Oct. 27, 2009
Aztec Football Press Conference Quotes
Head coach Brady Hoke
Coach Hoke's opening statement:
"It was good to win. Winning's fun. That's why you play. I think we were all proud of how our guys responded in the second half, how they went out there and stayed together as a team, which is always the most gratifying, win or lose. The coaches obviously did a nice job at halftime with some adjustments and those sometimes are schematically and sometimes (about attitude). I thing that was a big part of it. I think our seniors and the leadership of our team were a huge part of being able to come back (from being) down 21-7. That (game's) obviously long gone and we've got a big challenge this week here at home. New Mexico has beat us eight straight years and have won the last six that have been played in Qualcomm, so obviously we've got a big task ahead of us."
On playing an opponent that's 0-7 and therefore sitting Vincent Brown this week:
"We can't afford to sit anybody. You haven't looked at tape of New Mexico, I don't think. They're doing some really good things now. They've had some disappointment; that game the other night a punt hits one of their guys and UNLV capitalizes on it and field position and momentum. There's a lot of things that go (on) during the course of 60 minutes in a football game. They've got some good players. They've got good athletes. Mike [Locksley]'s doing a good job of coaching them and you can see them every week get better. We've got a ton of work ... we had four penalties for illegal procedure. Offensively, that's a lack of discipline and that's something that you can't do. We didn't run ball (with) 72 yards rushing. The good thing is that we tried to run the ball 32 times and that helped us in the game."
On comparing the win again Colorado State and the loss against Air Force, has this program improved leaps and bounds:
"It's hard for me to compare them. We obviously gave the ball away a bunch against Air Force and did a much better job, didn't have any turnovers, took care of the ball. Time of possession was in our favor in this football game by a wide margin, which helps us play really good defense when we're watching our offense. It's hard for me to do that. Schematically, it's a whole different team and those things. We hope that every day we come in as building, that we're going to improve each and every guy, coaches, players, trainers, managers. That's goal every day. Hopefully, we're making progress in that direction. I do think that with the youth of our offensive line, you can see some improvement [with] those guys and that's noticeable to me because that's where I look all the time. I think when you look at some of the pass protections that those guys did and Brandon Sullivan did a tremendous job giving Ryan [Lindley] time to get down the field - to throw the ball and DeMarco [Sampson] time to get down field. That's where I saw some improvement."
On last year's margin of victory for New Mexico last year and player's thoughts on it:
"I think they know, to be honest. I think they realize that and they see that. I would hope that they would remember it. I'm not going to make a huge issue over it, to be honest with you, because it's a different team. We're hopefully a different team and a more mature team."
On the halftime attitude adjustment at Colorado State:
"We've got to do a good job of playing. You've heard me say this probably way too many times, but your intensity level of how you play helps your focus. It helps your concentration and it helps you play faster. I think the biggest thing [was that] we asked our guys, and went around the room a little bit, `Are you playing your best football?' To a man, they said no, and the next question is `Why not?' Because it's up to you. That's where it all starts. It's up to you and how you want to come out there and play and represent and the pride and ownership and all those things. To me, they made a decision that we were going to win the football game."
On what the answers were:
"Most of them were `No, coach, I'm not playing as well.' `Why not?' `I don't know.' `Well can you?' `Yes.' We don't take a whole lot of time chit-chatting."
On first half defense overpursuing:
"We missed a couple of assignments in there. There's certain elements in the defense that you've got to chase, contain guy, check boot guy, cutback guy. We probably were maybe a little too excited or we didn't go through the checks and balances of doing the things that you need to do hurt and that hurt us on a couple [of] occasions."
On whether defense "gets it now":
"I don't think so. I think we get closer at times. We're trying to be pretty basic with them so that we can get the basics and then go next step. I think there's some uniqueness to defense that has taken a little while, that guys are learning but maybe the learning curve isn't going as quick as we'd like it to."
On tendency of the program have a letdown to a "lesser" opponent after playing up to an opponent and using last year's New Mexico game numbers as a motivator:
"To me, when a team's beats you eight years straight and beat you 70-7 and has won the last six opportunities that they've had in your home stadium, to me, we're not going to play down to them. We've got to play up to them. They know. These are college-age kids who are on their way to getting degrees. Unless they were asleep half of the year last year, they know what's going on."
On Ryan Lindley's progress the last couple of weeks:
"Let's go back to when he wasn't playing as well as everybody thought he should. He wasn't getting the protection he's getting now. The threat, to some degree, of the running game is more realistic, in my opinion. I think the receivers are running routes and the timing of everything is much better. I think it's some maturity in understanding the system and a maturity in knowing where to go with the ball may be a little better but it's also the fact that he's getting protection and guys are not dropping balls and the routes are run cleaner."
On there being only one dropped ball, whether there was anything done technically during practice:
"Not really. Sometimes when you overemphasize some of those things, they tend to come back and haunt you a little bit. I think it was just normally for the confidence level what they can do."
On changing the culture and how the players responded in the second half, whether it means making strides in that direction:
"You would hope that they have that confidence that when they do play together as a team, they can play well. I think trying to reach our potential as a team is a big part of that. Hopefully that's going in the right direction in what we're trying to get done."
On being "on schedule":
"We're behind. We've lost four games."
On whether improvement has been seen from 3 months ago:
"I think our seniors have done a really good job, because that's where the emphasis in this program is and that's who it's on. Those guys and their leadership. Most of these guys are playing their last year of organized football and it always seems to get a little more important to them when they understand that clock is ticking away. I think our seniors have done a good job since we've got here and those that didn't are no longer here."
