Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State-San Diego State Postgame Quotes
Fresno State vs. San Diego State
Fresno, Calif.
Nov. 17, 2017
Head Coach Jeff Tedford
Opening statement…
“It was a real team effort through four quarters tonight. We knew going in that it was going to be a battle. San Diego State is a good football team and they have a good program. They made some big plays on us early in the game but our guys found a way to fight back in the second half and make some of our own. Our defense stiffened up and we started to win the field position battle a little bit more in the second half. Blake punted down deep a couple of times again. It is so awesome for our kids and for our staff who work so hard and have so much invested in this. I am very proud of them.”
On making it to the championship game two years in a row…
“It is our goal going in, all the time. There is a lot of hard work that goes into it. We told the team all week this week that we only get one opportunity to do this and all the time we have invested in this, all the 5:30 a.m. workouts and all of the investing we have in this, to have an opportunity like this doesn’t come around all the time. We were fortunate to be in the position we were going into this game but we knew it was going to be a really hard fought game and sure enough, it was. It was a four quarter battle with two good football teams. We were fortunate enough to come out on top of this one.”
On emotions after the game…
“It is one of our goals to win our conference. We have taken one step towards that in winning our division. I am really proud of them. We put in a lot of time together and I couldn’t be more proud. We have guys that are playing banged up and hurt. We go through the week and put in a lot of long hours. Like I told them after the game, it’s not just about winning, it’s about how you do it, with class and integrity. I am really proud of the way they come to work every single day and the way they work together as a team. There is a lot of values that go into what we are about. I am just really proud of them all. The coaching staff does a great job at getting the guys prepared with the long, hard hours every week. Hats off to the staff and to the players for putting together a really hard week with a lot of preparation.”
On getting the community excited…
“I thought we had a great crowd tonight and I thought they made it hard on the opponent. That’s what home field advantage should be. I hope the community appreciates our players’ hard work. There is nothing like coming down that ramp when the stadium is the way that it is. It is a great community to be in, I hope the fans can get behind these players and appreciate what they have accomplished. Every week it is hard to win, anything can happen. I was very proud of the environment that we had tonight in Bulldog Stadium. I appreciate it very much.”
On playing against San Jose next Saturday knowing the championship game is after that...
“It is too early to think about that. We are going to enjoy this one tonight and then figure that out tomorrow. Next week is senior night and we have 23 seniors leaving here so we would love to send them out the right way. I hope our fans will come out and send these seniors off the right way. They have invested a lot of time and effort here. It hasn’t always been easy for them but they have overcome a lot and earned some success over the last couple of years. It is going to be an emotional week next week when those guys go down the ramp for the last time.”
On Markus Boyer and the offensive line…
“Markus is the one in the middle making plays and San Diego State is a very difficult defense to run on. I thought Coach Grub, our offensive line coach, did a phenomenal job of going through every look we could possibly get with them. All of those guys did a nice job. They have to communicate so well because there is so many moving parts in there so they all have to really work well together. The communication was where it needed to be in the second half.”
On KeeSean Johnson…
“KeeSean has a really good feel for what is trying to get done. As open as he was at the top of the route, I’m sure he did exactly what he was supposed to do. With his experience and his knowledge and how he can set people up, he does an excellent job. I thought KeeSean played a great game tonight.”
On KeeSean Johnson's competitiveness…
“I think KeeSean has grown into it. I wouldn’t say he had that mindset about him last year but I would say he has really grown into that guy who understands that he is a big, physical receiver and he can use that to his advantage. I think we have seen that even more of him in the later part of the season. He is a physical guy and I think he has grown and matured in a way that he understands he can use that.”
On Isaiah Johnson…
“He was a guy that we were able to get late in the recruiting process last year. He was committed to UCLA and when they made a coaching change, they had other plans. He was a mid-year enrollee for us. We felt like defensive end was going to be the place for him. We went back and forth on whether he was going to be a linebacker or defensive end but to his credit, to our strength and conditioning coach, and our nutritionist he was able to put on good weight. That comes by hard work, it’s not by accident. To see him mature as a true freshman and get there, play and give us quality minutes, it is great to see.”
Marcus McMaryion, QB, Sr.
On playing against a tough SDSU defense…
“We knew coming in that they were one of the top two defenses in the conference, along with our defense. Coach Tedford preached all week that three to four yards on a first down was going to be a good play, and we couldn’t get frustrated. We had to keep pushing and eventually one was going to break, one would hit for 10 and then one would hit for 15.”
