Fresno State-Kent State Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Tedford
On tonight’s win…
“I thought it was a good team win for us. I thought the offense played extremely well, very efficient, scoring a lot of points obviously. I take my hat off to the coaches for really having them prepared. I thought Mikey was really sharp, and got a lot of people involved. Jalen Moss showed up tonight, that was nice to see. Definitely in the first half had to make some adjustments because they edged too much on us in the run game. Coach Coyle and his staff did a nice job at halftime to make sure that wasn’t going to happen anymore. Just a really nice team effort. It's always great when the kids work so hard and prepare so hard through the week to come away with a nice win like that.”
On the offensive performance tonight…
They protected the passers pretty well. Mikey knew where he was going with the ball, he made some nice throws, and the receiver made some nice catches and ran with the ball after they caught it. It’s a total unit effort when something like that happens. It’s the offensive line, it’s the tight ends, the running backs, it's everyone. I thought Coach McCann called a great game. I thought we were very, very efficient on offense.”
On Moss’s one-handed touchdown…
“When he came up with the ball, I thought it was awesome. What a great catch, what a play.”
On Gilliam’s prior quarterback experience…
“No, he can throw it though, it was a nice throw, it hit him right on the stride. It was nice to get that play run. There is a lot that goes into that, I thought Gilliam did a nice job of setting it up, faking the block, and then getting downfield and Gill sold the run really well, and then put a strike on them so it was nice.”
On the Jaelen Gill's pass play…
“Offense is funny because you practice all of these special plays and then you hardly get to run them. When you do actually run them and they work, I think it’s a little more exciting than just a normal play that you run all the time. It was well executed, and I thought Coach McCann called it at a perfect time.”
On what the team is doing…
“It’s a team effort, defense last week came up with eight turnovers. You always strive to play all three phases as efficiently as possible. I thought special teams did a nice job covering kicks tonight. Dylan made his only field goal. You try to put it all together. We have a lot of work still. Conference opens up next week so it's for real.”
On Mikey’s deep throws…
“We took some shots tonight, especially the first one to EB was really a nice throw. He underthrew Moss a little bit. He threw a nice long ball, and he was very accurate on the other throws. Not turning the football over was really critical for us. I’m really happy with the decision-making he’s making and the ball security for our ball carriers.”
On the anticipation for a performance like this from Moss…
“He is capable, there is no doubt about it. He is capable of doing some special things. He was trying so hard to get in the end zone in the last one that he fumbled it. But it was the easiest touchdown Gill ever scored.”
Mikey Keene, R-So., QB
On overall thoughts about tonight’s victory…
“Yeah, I thought that we were firing on all cylinders tonight, but there is obviously some things left out there. That’s just me being an ultra-competitor. There were some reads that I wish I had back, some other throws that I wish I had put in better spots for my guys to be able to make plays, but we got a great receiving core, we got a great running-back core, great offensive line up front, so tonight was a great night to let our guys get the ball in spades and make people miss and get yards after the catch.”
“Ultimately finishing in the red zone, that was our main goal tonight. We didn’t do a great job with that last week, we did a pretty good job of it tonight. So it was a great performance but obviously a lot to learn from.”
On what was different about tonight versus the last two weeks…
“Just following our rules, doing our job, and executing at a high level. That was a big emphasis with us on third down as well as red zone this week. It was deliberate practice, working on it, so it was great to see that it came up in the game and we executed at a high level.”
On the Gill throw…
“I wasn’t surprised by that throw because we’ve been doing it all week and he’s thrown a dime every single time. So I was expecting it, saw Gillian pop open. It was a gill-to-gill connection. So it was pretty cool.”
On what put this offense over-the-top today…
“I feel like just time, honestly. We’ve got a group that hasn’t been playing together for a really, really long time but at the same time, just, everyone building that trust around each other and the timing and chemistry with one another. I feel like it’s being built-up every single week and today was a great performance but obviously have a lot to work on. We’ll get back and watch the film tomorrow and then get ready for next week, but it was great to see us firing on all cylinders tonight.”
On chemistry with Moss and Dalena…
“That’s a great receiving core. The thing about them and Coach hit on it with EB, is they are assignment perfect. They’re going to do their job, I know that they’re going to do their job, they’re going to be in the right place. So it’s ultimately my job to be able to get them the ball and space and let them use their athletic ability to be able to make defenders miss and get the yards to catch like we did tonight.”
“Those guys made plays when they needed to, EB had that great touch-down at the beginning, Jayleen had a great catch in the end-zone, and Mac made a lot of plays tonight as well. That’s a great receiving core.”
“We got a great group of guys that know their jobs and if we’re doing our job at a high-level, it’s going to be a great night for us.”
On what made Moss the popular target tonight…
“They just gave him a lot of one-on-one opportunities in all honesty, and it just happened to be him. It could’ve been any of our guys but they represented and presented some one-on-one opportunities for us and we took advantage of them and executed.”
On the way the team has played the last two games…
“I feel like it’s a great give-and-take of offense and defense. Last week, offense needed defense a little bit and we leaned on them a little bit, and that a little bit sometimes tonight defense leaned on the offense. So, it’s that give-and-take relationship that makes a great team. So I’m happy with that relationship that we have. It’s a great season so far, a lot to improve on, we just got to keep on taking it one week at a time.”
