Nevada Head Coach Chris Ault
Opening Statement:
“I thought we played our best game of the year tonight, especially on the road. San Jose has played some tough teams like we have this year. We certainly weren’t going to intimidate them, so we knew that. I thought defensively we played really well.”
“I thought we played with a little bit more energy tonight. We had a nice defensive game plan for what San Jose does and I thought we played hard.”
“We knew coming down to San Jose that these games are always tough and our kids were outstanding, they really were. We felt pretty comfortable about what we were trying to do game plan-wise.”
On NCAA-record-tying four 100-yard rushers in the game:
“Somebody told me it tied an NCAA record. I didn’t know that. That’s pretty special. It says an awful lot about your front (line), and about your backs. I mean, it says an awful lot about your offense.”
On team’s defensive effort:
“We played well tonight. It was great, and again, on the road. Road games are tough, they really are, especially in this conference. I was really pleased with them tonight, and again there’s more progress now, so it’s come at the right time.”
On getting several players into the game:
“That’s critical. I think we played them (non-starters) from the middle of the third quarter on, and it’s not a gift. They’ve earned that right, and we want them to play well and hard, and they did. I was really pleased with that. In particular, Tyler Lantrip (backup QB), he went in and San Jose started some of their blitzes and strong stuff, which is tough to tell, and he saw it every single time and did a great job.”
Vai Taua, Nevada Running back
On four players rushing for over 100 yards.
“It was all the offensive line. I’ve said it every week, the o-line moves people. They make holes that anyone could run through. They dominated this team more than any we have faced. The holes were the size of trucks.”
On avenging the loss from two years ago.
“We really wanted to come out hot. If it was on defense then we wanted a three and out or on offense we wanted seven points. We talked about it all week and knew if we came out that way we would win.”
Dontay Moch, Nevada Defensive End
On the quick defensive start.
“It was great. Once we get our motors running we just keep going and keep going. We feed off ourselves and once we start doing that there is no stopping us.
On how good the team is right now.
“We could be a lot better. We just have to keep practicing and keep practicing and take it to the game. We have yet to reach our potential. Early in the season we were playing as individuals, now we are playing as a team and you can see the results.”
Colin Kaepernick, Nevada Quarterback
On four players rushing for over 100 yards.
“Once again the offensive line is dominating up front. When they play like that it would be hard for us not to rush like we did.
Is this the best the team had played this year?
“As a team, yes. On both sides of the ball we went out and played like we should have and the scoreboard showed that tonight. We are getting comfortable with what we are doing and know what we want to do. No matter how the defense lines up, we have out assignments and we execute.”
San Jose State Head Coach Dick Tomey
Opening Statement:
“I need to apologize, because that was the worst football game we’ve played in the five years that I’ve been here. That’s a terrible reflection of me as a head coach, the rest of the coaching staff, and our players. I’ve never witnessed an effort like that. Having said that, Nevada is a very good football team, and we have to hope that our team has enough pride to compete in the remaining four games of the season.”
Knowing Nevada’s rushing power, did you imagine this outcome?
“We know they’re a good rushing team, and they have put up yards against a lot of people. You can see that by looking at their numbers. We just never stopped them. We played most of the night with two freshmen and two sophomores in the defensive lineup, and three freshmen rotating in. However, that’s not an excuse for this nightmare of a game.”
Did this result have anything to with the game being played on Sunday?
“There is no possible excuse for that performance. I’ve been here for five years, and no team has ever played like that. As a coach, I have to stand up and admit that it was a terrible job of getting our team ready to play.”
How does the coaching staff plan to rebound from this loss?
“Teams rebound all the time, and we’ve seen that in the past. We have to hope we have enough pride to overcome such a dismal performance. We have so many players who play the game better than what they did tonight, but this game was just reality.”
San Jose State Players
Linebacker Travis Jones
“I don’t quite know how to describe it. This is tough right here. It was not very good football right there. Me, personally, I’m not willing to give up. I’ve been here with a lot of my teammates for five years and I know they won’t give up. It was out of character tonight for a lot of us how we put it together and how we played. We have four more games. Everybody knows that. We can win all four of them. We practice and we’ll play each game with pride and bounce back.
Our coaches and players do a great job of getting together and making a great game plan. We go into every game with the feeling we’re going to win. Me, personally, I fell like we can win every single game I’ve played in. We understand the task at hand with that offense. They’re a good team. We understand that, but we also go in with confidence that we’re going to play tough.
A lot of things just didn’t go our way. It wasn’t good football all the way around in every aspect. They have a serious attack. They have an offense that’s hard to defend against and they run it to perfection. They find places where they should run and how to adjust throughout a game. And, they doa great job, all their running backs and the quarterback.
Quarterback Jordan La Secla
“Every week, we show what we can do, but we don’t do it consistently. We shoot ourselves in the foot all the time. We’re better than how we played tonight. A few miscues here and there can bring you down, but a good offense won’t let it get to them.
We didn’t bounce back like we should have. I put a lot of that on myself, especially that pick. We could have got some momentum from a touchdown. Josh ran a good route. I just didn’t put the ball there.
Our line blocked real well tonight for the pass. So, we have to do that more often. It’s hard to run the ball when you’re down. Because, we didn’t score early, we got down by a lot. We had to pass a majority of the time.
We had a real good week of practice. We were prepared. We’re a good team. I still feel like we could have put up a lot of points tonight.”
