Fresno State Athletics
Postgame Quotes
9/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery 
Coach Tim DeRuyter - Nebraska Game - 9/13/14
Recap
"Our goals are still ahead of us, and that's win the MW Conference. We need to make Bulldog Stadium our stadium and protect it. We're going to get together as coaches and figure out what we need to do. We're going to come back Monday with a renewed spirt for our team and get this thing back on track."
On the lack of competitiveness in these last three games...
"I thought we would be much more competitive. I didn't think that today we had a lack of competitiveness, I think we got out classed. We have a young football team that is trying to gel, and when you hit adversity it's difficult. Three straight games now we haven't started very well. Once we get into the flow of the game, I thought we competed very well. Clearly we weren't good enough again today. You have to give Nebraska credit; they have a good football team. We've got to do the things that we can do. We have some corrections to make, we need to see some growth from our players, and I look forward to us getting better this week. We thought at the beginning of the season that we were going to be a better team week 9 and 10 then we were the first three weeks. We knew it was going to be uphill, but not like this."
On the QB situation...
"Brian had a good week of practice. Brandon was injured, so he had very limited team snaps in practice. We decided that he was only going to play in emergency situations. We weren't going to put him in harm's way if we didn't have to. I think he will be fine this week, but he wasn't ready to go 100% today."
On seeing anything in particular about Burrell...
"Brian continues to compete well. He did a great job on the reads and in the play where he ran it in for a touchdown. He's feeling more comfortable in our offense. But clearly there are some things and reads that he missed, but he knows that he has to get better at it for us to be a good offense. We do have to protect him better to make it easier on him."
On Brandon practicing this week...
"I know he will try to practice. From what I understand from our trainers he will be closer to being 100% this week. When you're new you can't afford to miss a week's worth of practice and expect to go out and play competitively. We didn't want to put him in that situation."
On Nebraska showing something different compared to what they've done the past 2 weeks...
"People have different wrinkles, but the main core of their offense and defense were all things we worked on. They did a really nice job executing it. They have excellent football players and are a team that is very worthy of their ranking."
On the first touchdown that was given up...
"There was a miscommunication. We changed the call and one guy didn't get it and we ended up with busted coverage. Obviously we have to get that corrected. When it is loud and noisy, it puts pressure on the opposing offense, but it also makes it difficult to communicate on defense. We have to get cleaner on that."
On Dillon Root playing...
"I was happy to see Dillon makes some plays. He knows that he has to improve, but I am happy with what I have been seeing out of Dillon. We have to have him be a little bit more involved with the offense, but he showed in that punt return his ability to shake guys. Those guys have to be playmakers for us, as we go forward I expect him to improve and get him some more touches."
Senior safety, #13 Derron Smith
On beginning the season with a difficult start
"Definitely difficult, especially as a defense being three and zero, but we just have to pull through it, we will get through it."
Thoughts on the number of big plays contributed by the defense...
"As a defense you have to win those big plays, several things that hurt us, there are definitely corrections. Offense is always going to make that play, and as a defense you have to win those big plays, and we obviously haven't done a good job at doing so. Several things have hurt us from week one all the way to week three, we just need to get to practice and fix it."
If the team's downfall thus far will be able to be easily fixed...
"Obviously it isn't a quick fix, but we have been working on it since week one. We haven't done as great of a job as we wanted to but we have been working on it since the first week, we just have to keep working. The defense is a work in progress."
On his view of what happened with Nebraska's first touchdown of the game...
"Like coach said, we had a rough time trying to get another call out to the entire defense. There was a lot of miscommunication, and obviously you are able to see what happens when you have a lack of communication; someone is able to run right past you and run down the field."
Speaking about his role as team captain and his message to the team moving forward...
"Like I've said before, we just need to stick together. Times like this teams can either start their season getting going or stay in a slump. The captains, as well as the upper classmen defiantly have to do a good job in leading, we need to lock arms and look forward to our schedule next week."
Whether he was aware of the tough start they were going to have the first few games...
"Of course, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew we were up against some tough teams, that is what we wanted. We wanted to be able to get on the field with some talent. Defiantly thought today we played better, just need to learn from the mistakes that we have made, and move on to our conference game."
His view on DB Shannon Edwards...
