LOGAN, Utah - Utah State head football coach Matt Wells, along with junior offensive lineman Rob Castaneda, held a press conference Monday to recap the Aggies' 41-14 loss against Boise State and preview their upcoming Mountain West road game against New Mexico. A complete transcript of the press conference can be found below.

Head Coach Matt Wells
On the Boise State game:
"We gave up too many explosives in the passing game early on and not enough offense to offset it. We really dug ourselves a big hole. Boise State, quite frankly, helped us dig that. They are a good football team and they are going to win a lot of games. They have a chance to win the division and play in a good bowl game. When you're playing a team as good as that, you can't dig yourself that big of a hole. Three drives, I think out of the first four, were 75 yards or so, and only one touchdown drive on offense. If you're going to play that poorly on defense, you have to play extremely well on offense. We did not do that. We didn't do either one of them really well early on. We did it against BYU, and fortunately we came back. We did it against UNLV, three times, and came back, but you can't keep doing that. We have to start better. That starts with me, our staff and then our players. We have to start better. There is some hope that we will if we can get some things corrected. That's where we're at."

On New Mexico:
"This is a unique week in terms of scheming and playing, when you play the option and you play a defense that pressures as much as they do and as much as they have against us the last few years. That's just who they are. They do that against everybody, I guess. They're extremely well-coached on both sides of the ball. I have a lot of respect for the defensive coordinator and what he does. They're very gap-sound. Bob DeBesse is the offensive coordinator. This, what they're doing in the option on offense, has helped turn their program around, and they've done an extremely impressive job on offense in all the ways they run counter option, double option, lead option, and probably some speed option. I haven't studied them this year as much yet. They do a lot of stuff. They do a lot of eye-candy stuff. They jack with your linebackers' and your safeties' eyes. So, we'll have to be very disciplined. We've had good ball games against them the last two years. Basically, it's come down to the wire the last two years, and they've won. We have to find a way to win this and get us back to even, three wins in the league and another step closer to bowl eligibility. It's a brand new day and a brand new week. We can learn from Saturday night's game, but we have already moved on, and we will. That's one of the things about college football and right now where we're at, at Utah State, is it's a long season. We have a six-day sprint all the way through Saturday to find a way to win a game. The process is a long one, and the off-season is a long one to try to prepare you for the season. You have to be able to withstand highs and lows. Obviously, Saturday night was a low in terms of our performance. We didn't play well. They're a good team, and we got exposed. We'll regroup and move on and go on the road. There are a few guys that said something to me about it that we're 2-0 on the road in the league. Hopefully, that continues. We have played well on the road this year, so we'll look forward to that."

On not winning a home game in the league yet, and if good teams need to win at home:
"You do. That's something that doesn't sit really well with me. We've played, quite frankly, the three best teams in the league at home, too. I don't think it matters, the way we played in those three games, where the venue was. I certainly want to win at home. I don't want to win on the road any less than I want to win at home. It's important to play well at home in front of the fans. I recognize that, and we certainly want to win. The will to win is still there, I can promise you that."

On taking responsibility for the loss in the post-game press conference and if there were any schemes that changed for that game:
"I'll always take responsibility. There were certainly some things that were game-plan specific for Boise State. A few things that were different, and then there were a lot of things that were consistent in terms of preparation. We didn't cut any corners on preparation. When I say I'm going to take responsibility, I'm going to take responsibility because I'm the head coach and I'm going to put it on my shoulders. That's how leaders lead, and that's how guys look to you for leadership. They look to me to help right the ship, so I'm in the business of problem-solving, and I have to solve some problems. The problem is we started slow, so that's certainly on me, whether the scheme wasn't right, the emotional state wasn't right or we didn't play well. I think they were ready to play emotionally, but when you don't go out and play well the first two series of the game on either side and it's 14-0, then something's wrong. There were communication errors. There was some technique stuff on defense. I'm going to take responsibility, and I'll certainly shoulder all of it when we lose."

On if he saw anything different in Boise State's passing attack as they tried to establish the pass:
"I didn't see a whole lot of new stuff. You get guys in the back end that get lazy eyes and undisciplined eyes. I mean, the first play of the game isn't anything we hadn't seen. It's 1-2 switch. We need to have a corner fall off on it, and a safety tried to rally and make it right, and it's 40 yards later."

On how encouraging the rush defense has looked the last one-and-a-half games:
"Well, it looks good on paper for you boys. What I think sometimes the media fails to understand is playing defense is run and pass. You have to play a complete game. Just because you played well against the run doesn't mean you played well as a defense. Just because our O-line protected the quarterback and we didn't give up a sack, that was the Mountain West leader in sacks coming in here. We didn't give up one sack, but you're not going to hear me sit up here behind the mic and spout off how great we are in pass protection and how well we played on offense and all that. We didn't run the ball worth a lick. To me, it's all-encompassing on both sides of the ball. Certainly, we played better against the run, but that's half the defense. It's not the whole defense. We gave up way too many explosives, we didn't take one ball away and we played poor red zone defense. Does the run defense overshadow that? Not in my mind."

On New Mexico's ability to hit explosive plays:
"Well in 2015, they had one. It's 87 yards later. It was a touchdown on a miscommunication. I remember it like it was yesterday. One safety thought we were in one and a corner thought we were in another coverage. In last year's game, that certainly got them back in the game. They threw a post ball into cover two right between our two safeties. That should never work. We allowed that shot, a couple more last year in the game to let them get back in the game. When I say `let them,' they completed them, they threw them. That's a good job by them. I certainly think it goes both ways. That was a nice job by New Mexico. In an option offense, you're going to have a lot of play actions and things you have to have off the run game. I coached in an option offense, not the same as New Mexico, but there are some similarities, and a lot of times your play-action game either saves you, or it opens up your running game. I certainly think that's what they do."

