Quotes from head coach Rocky Long, along with WR Joel Baker and S Terrell Golden at Tuesday’s weekly football media lunch.
Question: Whats your opinion of UNLV?
Rocky Long: Theyre a very talented football team that was picked in the preseason to finish in second place and theres a reason for that. Now they havent played very well, but they have a whole bunch of good players.
Question: Is there any extra motivation for going into this game after last years loss at UNLV?
Rocky Long: I dont think so. There should be no reason for any extra motivation, theres plenty of motivation out there for our team. If our players arent smart enough to realize that, then were in deep trouble anyway.
Question: Did the win at San Diego State last weekend show that your players are mentally stronger than last year and better able to handle a high pressure game?
Rocky Long: I wasnt really impressed with how we played against San Diego State. I thought the defense played extremely well most of the game. I thought the offense struggled most of the game, made a couple big time plays, but struggled most of the game. San Diego State has lost a bunch of games this year because they make critical errors at critical times and thats what saved the game for us. They made a critical error at a critical time. Now the best part about that is, and Ive had several people call me up and tell me, thats usually New Mexicos shortcoming, making critical errors at critical times. So maybe weve made some improvement over the year, but well find out. This week were playing a very talented football team that has no pressure anymore. I dont think they handled the pressure very well and thats why their record is like it is, but they have no pressure anymore and they can go out and play and have a good time. They have a good coach thats been in this situation before and knows how to handle it. Well see how our players handle it. Theres extra incentive, but when you have extra incentive theres also extra pressure.
Question: Did San Diego State have the same situation last week with no pressure on them?
Rocky Long: It was exactly the same and overall, they probably played the best game that theyve played in a long time. They only had one turnover and their average is four. They played it close to the vest to try and keep it close and it was a very good game. I think UNLVs in the same boat. If a couple of things go differently in last Saturday nights game, it goes the other way really quickly, but all close games are like that with critical plays.
Question: Did you play any better against San Diego State this year than you did last year?
Rocky Long: I think it was almost exactly the same. Now what we did this year that we didnt do last year, was we threw two long touchdown passes on offense and we didnt give up an interception return for a touchdown. We had one that couldve been, but we didnt. Because of their plan of attack against us was completely defensed, the defense probably played as well as they did last year. Now everybody says you had six or seven sacks last year, but teams in our league never allow us to get sacks when they play us. The last two years theyve been trying to man protect us, well theres not a team in our league that man protects us anymore. Its zone protection from the first snap on. A lot of times its nine guys in there and one receiver out or its eight guys and two receivers out. So thats an adjustment our league has made against us.
Question: Was that the best game the secondary has had this year?
Rocky Long: You know we play nothing but man coverage and I thought that was the best our DBs have played in straight man coverage. They made more breakups, were more sure tacklers than theyve been in the past when they caught the ball in front of us and we made several really good plays on deep balls.
Question: Was the offensive struggles as much a result of San Diego State being one of the best defensive teams youve played?
Rocky Long: I thought San Diego States gameplan was really good on defense and their kids played really hard and they did a lot of disguising blitzes and coverages that they hadnt done before our game. I think it confused (Lobo quarterback) Casey (Kelly) some.
Question: Do you expect to see more of the same from UNLV?
Rocky Long: UNLV and San Diego State are very similar on defense. They have really good athletes, do not do a lot of blitzing and do not change a lot of coverages, but San Diego State kind of changed that in our game. They started showing blitz a lot more and didnt come and they would not show it and come and they played two or three different coverages that they dont usually play. I would imagine UNLV would try the same strategy and thats part of the maturing of a quarterback too and Casey better be able to handle it a lot better this week than he did last week.
Question: When designing a defensive gameplan for UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas, who is so talented and so inconsistent, do you have to assume hes going to be at his best?
Rocky Long: Youve got two ways to go. You can be conservative, and I hear guys on TV say this all the time about a scrambler, you cage them in and you keep him in the pocket and make sure he doesnt run out of there. The other philosophy is to play what you play and see if you can execute better than they do and your guys know which one were playing.
Question: Playing a team like UNLV, who has underachieved all year long, how soon do you think you can take them out of the game mentally?
Rocky Long: I dont know if you can take them out of the game mentally. Theyre coming in here with nothing to lose, except to have a good time and play football. I think that coach (John) Robinson will do a great job with them, theyll come in here ready to play and very, very relaxed. They have nothing to lose. Now if they were playing for something and you got a couple touchdowns ahead of them, theyd sweating and worrying about it and all that. Id rather both of us be playing for something.
Question: What did UNLV do to have some success against BYU?
Rocky Long: A lot like the Colorado State – BYU game, they ran the ball very, very well, hit some timely passes, kept the ball away from them and they played really good defense. Just their regular defense.
Question: What differences did you see against Utah last week?
Rocky Long: Well I saw Utah physically dominate the line of scrimmage and they ran the ball extremely well against them. UNLV got kind of excited when they intercepted a couple passes and ran them back and the game was really good for about three quarters. Then they made a couple errors where Utah got the ball close to the goal line, scored two quick touchdowns and then they kind of faded after that.
Question: Do you think you can to run the ball on UNLV as well as Utah was able to?
