Fresno State Athletics
Quotes from Pat Hill's Monday Press Conference
8/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
On the team being able to maintain the intensity after the emotional win at Colorado on Sunday...
"I don't think we'll have any problem maintaining the intensity throughout the season. If you watch the way we practice and the way we do our offseason program, everything we do is at a high level of intensity. We believe in being physical. I don't think there was any question, watching from the sideline, who the more physical team was. It's the same as when we played the [UCLA] Bruins last year, except we just came up on the short end of the stick...We take a lot of pride in that."
"That was the culmination of 220 days. But let me make it clear, that's just one game. We've got a long season to go. We've got a lot of big games coming up. Our goal is to win a championship this year. So there's a lot of things out in front of us, but that was a very good start."
On his own feelings after the game ended...
"I was just really, really happy for the players. They worked so hard. We've had some very, very tough games that have come down to the wire and we haven't pulled them out. And those were against good opponents on the road. I was just very happy for our players."
"After the game, the locker room was not a locker room of joy and jumping up and down. They were very quiet and very focused. They knew exactly the task at hand. We were already talking about Oregon State. I was very proud of the win, and the players were excited about that, but they've got their sights set on the next one now, and that's good."
On the possibility of going into Colorado and looking ahead to the Oregon State game...
"We had our mind on Colorado the whole time. Now we're going to shift gears and get ready for Oregon State. But we really had to win that game to come home and have a chance to have momentum going into the Oregon State game, because Oregon State is really going to be a big-time challenge.
On Oregon State...
"We're talking about one of the better teams in the country coming in here. I don't think there's any doubt they are one of the better teams out there. It'll give us a chance to see what we have. Then the week after we get to travel to Wisconsin, and we'll see what we have there. When I came here, I said we were going to play big-time football at Fresno State, and now we are starting to play at that level. I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind that we are playing Division I football here."
On things that need to be changed from the Colorado game...
"Well, our punter can't be out-kicking our coverage. He's done such a great job. I think the adrenaline was pumping. He was bombing the ball [Sunday] night. Just out-kicking out coverage. I mean, [CU punt returner Roman Hallowell] was their difference-maker. He made some big plays. That one punt return for a touchdown - we had him on the ropes. We were in complete control of the game, and that gave them some real life at the end of the half."
"I'd say we need to work on our punting game. But it's not a matter of hitting bombs. It's a matter of getting height and directionally kicking it from right to left."
"Our play at the end of the game with David Adamo making the tackle at the 6-yard line was a huge play. Our punt coverage has always been good, but we've never had teams take it back on us like that. And it wasn't because of scheme. Very rarely does it happen. We out-kicked our coverage."
"On the defensive side of the ball, we've got to make sure we make those plays on third down. We had some third down stops we could have made, keeping people in front of us and making the tackle. They made some big plays off scrambles and dumping the ball off. They made some big plays. They made some plays that we had well covered and contained."
"Offensively, we're inches away from really breaking that game open on the pass to Berrian on the third down. I thought we did a really good job with the crowd noise. We had one delay of game that was caused by crowd noise, but that was it."
On the penalties (Fresno State had 13 in the game)...
"We've got to watch the penalties. From the middle of the third quarter on, there were 13 penalties and 12 of them were on the Bulldogs. I don't know how that happens, but it sure got a little out of hand at the end. So we've got to make sure we do a better job in those kind of games on the road with the penalties. I don't think officials had anything to do with it. But there was a lot of penalties in the end, and we've got make sure we're more disciplined in the end."
