Oct. 25, 2005
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State Football
Aztec Athletics Center
October 25, 2005
SDSU Head Coach Tom Craft
On the returning game
"We really have to do some things to help us in the return game. We're trying to put more time and energy into that."
On New Mexico
"We didn't play the type of defense that we were capable of. New Mexico is a strong football team. Their defense did a nice job on us, but we were unable to take advantage of some real opportunities, particularly on possession downs."
On TCU
"(TCU) has one of the top five winning programs over the last five years. They're certainly a good addition to this conference. They've made it stronger than it was. They're playing with a lot of confidence and have some terrific athletes. They are big and physical up front and have great team speed. They are a tough team, but we're looking forward to the game this weekend.
"For us to have a legitimate change to win the football game, we can't turn the ball over. We need to possess the ball and keep our defense off the field. They're very explosive and they do it in all areas."
On the up and down season so far
"Everyone in the conference is going through the consistency thing to a certain degree. I also think we need to mature. Our maturity will definitely help out consistency.
"We talked about this in training camp. We knew we're going to have some bumps and turns, but we had to keep our focus and had to be mentally and physically tough. Our players are really committed to that and trying to win the next game. It sounds simple, but as you know it's not always simple."
On the defensive line
"We played three freshmen because of injury in Saturday's game (against New Mexico). It was tough with Jonathan Bailes going down (with an injury). Emil (Metroka) just has not made enough improvement from his knee injury. I think he tried to bounce back a bit too fast. Depth was a legitimate issue heading into the New Mexico game. We've really hung in there, though. Kurt Kahui has been a warrior for us and the improvement by Nick Osborn has been spectacular."
Quarterback Kevin O'Connell
On last Saturday's loss to New Mexico
"This past week, we came out and stalled a little bit on offense and made some mistakes early on. But I think we showed a little bit of something coming back in the second half against their first-team defense. We were moving the ball in the second half and (wide receiver) Jeff (Webb) made some big plays for us I think that is something that we took away from the game. I know it wasn't a positive night for a lot of people, especially our team. We had a good plan but we just didn't execute. Now we know if we just go out and do what the coaches tell us and execute and do things the way we know we can, we'll be all right.
"(New Mexico) coach (Rocky) Long deserves a lot of credit. Their defense came out and just played a little harder. We were prepared by our coaching staff going into the game. We saw everything we were supposed to see. It came down to a couple of plays here and there that could have kept some drives going. Maybe I should've gotten rid of the ball instead of taking a sack or checked into something else. We just got outplayed there in the first half and by the time we caught up to them a little bit, it was too late."
On upcoming opponent TCU
"They're a team with tons of talent. If you look at them on film, they're really fast. They fly around and make plays on both sides of the ball. They've won a lot of close games and I think they're starting to get comfortable (in the conference)."
Wide Receiver Jeff Webb
On TCU
"They execute on every play. You can tell they have a lot of team chemistry. They've come into our conference this year and they've already done some impressive things on the field. We're looking forward to the challenge this weekend."
Linebacker Freddy Keiaho
On tying the Aztec career mark for blocked kicks
"I've been lucky enough to have a knack for blocking punts. I've had a couple of opportunities with bad snap or with a slow punter to get in there and block kicks.
On the defensive keys to the game against TCU
"We had a great defensive game plan for New Mexico and we didn't execute the way we should have. It all comes down to tackling and getting off blocks. If we focus more on our technique in getting off blocks and tackling, then I think we'll be successful against TCU."