Nov. 20, 2004

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

NEVADA
Head coach Chris Ault
On the 18 Nevada penalties
"When you have some penalties that really weren't there, you're [darned] right it set the tone. It put them in field position."

"There's no question that you can't accept those type of penalties."

On the first quarter kickoff where Nevada was assessed two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties
"The kid was walking off the field and bumped the ref, and the ref said, `he ran into me.' It happened right in front of me. That was suspect."

On if he was concerned about Fresno State's running game coming into the game
"Absolutely. That's what they do well. They are a good power football team."

On the team's two first half turnovers
"Just ridiculous. We catch a pass, he breaks the zone, and he fumbles the ball. Just ridiculous. That's what happened last week - two turnovers, two touchdowns. And just aren't good enough a ballclub to overcome those types of mistakes."

On the state of the program
"For seven years, this program has dealt with mediocrity. It's (success) not going to happen over night. Our defense was very poor, and the offense didn't help with the turnovers."

"[The] defense was poor. Poor. We weren't physical enough. We knew they were going to run the ball. We expected to do a little better with our attack. Just two touchdown passes. That's ridiculous."

On Fresno State
"They are the best team we have played this year."

"What I saw out there (on the field from Fresno State) was what I expected. I expected us to play better defense. I expected our offense to move the ball better. Needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed."

On Nevada's kickoff returns
"Our kickoff return team was just pathetic. Our front lines weren't getting it done. It's real simple. You've got to block people, and they weren't getting it done, and that's pretty easy to see as a coach."

Linebacker Jeremy Engstrom
"They didn't do one thing that we didn't know they were going to do. We just didn't execute and we didn't tackle well."

"Give credit to Fresno State. They are a good ballclub. They are a physical team. But anytime you know what's coming at you...we had a great game plan for it. Anytime you got all your right cards in the right place, you just got to execute. And that comes back to us."

"You can't sit here and say we played a good game and they just played better, because we didn't play a good game. We played like we didn't know what we were doing out there. And the thing is, we did know what we were doing. We had a good scheme going on and didn't execute."

"They are a good running football team. But like I said, we knew exactly what they were going to run. They run it well. They do run it well. They've had success doing their running game against other teams. But it's nothing we weren't prepared for."

FRESNO STATE
Head coach Pat Hill
"I said it even during the tough times this year that we had a very good football team. We've learned a lesson. I proved to myself to believe in what we do and stay the course. I think that's really, really key. The kids believed and they knew we never gave on them. We stayed the course and stayed with the foundation that's been good for us over the last 100 games. This was a good way to have your 100th game."

"Right now we are playing very good football. But it just doesn't count in football where you can peak in the end, like in basketball or baseball. If you are peaking in the end, you've got a c hance. I've said it a million times, football is a very unforgiving game, and you can't have a bad game. But I'll tell you what, we are playing pretty darned good."

"I think if this team keeps on winning, we'll have a chance to end up in the top 25, and that will be very good for our program."

"We controlled the game with our run game, which is what we'd like to be able to do. If we've got to throw the ball, I really believe we've got a good quarterback and a good offensive line that we can do that if we have to. But the formula has been working good."

"Our defense has been playing great all year. Our formula that we've tried to put together is to play great defense, have good field position and special teams, and control the tempo of the game on offense. It's always started with me with defense. I've always taken great pride in playing great defense. Danny (defensive coordinator Dan Brown) and his staff are doing a good job and our players really believe."