Colorado State University Athletics
Postgame quotes
11/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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COLORADO STATE HEAD COACH Jim McElwain
(general)
“That’s a 10-win team you guys just saw out there. That’s something else. And the way they went about their business and just went out and played the game the way it should be, it was good to see. I was really disappointed in our finish at the end though. We got sloppy. But we put the seniors out, there’s a possibility there might be one more game here, and yet that’s a great way for those guys to go out. It’s good to see. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re on a short week. We’ve got to get to work tomorrow because of the Friday game next week. Preparation is going to be key against a team that a couple of years ago gave us the most embarrassing game of my entire life. Troy [Calhoun] went easy on us; it could have been 9,000 to nothing. I thought that was one of those games that as a program we kind of learned what it is to compete. It doesn’t matter what the score is you have to compete. We’re looking forward to another rivalry game. This is our third one. That’s what’s great about being a Ram; you get to play these trophy games. We’re looking forward to it because they’re a good football team.”
(on Dee Hart being able to cap off his long runs with touchdowns)
“To see his smile when he told me he finally finished was great. I said, ‘Yeah, you finally did’. He did that little jitterbug move down the sideline, I taught him that dance move, too [smiling]. But I’m happy for him. He came to play. And obviously with Treyous (Jarrells) tweaking his ankle just a little bit, we were down one. I thought Dee stepped up and really went at it.”
(on being able to overcome the distractions and have a dominating performance)
“You just have to get rid of the clutter. Focus on the task at hand, and obviously our next task is an option team that’s playing at the top of their level. Like I said, we’re heading into rivalry week and that’s what college football’s all about. I’m excited about getting back to work as soon as we get done here.”
(On Preston Hodges performance today)
“Preston is kind of one who we felt was one of our guys that we were really lucky to recruit. We felt he could come in and play, and he has. He’s done an outstanding job. He came in when Joe went down with that hit and filled in great. He’s a great athlete. He’s getting a little bit better all the time. He’s learning the discipline. That credit also goes to KPL [Kevin Pierre-Louis] and Trent Matthews who in the communication part, help him with being at nickel.”
on if there’s any sense of helplessness at not controlling postseason destiny)
“No. As we go through life, sometimes we get tripped up and can’t go back. That’s not something we can look back and do. All we can do is look forward to going and getting that [Ram-Falcon] trophy and keeping it [at Air Force]. Again, playing against a really good Air Force team; a well-coached team that’s going to play their tails off to get that trophy back.”
(on what led to Dee Hart’s success running the ball today)
“Really, he just did his job. I thought he did a much better job with one-cut runs. He tries to maybe hit a home run all the time instead of just sticking his foot in the ground, seeing it and going. I thought he did a good job of that today. But he’s a talented guy and a guy that’s become a true Ram. This family has adopted him, and he’s done a great job for us.”
(on if Garrett Grayson went out with a bang for his last game at home)
“He did. He threw it okay. He missed a wheel route. There was that one that he tried to force into Joe [Hansley], and maybe a couple others, but he was pretty efficient. He took care of the football. I thought he had really good understanding of what he was seeing. He did a really good job of knowing where to go with it. He’s playing the way a quarterback should be. He played winning football.”
(on if Garrett Grayson’s play is comparable to former Alabama QB Greg McElroy)
“I think his numbers are pretty good. What I like is that he’s really become efficient. I think Coach Baldwin has done an outstanding job honing down where he is and what his progressions are. And don’t be afraid to take a check down. Sometimes those turn into big plays for you. He’s played well. I’ll get on his tail as soon as we start watching tomorrow about a couple misses, but at the same time he pretty much threw it to our guys. If you do that, you’ve got a chance.”
(on how the defense played today against a powerful New Mexico rushing attack)
“We gave them some garbage yards. Just because somebody else is in, you still have to go tackle them, you have a responsibility too. But I thought our defense all week was really honed in on what happened to them a year ago. I think they’ve learned a lot from that. For the most part they stayed gap sound. They did a good job of defending the pitch. Give credit to our defensive guys and our special teams. You start the game with a forced fumble on the kickoff return and then you’re right there. Then they got another. I know it got called back, but that’s also what we expect out of Deionte [Gaines] when we recruited him. He had an opportunity to do that today. I thought our special teams played well today. Obviously “kicker” [Jared Roberts] slapped one off the goal post. Unbelievable. Good thing they put cement in that thing because he could have knocked it over.”
