Post-game quotes from UNI-ISU football game

Iowa State Head Coach Paul Rhoads
Opening statement
“That was the largest home opening crowd to see Iowa State play a game and the fourth largest crowd in the history of Jack Trice Stadium. I figured those people deserved to see a 60 minute football game and they certainly got to see it. All the credit in the world to Northern Iowa’s football team and Mark Farley and his staff. I didn’t pull any punches in our preparation with you or our kids. They are a very, very good football team and that was evident. You saw their team speed, you saw their ability to execute and stop us, 90-yard drive against our defense, all the credit in the world to them.

“Tirrell Rennie, what a remarkable player. He has risen and now leads that football team. That team will have the chance to play for the national championship at their level. There is a lot of room for improvement, and we get to go about that tomorrow as we prepare for our next football game. We have a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the ball. We’ve got to protect better, we have to sustain blocks better, we have to execute and finish plays better. Proud of the defensive effort, in a game like that it is easy to get down and they never did that. Bottom line, good teams find ways to win and we found a way to win.”

On Steele Jantz’ play
“What I told him in the locker room was that I saw him do things that he had never done. There were throws he made off of the wrong foot, there were throws where his hips were open. We saw flashes of the guy that he is and that he can be. He threw some balls late that were really fine throws and he made things happen with his feet at critical points in the game. He was gassed late in that game, two drives late in the first half he led us very well. He did not have the time to sit there in the pocket and see things and execute like he is capable of, that falls on our offensive line. We have to make sure we sure that up.”

On fourth quarter
“Guys executed. They were bringing great pressure, they were beating us whether that was in the gaps on the run or on edges and putting pressure on our quarterback. What I issued the guys on the last two drives is that you have to go out and execute and do your jobs. Guys started doing their jobs. What a remarkable catch by Josh Lenz and what a job by Steele to keep the play going.”

Quarterback Steele Jantz
On fourth down pass to Lenz
“It was fourth down so it was do or die. I was running out of room. I saw Josh and I gave him a shot and he made an amazing play. I give all the credit to him on that one.“
On playing at this level
“I had too many nerves in the beginning. I need to settle down more. One thing I learned about our team that they never gave up, which was good to see.”

Wide Receiver Josh Lenz
On touchdown catch
“We knew what we had to do. UNI’s a great football team and we knew they had the chance to go down and score again, and that’s what they did. Then we knew that we had to go down and score again. That fourth down play Steele did a great job of scrambling out and as soon as he started to scramble out I just went opposite of the field to the end zone and he found me.”
On the win
“It’s a great win for us. UNI is a great team they are going to go really far this year. We knew we couldn’t them lightly. They came out and played a great game and to get a win against them is great for us.”

Northern Iowa Head Coach Mark Farley
Opening Statement
“We played hard and executed the game plan. They had the fight we instill in them and they really played hard. Iowa State is a good football team and it shows. We thought we were good and would battle it out at the line of scrimmage. Execution, we did that in a tough environment.”

On the game changes at the end
“We both changed because of the scores at the end. When you see two teams do that, you know two teams are playing their tails off. It takes a lot of heart and great staffs. Both team kids worked their tails off.”

On his feelings after the loss
“I’m very proud of them because after they scored we came right back on them. That’s the sign of a great football team. It’s what we came down here to do and we could have won that game. We need to get better and better each week. We didn’t win because they had one great play.”

Quarterback Tirrell Rennie
On the difficulty of the loss
“It’s real difficult but the best thing about this game was that it showed our improvement. The biggest test going into the season was improving our passing and I think throughout the season we’ll show that we improved on our passing. Last year, we were a good running team but I think we showed tonight that we improved our passing game too, otherwise the score would have been pretty different.”

On dealing with the loss
“If we linger on this loss, all we’re going to do is fail. We have to remember that we have another non-conference game next week and then our season really starts when we play Western Illinois. Iowa State was a tough team and we’ll just have to take things away from this game, learn from them and use them for the rest of the season.”

Running back David Johnson
On 80 yard reception
“We run screens a lot so we were just hoping someone would try and take the wide receiver instead of me and it worked well. After catching it, I kept thinking it someone was going to catch me but looking back on it, I knew I was gone when I caught it.”