NO.  16/15 ILLINOIS STATE 38, NO. 7/6 APPALACHIAN STATE 37 (OT)

NCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND

DECEMBER 1, 2012 • BOONE, N.C.

 

 

Appalachian State

Coach Jerry Moore

On conclusion of season

"Sometimes the things that you think are the simplest end up making things really tough. A blocked point after touchdown, I'm proud of this football team. They've done a lot of really special things and they don't realize sometimes all of the things they've done but they are really, really special. I think that if we would have won we could've made a real run at this thing."

On first quarter play

"We played very poorly in the first quarter and we never overcame the mistakes we made or took advantage of the opportunities that we had early in the ball game."

#27 Sam Martin-Punter/Kicker

On blocked point after touchdown

"I feel like I hit the ball well and the snap was fine and the hold was fine. It was a routine kick no matter what the time of the game was. The fact that we were in overtime did not make a difference in the execution of the play for me."

#12 Jamal Jackson-Quarterback

On playing with an injury

"I hurt my knee in the latter part of the season. I would rather play with it and continue to compete. I can get another knee but I'll never get to play with these seniors out on that field again so I didn't care how bad it was hurting. I was not going to come off that field. I can't use the injury as an excuse."

#33 Jeremy Kimbrough-Linebacker

On final game of his college career

"I never thought that my last game would come down to an extra point and it's tough. But we could've made many more plays earlier on in the game to not even get into that situation. It's just a bitter end to a season after all that we've been through going in game after game, and day after day in practice. It is tough to see it end like that and you just feel helpless, there is nothing you can do about it now."

Illinois State

Coach Brock Spack

On the kick being low or a possibly high snap:

“I have no clue, but I don't think there were any operation issues as to whether the snap was good.  The hold was good. The snap was good. “

 

On blocking kicks

“We come close. We felt we came very close several times over the last couple weeks. We were able to get one. Shelby has blocked a few kicks in his career. We put emphasis on this particular block, and we were able to get to where we thought we were close a couple times. “

 

On emotions after the win

“Ecstatic. The fact that we all just won the game, and we all played so hard; both teams.  And, Appalachian State is a great team, and we came in here and beat them. That just means a lot. It shows how Coach Spack prepared us throughout the week, and how the team played throughout the game.”

 

On their passing game

“It was a great effort on their part. A novel job they've done taking what the defense has done. You know being a defensive coach all my life it's something that great offenses do. We had our hands full on defense. We took some things away from them. They exploit those things, and they find a way to get to other things that were open. That's all you can do on defense and we played against a great passing team.  It was going to be one of those games where there was going to be some ugly plays.

There were some ugly plays on both sides of the ball, and there were some beautiful plays on both sides of the ball….”

 

On Appalachian State's Jackson and his knee issues

“He's a very impressive player. We've seen him on tape earlier this season. He's not quite as fast as he was early in the year. We watch him battle and compete, and today we watch him battle. We hit him a few times, and he went out of the game then came back in. It was just a great battle between really two tough teams.  We knew it would come down to a quarterback player. He has nothing to be ashamed off. It's a very skilled team.”

 

 

 #93 Shelby Harris – Defensive Tackle

On lining up and getting a push

“We both lined up over guard and we just went off the snap off the ball and got good leverage off the guard and made our way back there. “

 

On who blocked the kick

“We got a good push. I couldn't have done it without Colton Underwood, and we got a good push. We were both able to stay on our feet.  I have really long arms.”

 

On possibly missing the block

“No we had opportunities to block it all game, and we were falling all over ourselves. Me and Colton both had a real good push. I just came off of him and happened to make a play.“

 

On where he received the ball

“It hit me right here (middle arm). But, I felt like it was a good play on everyone on the lines part. We can't take anything away from anyone.”

 

 

#13 Matt Brown- Quarterback

 On the passing game

“We came into this game, and one of our goals was going to be to get a 150 yards after the catch. Our guys did a great job today of being able to make guys miss and make something happen that wasn't really there to begin with. They are good athletes. They're great athletes.  They had some holes in overage at times, and we saw it in film and I thought we did a great job preparing for those; exploiting areas they left open.”

 

On what the win means

“It means everything. We all worked so hard to get to this point. It's just the fact that we're able to come out of here with a win, and it's beyond words right now. We just know that now we put this to bed and get ready for next week. Because, it is win or go home. We're just happy that we came and get a chance to go to Eastern Washington next week.”