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Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz

"I will start by complimenting Northwestern State, for coming in here, competing and doing the things that they did tonight. Coach Thomas has done a great job with the team, I know they have a lot of upperclassman. We knew they were going to come in here, play hard, compete and I give them a lot of credit for making the plays they had to at the end in order to win the game. They made their field goals and put the ball down there in field goal range when they had the chance. It is frustrating for us, coming into the half I think we had260 yards to their 80 yards in a 13-3 football game. We had seven penalties in the first half offensively. Defensively, we had only given up three points and we were playing really well defensively. "

"Offensively I thought we stubbed our toe a number of times. I do not know how many yards in penalties we had but every time I looked up it seemed like we were in a third and long situation because of penalties. I told everyone at halftime, we just have to calm down, execute and eliminate the penalties. It was a close football game and we went out there and turned the ball over three times."

"Trent Taylor has not muffed a punt since he has been back there. He muffed a punt in the fourth quarter that gives them an opportunity and puts our defense in bad field position. We got the ball back with about four minutes to go and just needed a couple first downs to eat up the clock. I gave it to Kenneth on third and short, he makes the first down and then the ball comes out. We called timeouts to save clock because I wanted the opportunity to run a two minute drive. We practice the two minute drill every day. Going down the field we only needed a field goal and we had a timeout. (Sokol) threw the ball out there, it got tipped and redirected right to the safety and he made the play. At that point, we were just hoping to keep them out of field goal range."

"Once they were in field goal range it was just a matter of trying to make something happen, whether it be a turnover or something like that. I give them credit for making the plays they needed to. As a head coach, we tried to do everything we could as a staff to have this team ready for this football game."

"I thought the players played hard and competed. We just made way to many mistakes and I think a big part of that, falls on us as coaches. We have to do a better job as coaches, we have to do a better job executing as players. We had the ball in three of our best player's hands when you talk about Trent Taylor, Cody Sokol and Kenneth Dixon and all three times we lost it, which is just really unfortunate."

On the FCS letdown effect:

"I believe that can happen, but I do not feel like our team came out flat. I do not feel like they did not compete or laid down and have an FCS let down. You cannot turn the ball over five times, especially three times in the fourth quarter on your end of the field and expect to win. When you make as many mistakes as we did early on, you put yourself in the position that you have to be really good in the fourth quarter and we were not. I do not think it was an FCS let down, our players knew we were in a football game. I thought they competed hard, but we certainly did not execute well enough to win tonight."

On Starting Fast and Fizzling Out:

"In the second quarter penalties got us. We had a lot of penalties earlier that stopped a number of drives which limited us in the second quarter. In the third quarter we did not have the ball as much because they started with it and drove the length of the field. I thought we executed well in the third quarter outside of one missed third down where a receiver looked at the wrong signal caller and we had a blown route. When you turn the ball over and make penalties, it does not matter what else you do. It is hard to move the football when you cannot hold on to it."

On whether the big hit rattled Sokol:

"No, it did not seem to bother him at all. I asked if he was alright and he winked at me and said he was fine. He was not rattled or shaken. I thought he threw some great balls, especially to Sterling late. One of his interceptions bounced off Paul's hands. I do not feel like that hit changed his game. We probably had more dropped balls tonight than we have all season and we definitely had more turnovers tonight than we had in three games combined. I do not feel like (Sokol) just threw it to them. Trent stopped on the route and I asked him why and he just said I am not sure why. Cody led him like he was going over the top. I am certainly not trying to blame Trent, but I do not think that one was on Cody."

On offensive plays in the middle of the field:

"On third down, we had one that was a busted route. We had two drops on third down. They brought a pressure on one where Cody got hit. They did some things schematically that were good but one of the things we have the ability to do, is put a tight end in to solidify the edge. We fixed that up and I do not think it was a problem the rest of the night. We just were not able to execute tonight. I do not take anything away from Northwestern because they made the plays they needed to make and I thought they played an excellent football game and like I told our team, they cannot beat us without our help. We certainly helped them tonight."

