Sept. 3, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Head Coach Rocky Long
On whether his first game as head coach was special:
"It was a great win, especially when you consider the history of this series. The last two times, they've walked into the stadium and walked out with a win. They're a quality football team too and they'll compete for their conference championship. It was a big win, but we can get a whole lot better than we were tonight. It's fun to start that way, but that was the worst game on our schedule. I hate games where everybody expects you to win, especially when they haven't done it in the past"
On the play of the offense:
"The offense played really well in the first half. They struggled a little bit early in the third quarter, they didn't have the same rhythm they had in the first half. They cranked it back up. We ran the ball really well against a team that has been known to play really good run defense. They were in the top 10 in their division last year in run defense. The last two San Diego State teams tried to run the ball against them and weren't able to. We ran it really well and the play action pass opened up some big throws."
Senior Linebacker Miles Burris
On the game:
"It always feels good to win. A win is always a great thing, but we're far from where we need to be. It wasn't good enough tonight, and we're going to get better this week."
On student section:
"I think anytime you win more games, more and more people want to come and back you. This is definitely a town that wants to back their program. We just have to give them a reason for that, and I think we are starting to. We just have to continue to go out and get better every single week and put more W's on the board."
Sophomore Wide Receiver Dylan Denso
On his performance against Cal Poly:
"It's a different year and I'm going to do whatever I'm asked to do for the offense. I don't really care about personal stats or anything like that. It's always good when the team gets the win. This was a very important game to start off our season, so I'm happy our team did well."
On the wide receivers proving themselves today:
"We wanted to come out and let everybody know that you don't have to worry. There are still a lot of areas we have to improve and our goal is just to keep getting better every single game. This was a good game and a good place to start off the season. It's going to help with a lot of confidence."
On Ronnie Hillman opening up the offense for the wide receivers:
"You can tell, because you have a defensive back in front of you and he is looking in the backfield spying. They are coming up trying to play really aggressive and that's going to open up a lot of downfield passing. I can see it a lot in the defensive cover."
Senior Quarterback Ryan Lindley
On feeling pressure this year compared to last season:
"I don't think there's any connotation to it. We expect more out of ourselves so we are going to push ourselves to the next level, which is going to make our team better. We are a more mature team and a more experienced team. As the year goes on, you're going to see us improve drastically."
On wide receivers Colin Lockett and Dylan Denso:
"They turned it on. You saw (Lockett) with that kickoff return - he's got some explosion. There were a couple of plays, too, that we'll look back and adjust misses on them. We'll get on the same page with that. He'll be making more plays. I'm excited because he's going to be a guy who is just going to blow up. Who knows where he's going to be at during the end of the year. Dylan (Denso) did awesome. He showed up in spring ball, and he's done the same (now). He's been a consistent player. He's really just a guy you can depend on play in and play off.
On the team improving in the red zone:
"That's something coach came in and it was something he focused on our redzone proficiency such as passing needed to improve. That's one thing we kind of lacked last year on our offense. He really focused on what guys were open and making plays and having our line give them time. It was great to see our guys, especially young guys like Dylan (Denso) and Colin (Lockett), really make plays."
Sophomore Running Back Ronnie Hillman
On the game:
"The passing opened up for me. Colin (Lockett) and (Dylan) Denso were running great routes and getting a lot of focus off the running game, and they did a great job today."
On grading his effort:
"I give myself a C. I could have done better, and I plan on working on that during the week. (I want to work on) a lot of things. Run a little harder, pass blocking, I think I kind of got pushed back a little bit. I plan on going into the week and plan on getting better."
On Colin Lockett's play:
"Colin's an explosive player. He has a great future with us."
Cal Poly Head Coach Tim Walsh
On his overall thoughts on the game:
"I'm not really pleased with the way we played, but we did play a good football team. I think it is a combination of really being inconsistent in every phase of the game and (SDSU) being a good football team that we knew would be physical with us and try and pound us a little bit.