Sept. 13, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Head Coach Rocky Long
Opening Statement:
"It's nice to have a win like we had and it's nice that DJ broke the record. We knew he was going to do it sooner or later so it's nice he did it sooner rather than later. But now we have to turn our attention to the next game. We can't think about that anymore; we can't talk about it much anymore. We're playing a team that, right now, is 0-2 but has an amazing record at home and their first two games were on the road. Their record on the road is not very good so they struggle when they go on the road but they're really good at home. In the last five years, their home record is 35-2. They've lost two games. Their record shows that they're a much different team on the road than they are at home so we're going to get the best game that they've got. We better have the maturity about us to go about our business and get ready to play like we've played the first two games."
On comparisons between his team and Northern Illinois:
"I think we have similarities. They've been to eight straight bowl games. They want to run the ball first and they want to use the play action pass. They do it a little differently than we do; they use a lot of tight ends instead of a full back. They'll use two tight ends, three tight ends at times and the other tight end ends up being a full back most of the time. They have what we call 12 personnel or 13 personnel: two tight ends or three tight ends a game and one tailback. Then if they get into long yardage or the get behind like they did last week, they go over to the spread and they're pretty good at the spread. They run some plays that are unusual and their quarterback carries the ball a lot. They'll block it so the quarterback has power plays and such. A couple years ago, they had a quarterback that rushed for over 4,000 yards."
On San Diego State's mistakes against California:
"The receivers are fast and we weren't ready for their speed and their quarterback is good. But you have to give their offensive line credit; we didn't put the type of pressure on them that we needed. We did make some mistakes on combination routes and in man coverage. That's the best thing about it; we made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball but we still won. We can be pretty good if we can stop making mistakes. I think we need to be better about throwing and catching the football. We can't drop snaps. On defense, I think we need to tackle better. In the first two games, we missed a lot of tackles and it's because you're tackling in open spaces. It's almost impossible to tackle a guy one-on-one when you don't have enough room to move around. I don't know how you get better at it because you can't practice it because everyone's concerned about injuries so I assume that's the way tackling is going to be. We'll have the same issues this week because they run a lot of fly sweeps they fake an inside run and give it to slot backs and wide receivers that sweep around the corner so you'll see a lot of one-on-one tackling in the open field."
On the Northern Illinois offense:
"I think it causes an issue because we've been playing two spread teams and now, all of a sudden, we play a team that wants to run it. Once you get into the season, you don't do much physical work where you actually take on blockers and tackle people. It's the same struggle that people who play us have, in practice every day against the spread and then they come against a pro set and then, all of a sudden, they're at a disadvantage. We've been practicing for three weeks against spread teams and scout teams and now, all of a sudden, we come against a team that wants to run the ball, I can say that's an issue. I think our defense is set up fine for either one, the pass or the run. But you still have to take on blocks and get off blocks and make tackles."
On Donnel Pumphrey:
"Any good running back you've ever seen, he's got all the traits. He's not very big; that's the one downside. But he runs big. Ask him about his pass protection, he put some of those big defensive ends right on their facemask. He does everything. He catches the ball well, he runs with it well, he blocks well, he does everything. The best part about it is that he's a team guy first. Great running backs have (great vision); I don't think it's taught. I think the vision is something that they come with. I think people teach them to believe in their vision. I'm still surprised at how well he runs between the tackles. When you watch him on high school film, you know he's got great ability to make people miss. He can catch the ball really well. I wasn't sure when we recruited him if he could run the power plays or the iso plays or the zone plays and he's done that as well as any back in the country at 170 pounds."
On Derek Babiash:
"I thought he struggled early and then I thought he got much, much better as the game went on. I thought he really played well in the second half and that's probably because he hasn't played very much at game speed and it took him a while to get into it but I thought he really played well. I think he's shown that he can hold up on the other side. He got beat early and came back and made two great plays; he tipped one that Kameron Kelly intercepted in the end zone and then broke up a pass on a fourth down. He got put on scholarship in the fall."
On the number of plays:
"First of all, all but three guys didn't play 90 plays. Some of them played 70. If you count the penalties and all of that, Calvin Munson played 103 plays. Alex Barrett played 96 plays. Kyle Kelley played 91 plays. We had several others that were in the 70s. I think there is concern going into next week that it's a delicate balance. We're going to be practicing today up until game time against a completely different offense than we've seen the first two games so you have to practice. But you have to be careful because they're going to be tired and sore. If you'd have told me that we're going to be playing 100 plays on defense and win, I would've bet you we wouldn't but we did so we have to live with it."
