"We have the toughest program now in American sports, ... and I'm proud of that."

"As I told Flores, if we were playing a different team, we may have gone a different direction."

"It's not just winning games. It's the way he's pitched. He's been pretty dominant. I've seen guys win a lot of games before. But with the exception of Vida Blue in 1971, I've never seen a guy that has controlled the game, game after game after game, like he has."

"They're an older, bigger, stronger team, and those teams have given us a little bit of trouble at times because we're a younger team."

"They've had trouble scoring and they've got some injury situations. I expect it to be a defensive game. I think we'll see some fallback and some neutral zone trapping."

"I thought we played really well. You don't beat a quality team like Michigan without playing very, very well."

"I thought that was a game we could have gone up by certainly at least two, maybe three (goals). But we couldn't get the puck in the net."

"It's a log jam and obviously every game is very important. The mindset is so important because every game is going to be tough to win."

"Any top-level team has to have an offensive catalyst on defense, and that's something we've lacked since John-Michael Liles graduated (in 2002). We recruited Tyler because wanted him to run the power play, but it took some time."

"I've never coached a player in 34 years who prepares like he prepares. To the detail, to the consistency, to how much he stresses the importance of getting himself into his game mode."

"You always like to control your own destiny and we do that by playing teams that we need to beat."

"It's what you want from a good league and good balanced competition. It should be a whale of a hockey game."

"We beat the two teams ranked third and sixth in the country."

"They're obviously a battle-tested team and we knew coming into here that they're a big-game program. Their experience I thought was a factor. They got the jump on us before we could settle down. This was a learning game for us and hopefully we can take it to the next level."

"Tyler Howells made a play that was just great. But as a coach, I was still worried with 10 seconds left."spo

"As a player and a person, Carson has met and gone beyond every expectation I had for him. For myself as the head coach, I'm excited about the commitment the club has made to Carson and about Carson's commitment to the organization and to the city of Cincinnati."

"I think what he's been able to do is have a good plan for the team and set a direction -- set it on Wednesday and reinforce it throughout the week. Then, as the game unfolds, things that come up don't put them in a panic. They are able to stay the course."

"Obviously you draft a player, (and) you really, really, really like the player. You really, really want to coach him."

"I think it's the role of the offensive coordinator, the special teams coordinator and the defensive coordinator to coach the coaches as hard as he coaches the players. As hard as I push on them, they've got to push everybody else just as hard. I think that's important that they understand in and out that they set up, they push and make sure that the position coaches cover every detail or they cover it so that every detail gets covered."

"We dug ourselves a hole with field position in the first half. We didn't play very well at the beginning of the game and we were playing up hill."

"We didn't play very well in the beginning of the game and were playing up hill."

"Our focus has been geared toward beginning our season better than we did the last two seasons. We get an opportunity here to write that script as we go week in and week out."

"They'll keep playing. We didn't play well at the beginning of the game and were playing uphill. But we kept playing and hanging in there together."

"He's just a phenomenal athlete and has very quick feet, good speed and he has the desire to catch the ball."