Sept. 12, 2009
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SDSU vs. Southern Utah Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
Postgame Quotes - SDSU vs. Southern Utah
Qualcomm Stadium
SDSU Head Coach Brady Hoke
Opening Comments:
Obviously, it's nice to win a game, that was first and foremost. I think you have to give Southern Utah a lot of credit. They had some pretty good players at some of the skilled positions, and I thought they did a pretty good job and made some plays.
At the same time, I thought we had some guys step up, mainly V.J. (Vincent Brown). He made some plays for us and did some things that were real positive. But we had way too many penalties. Way too many mistakes in that part of the game that is sloppy. They hurt you and you can't play football that way.
Q. You said when you came here you were going to run the ball. That being said, seeing them carry the ball so successfully, are you surprised?
COACH HOKE: We're still going to be committed to run the football. I don't think there is any doubt about that. I think we did a couple things pretty decent tonight. But at the same time there are a couple of negative plays in the run game that you can't have.
Q. Can you talk about the big playmaking abilities of Vincent Brown?
COACH HOKE: It's nice when you have a play maker like V.J. and things that he can do with the football. So I think that's a big plus with us. At the same time, I think there are a lot of things we can do better in that part of our game.
Q. A lot of guys had their heads down surprisingly after this win. Do you feel good about the win?
COACH HOKE: Oh, it's good to win.
Q. Do you feel good about the win?
COACH HOKE: You always feel good about the win, but we've got a long way to go.
Q. How do you feel about your running backs?
COACH HOKE: Obviously Walter (Kazee) wants to have better ball security. We want Walter to have better ball security and he will. He's a young kid.
I think the one on the goal line was the guy put his hat right on the football. (Walter) will bounce back.
I think Brandon (Sullivan) made some good vertical runs for us in there. Then Anthony (Miller) got a little more open room this week, so you could see a little bit more of him.
Q. You've talked about trying to establish one kind of lead back. At this point is Brandon (Sullivan) your guy?
COACH HOKE: Yeah, I think so. He's the guy who has the most experience. I think all three guys will play, but I think right now he's the lead guy.
Q. How did you like the atmosphere of San Diego State being your first game here?
COACH HOKE: Oh, it was great. Believe me, we'd like to have the stadium full. But for those fans that were here and the students, you could hear them. They got loud. Especially on the goal line stand that the defense had there at the end of the first half.
And I thought that was a huge play in the game, because you take some momentum away from them going into the locker room at halftime. We needed a little momentum ourselves.
Q. The kicking game last week was a tough part of it for you. Were you happier tonight especially with the coverages on kickoff?
COACH HOKE: I think the first one got out a little further than we'd like. But I thought we started covering a little better. We started reading blocks a little better and getting over the top. That was important. I'm not sure how Brian punted, but I thought he did a good job.
SDSU Player Quotes
Q. Jerry, what did coach (Hoke) say to you guys after your first win?
Jerry Milling: It's good to get the first win. A win's a win. He said we've got a whole lot of work to do, but it's good to get the first win.
Q. Can you talk about the goal line stand right before the end of the first half?
Jerry Milling: It was a good goal line stand. All goal line stands are good, but it was fun. That was the high point of the game for the defense. We played tough down there, and we're going to improve off that.
Q. Brandon, how did it go out there?
Brandon Sullivan: Of course it's fun to be out there with the ball, but at the same time, the offense has to progress, work hard, come out tomorrow and be ready to improve.
Q. How do you assess the defense going into tonight?
Aaron Moore: The stats are good, but we've got to continue to get better and improve. But as a team, that's the goal to just improve.
Q. How does it come together for you tonight as a team? You got to feel pretty good about how things came together.
Aaron Moore: We've been doing this since January and I think this was the big moment. That's the goal, just to play like a team.
Q. Brandon, does a game like tonight take any pressure off the running game? Do you guys feel like you answered any questions tonight the way you ran the ball?
Brandon Sullivan: Coach (Al) Borges preaches running the ball every week. We ran the ball tonight fairly successfully. We are going to come out in practice tomorrow and work on our running game. Try to perfect some more things and take the running game to the next level.
Q. On his big running game?
Brandon Sullivan: I was just following the front five. Whatever holes they created, I just tried to fit in there and get whatever I could get.
