October 6, 2007

Northern Colorado at Idaho State Post Game Quotes

Oct. 6, 2007

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Head Coach Scott Downing

Opening Statement

"Obviously this is another disappointing loss for us. We felt like we had a chance coming into the game and still felt like we had a chance late. I have to give Idaho State a lot of credit. They played well, they utilized their best players, particularly on offense. They made some plays and kept some drives alive. When it was 10-0 at half, we thought we had a chance in the second half, but we have to have some people step up and make plays and not let drives continue. We've got to stop teams on third downs and get our defense off the field. Offensively, we can't go three-and-out either.

 

In the latter stages of the game, Dominic Breazeale started moving the team and making some plays but I also know at that point in time, Idaho State was probably doing a little bit of a substitution defense. I thought David Woods ran very hard. Ryan Chesla had a big game as a tight end. I thought some other guys made some plays but we've got to get into a shut down mode. When we get teams in a third down situation we can't let them convert. That's the big thing that's hurting us right now.

 

We're at the end of a long road trip, we've been on the road for four weeks. Now we get to go home and play Weber State at our place. We're looking forward to being back in Greeley and playing football."

 

On Field Position

"Early in the game we were starting from behind the 20 because we had some penalties on special teams, which is obviously not conducive. They (Idaho State) did a good job of punting the ball late in the game. When they're hitting at the 10 and you let them go, it's a decision the punt returner has to make. Sometimes on AstroTurf you get a lucky bounce and the ball stays in and sometimes, like what happened two or three times, the ball rolls into the endzone. Those are 50-50 whether you catch it and try to do something with it or let it go. Specifically early on there were three major penalties on the kickoff return and the punt return game and that's not like us, but that's what happened.

 

On Quarterback Change

"I thought Dominic played well at times. There are certain things that he needs to do better but obviously during the week, Mike (Vlahogeorge) was a little limited in his reps because of his ankle he injured last week and we'll continue to look at those two guys. We're going to sit down as a staff, evaluate both Dominic's play and Mike's play and come up with a plan for the future, because it appears that the play is inconsistent enough where we don't have somebody who can grab it and go so we're going to try to take the best thing that Mike does and the best thing that Dominic does and try to manufacture one solid game out of the quarterback position.

 

On Schedule

"There's no question that when you're on the road for five out the first six weeks of the season. When you're traveling three times, one time to Hawai'i and two times to the West Coast and this is the only time we've played in the same time zone, it's pretty tough. It's been a tough road because we haven't played a ragtag schedule. We've played Hawai'i, we've played some of the best teams in Cal Poly at their place and they're in the top 25. We've played San Diego, which is a very, very good team. We've played some great teams with some very good people, so it's been tough and especially tough on a young team. We're excited. Tonight we get to drive down to Salt Lake City and actually get to sleep in until 7:30. We've been having 4 o'clock wakeup calls on Sunday mornings. We've left Greeley at 5:30 a.m. on Friday mornings just to make it places so it's been hard, but we haven't let our kids use it as an excuse either. We've told them we've got to play anytime, any place or anywhere and that's our mind set. Has it been tough? Yes, but it's not something we use as an excuse for losing. We've got to go out and perform because everybody has to travel. We just had to travel four straight weeks and we're happy to be back in Greeley next week.

 

Senior quarterback Dominic Breazeale

"I think we came out a little slow, especially offensively. Actually, our defense came out strong, our offense struggled a little passing the ball. We ran the ball pretty well, things just weren't clicking as an offense. The run offense took over here and there and the pass offense took over here and there and we just need to put both together."

 

"I came in and I was relaxed and I was calm and ready to play. I wasn't told at all I was going to play early or as much as I did. I was told I might come in the third series or so and we'd go on from there, but things change."

 

"The passing game just has to step up. You can never make an excuse for the passing game as a quarterback. As a running back, maybe you can say something about the running game, but as the quarterback there is never an excuse for the passing game not to be working.

 

"I think our team didn't capitalize on their (ISU's) mistakes. We held them to a couple of field goals and they had some stops but our offense didn't come out, take the ball down the field and score.

 

"I knew I had to make plays and I knew I had to go down and score to get back on the field next game and the next quarter or the next series. To get back on the field, you have got to score.

 

"Ryan's (Chesla) a great player. If you put the ball into the air, he's going to catch it. That guy makes some great catches.

 

Junior tight end Ryan Chesla

"I think we shot ourselves in the foot. We had some penalties and were not finishing some plays, that's basically the difference in the game in my opinion.

 

On quarterback change:

"I love Dominic and Mike's a good quarterback too. They're both equally as good and Dominic did a good job tonight. He has good vision and gets it to us when we're open.

 

On starting deep in your own territory after penalties:

"It is tough, but that's no excuse. We have to produce and that didn't happen.

 

On run game struggling, what it does to the passing game:

"It just all comes down to execution and not making mental mistakes.

 

On what Idaho State's defense did to stop NC:

"I guess we didn't prepare enough mentally. It's not the coaches, it's on us as players to execute the plays. We have to continue to focus and continue working hard. We'll come around, we just have to keep our focus and keep our spirits up.

 

"I just do what I do every week. I work hard on getting the plays right and doing the right things all the time."