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SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 16, 2017

Rocky Long

San Diego, California

Stanford - 17, San Diego State - 20

ROCKY LONG: I think the players probably told you everything you need to know, but I'll answer any questions you have.

Q. Can you comment on Kam's play today.
ROCKY LONG: I thought he played well. We expect him to play like that. He's a talented athlete. He's an experienced guy. Now he's playing a new position. He's been a safety ever since he's been here. We moved him out to corner. He's still learning his skills out at corner.

But he made a lot of big plays tonight. But we kind of expect that out of him.

Q. How big was that play when he tracks down Bryce Love, you hold them to a field goal?
ROCKY LONG: Yeah, we tell our defensive backs to try to run him down and keep them out of the end zone. As long as they're not in the end zone, there's a chance they're not going to get in the end zone.

I take pride in our players because our players chase the ball as good or better than most defenses do. He was chasing the ball, saved a touchdown. That might have been the difference in the game. There were a lot of big plays out there, but that might have been the biggest difference in the game.

Q. Talk about Mikah Holder today.
ROCKY LONG: I think there was a lot of big plays out there. Mikah Holder played very, very well. I don't know what he says, but he's got bragging rights for the rest of his life, right? Any time they get into it, kind of two brothers get into it, he'll just bring up the score, he wins every time, right?

Q. How good was Christian on that last drive? He had to make two or three really big throws in that final drive.
ROCKY LONG: I think Christian was good the whole night. I thought he made some very good throws. I thought he made some good decisions. He was under harassment. He was under pressure a lot. He got hit a lot, too.

That shows you what quality he is as a quarterback. When you get hit a lot, usually you start throwing it bad or start throwing it to the other team. He didn't. We had a bad series the series before that. Our fullback moves in the backfield. That's a five-yard penalty. Then we snap it. He doesn't catch the shotgun snap. We're even out of field goal range.

So the series before that, we didn't play very well. All of a sudden they went in there, and with his leadership, they took it down the field and scored the winning touchdown. That's a quality quarterback.

You can't be right every time, you can't play well every single snap and every single play. A quality player will have his good times and bad times, but he always comes out when it matters the most.

Q. Talk about the joy you saw on the field after the game.
ROCKY LONG: I thought it was a little scary. All those college kids running out there. I didn't know what to think.

But, no, I thought it was really neat. I thought it was cool.

Q. Is it hard to call this just any other game when you see your fans storm a field?
ROCKY LONG: Well, I mean, it probably meant something to the fans, right? Our football program, running a football program is different than being a fan.

Q. You've been here for a long time. Nothing like that has happened since you've been here. You must take some pride in bringing this program to where it is, getting kind of that reaction.
ROCKY LONG: I'm going to tell you the truth. All I've done is facilitate kids to have a chance to be successful. That's all I do. I don't make one play. In fact, one long run tonight was my fault because I called a lousy defense. If I'd have called the right defense, they might not have scored as many points as they did.

All I do is facilitate letting players play, try to point them in the right direction, give them a scheme that gives them a chance to win. Players win games, coaches do not. So I'm proud of them. I'm happy for them.

Q. What was their confidence like when you called those two blitzes with Kelly? Something you saw in Stanford's alignment?
ROCKY LONG: I'm holding that.

Every once in a while a coach will call the right defense, too, and it works. Every once in a while that happens. Or a coach will call the right play, and it works. Every once in a while that happens.

Q. What did you say to the players when the lights went out?
ROCKY LONG: Didn't say anything to them. Told them they're going to come back on in 15 minutes and we better score a touchdown to win. I mean, what do you think we do? Go tell ghost stories?

Q. Talk about the winning play to Wells for the score.
ROCKY LONG: Yeah, at that time we were running the ball very, very well. So whenever you run the ball well, the defensive backs, their eyes start moving away from where they're supposed to look and start looking in the backfield. As soon as they start looking in the backfield, play-action pass works.

Even though there's a guy responsible for the tight end in that situation man-to-man, he's looking at the runningbacks, and all of a sudden the tight end gets a leverage position on the defensive back.

Christian did a nice job of faking the run, threw it to him, David Wells did a nice job of running over him into the end zone.

Q. Christian talked about a year ago he would have been more nervous in those situations, thought the year made the difference for him. Do you agree?
ROCKY LONG: Yes. I think that's true. This year he's a better quarterback than he was leading up to this year. I think most of the players in our program that come to us as freshmen, they're much better players when they're juniors and seniors because they work at it and they want to be. We just facilitate an ability to make them get better. If they don't get better, someone's not coaching them.

Q. How is he better in a way or two?
ROCKY LONG: I've already explained it. You don't take an average quarterback and chase him around and beat him up and knock him down, then have him come out and lead the game-winning drive down the field to win the game. A good quarterback does that. An average quarterback doesn't do that. Most likely freshmen quarterbacks can't do that.

Q. How do you keep this team rolling like this and avoid a letdown at all?
ROCKY LONG: I have no idea. I mean, you try to keep things routine. You try to keep things on an even keel, which you guys make it very hard to do, by the way, because every game is the most important game in the history of this program.

But as a coach, you try to keep them on an even keel, on a routine, so there are no big ups and downs. That doesn't mean we're going to win every game. I hope we do, but we got to play at a certain level in every game to have a chance to win.

If you let them listen to the media, they'll be way up here and way down here. I mean, I'm concerned about next week's game because they're going to get patted on the back about this game. I'm happy for them. I'm proud for them. That was a big-time win. But we got a whole bunch more football to play. Our number one goal is to win the conference championship.

Well, we play a very good team next week, and it's our first conference game. Next week we play a very good team. They're our first conference game. Now, I didn't tell them that because I think they ought to enjoy it for two days. But Monday they're going to hear all about it.

Q. David Wells said your goal was to be the most physical team on the field every night. Do you think your team was tonight?
ROCKY LONG: No. I think both teams were equally physical. I thought we outplayed them. If it wasn't for three long runs, I think we would have won the game anyway. But the last drive, then Kam's interception, preserved the victory that I thought we deserved.

Q. Stanford offense started out slow. Time of possession was way in your favor. Your defense, were you feeling better about your decision to only play two safeties instead of three?
ROCKY LONG: We only played that defense against certain personnel that they put in the game. If you notice, when they put in extra offensive linemen, that's when we put in our package with extra defensive linemen and linebackers.

It worked pretty good most of the time until that last whatever it was, 60-yard touchdown run or 70-yard touchdown run. Up until that time, I thought it worked pretty good. Then I was wondering why we did it in the first place.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

ROCKY LONG: Thank you.

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