Colorado State University Athletics
Postgame quotes
10/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 16, 2010
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CSU Head Coach Steve Fairchild
General: “It was good to kind of put all three phases together for a stint in the first half, not just play good in one area, but come out and execute with some consistency in all three areas. I thought that allowed us to get rolling there. You look at it and our offense scored, but it was off of a turnover or a return that set it up. We were sloppy in the second half, there’s no doubt about it. I thought we ran the ball decent, but we could not finish drives and we did a poor job on third downs in the second half. But we did get to play a lot of guys, which is a positive. I’m just very happy for our players and coaches, because we have been practicing hard. I know we’re getting better and this is a nice thing to happen for them.”
On keeping UNLV off balance from the start: “I’d rather play offense the way we played it today, which is running the ball and then allowing us to take some shots down the field. I’ll tell you what, though, I don’t know what it was, but we ended the first half with something like 20, 21 plays or something (23). We were scoring a couple quick ones, but it was still hard to find our rhythm offensively, even though we put some points on the board. Defensively, we kept them out of the end zone. We bent a little, but kept them out of the end zone, played hard, got a turnover. I’m disappointed by the blocked punt, obviously, and the blocked extra point. We’ve got some things to work on with special teams, but our return game, for the most part, I felt like we covered well.”
On QB Pete Thomas and success with the running game: “He had some help. Any time we’re running the football, the protection’s going to make it better. Lou Greenwood gives us some protection. Pete’s going to look good, our offensive line will look good, our receivers will look good if we can get a little run going.”
On thinking at some point during the game that the team looked really good: “Well, I’ve been thinking that in practice for the last three weeks. We’re flashing here, and I knew at some point it was going to translate out there. We’re not by any means anywhere near where we need to be, but there was a nice little stretch in the first half that we showed the type of team that we’re capable of being. We have to keep working, but we have good kids and they are working. I’m confident that we’ll continue to improve on what we have left of this season.”
On opening up the playbook offensively: “That depends on how people play us. We do have a large volume of plays, but if somebody chooses to play a certain way, for instance, Air Force is going to lend itself to running more, but once you run, it opens things up. I’m going to credit the run game and the offensive line.”
On the defensive line, particularly Guy Miller: “Guy Miller set a school record with 4 and-a-half sacks. I was fortunate enough to be around when both of these guys were here, one as a coach and one as a player, but when you break Brady Smith’s record and Mike Bell’s record, those are two CSU Hall-of-Fame, NFL-type players. For Guy Miller to do that, particularly in an inside spot, is remarkable. He’s been doing that all year. I find myself in between offensive series not being able to take my eye off of him because he’s playing so well.”
On limiting penalties: “We did limit the penalties for the second week in a row. For the most part, we’ve been doing good there. And I don’t believe we had a turnover, which is nice. If you don’t turn the ball over and you get a turnover, you’re going to win most games.”
On Leonard Mason’s performance, going over 100 yards rushing: “Second week in a row (100 yards rushing). He’s really showing us what he’s capable of.”
On Lou Greenwood’s performance: “Lou, the last 10 days, two weeks, you could see something clicking in practice. Lou was a high-school running back, so he’s still learning how to be a receiver. He did not redshirt (as a freshman in 2009). He has a lot to learn, but he’s taken a step forward in the last 10 days, and he does give us some juice down the field, there’s no question.”
On bringing in backup quarterback Klay Kubiak for the final drive: “Whoever’s No. 2 at the time, and like I said, I want to keep that fluid. Those guys (Kubiak and Nico Ranieri) will be battling for the No. 2 and No. 3 spots for the rest of the year. Whoever practices better will be the backup. When you go into a 12-play period, and Pete Thomas takes 10 plays, they will each take one, it’s easy to check out. Whoever can maintain that edge without taking reps will earn the position of backup quarterback.
On the role of Eric Peitz: “He did get a few more passes today. He’s a very talented blocker. He’s an above-average receiver; but we ask him to pass block a lot. He got deep a couple times, and we had a couple plays lined up for him. He can function in the pass game, there’s no question.”
On not giving up the big plays on defense: “We got the big plays on offense, and on the flip side, didn’t give up the big plays on defense. That’s the key; keep the ball in front of you and make them earn it. We tackled better. There were still some missed tackles.”
On Mike Orakpo’s hit: “He’s a talented player. We have to find a way to get him more snaps. He does that at practice. He has a way of turning the ball over and making plays like that.”
