Fresno State Athletics
Post Game Quotes
10/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Coach Tim DeRuyter - San Diego State Game - 10/3/14
Recap
"I thought we had a tough football game tonight. Our guys had a really gritty performance out there. We knew going in that we were going to be playing a very tough San Diego State team, that was very well coached and they played like it tonight. I guys know that every time we play San Diego State it is going to be a fight. They were into it, our guys were into it and I am just really pleased at the way that we continue to make plays to win football games. Our team was maligned after the first three games, and rightly so, but our guys proved that we are capable of accomplishing our number one goal. And that is winning the Mountain West Conference, and we took one more step today going 2-0 overall. I am glad that we got out of this game overall healthy and want to congratulate San Diego State, they did a great job and played a great ball game."
On containing Pumphrey....
"It was a big goal of ours to not let him have the explosive runs tonight. He did have a few, but that happens when you are that great of a football player. He does a nice job of getting yardage after contact. He is an impressive back, our guys rose to the challenge and kept him under 100 yards. I don't know how many teams are going to be able to keep that guy under 100 yards. I give a lot of credit to our defensive guys, they gave a great effort and our coaches did well too."
On keeping Bawden under 100 yards passing...
"We knew that he was really athletic and has great footwork, and he demonstrated that tonight. He was really effective extending plays and moving the chains by running the football. We anticipated that they were going to try to get him some easy throws in the beginning, and they did. We knew they were going to take some shots, which they did from the opening play. He has a strong arm and it is tough anytime you have to have a true freshman come in and play. I thought he competed well and he will get better once his career continues."
On why SDSU waited to use Bawden's legs...
"I don't know if SDSU had designed runs, but the runs that I remember him making were quarterback scrambles and he did an effective job of that. You will have to ask SDSU about more of their play calls."
On facing a true freshman quarterback...
"As the game went on we started to play more conservatively. I coached based on the flow of the game, not on what we anticipated to happen, because we really don't know what to anticipate from the quarterback. We knew he was there last spring and won the number two job. I know coach Toledo and he had a heck of a play call on that last touchdown that they threw to the tight-end on a sprint throw. We messed up a call on that play, and they were able to take advantage of our mistake. They are always doing a lot of different things in the run game as well as their throw game that is different every week. It is always a challenge to play against their offense."
On playing UNLV next Friday...
"You know I obviously haven't looked at them yet, but anytime you go on the road it is difficult; especially in conference. Anytime you beat someone the year before they have a grudge that they want to take out on you. We know it'll be a hostile environment, but our guys like a challenge. We have some momentum now, depending on the week we will have to either lean on the offense or the defense. Just like this week we had to depend on the defense. Some weeks it might have to be the special teams, last game the offense really shined. We have a team that is well rounded and I think that we have a team that will be able to go on the road or at home and find ways to win. That is something that I like about our team, we find ways to win."
On the Donavon Lewis interception...
"That was a drive that their offense had gotten a couple first downs, and their play on first and ten is to throw up and cross the 50 and I think coach Toth made a call to drop coverage. So our guy dropped coverage and it got tipped a couple of times and Lewis ended up getting it. It was a huge play and one of the plays of the game that made a huge difference. I think that if they would've gotten the opportunity to score a touchdown or kick a field goal it could've been a totally different ball game. The momentum was starting to sway their way, but obviously getting take-aways was huge. I think that we won the turnover battle 3-2. In my opinion when you get into tight games like this it comes down to the turnovers, and it was true today."
On Jamal Ellis' interception...
"Jamal Ellis picked it but Donavan Lewis got his big hand up and tipped it. It was well designed, they pretended and faked throwing the ball very deep and they had a little slip screen set up. Jamal kind of snipped it out but when D. Lew tipped it the ball got away from their guy and they did a great job getting it, we were able to score off of that to make the difference. "
On how key that play was for the game...
"College football is a game of momentum, we had it at times and they had it at times but at that point in the game. Stopping us and having the ball back was one of those times that we needed a momentum changing play and clearly that changed it. Didn't ice is necessarily but it made a big difference."
On the different offensive plays...
"Rocky and his staff do a great job with just very unconventional defense. We believe you have to spread them out at times to see the pressures coming, but we didn't see a lot of the stuff we worked on this week. We saw a little bit of it but not a ton, then you're seeing a lot of pressure looks and we try to run into those things and use to quarterback as an extra runner. We also used some two tight end stuff, our Michigan package will bring different personal and quarterback run. They force you to do things like that, I like that we have those guys on our team that can play effectively. I think as we go through the season there will be roles for those kind of personal groupings, when you play a defense like this I think you have to get the quarterback to run because they're doing an effective job at slowing our passing game down."
On their confusion on defense...
"You have to give them credit, they did a good job disguising coverages and being physical receivers, that's what they've done for a long time so I give them credit."
On third and fourth downs completions...
"I was pleased with our third and fourth down executions, it is something that we work on every week and I'm glad it showed. Brain had some good throws tonight and we were able to run the ball on a third and seven, which was great. We also ran a play on third and goal and were able to convert. It's always great when you're throwing well and running well and a defense doesn't know what you are going to do with the ball, you really have an advantage. I think that we really executed well tonight which is the reason for the stats that you see."
On SDSU's keeping their offense on the field...
"It can throw our guys off a little, because they get antsy on the sidelines. Defensively we are trying to get off the field as quickly as possible and stopping them from converting third downs. Our offensive just has to deal with it, just like if they were to go three and out the defense would have to deal with it; it is just a part of the game.
