Oct. 24, 2015 Recap | Final Stats | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery 
Nevada Postgame Quotes
Head coach Brian Polian
Opening statement…
"For a while there, it was ugly but I'm proud of our guys. We challenged them at halftime to play better and they did. There were a lot of really good individual performances, like Ian Seau's career game. I cannot say how proud of James Butler I am. All his yards were really tough yards. He was moving piles, creating yards after contact; he had a really good day. Brent Zuzo had a fantastic day. There's some things we can do better, but my biggest takeaway is the character they showed coming back from 17-0. I'm happy our guys get to go into the bye with a win, and we'll get the chance to catch our breath. We need the bye week physically."
On the turning point of the game…
"I think one of the hidden plays was one of the long kickoff returns. It was well executed by Elijah. That was a big sequence. We had a short field and were able to go down and punch it in. When they got the unsportsmanlike on the PAT, we were going to pooch kick the ball. When Coach Chow got the penalty, we had the ball at the 35, and we were going to onside kick. When it was obvious they were going to put in their hands team, we decided to middle dribble it. Brent Zuzo did a great job on that kick. That whole sequence was a really big lift for the team."
On Ian Seau's performance…
"He was impactful, he was great. He had a lot of pressures. He was in their backfield a lot tonight. There won't be a lot of thought process for who we want to nominate for Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week. He's a big time play maker, and the play he made at the end of the game was fantastic. He had a chance to put his mark on the game and he did."
On the run defense and turnovers…
"When we can make an opponent one-dimensional, you've got a chance. Our pass coverage wasn't great all the time but we found a way to make it happen. Turnovers were huge. Those interceptions were able to get them off the field. Those turnovers were the story of the game. Late in the second quarter, we're down 17-0, and then we outscore them 30-3. No doubt those turnovers were why."
On performing better in the second half…
"I think our coach's are doing a good job of keeping everyone calm. We're not coming up with new gameplans, but our coaches are doing a good job of finding the problems and the issues and correcting them. The pass protection at the beginning of the game bothered me, but again it takes a series or two to figure out what the issues are and adjust. We have to stop stalling offensively and finish drives in the end zone. We made yards, we just didn't finish. We have to figure that out."
On Don Jackson picking the team up…
"Don's best play of the game may have been on the sidelines getting everyone up and getting everyone going. Our energy at that point came from Don. He gave us a shot in the butt."
Junior TE Jarred Gipson
On the win…
"It feels great, every win feels great. We needed this one after the loss last week, and we also needed it headed into the bye week."
On his increased involvement in the game…
"Our coaches in the box saw they weren't covering something, so they said let's just keep what we're doing. They didn't stop it, and it worked out for us."
On the success of the run game in the second half…
"Finishing our blocks. In the first half we weren't finishing our blocks. Our coaches showed us what we were missing and we were able to adjust for that. It's just knowing what the defense is going to do. But once we saw that and got it together, we were able to run it downfield."
Senior PK Brent Zuzo
On the win…
"It's a great win. Our team really worked hard all week. It's going to be great going into the bye week, and great for our community as well."
On the onside kick…
"We had no idea what we were going to do. It went through four difference kicks. When we figured out what we were going to do, it worked out well. It was a good surprise kick and they didn't really know what was going on. We practice it every once in a while, but it's something we really keep on the shelf in case we need it. The play was good for our momentum, and I'm glad we got some points out of it. It brought our spirits up. As the kicker on that kick, I'm looking to get that ball to roll perfectly and trying to time it up with my two blockers."
Senior LB Jordan Dobrich
On his first-career interception…
"We were playing Tampa 2, and I was supposed to drop a bit deeper than I did. But my coach on the sideline told me they were going to try and work that slant there. I moved over, and I guess I was in the right place at the right time. It felt really good, because it's kind of a running joke that I don't have a career interception."
On defensive adjustments in the second half…
"We just weren't being consistent enough in that first half. We started executing the game how were we supposed to. It was more of a mental thing after halftime. It seems like we have a second-half team. We haven't been that in the past, so I don't know what it is. Maybe guys are getting a reality check in the second half. Being down 17-0, coach said we have to have a steel spine. The game plan doesn't change. You can make adjustments, but you can't just throw out your game plan."
On the bye week…
"It feels really good to have a bye week. It feels like it came a little late, but it's here now. A lot of guys are going to be able to come back a lot healthier and a lot faster."
Senior DE Ian Seau
On the win…
"Winning is the most important thing. Everyone is happy after a win, especially after coming out of a game that could have gone either way. The best thing about the upcoming bye week is that we won. No one wants to go into a bye week with a loss."
On his four sacks…
"That's the first time I've done that in a D1 college. That's pretty awesome."
On coming back…
"This is going to sound bad, but we put ourselves in a hole. But we get better as the game goes on. We get stronger as the game goes on."
Senior RB Don Jackson
On him and James Butler lifting the team up…
"It seemed like that was somewhere we had been before. We didn't like the energy, so we had to get going. What better way than to get the whole team up? I saw guys just watching, and I kicked them in gear right after that. It changed the whole tempo of the team. Guys were locked in, guys were ready to play."
On James Butler's running performance…
"He's a monster. That's all. He's a monster."