UNLV Head Coach Bobby Hauck
General: “I liked the blocked kicks. Those were good. We need to capitalize on that stuff a little more, obviously. Colorado State did a great job today. Steve (Fairchild) and his coaches had their team ready to go. They had a great effort and we went down big in a game that we thought we had a good chance to swipe from them on their homecoming day. It wasn’t very good by us. What I would say is, whether we’re playing seniors or freshmen or walk-ons or scholarship guys, it’s one guy’s job to get them to play better than that, and that’s mine. I’ve got to get us playing better than we did today.”
On where UNLV goes from this point: “From where we are, I don’t know how far back one can go. I’m never stunned by much; I’ve been around football for a long time. Football’s a competitive game. If one team plays well and the other doesn’t, then stuff like that happens.”
On disappointing aspects of the game: “I wouldn’t detract from the effort. I’d have to watch the game to be critical of the effort. We’re giving up deep balls. We can’t get off blocks up front. We’re giving up sack after sack. It’s just not very good. It’s got to be better.”
On major changes during the bye week: “I’ve got some decisions to make, obviously. One of them is the schedule. There’s a part of me that would like to go full pads every day this week and scrimmage at our stadium on Saturday. I haven’t decided if that’s what I want to do. In the real world that would be great but I don’t know that we are healthy enough to do that. I don’t know how many guys we have that can even practice this week.”
On the secondary being out of position: “I think their eyes were most likely in the wrong place. You’ve got to discipline your eyes, which again comes back to me.”
On the effects of back-to-back road games: “I don’t know. That would be me finding an excuse, which I don’t want to do. All I want to do is the job I’ve got to do and do better.”
On the CSU offense: “They had the one kickoff return that got them down to the 30, or whatever, but they did a lot of good things on offense; the double move and the downfield balls. They did a good job.”
On the play of Tim Cornett: “I don’t think playing hard and going hard is the issue. It’s playing well, and we need to start doing that. And like I said, whether it’s Tim Cornett, a true freshman, or a senior or walk-on or a scholarship guy, if they’re in the game, they need to play at a high level and they’re not doing that right now. That’s back on me.”
On the role of recruiting in team’s woes: “I think that’s part of it. I don’t think that when we’re out on the field anyone is saying we look like a championship football team. That’s not what we look like. But we need to do better than we did today. Certainly there’s a time for all of that and there’s a time to play. Today was a time to play and we didn’t play very well. And that, one more time, goes back to the head coach.”
CSU Players
NT Guy Miller
On his single-game school record 4½ sacks: “I never thought I’d have two sacks in a game, let alone four. It’s cool. It hasn’t really set in. I’m trying to get four tackles in a game, that’s good for me. So 4 ½ sacks is ridiculous. The whole defense played good. (UNLV QB Omar Clayton) held the ball sometimes. Some of the sacks, a lot of guys were making him scramble and I was just in the right place at the right time. A lot of those I’m going to give credit to the whole defense.”
On whether he’s heard of Mike Bell or Brady Smith: “Yeah, I’ve heard of those guys, so that is definitely cool to have a sack record with those guys.”
On the win: “We needed a win, especially going into Utah next week. We really needed to change the momentum back into a winning season, and try to get something going this year.”
On overall team consistency: “It was great to see both sides of the ball start to do something good, make strides. The offense improved today. We (the defense) improved in some areas. If we can keep doing that in each game, we have five games left, we can definitely get some wins.”
TE Eric Peitz
On the last time he had two touchdowns in a game: “Recess. I’ve never had two in a game. We ran a double-wing offense in high school (Crofton, Neb.).”
On his first touchdown: “I lined up at tackle, and the tackle lined up out wide. So it was kind of like a trick play, and they just kind of forgot about the tackle.”
On whether he expected CSU to be so dominant: “Last week, we really did well offensively, so we knew we could have some success. It was really good to see the defense play as well as they did, and special teams, the returns and stuff like that. It was really good to see what we can do when everybody plays at a high level.”
On the feeling in locker room: “It was amazing. I can’t even describe what it feels like to go out there and impose your will like that and win decisively. It feels great.”
On Lou Greenwood opening up the passing game: “It was huge; we start getting these underneath routes to the tight end or crossing receivers.”
On Pete Thomas: “He really does have a maturity to him. He gets into a rhythm and it helps everybody out.”
