Nov. 15, 2009
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Postgame Quotes - San Diego State Football vs. Wyoming
SAN DIEGO STATE HEAD COACH BRADY HOKE
Coach Hoke's opening statement:
"Obviously, it wasn't very fun out there at the end. We got outwilled by a team. They played harder, they executed and that's pretty much how the game went ... (We) had some penalties in the first half and we hurt ourselves a little bit with that. You get a field goal blocked that (could have) put you up by 10. That's not executing, that's not being disciplined, and they did a much better job of coaching and playing the game."
On whether they thought about going for it on fourth and short:
"No. You needed to get points on board and go up by 10."
On Wyoming's hurry-up offense:
"That's them. They have that tempo. That wasn't any different really, to be honest with you. Our kids got set, they knew the calls. I don't think that was much of a factor. I think we had opportunities to make plays on balls and that we just didn't make plays."
On the change in confidence from the first half to second half:
"I think it was the fourth quarter, because we had a 94-yard drive (in the third quarter), and I don't know how much time it took off the clock, but it was a pretty quick quarter. I think they got some momentum, they capitalized on some good plays that they had, some bad plays that we had, and then the wheels came off. I guess if you want to say that to some degree, but we still were in position to make some plays on balls that we didn't make."
SAN DIEGO STATE PLAYERS
Quarterback Ryan Lindley
On the loss:
"It's frustration. You're hurting any time you lose, especially a game like this. You can woulda, shoulda, coulda all you want, but it comes down to making it happen when it goes down. They did and we didn't."
On the running game and running the ball three times on the last series:
"[That's] something that we're probably going to look at tomorrow and then take away what we did well ... We were running the football pretty well and coach Borges had confidence that we could continue to the move the chains running the football. We were all the same way. The offensive line was doing great and I think we were just trying to chew the clock and move the ball at the same time. We were doing a pretty good job of that. It was tight. I was fourth and inches and Walter [Kazee] made a good run, just came up a little short. That's just the way it rolls."
Linebacker Luke Laolagi
On Wyoming's hurry-up offense in the fourth quarter:
"We had guys in position to make plays. We just didn't make them. You've got to give Wyoming a lot of credit. They came out and they fought hard and at the end of the day they wanted it more and it shows in the result. That's pretty much what it was."
Offensive Lineman Peter Nelson
On the loss:
"A lot of frustration. More than anything you've got to give it to Wyoming. They outworked us at the end of the day. They made plays when they needed to make plays. They beat us."
WYOMING HEAD COACH DAVE CHRISTENSEN
On the Cowboys' 24-point fourth quarter:
"We started making plays. It wasn't like (the Aztecs) were shutting us down all game, but we had some opportunities where we didn't get 6's a couple of times and we had a fumble. When it came time for the fourth quarter, we played extremely well. At halftime we talked and said that a time was going to come when we were going to need guys to start making plays, and in the fourth quarter, we had a lot of guys making plays."
On kicker Ian Watts before his last-minute field-goal attempt to win the game:
"I told Ian, if you miss it, it's no big deal; we're going into overtime. You need to treat this as a PAT and relax. And he sure did."
On his decision to use bloop kicks against the Aztec special teams:
"We were having problems placing the ball and the Aztecs had two players who looked like they didn't spend a lot of time returning kicks. We felt it was better off to bloop it to them and not allow anyone else to return the football."
On the biggest play of the game:
"The blocked field goal was the most pivotal play of the game, because they had a chance to go up by 10. To scoop up the ball and get great field position, that's probably the biggest play of the fourth quarter."