On what he's expecting from Northern Illinois:
"This will be the fastest defense we've played this year. They're not as big or as strong as Cal was but they're much quicker and faster. We have to be able to maintain blocks and keep our angles correct on blocking schemes so they don't jump around us and make the tackle. They'll run some people down and they'll play pretty good man coverage so we're going to have to have a receiver or two that can be really good. They have a really good cornerback, as good as I've seen in a long time, and he plays as good of man coverage as I've seen in the country. There are times that we're going to have to be able to beat man coverage when they're jumping around us and breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage so it's the fastest team we've played on defense so far."
San Diego State Senior Running Back Donnel Pumphrey
On if he is surprised on how his career has turned out:
"Honestly, I am surprised about it, but I'd say, hard work pays off. I came in just really working my tail off and looking up Adam Muema and seeing the things he was able to do. I've just try to work on my game every day and now, I'm here."
On biggest strides as a running back:
"I think I've made the biggest impact on blocking and running inside the tackles. A lot of coaches didn't recruit me because they didn't think I could run inside the tackles. At San Diego State, they're a ground-and-pound team that runs inside the tackles. You have to do that here and I was able to do that, especially with the fullbacks and the way the offensive line blocks. I've been able to hit the holes.
On what makes Rashaad Penny a good kick returner:
"He just comes to work at it every day. Every time we're working on kick returns, he's getting all the reps. It's a lot of reps with Coach Hauck. He's able to make guys miss and he uses that running back instinct back there and he's able to find seams that a lot of kick returners can't. That's what makes him special."
On the game vs. California:
"We knew it was a big game coming in and we wanted the revenge and we accepted the challenge. We worked really hard at practice last week and they were a great team. We give them credit. It was a very close game. Our offensive line fought their tails off and we were able to run behind them. Our defense played great. It was a good game and I'm happy with the way we played."
On Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Bobby Hauck:
"He takes control of that special teams room. He has benefitted us a lot. Even when he was at UNLV, I talked to a lot of players there and they said the same thing, special teams was his big part and that's what he's done here and he's done a great job with us."
San Diego State Junior Running Back/Kick Returner Rashaad Penny
On the kickoff return touchdown vs. California:
"It looked good, but as we watched film, I thought I saw a couple blocks here and there. I was just trying to keep the play alive and stay on my feet. I saw the open seam and just took it."
On what set a great kick returner apart:
"You have to have great blocks. You have to have 10 guys back there blocking for you. Like the coaches, say, you have to go north-south, can't go east-west. When you see an open seam, you have to hit it. That's something Coach (Hunkie) Cooper and Coach (Bobby) Hauck definitely instilled in me from day one. I've just been following their lead."
On what he thought when the idea of kick returning was proposed to him:
"A new challenge to accept. In high school, I wasn't about returning kicks. I didn't want to do it. But when I got to this level, I felt that maybe I'd be up for the challenge. When they first put me back there, I was nervous and I never wanted to do it again. But then I started to get to used to the game and the speed of college and how fast they were going. Then the blocking was getting better and I started to find seams."
On playing a fast NIU defense:
"It doesn't change our game plan. Cal was fast. We approach every week the same and we're going to continue to build off that.
On special teams:
"Special teams are important. It's just like offense and defense, you can score points and make big stops and cause a fumble. Like Coach (Rocky Long) says, it comes down to three teams winning the game ââ'¬" special teams, offense and defense. So special teams' role is just as big as offense and defense. That's what Coach (Bobby) Hauck has produced here."
San Diego State Junior Cornerback Derek Babiash
On what his mindset as he was being targeted by California's offense:
"Keep your confidence no matter how times they throw at you. We knew what to expect coming into the game. We have a great corner on the other side in (Damontae Kazee) so I was going to keep my confidence no matter what and make sure to make as many plays as I could."
On preparing for Northern Illinois' quarterback:
"This week of preparation, we're going to prepare for that quarterback as well as we can. We know the starting quarterback got hurt. This week of preparation we're going to listen to our coaches and take it all in.
On his part in Kameron Kelly's interception vs. California:
"I saw Kameron (Kelly) there. It's something we do in practice a little bit. I can't really say it was intentional. He happened to be in the perfect spot, so it was a great play to make by him, too."
On the closeness of the California game:
"It was a close game so that raised the intensity level a little bit. We practice man coverage all day in practice. We have great receivers here, so it's something we're used to. It's a challenge that we're able to accept and go with and that's why (Damontae Kazee) was able to make a great play and that's why we were in great coverage that last series.
"It was all nerves out there, but we had a game plan, had a great coach calling great plays, so even though there were nerves we still were confident with the calls. It was just nerves based on the closeness of the game."