Sept. 11, 2016
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | USATSI Photo Gallery | Photo Gallery 3
SDSU-California Postgame Quotes
SDSU head coach Rocky Long
Opening Statement:
"That's about as good a team win as there's been. It's good that DJ (Pumphrey) broke the record and all those good things, but it's more about a football team winning than it is about him breaking the record. Our offense moved the ball pretty well at times; we scored 26 points. We threw an interception and dropped a snap from center, so we can get much better on offense than we were tonight. If you look at the defensive stats, it looks like we play terribly. But if we don't intercept three passes and cause a fumble, we don't have a chance to win. In the first half, the fumbles all turned into points. In the second half we scored on defense. When we don't get the onside kick our defense goes out there and gets the win. If we don't return a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, we don't win. Let's get the story straight, this was a team win. We can play so much better than we did tonight. We ran the ball well, but we didn't play real well on either side of the ball and you win. So, we can play a lot better and be a pretty good football team. I don't think it's anything special that we beat Cal, they were just the next one on the schedule. We don't care where they come from. We have a hell of a game next week, Northern Illinois. They always win at home and made the Orange Bowl a few years ago and almost beat Florida State. They're not in a power five conference but guess what? They are really darn good. You take them as they come and try to win games."
On the defensive back play in the second half:
"The first couple long passes they ran right by us. In the second half they were in better coverage and knocked some balls away. I think they got used to the speed they were playing against."
On Donnel Pumphrey breaking Marshall Faulk's school rushing record:
"I think it's great. We all knew it was going to happen. I think any time you do something that unique with a player that good it's something special. I'll tell you who is really happy, is his offensive line. DJ is probably really happy but he expected to do it. The offensive line will probably be bragging about it when they are my age."
On the flow of the game:
"When we had a 10-point lead, we played very soft on defense. I don't mean that physically, I mean that we only rushed four and played zone coverages. We were hoping that they would throw one badly and we would intercept it or they would throw in front of us and eventually make a mistake and not score touchdowns. When the game is in the balance, in my opinion you can't play like that. You can't hope they make a mistake, you have to make them make a mistake. In the last series we played man coverage."
On the crowd:
"I'll tell you what helps is 40,000 people yelling and screaming for the home team. People think that doesn't matter but it does. It gives your team some energy and it makes it harder for the other team to change plays. No one realizes how important that is. You get tired and hear the crowd going crazy, you get energy from the crow. I appreciate the crowd tonight and thought they were very energetic and helped us win the game."
SDSU senior running back Donnel Pumphrey
On overall game:
"It was a great victory overall, my offensive line blocked well and my defense played great. This game ranked for me is number 2, behind winning the conference championship. These are the type of games we want to be in, Cal is a great opponent. We knew the game was not going to be over until zero on the clock."
On breaking Marshall Faulk's record:
"This is definitely a major memory for me, just to be able to do this with my teammates, my family here, coaching staff and athletic department here, it's just unreal. Now that I have passed it we can move on; it's just victories we are just worried about right now. It is one game at a time. We are on to the next. My whole offense and defense was doing their job, they all picked me up. I wasn't even thinking about the record during the game, I was just letting the game come to me, everybody did great. Now we got the record."
On Cal getting the offside kick:
"I did not know what was going on, I was just like, 'wow'. That was something that goes down on SportsCenter. I did not even want to believe it. I had faith in my defense, and they did what they had to do to get us that victory."
On his best run of the night:
"Honestly, the first toss play got me going. I told (junior running back Rashaad) Penny and (redshirt freshman running back) Juwan (Washington) that I am about to score. Once I saw Penny with two touchdowns, I knew it was time for me to score."
On his size:
"If you play this game of football you have to be a dog, and I played this game since I was five years old. My coaches developed me and I learned from the guys in front of me."
SDSU junior running back Rashaad Penny
On Donnel Pumphrey's record breaking game:
"Learned a lot from that guy, he is my big brother and my mentor. Watching him is no surprise, he is amazing. Making one guy miss, then another keep running and not stop. He runs like he is my size, which is crazy. We all love watching him."
On Rashaad's 100 yd. kickoff return:
"I'm speechless, it's crazy. I don't know what to say about that. On my mind when I'm back there; I just think about my teammates and everything. Just to get my offense out of situations, get points on the board, and field position. I'm speechless. I can't say much. I've got to give credit to the ten guys out there blocking for me."
On receiving back in high school:
"I never received kicks, I never did kickoff return in high school. This is a one-time thing. I started my freshman year, and just went from there."