On Connettte's play today...
"He's really an effective runner, especially in the open field tonight. We are always trying to change things up to put them off balance. We want to show them things that they haven't seen before and against a defense like that you have to run some power football and we were able to do that tonight.
On whether this was the best defensive performance of the season...
"I think so. Obviously we struggled in the first three games. But we knew the mistakes that we made and what we needed to correct and fix. We went back to the drawing board and practice everyday trying to get better and better and it's starting to pay off and show on the field now."
On advantage of facing a true freshman quarterback...
"You don't have any film on him. You know the offensive system they run, but you don't have any film on the freshman quarterback (Bawden). So it's kind of a good and a bad thing. It's a good thing that he doesn't have the experience. We can try to disguise more things and get him with things he hasn't seen. But, it's also difficult because we haven't seen him. We knew he was athletic, but he got us with a few runs late in the game. You have to take the good with the bad with a guy you haven't seen."
On if this was a game where the defense had to step up and make all the plays...
"Every game, as a defense, you go in wanting to make plays and make stops. This game just turned out that we needed a few more stops than usual. Our offense put up enough points and we held them down to enough points where we can get the `W'. It's always good to go out there and play a physical team and play a physical game and come out with a win."
On preparation for this week's game following the New Mexico game...
"I didn't know they were picking on me. I guess if they were it didn't work, cause we got the `W'. I go out there and play with a ton of confidence no matter who we are playing. I tell our team before the game to go out and play like they are the best player on the field. If everyone goes out and does that then we go out there and play with confidence and have fun and get the job done."
On the new uniforms...
"I like both of them (blue and black), but I might have to go with this one (blue). A lot of people have black uniforms, but this one is a little different and it's special to us."
On two turnovers forced in the fourth quarter...
"They were definitely big plays. On the first one that Donovan Lewis caught, I actually dropped down into the box and played a short route and barely got a hand on it. Then Curtis Riley got a hand on it, I gotta work on my DB's catching skills, but then Donovan got his hands on it so that was definitely a big turnover. The second one, again, Donovan Lewis in the right spot at the right time doing his job. They tried to run a slip screen, but he was still there playing his responsibilities and got his hand on the ball. Jamal (Ellis) came up with a big time play and caught it."
On his big interception...
"Deron has more picks than me, so Deron has the best hands, but I'm catching up."
On how it felt to stand up with the ball in his hands after the interception...
"It was fine. You see the ball tip off two of my own defensive guys' hands, and I just come out of nowhere and snatch it. I give them the credit because they obviously had to tip the ball. They kept it alive. Tips and overthrows--you have to get those."
On whether or not that stopped SDSU's momentum at that point...
"They were getting the momentum. I don't think they had it, yet. With them tipping the ball and me being able to pick that off, it helped changed that and put the momentum in our hands. I don't think they had the momentum."
On what defense play was called to be in the right place...
"I know we were dropping everybody. Everybody was in coverage except for our D-linemen, so that's why they were able to tip it, and I was able to come from my side of the field over to the other side of the field and get it. Anytime you have a bunch of guys covering four receivers, it's tough to throw that ball, and that's what he did."
On being a senior and how good it feels sitting next to the Oil Can for the third and last time...
"It feels great. As long as I've been here, I've only lost to San Diego one time, and that was my freshman year. Under this staff, we haven't lost to them. It's a blessing, and I'm grateful for it and grateful for my teammates and the coaching staff. It's just a blessing. It's great."
On the high expectations for the defense at the beginning of the season...
"Truth is, the first three games, defensively, I can't speak on offense's part, we weren't assignment-sound, and we weren't discipline enough. I feel like we are becoming more a more disciplined team and we're more assignment-sound, and it's showing. We have a three-game winning streak, and it's showing that we are doing our jobs, and that's what it comes down to. Once you start playing for yourself, you won't win any games."
On this game feeling like last year's defense...
"Defensively, we believe that we can run one play, and if everybody does his job, we can stop anything offense throws at us. Coach Toth has stuff up his sleeve, and he'll bring it out when he needs to."
On how important he felt this win was in order to defend their Mountain West title...
"Its real big. Any win in conference is a big win, but getting the win against a big team like San Diego state is a huge win. It feels great to get the win against a big team who figures to be at the top of the standings when it's all said and done, so that's real good for us."
On what it was like to have Derick Carr present at tonight's game and if he gave any inspirational advice...
"He basically told us to go out there and have fun. He told us to play for each other because we're family. He misses it here."
On how relieved he was to get the win, based off of how the flow of the game was going....
"I'm relieved, we got the win, and so anytime we get the win I'm happy."
On how this was the first time Fresno scored in the 1st quarter, how good it felt to get that "monkey" off their back...
"It's big. Anytime we can go out there and get out to a big lead and let defense do their thing like they did this game is great. Playing a team like San Diego State where they run the ball and they're just killing the clock and we got out to that big lead and our defense just held it down for us."
On how they're now 3-3, and if it feel as if they are starting over at 0-0...
"We are starting over. But it's actually conference and in conference we are 2-0, that's how we're looking at it. Those games are behind us and we can't fix them but in conference we are 2-0, that's how we see it."
On his thoughts on his two pass interference calls...
"I was just running my route and he was just overly aggressive. They have an aggressive defense but he was just aggressive on those two plays."
On his thoughts on the bickering happening between the teams...
"He is just real competitive and too physical. I guess he didn't think he was too physical but the field doesn't lie."