(on the mentality of today’s game was to mercilessly put up as many points as possible)
“No. We came here to win ball games. All you do is go out and win. You guys see me dress; it’s not like I’m a style guy. Winning is winning, and we’ve won 10 of them and we’ll try to go get 11 next week. But no, there was no thought of that. That’s just not what’s going to happen here.”
(on if there’s more confidence going into next week’s game after having success against the dual-threat offense today)
“Never. Not against these guys, especially after what occurred a couple years ago. I just want our guys to play hard and compete. We’ll show up and give respect to the rivalry the way it is.”
(on his first thoughts about the game)
(on the youth of his team and how they defended CSU’s offense)
“You know what, I would like to say well here’s a guy that played at Alabama, an older, experienced guy against a young defense and I think that’s probably true, but that’s happened all year, regardless of who we’ve played against. You know, it seems like whoever the back is, they seem to jump up and take advantage of the opportunities but he made some plays, there’s no question. 82 (Rashard Higgins) made some plays. They’re a legitimate, as I said all week, BCS, top-level offensive football team, they really are. I think we could’ve done some things. I think we could’ve moved the ball a little bit, you know, we kind of pecked around a little bit and did move it a little bit but you know, give them credit. They are a well-coached team that has an outstanding scheme.”
(on the positives to take away)
“You know, not many. I guess, I think, I’ll be anxious to see how the young linebacker Kimmie Carson played, it seemed like he made a couple plays. You know, Jhurell (Pressley) had the long run, (Chris) Edling made the play in a Y-hide, I think (Teriyon) Gipson had a pretty good run, you know, at least at the end, we didn’t just completely collapse defensively. You know, (Williams) Udeh got hurt pretty early so (Jack) Ziltz played the whole game. You know, we’re pretty depleted but you know not really many positives other then maybe it looks like he’s healthy and you know, maybe he can give us a chance and go beat Wyoming.”
(on the assessment of QB Lamar Jordan)
“You know, again, I don’t think were consistent enough throwing the ball. I think we left some things out there. You know, I thought (Jeric) Magnant had a chance to make a play but you know, I thought he played okay, he played okay. He played like a redshirt freshmen that was under some adverse situation right off the bat, you know, and trying to dig out of a hole. Again, I look at like its one step more of valuable experience for some young guys but certainly this is humbling, you know, its humbling to stand there and take that but I give them credit, I give them a lot of credit. He’s done a heck of a job and they’re a heck of a football team.”
(on playing Wyoming next week)
“You know, were still so young that I think you can just flip the page and say let’s go put that one behind us and let’s go to Wyoming. You know, we’re still learning on the run at a lot of positions and I think it’s so valuable, obviously for us to look at that tape and… you know, I think if you had an older football team, a more experienced team you would say okay, lets burn it, let’s go to Wyoming, let’s try to win a game at home, but were still learning, we’re still learning and as difficult as it is, I think we have to sit there and again, just show why things happen and try to solve it because you know, I think this team will rebound psychologically. This has been a tough stretch for us, you know, with Boise (State), Utah State and Colorado State in three straight weeks, but again you know, we’ve got to be good enough to execute and the only way you can learn to execute is to take those mistakes and learn from those mistakes.”
(on the pooch kick to start the second half)
“What it was, it was supposed to be a sky right, we were going to kick it a lot deeper to the right but he just scuffed it. Yeah so there was no intent to kick the ball to the 40-yard line.”
(on how good it felt to start the game with a great special teams play on Senior Day)
“It was a pretty special feeling. Obviously, I was running out on the field, and your emotions start taking over. I was pretty happy that our defense was going out first, to let myself get adjusted to everything. We got the fumble on the first play, and so that first play I went out there and my eyes were still watering and everything. I couldn’t even really see. Pass plays are what we were doing, so I just kind of tried to check it down. It was a special moment. Something I’ll cherish forever. To go out the way we did today was something I’m sure I’ll look back on 10 years from now and really look at what we did today and be very happy with it.”
