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MAC Teleconference: Terry Bowden

On his team's performance against Northern Illinois
"We hung around as long as we could. When you turn the ball over and make the mistakes we made, we've had a bad (habit) of spotting people 10 or 14 points early in the first five or seven minutes and then try to catch up. We're not that kind of team. That's the difference between what winners do and teams that aren't accustomed to winning. Turnovers, defense, special teams, and things like that. The bottom line is we played a great football team. There is a reason Northern Illinois has won 20 straight conference games and 16 out of its last 17 games. They were the better football team. They are such a strong running team that they just overpower you in the second half. That's what they've done to their other opponents and that's what they did to us. For a half, we held them here and there. It was still 13-7 late in the first half, but they just overwhelmed us in the second half. But the great thing about this football team is that guys come here, they know what they faced last Saturday, and they are ready to go. They know they've got a Central Michigan team that is going through some of the same type of adversity that we are. So it's like, here is the next game and both teams are looking at it as a possibility of a win. I see our seniors, we're going to learn from our past losses and mistakes. We're going to grow as a football team. This is a great week to do that again."
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On Central Michigan's defense
"They are like our defense. They don't have the depth of size; they've had trouble stopping people defensively. Man, if you don't stop people, it puts pressure on your offense. We've had a lot of injuries and lack of depth on our defense and they're facing a lot of the same thing. They've played a very tough schedule; they haven't had the game out there where they said, 'Oh, I wish we'd played good. If we play our best, we win.' I don't know if they've had too many games like that. I think their biggest challenge is like ours: if their defense stands up they win. But they lack the depth on defense, just like us."
On Akron's running back situation
"(Jawon Chisholm) banged up his wrist on the kickoff, so he didn't play at all in the second half. He didn't really carry the ball much at all in the first half. We tried to see if he could go. It looks like he'll be okay to go (Saturday). He's gotten treatment, but he just couldn't hang onto the football. It was really bothering him after he got hit in the hand. So we went with Quentin Hines, then Conor Hundley stepped up and did a good job. He had 53 yards on 16 carries, with 18 more on a catch. We don't have any indications yet that Jawon Chisholm won't go. He needs to be healthy, because when he is healthy he is a big part of our offense."
On close teams his team has played and if they are close to getting over the hump
"You'd like to think that. There is a thin line between winning and losing. We've played two of the top teams in the conference the last two weeks. If you just keep working, I think you'll get over that hump. There are some things we can't solve with strategy here. There are some things we're going to have to solve with recruiting and development and all those things. Whether or not we're over the hump, we have a long ways to go to be at the top echelon of this conference. However, I do believe that if you get over that hump and win, it can lead to other wins. I don't think the snowball comes immediately because we are building so much of our foundation and the depth at our positions. I don't know if you can put together as much as you want right away, but if you have two or three good years of recruiting, you pop over that edge and those losses start turning into wins. Right now, we just have to take it one game at a time. We have a lack of depth at certain positions right now. I do know we have a great attitude. Keep at it, keep the great attitude and play for four quarters. Eventually, you'll pop a few wins."
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