Fresno State Athletics
Hill Quotes From Monday's Press Conference
10/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 20, 2003
On what the team did during the bye week
"After the bye week, I think all the players reported back Sunday the way I expected. They were fresh and I thought we had a good practice. I really think that our players needed to get away for awhile and hopefully they're mindset is that of making this a start of a new season."
"We spent a lot of time on fundamental individual drills. Once again, we have a team that hasn't had a lot of experience. I don't want to call them a young team anymore because they've played a lot of games but we have not shown over time that we can put a full 60 minutes together in any phase of our game. A lot of has been due to the fact that the opponents we've played have been better. We've had a couple games, against Oregon State and Louisiana Tech, was as close as we've been to playing very good football."
"Once again the phase of our offense of making plays and converting big plays wasn't there [in the wins] but we did enough things in the other two phases to win those games. We haven't put a full game together; the closest thing to that was probably Louisiana Tech. We have not been a consistent football team yet. I think now most of the people that are in the lineup, have been in at least one game, we just have to continue on. So we really worked hard on fundamentals for ourselves."
On the magnitude of this week's game
"We got a 'Game 7' coming up this week. We're just going to play a bunch of Game 7's I guess you could call it. It's another way of saying must-win games down the stretch. We're in charge of our own destiny and it's up to us to take care of business on the field and the first opponent is going to be Rice and that is going to be a very important game for us."
On how he feels about the team after two consecutive losses
"I feel good about it. It's nice to come back after two tough losses like that -- and they were very tough losses -- and still have the chance to attain the goal that you started off the season with. There's no room for error now and obviously we have to win out and starts with Rice Saturday at 4 o'clock at Bulldog Stadium."
 | "It's time to go. The new season starts Saturday and hopefully we are ready to roll." - Fresno State head coach Pat Hill |
On the formation of the Green V Foundation
"Basically what it is going to be is an organization that goes out and talks with the corporate people of the San Joaquin Valley and gets them to become shareholders in Fresno State football and Fresno State athletics. It's going to be a way of buying into a concept of the San Joaquin Valley as being the Green Bay Packers of college football. In other words, it's their way of becoming shareholders in a product that hopefully can back great dividends not only to them but the entire Valley and the entire community. That's what we're selling. We're selling bring back a product that you can represent by being part of the Green V Association. In return, all the national attention that hopefully Fresno State can garner with the V can go back and pay back to this community in the economic growth of this community."
"I think we've seen big strides at Fresno State and the San Joaquin Valley just over the last three years with the TV exposure. I think before long the economic impact that will come back to this community because of the green V if this program is to move forward will be great satisfaction to the people that invest."
"Hopefully, as the Green V grows, it will help everybody in the athletics department. From day one when the buildings are built, the athletics center helps everybody because we do have a new academic center."
"The big picture is you have to be student-athlete friendly. And that's a lot of what the Green V association is going to be able to do. We have to do things to take care of our student-athletes, men and women. If we are going to compete at a higher level we need to give them the facilities in which they can compete. That means not just on the field but off the field."
On Rice
"This is a must-win game. If you lose this game then you're not playing for anything anymore. The Rice game last year was a very, very tough game. We were very fortunate. They'll still in it too. They're 1-1, they're still preaching that if they keep winning they can get a share of the title. It's going to be a tough game for us at home but we'll be ready to play."
"They do a little bit more then run the option. They have two quarterbacks. One can throw it pretty well, Herm can really run it. They've got good play action schemes but still they're a triple-option team. They're a grind-it-out, control-the-clock football team. Last year we were never able to slow them down much, we were just able to make big plays on offense and that's what we're going to need to do in this game. We're going to have to win on first down against them because these guys can grind the football. The key for us is to be able to run the football and keep our defense off the field. When we work on the passing game we have to make big plays, something that we have not done much of this year."
On Paul Pinegar's health
"I think he's doing better. I think the break was good. He has three weeks under his belt and I think he's just about back. I'm looking for a big game for him this week. I really feel that he's ready to do it. I think he's got all of his throws now. We still have to work a little bit on his accuracy, it's just a matter of getting back in the groove. It's time to go. The new season starts Saturday and hopefully we are ready to roll."
"The break has been good. They have six more weeks to really grind now and hopefully gained enough understanding of how the game is played in high-pressure games to win for us. The last two weeks, those two teams, I don't know if you get them any hotter."
