UNM HEAD COACH ROCKY LONG
(on SDSU wide receivers J.R. Tolver and Kassim Osgood): “They’re both really good and I think they’re both (going to be) pros. I think if you have one really good receiver, there’s some things you can do on defense to negate his abilities. As soon as you have two really good receivers, it’s impossible to take either one of them away. They throw the ball really well and we haven’t played good pass defense the past few weeks.”
(on UNM’s defensive scheme against the Aztecs): “We’re going into the game a lot more conservative than we’ve ever gone into a game since I’ve been here. We’ll blitz some. If we blitz early and we can cover them man-to-man, we’ll blitz the whole day. If we blitz early and all of a sudden we get beat in man coverage for an 80-yard touchdown pass, we probably won’t play much man-to-man anymore.”
(on the improvement of the UNM offense): “I think that our receivers, in the last two games, are catching the ball better. I think Casey’s throwing it well, though he threw it pretty well early and we dropped too many passes. And, DonTrell’s carrying the ball better and I think our offensive line gets a little better every week.”
(on San Diego State’s defense): “They’re much more multiple than they’ve been in the past. They’ve got two real good corners (Jeff Shoate and Ricky Sharpe), they’re defensive line is pretty good and they’re linebackers are young. They’ve got a great middle linebacker (Kirk Morrison) that’s only a sophomore. He might be as good a linebacker as they’ve had in the league in a long time if he continues to grow.”
(on predicting the San Diego State mindset): “I think you’re guessing. I think you would not be guessing if they had beat BYU last week. If they would have been tied for the league lead at 4-0 and having won four in a row, thinking they were going to the Liberty Bowl, that might have helped us because they might have looked past us to Colorado State. But, them losing to BYU, I think there’s a huge question about how they will come in.”
JUNIOR OFFENSIVE GUARD CALVIN McDONALD
(on the play of the Lobo offensive line): “With the injury to Nate (Hembree), (Ryan) Cook joined the starting lineup and (Justin) Colburn had to switch positions (from center to tackle), and I think it took us a little time to get things together. But now those two are solidified in their positions and the O-line knows what it has to do, so its just a matter of going out and doing it.”
(on his expectations facing San Diego State): “Hopefully it’s another physical game because that’s what we look forward to. We want it to be physical so we can hopefully wear them down in the third and fourth quarters and have real good game.”
(on UNM using a conservative offensive game plan vs. SDSU): “I don’t know if I’d call it conservative, but we’re going to play that hard-nosed offense and try to run it down your throat. That’s the offense we’re used to and that’s the offense we like running. With the O-line and tight ends blocking up front and the receivers catching the ball, the offense is starting to click.”
JUNIOR SAFETY TERRELL GOLDEN
(on the Lobos’ bye week): “It gave us an opportunity to focus on fundamentals, get all of our adjustments down and we have this week also to get sharp. We didn’t look at it as an off week, we focused on getting better on the field, getting smarter in the film room and also getting healthy. I think by the time we hit the field we’ll be ready.”
(on UNM playing a “must-win” game, needing victories in 3 of its next 4 games to become bowl eligible): “Actually we can’t afford to lose any games the rest of the way. That’s the mentality we’re approaching this game with. We want to finish strong. We don’t want to lose any games and we want to win the Mountain West championship, which we can if we win out. This game is just as big as any as far as conference standings are concerned. San Diego State has their work cut out for them and so do we. It’s going to be a battle of wills and it’s going to come down to who has the most heart.”