On the discussions at halftime…
“At halftime, we just talk about missed opportunities and execution. There’s not any magical play calls. I might need to be better with my reads or a couple blocks here and there. It’s just talking about the details of execution.
On the 86-yard touchdown pass to Jamire Jordan…
“It was a free play because they jumped offsides. You just pick your guy and go to your best match up. I knew the safeties were going the other way, so Jamire would be one-on-one and he ran right by the defender.”
On KeeSean Johnson’s performance…
“Amazing. Anytime I needed an outlet, I knew he was going to make the one-on-one play. If KeeSean isn’t going to catch it, no one is going to catch it. It’s nice to have that confidence in a receiver, knowing either your receiver is going to come down with it or he’s going to make sure no one does.”
On the rivalry with SDSU…
It’s a big rivalry. We knew after we put it on them last season, they were going to come out swinging. They played their tails off tonight, we were down at the halftime. They never showed any signs of stopping or slowing down. We had to buckle up at halftime, make adjustments and come out swinging ourselves.”
James Bailey, LB, Sr.
On how they responded to SDSU’s two explosive play touchdowns…
“It’s not hard to bounce back, we just have to respond to adversity. We know they’re going to make plays, that’s just the game of football. We’re going to make plays and they’re going to make plays. You have to move on to the next play and stop them.”
On how the defense handled SDSU’s offense…
“SDSU is a great team. They are traditionally a running team, but we had to know our gap schemes and be physical. You have to know your assignments, get off blocks and tackle.”
On clinching the West to go to the Mountain West Championship…
“It’s awesome. It’s a great feeling to know we have another chance at a Mountain West Championship. It doesn’t matter to me who we play, I just want to play and win.’’
On the defense making plays…
“Myself, George (Helmuth) and Jeff (Allison) all feed off each other. We love to see the big hits. We love to each other make big plays. We’re really close as a linebacker group. We just want the best for each other and the best for our team. We don’t have a competition of big hits during practice, we are just running through our gap schemes, but when it’s time to play football on Saturday night we know what time it is.”
On the adjustments the defense made at halftime…
“We sat down with the coaches and decided to go top-down. We as the front seven, told the defensive backs that we would take care of the run game. We told them to cover the deep ball. If the running back bounced, we knew they’d be there. That’s what we did during the second half.”
On winning the Oil Can…
“It’s for the pride of the Valley. We want to thank the fans for coming out. We are here to compete, no matter what. We’re here to make the Valley proud.”
On Senior Day against San Jose State next week…
“It’s been a crazy road for me. I’m from Texas, and I came from a high school that didn’t lose very often. When I got here, we went 3-9 my freshman year then 1-11 my sophomore year. That hit me hard. I came back for my junior year went to the MW Championship game and brought the program back. We get another opportunity to go to the championship game my senior year, this is something incredible.”
KeeSean Johnson, WR, Sr.
On getting back on the field after the Boise State loss…..
“We came back on Sunday and said everything is still in front of us and we want to compete everyday at practice.”
On clinching a spot in the Mountain West championship game….
“Well personally to me, it is my last year so it means a lot and just to be able to play in the game knowing that it is already there. As a team, we talked about this at the beginning of the year coming out there and playing good as a team and being successful and now it is here.”
On putting the win in perspective….
“It was one of our best wins being down at halftime and coming back and now we are headed to the Mountain West championship game.”
On keeping the Oil Can Trophy…..
“We won it last year and keeping the streak going and the Oil Can here so it is a great thing.”
On where he wants the Mountain West championship game to be hosted…..
“I am glad we are in it, but personally I hope it is at Boise so we can get back at them.”
San Diego State head coach Rocky Long
On second-half struggles…
“We were very inconsistent. Obviously, we still have a difficult time running the ball. That means that we’re not playing very well at the line of scrimmage. That includes tight ends or running backs or fullbacks too blocking. We’re not blocking well enough for the run. Even though we’re not running it very well, the play-action pass is still working pretty well. That kept us in the game in the first half. In the second half, I thought we obviously couldn’t run the ball. They started playing a little more coverage than they did in the first half instead of one-on-one situations, which made it harder to move the ball. I thought our quarterbacks were hot and cold. They made some decent decisions and made some bad decisions.”
