Utah State Aggies College Football Pregame Quote, 09/23/2019

On the San Diego State win:

Obviously, it was a great victory. It was a great football game. San Diego State, it’s a battle with those guys. It went right down to the wire. It was a back-and-forth football game. We had the lead most of the time, but, obviously, against those guys and the way they play and the beliefs they have. They’re quarterback (Ryan Agnew) is exactly what I thought he was watching film: the guy’s a winner. He’s a battler. He made a couple plays to get them back into the football game. It was a tremendous victory on the road. The guys handled everything well as far as the trip went. It’s great to be 1-0 in conference, and it’s great to have another opportunity to come home and play our second conference game here against Colorado State and away we go. I have a ton of respect for that team we played, and a ton of respect for the kids on our football team and the way they battled and fought. It was a great college football game. We came out on top. Our kids prepared very well.

On Colorado State:

Colorado State has a lot of offensive weapons. You could look at what they’ve done this year and where they’ve gone. They’re big, tall, athletic and a fast receiving-core. They have a running back (Marvin Kinsey Jr.) who ran forever and a day last week and had some big plays. Offensively, they give you a lot to deal with. I have not spent a lot of time watching them on defense. I’m just taking the time with our early morning arrival back into Logan at 6 o’clock on Sunday morning. We got a little bit behind, but we’ll get caught back upon that and look forward to getting the guys in here at 1:45 and quickly evaluate the film and move onto Colorado State.

On junior quarterback Jordan Love playing a great game against SDSU:

There’s no doubt. You have an aggressive front by scheme, by nature and what they bring at you. There’s so many different looks. You put on top of that, we definitely had snap issues, which was a problem. Anybody who watched the football game could see that. That has to be fixed. That puts the quarterback in a position to try to see where a potential free hitter may be coming and also catch a snap. It’s hard. It’s a tough deal. Jordan handled it well. He got the ball out when he needed to. We had some contested balls that were caught that were just huge. The slants that Siaosi (Mariner) kept catching and Savon (Scarver). That looks like a routine play when a guy jumps offsides and you snap the ball and you throw a fade to him and you get a huge play, but that’s hard. That takes a lot of coaching and a lot of time to prepare for those things. We made big plays in big-time moments when we needed to in that football game. We had the drive at the end of the football game to put us in position to kick a field goal to seal the deal. Obviously, that didn’t take place, but that was a big-time drive. The other thing is (Gerold) Bright blocked like crazy. Another thing that you just don’t see if you’re just sitting there watching the football game sometimes unless you hone in on it. But, that guy was battling and so was Jaylen (Warren). Those backs were picking guys up from abnormal scenarios and positioning where people were coming from that is just not traditional four-down front or three-down front football and a linebacker blitzing from an a-gap or a b-gap. That’s the beauty of (San Diego State head coach Rocky Long’s) defense. It’s very, very difficult. But, Jordan was efficient. Sure, you want to finish those drives with touchdowns and that is our goal and that will, obviously, be the offense’s goal for (USU offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Mike Sanford) and for Jordan. We want to finish those drives, but at the end of the day, it was enough to get us a team victory. I was proud of the way Jordan handled it. Jordan’s going to battle and work to be a great player. We all know he’s a great player. Whatever player or position is in front of him, he just fights through it.

On the offensive line not giving up a sack and getting run plays when needed:

To walk out of there without a sack, that’s all of them. That’s the running backs. That’s the offensive line. That’s the tight ends. It’s Jordan catching the ball, getting it out and finding the people that were there. They all worked very, very well together. It’s the scheme. For that to take place against that defense in that situation, it’s awesome to see it and to watch it. There wasn’t confusion. We had one three-and-out the whole game. The first series went three-and-out, and we never went three-and-out the rest of the game. So, we were able to continually keep the chains going. You looked up there on the first drive, they get three points on a 16-play drive and half the first quarter’s gone. I was like, ‚ÄòWoah, this is a fast game.’ The offense did a nice job of handling that. It was great to see.

On USU finding a way to win the game against the Aztecs:

In college football, just look week-in and week-out, the Washington State and UCLA game. If that doesn’t top it off that anything could happen in college football, you have to be prepared in the moment. Players at times are going to be put in adverse situations. We talk about it all the time. It was all going fairly smooth and we were doing what we were doing and moving the direction we needed to move to close out the game, and all of a sudden, adversity struck on us. We answered the bell at the end of the day. We made the play we needed to make. But, you go back and get into that situation, and there’s 10 plays on our side, 10 plays on their side or maybe more that you can go back and look and say, ‚ÄòThat’s a play here. That’s a play there.’ But that’s the game we play. That’s football. You’re going to have those situations. It’s going to happen again. And we’re either going to be on the plus side or the negative side of that. To see them push through that adversity and make the play when they had to make it was awesome. We could have fallen on a punt that was muffed. You just look at, ‚ÄòWell, just try to find a way to put these guys down and move onto the next one. To San Diego State’s credit, they kept fight and our team kept fighting and we were able to close it off, obviously, with the big sack at the end.

