Sept. 26, 2006
On UNR:
"I think they are a very good football team. They do a good job running the ball out of the shotgun. Their quarterback, Jeff Rowe, is a very efficient passer and we have a lot of respect for him."
On the rivalry:
"The thing that makes this one so awesome is the history. The north was settled first and populated first and then Las Vegas and the south have grown so immensely since then. Then the fact that you have the two Division-I, college football universities in those two areas, it is the North against the South."
"The focus is on the players and who plays better at 7:06 Saturday night for four quarters. The focus on this game is about that. It's not about all the other things and obviously the build up to it is fun, no question. But the thing we have to focus on is how the players prepare and how the teams are prepared and how they play. That is what it is all about."
On playing for the Fremont Cannon:
"I was involved with the Commander In Chief trophy with the military academies and the shillelagh with USC and Notre Dame, but this one I think is the most special and historic because of the history of the state and John C. Fremont. The Fremont Cannon is an awesome trophy."
On the importance of the game:
"This game is a special game for us. Wherever you are, the rivalry game is important. Every game is important, but this game is very important because it is the championship of Nevada. This is a gigantic rivalry game and we are looking forward to it. We're fired up and excited. Our staff, including me, understands this rivalry a lot better this year than we did last year."
On calling UNR the 'Team up North':
"The main purpose is to make everyone realize that this game is different than any other game and this team we're playing is different than any other opponent. It's special so we give them a special name. It helps, for us, to draw more attention to this game."
On what this game means overall to UNLV's season:
"I don't think that the season is a success or a failure based on one particular game. Right now we are 25 percent through the season and there is a lot of football to be played. There are a lot of games after this. I don't want to lessen the importance of this game, but I don't want to overdo the importance of it either."
"Our mentality is being 1-0 each week. That is what we are all about this week is being 1-0. What you have to be able to do is live in a vacuum of that week. Put what happened before behind you, don't worry about what is ahead and live in that vacuum."
On having the bye week to prepare:
"It was good for us to be able to analyze ourselves a little bit, look at how people were defending us, how people were attacking our defense and to see some things that we did wrong. To learn from them and practice those specific things."
On the team rebounding from the Hawaii loss:
"I am really anxious to see how we bounce back. That is a challenge. How are we going to play, how are we going to bounce back. I don't want to assume we are. That is a lot of the story of this game. How is UNLV going to bounce back from the last time we played?"
