ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Lobo head football coach Bob Davie held his weekly press conference on Monday in the Zia Level of the football press facility as a part of UNM’s weekly fall sports media luncheon. Here is what the head coach had to say about this week’s game with San Diego State on Friday evening at 7:32 p.m. Mountain Time. The game will be played on ESPNU.
Bob Davie: Alright men. Let’s see if we can win one of these Friday night games. We are right back on the same schedule that we were coming out of New Mexico State and playing Fresno out here with ESPN coming to town. So you know, see if we can build on, hopefully, some momentum we’ve generated. The only reason you build momentum, at least in our case, is you execute better. You look at the last two weeks and we have not turned the ball over. Zero turnovers the last two games. We’ve caused four turnovers. We’ve sacked the quarterback, we had five sacks and nine tackles for losses against UTSA. Probably the only thing we haven’t done real well quite honestly is the fourth-and-one conversion against San Antonio that we didn’t make and I think we had a third-and-one or a third-and-two in there we didn’t make.
But I think we are all anxious to go play quite honestly and see if we can continue to improve and maybe capitalize just on what a win does for you. It’s amazing, you talk about a tonic for everybody. Winning a game is still the best thing going. You know we’ve had a lot of people see, and you have to look pretty close sometimes, see improvement that we’ve made. For example there were a couple of pro scouts there today at practice that I’ve known forever, and they have seen it. They see what our team looks like. I’ve had opposing coaches, both assistant coaches and head coaches, I’ve had friends mine that watch us play, they all see the bits and pieces of things of improvement, but at the end of the day you have to win. You have to win.
So hopefully we can build on that. I think it’s a great opportunity for us. Playing another game at home, it’s a late game, 7:30. We don’t have classes Thursday or Friday, which helps. Our players will get Saturday and Sunday off which will help. So we have no excuses. No excuses. So it’s time for us to go play and see if we can win ourselves a Mountain West Conference game. So Rick you want to start this off?
Rick Wright, Albuquerque Journal: Who’s your starting quarterback?
Bob Davie: Haha, I thought you guys would go there. You probably know exactly what I’m going to say right? I mean I’ve said it so many times in that I’m not sure it really matters. If I had to say right now, it would be Cole. I think Cole did some outstanding things. I think Lamar has flourished coming off the bench getting a chance to see what teams are doing early. I think with that said … you know Rocky is a great coach, a great defensive coach … all of these teams to a degree have adjusted to us. Rocky won’t. Rocky does what Rocky does and that’s why he’s a great coach. I just think Cole in there in this game just the body of work, how much he’s played, how quick he is under fire, particularly in the run game, because things are a lot faster. Things are going to happen a lot fast in this game. They are gonna force the issue a bit more. They are going to be attacking, coming off the edge. I just think Cole to start the game, if I had to say right now, but Lamar playing, both of them playing. And I still think Clayton Mitchem, there’s a role for Clayton Mitchem in this thing. I just think Cole for a lot of reasons, and it’s worked pretty well for us at that position.
J.P. Murrieta, KOB: Dakota Cox has like 50 more tackle than anybody else on the team. Is he that much better than everybody else, or is everybody else just not up to speed.
Bob Davie: No I think that’s a great point. He’s a unique guy, he really is. When you go back and watch it he really makes that many tackles. He really does. He goes down on punt coverage, he’s on the kickoff team. You know we were going to spell him against UTSA but we only ended up playing something like 63 plays which is stealing for him, he’s used to playing 90. He really does have a nose for the ball. You know there was a kid at Boston College … Kuechley or Kuechley who now plays for the Carolina Panthers I believe (editor’s note: Luke Kuechly was the ninth overall pick in the 2012 draft, taken by the Carolina Panthers) and certainly I’m not comparing Dakota yet to him, I meant that kid ended up being a first round draft choice, but there’s just certain guys that have that stamina gene. That gene for nose for the football and just do it down after down. I mean he plays amazingly hard every play. That’s just what it is, he’s a unique guy but he makes that many plays. That’s not the old days of the linebacker coach keeping those statistics that pads those. These are legitimate stats. It’s really kind of remarkable.
