Player Comments from
Weekly U-M Football Media Luncheon
10/25/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Offensive Lineman Jeff Backus
On players-only meetings helping team communication ... "We've been doing that all along. One of the good things about this team that I enjoy is that our team is very close and we have good senior leadership. At the start of two-a-days some of the seniors stood up and voiced their opinion that we should have our own player meetings. Communication between the players is not a problem. (In this week's meeting) we just wanted to know what was going on, how people are feeling and things like that. Nobody got angry. It was just out of concern for the team and people wanted to know if there we any ideas."
On the team's disappointment ... "Obviously some of our goals can't be achieved now. You move on, you reset some goals. We play this game to have fun and there is still a lot of fun to be had out there."
On Steve Frazier's bad snap ... "He's fine. I'm sure he's really down on himself, but I told him that was just one play in the game. We could have gone down and scored a field goal. Who knows We could have fumbled or they could have intercepted a pass. Who knows what could have happened A lot more other things went wrong than that snap."
On Backus' take on what is going on with the team ... "We need to come out and play four quarters of football and not let little things happen, like missed extra points, letting a guy come through the line to block a field goal. When things like that happened, we didn't think they were going to cost the game because we were up by so much. We've just got to go in there and give everything that we can and not give up."
On comparing the losses of last year to this year ... "I think they (this year's losses) are definitely more painful because they are Big Ten losses. Losing in the Big Ten just stinks. It lessens our chances of winning a championship. It hurt a lot more because it is in the middle of the season also."
Tight End Bill Seymour
On his first career catch ... "It was real exciting to get out there. We had two tight ends in the game. I got my number called. It was real exciting to catch a pass and to help the team out."
On the importance of Saturday's game against Indiana ... "It's pretty big, coming from Indiana. I have a lot of friends on the team, so it's going to be a lot of fun to go out there and play against them. Hopefully, we can get out act together and go out there and get a win."
On Michigan's losses giving Indiana added confidence ... "I think they may think it will give them an edge because we are coming off two tough losses. They think that we are vulnerable now and that we won't be ready to play, but we've got to come out and learn from these two games."
On handling the losses well ... "I think everyone is just in shock. We can't believe we let one slip away. When you're up by that many points, you don't think they are going to come back. Everyone is kind of in awe still. We can't afford to do that for the rest of the season. We're just going to put that behind us, watch the film and learn from it. We've got to go out and concentrate on Indiana. We can't let that ruin our season. We're still 5-2, we still have a great team. We need to get things back together and just finish strong."
Defensive Back James Whitley
On losing the big lead against Illinois ... "It's not a fact of pointing a finger, but we were up 20 points. We have to hold the lead. I personally can't blame anyone. I can blame myself, but that's about it."
On deviating from the defensive game plan ... "We haven't gotten away from anything. Maybe someone's trying to do too much and putting themselves out of position to make a play or get that pass rush."
On the loss to Illinois ... "It was definitely a missed opportunity. We had a chance to put them away and basically control our own season, our destiny. It was in our hands, but now we have to hope and what if."
Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
