Michigan State University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes: Toledo
9/5/2026 12:12:00 AM | Football
Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement…
Thanks, everybody, for being here tonight in this late hour. First and foremost, I want to give a lot of credit to Toledo. They came in and responded. I thought we were off to a great start, and then, we obviously did not put the ball in the end zone in the third quarter, and momentum shifted, and they were able to get to a lead there. But really proud of the way our guys responded. I talked to them early in this process about learning the difference between reacting and responding. Reacting has an emotional response or an emotional way about it, and a response has an action plan that allows you to have success. And I thought we responded really boldly. So, credit to Toledo. I thought they played really hard. We knew they would. A lot of unknowns going into the game. And credit to them. I hope they go and win the MAC, because I think they've got a heck of a football team, and they played very hard tonight.
First, again, before I talk about the game, I want to thank Spartan Nation, especially our students. We're in the building early warming up, and I don't know how many rows were filled up, but it's more than I've ever experienced before. So, on a selfish standpoint, I appreciate them more than they'll ever know, and to the entire Spartan Nation for coming out. The Spartan Walk was surreal, and just really grateful and thankful for that. To the game: I thought we started—what did we go, five for five drives in scoring? Those end up being touchdowns, we're probably having a different type of conversation. But I thought for the most part, we moved the ball really well. And then, self-inflicted wounds slowed us down across the 50, and then also on the flip side defensively, we gave up explosives that we just cannot allow to happen as we move forward. But credit to Toledo. They made those plays. And then in the kick game, I thought Liam (Boyd) was absolutely outstanding. Yeah, we had one blocked; our operation was a little slow, but I wanted to put him into that situation to see how he would respond. And man, oh man, did he. And what a great game he had, not only with his placekicking, but then also a dominant performance in the kickoff game. So, all we could do was go 1-0 today. So that's what we did. And I'd like to go practice because we've got a lot of work to do, but really proud of the guys, and I'm really thankful for them. 270-something days ago we got together as a football family, and there were a lot of new faces, and a lot of new coaches, and a lot of new everything. And we've just gone through a journey to get to this point, and now it's about taking the necessary steps as coaches to help these guys improve in every aspect of what we do. So, with that, I'll answer any and all questions that you may have. Here we go.
On the difference between coming out in the first quarter and third quarter, and what was said to refocus the team…
Yeah, I'm disappointed I didn't have them ready to go better in the third quarter. We did move the ball a little bit, and we had that self-inflicted wound, and then we gave up the explosive. So now, if you're in a fight, all of a sudden, you got hit in the gut, and now you got hit in the face and you're kind of stunned a little bit. And we just talked about what we value, and that's respond. That's all you heard on our boundary was "Respond, respond." And we do a drill called the "4th Quarter" at the end of practice every day. It's down-ups, it's push-ups, it's sit-ups. It's nothing fancy; it's nothing magical, but it's about focus in the fourth quarter, and that's what we do. We come together, you guys maybe saw that, and the conversation was pretty easy. We had two really hot days of practice this week. And that was, the you-know-what jumped on our back in practice. And I shut it down on our Wednesday practice, which was Tuesday, and said we're going to have to draw strength upon this because it looks like it's going to be really nasty from a humidity standpoint on Friday night. I don't know when that adversity is going to happen, but it's going to. And it obviously did. And the guys, to their credit, responded. I'm really proud of that. Now, self-inflicted wounds: the penalties, the sacks, the explosives. We can be so much better, and that's what we're going to coach our tails off to do and get better.
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On battling through injuries and any health status updates…
Yeah, well, for the guys that stepped up, I want to talk about them first. Next-man-up mentality, right? And guys went right in and played at a pretty darn high level. So, I'll know a lot more after I watch the tape and exactly what they did well and what we've got to do to improve those guys. We wanted to play a lot of guys tonight, and we obviously don't want to have to do that through some bumps and bruises and injuries. I mean, Jordan (Hall) came back in. From Ben (Murawski) I don't have an update right now. I'm sorry about the—yeah, he was in on the field goal, so from an injury standpoint, he wasn't on my end-of-the-game injury report, so I don't have anything on that. I don't know if there was anybody else you might ask me if they came back. I don't know if you noticed, I am still sweating. I mean, it was thick out there. And those guys did a great job, but we were on the field offensively for 43 minutes tonight. So, that's a long time. And so, we've just got to work hard to hydrate and let's get to the 70s, 70 degrees.
