Aug. 30, 2014 Recap | Final Stats | Notes
HEAD COACH Brian Polian
Opening statement:
"We found a way to win. The interception at the end was completely on me. I own it. It won't happen again. It's my job as the head coach, at critical situations in the game, to make sure it's clear what we want to do. We were running the ball effectively and I heard that the pass was called. We're trying to develop a mentality around here of finishing teams off. It's not on the quarterback and it's not on the offensive coordinator. We just need to make sure that when we throw an interception we tackle him. Overall, offensively, I don't think the first half was as awful as people think. We were backed up in the shadow of our own goal line a couple of times, and in those situations we got a couple of first downs and got out towards midfield. We were productive in terms of yardage. I thought the problem offensively in the first half was our inability to sustain. We couldn't get the one play to keep the drive alive.
"You have got to give Southern Utah credit. Their plan became obvious of what they wanted to do on defense and they're pretty good on defense. They were going to stay in two-high most of the day, and they were going to make us run on the seven-man box. They were not going to let us throw the ball over their head.
"In the second half though we come out and score three touchdowns and we were on our way to a fourth when we threw the pick. I'm not as disheartened as people might think, we just have to do a better job sustaining and making that play that keeps the drive alive.
"Defensively I was very pleased with what we did in the first half. Specifically, the turnover after the muffed punt. That was a huge play. Great call by Scott Boone. We forced him get the ball out quickly and Nigel Haikins comes in with a heck of a pick. I thought overall we played decent, we held them to 19 points and that was with having really just a vague idea with what we were going to see. Their film from last year did us no good in preparation. They went from a ball control two tight end offense to a spread offense playing at a high tempo. Given that, our guys did a pretty good job. Their first half touchdown was a player didn't prepare for and you can't prepare for everything in your first game. It was a wildcat formation and the safety took a bad angle. On the second touchdown, we lose leverage on the football and we took another bad angle. That has got to stop. I don't mind if you don't fit a play correctly but the middle safety has got to get the guy on the ground. That was a problem last year that we will not accept this year.
"We presented the game ball in the locker room to Gabe Lee. Our senior special teams ace who suffered a knee injury in training camp and is going to be lost for the season. The response he got from our team was pretty special.
"Now we have a short week to get ready for a Pac-12 opponent here at Mackay Stadium. I watched every minute of their game on Thursday night and they have a great quarterback, big, athletic receivers, a young offensive line, very aggressive defense, it's going to be a challenge. Our first concern right now is getting word from our athletic trainers to find out where we are health-wise. We are going to have to manage our preparation so that we can be as physically ready to go as we can on Friday because it's going to take everything we got. With a 7:30 p.m. start on a Friday night with a national television audience, I hope that we will pack the stadium and wear white to create a home field advantage."
On improvements from the 2013 season...
"We did a much better job of finishging the second half than we did in the opener a year ago. It was 7-0 going into the half and we scored on the first couple of possesions, so that was an improvement compared to last season. I know what we did today won't beat Washington State but that's why it's the first game. Hopefully we'll learn from today and make a big leap from week one to week two. We had a lot fo guys who were playing in their first college football game. We hope that we will make a significant leap. We will take a long look at the film and evaluate personnel. But there will also be a lot of good on this tape. Wins are hard to come by. 16 FCS teams beat FBS teams last season. I would rather be teaching off a victory than a loss."
On the performance of Jerico Richardson...
"He played great and that's no accident. He had the best training camp, he has the best academic semester he ever had in his life, he's been accountable off the field. The light bulb went on and he's living proof that you can never give up on someone and when they're right in all phases of their lives you can be a good football player."
On the move of offensive coordinator Rolovich to the sidelines...
"His comfort level was the reason for his move. His communication with the quarterback is pivotal in terms of making sure that they're seeing the right things. We just thought it was easier for him to have a conversation with a player. It was less of a switch or more of a transition."
On the Pack's offensive production...
"Don Jackson averaging five yards a carry was nothing to complain about. I thought Nate McLaurin was a pleasant surprise at the end of the game for how physical north and south he ran. And James Butler had a great touchdown run and good pass protection. And I was pleased with Cody Fajardo's production. Four-and-a-half yards a carry, good decisions, he moved the chains, and I thoguth he was smart without taking shots. you end up with 96 plays for 547 yards, its hard to say "whats the porovbelm with the offense," we were productive but we didnt get the big plays."
Senior quarterback Cody Fajardo
On his assessment of the offense in the 28-19 win over Nevada :
"The offense did a nice job today. We got canned a little bit in the beginning but we did a good job of getting the ball out. We had a hard time finishing drives but I thought in the second half we responded really well. It's a positive that both offensively and defensively we had a good second half."
On Jerico Richardson's performance :
"I'm really happy for Jerico. He's been battling for the starting job all fall camp and all summer. It just goes to show how much he's buying into the program and how much he's willing to contribute to make the team better. He made us better today."
On the team's second half performance :
"As an offense, we knew the defense was battling. We knew we couldn't leave them out there to dry. There was a drive within us that we needed to hold up our end and we came out in the second half and did a good job."
On being a senior and getting the first win of the season :
"As a senior it feels good to start off 1-0. I know all of the other seniors feel the same way too. Going 4-8 last year, sitting on that during the offseason and we finally got a good taste in their mouth. Feels better even better when we get a win. "
Senior defensive end Brock Hekking
On his assessment of the defense :
"I'm proud of our defense. We went out there, played hard and played intense. They made two big plays on us but other than that we definitely played well. It was a great win, we got it under our belt and got that bad taste from last season out of our mouths. Now we're just getting ready for next week."
Nigel Haikins' first career interception :
"It was huge. Anytime you get a change of possession like that in that situation it was huge and it gave the momentum to the offense."
On how the team will prepare for Friday's matchup against Washington State :
"We're going to watch the film tomorrow, go over our game plan and how we played today and we're going to have to ramp it up for sure. We can't make the same kind of mistakes against Washington State but we're going to bring our energy and we'll be ready."
