Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State Postgame quotes
9/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 4, 2010
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Head Coach Steve Fairchild
General: “There’s not a lot to say about the way we played offensively. If we cannot establish a run game, which we didn’t do at any point this afternoon, or if we don’t convert on third downs, then we’re gonna struggle offensively. We looked real tight offensively. Having said that, I thought defensively we flew around pretty good. For the most part we kept the ball in front of us. We could wrap up better, both on defense and special teams, but you’re not gonna win a football game the way we did offensively today. I think this will be, at some point this season, the best offense since I’ve been here. We’re not there yet, but I like some of the things that are going on. We obviously didn’t play very well today. We’ve got to grow up in some areas. We’re disappointed, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We just need to move forward, and the only thing that matters now is the preparation that we do to get ready for the University of Nevada.”
On the play of the offense: “I thought we had some good numbers in some of the runs we called; we had good looks. I haven’t seen the final stats, but I’ll bet through three quarters we were at 2 yards per carry. And it wasn’t like they were bringing safeties down to stop the run. There were some good looks to run the football, and we just didn’t get it done.”
The performance of QB Pete Thomas: “I thought that the tempo at times dragged, but I liked the way he got in and out of the huddle and the communication for a first-time starter. The whole tempo thing can improve, but it wasn’t bad. He has a presence and he’s got good vision; he sees things and you can talk about it on the sidelines. He’s fairly accurate—we didn’t test too many balls down the field—but I thought he did a nice job. The turnovers obviously hurt us, but one was a hell of a play on their part and obviously on the last one he just misread the coverage. I think the future’s bright there. We have a long way to go with him and a lot of areas offensively, but there’s something in me that tells me that by the end of the year this offense will be better than any one since I’ve been here.”
On going for it on fourth-and-1 in the first quarter: “Obviously that one backfired. I knew that as young as we were, manufacturing long drives was going to be a challenge. I thought we’d do it better than we did this afternoon. But it’s short yardage; we should win that nine times out of 10. I’ll have to look at the tape, but in retrospect, that’s a bad call.”
On CU’s performance on both sides of the line: “I’m anxious to look at the tape. Again, there were a lot of runs where we had good numbers, good schematic looks where you hand the ball off and think you’re gonna get 6, 7 yards and he ends up getting 2. I want to look at the tape. I’m sure they did a nice job of getting off blocks, and we did a poor job of sticking on blocks. We’ll go back and grade the tape and figure out why tomorrow. The bottom line is that if you’re averaging 2 yards through three quarters and you’re not converting on third down, you’re not helping your special teams or defense very much. We’ll get back to work, but again, I think we’re gonna be very good on offense by the end of the year.”
On playing seven true freshmen; how they can advance after Game 1: “Our youth will never be an excuse. We’re putting those guys out there because they give us the best chance to win, and it’s my job to get them ready and it’s my job to get them prepared to win the football game.”
On Pete Thomas’ response after interceptions: “He came as advertised. The game was not too fast for him. I was very, very encouraged. He’s going to be very good.”
On the performance of the offensive line: “I don’t think the protection was as good as we expected. I think we’re probably a little further along at quarterback than maybe we anticipated, and not as far along on offensive line as we anticipated. I think offensively, early on in the season, that’s going to be the case. I truly expect us to be better on the offensive line than what we showed today. But that’s why they’re paying us, to get that fixed.”
On mismatches on CU WR Scotty McKnight: “They did a nice job. They have a quick back that can create a little bit of a mismatch if he has space, and Scotty McKnight’s a good player. Right off the bat we were in the man coverage, and he was on the safety. He did a very nice job and is a very, very good inside receiver. We knew that.”
On QB Pete Thomas reading open gaps and running the ball: “He did a nice job of knowing when to pull it down. He’s got to protect himself a little bit better, but you can see that he’s got the ability to make a little play with his feet every once in awhile. I thought that was a nice decision by him.”
On CU’s performance and preparation: “This is more about Colorado. Dan Hawkins had his team better prepared than I did. They showed up, they were the better football team and they certainly deserved to win that game.”
On missed tackles: “We tackled well, we just didn’t wrap up a couple of times. Defensively, and special teams that one time on the long punt where were lucky to get the personal foul, we had a guy on them. If we wrap him up, they’ve got the ball way down the field. We had some young guys out there, and that’s not an excuse. We just have to do a better job on that, there’s no question.”
On less live tackling during the last weeks of practice: “I would say the second to last week, that’s true. We never do much on a game week. No, I don’t think that had an effect. We were prepared mentally, and I think we had a good idea of what was going on, we just have to run the ball better and convert occasionally on third down.”
On CU’s speed on the outside, at WR: “All three of those end guys give them a little juice. That’s a much better group of receivers than they had last year when we played them. That’s an advantage to their quarterback and their run game.”
On his reasoning behind his optimism regarding the offense: “I just love what I’m seeing. We’re still a long way off, but I love what we’re doing and the way we’re playing. I do think we have some talent in the backfield. We’re still sorting out how to use it and when to use it. I guess a lot of it has to do with Pete Thomas. I just have a very good vibe about what he was doing and can do. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not there by any means, but I’m confident that we have a wealth of talent in him and the offensive line—it’s young and has a long way to go -- but I’m sure we’ll get it at some point this year.”
CSU Players
WT Paul Madsen
On whether the youth up front will begin to click soon: “As far as the O-line goes, I think we clicked very well today. I think we may have made a couple of mistakes but I’m impressed with how Tyler (McDermott) and Weston (Richburg) played. They really stepped up. We were confident on the field.”
