San Diego State Aztecs College Football Pregame Quote, 11/12/2019

I appreciate you all being here. In a new setting, hopefully this will change our luck a little bit and we will play better than we have. Obviously we’re frustrated and disappointed in the way we’ve played the last two games, but we’re not discouraged. We’re going to go out there and do what we always do. We’re going to play as hard as we can and see what happens. The team we are playing is very talented. Our league has shown in many games this year that the talent level is equal. So whoever happens to play the best on that day wins the game. I would’ve bet that Boise State is considered probably the best team in our league. They played Wyoming last week and you thought with Wyoming losing their quarterback, that Boise State would’ve wiped them out. Boise State won in overtime. That’s just the way our league is this year. So, we’ve got great kids in our program, they try really hard all of the time. They’ll play as hard as they can and if they play well we’ll win and if they don’t play well we won’t win. It’s a simple fact.

On up and downs of offense:

I have no idea and obviously we are all disappointed. (The) players are disappointed, (the) coaches are disappointed when we don’t score enough points to win. I mean, we might have to score 60 this week to win. So hopefully we can score more than we have in the past.

I just said it. We’re not scoring any points. We’re not scoring enough points to win, anyway. And out 65 non-power 5 schools, there’s only two non-power 5 schools that have qualified for 10 straight bowl games. Guess what? We are one of the two. So, I get caught up in it too. Around here we act like something’s terrible when we lose a game and we’re 7-2. There’s about 80 percent of schools in the country that would be happy to be 7-2 right now. They’d be beating their chest and telling you how good they are.

On playing football on Friday night:

Obviously we have no choice. We play when TV tells us to play. You’re playing Friday night, which gives our players an extra day off on the weekend, so I’m sure they’re happy about playing on Friday night. But the old school in me says Friday night is for high school football. Sunday is for the pros, Saturday is for college. But that went out the window a long time ago.

On what a fan should watch for during the game on Friday:

I would bet that this game would be just like our last couple games. It will be really, really close and turnover ratio or penalties might determine who’s going to win. But to what you’ll see with them, they are a very talented football team. They’ve got really good skill. They’re used to winning. They were the champions of our league last year. They still have a chance to win the championship as we do. It ought to be a really good competitive game. I think whoever makes the most mistakes is the one that’s going to lose.

On if would like to see the Mountain West be able to control kick times:

If you had your choice, I could tell them when we wanted to play, but obviously I have no say so. I have no choice. I just play when they tell us to play. No one asks my opinion and my opinion doesn’t make any difference anyway. I just don’t worry about it and go about my business. My opinion is Saturday afternoon when college football plays.

On the difference between playing on TV and streaming:

I have no idea. With the access to watching on video. I understand that there is a tradition where you go to a game. A real college football fan is going to sit at home and watch 15 games. I understand the problem. We are in one of those places where it’s not traditional to go to the game like it is some places in the South and the Midwest. It’s traditional to go to the games, so they don’t care who else is on TV. They go to the game. It’s never been a tradition here to go to the game. If it fits their schedule they come and if it doesn’t fit their schedule then they don’t, because they just assume sit and watch 14 of 15 games at the same time.

On if he’s had less issues with players here at San Diego State than at other schools:

I don’t really want to talk about it because that might means something happens. Whenever you’re with this number of young people, there’s always a chance something is going to happen. Now I said this earlier and I’m trying to take up the cause for the players. We have great young people in our program. And you know what? They’ve had great success over the last 10 years on the football field. And right now they don’t feel like they’re appreciated because of social media and all those other things. They think that they are being downgraded for their efforts. Guess what? They go out there and play as hard as they can every weekend. Sometimes they play good and sometimes they don’t play as well. I feel for them. We’re 7-2. We’re one of two teams of the non-power 5 guys that have qualified for 10 straight bowl games and everybody is treating them like their losers. The social media stuff they show me is unbelievable. What they’re getting on their phones and stuff. It’s unbelievable.

On Coach Tedford’s career so far:

I think we have the same philosophy. They do it a little bit different way, but they want to control the ball and keep it away from the opponent. They want to use field position and time of possession in order to give them a better chance to win. He’s a good coach. He was a good coach at Cal and they let him go too. It’s funny how in this day and age, if you have enough money some coaches only get to coach in 20 or 21 games. When they got all that money they were the best coach in America and now a year and a half later they can’t coach a lick. That’s a really interesting issue too.

On if he can steer away the players from social media:

I’d like to do that. I’d like to take their phone from them, but I’d have a mutiny on my hands if I took their phones away from them. That’s their life. That’s their culture. I don’t understand it. I can turn the turn off. I can lose a phone and it doesn’t matter a bit. They lose their phones and they’re upset. They spend the whole day looking for it or they buy one quickly. That’s their life. That’s their culture. They have to learn how to live with it and how to handle it. I think that’s good that they learn how to handle it. It doesn’t get any easier as they get older.