What the Tigers are sayin'

Hey everyone. Our second round of interviews has concluded. Let's see what they're saying.

RYAN PUGH

• On Gus Malzahn's game-time demeanor: ``He's probably the most focused person on the field during the game. He sees a lot more than most people see from the sideline. It's his offense. He created it. He knows it like the back of his hand. When he needs to make an adjustment, that helps. He knows exactly what to do."
  
  
• On those just-before-halftime scores and if that creates confidence: ``That trickles down from him to us. We take the initiative there before the half. We stuck it in for a touchdown in one game. We got a field goal, too. Three points. If you go back and look at it, that changed the mometum of both games and allowed us to pull away in the second half. We need to keep doing that. Our philosophy is to keep pressure on the defense. That's what we do.

GUS MALZAHN

• On the team's confidence: ``When we got here this was a pretty fragile group. Anytime you have success you build confidence. It’s really good to see a lot of our leaders have confidence. That means a lot. The mental game of football is very important and I think they’re starting to believe in themselves and each other ... so that’s a very good feeling."
  
  
• On Chris Todd's relatively mediocre game: ``They threw a lot at us early in the game. A lot of different looks. He's still learning his reads. He got a little greedy a couple of times, but all the things that happened are correctable. He made a couple of good plays, too, under pressure."

MIKE BERRY, aka BIG SNACKS

• On the tailbacks being so complimentary: ``It means a lot. As you know, we don't get too much recognition. We're not scoring the touchdowns and stuff like that .. so to have your ball carriers actually acknowledge the offensive line, that's real big. It makes us happy."
  
  
• On Jeff Grimes, his position coach: ``He's a real positive guy. I don't see him get down a lot and he always tells us to get our demeanor up and never let it change. Just because something bad happens in a game doesn't mean that's the end of it. Don't get down on yourself. Look forward to that next play."