On penalties:

"It seemed like after the pass interference on the touchdown we had two more penalties where we had third and 30. The penalties were costly. I think we shot ourselves in the foot tonight and we were our own worst enemy on offense. Our defense gave up three points and 87 yards in the first half. You cannot say they really had a letdown. In the second half when (Northwestern State) had to make 20 yards, they were able to do it. All three of those turnovers that led to points for them, occurred on our end of the field. It is hard to put your defense in that kind of position in the fourth quarter of a close football game. As bad as all the mistakes were and as bad as we played, if we hold on to the ball in the fourth quarter and catch a punt, you are not in that position, but we did not. We were not able to finish it."

On wanting Cody Sokol under center and Kenneth Dixon in the I formation:

"No, in the third quarter when they went down the field and scored, we went right back down the field and scored ourselves. We did not have very many plays in the third quarter because they put a couple drives together to score. We let them hang around. They had a lot of energy and played with passion. They made some plays at the end that we were not able to make. I do not look back right now. I felt like we moved the ball tonight. I do not feel like moving the ball was the problem tonight. We had over 400 yards and that is really without a big play. We had a couple of big play opportunities early and we missed them. At the end with what they were doing, I did not want to put anything at risk and I wanted to put the ball in Kenneth's hands. He is one of our best players and that was our mindset towards the end of the game."

On the perfect storm of mistakes:

"It seems like it, with three turnovers in the fourth quarter. When it was 13-10 we went right down the field and scored. The offense kept answering when (Northwestern State) would go down and score. The last three possessions we had the ball were turnovers on our end of the field."

On where the team goes from here:

"We have to come back in and watch the film tomorrow. I told the team we were not going to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We laid the egg. We were the ones that made the mistake. I say we, as in coaches and players. Like I said, they cannot beat us without our help and we certainly gave it to them tonight. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. When things do not go right you do not throw your arms up and quit. We have to roll up our sleeves and say what do have to do to get things right. Four games are gone and we have eight to go. We cannot turn back the clock. We cannot rewrite record books. That game is history. It is part of our record at this point. The only thing we can do is go forward. We have an incredible challenge to go to Auburn and to go play in that football game. We are going to have to go there and compete our tails off in that one. After that we come back home and play UTEP in that one. I said we are going to get through the first six games, take a deep breath and see where we are. Until then we are going to put our head down and grind like crazy. We are going to try and be as good we can be. We felt like we were making some strides and making some progress the last couple of wins but this one hurts because we certainly had our opportunities to win this ball game."

"I am certainly disappointed. I am disappointed that as coaches we could not get it done. I continually say we because we are not pointing fingers at any players. As a head coach I have to take responsibility for the way our team went out and played. I felt like we tried to do everything we could. We talked about a football team, first learning how to win. After you learn how to win you have to learn how to handle winning. All of a sudden you are the favorite and how competitive are you going to be? How determined are you going to be? How much are you going to roll up your sleeves? We were not able to get our focus where it needed to be to go out and make the plays we needed to make. I do not think it was effort by this football team. I think it was a lack of execution. As coaches we have to look at ourselves first. We have to roll our sleeves up, come in here and look at the film and get better and get ready for Auburn."

On if he thinks not being the underdog in this game affected the performance:

"Nine penalties and five turnovers. We have 17 penalties in three games and got over half of that in tonight's game. We have two turnovers before tonight and five tonight. We drop a punt and that is something we have not done since Trent (Taylor) has been back there. Kenneth (Dixon) has not had a fumble all year and I do not know how many carries he has had on the year but tonight was his first. It was definitely frustrating but we made the mistakes that we had to make to give them the win. Nobody hurts worse than Kenneth Dixon, Cody Sokol, and Trent Taylor."

"As a football team, we have to come back and ask ourselves what do we have to do to make sure that it does not happen again. We may lose another football game but I do not want to lose another football game because we gave it away. I have made this comment all year, we are a work in progress and we are learning about our team. We are going to find out how we are going to come back and how we are going to respond to adversity. We are going to learn whether we are going to stick our head in the sand or roll our sleeves up and compete."

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Northwestern State head coach Jay Thomas

"I'm very proud of our team. To come here and play on the road, a lot of adversity and a big crowd and playing a really good football team - a lot of good team chemistry going for them. Our guys hung in there and scrapped. Defensively, we got turnovers. Offense, we got some things here and there. We just hung in there. Our special teams really played well. I tip my hat to coach Holtz. He has a great team and I know they will continue to do well, but I'm proud of our guys for hanging in."