Colorado State University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES
10/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 10, 2009
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CSU Head Coach Steve Fairchild
General: "It really hurts not to not come out on the winning side of this ball game out there. I thought obviously we did a nice job defensively and there were some nice spots out there offensively against a very good football team. We kind of had it dialed up and made some very, very poor decisions late in the ball game to end up losing. But like I told our football team, it's in the books. There's nothing you can do. Let's go back to work. We're going to get better. We are very confident. We just have some growing pains right now."
On the tough loss: "Yeah, against BYU last year, that was tough. Any close loss is tough, but I just thought our football team was ready to take this step. It looked like we were going to take it. Football is interesting. You get in spots and you have to make some decisions."
On Grant Stucker's interceptions: "The first one was a 30-yeard crossing route. We talked about it at halftime and that is where it was supposed to go. The second one is the game-changing play. If we just throw the ball to Lou (Greenwood) there you've got a first down on the 30 and they don't have the ball. You're in great shape at that point. They were in man coverage and we knew we had the perfect thing on. If you go back and look we had Lou on the sideline. But that's not the only thing. There were other times. And that's the way a football game is. We had opportunities. I thought we ran the ball decently against a very good run defense. I thought our defense played pretty good for the most part. They just played a lot of snaps because we turned the ball over late. We're doing the right thing; we're headed in the right direction. We're just going to keep working."
On losing in that fashion: "This just leaves an awful taste. It's hard to lose that game. I mean it's hard."
On the defense wearing down: "It did. In the end it wore down. If we do what we're supposed to do offensively, they're not on the field that much."
On the cold: "It didn't feel that cold out there to me and I couldn't really notice it at the end of the game."
On Leonard Mason getting the majority of the carries: "I thought Leonard was getting after it and I just got the stats flashed at me. I didn't see what he got but that's the way we run the football here. That's the way we do it. But obviously in the fourth quarter we do some dumb things with the ball and we get to where we can't keep running. It was sitting there for us to take and we didn't do it."
On the loss of Nick Oppenneer: "When you lose anybody, we expect the next guy to move in there. I haven't had the chance to look at him (on the nature of his injury)."
On Utah's late-game offense: "I don't think they did anything different, but if you give a team like that enough snaps... You can't give them the ball late in the game and say, `Here it is again. Go do it.'"
On Utah not running up the score: "It's just like us with CU (Sept. 6). I knew Kyle (Whittingham) wouldn't do that. He's a class act. That's why I wasn't going to take that last timeout. I was letting it go and he was going to kneel and somebody yelled timeout on our sidelines or whatever happened and we took it. Kyle Whittingham is a very, very good football coach and a real class act."
On what he will tell his team going into TCU: "Just the same thing. We train right. We work hard. We've got support from our administration. We're opening up facilities. We're headed in the right direction. And all of the sudden you have a winning season or you go to a bowl game or you beat CU and you take some steps. But the next step for us is beating one of these top teams. We're sitting there on the ladder until we do it. The burden of proof is on us."
On the Utah FS getting all three interceptions: "Well one was just very poor decision. You don't throw the ball deep down field with air under it when the free safety's deep like that. The other one was a poor throw. And I need to look at the last one on tape. I'm not sure what they presented coverage-wise. I know he got hit when he threw it and missed the receiver but at that point it didn't matter."
On the Rams offensive line: "I think it held up pretty good. In the run game I thought we did pretty good in there. Our offensive line, our tight ends, our fullbacks, our backs, that is Colorado State football."
On opening up the run game this week: "We had a good plan, I think, running the football. They were a little different the first part of that football game. They were a little softer and showed more zone. They were playing a little differently at the start. They had a really long drive in the first quarter and we 3-and-outted a couple of times and all of the sudden we're in the second quarter, but I thought we had a nice plan for our football game."
On the short kickoffs: "We're going to have to find a way to kick the ball and cover on kickoff. We've given them some really poor field position to start off."
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
General: "It's been wild. It took us awhile to get going offensively. But to go down 17-3 and the way our guys responded, couldn't have been more proud of a group of guys. To rally up and hang in there, stay mentally tough, stay focused and find a way to win at the end."
