Sept. 14, 2010
SDSU Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
Aztec Athletics Center
Coach Hoke's opening statement:
"It's good to win on the road. Obviously, we complemented ourselves as a football team. Early on, offensively, I thought we struggled a little bit and the defense kept us in there. Later in the game, when they made it 27-21, our offense came back and scored a touchdown. The kicking game was solid, we need to be better with field goals still and that's something we'll continue working on and competing with those two guys [Abel Perez and Bryan Shields]. On kickoffs, Abel did exactly what we thought he could do."
On Missouri:
"It's a great test this week (with) the 25th-ranked team in the country. They lead the country in turnovers (gained) with nine. Offensively, they're very dangerous and very skilled. Their quarterback (Blake Gabbert) is a strong-armed, big guy who is very accurate. They're great at the receiver position and their freshman running back, Henry Josey, had a great game last week. So they'll give us fits. Their offensive line is big and are good looking cats who get on you and run their feet. They get after it. And they have two very good defensive ends. They do a nice job of rushing the quarterback. Playing on the road, it's going to be a great opportunity and a great challenge."
On the offensive line's performance last week:
"As I watched the tape last week, there was a real semblance of doing things right up front with the leverage, footwork, hand placement and getting to the second level. But at the same time, there were probably six or eight plays where we played with poor pad level and didn't come off the ball with the intensity that you need to have. "
On the road win:
"It's good that we traveled well. Saying that, I thought our focus and attention to detail was very good. The guys did a nice job with regard to traveling and representing our University. I give a lot of credit to the seniors, this is their team. I like how we handled the experience on the sideline when they made it 27-21. We stayed together as a team and there wasn't any flinching."
On freshman running back Ronnie Hillman
"Ronnie has a long way to go before he is the kind of back that he can be. He's just scratching the surface when you look at everything a back has to do. Does he have ability? Yes. But he has a long way to go with doing everything he can with protections and other things that a back has to do."
Junior Quarterback Ryan Lindley
On Missouri:
"I think that all around, they're an athletic team. They have some ends and some players on the line who are quick and can make plays. They have a bunch of linebackers and some guys who love to come down and make plays in the secondary. They're aggressive and a good, fast team."
On what a road win over No. 25 Missouri would mean:
"It would be awesome. Any win that would get us to 3-0 would be big for this program. I think it just comes down to us going out and executing the game plan. We want to improve and just continue to play better as a team."
On getting an early road win:
"I think it's a much more mature and disciplined team than a year ago. And that's to knock anybody who was on the team last year. I think it's just part of growing with this system and with coach Hoke's staff. We've shown a lot of growth since camp and last year. We're just continuing to improve, and I'm excited to see what we can do this week. "
On facing a ranked team:
"You have to give them respect for what they've done. They're a good team that's earned that ranking. We know they're a respectable opponent. But really, it comes down to executing, whether we play an FCS team or the No. 1 team in the country. It's all about how you play the game and execute your assignments on Saturday."
Senior Defensive Back Andrew Preston
On Defending Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert:
"We definitely need to be better than we were last week. We have to limit penalties and be better tacklers. We also need to have tighter coverage. They spread the ball around a lot. Hopefully our defensive front can get some pressure on him, but I know they have a physical offensive line. It'll be a big challenge and a great opportunity for us in the secondary to match up with their wide receivers and tight ends."
On facing the spread offense for the third straight game
"It helps seeing it before, and it helps that we've seen it a lot in camp. Our offense gets into the spread quite a bit and going against the quarterback, receivers and tight ends that we have is great competition. The first two games have also benefitted us a lot. Missouri is an empty backfield almost all of the time, so it will be a great opportunity to see where we're at defensively."
On the offense and defense complementing each other
"Last week, we definitely did a good job as a team complementing each other. When the offense wasn't getting much going in the first half, I think the defense stepped up and had four straight three-and-outs. Then when the defense struggled in the second half, the offense really picked it up for us. And I know our defense can step it up even more to help the offense as much as we can."