On better line protection, whether Nik Embernate in the starting lineup "set a charge" to the offensive line: "I don't know. I think it's a matter of choice by all of them. I think starting with Trask [Iosefa], because he's kind the guy who is your center and is your leader, and he's kind of that guy. I think Pete Nelson's done a really good job of making Nik feel comfortable. Those two kind of sandwich him and when you've got a young guy I think your communication, different things that you do, that's an important part of it. Nik is a guy who has a real passion to play game. He's got a toughness about him that you like in a young kid. I think he'll just continue to improve."
On if the offensive line is now set:
"I think Ikaika [Aken-Moleta] will get some snaps in there too. The one thing I like about what Ikaika's doing is he's fighting and he's competing and that's a positive expect. That's what you expect a senior to do. That's kind of what's happening a little bit, instead of a guy chucking it in or his attitude going south on you, he's competing every day."
On players getting annoyed at having people ask them why they're upset that they only lost by 10 to BYU:
"I'd be lying if I didn't want them to be upset, so I hope so."
Aztec Players: DeMarco Sampson, Ryan Lindley, & Ernie Lawson
On what the difference has been the past couple of weeks:
Lindley: "I think the all-around play of our offense has stepped up. I think even despite the stats, I think our running really picked up this last game. I think there were a couple plays, some lost-yardage plays that took the stats down, but I thought as a group, we ran the ball better and that helped out in the passing game against Colorado States. I think the line's doing a tremendous job. I think Coach [Darrell] Funk's been working those guys real hard and the leaders up front in Peter [Nelson] and Trask [Iosefa] are really pushing that group to their potential and I think they'll continue to get better."
What adjustments were made at halftime:
Lawson: "It was just about us coming out and playing to our potential and that's kind of what Coach Hoke talked about at half. His defense ... going back to the BYU game, we got punched in the mouth for six straight quarters and hadn't done [anything]. It was our time to step up. We knew the offense was going to be able to get on a roll if we were able to do our job. It was on us to kind of pick up the pace and set the tone for the game and we tried to do that."
On defense feeding off the offense:
Lawson: "It definitely helps because you love seeing your brothers succeed. That's what it's about for us. Killing time off the clock definitely does help us but it's more about us seeing them succeed in doing their job and it pushes us to not let them down since they're doing their job. That's what really pushes us."
On how he stepped it up on Saturday:
Sampson: "That was just the result of practice, executing the plays that were called, good protection. Like Ryan said, our line stepped it up a lot. Brandon Sullivan is great in power protection. Just us working hard, that's what the result of the touchdowns were."
On whether Colorado State double covered him like they did for Vincent Brown:
Sampson: "[Dominique] Sandifer stepped and did a good job playing on the other side so I believe that if they were to double-team me, he would have had the same result."
On facing a linebacker who's the leading tackler in the country:
Lindley: "Their defense has definitely changed with their new staff. I think schematically they do lot of different things. Just seeing the attitude that Coach [Rocky] Long had there, you've got to tell how guys play. They're really aggressive. Obviously, there's some turnover from that; they've got some good talent on the defensive side of the ball. We'll look to Coach [Al] Borges to develop a good game plan and we'll just look to execute."
On last year's game score:
Lindley: "Obviously it was embarrassing, but this is a new year and you take it for what it is and positive motivation that you can to come out and practice and do your best and work hard and be ready for Saturday. I think when it comes down to it and Saturday rolls around, it's the 2009 season and we've just got to go play another game."
On whether last year's score is more motivation for the defense:
Lawson: "It's like Ryan said, it is what it is. We're just a different team. It's not the same team that we had last year. We've just really got to look forward. We're a different team and they're a different team so we can't really use that as anything. Yeah, it was embarrassing, like Ryan said, you just use it as it just is what it is and you've just got to look at this week just like any other week and it's a work week."
On whether the team is different because of personnel or effort:
Lawson: "Both. Just for both teams. It's just new coaches, different style of coaching. They've still got the same personnel. They're still very talented; they're a talented team. Their record doesn't really speak for much and it might be a little misleading because they are a talented team on both sides of the ball so we're going to have to come with it."
On amount of confidence this week after performance at Colorado State:
Lindley: "I think offensively, when you put two games ... together like that that you're pretty productive, it's encouraging to know that the work you've been putting in is starting to pay off and starting to pay dividends. I think in the sense [of] the confidence in that point, we're feeling pretty good but I think as a team we know we've still a ways to go. We know there's still a lot of things we can improve on. We still, I think, haven't put a full game together. I think this last game, the second was great, an awesome team effort, but if we would have played a great first half, we wouldn't have needed it. We wouldn't have needed the surge in the second half to win the game. I think we're just looking to play better than we've played all year this next week and just put a full game together."
On what was fundamentally done different to address dropped ball:
Sampson: "In the wideout (meeting) room we adjusted it, Coach [LeCharls McDaniel]brought it to our attention that we were dropping a lot of balls and that, among other things, that was one thing we needed to work on for this next coming up week."
On how they fixed the dropped ball problem:
Sampson: "Just clicking it in, just concentrating more, being focused more, not a lot of talking going on anymore. Not that there was before ... he kind of cracked down on us, on the receivers."
On explaining last year's score of 70-7:
Sampson: "That's one of those things in football, you turn on the screen and that's why you're so surprised because that number doesn't happen in games. That's just motivation for us to work harder this week."