Sept. 28, 2010
SDSU Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
Aztec Athletics Center
Head Coach Brady Hoke
Opening statement:
"(There was) great community and student support (at the game Saturday). It's great to win, obviously. It was an exciting night in a lot of different ways. I thought our team reacted well and played together. We've got some things we have to continue to work on and do better. We had seven penalties and those things always bother you. In fact, our third down conversions offensively needed to be a little better at times and the way we started the second half wasn't as crisp and clean as we want. The first drive, we were moving the ball and then got the holding penalty and procedure penalty. So that puts you in negative places. But we need to continue trying to get after the football and force turnovers. We had some opportunities. I thought our kids played hard, they did a nice job on both sides of the ball with being aggressive and finishing the game."
On the timing of the bye week:
"Bye weeks are hit and miss. Sometimes, they're where you want them, but you don't know until after the season is over. It's just the way they scheduled us, and we'll take advantage of it with getting some guys healed up and healthy. We'll also look at BYU at the same time."
On how he uses the bye week:
"We use it for a lot of different things. We have coaches out on the road recruiting, so when we practice today, it will be myself, the coordinators and the graduate assistants. We'll get some good work done and try to keep the speed and timing of the game. On Thursday, everybody is back, so it will be a little more intensive. You try and get a lot of things done, but you also give players a little time to get away from here as well."
On his feelings four games into the season:
"We have a lot more football we need to clean up and be more detailed with. It's good to be 3-1, but 4-0 is better than 3-1. We have to keep improving how we block at the line of scrimmage. We took three timeouts in the first half offensively, and there were some communication problems. We can't have that."
SDSU Player Quotes
Senior defensive back Andrew Preston
On the philosophy of a bye week:
"We want to get guys legs back, start preparing for BYU and that's pretty much it."
On if the 3-1 non-conference record to start the season met the team's expectations:
"We're not satisfied; we want to be 4-0. Three and one is better than 2-2 and all that, but we want to be 4-0. We're glad that non-conference is over and we can get into conference play. We want to go out and win a Mount West Conference Championship."
Junior quarterback Ryan Lindley
On the timing of the bye week:
"Depending where it's at (in the schedule) there's always pros and cons. I think it's a good point to sit back and kind of improve on some things that we're doing. I think we're at a good point. You want to go into a bye week with a win and we did that. We're pretty happy where we're at right now."
On the bye week affecting the momentum of the team after an impressive win vs. Utah State:
"I think it will help. I think there are still some things we (can) look at that we could have done better. We'd like to run the ball a little better than we did and (we have) other stuff we'll improve on. I think it's a good opportunity to rest up and get guys' legs back and get ready for the conference push we're about to get into."
On the positive start to the Utah State game coming off a tough loss to Missouri:
"I think it's something we went out and practiced and I know on both sides of the ball we tried to up the tempo a little bit. We were frustrated with the way we played and talking to some of the guys we decided to go harder in practice and make the game easier. Not that guys aren't going to work hard the first three weeks or anything like that, but I think it gives us motivation from that tough loss at Missouri. We used it positively and made ourselves a better team because of it."
Senior wideout Vincent Brown
On how he's approached this bye week compared to the past three years:
"Same as everybody else I guess. We don't take it too heavily. It's good where they fall sometimes, but it gives us a week off to regroup and focus on our next opponent."
On how the practice schedule differs from a bye week to a regular week:
"Sometimes it's a little lighter in certain areas, but we still go hard in preparation. We're still watching film. We're still out there on the practice field at a high tempo and that's just how we approach it."
On preferring to have a bye week right now or use the positive momentum and go straight into BYU:
"It's always good to get guys healed up for the game. We want everyone back healthy and we want everyone back strong and have everybody ready to make a push in this conference."