LB Mychal Sisson
General: “If the crowd and the offense come like they did today, then it’s a lovely day for us.”
On all aspects of the team getting involved in win: “It is just like Coach (Fairchild) preached. He wanted to get all three phases in at one time. The defense started it off with a turnover, then the offense came back with a score, then the special teams followed.”
On Mike Orakpo’s hit: “Hopefully we can get some more big hits like that throughout the season.”
On the offense helping the defense: “It takes a lot of weight off our shoulders to have the offense score every time we get them the ball back. If they can keep doing that, the second half of the season is going to be great.”
On blitzing: “We didn’t even blitz that much. As long as we don’t have to blitz that much, it makes it easier for the whole team.”
QB Pete Thomas
On the start of game: “All week we talked about starting fast, and we haven’t started a game fast yet, and we obviously did that today. We kept the pressure on them in the first half and it was a great feeling overall.”
On hitting a deep ball: “It felt good. We saw on film we could hit a deep ball, and we did. Lou (Greenwood) ran some great routes, and the O-line blocked pretty good and we connected on them.”
On Lou Greenwood: “Lou is one of the most versatile players we got and he showed that today. He can run the ball, play running back, receiver, and he is developing well at receiver. He is getting a lot more comfortable at receiver, knowing defenses, watching a lot of film, and he knows where the holes are and what they are trying to do to him.”
On how it feels to throw a deep ball: “We’ve played a couple real good teams and we couldn’t hit deep balls on them. Again, film study this week, we saw we could hit some deep balls if we got open and Lou played great, and so did the O-line.”
On Utah: “We got to keep going. Utah is a great team and it’s going to be a real tough game at their place.”
RB Leonard Mason
On his mindset entering the day: “I just wanted to keep it going, and so did the O-Line; they were doing a good job with the holes.
“Pretty much, it was time to let the beast out. I like to be real physical.”
On the pass helping out the run game: “It’s always good when we can do it both ways, and open up more opportunities.”
On whether the deep ball opened up more offense: “I think it did because they were so focused on the running game and it left Lou (Greenwood) wide open.”
On the win: “We really needed this one going into next week. It’ll bring all the guys up. I feel that we can do even better.”
On whether he is at 100 percent after a fall camp hamstring injury: “I’m getting better, not at a 100 percent, but better than I was.”
On his 52-yard run: “I’ve been waiting to bust one for a long time. I was excited about it when it happened.
UNLV Players
TE Austin Harrington
On whether UNLV overlooked CSU after playing two ranked teams: “Absolutely not. We want to get after everybody that we play, and unfortunately today we couldn’t do that.”
RB Tim Cornett
On the loss: “We were very surprised, especially because of the way that we worked and practiced and stuff like that. We thought that we would come out on top. But they’re a good team.”
On changes needed headed into the bye week: “I don’t think that we need to make changes; I just think that we need to work harder on the stuff that we are doing, and execute.”
On taking CSU lightly: “We didn’t take them lightly. We came into the game just like any other game. I was playing my hardest and running my hardest, trying to make plays.”
On players needing to step up: “I don’t think it’s our work ethic, because in practice we work hard and all of that. I really can’t give you an answer.”
On the one-sided score: “I’m very surprised.”
On the game in general: “It’s very disappointing. We came into practice and worked hard, and did everything that we had to do. And then for the outcome to be like this after all of that hard work early in the week; I’m kind of mad about it.”
S Alex De Giacomo
On the loss: “I’m very stunned. They’re a good team, and they definitely took it to us.”
On what the problem was: “To be honest, I think that our heads just weren’t in it. We knew that they were coming in hot this week. We just lost sight of our responsibilities and our train of thought, and they capitalized on it.”
On everyone taking responsibility: “Well people kind of hang their heads; it’s been a tough season so far. So people start to hang their heads kind of early, and we need a leader stepping up and saying, ‘Hey there’s a lot of game left.’ Although we were down at half, there was still a lot of game left. So we need leaders who can kind of get everyone’s minds together, and make us play our game.”
On the bye week: “It’s pretty important. We have a few guys who are banged up, so they’ll have some time to heal. We’ll also be able to focus on TCU.”
On not coming out with a fire: “At the start of the game you could definitely feel there wasn’t that fire. I’m at a loss of words to be honest. They just came out, and they took it to us.”
