Sept. 29, 2009
SDSU Football Weekly Press Conference
Aztec Athletics Center
Head coach Brady Hoke
Coach Hokes's Opening Statement:
"Thanks for coming out. Obviously, we're disappointed in a lot of things about Saturday. There were some awfully good positives also as you look at that tape and you look at the film and you look at the offensive side of it. There were some positives in there. We've got to play 11-man football the whole game and on every play. We're hit and miss a little bit. One guy would have a breakdown and we'd find ourselves in trouble, or not hold a block long enough, or maybe not run through the route or whatever it might be. There's enough blame for all of us to go about. We've got to play better, obviously. We have to take care of the football. Defensively, I thought our guys really got after it and played well and now we've got to prepare for a good New Mexico State team."
On five of the next six games being at home:
"It's nice to obviously play in front of people that support you, the families that support us. Hopefully, our students aren't going to give up on us and the community. Our guys have done a great job of working. Hopefully, we'll have a lot of people there [for the] Brian Sipe jersey. I'm going to try to get one if I can. That also will help people (to come to the game)."
On the team's confidence level:
"I don't think it's bad. I think that you always have to have a belief. The exciting thing on Saturdays, watching our kids defensively, they wanted to play. It wasn't any type of finger pointing or going we're going back out there again, it was, `Hey, let's go. Let's make a stop.' There was a lot of energy that you liked and you liked to see it. I think that it rubs off on your team."
On the offensive line:
"At times they're blocking their tails off and they're moving people out of there and they're creating some seams in there. At times we're hitting the seams, and at times those seams close up too fast. Obviously, we need more consistency. You look at some of the protection issues we had. Ryan (Lindley) gets hit two times on two interceptions and on the third one, it was kind of a fluke or freaky play where DeMarco [Sampson]'s just got to secure the ball before he starts to run with it. He's excited and it kicks off his heel. Obviously, we're going to keep working in that area to try and be better up front."
On the play of offensive tackle Mike Matamua and Alec Johnson:
"I think Mike did some really good things in that game. Our longest run, Mike really had the key block in that run. He has some inconsistencies as a redshirt sophomore and Alec the same way. I like the effort they played. I like the intensity they both played with."
On the competition between Mike Matamua and Tommie Draheim:
"Mike just had a better week of practice. I think the good thing about that is there's those three are guys [who] are young guys and they're learning as you go. I think the competition level is also a really positive on a daily basis."
On New Mexico State:
"I know they won a huge football game the other night in Albuquerque. They've played two real rivalry games when you look at UTEP, because I think they're about 30 miles apart, and the New Mexico game. They're running the football very well. They're averaging 163 yards. I think they've got some very talented guys up front offensively. I think they're very athletic when you see them moving around and stay on blocks and get on blocks. Their running back (Seth) Smith, he's a guy that really runs hard. He's a strong, not really tall guy, but he really runs the ball hard and sticks it up in there with the power play. I think the quarterback who we'll see, (Jeff) Fleming, is a guy who is very athletic, throws the ball well, and he's the one who took them on the last drive at the end of that ballgame (vs. New Mexico) to win the game. So they're playing with a lot of confidence and they should be."
On if there is a change in mentality because you are expected or favored to win this game:
"I don't know if our guys read the paper enough or not. Hopefully, they're reading history books and stuff like that. I can't tell you. I'm not going to talk about it too much. Those things get overblown in a lot of ways. You've got to go play."
On how important is it to have a good showing at home:
"We want wins and people like to see teams win. We're going to go out there and play our hardest and play our toughest and execute and play as a team."
On Ryan Lindley's performance against Air Force:
"He made some pretty good throws after we got into an attack situation there. I thought he did a tremendous job. This may seem trivial, but the hail mary at end of game was executed exactly how we practice it, with the two guys leaping up and the one guy being short and if they can't catch it to tip [it]. Ryan put the ball right on the hash right where he's supposed to. That was executed as well as anything we probably have done all year taking it from practice field to the game field. Those are some of the positive things that happened. We had one penalty; that's huge. If we can keep that consistency with the penalties, we've got a chance to be okay."
On if the Air Force game was the best defensive performance since the UCLA game:
"I think because of the style of offense and the discipline it takes in a lot of different areas, I think that was really something that was good. I thought Rocky (Long) had a great scheme and a great plan. I would say at this point, yes."
On the defensive line's point of attack:
"I thought Ernie Lawson really played a physical, strong football game and that's where it starts, with your tackle, the guy who's over the ball. I thought he did a nice job in there. I thought Jake (Tauanuu) and BJ (Williams) and Jon (Soto) played (well) and Jerome (Long) and Zach (Shapiro), we played about nine guys in there. I thought they did well. I thought Jerry Milling really played well. I thought Miles Burris made some big plays for us in there. I think the front seven were disciplined in what they had to do in really attacking the line of scrimmage and trying to keep the integrity to line of scrimmage."