On how he’s liking Fresno…
“Yeah I’m liking Fresno a lot. It was nice to see the Red Wave tonight, I know the first home game was like a white-wave, in a way, but the red wave was super cool tonight. That was a great atmosphere to play in, so I’m super excited about Fresno. It’s been great being here.”
On what it’s like playing with Elijah…
“He’s a great all-around guy. I feel like all of our backs present terrific problems for a defense, but Gillian does a great job for protection, he does a great job in between tackles, and he does a great job as well as pass-catching.”
“We got a one-two punch in the backfield that we’re really happy about and fired up about for the rest of the season.”
On things he’s looking forward to playing in the Mountain West…
“Just taking it week by week. One thing that’s exciting for me is that my parents don’t have to fly all the way to Florida now, so it’s a lot easier on them, to see them every weekend. So that’s the most exciting part about it.”
Jalen Moss, R-Fr, WR
On his performance…
"Surreal, you know I didn’t expect to come in and make the plays that I did but I was prepared coming to practice this week and that's the whole thing we be talking about throughout the week is preparation and coming into the game prepared and I was prepared to make the plays that I made. I had a messed up play but our coach talked me through that. I been playing the game I was supposed to play, the right way."
On Mikey’s trust in him…
"It goes all the way back to fall camp, I made spectacular catches, Mikey just gotta put the ball in the right place and me, I’ll catch anything. That’s just the name of the game, I’ll catch anything that is thrown to me and that’s what I love to do."
On Kent State’s coverage…
"They were doing a lot of man, our guys better than your guys and that's just the mentality we had coming into this game. You know, that’s what we did and you could obviously see that form plays we were making up and down the field."
On his touchdown catch…
"So originally it was a ND play, I was supposed to be on the opposite side but me and the other receiver were on the same side so I had to run to the opposite side. And I see it’s press, I know what I’m about to do. I am thinking the ball is coming to me but I’m not really sure. I run my route, I see the ball, I just stick my hand out there and ball finds my hand. It’s a magnet at that point once I feel it in my hand, it’s a secure catch. It was too surreal, that’s a moment I'll never forget, I've never had that happen to me before."
On his growth in this role…
"It’s expected, you know. My coach expects this from me, he was talking highly of me coming into fall camp and I just put in the work off season, summer everything and it just paid off today, week one, week two week three and it just continues to pay off because I come in ready to work mornings and film study and everything. It just comes down to me paying off on Saturdays."
On team improvement…
"Chemistry still needs to be built, we’re still a young team especially from the receiver position. We’re trying to just get everything to click as one and it’s going to take time and it’s going to take a couple games maybe but we’re all just going to come out here and click and ball is going to find energy. Our offense is getting there week by week and you can tell from this game from Arizona State. We’re starting to click, we’re starting to find ourselves. We’re starting to see what kind of team we are."
On the vibe of the locker room…
"Excited, a lot of boys is happy to be undefeated right now but you know we’re not going to take that too much. We’re going to go home, enjoy what we did tonight and tomorrow it’s time to move on and go to the next week and do it all over again."
On competition moving forward…
Yeah, but also teams don’t know what we have,I feel. We’re a young team and they’re looking at us like we don’t know what they’re made of yet. So that’s where I feel like we’re trying to figure ourselves out and teams are still trying to figure us out. I feel like we’re starting to brand ourselves each and every day, each week we have a game so this is going to be a fight in the Mountain West with Fresno State Bulldogs, we come to fight everyday."
On Keene as a leader…
"He just has his own mentality of wanting to be a dog. He wants to put the ball in the right place, he wants to make the right decisions and that’s just Mikey Keene. He’s not going to do too much he’s not going to be flashy , He’s going to make the right play and that’s where I feel like our offense is very successful because he allows the offense to make the right play, he knows what he’s supposed to be doing and how he’s supposed to be do it. He trusts a lot of our guys on offense so that’s the big part."
Dean Clark, R-Sr., DB
On the performance of the defense…
“I don't think this is one of our better seasons. We struggled in the beginning and gave up more than we wanted to, but each and every week we are going to get better and every week we want our new performance to be our best performance, that’s what we're looking forward to.
On playing his former team…
“It was a surreal feeling. It was very interesting to see both those logos, one I used to wear and one I’m wearing now, guys still on the team that I know, it was really cool. I'm glad I got to do it and experience that.”
On the defensive adjustments in the second half…
“We just made some adjustments. They did some new stuff that we weren’t prepared for but once we adjusted and got into how we knew how to play, then everything worked out.”
On the last two wins…
“Just our consistency and trust in each other. Everybody knows that if one guy executes his job, he can count on the next guy to do his.”
On his experience in Fresno so far…
“Oh I'm loving it. I love the football program, love the culture, love the locker room and I love winning and that’s what we’re doing right now, so I’m happy about that”
On the crow tonight…
“No, the Red Wave is different, the students here are different, and it's awesome to see. It really gets us going on defense when we hear how loud the crowd is on third down. I love it.”