Oct. 7, 2017 Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery
UTAH STATE FOOTBALL Postgame Quotes vs. Colorado State Oct. 7, 2017 UTAH STATE HEAD COACH Matt Wells:
"First of all, congratulations to Colorado State. They're a good team and they played well. The middle of the first quarter to the middle of the second quarter was obviously the deciding time in the game. They played well, we did not. It boils down to us not winning the game in the trenches. I don't think there's a bigger story than that. I thought their O-line dominated our D-line, and their D-line dominated our O-line and there's not much more to talk about. That's part of the game. I think we pressured their quarterback maybe three times. When you have a guy that's as good as Nick Stephens with as good of wide outs as he has, you can't do that. I thought our guys played well in the second half, we just didn't have enough offense."
On following up losses with big wins this season:
"I hope that trend continues. We're going to go back and to the same thing we did on Sunday and Monday of last week and try to find mistakes and where we need to be better. Hopefully our guys will respond to that like we have in the past."
On finding and keeping offensive momentum:
"I think that's the biggest key. You have to make big catches and find the rhythm. We got in zero rhythm today. Not being able to run the ball contributed more than anything to that early in the game."
UTAH STATE JUNIOR QUARTERBACK (SPECIAL TEAMS) DJ Nelson:
"As far as special teams goes, I think we did a pretty good job. We've got a lot of motivated guys in every aspect of our special teams. I thought we did well overall. We made improvements and took strides. Coach (Mark) Tommerdahl and other coaches have done a great job of motivating us and helping us want to impact the game. That's what we did today. We did our best to get momentum swings where we could. The kicking game was on point, I thought it was our best kick return game of the year. Then we had the blocked punt, which was 11 guys doing their jobs. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job today, doing our best to get a victory in that part of the game.
On leading the NCAA in blocked punts:
"I think it's just our belief. We come up with a new block scheme depending on what we think the team is going to do. A blocked punt is a huge momentum-swing in a game. We really believe that we have the guys to be able to do that. It's 11 guys out there who are able to do it. We believe in it and when the opportunity comes, we're ready to go get it. It's something we practice and something we believe in."
making a play like his block return in his hometown stadium:
"It's fun. These opportunities to make plays haven't come around too often, so when they do it's really fun. It's fun to hear people screaming and yelling, just like it is in any stadium. You get that rush. I've grown up here and been to games, suffering through games like today and enjoying games like last week. It's just special to be a part of the program and go out there to play in front of my hometown."
UTAH STATE JUNIOR SAFETY Gaje Ferguson:
"Without looking at the tape, it's hard to summarize today. There were some good flashes, but there were also bad flashes. I think inconsistent is the word I would use to describe today."
On how Colorado State got around the defense early on:
"It wasn't anything they did, it was decisions and choices made by us as defensive players - not doing our jobs, not wrapping up or playing mean football with a chip on our shoulders. We put ourselves in a hole, it wasn't anything Colorado State did."
On what changed in the second half:
"We put our heads back on our shoulders. We know we're good enough to play these guys. We're good enough to play anybody if we do what we're supposed to do and when we play with confidence. It's amazing what you can do when you find a rhythm, and we didn't start out that way. It took us awhile to get going."
COLORADO STATE HEAD COACH MIKE BOBO:
"Coming on the road a second week in a row, starting fast like we did, defensively, I can't say enough about the effort really the whole game, but especially the first quarter. Just three-and-out after three-and-out, a lot like last week, giving our offense excellent field position. Nick (Stephens) started the game offensively and was really efficient. They like to do a lot of stunting and moving up front, and we thought we needed to get them off-balance by putting the ball in the air a little bit. When you do that, you have to complete balls, and Nick was excellent at times. Our guys executed really well, jumped out to the big lead. We wanted to take advantage of that wind in the first quarter and then we were able to hold on."