On what he thinks New Mexico will do with their quarterback situation:
"I have no idea what they're going to do at QB. I don't know. I have no idea. We've certainly seen Lamar (Jordan). Lamar's a good quarterback. We've seen him several years now. He's played a long time, it seems like. I'm glad Teriyon Gipson isn't there anymore. He was a tremendous running back. But Lamar is a really good quarterback. Tevaka Tuioti can throw it. I have no idea what they're going to do. We're going to prepare for their offense and their scheme and what they do. There's not much difference in play calls, I don't think, for each one of them. I know that they have their strengths. I don't know if I quite know them yet on Monday. New Mexico is going to do what they do."

On the discipline it takes to defend the option and how to instill that discipline in one week:
"Well you don't instill it this week. Hopefully, it's been instilled since January. Discipline to me is an everyday thing. It's not a sometimes thing. It's every day in your life and your lifestyle. We've preached that all year and ever since we've been here we've preached that. I think that goes with anything you're doing with football. Now, what they do on offense is going to expose your football discipline and your eye discipline. It's just different this week. Discipline and effort to the football is a big part of playing defense this week."

On if he'd rather have the bye week earlier:
"I would rather have it earlier, but (Mountain West) Commissioner (Craig) Thompson didn't ask me when I wanted it. You play it like it lies."

On what makes Jake Rothschiller such an impactful defender for New Mexico:
"He is a berserker. He is everywhere. I don't know what to call him. Is he the nickel? Is he the field outside linebacker? Is he a drop-down safety? He plays everywhere. He's passionate. He's a really good football player. He shows up on tape everywhere."

On New Mexico punter Corey Bojorquez:
"Coach (Mark) Tommerdahl thinks the punter and the kicker combo may be as good as we've seen all year. This guy is going to kick it halfway to Santa Fe when we're playing. Both of them together is a good combo."

On getting anyone back this week from injury:
"I hope so. We missed a few guys last week, so hopefully they'll be back this week."

Junior Offensive Lineman Rob Castaneda
On the Boise State game:
"We prepared really well for Boise State. In the end, it was a tough loss for us. Offensively, we came out a little bit slow. Pass blocking-wise, we did a great job, especially in practice, really preparing under coach (Steve) Farmer. Run blocking-wise, we didn't really get the job done, and that's on us as an offensive line. In the end, it was just a tough loss for us, and we need to head into New Mexico and focus on that now."

On if he takes coach Wells saying he didn't prepare the team to play to heart:
"Personally, and as a team, I know we do take that to heart because coach Wells goes to bat for us a lot, and he's like family to us and he's our head coach. I feel like he did prepare us well, we worked hard last week and what happened is what happened."

On if he was told before the Boise State game that the team wouldn't give up a sack or commit turnovers offensively, what he would've thought of the game:
"It would have felt like we had dominated the game if you would have told me that. That wasn't the case, though."

On if Boise State's defense was as good of a defense that they have played this year:
"No doubt. You have to give credit to those guys, they gave great effort. They played to the potential that they had. We shut down what they were hyped up to be, though, with the sacks and how well they've been playing this year. But, you still have to give credit to them, they played well, they gave a lot of great effort and they took the win that day."

On his transition from junior college to Division I:
"It was a real tough transition for me, but it was something that I had to do what was best for me and to come be a part of this team. I just came in with a full head of steam willing to take anybody's job, and that's the way my mindset was. I wanted to come in and make an impact on this team the way I knew I could, and that was what my mindset was like."

On if there were other schools interested in him:
"I had a couple of other schools that were interested in me, but when I took my visit here and talked to the coaches, I knew this was the place I needed to be to help myself and my career. The family-like environment and being under coach Wells and playing for coach (David) Yost, it was all right there in front of me, and that's what I wanted."

On if he recruited fellow Ellsworth CC alum, junior linebacker Louy Compton, with him to Utah State or vice-versa:
"I left before Louy. He came in during the summer, and I came in back in January. I talked to him a little bit, but it was his decision in the end and he came here and he's liking it."

On New Mexico's defense:
"From what I've seen so far this season, every team is going to bring it regardless. I've seen New Mexico play on TV a couple of times, and from what I've seen, they do look good up front. Every team is going to look good up front in the Mountain West, and that's just the way it's going to be every week. It's just a matter of how well you prepare and how much you trust your coaches and the brotherhood around you."

On how much better a New Mexico team they are expecting compared to the team that played against Wyoming:
"I'm expecting New Mexico to come in ready to beat us. They just took that loss against Wyoming, and any team who just took a loss is going to be willing to do whatever it takes the next week to get that win, because that's what's important. New Mexico is going to be ready for us to come in and stand their ground on their home field. We're playing well on the road, and we're going to come out ready to attack, regardless, so they better be ready."

On USU being able to rebound after a loss:
"It's just a deal where we deal with adversity as a team, and we did in the offseason. The coaches emphasized putting us in the worst situations possible. When we take a loss, it's real hard on us. Now, we have to step back, gather ourselves up and go full steam again."

On if he played both tackle and guard against Boise State:
"I did a little bit. I can play any position the coach wants me to play - just go in and whatever impact I can do for the team is what I want to do."