(on how he shed some tears before the game started)
“I thought I was going to be able to hold it together, and then I got out there. And I’ve seen my dad cry like two times my whole life, so once I saw my dad crying, I kind of lost it. From then, it was crying, and my mom was crying, and it was just a mess.
(on how good Dee Hart was today)
“That’s why he’s the player that we’re very happy to have. Things didn’t work out at Alabama for whatever reason, but we’re very, very happy to have him here. He’s an explosive guy. Obviously, we didn’t have too much film coming in, but any time we can get him the ball – there’s no time in my mind when I’m handing him the ball that I’m mad and think we should be throwing the ball. Anytime I can get him the ball in space, throwing – you saw what he did today when I threw him the ball – he’s just an explosive player and a guy that makes plays. He can make guys miss, he can outrun guys – he’s a very special player and we’re obviously beyond happy to have him.
(on how it feels to be the all-time total yardage leader in CSU history)
“It’s a huge honor. Like I’ve said many times to you guys, Bradlee Van Pelt’s still the man around here. When you go downtown or you’re walking around in Fort Collins, people are still, ‘BVP, BVP!’ He’s still the man. So to break his record, I’m very humbled by it and very honored. I know it goes back to having the teammates that I have around me. When I throw a little two-yard pass out there to Rashard [Higgins] and it goes 80 yards, that helps me out a lot.”
(on how it feels for the Rams to not control their own destiny)
“We’ll be praying from here on out that things work out. It was close last week, them [Boise State] against New Mexico, but all we can do is control ourselves. That’s something Coach Mac has programmed into our minds. Take each day, and each day has a life of its own. We’ll go into this week and focus on Air Force, and hopefully things work out for the best.”
(on how the Rams performed well in this game above any distractions that may have sidetracked them)
“That just goes back to what Coach Mac has preached since he’s been here. Every day, every play, every game has a life of its own. We can be excited about this win, but we have practice coming this week that we need to dial in for a rivalry game, a trophy game. We know Air Force is going to be coming after us. We need to start focusing in now to get those guys and keep where we want to go, because the goal is still there. We can still achieve it. We just need to keep focusing and stay together.”
(on if there was any part of him that wanted to play in the fourth quarter)
“I wanted to keep playing. Any competitor wants to play the whole game. I wanted to keep playing, but I wasn’t upset. The experience that Nick is getting, that’s huge for him in the future. I look back at my freshman year and the experience I got, that helped me out. Any experience he can get, that’s going to help him out in the long run.”
(on if scoring 70 points would have helped in the polls)
“70, 58, I don’t know if there’s that big of a difference. Anything is going to help, but we’ll take 58 points any day.”
(on if Dee Hart plays bigger than his size)
“Absolutely. I think you guys have all seen that. His physicality, for a guy that’s around 200 pounds, the way he runs people over and makes people miss, that keeps people guessing. They don’t know if he’s going to try and juke them or just run them over. That’s why he’s the explosive back that he is.”
(on if he’d put his money on Coach McElwain or Dee Hart in a foot race)
“I’m putting it on Dee, no doubt in my mind.”
(on if he had visions of what Kapri Bibbs did to New Mexico last year as he handed it off to Dee today)
“No, Kapri never came to mind. Obviously, he was a great back. He did some great things for us. We’re very thankful for what he did for us. I think they’re two different runners. What Dee has done for us, he’s in his own world with all of that. Like I said, I’m very thankful to have him and wouldn’t trade him for anything.”
Dee Hart
“I’d say I’d have to go back to high school since I felt that good. Especially with a group of guys that I believe that lay it down for me. I’d say about high school.
(on if he’s tired)
“No sir.”
(on how nice it was to go all the way for touchdowns on some of his long runs and not get caught from behind)
“We had a good week of practice last week. Especially having that bye week, you kind of get your legs back, conditioning level pretty good. I got in the pool like two or three times this week, just to get my cardio back going. I sustained today.”