On whether he expected more rushing yards: “I think we were very close several times. I think we had some little, little mistakes. I think CU also came out with a little more energy than we did, and that hurt us.”
On the play of Pete Thomas: “I love Pete. What I noticed about Pete coming in was that I expected him to be very nervous. The only thing that I saw was a great level of excitement and confidence. I saw it throughout the game. A couple of times he brought us all together and gave us some encouraging words, which helped. He never wavered. He is my quarterback. I am very impressed with him.”
WLB Ricky Brewer
On whether losing to CU hurts more than losing to another opponent: “Well, that is tough. It is a rivalry game and that is what it is all about. Anytime you come out, you want to beat your rival. The fact that we lost this one is going to stick with us, and we will use it as momentum for our other opponents.”
On how to improve next week: “Well, we have to keep assignment-sound. They got ahead of us really quick because we blew a couple coverages. They were the better team today. We have to get in the film room and see the mistakes that we made and make sure we make it a point to get those corrected.”
On adjustments coming out of the half, holding the Buffs to seven points: “We didn’t make any adjustments. We came out and played the same defense. The key here is everybody doing their job. Once we made that a point and a priority, we shut them down.”
On returning after his 2009 suspension: “It felt good to run out of that tunnel again. Sitting out that whole year, felt like three (years). To come back out there on the field and be accepted by my teammates is big.”
DE Crockett Gillmore
I think we are a real young team. I think we will be going somewhere but you can’t live off of one game, especially the first one. A lot of these guys it is their first game, so you can’t really go off that.”
CB Momo Thomas
On whether he expected a deep pass from CU on his interception: “I thought they were going to go deep on the first play of the game. They have the fast wide receivers on the outside so I kind of expected it. I just played my technique and got the ball.”
On returning punts: “I think we have a better return team (this year). The guys up front are helping me a lot. I talked to them before the play and told them to hold them up and I will try to get what I get out of it.”
On disheartening touchdowns allowed on blown coverages: “If we don’t blow our two coverages it is a different game. We just have to go back next week and practice on communication and better tackling.”
On what he does as a veteran to help the young guys: “Just talk to them. I try to influence them on the sidelines when I’m not in the game or when I am in the game. I just think it is important as a freshman to keep your head in the game and think about technique. You get caught up and over think it.”
QB Pete Thomas
“I felt real comfortable out there. The game seemed pretty slow to me. I felt like I was very well prepared. I just had too many mistakes on those interceptions. You have to give their defense credit; they made a hell of a play on two of those interceptions. They came out with a little more fire than us but I feel like we will get everything corrected.”
On his nerves: “I was obviously nervous. I think there is something wrong if you are not nervous. I felt like I was pretty level-headed and calm and I felt like I had the right mindset going into the game.”
On Steve Fairchild’s confidence and optimism with respect to the offense: “I definitely agree. I think we did some really good stuff out there. But we did not do enough good stuff. I felt like on third down we needed to convert a few of those. I think if we keep practicing and listening to Coach Fairchild and the rest of the offensive coaches, by the end of the season, we will be meshing pretty well.”
On getting his first game out of the way: “Obviously, the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, offensively or defensively. I feel like I got that first game under my skin and as a team we are only going to get better from here on out.”
On the big stage of Invesco Field: “This is a huge stage and a big rivalry game. There were a lot of people here. I thought I handled it well. I feel like the offense handled it pretty well. We just made too many mistakes and didn’t come out on top.”
On not converting on fourth-and-1 early in the game: “That was real disheartening, obviously. I think we had a good mindset. We just shot ourselves in the foot on third downs.”
On his teammates saying he seemed pretty relaxed before the game: “I have been more nervous before high-school games than I was this one. I think I had a really good mindset coming into this game. I was calm and not too nervous. The game didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. You have to give them credit; they played some great defense and obviously played well on offense.”
On whether he would rather have had the opening kickoff: “It didn’t really matter to me. I like getting the ball first and getting thrown into the fire but we just didn’t convert.”
On completing third-down passes short of the first down: “I think we completed a lot of passes on third down but they just fell short. Their linebackers and defensive backs made some tackles before we got the first down so you have to give them credit. I think we will get that worked out and hopefully have a good game against Nevada.”
On if he had to give himself a grade for today, would he give a good mark considering his youth: “I think it was a good first game but that was not an excuse. I need to come out here and play better for this team to win.”
RB Raymond Carter
On holes not opening up: “Yeah, we just have to watch film and learn from it, get better from it. We’re going to be a pretty good team. We are young but it’s all about getting better from here.”
On getting better from here: “Like I said, we have to learn from this, watch film and we are going to prepare for Nevada.”
SLB Mychal Sisson
On the linebackers: “All the linebackers were feeling good. We were rotating real well. They just came out and punished us. We’re a little smaller inside and they took advantage of it.”
On CU RB Rodney Stewart: “He’s just quick, he can cut on a dime, and he always sees the cutbacks. That’s the main thing; he was always cutting back on us and we didn’t have anybody to stop that.”
On moving on with rest of the season: “This is just a minor setback. After today everybody is going to forget about it and everybody will worry about the rest of the season.”
On positives: “There’s a lot of positives. On defense I feel like we are coming along strong, especially in the second half, which we lacked last year. Offensively we got a lot of young guys some reps so they have a little experience going into the next game.”