On the defense giving up two explosive plays…
Yeah, on Chuck's (Charles Brantley), it's just eyes. It's eye discipline, right? Double move. I see the pump and the guy goes out and up, hitch-and-go. My eyes have got to go to the receiver; now I've got to collision in coverage. And you've got to stop that upward charge and check the comeback angle. So bad eyes, and if he gets that fixed, he'll be fine. On the long run, our safety fit the same gap as our rush end. And so, we had two guys in the same gap. And the last I knew in football, you get two guys in a gap, they've got a chance of being explosive. And then you had the right call at the right time, and we played it poorly.
On the emotions of running out of the tunnel for the first time, and the energy from the fans…
I heard there were some new libations sold in Spartan Stadium, so we'll have to check that section... I don't want to say the wrong thing, so I'll leave it at that. I hope they had fun. I hope they come back. And we're really grateful for them. I mean, it was electric. It was really electric. And I'm just really grateful. I'm just really grateful and really thankful. I'm honored to be in the role, and I'm excited to be these guys' coach. And, just got to do a better job, and we will. On special teams, you can see the method to my madness tonight. KW (Kenneth Williams) with the big explosive return when we needed it; now, all of a sudden, now they're kicking bloops, and that was pretty quick—it was one return. So, we were close to popping a couple of punt returns. Rhys (Dakin) with the punt inside the 10, perfect punt. Yeah, I got a little aggressive with the long field goal, but scared money doesn't make money. So, I'm not here to win a punting contest. I have to win a game, I get that. But I wanted to be aggressive tonight—not reckless, but I want to be aggressive, and I'm looking to make money, if you know what I mean.
On the aggressiveness of the offensive play calling…
Yeah, I mean, you guys can do the research; the math speaks for itself. So, I mean, it's not like I'm giving away trade secrets, but they give me four downs. I don't like giving away possessions unless we have to. But again, I'm not going to be reckless, but I'm going to be aggressive. Again, I don't want to speak for Coach (Sheridan), but 43 minutes, that's why I've got to give Toledo a ton of credit. That defense was on the field all night. And they did a good job keeping points off the board. We helped them at times, too, but a lot of credit to them.
On the pass protection from running back Cam Edwards…
Yeah, he's really physical. You saw that solid running tonight. And again, we'll go back and watch the tape, and as coaches, if his foot was at this angle or that angle, we'll overanalyze everything to get him to play even better. I'm sure at the end of the game he'll want that play back when he kind of tripped over Alessio's (Milivojevic) feet, which could have ended it right then and there. But we're ecstatic that he's here. He's a hell of a football player. He's tough as you-know-what. And today was a tough day from a humidity standpoint. Cramped up a little bit at times, and he kept coming back and wanted back in the game. So just really thankful.
On the feeling of winning a game as college head coach again…
And again, and again, that's what I hope it feels like. Yeah, I've been in a lot of one-score games. I'm not trying to be—but I was actually pretty calm from the standpoint of, after not being in a managerial role in a couple of years, it was kind of like riding a bike. Just kind of felt like, all right, here we go. Just making decisions that I think I've been trained to do from great coaches that I've worked with, and then the experience of great staffs. And for us as a staff, today was a big test, right? Our first time together collectively. And I thought the communication was outstanding. I thought the adjustments were on point. The in-game coaching was really good, and we identified the issues and tried to make corrections. So proud of the staff for that. But I just can't wait to get back to practice on Monday and correct the things that we can be better at.
On the performance of wide receiver Rodney Bullard Jr…
Yeah, well, shockingly, I'll give a little credit—I just appreciate the NCAA making him eligible. Thanks. Bull's (Rodney Bullard Jr) a hell of a player, and we had a little chat after the game. It's been a long road for that to happen for him. And to see how hard he's worked, not knowing whether or not he would be eligible—I think everybody in Spartan Nation saw tonight just how special a young man he is. Up to a week ago, he didn't know if he was going to be eligible to play. And that is unfair, unjust, and not right. We told him from day one we would have his back, and man, oh man, did he have our back tonight. So really thankful for Bull (Rodney Bullard Jr). As far as with Alessio (Milivojevic), I think you saw a very mature young quarterback. He's a young guy still, but he made a lot of really good decisions. Even a couple of the sacks, you know, what he was articulating to Nick (Sheridan), I thought what he said is what he saw, and when he put it on the iPad, that's exactly what it was. And I thought his decision-making was spot-on tonight.
