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FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL: IDAHO VS COLORADO STATEDecember 22, 2016Mike BoboOlabisi JohnsonNick StevensJake SchlagerBoise, Idaho Idaho - 61, Colorado State - 50 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with Mike Bobo giving an opening statement, then we'll take questions. COACH BOBO: First of all, give Idaho total credit. They came ready to play, made more plays than us tonight, deserved to win the ballgame. Very disappointing finish to our season. Disappointed in the way that we were ready to fight. When I say 'fight', ready to play hard this ballgame. We did not play very disciplined. We lost our composure. We did not handle the elements very well. It's something that we improved dramatically on from the year before, being disciplined, handling adversity. We didn't handle the adversity very well today and it showed. Our lack of composure with penalties, a lot of them were self-inflicted wounds. At the end of the day you got to give that team credit. They made more plays than we did offensively, defensively, special teams. It's like I just told the team, you know, You got your butt whipped, and that happens. Just because you work hard and prepare does not guarantee you you're going to show up and you're going to win a ballgame. That's life. It's how you respond to it. Have zero doubt where we're going as a program. Have zero doubt in how we're going to get there. It's part of a process that we're doing, trying to lay a foundation. Disappointing, definitely disappointing, in the play of our team. For those seniors in that room, for the whole CSU Ram faithful. I do appreciate the seniors, what they've done the two years I've been here with them, the four or five years they've been in this program. They started to lay a foundation of some consistency. I believe that's what it takes to be a championship contender, is you got to have consistency. Things don't always go as fast as you want them, how you want them, it's how you respond to them. We'll respond. We'll go back to work. We'll recruit to improve this football team. We'll train in the off-season to improve this football team. We'll identify leadership in the off-season. We'll develop that leadership, have a plan of attack going into the next year. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BOBO: I mean, I didn't think we handled the elements very well. Not the cold. The field was not in great shape. But as I say, I thought it was in our heads a little bit. One of the things we do is we don't make excuses. We were worried about the turf a little bit too much instead of playing ball. First drive, we drive down there, get stuffed on the fourth-and-one. Give them credit. They made a play penetrating on the backside, stopped us on fourth-and-one. We were playing very well early defensively. They were trying to handle the elements and figure out their plan of attack offensively, of how they were going to attack. We could not take advantage of it at all offensively to try to grab some momentum. I know we had a touchdown there in the second quarter. But in the first quarter, I don't know how many three-and-outs we had. We had a chance to start fast. That's something we've done very, very well really most of the season, especially the last half of the season, is starting fast. We weren't able to do that. We had a little adversity, got behind, and did not respond the way that I would have liked us to respond. Q. Your team came into the game averaging 223 rushing yards a game, but were limited in that aspect today. What was working well for Idaho on the defensive end that you felt you couldn't get it going? COACH BOBO: I thought they won their one-on-one battles up front. We were in our regular personnel, our two tight end personnel. They played an odd front. We had a couple chances there early on in some runs. We had some lost-yardage plays, miscommunication, drop a snap, an early turnover, that kind of got us out of our rhythm. We were never able to get in a rhythm. Got behind a little bit, and started to spread it out a little bit more. You know, the way the game went probably skewed the yardage more than anything. I thought we were putting hat on the hat pretty well early on. For whatever reason, we were not able to sustain some runs or drives. Q. Does that surprise you a little bit, given how well your offensive line have been playing late in the season, that you weren't able to line them up and knock them off the ball and move forward with the weather being the way it was, with the field conditions? COACH BOBO: I mean, early on we had a couple runs. You start a drive with a run. I believe we got a pretty good play called. We drop a toss. It puts us back six yards. We played well up front because we've been able to be balanced with the threat of the pass, too. We weren't able to do that early on. I mean, they broke the game open by throwing the ball, too. They were having trouble running the ball as well till they hit some deep balls on us outside, then had the one run we fit wrong. It was one of those games. You just had to keep plugging away, try not to give up a big play. Unfortunately we gave up too many big plays and weren't able to sustain anything offensively to put any pressure on 'em. Q. Obviously you had the furious finish in the fourth quarter. As a coach, do you ask yourself where that action was in your offense earlier in the game, that kind of desperation mode? COACH BOBO: Every play is not going to work. Every drive is not going to be successful. You got to give Idaho credit for making plays. That happens sometimes. You'd like to see every time we're going to line up on offense, we're going to go down the field and score points. But we weren't able to do that. We turned the ball over, have a lost-yardage play, get stuffed on a fourth-and-one. All that happens in the first quarter and a half, which hurt our drives. Kept saying over there to the offensive side, We're really kind of shooting ourselves in the to foot. Don't panic. It's in reach, going in there at halftime, let's come out and a play our brand of football. We weren't able to get anything going there till late. At the end of the day, we're going