Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State - Nevada Postgame Quotes
Nevada at Fresno State
Nov. 23, 2019
Bulldog Stadium (Fresno, Calif.)
Head Coach Jeff Tedford
On the field position…
“It was a huge factor, especially when we took the big sack that brought us back to the 2-yard line. It seemed like we were backed up a lot in the fourth quarter. We didn’t do a good job of bringing it out. We brought it out one time to around mid-field, then we had to punt. When you are inside your five yard line, field position is big.”
On Senior Night…
“It’s like I told those guys, I feel bad that we weren’t able to come away with the victory on Senior Night. They have been a part of a lot of great times in that stadium and those are the things they should remember. We had a lot of close games this year, but we haven’t found a way to win. The class and integrity that our team plays with and is all about every day is something that I am really proud of. We weren’t able to pull things out on certain games this year. But, you can’t look at one game and say that it wasn’t competitive. Our kids competed every down. It is unfortunate that we go away from here with a loss tonight, but these kids have meant a lot to this program. They have invested a lot of time and energy. They have had a lot of success over the last few years. They have a lot of great memories. Tonight isn’t one of them obviously, but they can hang their heads on some positive things.”
On Ben Wooldridge’s touchdown pass…
“It was third down and we needed to get it in the end zone. He was actually throwing the ball away and Keric [Wheatfall] just made a great play and came back and caught the ball. We were in a position where we needed to put the ball in the end zone. I had faith in him throwing it. The intended receiver wasn’t there, but Keric did a great job at coming back and getting it.”
On bowl eligibility being off the table and having one last conference game…
“We will take a look at it tomorrow. I think it is still really important to try to end the season with a victory. It isn’t about experimenting. Now, it’s about sending these guys off with a positive memory of winning the last game against a rival.”
On Ronnie Rivers’ future…
“Ronnie is a really good player who does a lot for us. He’s not a one man team either, we have to be able to open holes for him and things like that. We played with a very new offensive line tonight and battled hard, but there wasn’t a lot of room for him to run tonight. Ronnie is a great player and he can continue to get better. Having other guys getting better like [Jordan] Mims and some others, the backfield should be pretty strong.”
On the Red Wave…
“Everyone is disappointed. Everyone wants to be champions. Sometimes there are transition periods that go into programs, but I appreciate all of their support. It seemed like there was a good crowd tonight to honor the seniors. We want to make everyone proud – our fans, our students, our university, and our alumni. That’s part of what we try to get done. I think there is one thing that nobody can ever say and that is that our kids don’t play hard. There were a lot of close games this year that didn’t go our way, so there are some growing pains there. This program will not go away. There is a lot of very young and talented kids here and we will continue to work hard to bring the pride and tradition back. It doesn’t always go our way, but it seemed like every game was tight down to the end. Those are good lessons for us.”
Nevada Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jay Norvell
Opening Statement…..
“I am so proud of our team. We were extremely focused tonight and just really hung in there regardless of the situation. We played good defense, this is a good offensive team and they made some plays on us in the first half that put us behind the eight-ball at halftime. I thought we came out in the third and fourth quarter and picked away at them. Running back Devonte Lee and Toa Taua, the union, played really well and that was great to see. It was a team victory. Field position was huge and we did everything we could in the special team area to try and give us an advantage. We had excellent punt returns, Ben Putman with the huge return at the end at the end of the game, all that had to happen for us to win this game. All the glory goes to God and we were really proud of our team’s effort and proud of this victory.”
On adjustments made at halftime…
“We felt like we were in the game and we were prepared to come up here and play them for four quarters. We knew it would be a shootout and all their home games have been that way. I thought quarterback Carson Strong was excellent and has been so clear-eyed over the last few weeks, protected the football, made the throws he needed to make. (Wide receiver) Romeo Doubs made huge plays down at the goal line. It was a whole team effort, just like the San Diego State game, we had to play great in all three phases to win it and we did.”
On the final sequence of the game that saw the Wolf Pack score the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of the fourth quarter….
“It was a great job of us punting them back in there and once we pinned them in their own territory, we were fortunate we did not have to us any timeouts and got a great punt return from Putnam. We tried to flip the field with the special teams and that put us in field goal range. We just wanted to be smart with the clock and eat up as much clock as we could so when we did score they would not have any time and that is what we did eventually and good we did not give them much time left.”