Q. On how much the win meant for confidence?
Brandon Sullivan: Naturally a victory is going to give us more confidence, but we still have to work hard. We have to come out tomorrow and prepare mentally and physically. And even though it's a good victory, we have to put this behind us and focus on next week now.
Q. With the rotation of the running backs, you get 24 carries today. How are you going to be able to (last the whole season)?
Brandon Sullivan: It's not just on myself. It's the running back group as a corp. We have to run the ball successfully and we have to run the ball hard, and continue to fight hard for 60 complete minutes, the whole game.
Q. Nick, what was your assessment of the defense tonight? You had had some big plays with the three interceptions and the goal line stand and a couple of sacks. Does the defense feel good about its performance overall?
Nick Sandford: No, we don't. There are big plays that obviously give you great confidence going into next week. But when it comes down to it, we need to play more physical and not let them march the ball down the field. We did that way too often tonight.
Q. That said, you've still got to be happy?
Nick Sandford: Yeah, a win is a win. No matter how dirty it is. But you'd like to make it a little bit cleaner and perform better.
Q. Vincent, what did you see out there?
Vincent Brown: We were just running whatever coach called. He saw some things on their defense. Some plays we executed pretty well and that's what we ran.
Q. Did you feel like your timing was better this week with Ryan as opposed to last week?
Vincent Brown: Yeah, I definitely think it was. We've still got a lot of room to grow and lot of room to improve, and each week it's picking up. We'll get it as the season goes on.
Q. It seems like some of those crossing routs were really working for you guys. Getting that moving parallel to the line of scrimmage and really getting some separation from there?
Vincent Brown: I guess when we ran those type of plays, (Southern Utah) played a man to man coverage, because the play design was to get that open. When (the ball) went across the field it was just wide open, so it worked.
Q. They were up on you guys on the line of scrimmage tonight a lot. Did you guys feel like there was a chance to get over top of them if you could just beat that initial bump?
Vincent Brown: We've been watching film on that all week. We saw that's what they did. They pressed a whole lot, so we were expecting that. We knew if we could get off the line, we could definitely beat them.
Q. How close was tonight to the way you guys want to play on offense?
Vincent Brown: Not at all good enough. I definitely think we have a lot of room to improve, lot of room to grow. As the season goes on, we'll keep working and definitely get there.
SDSU sophomore quarterback Ryan Lindley
On what he would grade the offense's performance
"I think in the first half we did a great job. Overall, I like to be optimistic in a negative way. I think we can still be a lot better. I'd give it a B or B+. I think there's some reads that were missed. We had some mental errors, but we made it happen. We put some points on the board and that's what counts. We got the W and that's what matters."
On the playing relationship with Vincent Brown and himself:
"With V.J. (Vincent Brown), the biggest thing is he is an extremely hard worker. We've been roommates since our freshman year and there is a bond there off the field. He is a good friend of mine. Beyond that, he is an extremely hard worker. He loves the games, loves what he does and he loves making plays. He is an extremely hard athlete."
SOUTHERN UTAH HEAD COACH ED LAMB
On what cost his team the game:
"We had match-up problems. I expected the guys to play tough and stand toe-to-toe with (SDSU). We made mistakes that cost us the opportunity to beat a good team. The mistakes we made on defense in the first half of the game cost us. We let San Diego State off the hook on third-down conversions too many times. They were executing at a high percentage on third downs."
On Coach Hoke and the rest of the Aztec staff:
"They've got great speed and great athletes, they always have. I have to commend Coach Hoke and the rest of the staff for playing a very disciplined game in an organized fashion."
On covering Aztec wide receiver Vincent Brown:
"You can't cover him in zone coverage and we didn't have an answer for him in man-to-man. He's very dynamic"
SOUTHERN UTAH QUARTERBACK CADE COOPER
On what his team lacked in their loss to SDSU:
"Execution."
On SDSU's defense:
"I felt like we matched up with them well, we just couldn't execute against them."
SOUTHERN UTAH CORNERBACK COLIN PRETLOW
On grading his team's performance tonight:
"We made a lot of mistakes tonight, myself included. We need to stop making those mistakes and recalculate our game."