Colorado State University Athletics
Fairchild will miss BYU rivalry, CSU seniors
11/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 8, 2010
Opening statement: “We are certainly disappointed with the outcome last Saturday night. I thought our effort was great as a football team; how hard they played. I thought that technically we played a very good game, and defensively there were a lot of bright spots as far as limiting the big pass plays like we had talked about all week, and the turnovers. We just didn’t make enough plays offensively to get it done. But going on the road and playing a game like that is somewhat encouraging. I know that we’re making strides here. We’re looking forward to being home this Saturday against BYU, and another good week of preparation this week for our football team.”
On sharing dissatisfaction with the officiating of the SDSU game with the conference office: “Yes, we are in the process of doing that right now. I feel bad for the kids because all you want is a fair outcome for them.”
On taking a different approach for the last two games: “We will play the same way. Our approach throughout the week is always the same. I think our kids and our coaches are very excited about the chance to go against BYU; they’re one of the upper-end teams in our league so to speak. So we’re excited about that and to be home. I know that our fans have been great all year; the student section has been outstanding. We are excited about the opportunity to get out there and play.”
On this being CSU’s last conference game against BYU: “It is a shame that it is. It seems like we’ve been playing BYU forever around here, and I think it’s a shame about what went on in the offseason, but that’s out of our control. It is one last final time to play them, and I know our program is excited about the opportunity.”
On the team’s senior class: “We’ve had tremendous leadership; we’re going to miss this senior class, just the way they’ve handled themselves. They’re very talented players. It is a good way to honor them at this last home game, and I know they’re excited to go out there at Hughes one more time. It’s a very good class with a lot of good senior leadership; it’s been a pleasure to coach this football team.”
On Zac Pauga and Guy Miller never missing a game in their careers: “That’s unbelievable, just that accomplishment alone. And I bet they’ve never missed a practice. Those two guys are durable, good football players, very unselfish. I’m very proud of this senior class. I don’t remember having this much fun in coaching in a long time.”
On being able to have a fun this season while winning three games: “I think we’re building the right way; you can see it going in the right direction. It feels good making accomplishments, and developing in certain spots where we are young. It just feels right; the effort level is tremendous. If you ask something of our football team, they give it their all out there on the practice field. I’m honored to be their coach.”
On the running game struggling against SDSU: “They bunched up pretty good there against the run; a lot more twisting, which makes that run game a little more hit and miss, than we probably anticipated going in. There are several opportunities that we missed in the pass game, but there were some big opportunities that presented themselves because of that approach. We just weren’t up to the task of making those plays.”
On seeing SDSU as a test for a young offensive line: “In hindsight, it is. Rocky (Long) did a great job, by the way. I’d like to congratulate him and Brady Hoke, and their entire staff. They are very good coaches and very good people. They did a nice job. I kind of left us one-on-one a little bit too much. If I could go back and do it, I’d probably change a couple of calls. I think if anything, offensively it was more me than the players. But with a young offensive line seeing that type of scheme for the first time, you try to simulate it out there, and I thought we did a nice job during practice of giving them the looks, but it still goes a little faster and a little more chaotic come Saturday night.”
On looking forward to facing BYU: “I think that our Wyoming, CU and Air Force rivalries are obviously our rivalry games, but losing BYU and Utah, that just doesn’t seem right. Back when I was playing in the 1970s, we were playing them then, and there’s a lot of heritage and background that goes into those games. I’ve said that all along. When you look at what happened this past summer, I get the chasing the television revenue and that part of college athletics, but I think what is being missed on this is the fans and the heritage and the history of some of these schools playing each other, and I think that’s going to be missed.”
On struggles with the run game leading to difficulties in the red zone: “I don’t know if it was the struggling with the run game. Certainly when you run the ball better it’s going to help you anywhere on the field. I think we had some negative plays. When we started to get down in that scoring area, we had some negative plays, and I credit the defense, they did a nice job.”
On Alex Williams’ knee injury: “I’m going to talk to Terry (DeZeeuw) again; it looks like he will be out for the year, but again until we finally get him assessed here a couple days after the game, it’s probably premature to say anything for sure.”
On other injuries: “We’re in good shape. Paul Madsen looked great today; he had left the game and gotten hit in the head, but he’s doing fine. We have some ankles and things like that, but like I keep saying every week, we are remarkably healthy for this time of year without a bye.”
On CSU’s linebackers being flexible: “That’s very valuable. The depth that Mike Kawulok brings to our line backing corps is huge. He will step in at the middle linebacker spot. Larry (Kerr) has pretty good flexibility with all of those guys, and like we always say, in a 4-3 scheme, all of a sudden they motion the tight end over, and (Mychal) Sisson is playing (Ricky) Brewer’s spot, Brewer is playing Sisson’s spot. So they have to be flexible in that.”
On facing BYU’s freshman quarterback, Jake Heaps: “He has done a nice job, as has Pete (Thomas). We try, just like BYU, to run the ball to protect him a little bit, and play good defense. It will be interesting to see two very talented freshman quarterbacks going at each other.”
On BYU’s defense improving since head coach Bronco Mendenhall took over the unit: “It’s probably just a different attitude that they have. They’re not doing quite as many personnel packages as they were doing earlier. They got some shifts in personnel on that side of the ball as well. Bronco is a good coach. Like Kyle (Whittingham) and Gary (Patterson), they were all the defensive coordinators when we were here before, and their body of work is very impressive. Since he has taken over, there has been improvement.”
On CSU’s turnover margin improving: “Well, we are starting to get some, too. Obviously the better we can protect the ball, that’s obviously very important to our football team. We have lacked getting turnovers since I’ve been here, and as we improve defensively we hope to get better at taking the ball away, and better on third down; those are some areas where we have to improve to take the next step.”
On how the team deals with controversial officiating calls: “We just have to play the next play. We always talk to the team about that. When the ball is snapped, play as hard as you can until the whistle, and let it go, regardless of what happens. Put every ounce of energy, every bit of focus that you can muster up into just the next play, and keep doing that. That’s the way you play this game, and we have a lot of guys doing that.”
On BYU’s tight end: “He’s a good football player. It’s hard to replace a tight end. Two years ago they had (Austin) Collie and that tight end last year they had (Dennis Pitta), both of those tight ends who are pretty good players, so they’re going through a little bit of development at those spots to try to replace some very good football players.”