(on what it means to score six touchdowns)
“To be honest, to me it means nothing. I was just trying to lay it down for my seniors out there. These guys took me in, and a lot of people don’t know how much that means to a person. For you to grow up in a different background and come to a place that’s not familiar to you, and these seniors welcome you with open arms, that kind of touches your heart. You want to go out on the field and do everything to end them on the right note, you know what I mean?”
(on when was the last time he scored six touchdowns)
“Never.”
(what about on Madden or in video games?)
“I’m not keen on video games. I like the field.”
(on how the conversation with Coach McElwain went today about Dee not getting caught from behind)
“He still thinks he can beat me. I’m going to give him a couple weeks. Hopefully he gets his cardio back going, because I think I can get him.”
(on how it felt that today was his day, and if he can appreciate it)
“I appreciate it, but I just want to do it for the team. I think that’s what everybody on the team does. Garrett, Rashard, anytime your number’s being called, that’s what you’re supposed to do – what everybody’s looking to you to do. To make the big play, make the touchdown.”
(on if he watched a lot of film from last year’s game when Kapri Bibbs scored 6 TDs against New Mexico)
“Yes, sir. We did a lot of good game planning this week. We knew they were a field boundary team, so they weren’t going to adjust to a lot of motions, and we’re a good motion team – “re-miking” and stuff like that.”
(on if he was thinking CSU would be 10-1 when he came here)
“No sir, no sir.”
(on how it’s worked out for him to come to CSU)
“It’s working out great. Hopefully it ends how we all want it to end, but at the same time, it’s all glory to God. It’s kind of bittersweet that we did lose to Boise State, but at the same time, I think it made us better. We jelled together and depended on guys more. It was kind of bad that we did lose, but at the same time, at the end of the day I think we played better.”
(on if he found another gear this week)
“Yes sir, yes sir. That’s what I credit it to, just having those fresh legs. My cardio’s where I wanted it to be. When I broke into the open field, I just felt like, ‘he’s going to have to catch me this time. I’m not going to stop and look at him.’ So, yeah.”
(on if he feels like himself and Coach McElwain have Alabama people rooting for them)
“Yes, sir. Roll Tide nation, they still follow us. CSU Rams, we’ve been getting a lot of support from them too. It’s just great. From different sides of the world, the United States, they can root for one team – it’s kind of crazy. Maybe it just means something to me, you know?”
“I feel like as a defense they don’t ever just put everything on me. We all do things together. I couldn’t show up in the run game until I made sure that when he passed the ball I was there.”
(on the team’s confidence going into the Air Force game)
“I feel like we’re always confident, not cocky, but confident. We know that we have guys that can make plays and show up. None of us are scared and all of us are ‘greedy’ when it comes to defense. We even compete for tackles when we’re on the field.”
(on last year’s game against New Mexico)
“As a freshman, at the end of the game last year, I wasn’t able to do anything at all. I was messing up during the previous game, I didn’t know my responsibilities on the run and I was just another man out there. The seniors really helped me come together this year and now I’m able to do as much as they can.”
(on coming back after injury)
“It felt great to be back. Just being in sync with Garrett, catching touchdown passes, and Dee Hart going for long runs. It feels good to be back with the team. Even though I was out last game I was out there still with the team and being around the guys. They knew I was going to be out, but just being around those guys made me feel like my presence was felt.”
(on today’s performance)
“It feels good. We game-plan all the time about how we can beat New Mexico and what we need to do to beat them so it’s not really shocking to be 10-1. We said we wanted to be the best. We still lost a game, but it is what it is.”
(on conference championship game)
“We can’t really do too much about that. All we can do is win every game we have left and hopefully the tables turn in our favor.”
(on Dee Hart’s performance)
“Great game for Dee Hart though for scoring six times. We knew Dee had it this whole time and he showed it today against New Mexico.”
(on breaking receiving record)
“I didn’t know that until now. That’s a good achievement for me. I just want to be the best and in order to do that you have to strive to be the best and work to be the best. That’s what I’m going to keep doing.”
