GAME NOTES: Rams take on Aztecs on conference home opener

Oct. 1, 2007

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -

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Sonny Lubick weekly press conference transcript

"We're going to practice tonight a little bit, see where our mindset is. I think it's pretty good. I still see a positive and a silver lining through a lot of things here. As a coach I think the No. 1 thing you're concerned about is if your players are playing hard, giving it all they got. Are they giving it everything they've got? They think it's their best, I don't think it is. We all have our standards. We knew coming into the season that TCU would be good on defense. They were so darn aggressive up front they didn't give us a chance. One area, if we could improve first downs here or there. You can't go through a whole quarter, three or four possessions, and not make a first down, or only get one. Sometimes we've hit a lull where we just didn't get anything going for three or four possessions, and defensively that's hard. And their offense was too good, too explosive. Defensively I was very disheartened. I could live with one drive a half. They came out the first two times and went the length of the field on us. Offensively, they weren't as good as they were last year, that quarterback must have been special, but as our luck would have it, they get their running back ready for us because he made their offense something extra special.  They're still working their quarterback situation out, but that running back, Brown, he made the difference. If he weren't playing in the game, maybe we could have held them down to one less score."

On the health of SS Mike Pagnotta and FS Klint Kubiak: "We'll probably get an update later in the week. I think Mike is fairly serious. A sprained ankle, my thoughts getting on the bus that night was that he'd be back later in the week, but I don't know if that's the case. I don't know if it isn't the case, either. I think Kubiak will probably have some blood tests today and they'll get some results back. As I see it as a parent, and a coach, that was pretty tough on him. He's lost some weight, too; that's natural. So I don't know where we are on that. By tomorrow he'd have to be feeling pretty darn well to go. It might take a week or another two weeks for him to get back to normal."

On the Rams' rushing game: "It's either the running back or the offensive line, or the coaches - probably the coaches first. I think in the first half we did move the ball. Of course we only came up with three points. We had a hard time handling them. I'm a little bit concerned, but we will improve. We have to get more plays. The thing that hurts the rushing game is when we only had 28 rushing plays the whole game. We've got to keep the ball a little more. We've got to find a way to make first downs. Sometimes that one first down generates three more first downs. I think we've got to block a little bit better. The backs are running hard. Everyone's looking for a spark. If I was playing against us, I'd take away the run, number one, and focus on Caleb. That's what happened in the third quarter. He was delivering the ball with pressure on him all the time."

On the play of QB Caleb Hanie without pressure: "The more time they have the better all the quarterbacks are. Sometimes the quarterbacks have to buy a little time for themselves, that is, elude a little rush, then you've really got the defense in trouble. You've got to make the quarterback throw on time, and sometimes we can't do that. And if they're throwing before they want to throw it, then it's easy to cover, and that's what happened."

On the upcoming schedule: "You look to it as a real chance. However, if we get foolish, and start thinking ahead too much, then you've got a major problem. Right now we're not looking ahead to anything. We've got to play with everything, and it would be nice to gain a little confidence, you know, for the coaches. It's just human nature. If we get a victory it'll give us confidence. It's all about confidence. And right now our confidence can't be as good as if we were 3-1 or 2-2. We're going to be playing home more, playing teams in our league that we should match up against. But this team [SDSU] scares us because this quarterback played against us the last two years and beat us two times. It'll take everything we can get to go. The kids feel good about themselves, but we might as well not kid ourselves. We didn't win a game this month. If I'm batting .150 this month it's hard to think that next month I'll be batting .350, regardless who the pitcher is."

On how he addresses the team concerning confidence: "I use an old thing I got from Lou Holtz. We've done some good things this year. You take out the positives. I tell the kids to make a 60-second commercial of all the good things we've done this year. Take our kicking game, Jimmie Kaylor: He's hit the ball probably in two or three games as good as you could probably hit it. Steve Juedes, running down on kickoffs making every tackle. Playing defense like we did against Cal like we did for most of the game. Offensively Caleb hit some balls here. There are a lot of positives, and you've got to dwell on those things and not the negative, which is easy to do. We got a quarterback as good as anyone in the league. And we're good at running back. Offensive line, we know we've got to be a little tougher but we're not that bad. Receivers are as good as anyone there. But we got to believe it and go do it. The other guys are pretty good, too, and we've got to respect what they can do."

On if LB Ricky Brewer will start: "I think [LB Curtis] Cornelson is a real good football player. I'll start with that part of it first. I think Ricky played pretty darn well. I don't think there's much separation, whoever starts, that's not a big concern. It's hard to come in as a freshman and play real consistent. I think Ricky's gotten over that hump now. He's earned himself some playing time. As far as starting, I wouldn't say that because I think Cornelson is a pretty solid player, also, which means we have two guys there and I think that complements us. We'll probably need them both."

On LB Sedric Patterson: "Sedric's in the mix. They [Cornelson and Brewer] might have jumped ahead of him. It's hard to play three of them, and it's hard to move him to another position."

