Oct. 29, 2011
Colorado State Head Coach Steve Fairchild
On the end of the game…
“We were in our two-minute drive and we were moving the ball down, getting relatively close to field goal range. We took a shot at the end zone and we didn’t get the coverage we wanted. We knew it was probably a 50/50 deal. We checked it down and he didn’t throw it to where he (QB #4 Pete Thomas) wanted to.”
On the blocked field goal would lead to game-winner…
“Yeah. The way out defense played most of the night, I would have thought we would’ve gotten out of it.”
On the defense having to come out after CSU took the lead…
“You can’t look at one thing, one play in a game like this. There were just a lot of plays. It wasn’t the interception or Chris’ (RB #6 Chris Nwoke) fumble or the last drive. There were 150 plays out there tonight. You know, in the end, we turned it over probably more than they did. They made one more play than we did.”
On #5 Momo Thomas’ punt return fumble before the half…
“You look at it at half time, they had 17 points. Fourteen were off special teams. Our defense in the first half was playing pretty good. We were running the ball well and got going offensively decent there in the second half, enough to come back and take the lead. It just wasn’t enough.”
On the loss being tougher than the others…
“They’re all tough. That’s what football is. You don’t have that many chances. We’ll bounce back and find a way to get a win.”
On special team plays…
“We missed a field goal and gave up a couple long returns. Another one in there is the fumbled punt, we came back late and blocked a field goal. That was a big play for us.”
On finishing drives…
“Settling for three down there, you always feel like it is going to back and bite you.”
On the difficulty of keeping the team composed…
“Not at all. You saw how they played. They played really hard tonight. They were battling. They’re a good group of kids. They’ll play hard. They’re proud in that regard. They’re fun to be around.”
On the emotions on the sideline…
“I thought we were dialed in. I think we were dialed in. Like I said, I was proud of the way they played and hung in there. It was a good effort by them tonight, but we made one too many errors.”