On whether there was any panic: "No, no panic at all. No panic on the coaches part, no panic on the players part. Just making plays when we had to make them. Robert Johnson, what more can you say about that kid? Three picks. Really, he was the difference in the ball game if you had to choose a guy that was the key to the victory. Eddie Wide ran the football well. I thought Terrance (Cain) did a great job of staying composed. And like I said, we dug ourselves a hole but we climbed back out of it."
On what the win does for the team: "Hopefully gives us a lot of confidence. To win a game in that fashion, I think there's a lot of positives that come out of that. We don't want to make a habit of it but it was a great learning experience. And like I said, very similar to how our team operated last year in those same situations."
On the play of Eddie Wide: "Over 100 (yards), doesn't surprise me. Eddie Wide's a quality back. Shaky's (Smithson) out with an ankle. We'll see how long so we'll have to get creative at the running back spot unless we can get Shak back next week. And so we'll just keep piecing it together and see what happens. But for right now Eddie's the guy and he did a nice job. Great job by the O-line as well. You don't make it as a running back unless the offensive line is blocking some people."
On the poise of Terrance Cain: "Very poised in a tough situation. Never lost his cool. And that's one of his strengths. He's unflappable and nothing bothers him."
On the drive that tied the game: "That was a heck of a drive. Again, just the poise and the execution level that our players played with. It was tough; the momentum was on Colorado State's side. They went up 17-3. They had all the momentum and we just got it turned around."
On whether he did anything differently or just executed better: "I thought Dave (Schramm) did a great job calling the game, especially late in the game. But it comes down to execution most often and we just did a better job of executing late in the game. Early in the game we were sputtering and moving the ball OK but we found a way to screw drives up."
On the key third-down drive: "I haven't seen the numbers for the game but that red zone offense I think was better. And we still got our deficiencies; we still got a lot to work on. But all I know is we're 4-1 and we're heading to Vegas next weekend."
On whether CSU surprised him: "Not at all, not at all. It's a tough group of players. It's an excellent coaching staff. Steve Fairchild is doing a great job with those guys. And the ball games they lost, the BYU game, the Idaho game, those are two good teams right there and they hung in there. They're everything we expected them to be."
On the play of Robert Johnson: "Robert Johnson had a breakout game. I was talking to him earlier in the week. I said, `Robert, the way this team we're playing throws the ball down the field, you got a chance to have a huge impact.' And he made the most of it. Because Colorado State has done a great job all season long of hooking up on those deep balls."
General: "Every game's the same. They all count as one, particularly in conference play. You certainly don't want to start out 0-1 in conference play. You don't want to dig a hole right from the get-go. But we've got our hands full with Las Vegas. I know they've had some tough games this year. But they've got talent, they've got talent. They're explosive and we all know what happened there two years ago, so we've got to be ready."
On the difference from today's game and the game against Oregon: "Well, we did respond we just didn't finish in Oregon. We clawed our way back into it, got to 31-24 and weren't able to finish. Tonight we were able to finish."
On the confidence level of the team right now: "Well, it should be pretty good. To come away with a win here and in the fashion that we did it should be a confidence builder. I think the lesson for our football team is to understand, `Hey, we're never out of it.' Just keep fighting, just keep playing at a high level, don't panic. And if we continue to do that then often times good things will happen."
On the Colorado State running game: "That's vintage Colorado State. They got a nice power run game. The counter OT, the counter sweep, the power O. They do a great job, always have. They've got an excellent front. Their offensive line is one of the best in the conference. Very experienced, really physical. So we knew coming in that stopping the run was going to be a challenge."
CSU Players
QB Grant Stucker
On beginning 3-0 and loosing three straight: "We have known for a while that this was the bear part of our schedule. We really been preaching to keep our heads up when things go bad and they obviously have. We just need to come out tomorrow with the same mentality that we have been coming out with every week, just to get better, to take it one game and one play at a time, and always look forward."
On Utah being the toughest loss: I can't tell you how horrible it feels. I don't think words really describe it. This is defiantly one that hurts. I will guarantee we will come out tomorrow and be ready to turn our eyes toward TCU and work as hard as we can to get an edge."