On DB Jermaine Walters moving even with CB Joey Rucks: "Definitely. I holler at the coaches and wonder about myself, why we didn't have him in there longer or sooner? You got two veteran corners that you believe in and go with. And this guy is pretty good. He shows up all the time and boy he's got a great attitude, `Get me on the field, I'll do whatever you want,' but it's hard to take other two out of the lineup. But it isn't hard when they make an error or two. It's better to keep more competition. Competition is a beautiful thing. I saw Joey, he was sitting on the bench a little bit, and then when he came in he played lights out. When they know they're not going to play, and that we can do just as well without them, then they all play harder. He's going to play, but now it will be from other areas, too. Necessity, I guess."

On who will play if SS Mike Pagnotta and FS Klint Kubiak are out: "Jermaine [Walters] will probably be a safety because he has good range and hands and can catch the ball, and he could do that. I've got to make sure the team understands that the only reason you're starting, if you're starting, is because the other guy can't play your position."

On any other changes in the depth chart: "No, I can't think of any. If you think of some let me know. I might not listen. Well, I will listen. I'd change quarterbacks I guess...change running backs...change tight ends...change corners - we did all that. Safety - we got new safety play. We're always looking to change things. We've changed our coaching and that doesn't get it done. Sometimes we put too much in or take too much out and sometimes that backfires on you also."

On playing at home: "Yeah, that's great. We're at a school with a program where you can't have eight home games. I'd love that, though. There's something to be said about playing at home. There's just a bit more opportunity."

On the running game: "I'd like to see Kyle be the bell cow with the idea of us moving the football a little better and having more plays. If we could have 70 plays in a game with 40 rushes and 30 passes and let Kyle carry the ball 20 times or 25. Another 10 or 15 would be somebody else. Keep everyone healthy, keep the morale up, and keep people fresh. That would be my blueprint. It looked like [RB] John Mosure had some quickness hitting the line of scrimmage."

On San Diego State QB Kevin O'Connell: "The one thing he does is he's very tough. As tall as he is, he can run. He scored from about 15 yards on us last year as the game was winding down. What he's doing now is getting out of the pocket and making guys miss, buying 3 or 4 seconds and throwing the ball. One can see that he's playing with a lot of confidence."

On RB Kyle Bell's health, knee: "I think he's OK. Yeah, he's healthy. Kyle's a different style of runner. He's got pretty decent speed. It might take him a step or two more to get there at first, and that's the reason for the other guy in there - he'll give us a little `boom', he'll hit the line a little bit quicker. I'm talking about [John] Mosure. Kyle knows how to follow blockers and take a hit and lower his pads. The trainers and Kyle haven't said anything about his injury, so he's healthy. I'd like to see him rush the ball 10 times in the first quarter if we could. Then get him out and give him a series or two series off if we could in the second. And then give him six or seven series in the second, if you could be that lucky to have the ball running it, that would be ideal. It would be an opportunity to keep continuity in our football team."

On LB Jake Pottorff: "It was some illness, that's what everybody thinks it is."

On OL Tim Walter: "I think he's going to be OK."

On the inspiration provided by the Colorado Rockies, who overcame a difficult start to reach today's playoff: "I think our schedule is still tough, but it sets up a little bit better for us as far as we're not on the road. All the teams in front of us are teams that if we play very very well and gain a little confidence; realistically we should be in the game and have a chance to win these things. But if we don't play well then we'll get beat. Right about now is the time where teams start going one way or the other, and that's where we have to find out where we are, and that's what we'll have to find out in the next couple of weeks. But we have a chance to get some stuff done."

On if he has had a losing stretch like this as a coach before: "Not that I can remember, but I got a nice voice mail from Rockies manager Clint Hurdle who gave me a lot of sound advice, he's a good man. If you work at a job for 40 years, it just has to happen. That's how I look at it; it's just part of the game. Things happen in the business, and that's it. You know, the Yankees don't win every darn year. We went for 10 years with eight eight-win seasons. How did we do that? I don't know, but I knew it wouldn't last forever. The stock market's not good every year, is it?"

Game #5
San Diego State (1-3, 0-0) at Colorado State (0-4, 0-1)  Sat., Oct. 6
Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium  Fort Collins, Colo.
3:30 p.m. MDT  the mtn.

Coaches
Sonny Lubick (Western  Montana `60)
Colorado State:  15th season, 105-69
Overall:  19th season, 126-88
vs. SDSU:  8-5

Chuck Long (Iowa `85)
SDSU:  second season, 4-12
Overall:  second season, 4-12
vs. Colorado State:  1-0

Series Capsule
Overall:  SDSU leads, 14-12-0
In Fort Collins:  SDSU leads, 6-5
Series Streak:  SDSU has won two straight
Last Meeting:  Dec. 2, 2006 in San Diego
Result:  SDSU, 17-6
Attendance:  17,557

Radio Information
Outlet:  Colorado State Sports Netowrk
Flagship:  KLZ 560 AM, Denver
Play-by-play:  Rich Bircumshaw
Analyst:  Brian Roth
Sidelines:  Kevin McGlue
Engineer:  Bob Greenfield

Television Information
Outlet:  the mtn.
Play-by-play:  Tim Neverett
Analyst:  Blaine Fowler
Sideline Reporter:   Anne Marie Anderson
Producer:  Doug Marino

Internet
 Gametracker:  www.CSURams.com
 

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