UNM head coach Rocky Long
Question: Were the wide receivers much improved on Saturday (against Baylor)?
Rocky Long: “I thought the wide receivers went up and got the deep ball much better and I thought Rudy (Caamano) through the ball very well and gave the receivers a chance to go up and get the ball. It’s nice to see because the first few games we had some balls they might have been able to go up and get and they didn’t go after them as aggressively as they did on Saturday.
Question: New Mexico and Utah have two of the better defenses in the league, do you expect to have a hard-fought, low-scoring game this Saturday?
Rocky Long: “I think it’s going to be a very hard-fought game, but going in I never know whether it’s going to be high-scoring or low-scoring. Sometimes quarterbacks can get hot and it doesn’t matter how good of defense you’re playing, it’s hard to stop them. Sometimes teams can be dominant at the line of scrimmage and that can come and go as the game goes along. Fumbles can happen and interceptions that are returned for touchdowns, so you never know what the score is going to be, but I’m sure it’s going to be hard-fought.”
Question: Are you nervous about the transition from playing three passing teams (UTEP, Texas Tech and Baylor) to facing a strong running team in Utah?
Rocky Long: “A little bit. We’ve had three teams that didn’t really want to run it, now we got somebody who wants to run it really bad. They use two backs, they use two tight ends at times and they’re very big and physical up front. Im very concerned about how our defense is going to handle a big, physical, pound it at you team because nobodys even tried to do that to us yet. The statistics are misleading. Were giving up 0.8 yards per carry, but thats because nobody has tried to run it at us yet. (Baylor) averaged less than two yards per carry on Saturday and they ran it 38 or 37 times, but they were a passing team that was just trying to run it to keep us honest.”
Question: Does Utah run the same style of offense as they did last year?
Rocky Long: “No. Last year they were primarily a one-back formation. Two tight ends and one back was their main set, but this year they use two backs the majority of the time in normal pro formations and sometimes double tight and two backs. They have probably three or four really good running backs and they get them all in the game. Now they give you different formations with that personnel, but they’re a two-back team now, more of a pro-type offense than they were last year.”
Question: Is there a drastic difference in their overall philosophy compared to recent years?
Rocky Long: “No, they’re still going to try to run it and use play action. The philosophy is not different, the formations they’re using and their blocking schemes are a little bit different. I was shocked today when we got the (running vs. passing plays) percentages. They’re more 50-50, but when you watch the tapes you would guess they’re more run than pass and they’re not. They threw 51 passes against Oregon.”
Question: How different is Utah quarterback Lance Rice from the one you saw last year to the one you saw on tape versus Indiana?
Rocky Long: “He’s a lot more experienced and he seems a lot more comfortable. He didn’t throw the ball very well in the first game against Utah State, but in the last two games he’s thrown the ball very, very well. They’re not asking him to be a drop back passer. They’re protecting him with seven or eight blockers at times so he has plenty of time to let a couple of wide receivers work to get open. They’re using a lot of underneath throws, a lot of quick throws, a lot of short throws so that he doesn’t get hit. So they’re protecting him and the way they’re protecting him is that they’re able to run the ball fairly effectively. The play action passes and the pass protection is keeping him from being disrupted and he’s playing with a lot more confidence.”
Question: When you have somebody who does throw the ball like that, do you still bring the same amount of people on blitzes as you always do?
Rocky Long: “Some people do, some people don’t. We’re going to bring them, we always bring them. If we beat a blocker we’ll hit him and if we don’t beat a blocker we won’t.”
Question: How often did you use man-to-man coverage as opposed to zone last week (against Baylor)?
Rocky Long: We were probably 50-50 last week. We played a lot more zone than we have in the past because we could get a guy free on the blitz every time but the ball was gone before the blitz got there, a lot like it was against Texas Tech. We changed it up. We didnt blitz the whole time and we didnt play zone the whole time. We played three different zone coverages to try and confuse (Baylor quarterback Greg Cicero) a bit. There were several times he had to hold the ball awhile.
Question: Has Javier Hanson replaced Holmon Wiggins as your number one tailback?
Rocky Long: No, we used Javier more at slot wide receiver. In last weeks game we used what we call fly motion where a wide receiver or Javier would come full speed in motion right behind the quarterback. Sometimes hed get the ball, sometimes he wouldnt. Sometimes hed be a decoy and let Jarrod (Baxter) get the ball and sometimes it was a play action pass. Javier has great speed so we used him in that situation more often. In a two-back formation where Jarrod might be the fullback, Holmon is still the starting tailback, but were using Jarrod a lot more as the tailback or single-back too.