On the critical play calls late in the game…
Yeah, we have a lot of one-word calls and everything. Absolutely. I mean, most people do. I just thought our offensive staff was doing a good job trying to find solutions. Nick (Sheridan) had seen this group before, and so we kind of thought we would see some things; we saw some of it, some of it was new, and there were some nuances. First time our O-line worked together, there's just a lot of new today, a lot of working together for the first time. If there was one thing that jumped out to me: the guys are smart.
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On the energy boost after Kenny Soares Jr's interception…
Yeah, I'm just ecstatic that Kenny's here. And you can see the emotion that he plays with and the effort that he plays with. We were in the backfield quite a bit tonight. I mean, we had a lot of close calls on sacks, and Kenny was a big part of that. But yeah, that interception was a big spark, and I'm just glad he caught it.
On how he thought the team battled adversity…
Yeah, 100% interested. I mean, that was what I talked about to the guys earlier in the week: I wasn't sure when adversity was going to strike, but it did right then and there. And I wanted to see a response, and the guys did. Again, that play shouldn't happen. We had two guys there at the point of attack, and they both fit the same gap, which creates an opportunity for a crease. And then they did a nice job scheming up the play, so credit to Toledo. But yeah, I thought the guys came back and responded the way we want them to respond. And that's why we're standing here victorious, with a lot of things to correct and coach.
On how important it is to handle adversity…
Yeah, if you come into the building, you'll see our value pyramid right at the top is "Respond." It's right below "Winning." You have to respond to win. That's tried, true, and tested in every athletic competition. It's never going to be a yellow brick road to success. It could be injury, it could be a bad play, it could be bad coaching, whatever it might be, you've got to be able to respond to it instead of reacting. And again, it's step one, positive, right? We're going to see it more as we move forward. So, today was a positive first quiz or midterm of this young academic year.
On the emphasis of running the ball and play calling throughout the game…
Yeah, well, I thought early on we were able to get some movement up front and create some creases, and Cam (Edwards) and the backs did a really good job finding those, and receivers blocked well, so did our tight ends. And I thought we had a pretty good mix. And then, like every opening game, you make your little tweaks and in-game adjustments, which they did. And they were giving us some things where we had to get the ball down the field a little bit, and obviously Les (Alessio Milivojevic) really stepped up in that game. I thought Nick (Sheridan) and the offensive staff made nice adjustments. If my recollection is correct, there were about two or three calls that Nick (Sheridan) didn't like. He was really mad at himself, and my job is to calm the waters: "Hey, make a great call on the next play, you're good." And same thing—again, response. Chrishon (McCray) fumbles the ball, the next play makes a huge play for us, right? Like, that's the mindset that we want: live it, learn from it, flush it, and move on. And just keep playing. Play the next play, have your mind and your heart where your feet are, and just keep playing. Good things are going to happen. And then Joe (Rossi) was the same way. Joe (Rossi) had a couple of calls he'd like to have back. And I really enjoyed coaching with our three coordinators tonight. We're just going to keep getting better collectively as a group. But those guys did a really good job tonight as far as the plan and then adjusting it and not panicking when things weren't going perfectly.
On the offensive lines' performance…
Yeah, well, I thought at times it was really dominant, and at other times we had some self-inflicted wounds. I'll watch the tape and see the sacks and the whys behind it. We had the conversations, but I'm also trying to get the punt team ready to go, and Nick Tabacca's worrying about if the call was wrong or the fundamental technique, but we got most of those things fixed. We played quite a few guys up there. I thought Robert (Wright Jr.) got in for a number of plays, so did Luka (Vincic). So, what's that, seven that we played, if I'm not mistaken, up front? Which I think speaks to the improved depth. We played a number of running backs, we played four there and played a bunch of receivers. So, we've just got to keep building.
Michigan State Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic
How did you think the team responded…
We for sure responded, there were ups and downs in the game. We ended it great in the fourth quarter but one thing I want to challenge us to do is I want us to finish those drives, we settled for field goals three times in the red zone in the first half alone. Overall finishing those drives are going to be huge but I thought we moved the ball well and I'm proud of the guys up front. They played extremely hard and they've worked for us, I wasn't really surprised by it.Â
On keeping the offense moving after all the injuries and some mistakes…
Knowing that our preparation and our "next man up" mentality needs to hold true because there's guys who cramp, especially in a humid game like this, and there's going to be little injuries here and there, but just knowing that the next guy behind is going to do the same job as him, just as good or if not better, but knowing that we have that type of depth is going to be huge for us because it's going to be a long season at the end of the day.
