OGDEN, Utah - Utah State head football coach Matt Wells held a press conference Monday at Hub 81 to recap the Air Force game and preview the Aggies' upcoming Mountain West home game against Nevada. A complete transcript of the press conference can be found below.

Head Coach Matt Wells
Recapping the Air Force game:
"That was a tough loss. It's two weeks in a row that the game has gone down to the wire, really in the last possession of the ballgame, and we haven't come out victorious either time. What you look at is a reversal of roles the last two weeks from the offense and the defense. We didn't play as well on offense two weeks ago, but played pretty good on defense, but not good enough. This week, we played pretty good on offense, but we left points out there and there are still points out there, but it wasn't our best game defensively. But yet, we still had a chance to win on the last possession of the ballgame in both of those circumstances and we didn't find a way to do it. I credited New Mexico two weeks ago and I give credit to Air Force this past week. They both found ways to win. When you find a way to win a couple of close games, you're going to have a really good season. If we find a couple of plays here and there, around four or five in the last two weekends, we're sitting here with a pretty good season, too. But, that's the way it is, and we didn't earn the right to win either game. Against Air Force, we weren't in the right places a couple of times in pass coverage."

On what he learned about the Air Force game after watching the tape:
"We played well on special teams. Aaron Dalton had three 50-yard punts and a 46-yard net, which is the most important stat. He had two punts inside the 20-yard line and just had an outstanding day. Jake Thompson was coming off his procedure from a week ago and had five kickoffs with four that went out of the end zone. We covered the one kickoff really well. We had a lot of guys play better on special teams. We were four-of-four on extra points and our protection was better. Andrew Rodriguez had a punt return for 18 yards and he did some nice things individually. Offensively, we played pretty well. Again, there is still more out there for us on offense. The way they were playing defensively by taking a lot of the run game away by all the safety pressures and everything, throwing the ball was the plan. Hunter Sharp played outstanding and made competitive catches. He got open in one-on-one situations and made one-on-one catches. He did a great job. But again, there is still more out there and we didn't take advantage of it."

On the Air Force game coming down to the last possession:
"One of the things that I stressed to our guys this morning is sometimes when you lose a close ballgame so much of the focus is on the last possession. But the last possession, to me, can bail you out if we hit Brandon Swindall, who was open in the end zone, on the slant-and-go. We had four throws into the end zone and came away with none of them. The reason it comes down to the last possession is because of either some successes or failures in the middle of a game. For instance, it's 14-14 with three minutes to go in the first half. Aaron Dalton flips the field and the all is all the way to the minus 15-yard line, and they promptly take it right down the field and score to make it 21-14 right before the half. They converted a third-and-7 early in that series and marched that thing right down on our defense."

On trying to block the punt late in the game and getting the roughing the punter penalty:
"That was my call and today, I'd still do it again, and I'll explain why. The two series before that, we weren't very successful on offense, first of all. There was six minutes to go in the game. In my mind, it's fourth-and-6, we're leading the league or tied for the lead, in blocked punts and we came close the time before. In my mind, the worst-case scenario is we run into the kicker and it's fourth-and-1, and I put the defense out there and we go punt safe and put Andrew Rodriguez back there. Never in my mind did I think we would rough the punter. Quite frankly, if you always think you're going to rough the punter, you'll never call for the block, you'll never got double-thud and you'll ever get a blocked punt, which flipped the game against Wyoming. We had done that and been successful on that. The defense bailed me out and we got the ball back. To me, it was a very calculated gamble because of our past successes and the past times we had run it. We were trying to make a play and trying to win a ballgame."

On if a Utah State player was blocked into the Air Force punter:
"It was close. I also didn't think we'd have that many people on the shield. We got a lot of guys through and we had some guys really giving tremendous effort. It was close. It was the right call by the referee. Again, the defense bailed me out on that one. We stopped them and got the ball back."

