Sept. 6, 2010

Opening statement: “I want to start off by congratulating Dan Hawkins and the University of Colorado for their game last Saturday; they certainly were the better team and deserve the win. Our staff and players after reviewing the tape know we certainly have got a lot to work on. But however, looking at it, there were some bright spots so to speak, some things that we can build on. Our main focus right now, a lot like our first year here, we’re just mainly concerned with getting better with every practice opportunity, improving every time we go out on the football field. So as we keep that there we prepare for a very explosive University of Nevada football team this Saturday on the road. We need a big week of practice, and obviously we’re all focused in on our preparation. Having said that, I’ll open it up to questions.”

On where the team is at after the first game:  “We’re about where we thought. We’re probably a little improved defensively over last year; we probably have more depth in that area. We did some nice things; we kept the ball in front of us for the most part. We didn’t tackle as well as we are capable of; we need to wrap up a little bit better. Offensively we played a little tight. We weren’t as far away as I thought on the field Saturday after looking at the film; we were close to creasing a few runs. Our line didn’t play as bad as I thought, and certainly Pete (Thomas) had some bright spots. But we have to gain experience in a lot of areas offensively and, like I said all along, how quickly we do that will have an impact on our season. I do think that this could be as good as or better than the offensive football team we had the last three years. We may take some time to hit our stride but I like our talent level. I think there is plenty to build on.”

On the offensive line’s play: “Sometimes when you run the ball as poorly statistically as we did, you go in thinking that we weren’t sustaining blocks, or maybe there were some missed assignments where we were turning guys loose. There wasn’t a ton of that sort of thing. We missed some tracks and points of entry at running back. We probably left quite a bit on the table as far as running the football, and I think we can iron all that out. We can certainly do better, we can certainly sustain blocks longer and all that. Particularly at tight end, too, we have to play with a little bit better technique and get our pads down in that area. But it wasn’t as far off as I thought when I was walking off the field Saturday afternoon.”

On offensive line starters against Nevada: “It will be the same five. We are always trying to get Richburg in at center to try to develop him there. (Joe) Caprioglio played some at guard and tackle, (Jared) Biard got in, Connor Smith got in. I want to get Jordan Gragert in the game; we’ll try to do that this Saturday. So we’ll continue to roll some guys in there looking for combinations and trying to get some experience on some guys who haven’t played a whole lot.”

On the play of the running backs: “You know, it’s funny, on some of those gap-scheme plays, if you’re ahead or behind a pulling lineman, some things get distorted. You know, you simulate things at practice the best you can but we just missed on a couple things, and like I said, I think they’re fairly easy to iron out.”

On trying other players at running back: “I don’t think it’s that big of an issue. I’m glad we got Tony Drake in the game; we’re going to continue to explore how we can get him the football in different packages. Although I will say this about Tony Drake, just like I said with Lou Greenwood last year: Lou’s ability to concentrate and prepare during the week was subpar, and that’s why he played less last year than he should have. It will be inherent upon Tony Drake to get his nose in the film room and understand what we’re trying to do. If he does that, there will be some opportunities for him. I wish we would have played Chris Nwoke. I will plan on playing him this Saturday. Again, sometimes the flow of the game dictates a lack of substitution. We just didn’t get around to getting Chris a carry.”

On a particular group getting something established: “I kept sitting there thinking, ‘We almost creased that; let’s just keep calling that few more times, we’ll hit one of these,’ but we never did.  It’s not that far off. I’m encouraged, I think we’ll hit stride here not only as an offense but as a football team. There are some very talented guys in that locker room. Our attitude is good, and we’ll just keep working.”

On having two tough road games, at Nevada and at Miami (Ohio), which pushed Florida in Gainesville Saturday: “Nowadays, everyone is tough. Good football teams need to find a way to win on the road, something that we struggled to do last year. It is what it is. Again, I’m more concerned with our preparation, not looking to Saturday but looking to Tuesday (the team’s first practice). This is a good group of kids. We have a good mindset right now. I think they feel good about themselves, obviously knowing that we have to improve and that we have a lot to work on. Certainly this is not anything that is going to get away from us. I think that we all feel like we can get this thing going pretty good here.”
 
On the general true freshman reaction when reviewing mistakes on game film: “I think they were eager. They are excited to play.  They’re eager to know what happened, why something good on a certain play didn’t happen. But as a coach you are more interested in, ‘Are they handling the speed of the game? Are they wide-eyed? When a mistake does happen, do they lose their composure?’ None of that happened. I can’t tell you how impressed I was with Pete Thomas.”

On supporting Pete Thomas: “I always tell those guys, I’m going to form an opinion. I want the strength coach, I want the people down the hallway walking around, I want everybody to think that our quarterbacks are the hardest-working guys on the team. They’re staying late, looking at tape, doing whatever they have to do, and that’s how you earn the respect. That and playing tough, and staying in there. We’re not going to anoint anybody all-pro right now, but I think we got a very good quarterback here, and we’re going to develop him.”