On being knocked out of contention for the division title…
“There’s a mistake out there in the media thinking that’s the only thing you play for. That’s not the only thing you play for. Obviously, I tell everybody at the beginning of the season that we’ll be disappointed if we don’t have a winning season. Guess what? We’re going to have a winning season no matter what. I said that I’d be disappointed if we didn’t qualify to go to a bowl game. Well, we’re bowl eligible for about the 11th straight time or something. That’s a goal made too. We don’t have a chance to win the championship this year, but I said we’d be very disappointed if we did not compete for a conference championship. Well, we competed all the way through the second to last game of the year.”
Parker Baldwin, S, Sr.
On KeeSean Johnson’s production…
“He played well. We had it in the game plan to shut him down, but that’s not how it always works out. He’s a good player, and he made some big plays. We couldn’t stop him from making big plays, and that’s what cost us the game in the end.”
On other troubles on defense…
“It was just big plays. On the first or second play of the game, you can’t fall down in coverage. We just have to play harder there. Opening the first half, you can’t give up a long drive. It just kills our momentum. We just have to play better all-around on defense. I think we could have had a great night tonight, but we just gave up too many big plays.”
On the run defense…
“We did decently. We could do better. We still gave up too many by our standards, but 2.9 yards per carry is all right. At the end of the day, we didn’t win the game, so it doesn’t matter how well our run defense played.”
Fred Trevillion, WR, Sr.
On what changed in the second half…
“I’m not really sure what changed, but I feel like we lost the excitement we had. We were more mean coming out in the first half. The same thing happened against Nevada. We came out ice cold on defense, and that’s really all it was.”
On struggles in the run game…
“I don’t think it was the running game or the passing game. I think it was just a mental thing. We have to keep making plays. We can’t just let two touchdowns win the whole game. We have to be consistent and make more plays throughout the whole game.”
On the quarterback situation…
“They’re both really good. That’s all I can really say. I don’t have a favorite. I just go out there and do my job. Both of them are really good guys. They’re great guys off the field as well. That’s what’s really good about them. They’re good leaders, and I’ll do anything for those guys.”
On offensive line changes…
“We have young guys, but they love the game, so they play hard. Our offensive line has struggled with injuries this year, but those guys who were out there tonight still went out there and gave their all, so I’m proud of them.”
On what gave Fresno State the most success in the game…
“They kept the crowd into the game and kept making plays to give them back the momentum. We didn’t make plays to get the momentum back, so it kept going their way.”
Fresno, Calif.
Nov. 17, 2017
Head Coach Jeff Tedford
Opening statement…
“It was a real team effort through four quarters tonight. We knew going in that it was going to be a battle. San Diego State is a good football team and they have a good program. They made some big plays on us early in the game but our guys found a way to fight back in the second half and make some of our own. Our defense stiffened up and we started to win the field position battle a little bit more in the second half. Blake punted down deep a couple of times again. It is so awesome for our kids and for our staff who work so hard and have so much invested in this. I am very proud of them.”
On making it to the championship game two years in a row…
“It is our goal going in, all the time. There is a lot of hard work that goes into it. We told the team all week this week that we only get one opportunity to do this and all the time we have invested in this, all the 5:30 a.m. workouts and all of the investing we have in this, to have an opportunity like this doesn’t come around all the time. We were fortunate to be in the position we were going into this game but we knew it was going to be a really hard fought game and sure enough, it was. It was a four quarter battle with two good football teams. We were fortunate enough to come out on top of this one.”
On emotions after the game…
“It is one of our goals to win our conference. We have taken one step towards that in winning our division. I am really proud of them. We put in a lot of time together and I couldn’t be more proud. We have guys that are playing banged up and hurt. We go through the week and put in a lot of long hours. Like I told them after the game, it’s not just about winning, it’s about how you do it, with class and integrity. I am really proud of the way they come to work every single day and the way they work together as a team. There is a lot of values that go into what we are about. I am just really proud of them all. The coaching staff does a great job at getting the guys prepared with the long, hard hours every week. Hats off to the staff and to the players for putting together a really hard week with a lot of preparation.”
On getting the community excited…
“I thought we had a great crowd tonight and I thought they made it hard on the opponent. That’s what home field advantage should be. I hope the community appreciates our players’ hard work. There is nothing like coming down that ramp when the stadium is the way that it is. It is a great community to be in, I hope the fans can get behind these players and appreciate what they have accomplished. Every week it is hard to win, anything can happen. I was very proud of the environment that we had tonight in Bulldog Stadium. I appreciate it very much.”
On playing against San Jose next Saturday knowing the championship game is after that...
