Fresno State Athletics
Pat Hill Quotes From Monday's Press Conference
9/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 16, 2002
On the Oregon State game
"I think this will be our toughest game to date after watching them a lot on film. Oregon State is really good on defense. They have guys that can rush the passer and guys that can re-route receivers, and that's a good combination when you're playing defense. I don't think they've been tested yet. They basically dismantled three teams: Eastern Kentucky, Temple and UNLV. I think we're going to walk into a hornet's nest. They're going to be really excited and their fans are going to be into it and that's good. It's what a football game should be like. You're going to have two highly motivated football teams."
On Fresno State's quarterback situation
"We're going to start Jeff [Grady]. If he can hold up and is not having problems with his mobility, we're going to go with him. Against Wisconsin, he had a whale of a game and he's come back from that. Paul [Pinegar] has done a great job filling in for him. The great thing about it is we have two good quarterbacks and that's a good situation to be in. In practice, Grady has been looking good again. His timing and rhythm look good, so he should be ready to go."
On the running back situation
"Rodney Davis is our starting tailback right now. Therrian [Fontenot] has been out for three and a half weeks, so it was good to see him get some live action [Sunday night in practice]. Hopefully, we can do some things with him in this football game because he is our fastest player. We have high expectations for Therrian, so hopefully we can get him back into a groove starting with Oregon State. We have to get him some game reps and hopefully once the WAC schedule rolls around he can contribute. I think you're going to see a little bit more of James Cummings at fullback.
"[Matt] Rivera is doing better. He hurt his foot and his ankle [against Oregon]. Rivera is a good steady football player, especially on third downs and passing situations. He always had the better understanding of our protection schemes, but now that we're into the seventh week Davis has picked up the full picture of our protections, the blitz adjust, the running game, the receiving, the routes and everything else. There was a lot to it, so there were times when we substituted Davis out because we weren't sure if he quite had it."
On Charles Ealy being dismissed from the team
"It was situation I call 'conduct detrimental to the team.' It was something that happened off campus. It was a situation in that he was definitely in the wrong and as a football coach you have rules. Even though it didn't go to the police or anything of that nature, what he did was wrong. My position was that he would no longer be on this team. He is a good young man who made a very bad decision."
On Clarence Denning quitting the team
"He was a guy with a lot of potential. He had some big games while he's been here. I wish him the best of luck. We went up there last week to Oregon, and he pulled himself out a week before the Oregon game. The game of football is a very tough game, it's not for everybody. Clarence has chosen that this is not what he wants to do."
On getting respect from the opponent
"I think it speaks volumes about our program that teams like Wisconsin and Oregon State point to us as a key matchup in their non-conference schedule. In places like Eugene, Ore., Madison, Wis., and Boulder, Colo., Fresno State is a big game for people because we're a quality football team and they need to put to sleep the critics that feel they should pound on us. We lost to Oregon State in 1999 and we beat them last year. Both times, the score didn't indicate how close and tough the games actually were. I know this year there will be a revenge factor when we go up to Corvallis."
 | I don't feel the pressure of having to win. I think it's important to win every week. - Fresno State head coach Pat Hill |
On both team's outlook for this game
"I think the crowd's mindset for this game will be different from the Oregon game. I don't think the people in Eugene filed into that stadium with the mindset the people in Corvallis will be filing with. I don't the Oregon team went into that game with a payback attitude that Oregon State is going in with. But we also had the same thing with Wisconsin and like I've said many times, once you get hit in the mouth, you just start fighting, and it really doesn't matter what happened the year before."
"But I feel Oregon State has a very strong mindset going into this game, just like I thought Wisconsin did. I think mindset and mental approach to the game is key. The key for us is getting our mindset ready to go into a game that is going to be very physical. It's going to be important for us to have success early because the crowd is going to be into it."
On losing close games early in the season
"I don't feel the pressure of having to win. I think it's important to win every week. I don't feel this is a 'must' game. The 'must' games are the conference games. This one doesn't add anymore pressure than the others do. This is just one of those games where you just have to go in there and win, the bottom line is winning in our profession. We've been in positions to win, we just haven't gotten it done. All three games this year have been high-powered games. I hope this game comes down to the fourth quarter and we make the plays to win it."
