that move, today was the day to do it. Getting this on film and playing like this on the field, people are going to have to defend the run.

We've been talking for years. This was one of those opportunities in his career when the timing was finally right for it to happen. We had a need, and he had an opening.

What Tate did well was adjusting at the line of scrimmage. He saw what we were rolling into and he took advantage of it.

Eric is so calm and composed as a quarterback,

There's no front-runner for that position right now. To me, there's some good things that they've all done throughout camp, and I think the difference in who will rise to the second-team quarterback will be decided over the summer.

Ryan makes plays because of his intelligence He knows where he belongs ... knows his assignments which helps him play faster.

They scored so fast tonight, it seemed like we were playing defense all night.

It's the same way on defense. They know how we want them to come to camp. There aren't as many questions, and there are no gray areas. We can just line up and try to make our football team better.

Doing as well as we did last year has created another problem, and that's trying to get somebody to come play us in the Dome.

The best thing about Eric is he balances up our offense. He throws it to everyone. He runs the offense the way it should be run.

It's been hard for me because I still believe, if you're going to win the big games, you have to rush the football. They scored so fast tonight, it seemed like we were playing defense all the time.

It's disappointing, of course, but at the same time we've had a great season with a great group of players. It's a game of inches, and in this one we didn't have the inches fall in our direction.

It will be interesting how they pan out. But the guys we have are the guys we have. They'd better start showing up here sooner or later because it is their time now, and they are junior-type players for us.

They chose to stay in this community and stay at the University of Northern Iowa, which is obviously a great thing for us,

That's a huge part of having success over time,

The intent of the first two weeks was to make sure that we could make a mistake here or there and hopefully come out with a win. If you make those errors (against Iowa), you're playing a team that will take those and turn them into scores.

I'm looking for the intangibles . . . the things you don't see on the chalkboard. I know where we're at, (but) we'll solidify the package over the summer.

He's what we need for those outside linebackers. He's got a youthful group. Sometimes, if you don't have veterans you can make up for it by playing with a little more attitude and enthusiasm.

He's the one that has really lacked the reps where I can get a true evaluation. This was going to be a big day for him to get a bunch of reps, but unfortunately he couldn't go.

I'd say we have seven guys who are candidates, five who are prospects and three who are highly touted.

The key is to keep those two guys healthy. They need to get a lot of reps. This is an important spring for them. We need to find out what kind of runners they are so we can make the offense work for them.

You've got a great football team that's now a mad football team,

And now they get to go home, and I think they're a different team at home.