“It is too early to think about that. We are going to enjoy this one tonight and then figure that out tomorrow. Next week is senior night and we have 23 seniors leaving here so we would love to send them out the right way. I hope our fans will come out and send these seniors off the right way. They have invested a lot of time and effort here. It hasn’t always been easy for them but they have overcome a lot and earned some success over the last couple of years. It is going to be an emotional week next week when those guys go down the ramp for the last time.”
On Markus Boyer and the offensive line…
“Markus is the one in the middle making plays and San Diego State is a very difficult defense to run on. I thought Coach Grub, our offensive line coach, did a phenomenal job of going through every look we could possibly get with them. All of those guys did a nice job. They have to communicate so well because there is so many moving parts in there so they all have to really work well together. The communication was where it needed to be in the second half.”
On KeeSean Johnson…
“KeeSean has a really good feel for what is trying to get done. As open as he was at the top of the route, I’m sure he did exactly what he was supposed to do. With his experience and his knowledge and how he can set people up, he does an excellent job. I thought KeeSean played a great game tonight.”
On KeeSean Johnson's competitiveness…
“I think KeeSean has grown into it. I wouldn’t say he had that mindset about him last year but I would say he has really grown into that guy who understands that he is a big, physical receiver and he can use that to his advantage. I think we have seen that even more of him in the later part of the season. He is a physical guy and I think he has grown and matured in a way that he understands he can use that.”
On Isaiah Johnson…
“He was a guy that we were able to get late in the recruiting process last year. He was committed to UCLA and when they made a coaching change, they had other plans. He was a mid-year enrollee for us. We felt like defensive end was going to be the place for him. We went back and forth on whether he was going to be a linebacker or defensive end but to his credit, to our strength and conditioning coach, and our nutritionist he was able to put on good weight. That comes by hard work, it’s not by accident. To see him mature as a true freshman and get there, play and give us quality minutes, it is great to see.”
Marcus McMaryion, QB, Sr.
On playing against a tough SDSU defense…
“We knew coming in that they were one of the top two defenses in the conference, along with our defense. Coach Tedford preached all week that three to four yards on a first down was going to be a good play, and we couldn’t get frustrated. We had to keep pushing and eventually one was going to break, one would hit for 10 and then one would hit for 15.”
On the discussions at halftime…
“At halftime, we just talk about missed opportunities and execution. There’s not any magical play calls. I might need to be better with my reads or a couple blocks here and there. It’s just talking about the details of execution.
On the 86-yard touchdown pass to Jamire Jordan…
“It was a free play because they jumped offsides. You just pick your guy and go to your best match up. I knew the safeties were going the other way, so Jamire would be one-on-one and he ran right by the defender.”
On KeeSean Johnson’s performance…
“Amazing. Anytime I needed an outlet, I knew he was going to make the one-on-one play. If KeeSean isn’t going to catch it, no one is going to catch it. It’s nice to have that confidence in a receiver, knowing either your receiver is going to come down with it or he’s going to make sure no one does.”
On the rivalry with SDSU…
It’s a big rivalry. We knew after we put it on them last season, they were going to come out swinging. They played their tails off tonight, we were down at the halftime. They never showed any signs of stopping or slowing down. We had to buckle up at halftime, make adjustments and come out swinging ourselves.”
James Bailey, LB, Sr.
On how they responded to SDSU’s two explosive play touchdowns…
“It’s not hard to bounce back, we just have to respond to adversity. We know they’re going to make plays, that’s just the game of football. We’re going to make plays and they’re going to make plays. You have to move on to the next play and stop them.”
On how the defense handled SDSU’s offense…
“SDSU is a great team. They are traditionally a running team, but we had to know our gap schemes and be physical. You have to know your assignments, get off blocks and tackle.”
On clinching the West to go to the Mountain West Championship…
“It’s awesome. It’s a great feeling to know we have another chance at a Mountain West Championship. It doesn’t matter to me who we play, I just want to play and win.’’
On the defense making plays…
“Myself, George (Helmuth) and Jeff (Allison) all feed off each other. We love to see the big hits. We love to each other make big plays. We’re really close as a linebacker group. We just want the best for each other and the best for our team. We don’t have a competition of big hits during practice, we are just running through our gap schemes, but when it’s time to play football on Saturday night we know what time it is.”
On the adjustments the defense made at halftime…
“We sat down with the coaches and decided to go top-down. We as the front seven, told the defensive backs that we would take care of the run game. We told them to cover the deep ball. If the running back bounced, we knew they’d be there. That’s what we did during the second half.”