SDSU senior linebacker Calvin Munson
On feelings about the game:
"I mean for me, personally, I feel great. I'm super pumped with what our team did. I mean, looking at the stats you know we gave up a lot of yards. A lot of credit to them. They had great athletes, they had great players and stuff. I thought we could play better. We had a lot of penalties. A lot of stupid mistakes. I think we could play better, but a win's a win. It was a great win and I'm excited for our guys. I'm happy for them. We just had to get out there this week."
On Cal's onside kick:
"Of course right away you're like, 'Dang, I wish we would have got it.' But personally, as a competitor, I want the game in my hands. I want to be on defense when they have the ball. I want to be the guy that stops them. Yeah, they got the onside kick. Our defense, we weren't down at all. We had to stop them. We made a play. Damontae (Kazee) made a great play and we won the game."
On the game's magnitude:
"It was a big game, big stage. We approach every game the same - New Hampshire, Cal, anybody in our conference, whoever. Every game is a game. Anybody can beat us, anybody can come out and play that week so we've just got to prepare hard and play the game the best we can."
On team's defense:
"No huddles are tough to go against. Right after a play, you have to get our defense to go. We have to try and catch our breath. We try to make plays, get them on their heels, stop their tempo. Credit goes to them, they made a lot of big plays, but I'm happy for our team and how we handled their own defense.
On switching up defense from last series:
"We just ran our basic plays. Some man, some blitzes. Just our normal plays. Just make them make plays. They had some good plays, they were throwing the ball pretty well, but in the end we won."
On Donnel Pumphrey:
"He's a buck-sixty, but he plays like he is two-twenty. I've never seen someone run so hard for his size. He deserves all the credit. He's earned it. He's only going up from here."
SDSU senior defensive lineman Alex Barrett
On coming off the field after the win:
"We went out there and played some Aztec football for four quarters. We are all tired. Every play, every down we came out."
On defensive mindset during the game:
"We just had to step it up. Times like that when they are hurrying up their offense, you have to take it play by play. Coach Long gives a call to run our defense, we execute and stop it. It was a great feeling. The crowd, our fans, we love them. It was a good turn out and it definitely gets us going."
On switching up defense after halftime:
"At halftime we made some adjustments. We just needed to get more pressure and we needed to get in the quarterback's face. It's a team thing. If we get in their face, then they don't throw the ball."
California head coach Sonny Dykes
Opening Statement:
"We played hard. I was proud of their effort, proud of the fact we hung in there; disappointed we just made too many mistakes. It's like I told the guys afterwards, you can turn the ball over four times, give up a kickoff return and beat some bad teams, but you can't do it against a good team and San Diego State's a good football team. You know, just killing yourselves."
Thoughts on Cal's tackling and San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey:
"I'm always concerned about tackling, especially when you give up a lot of yards rushing. Pumphrey's a good back, he's a good running back. He makes people miss, makes everybody miss, he gets yards against everybody. We've got to do a better job of tackling and we will, but he's a good back. You've got give him credit."
California redshirt junior wide receiver Chad Hansen
On California head coach Sonny Dykes' postgame message to the team:
"He really loved our effort; we did really leave it out on the line. I know all of us; we knew what we had to do and didn't execute as well we could have, but out effort was outstanding. He said that was the hardest any team has ever played under him. It's no consolation, but we know we left everything on the line."
Thoughts on San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey:
"The numbers he put up speak for themselves; I mean he's a great player. Great, great player. We knew that coming in, we knew that he was going to be a force that we were going to have to be reckoned with. He turned out to make a few more plays than we could afford."
California senior quarterback David Webb
Thoughts on having 70 pass attempts:
"(My arm) feels good. I've done the same type of thing before. That was the game plan. We had a chance to throw some big boy throws and I hit some, but I missed a lot. That's the reason why we lost. It was a tough game, obviously, I was really proud of my teammates for fighting hard until the end."
Thoughts on San Diego State's pass rush:
"They did a good job scheming us up. I think our coaching staff did a great job, put us in the best position to win. Got to give credit to San Diego State, they talked the talk and they walked the walk. They did a great job as a defensive team, you know, scheming us up and putting us in positions to be unsuccessful. But I thought we did a good job coming back … in that second half. We've got to close out this week and get it over with, get over it and get ready for Texas, because that's going to be a tough one."
Thoughts on San Diego State sophomore linebacker Ronley Lakalaka's interception return for a touchdown:
"They got me on that one; you know, the d-line did a great job reading the screen."