Van Tate, KRQE: Caoch the defensive line started to get some good pressure, sacks, batted balls, what do you attribute that too? Is it guys finally starting to just figure it out?
Bob Davie: Yeah I think we’re a little better. You know I think when you look at it, we’ve got some suddenness up there. We have some playmakers. Against UTSA it was a couple of things. Our odd package caused them a couple of problems, just schematically they couldn’t quite get it slid the right way, the protection. But most of all it’s getting teams in third down, like we’ve done all year, but being able to execute our third down package, which is really good. I can’t imagine … I think back to UTEP, Arizona State these early games, New Mexico State, how many third downs where we didn’t execute. It’s nothing a whole lot different other than executing and I do think we have some good players.
Henry Tafoya, 101.7 The Team: Tough to detect through the television screen coach but is there a new growing and developing mental toughness on your team and a refuse to lose sort of attitude?
Bob Davie: I’d like to think so. You know, I think that’s the thing we’ve spent the most time talking about, you know, being in a position to either be even, be a little bit ahead, or a little bit behind, but you do you have a locker room that in totality, does it really think it can win?
That’s been a subject of ours from the beginning. We probably thought we could beat UTEP in the first game. UTEP jumps up on us right off the bat. I mean we are down 24-3 or whatever it was (Editor’s note: 24-7). You know Arizona State at halftime, we were coming back, almost even … second half disappeared. The same thing really happened against Fresno. I think all of you felt when they scored that touchdown at the end of the first half, ‘oh no here we go’. The problem is maybe we had some guys in that locker room that felt the same thing. So, yeah, we challenged them with that. That’s been a big part of our message here. That doesn’t come easy. We can all talk about it, we can all see what it is but at some point you have to go do it.
I go back again to that core of players that you guys have heard me talk about ad nauseam. But isn’t really true? Isn’t really true? Having a bunch of guys that truly believe they can win, and then that starts multiplying, and I’d like to think we are getting closer to that. I’d like to think you saw that at UTSA, I mean what were we 17-point favorites? I mean underdogs. I still have a hard time really comprehending that, but I guess we went in there 17-point underdogs but yeah, that’s what this is. I feel it a little bit, but can we go do it now? Here the stage is set, we’ve got a good physical team coming in here. We’ve got a chance here in our stadium, you know, I mean yeah I’d like to think we can do it but I guess we’ll find out Friday night just how much progress we’ve made.
Orlando Sanchez, KOAT: Coach what does Lamar Jordan bring to the table?
Bob Davie: I guess the word is moxie maybe? He’s competitive. He takes charge of things. He is kind of, you know I think there was a third-and-long in the game on Saturday and we threw the swing pass I believe to Gipson and it was third-and-16 and I said ‘if it’s not there, throw it away’ and he says ‘Coach I got it. I got it.” That’s him. He wants to take it over and I think people respond to that. He doesn’t execute great all the time. He hurt us against Fresno when he tried to pull the ball out on fourth-and-one and make the play himself, but like I said last week isn’t that what you kind of like about him?
He wants the ball in his hands. He wants the ball in his hands, and I think that’s a big component to being in that position and playing that position.
Sanchez: How rare is it to have a freshman in this position and to be where a lot of the older guys really trust him?
Bob Davie: Yeah he’s got a little something to him, but they trust Cole too. I mean Cole’s a guy that now that’s he’s getting healthy again. I mean Cole really played at a high level early in that game. He missed one read where they close out on the dive and he gave the ball, but actually he didn’t secure the snap enough and he was afraid to pull it out. They feel the same way about Cole. Lamar does a couple of things I think that, number one he’s a great scrambler. I think you see that he can take off and run, but also on the throw to Anaya on the wheel route, which was one of the best catches I’ve seen, and we’ve got a great still shot of that with Anaya going up over number seven who’s a heck of a player, but Lamar avoided the rush. Instead of just taking off and scrambling he was able to set his feet and throw the ball down the field, I think that he has that knack to be able to scramble, but to also look to scramble and to look to make the throw. He’s pretty confident. Even on that throw he just sort of threw it up there into traffic, so he has some unique qualities. He’s still young, let’s not anoint him just yet. I think it’s kind of exciting.
