Fresno State Athletics
Pat Hill Quotes From Tuesday's Press Conference
10/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 14, 2003
On Hawaii QB Timmy Chang's performance
"For a guy to put the ball on the money on a dead run on the front shoulder as many times as he did is a really rare feat. I thought Timmy Chang put on a helluva exhibition. Their receivers are small and very quick and they executed very wel -- a lot better than we did.
General thoughts on the loss at Hawaii
"I can't really put my finger on it. We couldn't really get the pressure on them that we needed. There weren't many badly thrown balls. And that game with 4:19 to go in the second quarter was 17-14, then with three quick scores we were out of it. We just had some big breakdowns in certain points in the game. We had the same thing the week before against Colorado State. I don't really know what to blame it on, except we made some critical mistakes at times. Maybe that has to do with experience. I think it has a lot more to do with the other team executing well."
"I think our offensive line played very well in the first half when we were running and passing but when we got into a two-minute passing mode on every down, those kids just couldn't hold up. That's asking an awful lot of them. We are not the kind of team that works very well down by three scores. I don't know many that are. It doesn't fit us very well."
"We're not playing well in any phases right now. We've been beat in all three phases I think the last two games by teams that are good. Still, the difference is we were outplayed the last two weeks on the road. What we need to do is regroup. We have a lot of work to do still with this football team."
"When people step up to make plays, they usually win games and we got to have more plays being made. We're not making plays on offense, defense and we're not making the big plays on special teams. We got to get that edge back."
On the performance of QB Paul Pinegar
"I think the one bright point is that Paul did well. I think he did some good things. Once again, we put him in a situation where he was down by three or four touchdowns, and that's a tough road to hoe."
On his plan for the team during the off week
"We just have to get back to working on fundamentals. Every week you get so caught up in preparing for an opponent, all the things they do, a lot of the times you get beat on fundamentals. There are a lot of good plays going on out there. They were hitting guys that were open. I thought Hawaii had a great game plan. They did not beat us down the field.
On Hawaii's fake punt late in the game and whether he takes umbrage at that
"None of that stuff really bothers me. We're going for the all out block, so it's a good play. If they pull it off, great; if they don't pull it off, we get the ball right there. So they're taking a big gamble, too. We're going for the block. We're doing things trying to force the issue. From the start of the third quarter on, we're trying to force the issue. Really, the last two drives of the first half, we were trying to get back into the game and it backfired on us because that's really not the way we play."
General thoughts on the Bulldogs at the moment
"Our whole thing since I've been here is during tough games to be in position to win the fourth quarter. The last two weeks we haven't been in position in the fourth quarter."
"We need to control the clock, we need to make big plays, we have to keep the defense off the field and we have to win in special teams to be successful."
On winning the WAC
"We have to win every week now if we want to win the conference. We have some tough games ahead of us. Every game on the schedule for us is going to be a difficult game. This is a team right now that is not playing the way we want it to be playing. Coaching and playing -- we have to step up our level of play but the last two weeks we have not been a good football team."
On the last two weeks
"Those two losses have been hard. I said it at the beginning of the season that those two road trips were going to be hard. Just the road trips alone and where they sat in the season was tough. Weeks 10 and 11 are tough weeks in college football. We have a bye at a very good time. Towards the end of October and November is when teams make runs for championships.
Looking ahead to the next few weeks
"So now we have to make a run. We had five, six, and five-game runs the last three years and we hopefully we can do the same this year. We have some tough games. This team is by no means a team that is just going to show up and win. That's very obvious. This team has to work very hard, we have to play very good, we have to play very smart and we have to be good with the football. We have to be good in all three phases if we are going to be successful and you can see what happens when we don't do that."