Nov. 23, 2019
Bulldog Stadium (Fresno, Calif.)
Head Coach Jeff Tedford
On the field position…
“It was a huge factor, especially when we took the big sack that brought us back to the 2-yard line. It seemed like we were backed up a lot in the fourth quarter. We didn’t do a good job of bringing it out. We brought it out one time to around mid-field, then we had to punt. When you are inside your five yard line, field position is big.”
On Senior Night…
“It’s like I told those guys, I feel bad that we weren’t able to come away with the victory on Senior Night. They have been a part of a lot of great times in that stadium and those are the things they should remember. We had a lot of close games this year, but we haven’t found a way to win. The class and integrity that our team plays with and is all about every day is something that I am really proud of. We weren’t able to pull things out on certain games this year. But, you can’t look at one game and say that it wasn’t competitive. Our kids competed every down. It is unfortunate that we go away from here with a loss tonight, but these kids have meant a lot to this program. They have invested a lot of time and energy. They have had a lot of success over the last few years. They have a lot of great memories. Tonight isn’t one of them obviously, but they can hang their heads on some positive things.”
On Ben Wooldridge’s touchdown pass…
“It was third down and we needed to get it in the end zone. He was actually throwing the ball away and Keric [Wheatfall] just made a great play and came back and caught the ball. We were in a position where we needed to put the ball in the end zone. I had faith in him throwing it. The intended receiver wasn’t there, but Keric did a great job at coming back and getting it.”
On bowl eligibility being off the table and having one last conference game…
“We will take a look at it tomorrow. I think it is still really important to try to end the season with a victory. It isn’t about experimenting. Now, it’s about sending these guys off with a positive memory of winning the last game against a rival.”
On Ronnie Rivers’ future…
“Ronnie is a really good player who does a lot for us. He’s not a one man team either, we have to be able to open holes for him and things like that. We played with a very new offensive line tonight and battled hard, but there wasn’t a lot of room for him to run tonight. Ronnie is a great player and he can continue to get better. Having other guys getting better like [Jordan] Mims and some others, the backfield should be pretty strong.”
On the Red Wave…
“Everyone is disappointed. Everyone wants to be champions. Sometimes there are transition periods that go into programs, but I appreciate all of their support. It seemed like there was a good crowd tonight to honor the seniors. We want to make everyone proud – our fans, our students, our university, and our alumni. That’s part of what we try to get done. I think there is one thing that nobody can ever say and that is that our kids don’t play hard. There were a lot of close games this year that didn’t go our way, so there are some growing pains there. This program will not go away. There is a lot of very young and talented kids here and we will continue to work hard to bring the pride and tradition back. It doesn’t always go our way, but it seemed like every game was tight down to the end. Those are good lessons for us.”
Nevada Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jay Norvell
Opening Statement…..
“I am so proud of our team. We were extremely focused tonight and just really hung in there regardless of the situation. We played good defense, this is a good offensive team and they made some plays on us in the first half that put us behind the eight-ball at halftime. I thought we came out in the third and fourth quarter and picked away at them. Running back Devonte Lee and Toa Taua, the union, played really well and that was great to see. It was a team victory. Field position was huge and we did everything we could in the special team area to try and give us an advantage. We had excellent punt returns, Ben Putman with the huge return at the end at the end of the game, all that had to happen for us to win this game. All the glory goes to God and we were really proud of our team’s effort and proud of this victory.”
On adjustments made at halftime…
“We felt like we were in the game and we were prepared to come up here and play them for four quarters. We knew it would be a shootout and all their home games have been that way. I thought quarterback Carson Strong was excellent and has been so clear-eyed over the last few weeks, protected the football, made the throws he needed to make. (Wide receiver) Romeo Doubs made huge plays down at the goal line. It was a whole team effort, just like the San Diego State game, we had to play great in all three phases to win it and we did.”
On the final sequence of the game that saw the Wolf Pack score the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of the fourth quarter….
“It was a great job of us punting them back in there and once we pinned them in their own territory, we were fortunate we did not have to us any timeouts and got a great punt return from Putnam. We tried to flip the field with the special teams and that put us in field goal range. We just wanted to be smart with the clock and eat up as much clock as we could so when we did score they would not have any time and that is what we did eventually and good we did not give them much time left.”