Wright: On replay the pass that set up the touchdown clearly hit the ground. The replay official probably, well, definitely should have caught it, but did you not have time to call a timeout?
Bob Davie: No here’s what it was. In that stadium, the only replay the replay officials had was from the in-house system. They didn’t have all the television replays. Immediately after that game the TV guys that did that game, actually they waited for me after the game, said coach that was the wrong call. On our copy that ball clearly hit the ground, but the only copy they (the replay official) saw was the one I saw on that video board in there, and I didn’t think there was enough to overturn it. Normally every play is reviewed anyhow, and on a longer play like that there is enough time for that to get reviewed so I didn’t call a timeout or I didn’t use my one challenge because normally they get it right. But, what that came down to was they didn’t have for whatever reason, the TV angles, just the in-house angles that didn’t show it. But the ball clearly hit the ground, yeah.
Fred Hultberg, 101.7 The Team: How about Crusoe Gongbay, he hurt his ankle, how is he? I know he carried the ball nine times, and he’s so important.
Bob Davie: Not good, not good. Yesterday was a tough day. Crusoe has a significant foot injury, very well could be season ending, which in his case is career ending here at UNM. We are going to MRI it, and we are expecting the worst. It was a tough day. A tough day. You know his reaction to that was just what you would think it would be. His mom’s reaction to that…I talked to her several times yesterday. It was a tough day because that kid loves football. Absolutely loves football. SO right now it doesn’t look good, that’s tough for him.
Marty Watts, 101.7 The Team: How about Cole Juarez?
Bob Davie: Cole has an ankle sprain. That’s a lot of weight on that ankle. I don’t know that he’s ever had one before. It’s actually worse today, so I’m not sure. A guy like that that really hasn’t had that before … it depends how he responds the rest of the week, but it’s a pretty good injury. The good news is William Udeh stepped up and really played. You know I looked out there and looked at the true sophomores out there on that field, it was unbelievable how many true sophomores were out there, particularly on defense. You look at Udeh, Nik D’Avanzo, Donnie White, Dakota Cox, Kimmie Carson (Editor’s note: Carson is actually a redshirt freshman), Jadon Boatright, lot of true sophomores, and then you look at Juarez, who is like a freshman as he just got here. Then you have Guthrie and Bowers who are really like sophomores because they’ve been here two years. Other than Tevin Newman the whole defense was first or second year players in this program, which is a good thing. Which is a good thing as we move forward.
Wright: You’re getting some guys back though? Langford, Winston?
Bob Davie: Yeah, I don’t know. Winston is going to try to go because it’s really important to him and he’s ahead of schedule. Langford I think will go … he has the labrum and it’s not gonna change. He’ll harness up and he’ll go, you know what those are, we’ve got some other guys fighting through those. So yeah, he’ll be back, I think Cole will be 100%, Teriyon Gipson is limping around a little bit, Pressley’s limping around a little bit, Reece White’s limping around. But everybody’s limping around. Everyone in college football today is probably limping, but yeah, we’ve got our nicks, we’ve got our nicks.
Wright: I.B. (Isaiah Brown) is out this week?
Bob Davie: I.B. is out this week. I.B. won’t play
Murrieta: What’s your relationship with Rocky?
Bob Davie: Pretty good. I got a lot of respect for him. You know their entire staff, Bob Toledo, was the offensive coordinator for Texas A&M for all five years. I was there all five of those years there as a defensive coordinator. We played a lot of football back and forth between ourselves. I got a lot of respect for Rocky. He is a heck of a football coach. He really is. He’s got a unique style with the way he coaches. He’s got a unique scheme. People in the city respect him and they should. I like to think our relationship is pretty good. I enjoy being around him. I’ve golfed with him one time. He’d hit that golf ball just like you’d expect. He takes a full-fledged swat at it. So, yeah, pretty good. And I know this is a big game for him to come back here but man it’s a big game for us to. It’s a big game for us
Mark Smith, Albuquerque Journal: You were saying about how much the win helps with the attitude. Can you give a big, big picture of where you guys are as a program with all the young kids do you think this game can be a turning point in the program?