On running back Anthony Miller:
"He did pretty good a couple of times. The longest run we had all day, he made two great cuts. [Mike] Matamua made a nice block and then [Matthew] Kawulok did a nice job of sealing the line of scrimmage on that side. He cut it back, he pushed the line of scrimmage with it and made a shallow cut and then he made a safety miss,who was in on a one-on-one tackle. And then we ran a toss play to him; I thought he did a nice job, I think we gained seven [yards] on it. He had a nice burst through the hole and then ended up north and south."
On if he is concerned that three of four running backs being true freshmen:
"You always worry about freshmen to some degree. It's new to them. Campus is new, classes are new. There's a lot of intensity involved in a lot of different areas, so you always have concerns about them, but we're four games into it so they're not freshmen anymore."
SDSU PLAYERS
On Ryan Lindley:
Matthew Kawulok: "Ryan is such a competitor, he competes every day and works hard. He's definitely a great leader for our team. We definitely rallied around him because of his leadership."
On the defensive game plan against Air Force:
Ernie Lawson: "It's definitely a different game plan when you have to play Air Force and Coach Long had us really prepared well. He had a fairly good amount of success when he was at New Mexico with his game plan. We were able to really execute it during the week in practice. The scouts really gave us a good look at their offense and we were able to execute the plan on Sunday. It was really a good game plan for us."
On if their ability to stop the run against Air Force will be something to build on:
LAWSON: "We're definitely going to try to. It's on us to be able to come out like that every week and be as physical as we were this Sunday. If we can do that, we feel like we can be a pretty successful defense."
On if his getting more looks in passing game were by design:
KAWULOK: "Every week is different. You've just got to take advantage of the opportunities you receive and I was fortunate to get some opportunities this game."
On if it was in the scheme for him to get more catches:
KAWULOK: "No, we always have a game plan going in. I have confidence in Ryan to throw it to the open receiver, so it's just about taking advantage of the opportunities you receive every week."
On if he's a mentor to the freshmen running backs:
KAWULOK: "I'm leading the way for them and coach Hecklinski is a great coach, definitely teaching them. They're definitely on the game plan and know what they're doing. They work extremely hard; they're very, very talented."
On if the interceptions were more about confusion in the offensive system:
Ryan Lindley: "There's no confusion. For the most part, guys are doing a good job running the right routes. It's probably even better than last year and guys have really cracked down on that and done a good job of knowing what they need to do. I think if you look there were some fluke plays, not to take away any credit from any Air Force players. They played a great game. Some of those were just everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It's just something you move on from and that you learn from your mistakes."
On the New Mexico State defense:
LINDLEY: "It's almost UCLA (system), exactly the same. Coach Walker came over from there and he's a good coach and I think he's got a good scheme. It's a good defense and I think he has his guys playing hard this year. They definitely show some improvement and they're coming off a big win. Coming out here it will be exciting to get back home and play a nice game this week."
On if there is anything in the defensive scheme that will be key:
LINDLEY: "We've got to see the game plan. Through practice we'll work it out and see if there's anything that we need to look for or take advantage of."
On the confidence level of the team right now:
LAWSON: "I think we've always been confident in our abilities just through how hard we work in practice each week. We always have confidence going into every game and we believe we can every game. The way we played at Air Force really doesn't change anything, because we've always been very confident in our abilities just through the toughness that we have and the effort that we play with. I think it's about the same."
On how important this week's game is for their confidence and for the fans:
LAWSON: "I think it's important every week that we come out and have a good showing and that we win. That's the whole point, that's why we play the games is to win. It's not really about confidence or anything. We just really want to win. We want to win games, that's why we've been working hard since January. We want to win games and that's what this is really all about and that's the only thing we can really control. Fan base, we'd love them to be there. We always want the fans to be there. That's why we do it for them too, but we can only control us winning or losing games, and that's what we're going to do."
On how close the offense is to executing the way they want to:
KAWULOK: "We are really close. We've just got to keep competing in practice and finishing our plays."
On the blocking up front:
KAWULOK: "It's just really all of us finishing plays. It takes 11 men to execute. It's just finishing the plays."
On if the lack of success is due to a lack of intensity:
KAWULOK: "No, not intensity, it's just continuing to play through the whistle."
On adjusting to the new offensive system, including being more under center:
LINDLEY: "I think it's something I've enjoyed and something I've grown to like even more than the shotgun, with the things you do and the play-action game and things like that. I think we've started to get a feel for that as a team, as an offense, that we can open up some more things with that. I think just week by week, we're going to get with it. I'm looking forward to the improvement we can make this week."
On coach Al Borges' comments in the newspaper about the offense's performance at Air Force:
LINDLEY: "It's the truth. If he didn't care, he wouldn't put out there like that. We know that and we know we played poorly. The only thing you can do is come out next week. You've got to move on. You watch the film on Sunday and you see the things that you did wrong and even the things you did right. There were some bright spots in that game, too. I think guys just need to learn from their mistakes and not make them twice or the third time. It's about recoaching and guys be recoached the second or third time on something that they need to do."