Fresno State Athletics
Pat Hill Press Conference Quotes
10/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 3, 2005
- The following are selected quotes from head coach Pat Hill's weekly press conference. Fresno State enters this week at 2-1 overall and travels to Las Cruces for its WAC opener against New Mexico State on Saturday, Oct. 8, in a 7 p.m. PST kick-off. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU and locally in the Valley on KFRE WB 59.
General thoughts on New Mexico State:
"A lot of the teams we play have different wrinkles to them. If you look at this week's top-25, there are really only two spread teams (Florida, Texas Tech) that are ranked and the rest are conventional football teams. Once again, we are running into another spread offense this week. New Mexico State will come out in personnel groupings of two backs, three wideouts, sometimes five wideouts with no backs. They spread you out all over the field and try to get the ball out quickly. You have to take the quarterback out of his rythym. If he's dropping the ball quick and we are rallying to it, then that's good...On the defensive side of the ball, they are playing very hard and are a sound team. They have also played a very tough schedule with teams like Colorado, UTEP and California."
"They are improving steadily as a football team. Offensively, they are transitioning from an option team to a spread team and he (New Mexico State head coach Hal Mumme) has only had one year to recruit. I think they are really feeling their way through that process. They are very explosive on special teams and run a lot of reverses. As the year goes on, they'll get better and better."
"They give you a lot of different looks so you have to make sure you know who the eligibles and ineligibles are. If you don't cover them down, they will throw the ball. They will go with the tackle eligible at times, maybe have four wideouts spread to one side. They really just do a lot of different things."
On preparing for a different style of offense each week:
"The biggest thing is it takes away from your fundamental preparation to get your team better every week. That's why during the first hour and half of practice we won't even work on our opponent; we work on us. The last 20 minutes of practice we work on scout teams. If we just spent our whole practice working on preparing for teams that we play, I think we would go down ourselves as a football team. 35 minutes out of a two-hour practice are spent on an opponent; the rest is spent on us."
On the availability of senior Garrett McIntyre:
"We'll see tomorrow- that's a big day for Garrett. I think he's going to be fine. Tomorrow is a live practice and he's going so it will be important for us to see him."
Reacting to the team's slow start vs. Toledo:
"We didn't start off hungry but we were really hungry after a couple of series. I think the word was circling in the locker room that their quarterback was out and our kids were really looking forward to playing against him. I think that was sort of a letdown. Coming into the stadium it was a little quiet and not the typical gameday atmosphere. Once it built up and got going and we started making some plays, the electricity took off and our players got it together."
On the importance of starting fast this weekend:
"We need to get familiar with starting fast. Las Cruces is an environment that we don't know too much about and we need to go in there ready to play and be focused. Last year at Louisiana Tech, I thought we started great and we talked all week about doing that. We just had some things happen to us early and all of a sudden everyone was panicking to make plays. On Saturday against New Mexico State, we just need to be the better team. That's one thing I like about watching USC play- they don't panic and keep going, come from behind and win the game like it's no big deal. The number one priority is to win."
On the upcoming schedule:
"The next three weeks will be pretty methodical as far as the same schedule. For the coaches, it will little tougher on Sunday getting back at around 4 a.m. and started on the next opponent. We've got a home game against Utah State and then Idaho. After that, it gets a little hectic with travel as far as short weeks and long weeks. But the next three weeks will be consistent, which I like."
On playing hard every week:
"We have never taken an opponent lightly, nor will we. We respect everybody we play and we know that when people play us, they are ready to go. We've had some tough games against teams that did not have a good record at the time. The way New Mexico State played against California is the way they'll play against us."
On the status of running back Dwayne Wright:
"By the end of October I'd like to see him get into some live drills. I'm certainly not counting on him for this game. He has not taken a hit since the Kansas State game last year. He is making improvement and is a really key guy for our football team. Whether or not he plays this year is up to him."
