Postgame quotes: CSU football at Fresno State

Nov. 28, 2015

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Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo
"Proud of Joe (Hansley) for the way he's played all year. To come out in his last regular season game and to have the impact he did, we don't win the football game tonight (without) the plays that Joe made. We were sputtering, but Joe just kept playing football. Some of the other guys were looking around (like) `what's wrong, Coach, what's wrong'...nothing's wrong. Guys were making plays on the other side of the ball and we didn't have good field position. You have to give those guys credit, but Joe just kept playing and when he had the opportunity to make plays, he did. On that first punt return he did a great job on it, but that whole punt return team did an awesome job. A couple weeks ago we made some changes. We had the most dangerous guy in the conference, and we not giving him chances to make any plays. We put Rashard Higgins on there, put Jordon Vaden on the punt return team, and we talked about being unselfish, and those guys went out there and did an awesome. The one right before the half, just really a great individual effort by him. It's one of those where you're yelling `get down, get down, get down,' so we could have time to try to score before the half and he just kept playing, reversed his field, fixed his facemask and took it to the house. Just two huge plays by him and then to come up with the big touchdown catch after we had been just been nonexistent in the passing game the whole game...it's second and 13 or 14...and I called his number. He's a dependable guy, they were playing a certain coverage...we got the coverage and it worked out for Joe. Great protection and Joe did the rest after the catch."

"It shows a lot of resiliency in this football team, the ability to bounce back. We've been talking about that all year. It's a process and you have to stay the course, you have to keep doing what we do and believe in each other. Sometimes kids look at that as coach-speak, but I think this adds value to that and is something to build on, that if we do stay the course, if we do keep believing no matter what the circumstances are, we can overcome. We were 2-4 and won 5 out of the last 6, and have a chance to win 6 out of 7, and I don't even think we're near the potential we can be. But we're finding a way to win and that's a credit to those guys in the locker room, that's a credit to those coaches for staying together (and) keep believing in each other...just a really good team victory tonight."

Sophomore DB Kevin Nutt, Jr.
"I love seeing Joe run. He's elusive, he's fast, he's got moves to put on people, and I was just right there blocking for him. Every opportunity I got to block somebody I just had to be there for him."

"Special teams played a big part in this game. We had three touchdowns on special teams and that really led us to the victory tonight. Winning four straight thas just boosted everybody's morale and given us great confidence for a bowl game."

Senior WR Joe Hansley
"It was nice. The punt return team did a great job. Guys like Rashard (Higgins) out there, he was busting his butt every play to try to get me through, so it was a good team effort by everyone."

(on the changes in personnel on the punt-return team, adding Higgins and Vaden recently)
"They go 100 percent on every play for punt return, because one of their guys is back there, a wideout, so they definitely help me out. There has been some more stuff that's opened up so it was a good move."

"It felt good, just to be done with the regular season (of) my college career, I couldn't think of a different way I'd want to go out, so it was a special night."

(on his second punt-return TD, on which his helmet came unbuckled)
"I was trying to buckle it up again because I didn't want to get hit and have my helmet fly off or something. I know it probably looked a little goofy but I was just trying to get it buckled again."

Fresno State Head Coach Tim DeRuyter

Opening statement...
"First of all, I want to thank all of our 18 seniors; tremendous young men, leaders, guys that have tremendous pride, character. We've had a lot of adversity this week. They came out and fought. I wasn't surprised. We have coaches that have pride, players that have pride, and they laid it on the line for this school. I'm extremely proud of their effort. I thought, at the start of the game, with adversity, giving up a return, our kids responded. Guys are growing up. I thought our defense played their tails off. We got beat up a little bit, and in the second half, didn't fit some runs well, but while they were on the field they only scored a couple touchdowns. We've got to clean up special teams. We've got guys at the point of attack. We've got to do a better job with fundamentals and getting guys down. I thought our offense came out and attacked. We did a great job moving the football. Kilton [Anderson] is growing up. I was really proud of his effort. And it's just sickening to me, for these seniors, that we couldn't find a way to finish on Senior Day for them. I told them in that locker room to hold their head up, that the last memory of being on Bulldog Field was fighting their tails off. The scoreboard always counts, but the fact that they fought till the end, I'm extremely proud of them."

On the team clicking...
"We practiced all year long with great energy. I thought our seniors did a great job of leading us. They didn't care what our record was. They came out and executed. We've got a bunch of young guys that are having to play ahead of their time. That's football, when guys get injured. When young guys get reps and eventually start figuring it out, I think a lot of that happened today."

On calling the game...
"We didn't call the game differently, other than, on Senior Day, coach Schramm does a great job trying to get some seniors involved that aren't normally on offense. He designed a great play, Ejiro [Ederaine] just happened to be the recipient of it. He knew he had one shot and he got in the end zone. You want the last game for your seniors to be memorable, and we did that. We gave up too many plays on special teams tonight."