On the feeling on the sidelines…
I think there was an unwavering faith that we were going to win that game. I never felt any time that the sideline dipped to nothing and the entire time we knew that this was our game to lose and we're going to go out there and take it so when it hit that play, we rallied the troops and went out and we drove down and scored a touchdown. I just think overall we will continue to trust the defense and trust them to make stops like they have to trust us to score the ball.
On his reaction when Rodney Bullard was granted that extra year of eligibility and did you foresee something like this when the news came…Â
Rod, like I said, to come in every single day without knowing that he was even going to play this year is something that I don't know if I would be able to do or anyone else on this team would be able to do. Just overall props to him and I'm just very thankful to have him on this team and I've known how good of a player Rod is since last year, since the first day he walked in the facility, and it's exciting to play with him and exciting to continue the season with him.
Michigan State Graduate Cornerback Tre Bell
On team mindset during a tighter game…
Coach Po (Hank Poteat) is always telling us our challenges, our circumstances, can't determine our mentality. We got to be the same guy every single play, no matter good play, bad play, or next play. We keep reminding ourselves of that and echoing that to the whole entire defense. I know there are a lot of guys going up and down the sidelines saying that we're good and that we just got to trust in each other and that we are gonna be able to pull this off. That's just a testament to our culture.
On Week One defensive mistakes…
There is no excuse for all the plays that we gave up, but I will say that I'm glad that it happened to us so that we have stuff that we can go back and clean up on and get ready for next week. We came out with a fire. I felt like we were on point with everything we were doing. Then we came out in the second half, and we got punched in the mouth. Finally, we responded in the fourth quarter, but we can't have that happen because there are going to be other teams that are going to take advantage of that. Toledo almost took advantage of that tonight against us.
Michigan State Graduate Kicker Liam Boyd
On successful game after a long journey to becoming a Spartan…
It means the world. I am just so happy to be here and to be surrounded by great teammates and great coaches. They all put me in a position to succeed, and I'm really thankful for that.
On mindset while kicking potential career-long field goals…
That's not really what I'm thinking about when I'm out there. I've got those few things that if I do, simple things, steps, my alignment, and if I do those things that are easy to do, if I do them consistently, I know I'm going to make the kick.
Michigan State Wide Receiver Rodney Bullard Jr.
On successful game despite eligibility uncertainty…
I was just pretty thankful to have the opportunity to go out and play with my teammates. I just wanted to do everything I could to show how thankful I was to be able to come back and play, and it kind of worked out for me.
On impact of heat…
There was a big emphasis on hydration because this was the hottest week we've had since we've been practicing. We always practice the next-man-up mentality. We have a lot of confidence in a lot of guys in all of our rooms to be able to produce when it's their time to perform. So, I think we were ready to do that tonight.
 On Liam Boyd…
I was just telling him that I was looking for him every time he came off the field after making a kick. I told him that he was saving us. We had a lot of times where we couldn't capitalize when we should have, and he had our back. We've seen him do that all camp too, make plenty of kicks, and he's been consistent. I'm just really proud of him and thankful he is on our team.
Toledo Head Coach Mike Jacobs
On adjustments during the second half…Â
Yeah, I thought our conditioning was plus. It's a tale as old as time that it's always like the hottest night of the summer on the first game, and certainly humidity was a factor tonight. I thought our kids were in really good shape. We talk a lot in our program that effort equals sustained intensity, and you got to be able to go for as long as it takes. And so, I'm really proud about the way that they fought and the way that they played, especially defensively.
On pride in the defense and offense…
Again, we talk about the most important play being the next play. The thing that we have to do better on both sides of the football is we have to be better on early downs, right? I thought defensively we were pretty good, and we held them to 6-for-18 on third down, which was good, but we were only 1-for-8, and I think that's the tail of the tape. And so, when you get behind the sticks early in downs, you get off rhythm. That certainly was a factor for us offensively, and then defensively, early on they had some chunk runs on first and second down. They were in a lot of third and third and manageables or third and shorts, but we were able to keep them to field goals, we obviously blocked a field goal. That was a big play in the game, you know. And so again, there's no moral victory, but I thought there's certainly enough the building blocks, the foundation, the way these kids played, their effort level, the intensity that they played with. There's some things execution-wise that we certainly need to clean up, and that's on us as coaches. We have to put them in better positions to be successful.
