Nov. 26, 2011
San Diego State Head Coach Rocky Long
Opening Statement…
“It’s a great win. They play really well at home. They were 2-2 at home. They struggle on the road. We knew we were in for a battle. We didn’t play worth a darn in the first half, on offense or defense. We gave up two long runs on defense and our offense couldn’t put the ball in the end zone except for one long run by Ronnie [Hillman]. So, we didn’t play again in the first half, but we were good enough in the second half, and showed enough character that we found a way to win.”
On SDSU starting game slowly, working out…
“No, it’s not. Who cares? We care. We try to address it every week. We talk about it every time. We try to train it, the early part of practice. I don’t know why. On defense, that is the way we have been all year long. On offense, that’s just a new phenomenon the last three or four weeks, so maybe they’re taking their lessons from the defense.”
On anything done differently in the second half…
“Well we made all these fantastic adjustments at halftime, because we are such really good coaches. (Laughs) No, we ran the exact same defense in the second half that we ran in the first half. We called a few things differently and adjusted one coverage. We didn’t make a bunch of gigantic adjustments at half time. The kids just executed better.”
On Ryan Lindley’s play between the first and second halves…
“I think he is just like our team. I don’t think our receivers were getting open and he wasn’t very accurate with the football in the first half. In the second half, he made some really nice throws and the receivers made some really nice catches. The throw for the touchdown that kind of put us ahead to stay was really a nice catch by Dylan Denso.”
On going for fourth down & not kicking, faith in Abelardo Perez…
“We were only three points ahead. I figured if they were going to drive it down and kick a field goal, and go to overtime. It was time for us to put the ball game away and give our team a chance to win it. Had nothing to do with Abel (Abelardo Perez).”
On reaching seven wins & confidence level…
“I don’t feel confident at all. I told some people at the beginning of the week that it doesn’t matter if we are 8-4, 7-5 or 6-6. I think it is just the luck of the draw.”
