Colorado State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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COLORADO STATE HEAD COACH Mike Bobo
(opening statement)
"Really, really proud of this football team, coming on the road and getting a road victory against a team that's playing really well (and is) extremely confident and playing for a chance to represent our side in the Mountain West Championship. We talked starting on Monday about how we had to finish. We said it last week, finishing at home. We had to finish we set out to do."
"We talked about starting strong, staying strong throughout the whole game and finishing strong. I thought we started strong with the interception and the quick touchdown, and we stayed strong through some adversity. They were hurting us with some outside perimeter runs, the load option and the counters and the speed sweeps, but I thought in the second half we came out and finished strong. They converted five-of-six third downs in the first half and maybe just converted one in the second half. I'm really proud of the guys and their effort to keep playing. Sometimes we think we want it to be pretty, (but) it's not a pretty game. It never plays out the way you think it's going to play out in a game, but you have to keep playing for 60 minutes. Those guys did that. It was great to see KP (Kevin Pierre-Louis) come back and make a play on a pass; he's had his ups and downs in pass coverage, but to make a play (with the interception)…I thought Cory James had great pressure on that play to get the pick, and then to run out the clock, to be able to take a knee. I tell the guys that's the best formation in football. We were able to do that, and it's a great night to be a Ram."
(on what it means to be bowl-eligible)
"It means a lot. It means a lot, for where we were when we were 2-4, and then 3-5 after the loss to San Diego State. A lot of people were wondering what was going on, but I wasn't wondering. I just wanted to reiterate to the guys that we were going to stay true to our standards and our disciplines about how we go about doing things. I challenged every coach, every player, every manager, every strength coach to continue to do what they had to do to put us in position to win on Saturdays. We had to be accountable to each other, and I really feel like nobody batted an eye. They answered the challenge and they kept working, and I've seen us improve every week, as a football team, since that loss to San Diego State. I'm proud of the guys. Just because we're bowl-eligible, like I just told the guys in there, we're going to enjoy this one, but we're going to finish what we started, and that's to try to improve this week and go on the road and try to get another conference win."
(on the coaching staff growing together as a unit)
"The more you work together with someone the more continuity and comfort zone you have with guys. Early in the year, the things we were saying maybe weren't getting it coached to the kids properly. It might have been something that I understood and (offensive coordinator) Will (Friend) understood, but we weren't getting it explained the right way to the players, on the field I'm talking about. In practice we can get it right, (but) there's a lot of adjustments that go on in a game of how we're going to block things, you change things up, but I feel like everybody is starting to understand everybody and where we're coming from and then defensively those guys have really done a nice job of working together. I know we gave up some yards the first half this week, and some yards the first half against UNLV, but I really think we've been playing a lot better defensively since (Deonte) Clyburn has moved to "mike" in the Air Force. Still giving up too many explosive plays, but I feel like we've settled down a little more and starting to play together as a team."
(on a manageable number of explosive plays by New Mexico)
"You don't want to give up any explosive plays, but that's how their offense has lived all year. They've had to make the big play, but 5 for 137 is better than 5 for 250, (with) the 60-, the 70-yard runs. I think they had a 75 or 80-yarder against Boise."
(on the winning touchdown drive)
"I think I told you guys when I first got here that we want to be a championship football team. And, to me, championship isn't just hoisting a trophy, it's responding with a championship effort, the way you live your life, the way you show up at practice, but if you want to be a championship-level team you have to be able to run the ball when they know you're going to run it, and that's what that drive was about. I don't know how many (we threw)…I think we threw one to Rashard to get a first down to get us out, and then the third-down pass by Nick Stevens to Jordon Vaden. What an unbelievable throw and an unbelievable catch. Nick, who is starting to play with confidence, didn't hesitate. He saw the opening and he went to where only Jordon could catch it, and Jordon went up and got his foot down. I think the other nine plays were runs if I'm not mistaken. Izzy (Matthews) comes in there, who, when Izzy's in there he breaks tackles. He's fresh when he comes in there, and that's why we like to save him where he's fresh. It's the end of the season (and) teams are beat up. At the end of games, teams are tired and then you bring a bigger back in there and you understand what you're doing as an offensive line, and the quarterback is getting us in the right play, you have a chance to gash some people with some runs. There were a couple plays where I changed the play from the sideline but most of it was on Nick Stevens getting us in the right plays, and the guys executed it."
(on scoring just before the half)
"I was a little cautious early on, throwing a screen to Rashard…but I need to trust Nick, I need to trust the guys. After that it was kind of just play, I'm going to go fast, but not real fast and see if we can get something…and we did. We did a nice job getting three points right before the half. It gives you momentum, but we had already missed the one field goal. We were lining up for that field goal and I was going down the sidelines to the offense and the defense, saying 'I don't care if he makes it or missed it or not, it's all about body language. As soon as he kicks it we're just sprinting off this field like he made it, whether he did or not, because I didn't want it to be a downer if he didn't make it. Fortunately he made it, but I didn't even look. I just took off sprinting because weren't losing the game. I saw our guys giving him 5, but I didn't wait to see it, I just ran. I didn't care and I wanted the guys to say, well, it didn't matter what had happened. We had 30 minutes to go, whether we scored a touchdown or not we had 30 minutes to play."
(on scoring in recent weeks just before the half and to open the second half)
"Starting out with a good plan. I'm not a guy who scripts out like 8 plays or anything like that, but the last three weeks we have been sitting down as a staff and talking about openers, possessions of 10 plays, or sometimes after TV timeouts, things to start drives, and I think we've been very effective on first downs the last three weeks."