to play 60 minutes. We played 60 minutes. Doesn't matter what the scoreboard says. We'll learn from what happened and move on to next year. Q. On January 1st, you'll become the highest paid employee in CSU history. Two years your teams have not been able to execute in bowl games. Why have you not been able to prepare your teams? COACH BOBO: Well, we tried some things different this year in preparation. It's something that you got to look at as a coach. You want to finish the year off strong. You got an opportunity to play a ballgame, you want to win the ballgame. We weren't able to win that ballgame. Ultimately you're right, that onus falls on me. That's the position I'm in as a head coach. We'll go back to the drawing board, look at it, figure out how to build a team that can be the team we want to be at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, the end of the year. That's the ultimate goal. Sometimes things like that happen. But I don't doubt my ability as a coach. I don't doubt our coaches' ability to coach. I don't doubt our players' commitment to Colorado State, not one bit. Now, did we make some dumb decisions out there, losing our composure? Did I make some dumb calls as a coach? Yeah, I make some every week, even when we score 63. That happens. I have no doubt in what we're doing and how we're going to get there. Q. You talked a little bit about you wanted to finish this season strong with a victory. Can you still use this loss in some way to carry on the momentum that you felt your team had gained at the end of the year? COACH BOBO: Yeah, I mean, end of the day you say, Look what happened tonight, to us. What did it feel like? How do you prepare as an individual? Only you deep down know what you did as an individual inside. That's the measure of success, is an individual deep down do you know, did you prepare the way you needed to prepare. Ultimately everybody in the program has to ask ourselves that. We've got to challenge each other and use it as motivation. But there are hiccups that happen. There are setbacks when you're trying to build something. It's not built. We're trying to build something here that's consistent. You're going to have bumps in the road. That's going to happen. You got to regroup and you got to go on. If you start doubting yourself or doubting what you believe in, then the players doubt. I don't doubt. Am I disappointed in our performance? Am I disappointed in our preparation, myself included? Yes, I'm disappointed. But that's life. Bottom line is our guys put theirselves out there every day, all right? They put theirselves out there. That's the only way you have success, if you put yourself out there and you're not afraid to fail. We failed. What are we going to do about it? That's the question. Q. You talked about not wanting your team to look at the points spread. You were a 15-point favorite. Do you think your players let this affect their mental preparation? COACH BOBO: I don't know. We talk about respecting our opponent every week, no matter who we're playing. The way you respect your opponent is you prepare to the best of your ability and you give them your best shot. That's how you respect your opponent. Told them in there just a few minutes ago, Can't throw your helmet out on the field with certain colors and think you're going to win because it's these colors or this university. You got to get ready to play and you got to go play. Did that happen? I don't know. But we'll regroup and go into next year. Q. It may be a little too early, but when Collin comes back next year, have you given any thoughts to whether he's going to start or will it be a competition? COACH BOBO: Collin is injured at this point. Probably not going to be back for spring practice. I will say this. Nick Stevens played outstanding for when he came back. He played outstanding tonight. The one interception, the safety early in the game. The second, we couldn't get our foot in to make a play on the ball. But he showed guts. He put us in position to win a lot of ballgames. Really proud of him. There's competition every week for me, every week. He knows that. Everybody on our team knows that. I believe in my heart that Nick Stevens is better because there was competition and he had adversity. We need more competition at more positions. Q. Johnson had 265 receiving yards and two touchdowns today. Is this something you can take away from this game, a bright spot looking forward to the off-season? COACH BOBO: Yeah, I've had confidence in Bisi all year. He's a guy I'm practically proud of. Michael Gallup comes in, steals the headlines or makes more plays, has more stats. But Bisi Johnson is a guy that came to work every day at practice, a guy I've mentioned several times to our team that is improving, is going to have his day. He had a good day today. Probably wish in hindsight I'd have thrown more balls to him deeper down the field early in the ballgame. But proud of the way he kept competing. I was proud of the way he locked in and continued to try to make plays. He's a guy moving forward that will be another threat for us offensively, another weapon that guys will have to contend with. He's got to take it upon himself to continue to work and push himself because we're going to bring more competition at that position, not just Michael Gallup and him. We'll bring in more guys. That's the way you get better. