Nov. 11, 2008
Watch Coach Long’s Press Conference
Head Coach Rocky Long
(on Colorado State):
“Probably the same challenge we have had over the last four or five weeks. The athletic ability on either team is very, very equal. They have moved the ball well against everybody they’ve played so far, scored a lot of points against most people they’re playing. Air Force beat them last week because of turnovers. Air Force beat us because of turnovers. It’s an even match. Now they still have a chance to go to a bowl game if they win the last two, so they might have a little more incentive than we do, but it’s a pretty even match.”
(on the team’s mindset in the final game):
“I’m counting on our team’s competitive spirit. It’s kind of a trademark of our program. It doesn’t matter who we play or what the situation is, we play hard. Most of the time if you play hard you have a chance to win. Now if you make too many mistakes, you’re not going to win. But if you play hard and they aren’t that much better than you athletically, you’ve got a chance to win.”
(on not being bowl eligible for the first time since 2000):
“It’s uncomfortable. It’s discouraging that we weren’t able to get over the top. When you consider the kind of schedule that we played and the injury problems that we’ve had, it would have been – and people wouldn’t have thought of it this way – but it would have been a very successful accomplishment if we would have gotten bowl eligible when you consider all of the problems that we’ve had and the strength of our schedule. It’s discouraging, it’s disappointing because we have kind of gotten used to being bowl eligible around here, which is positive for our program. I think a lot of people are spoiled and expected us to do it. When you look at the history of this football program, being bowl eligible for seven or eight years is unheard of in this program. But it is still discouraging and disappointing.”
(on how many games this year were decided by one or two bad breaks):
“It went our way last year. Last year we won a lot of very close games because the other teams either made mistakes or we made plays, whichever way you want to look at it. Last year we were very, very lucky that none of our experienced playmakers got hurt. We have so many of our best players playing with injuries, they aren’t playing quite as good. In some years the bounces go for you and in some years they don’t go for you. We’re not as physically gifted a football team that can, even if we didn’t have injuries, we don’t have the athletic ability or talent to overcome some of those things in close football games. The trick is not to throw an interception, the trick is not to fumble going in the end zone. That’s the trick. Some days the ball bounces for you and some days it doesn’t. I think the strength of the schedule and not having a bye week, all of those things have something to do with it. Whether that’s the reason or not who knows, but all of them had something to do with it.”
(on this season’s positives):
“Number one I would guess that 70 percent of the teams in the situation that we have been in all season long would have given up the ghost a long time ago and wouldn’t have played Air Force, Utah and UNLV near that competitive. It’s easy to see the teams that give up. Our team hasn’t given up a lick and that’s a very positive thing. The other positive thing for the future is that we have had a lot people play a lot of football this year that weren’t counting on playing football. They were counted on in a support role, maybe a little special teams here or there. If we got ahead maybe they’d get into the game. A lot of those guys have had to play a lot of football. Guys that would have been inexperienced next year aren’t going to be inexperienced. So if we can get some of the underclassman up to a different level next year, your team is much deeper, much more experienced and knows what to expect.”
(on using Saturday’s game to get ready for next season):
“I’ve thought a lot about it and that’s not our teams personality. That’s not my personality. Our team hasn’t given up trying to win so why would I give up trying to win and just to get ready for next year. We are going to play the best players and do whatever we can to win.”
Senior Safety Blake Ligon
(on his emotions after the UNLV game):
“It definitely kind of brings you down whenever you feel like you’re doing good, you feel like you’re getting things going and even when bad things were happening, defensively we were able to make up for it or do what we can to slow it down. It was definitely a long, long Sunday and mentally you can’t let losses hold you down. Granted this was a big loss for us, it took us out of bowl contention, but you win some and lose some. You have to have that mind set.”
(on the team’s mentality this week):
“There is not a single quitter in our locker room and out there on the field. If someone shows that mentality that they’re quitting and giving up, they will not be out there. That’s just the way it’s going to work and we have a lot of seniors that are going to lead us into battle. We’re going to do the same thing we do week in and week out and we’re going to play hard. Our season got ruined so now we’re out there to try to mess up Colorado State’s.”
Senior Tight End Chris Mark
(on the team’s mentality going into the Colorado State game):
“Everybody thinks this is an opportunity for us to go five and seven which sounds a lot better than four and eight. We have a lot of young guys and it’s another opportunity for them to develop. For the seniors, we want to go out winners in the last game of competitive football we might ever play. We want to know we went out there, dominated and were winners.”
(on his senior year and the final practice of his collegiate career on Thursday):
“It’s going to be rough because it’s the last competitive football practice we’ll have, but you see it every year. It’s my fifth year seeing the seniors go off and watching them have a little bit of fun with everybody. It’s serious, but everybody has that fun mentality. We’re out there having fun and doing it all. A couple people might get emotional, but I think for the most part everybody’s a bit like `let’s get out there and end it on a good note.'”