Rocky Long: I dont think we have the same power running attack that Utah does. Utahs able to run it on everybody, including us in the fourth quarter which really upset me. I dont think we run the same kind of attack that Utah runs and theyve been running that since (head coach Ron) McBrides been there. The kind of players they have are recruited to that kind of attack. They havent had anybody match up against their power running game all year, including Big 10 teams. I dont necessarily think they have better personnel, but theyre really good at what they do.
Question: What do you need to do to have more success running the ball against UNLV than you did against San Diego State?
Rocky Long: Complete some passes. If theyre going to put seven, eight, nine guys up near the line of scrimmage and feign blitzes the whole time, you better burn them on enough passes so that they cant put all those guys up feigning blitzes all the time or sending eight or nine guys because theres no seams. We never completed enough passes against San Diego State to tell them that they couldnt do that.
Question: Was Casey Kelly not getting the passes to the open men quick enough?
Rocky Long: I think he was a little bit confused. He would think they were coming and they wouldnt be coming and there would be a zone coverage back there. Then he would think they werent coming and theyd be coming and hed get hit and sacked. I think the offensive line was somewhat confused too because he got a lot more pressure than he has up until that game too.
Question: Do you think UNLV will try to disguise some things defensively to try to confuse Casey, is that part of their philosophy?
Rocky Long: Their philosophy is not that way, but coaches are great copy cats. If they see the success San Diego State had and they can fit it into their system fairly easily, you might see a lot of the same things. Its the age old problem, hopefully a quarterback, after he sees that kind of stuff, is much better prepared the next time he sees it.
Question: Where do you think UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas has had trouble this year?
Rocky Long: The same way he did it against us last year, he hasnt thrown the ball very well in most games, but against San Diego State he threw it very well. Last year when we played them, he didnt throw the ball very well for three quarters and then all of a sudden he couldnt miss a guy. So the talents there and it can come out at anytime, but it would be nice if hed wait one week.
Question: How do you keep your players playing to win versus playing not to lose at this point?
Rocky Long: Thats a concern. I know UNLV will be loose and theyll be out there to have a good time and our players know whats out there, they know what the chances are out there. You cant hide it from them and you cant lie to them about it. Theyre going to have to go out and play football without any of that affecting them.
Question: You seemed to play not to lose at this point in the season last year, do you think theyll learn from that this year?
Rocky Long: Youre hoping thats what will happen. Theres all kinds of teams that crumble when they have a chance to do something special. I dont think they played not to lose at all last Saturday and part of it is us not coaching not to lose. If you coach scared, your players are going to play scared. We dont coach scared and were not going to coach scared.
Senior wide receiver Joel Baker
(on his extended playing time)
Terrence Thomas broke his leg and tore some ligaments on our bye week, so we have had to adjust the rotation some. That has allowed me to move up in our depth chart. It is giving me some reps in some games and some opportunities to make some big plays.
(On his 61-yard touchdown catch.)
The coaches called the play and told me to get in there and get open. We ran it earlier in the game and I was wide open. Casey just didnt have enough time to throw the ball. This time the offensive line blocked really well and he had time to throw the ball. He was on the money with that throw. I just saw the ball deflect off of the defenders hand and I readjusted and caught it and went to the end zone.
(On his role in the offense.)
Injuries have forced us to shuffle around the receivers a bit. I have been able to get into a few more plays during the game and the chance to make some big plays.
(On the confidence of the team)
The whole team is pretty confident about the way we play. The maturity level has grown every year since Ive been here. This year it is at a new level. Offensively speaking we feel that we can go out there and compete with anybody. With Casey passing the ball and Jarrod and Holmon running the ball so well, you mix those two things together and the receivers making some big plays and this offense becomes pretty potent.
(On UNLV)
You always have to go in the game prepared for the other team to play lights out. If there going to do that then we are just going to have to play better than they do.
(On the game becoming a shoot-out)
I think we are willing to take that load. Coming off that Air Force game, its just opened a lot of eyes on that offense and every player on the team. If it has to be a shoot-out were prepared to do that. We have confidence that our defense can hold these guys and we have confidence that we can score points against this team. It should be a really good game.
Senior wolf safety Terrell Golden
(On the confidence level of the team.)
Right now we are jacked. We know that any given week, if we go out and perform to the best of our abilities we can come out on top. We have to keep things in perspective, we want to go out and practice hard this week. If we dont, we could lose any given week. There is an aura going around the locker room right now that is all positive, and that is what we need right now.
(Are you peaking a the right time?)
I dont think we areplaying our best football right now. We have so many kinks to work out. When we finally work those out then you will see the best New Mexico Lobos team that we can produce. Right now it is still not there. Right now we are just working hard for four quarters and making more plays than the other team and that is what is getting it done.
(On getting the offense and defense to play well in the same game)
When we finally do all three aspects of the game, offense, defense, and kicking, we will be dominating. Right now the offense is good, the defense is good and the kicking is great. But we need to get them all together for one game.
(On the UNLV game)
There is a sense of urgency going around here. We definitely have to win this game and the next game to put ourselves in position for a bowl game. But, we have to win all three, that way there is no indecision. With UNLV coming here we have an advantage. Last year we went to their house and they put it on us.
(What do you need to do to beat UNLV?)
Play tough defense, play sound in every aspect of our game. If we do that we will win. In the Mountain West, each team is very close talent wise, and I think we match up very well.