On CSU’s trademark of playing physical football: “That’s always what we try to do here since Coach (Sonny) Lubick in the early ‘90s. I almost don’t like the way college football is going with the spread. I think you got to line up, I think you got to have a fullback, you have to bang around in there sometimes. That’s our intent to do that; we like to pride ourselves that we can line up and still run the football when eight guys are in the box. We’re not obviously there but that’s our M.O. and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

On physicality being an advantage over spread teams: “There are times you catch some teams that I think don’t see enough of it. You don’t see it in our league; there are some really physical teams in our league. Occasionally you go out of conference and you see someone who has played three or four spread teams in a row and the may be on elite fullbacks a little different. But we’re going to win not by out-scheming anybody. We have to improve our execution and get back to making plays. I think we’re very capable; we just have to grow up in some areas.”

On what worked in the Nevada game last year, a 35-20 win: “I think we made a few plays in the Nevada game. We made a few plays on third down, made a few stops, we got a few turnovers, and when you do that you got a good chance to win. And as the season went on we did not get the stops, did not get the turnovers, we turned the ball over. That’s the name of the game; you have to out-execute your opponent.”
 
On Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick: “Anytime that you got a guy at the quarterback spot that can run, that can formationally put some strain on what gaps you’re in and that sort of thing, not only can he run, he can explosively run. Block him right, he may score. Then you add that he’s a talented guy that can throw the football around, and he’s hard to defend. He generates a lot of total offense. We have to do a good job; obviously they are going to make plays. They run the ball effectively and they run some numbers up, but limiting the big plays is huge, controlling the ball offensively is huge. There are a lot of aspects to it; it’s obviously a team game. But he is an impressive player.”

On Kaepernick using his tight end last week: “I think they were trying to improve on some things that they did throwing the football. They were seeking out ideas and some ways to expand. But everyone does in the offseason, so that was their intent to try to get the tight end more involved, they certainly did it, and it’s probably a good thing for the quarterback.”

On keeping the team on track after a letdown: “One game doesn’t dictate who we are as far as character or work ethic or how we care about each other, how we trust each other. This is a good football team in terms of its leadership, its want-to. I’m confident that we’re going to go out to practice on Tuesday and they’re going to be working hard, and focused. This is the most fun I’ve had coaching in a long time; the guys want to be good, they look at the film, they take coaching. It’s a good group and when you have Ricky Brewer and some guys like that out front, that speaks volumes.”
 
On whether this team takes a loss harder than last year’s team: “I think it hurt. You know, it’s the same old deal. We got about 24 hours to pout. But we come back to work on Sunday and there’s a task at hand and a game rolling down the pike at you pretty quick so you better get to work and you better realize you can’t change the past. I like our football team, I like our staff, and we’re in good shape in that regard. We’ll just keep playing hard, and like I said, the talent is on our campus, it’s up to us to develop it.”

On the losing streak: “To be honest, I don’t even think about it. All I know is that we have Nevada on Saturday. We’ve got an important week of preparation. I want to think about the week before I think about the game. Let’s just get to work and like I said, control what we can control. I don’t think anybody is pouting around right now.”

On this team separating itself from last year’s team: “I think this team has really separated themselves from last year. I think just the way we went into spring football, and summer, the people we have up front, it’s got a totally different feel.”

On Eugene Daniels’ shoulder injury: “We’ll evaluate him; there are no major injuries from the game. Mychal Sisson is a little sore, and obviously everybody is getting treatment today and we’ll know a lot more on whose available or who we project on being available come tomorrow afternoon. It does not look like there is anything season-ending. For this point of the year we are in pretty good shape.”

On several little things adding up to give the Rams a loss Saturday: “You convert a little more on third down, you get a little better time of possession, you maybe change field position a little bit, and you get yourself in the end zone. You look at it from an execution standpoint and you say, ‘Were we wrong in a lot of our assignments?’ No. ‘Were we just getting whipped here or there?’ Not necessarily. At some spots we did but maybe it was the technique. I’m certainly not going to say we’re pleased or it’s a rosy picture, but I know what we’ve got and I think we’ll take another step here forward on Saturday.”

On lack of throwing downfield against CU: “We certainly in the game plan had a lot of ways to get the ball down the field, but CU was very soft particularly at their corners, which caught me off guard because they are very talented. Their ability to come up and bump and run and play tight coverage, they are talented enough to do it. They chose not to; they played a little conservative, which gave us a chance to throw the ball, which I thought Pete did at times fairly well.”

On the perception that CU prepared for CSU, while CSU just focused on getting itself ready: “They deserve the win, and Dan (Hawkins) certainly did a very good job. I don’t want to act like we didn’t prepare for Colorado, that’s not the case. They did a nice job on both sides of the ball. They chose a game plan and a way of going about that game that they felt gave them the best chance to win and the bottom line is that they out-executed us.”
 
On concerns with tackling: “We’ll probably crank up a few more live periods. We tackled well at times. There were just a couple times where guys weren’t wrapping up, just fundamentally we were throwing our bodies around and not wrapping up. But our eagerness to get to the ball I liked. There were some spots on defense – Ricky Brewer had 10 tackles and for the most part played pretty good, so that’s something to build on. There are some areas that we have to get better in.”

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