On if there has been a letdown of sorts after beating Boise State:
"There will be a lot of people that say that and there may be a lot of people that maybe even write that or think that, but it's hard to say right here in the middle of the season. I don't know. We've had big wins in the middle of the season before and didn't have a letdown the next week. We beat BYU on the road for the first time in 30-something years last year in Provo, a top-25 team, and came back and beat Air Force the very next week. This year, we came back after the Boise State win and got beat by San Diego State, but came back and won a big game. We've lost the last two games at the very end. That's hard to say, but it's a fair question to ask. None of us thought we had arrived. We didn't game plan any less and we didn't practice any less, we just got beat by San Diego State. They flat out beat us and then we came back and won. I don't think our preparation has been less and it hasn't been any less focused. We've had two games on the road where we didn't make enough plays, either at the end of the game or some series in the middle of the game. We've made those plays in the last couple of years, but we didn't make them this time."

On the defensive turnover drought:
"I don't think we've turned it off. Those guys didn't say, `Let's not get any more turnovers.' It's something we talk about all the time. It's hard to put a finger on why you get them and why they come in droves, and why sometimes there's a drought. We're not doing anything different; the players aren't and the coaches aren't. We're just not getting them."

On the travel having an effect on the outcome of the road games:
"I know what you're wanting me to say right now, but I'm not going to say it about the charter because everybody keeps talking about the charter. We flew on three planes to Hawai'i a year ago and one of the three planes came the day after, if I'm not mistaken, but we found a way to win on the rock. I remember flying into Lewiston, Idaho, four or five years ago at midnight and playing an early afternoon game and winning in double-overtime at Idaho. We did it when I was at Tulsa, too. I remember landing at 12:30 a.m. and winning the Conference-USA championship game against Central Florida in the old Citrus Bowl. Sometimes that happens, but I'm never going to make that excuse for our players or our coaches. It hasn't been the easiest to travel, but we try to keep things consistent and try to get kids into a routine. That's a very fair question, but I don't have the answer for you today. We didn't change much with our itineraries, we just left a lot later than we are used to."

On Nevada:
"I see two really good tailbacks. I see a quarterback that's got two really good receivers. Hasaan Henderson is a long and lanky receiver that catches the ball out in front of his body. He is very talented. They're about to have two 1,000-yard tailbacks. I see a front seven with all seniors and they're very experienced. They've played a lot of football on defense for Nevada. Those four defensive lineman, collectively as a group, are as an aggressive upfield defensive line as we've seen since maybe in the middle of the year. We've haven't played them, but seen them on cross tape the last couple of years. Ian Seau is really good. Lenny Jones and Rykeem Yates are very good, too. You've got an experienced front seven, a talented secondary and then the defensive line as a group, the way we as coaches fell, is one of the better ones that we've seen and the best one we've seen in the last several weeks."

On the game itself:
"It will be a very competitive game. Nevada has won three in a row, including a few close ones. It will probably be a competitive game right down to the wire."

On what has changed for Nevada during the winning streak:
"Either all of the teams in the Mountain West are inconsistent or there is a lot of parity, and all the teams are pretty good, but nobody is great. Teams have gotten better and when you get in close games, you've got to find a way to win."

On the senior class:
"They have meant a lot. The last several senior classes have meant a lot to this program. This year's senior class is a unique blend of fourth- and fifth-year seniors. Actually, I don't know if there is a fourth-year senior. I think a lot of them are redshirt seniors and then junior college transfers. It's a unique class because you've got a mix of talented junior college kids that have come in and really jumped right in where we're at, but have only gone through one offseason and one summer. And then you've got some really veteran guys that are fifth-year guys who have been through a lot. Their first year was the first Potato Bowl against Ohio when we lost there on the last play of the game. That was my first year here as an assistant, so I'm very proud of where they have come from and where they are leaving this program. We want to send these guys out right and get them to another bowl game and find a way to get them in that."

On the importance of getting to another bowl game:
"We want to be in a bowl game, there's no question about that. It continues to reinforce what we're trying to build, of a very consistent and winning program that gets to November and plays the games that mean something. We've lost the last two weeks and we can't go back and change that, but we can control our attitude, our effort and our mindset and give everything we've got to this program for the next two weeks as coaches, first of all, and then as players. We will not cheat this program one bit, as players and coaches, so we can get to a school-record fifth straight bowl game."