Sept. 5, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
UNM Head Coach Rocky Long
On whether he’s disappointed with his team’s play: “It’s a win. I told myself when I became a head coach as long as we win we’re excited about winning. We won. I’m sure people will be disappointed because they thought we’d play better than we did, but guess what? We get the ‘W’ and they get the ‘L’. You can’t scoff at that.”
On UNM’s quick start to the game:
“I didn’t know what to expect. I compliment UNLV and their coaching staff. They’ve done a heck of a job with that team in spring practice and fall camp. They executed a whole lot better than I thought they would on both sides of the ball. I thought our offense looked really, really good early and then kind of shabby the rest of the way and I thought our defense looked okay until the last quarter and then stunk up the place. But they stopped them on a two-point conversion then intercepted a pass after we didn’t get the onside kick, so we made enough plays to win.”
On why the offense faltered after its fast start to the game:“I’ll have to watch the tape. Maybe UNLV started playing a lot better than they were. Usually it’s a combination – UNLV probably started playing a little better and we probably didn’t play as well. Usually that combination means you don’t play as well as you do early. We did have a little trouble with the heat. We had six or seven guys who are going to be on IVs right now and I’m sure they don’t because they practice in 100-degree heat and we don’t. For us it was pretty hot out there.”
On Gabriel Fulbright’s late-game interception:
“He read it really well and that’s right where he’s supposed to be standing. But he read the throw really well.”
On the crowd today, in particular the two delay-of-game penalties:“Over the last two or maybe even three years our crowd has been unbelievable. Here it is Labor Day and we almost have a full house and they’re loud. They were out in the hot sun too and they made a big difference. I think they caused UNLV some problems down there when we stopped them the first time on first-and-goal. Our crowd gave them some problems, which made them kick a field goal. I think the crowd helped us get through some really rough times because late in the game UNLV was a lot better than we were.”
On DonTrell Moore’s performance:
“I thought DonTrell really ran good on the shuffle pass. He looked like the old DonTrell. He will look better with his inside running next week. He should now have confidence that he can get tackled and not get hurt. I’m sure he’ll be much better next week. He got us two big-time third down conversions, the last one on 3rd-and-19. There’s not that many people that can shake that many people down and get you 13 or 14 yards on a shuffle pass.”
On the team’s demeanor on the sideline after the 4th quarter touchdown and onside kick:“I think that’s a positive sign because we weren’t playing very well. UNLV was playing better than we were. They had the momentum and our defense bucked up and stopped them on the two-point play. We don’t do a very good job. UNLV gets the onside kick, the defense bucked up again and walked in there and intercepted a pass. Psychologically, things couldn’t have been any worse. So that’s a good sign that we can hang in there.”
UNLV Head Coach Mike Sanford
“I think the first thing is we found out a lot about ourselves today. I know and everyone on our team knows that we’re going to be a good football team. We struggled a little bit early, but we were still overwhelmed by the pressure of the game. From there we settled down. Our defense started stopping and offense started getting involved. Looking back on it, I told the team this, I think we’ve got to do the little things better. We’re close, but we have to be able to do everything right all the time. I thought our kids showed a tremendous amount of character, a tremendous amount of heart. I thought we competed hard, which is one of the things you want to ask of your team. The key now is where we go from here. We have to stay together as a team, we have to correct the negatives, build on the positives and move on.”
(on the Rebels’ offensive improvement throughout the game):“I think it was a combination of various things. A combination of the guys knowing what to do, building confidence, guys believing in each other. I think what happened is we got a sense of urgency. The doldrums went away and all of a sudden we got a sense of urgency and we started executing our offense. When we execute our offense and our defensive starts stopping them like we were stopping them we’re going to be a good football team.”
New Mexico junior QB Kole McKamey
“We came out with lots of fire and just went out there and played, and we made plays. I think we had a serious lack of focus after that first quarter success and that’s something we really need to work on. We eased up a little bit since we were 17 points up. We have to know that a lot better team is going to come back and beat us. Really, we should feel lucky to have won today. UNLV played a heck of a game coming back like that. We got to come back tomorrow and get to work.”
New Mexico senior CB Gabriel Fulbright
(on his fourth quarter interception): “We were playing cover two. They ran a smash route – the first guy ran a stop route and the other guy (Greg Estandia) ran a corner route behind me. We’re supposed to sink in cover two, so I just did my job and it just so happened that I made a play. We talk about big plays and turnovers so much. We needed a big play because all they needed was a field goal.”
(on the Lobos’ defensive performance): “We slacked off when it was 17-0. We thought we had the game won. We need to have more focus next week because Missouri won’t let us get away with that.”