Fresno State-UNLV Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Tedford
On the anticipation for this game…
“We talked about it for two weeks really, we’re a 6-1 team, they’re a 6-1 team. Number one scoring offense in the league, creating a lot of turnovers, great on special teams. That’s a really good football team right there, It is very hard to defend, and very hard to score a lot of points against. They’re one of the top defenses in our conference as well. Hard fought game tonight. The second half coming out and getting the turnovers I think is huge. Typically, if you can win a turnover battle, you have a chance to win the game. The defense stiffened up down there on the goal line which was huge. The offense came out in the second half. We couldn’t convert any third downs in the first half, and they were converting all of their third downs. I’m really proud of our team. The resiliency that they have and the way that they just keep playing hard and end up making plays."
On Keene getting in a groove in the second half…
“That defense plays so many different defenses, so you have to identify other coverages were seeing, and I thought Coach McCann called a good game in the second half in trying to hit some seams, and then Mikey threw them on time in the seams. We were fortunate to hit a couple of seams in the second half.”
On Jalen Moss making catches in the seams…
“Jalen Moss, and pretty much any of our guys could do that, he just happened to be the guy that was doing it. I have a lot of faith in him and all our guys.”
On the resilience of the defense…
“The guys played really hard and stopped that run game. It's really difficult to stop all of the different facets of the run game. They have a lot of moving parts in that offense. Our defense was stepping up in the second half.”
On Levelle Bailey in the big moments…
“He’s not just a great player, physically, he is very football intelligent and read things very well. You’re not at the right place at the right time by accident. Obviously, he has a great feel for the game.
Dean Clarke, R-Sr., DB
On the big difference that the defense had at the end…
“Just as a defense we came together towards the end. We were stopping on first and second downs, struggling on third downs and it was just about execution. We got together and really made that a priority in the second half.”
On adjusting to the unorthodox UNLV offense…
“It was definitely a challenge for our scouts with such a unique offense, but they did a great job all week giving us looks so shout out to them. They’re making us better each and every day in practice. Once we got the looks from the scouts team - once we brought it out to the field - I think we did a really good job against their run game.”
On Comstock’s punt recovery…
“That was huge for him. That was a huge play for us and we really got the momentum swinging our way.”
On bringing along Camryn Bracha…
“I love Cam, he’s a hard worker. We both came in at the same time and I remember I sat down right in the front and he sat down right next to me. For two guys to come in and take that role, I’m really proud of him and he’s doing a great job.”
On Camryn Bracha’s work to earn play time…
“He’s earned every snap he's gotten and he shows up day in and day out and he performs.”
On his first interception as a Bulldog…
“First I just want to give glory to God because he gave me the ability to make that play on the field. In the first half I got a couple passes I should’ve made a play on the ball, so I was more eager to find the ball and get my guys on the field and the swing in momentum was huge.”
On the turnaround after halftime with the defense…
“We were just struggling with third downs, not executing properly. Once we settled down and knew that it was on us - they weren’t beating us, we were beating ourselves on execution - we settled down and started making plays.”
On the challenges with the UNLV run attack…
“It’s really unique, you have to have disciplined eyes. You had to be disciplined in all parts of your run defense, stay in your gap. Our guys did a good job at that and we were pretty successful.”
Message from coaches at halftime…
“Execution. Coach Coyle came and talked to us about the third downs we were giving up. They weren’t beating us, we were beating ourselves, so we just needed to settle down and execute.”
On playing in front of the Red Wave…
“I love it. I love it. I think the red wave knows how much energy they give us on the field when you make a big play and you see everybody going crazy, I mean it just lights you up and gets everybody ready to go. It’s a great feeling.”
Levelle Bailey, S, LB
On his personality impacting the team...
"It rubs off a lot knowing that guys actually selected me to be the team captain. It just brings a lot of trust knowing I can be that vocal guy now, our vocal leaders from last year are gone so I just have to set the example and bring the energy. We had a bad first half, defensively we couldn't get off on third down and things like that. At halftime we tried to make the adjustments, no pointing fingers just look at ourselves in the mirror and try to come out and limit their points."
On the third quarter…
"I want to say it was our coaches letting us have it at half time, we were shooting ourselves in the foot, couldn't get off on third downs and basically all their points came off our mental errors, knowing that we needed to get off the field so our offense could get their flow going and coming out in the third, once the offense scored we knew they were getting their mojo and we just had to try and get off as much as possible."
On the mistakes…
"That goes into it every play. Knowing that you have to trust in 10 other guys on the field that they're going to do their job and make their plays. It’s really just the miscommunications that happens overall and I hold myself to a standard that I look at myself in the mirror like it's my fault. Being a leader on the team being that senior, the captain, I need to make everything right so when things are not going right miscommunication wise, I feel that it's on me, I need to communicate more and bring the other guys along to be more vocal."
On the leadership role...
"It was pressure at the beginning of the season. Knowing I wasn't a vocal guy, but it's definitely motivating now especially when we got younger guys suiting up this last half of the season for the four games for the red shirt rule. Those guys looking up to me, seeing me as their leader, just me trying to bring that energy for those not having a good game or if things aren't going their way, I need to bring that energy for everyone to pick their chins up."
Erik Brooks, S, WR
On his touchdown catch…
"I mean we run that play in practice and kind of got the same look, and Mikey hadn’t seen it so he had checked the ball down so when we got that same look tonight I knew he would see it this time and when he put the ball up and I jumped up to catch it, I’m like I have to get a foot down somehow some way cause that was a free touchdown. Somehow I got my toe down but I had to get it by any means. When we do our field-goal block period we have a five minute block where it’s just the receivers and the running backs and we just work on sideline catches, like toe drags, toe taps. We do that about two times a week, every single week so it’s routine now. I like to say I’m the best on it, I probably say I’m the best at everything on the team."
On the offense’s confidence…
"It's more of knowing we’re the ones stopping ourselves. We started fast tonight then we got off to a slow start in the second quarter. When we went into halftime the message was just execute, we were only down 10 points, it’s not like we were down by 40. We knew that we could trust in vertical and get it going that way. Once we did that the game blew wide open."
On UNLV defense…
"I just think we were being a little conservative at first. The biggest thing was to try and attack them vertical. We were trying to play and attack them too quick so all their drop eight guys were right there in the zones, stopping us and taking away Mikey’s reads but once we stretched the field those windows started to open up more and more and it allowed us to get a flow going."
On the fourth quarter…
"You know you want the ball in those moments but we work on backed up offense a lot so we have a lot of trust in the play call and that our OLine could get us ten yards cause our goal right there is just get a first down. If we can do that, it’s a good drive for us. Obviously we didn't get one tonight, we were able to run a little bit of clock off so that helped. I trust those guys even when the balls not in my hands, I trust them to go out there and make a play."
On playing Boise..
"Its going to be great. We have to get our revenge, last time they were here they embarrassed us pretty bad so being able to play in front of the Red Wave again and them have our backs and be loud like they are in Boise, it’ll be nice for that to happen."