Sept. 26, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – University of New Mexico head coach Rocky Long, senior offensive guard Robert Turner and senior lobo Quincy Black addressed the local media this afternoon at the Tucanos Media Luncheon on the third floor of the L.F. “Tow” Diehm Athletics Facility. Click on the links below to watch coach Long’s press conference and listen to what the players had to say as New Mexico (2-2) gets ready to open Mountain West Conference play at Air Force (1-1) on Saturday.
Kickoff is set for noon (MST) and the game will be broadcast live on The Mtn. (Comcast Ch. 276 in Albuquerque). The distribution area for The Mtn. is expanding weekly. Click here to see if The Mtn. is available in your area.
Head Coach Rocky Long
Watch coach Long’s press conference
Listen to coach Long’s press conference
(on this game being pay-back for last year’s Air Force victory in Albuquerque): “I don’t think that there is a revenge factor of any means. We’ve talked about that almost every week. They did knock us out of a bowl game last year, but this is a completely different team than last year. They’ve got quite a few changes in their roster too.”
(on Air Force’s triple option offense becoming easier to defend each year): “It gets harder each year because they know what your philosophy is on defense. Their offense has all the advantages. In my opinion, they run an offense that you cannot stop on the chalkboard. If they know how you’re going to line up or how you’re going to attack them, they know exactly what blocking scheme to use and since they execute their offense as well as anybody ever has, they have huge advantages. I think they’re very smart coaches. I think what makes them go is that they run an offense that you don’t see, except for once a year, and you only practice against it three days in a week of practice.”
“It’s impossible for the scout team to give you a good look. They don’t know the speed that Air Force does it at, we have to tell the quarterback who to give the ball to, the quarterback is not reading it like Air Force’s quarterback will be. So we just guess who will carry the football for our scout team, otherwise they couldn’t even get out of their stance. Their offensive linemen don’t block with near the speed or effectiveness that Air Force will. It’s a huge disadvantage to the scout team too because their running an offense that they haven’t run in high school and they’ve never seen before. These are the young guys. They’ve never run a triple option or wishbone, so the scout team is always worse this week that it normally is.”
(on the emergence of TB Rodney Ferguson): “I think Rodney’s getting better every week. Him being able to carry the ball 34 times and gaining significant yardage means that he’s going to get to carry it more. Now we’re supposed to get Martelius Epps back next week, but as long as Rodney keeps playing like he’s playing, he’ll get the ball more and more.”
Senior Offensive Guard Robert Turner
Listen to Turner’s press conference
“I think from an offensive perspective, we have to make the most of our possessions when we get the ball because we know that we won’t get as many possessions per game (because of Air Force’s ball control offense).”
Senior Lobo Quincy Black
Listen to Black’s press conference
“I don’t have the ability to say if we are good or not. That’s not my role. My role is to play and let all the critics do the talking. I’m not comfortable judging or labeling a team based on just four games.”