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH BOBO: Thank y'all. THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the players for Colorado State. Q. Nick, what happened for you guys offensively early in the game where you struggled, then to see it go so well late? NICK STEVENS: I don't know if we can pin it on exactly one thing. We definitely had a lack of execution, weren't able to get anything going in the run or pass game. They held us to I think it was seven points the first half. It's always going to be tough to win when you can only put up seven. We couldn't get any momentum going on any side of the ball. That was definitely the tough part. I think we did a good job of coming out and finishing as an offense and a team as well. Q. The weather conditions, the field conditions obviously weren't ideal. Do you feel like you let that get in your head a little bit? OLABISI JOHNSON: Coming out first half, actually all week, we really hadn't practiced on that field at all. In that first half, I think we faced a little adversity, it got to us, got into our head. We didn't figure out till the second half how to actually play CSU football on that field. Q. Bisi, you finished with 265 yards, two touchdowns. What was working for you offensively on the aerial attack? OLABISI JOHNSON: You know, we started airing the ball out in that second half, throwing the post, throwing the takeoffs. It was really working. It worked for me, it worked for Mike. I don't know, it was just clicking. Q. Jake and Kevin, when they got on the roll offensively, what was it that was working so effectively for them? What were you having trouble adjusting to? KEVIN DAVIS: I think it was we made too many mental mistakes, we let the mental mistakes get to us as a defense. I guess obviously both teams have to play on the field, but I think guys were thinking too much about playing slower to keep their footing. But probably the mental mistakes really killed us tonight. JAKE SCHLAGER: I would say it wasn't anything we hadn't seen all week. We prepared for this type of offense. We prepared for them since we found out that we were playing them. I wouldn't say it was anything that we weren't prepared for. It was just a lack of execution and just the nitty-gritty. When it comes down to it, we didn't do what we needed to do to stop them. Q. Nick, how disappointing is the way this turned out? Obviously you wanted to come in and win a bowl game after losing last year. You said that was your goal. NICK STEVENS: It was extremely disappointing. I think the biggest thing is I felt like we prepared really, really well for them. I don't feel like we took any days off, chalked it up as a win in our books. We practiced really hard, had some really quality practices. Just weren't able to take that and carry it over onto the field tonight. I definitely think we could have played much better football and been in that game. Q. For either of the three of you coming back, does this in any way put a damper on the feelings of where this program was headed and how good you can possibly be next year? NICK STEVENS: Not at all. I think we showed some positive at the end there. I think from here on out, we can't look back and look at it as a negative. I think we definitely had a lot of momentum going into this game. Obviously you'd love to win this game and carry it on into next season. I think we're going to be able to take it and run. We have a lot of talent returning and a lot of good guys coming in. I think there's plenty to look up to in the future. JAKE SCHLAGER: You definitely can't let one game define your season, define your outlook on what next year is going to look like. Had a heck of a ride, a heck of a season with these seniors. It was a blast. It's definitely one that's going to hold that spot in your head for the rest of your life. I'm not going to say this one game is going to put a damper on what we are capable of doing next year. We have new guys coming in, it's a new season. It starts tomorrow. We get back to Fort Collins tomorrow, we get home and start working right away. We're ready to work, turn it around. OLABISI JOHNSON: Coach Bobo, he keeps emphasizing the sun is going to rise tomorrow, it's a new day. We have a lot of exciting things coming in next year, a whole new class, a new stadium. It's really exciting. Offensively and defensively we can be one of the top defenses and offenses in the nation. I think guys really believe it. We came into this game believing it. It's disappointing that we didn't show it, but definitely next year it will be a lot better. Q. Kevin and Jake, the Vandals finished with 225 rushing yards. Pretty big performance by them. What was working for them, what wasn't clicking for you on defense? KEVIN DAVIS: Just made gap mistakes, that's it. We filled our gaps, we stopped them. When we missed our gaps, they hit the hole right. JAKE SCHLAGER: I think it comes down to your personal execution, what your job is. You have your job and you can't make any excuses. You got to get that job done. You have extracurricular activities going on in there, people talking. It comes down to your job every single play. When people don't do that, hidden yardage comes in, missed tackles. It's a lack of fundamentals, I'd say, just knowing what gap, doing your job. Q. Kevin, there was a lot made, Coach Bobo talked about he emphasized respecting your opponent. Do you think that got to your focus as a team? KEVIN DAVIS: No, that's a great team we just played. They beat us on defense and special teams. We just didn't come to play. Q. Nick, this game tonight and the game against Boise State, you were able to rally late. But what does it say about your offense that you've been able to erase these big deficits and get yourself back in the game? NICK STEVENS: I think it says two major things about our team. Obviously first, the positive side, we never give up. We were down a lot today and we were able to come back and cut it to I think 11. Obviously just ran out of time. That's what coach said about last game, too, we just ran out of time. The second thing it says is we have to come out and start fast no matter who we're playing. When you get down big, it's hard to come back. If we started a little bit faster, I think the game would have been completely different. Q. Nick, you talked about being able to come back, there wasn't enough time in the game. You put up 36 points in the fourth quarter. A lot was the passing attack. What were you seeing in the defense that allowed you to put up so many points? NICK STEVENS: I don't know exactly what it was, what the defense was doing. I think they had a plan at that point to stop the pass. I think the 11 guys on the field kind of just had the mindset that we were going to execute and not give up and finish this game. We were able to put up a lot of points in the fourth quarter when they were almost in seemed like a prevent-type defense. If we had that mindset the whole game, we would have been a lot better off. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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