"I thought Shannon did a great job, he was vocal, and he communicated, and made sure to be in the right spot. He made some mistakes, but I still make some mistakes. Everyone on defense still makes mistakes, but I think each week he earns the coach's confidence. Each day in practice he gets better. I'm very confident in his ability to play alongside our team."
Nebraska Quotes
Head Coach Bo Pelini
Opening Statement
"Obviously we're excited to get the win. It was a good win to go onto the road and play this way. I like how we came out with good energy and I saw some good things and some things that we will look for on tape and clean up. But we will take it and move on to the next one. We're looking forward to another great week of preparation."
On jumping on Fresno State 14-0 early...
"It was important. We came out and had a good check on the third down after the timeout (on the first touchdown). We executed well early and defenisivley we came out and played well. I thought it was a good team effort and starting the game well was important. The crowd was into the game and that took the wind out of their sails a little bit."
On spark provided by De'Mornay Pierson-El...
"He did a great job. Out guys blocked really well for him, but he is a fearless guy back there and someone that can really make plays with the ball in his hands."
On importance of bounce-back game like this after close win over McNeese State...
"Trust me, there were a lot of mistakes out there and things we need to do to get better, but like I said, I thought it was a good effort and we will learn from it and go on to the next one. We need to keep getting better. You just look across the country, what happened to us last week (against McNeese State) happens a lot. We won the football game. We're 3-0 and now our next goal is to become 4-0 next week."
On continuing to pressure Fresno State after building big lead at halftime...
"I said we needed to come out with energy. It's hard to keep your stinger in this game. That was the longest football game I've ever been apart of. It was a strange game, especially in the second half. I thought our guys kept playing and played hard."
On getting star DE Randy Gregory back in the mix tonight...
"He didn't feel good, his stomach was really bothering him after the first series and obviously the heat doesn't help someone who hasn't played in awhile. But he got better as the game went on and that was a good sign. Trust me, he is a difference maker so having him out there is a big deal."
On odd safety in 1st quarter on Fresno State pooch punt...
"I don't know what that was. I thought I had seen it all, but that one took the cake."
On WR Lane Hovey...
"I think he shows that he is a pretty explosive kid. He had a nice night. I don't know how many catches he had, but he made some really nice catches and showed some explosion. He is a guy that we have a lot of confidence in. He's a very good football player."
On moment after game with Fresno State QB Brandon Connette...
"I don't know the young man, but I had heard about the situation. I happened to run into him after the game. I lost my mother to cancer and I have a lot of people in my life that have been through it. It was the right thing to do and I feel for the young man."
On if this game was proof of the solid team...
"The challenge is to come every week. I mean, my approach when I watch this film tomorrow and with this team this week, won't be any different this week than it was last week. Trust me, there were a lot of mistakes out there. There's a lot of things we need to do to keep getting better. That's the key, just keep moving forward. Keep working to improve every week and every day that we're out there. There's a lot out there for this team. That's the key is to do it every day. That's the challenge. That's the challenge for me, for us as coaches, and for a football team."
On the passing...
"Pretty good. We did some pretty good things; we did a lot of good things on fast defense. They just kept throwing it. There were some mistakes, but there were some good things. I thought we contested the ball well. We gave a variety of coverages. I thought it was really good to give Josh Kalu the amount of snaps he got. That's going to be important for us as we move forward. It was good. I liked how we played. I thought there were a lot of good things out there. I mean how many plays did they have? 110? Something like that? I'm joking, but it seemed like a lot.
On the challenges to face going forward...
"We'll be ready. I'm still fighting a little bit with the right thing to do is with the guys for the next 24 hours. It's unusual. We might not get back until 10. I don't know what time it is, but it sure seems like it's well into Sunday already."
On performance of offense...
"For what we got, the unusual things we got from them, and the amount of blitz, I think we probably could've kept throwing the ball, but we didn't want to do that. We wanted to run the ball and keep the clock going. Really what Fresno's game plan was really lent us throwing the football, and after awhile, we really didn't want to do that. It is what it is. I saw some good things. I'm looking forward to seeing the film and seeing how we progressed. I'm ready to move on to the next one, and I'm sure probably you guys are, too."
On Drew Brown's reaction to missing his first field goal...
"You saw, he responded great. He's a tough-minded kid. You're not going to make him all... No one's perfect, but it didn't surprise me at all the way he responded. I've seen him do it before."