On if freshman punter Pierce Callister will take over the punting duties:

We’ll see. We’ll see as we move through time. The biggest thing I’ll say about that right now, coach (Stacy) Collins is in a great spot right now and all those guys are battling like crazy. To get in the position, this was Pierce’s week. He kicked the ball extremely well. He had the opportunity to do it, he was ready for the moment. There’s a lot that goes into that. We’ll keep moving forward. Those guys are going to compete like crazy. There are some injuries there that you go back and forth and you want to get guys in the best spot to compete. They’ve handled it well like this football team has across the board. For him to walk into that spot, that’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, and he boomed the ball at sea level. If he does that here, then watch out. It might be landing deep in the stands sometimes when we want it to land at the five yard lines. Hopefully, he can control it in the mountain air.

On offensive linemen stepping up when someone gets injured during the game:

Their goal is to be eight or nine strong as we go through there. There are young men there that play multiple positions, so they know when their number’s called they have to hop up and go. It’s great to see that. It’s not just five starters on the offensive line. It’s much like the defensive line. They don’t rotate as much on the offensive line as we do on the defensive line, but those guys see themselves as eight starters that can go in and compete and play at any level. We’ve seen that in three games already. I’m sure with just the sure nature of football, you’ll continue to have some of those scenarios and those situations. That starts with coach (TJ) Woods helping those kids understand we’re all in this together. There’s not a selfish mentality at all. When it’s their turn, they’ve, obviously, hopped in there and done a nice job. It’s just great to see a team that fights and battles that way. When it’s good and it’s bad they fight that way. There’s not a bunch of woe is me, finger pointing or putting their head down. They grind and they’re looking to get better. From a young group, to see that and that maturity in them, personally, is potentially really, really special for this year and for many years to come.

On if redshirt freshman offensive lineman Andy Koch will be back anytime soon:

I don’t know that for sure. Mike (Williams) and everybody will be working with it. He’ll work his tail off to get himself back. We’ll see what takes place with that. He’ll do his part. He’s a big part of the duties that he has past all the other things he does for us. He’s a big part of this football team.

On senior placekicker Dominik Eberle:

There’s nobody in the world that wants that more than him. I’ve said it all along: special teams will win us games. You could look at the one and say, ‚ÄòYeah, that didn’t go our way.’ But, the other ones did. They were big. They were huge in a game like that. In that setting, that situation, it’s a six-point game. I have all of the faith in the world in that crew as a unit from the snapper, holders, kickers. They’ll get that done. They’ll load it back up and he’ll get out there. He’ll have a smile on his face today. That smile will have a little bit of a cringe in it, which it should. He’ll be excited to come out and show everybody exactly what he’s all about in those moments. He’s a great kicker. We have all the faith in the world that he’ll get it done for us. He was a huge part of that victory. All three of them together, it’s the snap, it’s the hold, it’s the kick, and they were a huge part of that victory. Then, you can’t discount the protection, either.

On the defense putting pressure on the quarterback against SDSU:

Early in the year, there was a lot of mass protection like we’ve talked about before. Those seven men protections and slide protections, it’s hard to get four guys in there regardless of what you’re doing. Even if you do it right, which most teams do, you have three double teams and you’re sitting there putting yourself in a position that makes it difficult no matter how they identify or even try to find those double teams. But, we did. We had some good pressure on the quarterback when we had the opportunity. We were able to run some games that were nice. Even in the run game or the shovel pass when Tipa (Galeai) made the TFL, that was a nice twist game that we were able to hit. The kids ran it well and they executed. The defensive ends rushed the passer much more effective at times than we did at the defensive tackle spot. We can play better at the defensive tackle spot, overall, and we need to play better at the defensive tackle spot. That crew of kids were solid, but I don’t think they played the game they should have played this last game. Maybe I’m a little harder on those guys cause I’m highly involved with that position group daily and working with those kids, but the defensive ends definitely rushed the passer better. It’s good to see them make some big plays. A minus-37 yard sack and a fumble is always a positive.

On the secondary unit playing better against SDSU:

(Cameron Haney) came in and did a nice job. He kept himself in shape as he went through that as much as you can. He was back. He had a nice week of practice. He reacted well to the situation. The defensive backs tackled extremely well. DJ (Williams) was in there numerous times on those plays going to the boundaries. Cam was in there numerous times. Troy (Lefeged Jr.) is in the middle of the field more, but he has no problem getting in the middle of it when he has the opportunity. When (Cash Gilliam) was in there. He did a nice job. It was good to see that physicality in the tackling part of the game within the defensive backs as a whole. But, it was definitely better. (Andre) Grayson) had a ton of reps out there and working and doing what he was doing. It was a positive. We will be challenged mightily this week with giant receivers that have made some big-time plays, so that will be a huge test. But it was definitely a step forward in that direction which was awesome to see. That group of kids are very prideful and playing very hard right now.