(on recovering fumble)
“We worked hard in practice all week. Coach always says we have to work on getting takeaways and that’s what we did this week.”
(on secondary’s performance)
“We’re very satisfied. We performed today and we performed well.”
(on confidence going into Air Force game)
“New Mexico is a good team so the performance that we had was very good for us. So it does give me confidence going into Air Force.”
(on taking away sustained drives)
“Coach said to limit the explosive plays and I feel like we did that this week.”
(on Senior Day)
“I was holding back a little, but it was pretty emotional. I was talking to some of the guys telling them I wasn’t going to cry, but I was holding back when I saw my mom out there. It was good to have all the people who got me here there.”
(on momentum after fumble)
“It was definitely good. It gave us momentum going in and starting the game off quick. Our special teams unit really stepped up today, obviously forcing a couple of fumbles and recovering them. We were hoping to get that return from Deionte [called back because of a penalty], but we think that the special teams played really well today.”
(on defensive game)
“Obviously they get explosive plays on every team they’ve played. It’s hard, but everyone just has to get their assignments and that comes with watching film and getting in there together as a defense.”
(on confidence going into Air Force)
“Yes just because it’s a similar offense, but we have to prepare like we did. Coach Mac said that today was our day off so tomorrow’s Monday in the week and we’re excited to get started.”
(on this year’s success)
“It means everything to us. Coach Mac came in here and preached to us that we have to play for each other and change the whole culture. It’s finally coming together and it’s good to see that especially for the guys who have been here for a while just seeing that change. It feels good and I can’t wait to keep rolling.”
(on losing to Boise State)
“We try not to look back too much. We always want to win every game, but it taught us a lesson and we just have to keep moving on from there.”
KIMMIE CARSON
(on the importance of sticking together as a team, and making plays in the fourth quarter)
“As you could tell, the game kind of got out of our hands, so I had to try and keep the defense together. I don’t do too much talking, so I tried to lead by example in the fourth quarter.”
(on how the game got away from them)
“Obviously, they’re a pretty good team, and if you give them short fields like that, of course they’re going to take advantage. Playing a good team, you can’t make mistakes, and give them a short field. That’s on us, and there were a couple things on defense that we did wrong as well.”
(on whether or not they just forget about this game and concentrate on Wyoming)
“As a team, yes. But for me, I’ll remember this one for next year. We’re on to the next game and hopefully everyone steps up and doesn’t lay down, and hopefully we can go out and win that game next week.”
(on whether or not CSU did anything new schematically)
“They had a couple of new formations but it came down to execution, and they executed better than us.”
(on why Garrett Grayson was able to play so well)
“You can tell he’s pretty confident in what he’s doing, and he delivered a couple pretty good balls. He’s the reason why they won, and he’s a pretty good player. I give a lot of credit to him.”
(on his position switch to middle linebacker)
“It’s a lot of learning. I have to be like a sponge right now and soak all this information in. I think I’m handling it pretty well, and week by week I’m going to get better.”
JHURELL PRESSLEY
(on how it felt to contribute after having a sprained ankle)
“It felt good. No matter what, I’m not going to try and sit out a game. It’s just one leg and I have another one so I can keep moving.”
(on the importance of making a statement in the second half)
“It’s always important to make a statement because it’s an interview for the next opponent. I want them to see what I put on film. I’m going to keep trying until the clock says zero.”
(on whether or not the team took the halftime message to heart)
“Yeah we did. We’re always going to keep playing, and we’re never going to give up to anybody.”
(on the importance of the Wyoming game)
“It’s very important. It’s our last game of the season, unfortunately, but it’s very important that we go out with a win for our seniors.”
(on whether or not he feels that the team proved they can move the ball against any team)
“I feel like we can move the ball against any team. We’ve been showing it day in and day out. We’re going to keep running our offense and we’re going to keep making plays.”
(on whether or not the team uses this game going forward or simply moves on)
“We learn from it. We learn from everything we do. We’re going to learn from our film and make everything better for next time.”