On special teams...
"The two punts, we had multiple guys at the point of attack, we just have to finish and make the tackle. [Joe] Hansley has made a lot of guys miss. Give him credit. He's a good football player. He's one of the best return guys in the conference. It's him making guys miss, they had some guys blocked, and on the kickoff return, same thing, we had guys hit him and bounce off. We have to be able to finish."

On the last few minutes of the game...
"I told our defense that we're going to go on the field and we're going to have to be up-tempo because we're going to score. That's how confident I was. I knew we'd do it. I thought Kilton [Anderson] was doing a great job directing the offense."

On contemplating going for it on fourth down late in the game...
"I think there was about five or six minutes left. It was a fourth and ten, or twelve, at midfield and I thought our defense was playing pretty darn well, we were beat up, there was some thought there, but I thought we could find ways to make plays, get them backed up, and I thought that's how it would play out, but it didn't."

On the quarterback competition...
"There's two things. Last week, we didn't take care of the football very well. When you do that, you don't give yourself a chance. Kilton [Anderson] has been getting better, practicing, he had a good week at practice. Second thing, Zack [Greenlee] was banged up. We didn't know how healthy he was going to be. We could've played him in an emergency situation, but it was a combination of those factors."

Fresno State Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Kilton Anderson

On his overall thoughts on the game and starting the last game of the season...
"It feels great to start. It was a tough loss, personally it's tough to let these seniors go out this way, but I think that we took a big step forward tonight. On both sides of the ball we played very physical, fast and fanatical. When all those things get together, we are going to have a great team, and I look forward to next year."

On finding out when he was going to be the starting quarterback...
"As you heard, Zack [Greenlee] got a little banged up last week. We all weren't 110 percent sure what he was going to be capable of. Throughout the week we were splitting reps with both of us going back and forth. Towards the end of the week, I started to get more reps, so I kind of fell into it."

On classifying how all 12 games have gone...
"It's tough love sometimes. You learn a lot more from losing. It isn't fun, it's never good to lose, and we don't want to lose. I think we definitely learned a lot this year. Our young guys have definitely taken huge strides and I think it is going to set a very good foundation for next year."

On what he takes away from the season as a whole...
"There is too much to specifically pinpoint one thing. I definitely am a lot more comfortable. I think the guys are a lot more comfortable with me. I think there is a lot more trust between us all. That is going to be very important for next season."

On if there was more emotional effort because of Senior Day...
"There was definitely a lot more emotion being it was the seniors' last game. We also have some changes going on around here, but you cannot let things on the outside affect what is going on in the inside. I know the seniors are leaving, but we didn't change anything or do anything different. All the seniors have worked hard all year long, especially this week in practice. We kept practicing hard, there was great effort from everyone, and we came out and gave it our best today."

On if the team has talked about how to have a better season next year...
"I think it is pretty obvious to see what we need to do on both sides of the ball. We just have to get better on all phases. We have to keep improving, and we can't dwell on this. As sad as it is for these seniors, it hurts I know, but all of those guys are going to have bright futures and we have to move on to next year."

Fresno State Senior Linebacker Ejiro Ederaine

On his last game as a Bulldog and his season as a whole...
"My thoughts on tonight, we were all out there battling. I think they had a couple more special plays on special teams. I feel like on defense, we played good, but defense is a real situation. Special teams gave them three returns, two punts and one kickoff, so defense was playing well, but they didn't score 34 points on us on defense, they only scored 14. On defense, we are playing well, but it is situational, so we have to play better, we have to play the best we can in a situation, not for just a couple of plays. My career here, it has been a long time. I have no regrets, I love being a `Dog, I loved my four years while I was here. I won two championships and three Mountain West titles, so I could not really ask for anything more than that. I met some great people and met some lifelong friends. I feel like my career here at Fresno State has been a full and happy one."

On how emotional tonight was...
"I'm not too emotional of a person, so it will probably hit me when I take the pads off, but I feel like I am an outsider looking in now. For a point in time as a young guy, you are watching film and you see yourself on there and think `Okay Fresno State will always have a number 31', and that is what I thought for the longest time. It is true, Fresno State will always have a number 31, but it is not me anymore. It has not hit me yet that I am no longer a Fresno State athlete."

On playing offense tonight...
"Coach Schramm was actually lobbying me to run the play, and I told him I stopped running offense back in '98. Coach Schramm and I had a good relationship. He asked me if I wanted to run the play so I said yeah. In practice, I went the wrong way because it was a mix up; Kilton [Anderson] gave me the wrong call. It was fun though. I was a little bit nervous because I have never gotten hit before on offense, so I didn't want to get blasted."

On his timeline for the next couple of months...
"I am going to start training, I'll probably take a week or two off, however long it takes to get my body back. Hopefully Jason Clay will get me into an All-Star game and then the rest will be the rest. But until then, I will still be around."

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