On what the performance says about the quality of teams in the MAC…Â
I put this conference, I put this program on a pedestal. I think we're good enough to compete with anybody. I think again, at times we didn't execute at a high enough level tonight. You know, certainly some first game things that we need to clean up from a coaching standpoint and a communication standpoint that'll help our players be better. But again, the effort level was there. The fight was there. Did a little bit better job on the penalties. A few of those were again on us, on me as a coach, and we'll get those things cleaned up. And again, we'll recharge, we'll recalibrate, and we'll get ready to play next week.
On Armorion Smith's value…Â
He's a guy that's just — you know every one of us has a different story. He has not allowed the circumstances of his life to hold him back in any way, and he's got a group of people that really care for and love him, and I think the folks at Michigan State do as well. But he's in a position where he's playing good football. He was coming off an injury last year, and just anybody that's —- I think he played what two years ago he played almost 400 snaps in the Big Ten. So, for us who graduated and had a lot of attrition in the defensive back room between him and Kaleb Hutchinson, those two guys have played a lot of football, and I thought you saw them both show up some tonight.
On the responsiveness of his team…
I thought our offensive staff did a good job with some adjustments at halftime. Obviously, we were not having a ton of success running the football early on. Again, some of it is a matter of circumstance. When you're behind the sticks, they can put people in the box. We needed to loosen them up. I thought John Allen did a tremendous job. Obviously, Adjatay Dabbs had a huge night receiving for us, and you got a glimpse of how good I think he can be for us. And so we need to be balanced. We don't want to — it's not intentional to be one-sided. A lot of what we do builds off our run game, and we certainly want to try to establish the line of scrimmage. That's how we've won a lot of football games. But when there's too many people in the box, then you got to go where the numbers aren't. And so I thought Chris (Reisert) did a good job of making some adjustments and giving our guys some chances in the pass game, and certainly saw some results in the second half.
On the decision to kick the field goal when it was fourth and eight…
There was just under 10 minutes left on the clock. Our defense had done a pretty good job holding them. I thought there was still enough time. We had three timeouts. I felt that points, and I trust Reese, so I felt that points were important there. If you're second guessing yourself, and I'm in that world, then yeah, I should have been more aggressive, right? I don't know that three points would have done much, hindsight being 20-20, so points were tough to come by. Everything was earned, and so I felt like we were down in there. I wanted to take some points, not knowing how it was going to play out. I felt there was, with the timeouts, there was enough time to continue to play good defense.
On what he learned about the team and what excites him…
Yeah, what I'd hope to, right? They're resilient. I think they're tough. I think they got a grit about them. Again, the intangible things that will ultimately make us a good program. I thought we did really well at times, and they didn't give up. There weren't a lot of 'woe is me' or poor body language. That team fought for 60 minutes tonight and three hours and 40 minutes, on a hot night. And so again, we're going to learn from what we didn't do well this evening. We're going to build on the things that we did do well, and I think we're going to be there in every game. The makeup of the group is really strong. Again, we got to be better early downs on both sides of the ball, and we got to continue to put them in great position.
Toledo senior running back Connor Walendzak
On a run that electrified the visiting crowd…
Yeah, we called an inside zone play. O-line blocked up the stunt pretty well, knocked over a guy out of the front side and just hit the gap, and I didn't have to do much. The guys around me really made that play happen.
Toledo Junior Quarterback John Alan Richter
On what was different about the second half…
We started to feel like I could tell what they were in and got in rhythm and hopefully going forward, we can get in that rhythm earlier. First game but no excuses. But second half, we came out and just kind of just got some completions and just got that momentum rolling.
On connecting with Adjatay Dabbs…Â
Man, that was all Dabs. He's just a great player, and he has a great feel of getting open and just great hands. It's just great body control, and man, a lot of times you just throw it up, and he's gonna make a play. So that's what happened.Â
Toledo Sophomore Linebacker Isaac ZeyÂ
On the defensive performance…Â
Coach Brown, Coach Chafee, they put together a great game plan. We executed, I thought, pretty well all night, and we banded together when it got tough, and that's really what it came down to.
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