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read interviews with Tyrone Prothro, Brodie Croyle, and Tim Castille
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Tide Wakes Up To Stop Raiders 26-7
Brodie Croyle (#12 QB, Sr. 6-3 205 lbs. 3VL Rainbow City, AL-Westbrook Christian High School)

Brodie Croyle and DeMeco Ryans answer questions after the game

These post game comments came as Brodie Croyle answered questions from the press pool ...

Press Pool ... Talk about the first drive of the second half. You guys seemed determined to take charge of the ballgame.

Brodie Croyle ... We did. We didn't have the first half that we had planned on. It seemed like on first down we would get a first down, and then have three straight downs where we couldn't get five yards. That wasn't the type of offense we have been practicing. I guess we were a little rusty. We had a lot of guys back in there for the first time. A lot of guys who had never played before who were still trying to gel together in a game type atmosphere. At halftime, we made out adjustments and went out and had a lot better second half. But you have to give Middle Tennessee a lot of credit. They came out and showed us a totally different coverage than what they'd been running all of last year. They had barely showed what they were playing on film. So you have to give them a lot of credit and they played really hard.

So it was just a matter of making adjustments?

Making adjustments and just making the simple plays. The running game is a big part of our offense. It sets up a lot of our offense ... the play-action, the checkdowns ... it keeps everybody honest. We did a lot better job (in the second half) of establishing our running game.

When the defense plays like it did tonight, does it give you guys a comfort zone knowing that you have some time to get things straightened out?

Oh yeah. They came over the whole first half and were like "We got y'all. Y'all just get everything straight." They realized that we had a lot young guys that we're trying to get going in the right direction. I was kind of rusty myself in the first quarter, quarter and a half ... so it was just a matter of time. We know with the defense we have, they're going to keep us in the ballgame.

Talk about having you and Darby and Castille in the backfield ... it seemed like you really got going a lot better in the second half.

We did. We made the play we didn't make in the first half. Tim (Castille) got the two touchdown runs in the first half on the short runs. Y'all be sure and ask KD (Kenneth Darby) about those (press pool laughs). Both of them looked as good as they ever have.

Talk about getting out there again, getting hit and all that stuff.

Ummm ... you know, I really didn't get hit that much. The only time I really got hit was when I tried to get the first down and I got hit on the touchdown pass. But those are really the only two times I got hit. That young offensive line all y'all have been asking questions about they really showed up. Obviously, this isn't a Tennessee or one of those type defensive lines ... not to take anything away from Middle Tennessee. But it's a very big step for our group and I couldn't be more happy with the way they performed.