Question: Will you open up your playbook a little bit more or change your gameplan now that your playing a conference game?
Rocky Long: No. Theres more likelihood of us calling some trick plays, but weve been practicing them all year. The gameplan is developed based on the kind of defense they run.
Question: How do you feel about your offense now going into the first conference game?
Rocky Long: I think that were very inconsistent. I think that we threw the ball better last week than we have the first two weeks, but they played a defense that made it difficult to run and we didnt complete passes consistently enough to beat them. Now we hit some deep balls which should back them off, but that doesnt back them off unless you score points and we didnt score any points. In order to win in this conference were going to have to be more consistent on offense and were going to have to score more points.
Question: Is there anything you can do in practice to simulate a more physical team like the one youll play on Saturday?
Rocky Long: Well there is, but we wont do it. We could scrimmage because our team likes to run the ball and we could go live and scrimmage which would make us more used to the physical part of it, but the chances of getting the wrong people hurt outweighs the positives of it. So we go against scout teams, we stop every play and its completely different on Saturday, but every team has that problem. Except Utah has played against Indiana, which tried to run the ball at them, and Oregon, which is 50-50, so theyre probably a little more ready for a physical match up right now.
Question: Has Utah been very consistent in all three of their games?
Rocky Long: Well I think theyve been very, very consistent on defense. If you ask (Utah head coach Ron McBride) I bet you he thinks their offense is a little inconsistent at times too. They were more consistent against Indiana than they were against Utah State and Oregon, but I dont think theyre near as consistent as he would like them to be. They dont take many chances on defense so their defense is going to be pretty consistent. I think theyve gotten a little better each week and I think they have a huge psychological advantage in this game. They won in Indiana by two and we lose in overtime by three and the atmosphere after those games, I bet you, was completely different.
Question: How is the health of offensive guard Jeremy Sorenson?
Rocky Long: He was really sore the day after the game, he strained an ACL ligament, but he should be okay by gametime. He felt a lot better yesterday.
Question: Will the emotions of last weekends game still affect the team this Saturday?
Rocky Long: As a coach, you dont ever know. You can get a feeling, but you never know for sure. I think our kids are resilient and I think our kids will come back ready to play. I think we need to handle the initial onslaught. Utah is a very physical, emotional team, its homecoming, theyve been away from home for three or four weeks, this is their first game back since the Utah State game, theyll remember that we beat them last year, so early in the game theyre going to be sky high and theyre going to be walking on cloud nine. Theyll be flying around and if we can hang in there during the initial onslaught, itll be a great football game and itll be really, really close at the end.
Question: How is your teams confidence level heading into the first conference game?
Rocky Long: I think theyll realize the importance of it being a conference game. I think our confidence has been shaken a little bit because Ill bet our kids think they outplayed Baylor. I dont think they thought they outplayed Texas Tech, but I think they feel they outplayed Baylor. We made too many mistakes in critical situations and if you do that you dont deserve to win, but just playing, our offense was better than their offense and our defense was better than their defense, statistically and effort wise. But we lost because we made critical errors in too many situations and thats the way some teams win and some teams lose.
Question: Is there any confidence that comes from knowing that you outplayed a team?
Rocky Long: No, because I think the critical mistakes we made really bother you a lot more than the score. We fumble on the four-yard line on first and goal, we got first and goal on the eight and cant score a touchdown, we go for it on fourth and goal in overtime and the best player on our team is going to walk into the endzone and gets the ball knocked out of his hand, those things bother you a whole lot more than actually losing the game. Our kids are very good at taking the blame, several players probably think they lost the game and thats a good deal that our kids will take that kind of responsibility. Ive been in that situation as a player several times and thats hard to overcome when you think that youre the guy that lost the game. Its much better than pointing the finger at somebody else, but now it becomes an individual deal whether they can get over it or not.
Question: You talked last year about beating Utah because you matched up better in the trenches, how did that come about?
Rocky Long: I think weve gotten bigger and stronger up front so that we dont get dominated at the line of scrimmage anymore. Two and three years ago they ran up and down the field and we couldnt even slow them down and we couldnt block them on offense to move the ball. I think weve gotten better up front, bigger and stronger, and I think its a very equal match now up front.
Question: How frustrating is it to be in the red zone three times and only come up with three points?
Rocky Long: I think its very frustrating and thats as much a psychological deal as it a physical deal. We had several chances to score, but we didnt execute plays with people open and thats very frustrating. If I thought it was a physical deal, Id say we didnt have enough talent, and there might be a game like that later in the year, but it wasnt Saturday. It wasnt that we didnt have enough physical talent, its that we didnt execute well enough.