WR Dion Morton
On the Utah loss: "It's obviously devastating. Our weakness is trying to beat the teams we need to beat to get back on top and the past few games we really haven't. We just have to keep fighting, stay with the confidence, and just keep working hard in practice."
On losing a 17-3 lead: "It's definitely hard, especially when we keep a defense out there as long as we did, especially toward the end of the third, and fourth quarter. If you put your defense out there for so long, they start getting tired and fatigued. We have just got to help them out more."
CB Nick Oppenneer
On the defense's performance: "There is no excuse for giving up as many points as we did; there is no excuse for giving up one touchdown. We were playing great enough to where we did not have to let them score. I think maybe we need to come together and realize that we can shut teams out if we just play right. Something happened with tonight where we just did not play right."
On being on the field for many downs: "You just kind of take it series by series as they come and when the time comes, you make the play. Tonight we just did not make the play."
On Utah's second-half performance: "You have to give them some credit. They (Utah) are going to make some changes and the quarterback ran the ball really well. He played like a really, really big-time player and that is what Utah does. They made some adjustments, he made some plays, and we just did not stop them. That is what it comes down to. I don't thank there was any glaring weakness in our defense, I think they just did the right thing when they needed to."
LB Mychal Sisson
On losing a big lead two weeks in a row: "It is very tough because we let them off the hook. We were up and we should have finished it. We did not do that this week or the past couple of weeks."
On Utah changing its game plan for the second half: "They really did not do anything different. We just had a few mistakes and let them have a few big plays, which gave them momentum. They just kept on going after they got the momentum."
On beginning the season 3-0 and losing the last three: "It is tough but you have to put it behind you and keep going on. There is still half a season left to go and we still can come out on top of the conference if we just keep playing hard."
Utah Players
QB Terrance Cain
On team being down 17-3: "We just had to stay poised, stay calm and lead our team to victory."
On cold weather: "It was cold but as the game goes on you just block it out and don't worry about it and play football."
On the come-from-behind victory: "Everybody just came together; we just finished the game off and scored touchdowns."
On FS Robert Johnson: "He is a great player and made great plays. Big-time players make big-time plays."
On winning first conference game: "That is what you want to do; you want to be 1-0 to start the conference games off."
On game-tying drive: "We ran the same plays; everybody just came together and just played ball."
On his performance and what it meant: "It builds confidence in my team that I can lead them to victory. We just have to keep it going and take everything one game at a time."
RB Eddie Wide
On his performance: "I felt like I was doing good. The line was blocking really well for me and the receivers were doing a great job for me."
On weather: "It didn't bother us at all. It was cold, but you have to play the game."
On his game-winning touchdown: "I just wanted to get in the end zone and do a checkmate and just finish the game off."
On FS Robert Johnson: "Robert Johnson did a great job for us. He helped us out in getting the ball back."
FS Robert Johnson
On the third interception: "I wanted to score. I'm not doing my job by not scoring. It's all about getting turnovers and scoring."
On team's attitude being down 17-3: "Coach talked to the defense and told everybody it's not over; it's not over until you see three zeros. When the offense took the ball and scored that motivated me a lot on the sidelines."
On defense feeding off offense: "It has been like that since last year; when the offense makes big plays the defense has to step up and make big plays."
On first conference win: "A win in the Mountain West Conference is always a very good feeling."
LB Stevenson Sylvester
On defensive play: "Our whole thing is to get turnovers and get the ball and get it back on offense, so when they (CSU) are scoring points we can't do that. We needed to come out and shut them down and respond."
On close games this year: "I want a more defined win, but whatever it is, I'll take it. One point, half a point, if that is even possible; a win is a win and I'll take it any way I can get it."
On being 1-0 in conference: "It feels great because you always need momentum, going in 0-1 would have been devastating. Going into UNLV next week at 1-0 is a very good confidence booster."
On coming from behind to win: "Nobody showed any letdown. We just knew we had to respond. That stuff is part of the game; you get down sometimes and how you respond is the end result and we wanted to the W, so we had to do what we had to do get the win."