Bob Davie: You know I think sometimes we get a little, probably, a little too dramatic about that, both myself, the coaches and the media and fans. I don’t think it’s just ever one thing. It’s the totality of what we are doing. It’s still young players. We still are who we are. But there’s no question you see what just winning a game does as far as just momentum. And so much of this game, so much of this game, is momentum. So we have a chance to gain more credibility and more momentum with this. I think we are in a better position to do it now quite honestly than we were two weeks ago (against) Fresno. But I think it’s too early to say this is it. Because we still have liabilities. We still have liabilities as we build this roster. We have a lot of good teams left to play. I took notice of as to what Utah State did, what Colorado State did. Boise just came to life at Nevada. Go right down the line. But I don’t think it’s just ever one thing. And that’s what’s tough for you guys to see. Just to see how much it is. I’ve used the analogy it’s like turning the Queen Mary around. And it really is. So I don’t think it’s one thing but it’s a big game for us. I don’t want to sound too cliché. It’s more than one thing. This would go a long way for everyone and we need to take advantage of it.
Smith: It does have to give them a lot of extra confidence going into conference season, really you had the one game outside but now…
Bob Davie: Let’s put it this way you know a year ago, Fresno State scored 69 on us. I don’t know that we ever had a defensive play in the whole game. I don’t know that we ever lined up and did anything physically to them with our offense. It was an entirely different game, entirely different game out here. Now we didn’t get it done. But at the end of the day if we would have won, would it really be that much more dramatically different right now standing here today. It’s never as good as it looks, it’s never as bad as it looks. So I think sometimes all those things can mask it a little bit because we are a lot closer than what people probably think, which is fair because all you see is the result of that Fresno game. The same thing, all you saw was the result of the UTSA game. I also realized even though they had 21 starters back their quarterback wasn’t back which made a significant difference in that game. A significant difference. So somewhere in the middle of all of that is what is accurate. And it’s my job to keep my eye on that every single day and not react too much one way or the other. And don’t deviate from the process of what we are doing. Don’t deviate from the process. Whether its redshirting players, whether it’s going with some younger more talented players in positions that short term might hurt you. Whether it’s sitting a guy down for something, maybe he didn’t go to class. Where that might hurt us this week but you know a year from now it will help us. It’s the totality of all of that. And I’m not trying to give you a clinic. I’m just trying to answer when you say does this one win do that much more? Potentially, yeah. But it’s still a step by step process. You know I think I said when I walked up here the first time I said I think we are maybe a year or two away. I walked up here the first time I took this job and said it was a five year process. And it’s still a challenge. It’s still a challenge because other teams are still in their five year plan but we are making progress. We are making progress and that’s the bottom line.
Scott Stiegler, KKOB: Coach, who will be your dive back with Crusoe out?
Bob Davie: Cole Gaustche? You know we don’t have a whole lot of size there. But I’ll tell you Jhurell Presley, now that’s a good player. Physically he is a good player. I said that earlier in the season. He does some unorthodox things but he does them really fast and with a strong body. I don’t know if you guys noticed but there at the end of the game where Jamal Price got a clipping call on, which was a good call, he finished the run and knocked number 7 back five yards. And number 7 is a heck of a player. I mean Jhurell Presley he is a an explosive guy.
I don’t know that we have the prototype back to run the dives up in there. But Jamal Jordan is going to get a chance to play. I really like his progress, young guy here from Rio Rancho. We are going to go ahead and look at Tyrone Owens. He is a true freshman. We don’t want to use the year up with him but we are going to get him into rotation just in case we have to. How about Anaya? How about David Anaya? Has he done some things for us? He’s a pretty good dive back even though he’s not the biggest guy. So I think we are okay. But we don’t have that 200 pounder. We just don’t have that.