On Colorado State having big wide receivers:

There’s mismatches. When you have a guy that has that speed and that length, and quite frankly, the ball skills. Before the half of last week’s game they throw it up on a hail mary and the quarterback (Patrick O’Brien)has a big arm. He’s a transfer from Nebraska, has a big arm and loves to throw the ball across the field. He’s a good quarterback. He lets it rip about 50 yards, a hail mary, and they caught it at the half yard line. Didn’t score, but they caught it at the half yard line. He out-jumped everybody and said, ‚ÄòThat’s my ball.’ It was a helluva rebound. He got it. He went up and got that rebound.

On Colorado State senior running back Marvin Kinsey Jr.:

He has great speed. He’s a big back and is physical as needed when they get him into the inside run game. But, if he sees a crease, he’s going be very, very difficult to catch once he gets to the second level. He’s extremely fast. That’s on tape. That’s not sitting here telling you something you can’t flip on the tape and see. There’s a lot of weapons. That last game they played was a track meet. It was up-and-down the field on both sides, I suppose. I haven’t watched the other tape like I said. I have watched their offense and it was a very, very powerful offense for that three-and-a-half hours. They have some good football players.

On Colorado State having a good offensive line:

They always do. They’re big, strong, physical offensive linemen, and they recruit to that. They’re prideful of that within their community of where they live. Much like we are in Utah, we’re prideful of that here finding those big, strong, physical kids and developing them within the program. Colorado State’s been like that for forever and ever, and that’s not going to change. It’s been adopted by the new staff as they’ve gone through time. If you sit back at and look at the quarterback (Patrick O’Brien) as whole big, strong, physical kid, he runs plenty good enough to at least get your attention, for sure. But, he’s a gun slinger. He has no problem throwing to the opposite hash eight or nine times. In college football, that open side hash is something that is mostly defended by the inability of a quarterback to make that throw consistently or get it there fast enough to cause you issues as a defensive scheme. This kid, you have to account for that. He’s going to wing it out there to a big, tall guy who can stick his foot in the ground and play. Much like we can use Siaosi (Mariner) and Jordan (Nathan) for. Always against us, you always have to be able to deal with that field side boundary because if you do not, we’ll take that all day long and let the kids do their work. Savon (Scarver) is no different if he’s into the field, he’s the same guy out there. It’s definitely a weapon when you have a guy that can throw the ball like that.

On how difficult it is a coaching staff to prepare for the Mountain West:

First of all, it’s awesome for the conference. It really is. It seems to me, and I don’t read much, in fact I don’t read any, but what I do hear and what I do see is there is a lot of good information out there on the Mountain West. Nationally, there should be. There should be a lot of respect that is being gained this year with the type of football that is being played. As far as us looking at it, it seems like this is conference game number two. You see another opponent and they’re good. They’re explosive. There’s a lot of good football players. The Mountain West is playing not only good football, but great football outside of conference is just a huge feather in all of our caps as a conference. To have it be recognized nationally is big for all of us. We want competitive games in a tough conference where you can line up and play good football every single week. It’s going to be very interesting as we move through time to see who can knock off the guys that have been the cream of the crop throughout the years. As we’re playing better, is somebody going to be able to knock those guys off? Time will tell.

On if CSU quarterback Patrick O’Brien likes to use his legs or stay in the pocket:

In game one, he was more of a pocket guy. He’s going to go out and spin the football. They’re still doing the read zone thing with him, so there’s that option where you have to know where he is. I’m sure his ability to pull is there. I’m sure if he sees it, feels it and believes it, he’ll pull it. He’s much like Jordan (Love). He’d rather say, ‚ÄòI’d like to give it to that guy than me run the ball a lot.’ But, he’s definitely capable as needed.

On if the Colorado State game could be more open than the San Diego State game:

If you gaze at the numbers and look at the numbers and you take those for what they’re worth after a few football games, you’d look and say there’s a lot of weapons on offense on both sides. The defenses have done some good things at times, but the offenses will have more body blows and more haymakers than the defense has had by the numbers. And that would be on both sides. So, away we go. We’ll sit down and see what happens this Saturday.

On if he’d rather play a physical running team or speed-oriented team on the defensive side of the ball:

I was talking to the defensive staff last week, just in our base, not to get too technical, but two tight ends on the field or two running backs in the back field and one tight end and two wide receivers we call it our 43 package. We’ve practiced that for the last, probably, four years. Maybe five percent of our practice time for the whole year through practice, in spring ball and everything and goal line. Goal line is the same way. I don’t even think we had a goal line package. Nobody ever got into that in the Pac-12 except for maybe Stanford and maybe California a little bit. But, you worried about that very, very little and that was only if those guys were on your schedule. Well, we’re two games into it and we probably have 50 reps of goal line under our belt. It’s crazy. What would I prefer? Either way is fine. It’s just these teams do a nice job of having you play multiple packages on defense. If you don’t play multiple packages, just in my own opinion, you’ll be in trouble because you need to have the skill on the field to match the skill, and you need to get the big guys on the field to match the big guys on the field, which eats up practice time and forces more meeting time that’s productive meeting time and kids being able to grasp some different types of schemes that in some leagues you don’t have to work on nearly as much. It’s the way this league is going. Maybe that’s the way football is going. But, the multiple formations and the bigger groups of people has its own problems of adjusting to just as the spread stuff does.