Fresno State Athletics
Pat Hill Quotes From Monday's Press Conference
10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2001
On the Colorado State game being picked up by ESPN
"It's what we need. It's what we really need...I would like to snuff out the idea that everybody has that there's no way Fresno State can play in one of these BCS games. If we keep winning, we're going to play in one of these games. We'll be 13-0, but we've got to keep winning. That should be the main emphasis. It's not what score you win by or who you are playing. We've just got to keep winning."
"It's all up to what we do. We've just got to keep winning games. It'd be nice if everyone just went along with that. Just keep winning, and enjoy it. Have a little fun with it. Have a little fun with winning. Because I think good things will happen."
On the CSU game and the schedule after that
"It's going to be a very, very tough game. If we get by that one, we've got Boise State here, and that's a very good football team. Then we'll go to Hawai'i. So there are going to be some big games and some big challenges."
On the Louisiana Tech game
"We were challenged very hard by a good team. They were a very good team that night. What they do the rest of the season, I don't know. That's the team that took Miami to 10 or 11 points last year."
"They were ready to go. They had a great concept with the no-huddle offense that they hadn't shown. They had more weapons on the field offensively. The quarterback had a great game. A lot of his players were made on scrambles. They manufactured some plays. They had two halfback option passes for touchdowns. People forget, we had almost 600 yards in offense in this game. So it's not like we didn't show up. We played hard that night, but you're going to have tough football games. We won by 10 against a team that played very, very good that night."
"It was very hard to throw early in the game against them. So you saw our tight ends involved. That's what they were giving us. As the game wore on, more of our weapons became involved. It was a game that if the running game didn't come through, and the stuff to the tight end didn't come through, it would have been a lot more difficult."
On the Utah State game despite rumors that it might be better to cancel it
"We are playing Utah State here. We need a home game. Nobody's going to come here and play us. But I'm not going to play eight road games. We need that sixth home game. We need that revenue. And we need to have a home game for our fans. We are playing Utah State."
"There's nobody in the country that plays eight road games. We're playing seven, and there's no many that play seven. There's nobody in that top 10 that plays seven road games."
On the bye week in relation to preparing for Colorado State
"We've got a lot of little things we've got to work on to make us better. We'll get a lot of good work this week. We don't get to far in advance. Colorado State is going to be Colorado State. Louisiana Tech came in with a lot of different stuff. They really changed a lot of what they did. They did that not as smoke and mirrors. They had their three receivers back. They were able to do a lot more. Defensively, they really made some changes. They did a good job of preparing themselves. But we still had over 500 yards offense."
On the two halfback option passes for touchdowns
"Our defense is really aggressive, and sometimes you live by the sword, sometimes you die by the sword. We're going to play aggressive on defense. On third down, sometimes people make big plays on us. But the thing I like about our defense is they make turnovers. We've had 14 turnovers, and we've given it up twice. We work very hard on that. We work fumble drills three days a week. We secure the ball."
On the Colorado State game
"I think they're good. They won, what, four straight conference championships. That's a good program. They don't lose many games in Fort Collins. It's going to be a very, very tough game. It'll be a nice, brisk night. It'll be a tough, tough game. And that's what we need. We need those tough games. And the bottom line is we have to win."
"I'll promise you, they will be a team that wins eight, nine or 10 games this year. They are a good team."
On Paris Gaines' effort
"We needed Paris Gaines because the run game was something we had to do. [Louisiana Tech was] committed to the pass. Guys were thinking pass coverage, and they were hoping their inside guys could handle the run, and they didn't. Paris showed the breakaway speed we haven't seen in two years. He carried the ball 27 times, which is the kind of back we like. He finished his runs with his pads down, was knocking people over. That's the kind of running game we want here."