Tafoya: Coach, what are your biggest concerns about San Diego State?
Bob Davie: A couple things. Number 19 there tailback is a home run hitter, very explosive. If you are out of your gap with a young defense, he is going to take it. I mean he can take it and score. I think San Diego State has always been a team that’s had great speed at wide out. That’s the thing on offense, number 19 just breaking it, just creasing on us and going on us. Then the big play down the field throws to the wide-outs because they have speed. On defense it’s that they are going to force the issue just about on every play. It’s going to be up the field. It’s a little unorthodox style. We handled it decently last year. Not as good as what maybe the stats looked like. You know we had a little yardage in there on some things in there were it was hit and miss. The physicality of the game but I think we are pretty physical. But its 19, it’s how fast they are going to make things happen out there on defense, it’s a little outside of the ordinary. I do think there has to be a risk/reward there when they do things and I think we can counter with some pretty good things. We just got to be able to execute.
Do you think even though you have a young defense they having a young freshman quarterback will allow your defense to dictate some things?
Bob Davie: I hope so. I think we’ve got the capability to be a pretty good defense before all the dust settles. A guy that came on for us in this game, Kimmie Carson. You know Kimmie’s been a liability for us playing out there because we expected Langford just because he’s coming from Junior College and that he was young. You know Kimmie Carson came on against UTSA and that was big for us. The safeties … Markel Byrd … we played Ricky Bennett every other series as a freshman safety. Hopefully we are getting past the point where the young guys are the liability and now you see their physical ability start to take over. I feel a little bit better about that, I really do.
Tate: Coach like you started talking about starting Cole and having Lamar come in afterwards. Is it better to have him come in (from the bench) to a game like this because of the style of defense because it’s so chaotic?
Bob Davie: Exactly, and I think that factors into the decision as well. As I said Rocky is going to run what Rocky runs and it’s going to be a pressure up the field kind of game. And I think it’s good for Lamar to have a chance to just kind of see that. Hear the coaches on the head sets. Talk about the checks. Just get a feel for the rhythm of the game. Make no mistake about it, Cole Gaustche running the triple option is still ahead of Lamar Jordan just mechanics because of the number of reps he’s had. So, I think that’s the way to go. And I do think that the style of defense that San Diego State plays factors into that decision.
Will Webber, Santa Fe New Mexican: There’s a physics professor that’s giving a lecture in Santa Fe next week about the randomness of streaks in sports, whether it’s DiMaggio’s hitting streak or the A’s winning 20 games in a row, he’s just saying that it has nothing to do with the human element, its’ purely happenstance and can almost be predicted mathematically. I’m just curious what your thoughts are on that.
Bob Davie: I’ve always used the football gpds. And there is such a thing as football gods and whether it’s the guys that are dependable everyday by going to class, by acting the right way in class, by showing up on time every day, showing good body language, good things usually happen to those guys. At some point to the guys who don’t do that something bad is going to happen. Momentum of it is such a big thing. At least it gives you the potential to start momentum. I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking me but do I think there’s a mathematical reason why we can win two games in a row in Texas? I don’t know why we’ve won two games on the road? I don’t know why we had one sack in the first three games and we had eight in the last two? Was it a mathematical thing or was it that San Antonios’s quarterback was a little shaky at times and that helped us. That’s for guys probably a lot more smarter than me on campus who probably have a lot more time to think about that than I do to figure out. Right? That’s pretty good though I like that. Do you have anything else? You kind of changed the tone here I like it.
Webber: That’s why I saved it for the end.
Bob Davie: I like it,but there’s one guy in here that ends it now (pointing to Marty Watts). Don’t think you have the market on ending this thing with offbeat questions.
Watts: Coach all I’m doing is going to church twice on Sunday and praying for you.
Bob Davie: The football Gods, isn’t that right, the football Gods? Alright, guys, thank you.