Question: Do you think Utahs running-based style of offense plays into the hands of your aggressive defense?
Rocky Long: No, I think what they do on offense negates some of the effectiveness of our style of defense. Our defense is not going to let you know who to block and they dont block people, they block areas. It doesnt matter how we send them, theyre going to block a gap.
Question: Are you happy (former Utah wide receiver and punt returner) Steve Smith is now with the Carolina Panthers?
Rocky Long: Well they have Cliff Russell back. One of the reasons I thought we had an advantage last year was because Cliff Russell was hurt. Hes supposedly the fastest guy in Utah football history and I thought Steve Smith was pretty fast. Theyve been throwing the ball very effectively, but thats because they can run the ball. You have to put enough guys up there to try and slow the run down. The best part about us is that were like that all the time so its no different that our corners are isolated one-on-one. Theyre like that most of the time in our defense so its not a new phenomenon this week.
Sophomore S Terrell Golden
(on putting last weeks loss behind and focusing on Utah)That game is in the past and the conference is starting. We have to move on and see what New Mexico is made of.
(on the decision to go for it on fourth down in overtime)
I think we were happy they went for it. That shows confidence and shows that were not going to lay down. We want to go for the win. If we can get you out now then why not. Lets get it over with. Personally, I was happy. At the same time, they got the ball back so it was up to us to go and try to stop them.
Weve never been in that situation since Ive been here, but I cant say that I was really surprised. I expected it to go that way. I cant say why, it was just a feeling. I just thought we were going to score and the game was going to be over.
(on feeling pressure to stop Baylor after the offense didnt score in overtime)
I dont even look at it like that. On defense our main thing is to stop them. If they dont score, they dont win. If they score they win. It doesnt matter how the game goes, if we have to play six quarters – they score, they win, we score, we win.
(on Utahs diversified attack)
I know our coaches are going to get us ready. It is going to be up to us to execute when were out there. We know what theyre going to do ahead of time.
(On this being the first conference game)
Its a different feeling you get in conference. Its a different emotion. Every conference game steps up. Its going to be real physical. All of are games are going to be real close. Were going to have to keep fighting.
(on winning on the road)
Personally, its harder to win on the road, but if we can execute to the best of our abilities theres nothing that can stop us. I dont even care if we play at home or on the road. The games going to be played, you just have to play it. Being away it doesnt bother me, being at home it doesnt bother me. I love to play and I hope that everyone else has that same mind set. The more you have that mind set the more comfortable you are playing away. The more comfortable you are, thats when you start making plays.
Rudy Caamano
(on his improvement through three games)
Statistically Ive been improving every game, but we won our first game and we lost our last two. If I had a choice Id take the first game every time. Id rather not have good stats and win the ball game than have good stats and not win.
(on the pressure of playing quarterback)
When youre the quarterback you have to know that you are going to get way too much praise when things are going good and when things go bad they are really going to get on you. Besides the coaches, you are the first one that gets blamed. You just have to know that comes with the position. You have to take the good with the bad.
(on putting the Baylor game behind and winning at Utah)
I know we can rebound and play a better game. Were not going to give up. Were going to keep playing and keep working hard. Eventually, things are going to start to go our way. Not to make excuses, but so far this year little things have happened that havent gone our way. Eventually things are going to start going our way and hopefully we are going to start winning some football games.
(on starting conference play)
I dont think we really thought of it as new life. In football you have to put every week as a new season, a new team, a new game. Win or lose you have to get over the last one and get ready for the next one. Obviously we would like to be 3-0 or 2-1 or in a better situation, but we have to put it behind us and get ready for Utah. Theres still a lot out there for us.
(on the importance of this game)
Its huge. Now every game is huge. Especially since we are now in conference. Weve been on the road and were going to be on the road for a while. Weve just got to get used to it and come away with a win.
D.J. Renteria
(On last weeks game against Baylor.)
It was a tough loss but we were in there non-stop until the end. I think that was good for our team to stick it out until the end. We have to let people know that theyre not going to be able to just run over us. I think the team is going to grow from it as well. We are going to have to realize that we are going to have to earn every win.
(on playing after the week off due to terrorist bombings)
It wasnt tough. Everybody that plays sports relishes that type of opportunity. Myself, I was eager to get out there and make things happen. It all just put football into perspective.
(On next weeks game against Utah)
Utah is a very physical team. Theyve got big guys on the line and big guys in the backfield. Its just going to be another challenge for us to get a win. I think our defense is ready to accept the challenge and help out team get a win on Saturday.