Tommy Armstrong Jr #4
On his first 70 yard throw at the start of the game
"I knew it was going to be hard for the safety to get over to where Jordan was but I didn't want to give them time to get set because the slower we were, the more time they had to get their defense set. I knew going in to it, it was going to be a tough play for them to cover."
On his opinion on how important it was to start the game off with 2 touchdowns in 3 minutes.
"I thought it was very important to start off how we did. Its always important to get a jumpstart on the game. Being able to accomplish what we accomplished and being able to out play them and be able to put some points on the board that early in the game is very important."
His view on the weather...
"It was tough but it is nothing we haven't seen before. It wasn't windy or humid, it was just hot. I felt like it was hard to breathe sometimes but being able to go out there and do what we were doing really helped us out."
If he felt Nebraska had something to prove "No we didn't have anything to prove, we just wanted to go out and play our football. I feel like last week, we were playing how they wanted us to play but this game, we played our offense. We went out there and we just had fun and played what we saw. They gave us different looks and we had a couple of busts here and there but I feel that we handled it the right way."
If Nebraska used any film to help them prepare for the game
"We saw that they were bad at communication. We knew that if we got our offense set up quick enough, they wouldn't have time to call out their defensive plays. We wanted to set the tempo and run our offense how we wanted to."
How important he feels it is to recover for next week's home game vs Miami...
"Just keep the same mindset. Practice the right way. Watch film the right way and be able to take film to the field. We did a good job at doing that this week, we just have to keep the same mentality for next week against Miami."
On throwing 59 passes...
"I think that's what we expected coming to the game. They're a passing team. They come out in 10 personnel a lot, five wide, throw a lot of bubbles. That was the game plan for the secondary to be the backbone of the defense today. I think we stepped up to the challenge. You can never play a perfect game. We made some mistakes. He completed a couple throws, but overall I think we did really well."
On changes to defense in the future...
"We probably won't face a true 10 personnel team like this again going forward. I think Miami is more of a base team, and through Big 10 play it's more of the same with that hard-nose running game, so I don't think we'll play another team like this. It was good to get our secondary tested just in case something like that happens again."
On the "trick" to shutting out receivers...
"I wouldn't necessarily say it's a trick, as long as your strong in your technique, not crossing over your press, and communicating with the guy next to you, your safety, I think you'll always be in good shape. If you have discipline, things like that. I don't necessarily think there's a trick to shutting a guy down."
On Fresno State's passing game...
"They like to give their guys the space. They got a couple guys that are real shifty, so that's what they wanted to do--get their guys in space and make us make open-field tackles. I think that's what we did today. We made a couple nice open-field tackles, and then they shot us down field. I think we responded well to that, too. Overall, I think the secondary and the defense as a whole performed well today."
On having Randy Gregory back in the lineup to rush the passer...
"It helps a lot. Randy is actually my roommate, so I laugh with him a lot about that--him helping me be a better player and the secondary as a whole. It's great to have a guy like that, as well as our whole D-line. Our who D-line is very talented, so it's a good thing to have those guys as teammates."
On the importance of having a good performance this week...
"We didn't actually talk about last week too much, but guys had it in the back of their heads that they wanted to come back and respond and play well today and play well as a unit--offense and defense. We kind of had that chip on our shoulders, even though nobody really said anything. We wanted to come out and perform well today."
De'Mornay Pierson-El #15
On the play...
"I was watching my block being set up as the ball was in the air, I kind of got a feel for which way I was about to go and caught the ball and they called it back to the field. I knew I had to make one or two people miss and it was a clear shot. I hit the edge and cut back in then bounced right back outside and had an escort."
"I'm just trying to make a play, I'm trying to put our offense in the best position and give them the best feel."
"The second one I got I was tired actually, I was a little upset with myself. Again, make one more person miss and that one was just as easily gone but I was a little winded on that one."
"Our coaches went through film and told us what would be the key points of what to look out for. They put me in the right position in practice, we ran through it, we rehearsed it. Our put return team set up excellent blocks and it was just there."
"I felt like we dealt with the heat pretty well, a couple guys needed to pump in a little bit more water into this. When we went in for half time a couple guys got IV's. DC is not hot like this, this is my first time to the west coast and I wasn't expecting it to be like this but I knew it was going to be pretty hot. We practice in the heat but it was just another adjustment, they had to play in it just like we did. We had to go out there and do what we do."
