Aug. 30, 2011
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Head Coach Rocky Long
Opening Statement:
"I think it's about time we played. Our players are tired of practicing against each other and want to play somebody else. We actually practiced on Sunday, which is not normal, and we had a good practice. Hopefully, we'll have a good practice today and tomorrow and polish it up for the game on Saturday. Cal Poly is a lot better than anybody wants to give them credit for. About an hour before I came in here, I watched their game last year against Fresno State, because I consider Fresno State a pretty good Division I football team. Fresno State was ahead 20-17 all the way until the end of the third quarter. Now Fresno State kind of blew them out in the fourth quarter, but after watching that game, they're as big as we are, they're as fast as we are and hopefully, they're not as good as we are."
On whether he's used the previous Cal Poly losses as motivation:
"Twice during training camp, we used the two victories that they had here in 2006 and 2008 as motivation. When the dog days hit, we were trying to get them to practice hard even though they didn't want to practice hard at that time of training camp. But other than that, we haven't used it. It's more about us playing well, than it is about worrying about the opponent. "
On whether he's figured out what Cal Poly is going to run offensively:
"I don't know how the players feel, but it's making me feel really nervous, a lot more nervous than I normally am early in the week. I've done all the investigating I can legally do. We watched their film from last year and they're a triple option football team. But then you get online and read articles or listen to what they say on the radio and we know for a fact they spent a week and a half or 10 days with the Oregon staff. So obviously, they're putting some of the spread offense in with the triple option. I don't know how much of that they're running, so basically, we're not running a game plan in practice because we're splitting half our time against two completely different offenses. Hopefully, it's not making the players nervous, because it has me nervous."
On whether a team can sneak up on you because you don't know what to expect:
"Even if you knew what to expect, a team can sneak up on you at any time during the season. Every year, several Division I teams lose to (FCS) teams. Every year it happens. It's more likely to happen when the lower division team is really good. It's happened to me three times in my career. It happened at Oregon State when I was an assistant coach, it happened at New Mexico when I was the head coach, it happens every year to several teams. Now normally when it happens, those teams end up in the playoffs in their division. It means they're just as good as a Division I team."
On the downside of having Cal Poly on your schedule:
"This is a no-win situation for us, because we're supposed to win and if we don't, then everyone is going to play it up as big time tragedy. Even if it happens, it's not a big time tragedy, it's the first game of the year. Anyone who thinks that one game makes a season is not in this business. When it happened to me once before, we ended up in a bowl game that year. So this is our first game, we might play well, we might not. We have 11 more of them and hopefully 12 more of them after this one."
Senior linebacker Miles Burris
On the difference in the team's energy, morale and character this year compared to last year:
"It's not so different, in the sense that we're all still very excited and we love to play football. The mentality is that we're going to go out and be tough football players and we're going to get after people. It's been a smooth transition and the morale is definitely up and we're ready and excited to play this first game."
On what he expects from Cal Poly:
"It's one of those things where we're preparing for everything. We're just going out there every day, trying to get better at the triple option, at the other shotgun stuff they're going to do. On top of that, taking periods out just to prepare for the speed they're going to throw at us. We're going to be ready for it."
Sophomore running back Ronnie Hillman
On what he wants to improve on this year:
"(I just want to try) to help the team improve. The team improving is me improving, so that's pretty much what anybody on the team would say right now. They don't want to improve on their numbers, they want to improve on the team wins and the team goals this year."
On whether he sees other teams targeting him as a challenge:
"You take it as a challenge, but I'll also have Ryan Lindley and my offensive line to block for me, so I think we should be fine."
Senior quarterback Ryan Lindley
On whether he uses the Cal Poly loss when he was a freshman as motivation:
"It's something you can't necessarily look past. At the same time, it's the opening game of the year and you're going to be excited regardless of who you play. Whether you're playing USD or Alabama, you better be jacked up to play when it's your first game of the year. I think it's something that may be icing on the cake on top of that, but without a doubt, it's about us going out and playing. We want to make a statement and we want to open up and play well in our first game of the 2011 season."
On the play of the wide receivers in fall camp:
"They've improved a ton. I think a lot of that has come over the last week with the peak being the Sunday, the last time we practiced. They've showed some rapid growth in the last week. It took them a couple of weeks. They struggled, they were in and out and they were a little inconsistent, but they really found a way to gel. We have a really good group of guys who don't have a ton of experience, but they're going to get it quickly. I think that's a positive and a negative for them. It's going to be great in the long run and they're all going to be great players and have a ton of ability. It's just going to be up to them to see how fast they gel and work into that."
On the difference in the team's energy, morale and character this year compared to four to five years ago :
"That's night and day. It's completely different. I'd say the biggest thing is the team is tight. As Miles said, the energy we have is universal. One guy is not extremely jacked, while the other guy is loafing out to practice trying to get through another day. We all want to get better today, all 80 to 100 guys who are going to be out there today practicing are going to get better. Whether it's the scout team, first team or second team, we're going to make each other better and we're going to make this team better. The overall attitude, the morale and the energy is a thousand times improved. It's exciting to see the steps we can take from here to get better."