QUOTING AUBURN HEAD COACH Tommy Tuberville * THE BALL STATE GAME
"It was a good, solid effort today. It was our temp * our pace. We tried to keep away from mistakes. Our goal was to score every time we got the ball on offense, and we did that. I thought we would throw in a couple of field goals. I thought the execution was excellent. We ran hard and blocked hard. Brandon obviously had a good day. He was in control of the situation, and in control of the huddle. Defensively, we made some mistakes missing tackles. We played a lot of players. We were trying to get as many guys in the game as we could.
"Our defense made some mistakes. We played 74 total players today and tried to get in as many guys as we could. I'm glad to see Kenny Irons come out and set the pace. He wanted to come in and see what he could do as a starter. We will evaluate all these running backs this week. We even got Tristan Davis in.
(On Auburn's kickoffs): "We are looking for consistency. Kody (Bliss) was probably the most consistent. We will have to look at the film and look at placement. Tony Bell continues to improve each week on our special teams. We will keep working on our kickoff guy.
"You have to execute. The biggest thing is that we have so many young guys that need some confidence. This is perfect for us. This gave us a situation where we could evaluate a lot of players. What we did today was pretty much execution with a lot of guys who weren't starters.
(On Auburn scoring on every possession): "It is very unusual. There were not a lot of turnovers, and there weren't many long drives. We are looking for consistency in long drives. We had eight touchdowns in nine drives. That's what we are looking for. You like big plays, but I am more impressed with 8, 9 and 10 play drives.
(On Tristan Davis): "He got beat up in two-a-days as the fourth running back. He hadn't practiced running back all week. He knows most of the offense. He did a good job. Blake Field got in there, and this was the first game he's played.
"Tre (Smith) hadn't practiced much. You saw how he ran. He ran hard. He fits into the scheme. The closer we get to the seven games in a row in conference, we are going to need them all. We need to look for that continuity in the top two.
"Confidence makes you better. It is about persistence. You have to be consistent in what you do. Usually, you end up stopping yourself * it's not the other team. We ran some things today that we didn't run in the last two games."
Post game Quotes - Ball State
Head Coach Brady Hoke "We got embarrassed by probably what is a good football team. That we will find out in the next few weeks. I was disappointed in how we coached and played, that is unlike us. We didn't fit our defense. Offensively, when you can't protect the quarterback you have a big problem. We also had a kickoff returned for a touchdown and a field goal blocked. There is no good news out of this football game."
On preparation... "Anytime you don't perform the way you want to, it goes back to preparation, and that starts with us as coaches. You worry about every game as a coach. I thought Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were good days of practice. We will have to look at the tape to figure out more. When you miss this many tackles, it goes back to effort and intensity, and we didn't play with intensity."
On the missed tackles... "You can't miss tackles when you are in the hole. There were times when you could see guys weren't lined up where they were supposed to be."
QB Joey Lynch On the overall game... "Auburn did not do anything we didn't expect. We knew they were good, the problem was, good football teams capitalize. However, we did not. We are going to have to watch tape and figure out exactly what went wrong."
On playing a top team in the nation... "Auburn is as good as Iowa. Not to take anything away from them, but I don't think Auburn is as good as we let them show today. We didn't do our part at all."
On Auburn's pass rush... "They applied a lot of pressure. They had a good defensive front. When they pressured me, I couldn't notice it at all. The way the game works, if you are in the pocket, you make plays from the pocket, and when you are out, you're out."
Strong Safety Erik Keys On Auburn's speed... "Auburn is by far the fastest team we have played. We didn't come to play today and it showed."
On missed opportunities on defense... "You can't be scared out there. We weren't stepping up to the challenge."
On the temperature... "The heat does wear you down, but we were prepared for it. We knew it was going to be hot, and that's no excuse for the way we played."
Kicker Brian Jackson On playing in his home state... "It is something I have always wanted to do. Playing at Auburn is definitely something I have looked forward to."
On his two field goal attempts... "The first field goal felt great. The second attempt might have been on my part. It got tipped at the line and I needed to get it up a little higher."