On winning the Oil Can…
“It’s for the pride of the Valley. We want to thank the fans for coming out. We are here to compete, no matter what. We’re here to make the Valley proud.”
On Senior Day against San Jose State next week…
“It’s been a crazy road for me. I’m from Texas, and I came from a high school that didn’t lose very often. When I got here, we went 3-9 my freshman year then 1-11 my sophomore year. That hit me hard. I came back for my junior year went to the MW Championship game and brought the program back. We get another opportunity to go to the championship game my senior year, this is something incredible.”
KeeSean Johnson, WR, Sr.
On getting back on the field after the Boise State loss…..
“We came back on Sunday and said everything is still in front of us and we want to compete everyday at practice.”
On clinching a spot in the Mountain West championship game….
“Well personally to me, it is my last year so it means a lot and just to be able to play in the game knowing that it is already there. As a team, we talked about this at the beginning of the year coming out there and playing good as a team and being successful and now it is here.”
On putting the win in perspective….
“It was one of our best wins being down at halftime and coming back and now we are headed to the Mountain West championship game.”
On keeping the Oil Can Trophy…..
“We won it last year and keeping the streak going and the Oil Can here so it is a great thing.”
On where he wants the Mountain West championship game to be hosted…..
“I am glad we are in it, but personally I hope it is at Boise so we can get back at them.”
San Diego State head coach Rocky Long
On second-half struggles…
“We were very inconsistent. Obviously, we still have a difficult time running the ball. That means that we’re not playing very well at the line of scrimmage. That includes tight ends or running backs or fullbacks too blocking. We’re not blocking well enough for the run. Even though we’re not running it very well, the play-action pass is still working pretty well. That kept us in the game in the first half. In the second half, I thought we obviously couldn’t run the ball. They started playing a little more coverage than they did in the first half instead of one-on-one situations, which made it harder to move the ball. I thought our quarterbacks were hot and cold. They made some decent decisions and made some bad decisions.”
On being knocked out of contention for the division title…
“There’s a mistake out there in the media thinking that’s the only thing you play for. That’s not the only thing you play for. Obviously, I tell everybody at the beginning of the season that we’ll be disappointed if we don’t have a winning season. Guess what? We’re going to have a winning season no matter what. I said that I’d be disappointed if we didn’t qualify to go to a bowl game. Well, we’re bowl eligible for about the 11th straight time or something. That’s a goal made too. We don’t have a chance to win the championship this year, but I said we’d be very disappointed if we did not compete for a conference championship. Well, we competed all the way through the second to last game of the year.”
Parker Baldwin, S, Sr.
On KeeSean Johnson’s production…
“He played well. We had it in the game plan to shut him down, but that’s not how it always works out. He’s a good player, and he made some big plays. We couldn’t stop him from making big plays, and that’s what cost us the game in the end.”
On other troubles on defense…
“It was just big plays. On the first or second play of the game, you can’t fall down in coverage. We just have to play harder there. Opening the first half, you can’t give up a long drive. It just kills our momentum. We just have to play better all-around on defense. I think we could have had a great night tonight, but we just gave up too many big plays.”
On the run defense…
“We did decently. We could do better. We still gave up too many by our standards, but 2.9 yards per carry is all right. At the end of the day, we didn’t win the game, so it doesn’t matter how well our run defense played.”
Fred Trevillion, WR, Sr.
On what changed in the second half…
“I’m not really sure what changed, but I feel like we lost the excitement we had. We were more mean coming out in the first half. The same thing happened against Nevada. We came out ice cold on defense, and that’s really all it was.”
On struggles in the run game…
“I don’t think it was the running game or the passing game. I think it was just a mental thing. We have to keep making plays. We can’t just let two touchdowns win the whole game. We have to be consistent and make more plays throughout the whole game.”
On the quarterback situation…
“They’re both really good. That’s all I can really say. I don’t have a favorite. I just go out there and do my job. Both of them are really good guys. They’re great guys off the field as well. That’s what’s really good about them. They’re good leaders, and I’ll do anything for those guys.”
On offensive line changes…
“We have young guys, but they love the game, so they play hard. Our offensive line has struggled with injuries this year, but those guys who were out there tonight still went out there and gave their all, so I’m proud of them.”
On what gave Fresno State the most success in the game…
“They kept the crowd into the game and kept making plays to give them back the momentum. We didn’t make plays to get the momentum back, so it kept going their way.”