Quotes from Northern Colorado at Weber State, October 18, 2008

Head Coach Scott Downing

"Obviously this is disappointing to come over here and lose to Weber State. They're a very, very good football team. I don't think that we as a team, either offensively or defensively played our best game of the year, but I give our kids credit for hanging in there. We had an opportunity with two minutes to go in the game to either get an on-side kick or stop them. We didn't get it done but I thought our kids, without the benefit of playing a fanatically good game, we still hung in there with Weber State."

"Trevyn Smith had a great day. There's a reason why he's a two-time Big Sky All-Conference back. You look at Bryant Eteuati, he made plays. That's what good teams do. I think Weber State's a very, very good football team and I think the thing we take out of this game is that our kids are resilient.

"We struggled moving the ball up and down the field but I give credit to our defense. We got some turnovers, where we got them field position didn't help us because we had 90 yards to go. I think the thing you saw in this game, on both sides, was when we made them drive the field they didn't get the ball in the end zone and when we had to drive the field, we couldn't turn it over and keep it moving. I give our defense and our defensive staff a lot of credit. They made some great calls down in the red zone and we continue to play well in the end zone. In fact, coming into the game we're the Big Sky's number one red zone defense and it showed again today. We had some turnovers, we had some picks, fumbles down there and made some stops.

"I'm disappointed for our kids and our coaches because I don't feel like we put our best game out there, but we showed we can still play with people in this league while we're not playing at our ultimate best. It's not that we have to play fanatically well to play with what I think is one of the elite teams in this league. We're there. We're close and I give our kids credit for playing with resilience.

"Coming into this game, against FCS schools we were 1-3 and were 10 points from being 4-0, now we're 17 points from being 5-0. I have to give our kids a lot of credit, kids like Cristian Sarmento, Joe Kenney and Jacob Thornbrue and all the seniors. They've put a lot of effort into this, into transitioning into the Big Sky and it's been a great move for them and they continue to work hard.

On turnovers:

"We preach it all the time in practice. We do turnover drills, turnover circuit where we're always trying to rip the ball out and get it rolling on our side of the ledger. We know every time the ball is snapped the ball could be out and I think our kids are becoming ball-hawkers. They're trying to get the ball and once again, we ended up with just one turnover and they had four so we're getting better in the turnover ratio. Our kids are upbeat and positive and our coaches stay positive with them. Our coaches do a great job on the sideline and our players do a great job of listening to the coaches. Sometimes the game goes up and down and sometimes it's not always going your way but our kids really believe that they have a chance.

"I told Coach McBride after the game it's going to be a great game next week against NAU. We've played them both and they're both good teams. NAU has great defense and obviously, Weber State's got a very, very solid defense.

On pressuring the quarterback:

"Anytime you've got a quarterback who's throwing as well as Higgins, we don't want him to sit back there and pick us apart, particularly when you've got Eteuati out there and you've got some really good players, like Toone out there. He's a good guy and he can see the field, all-in-all we want to get a lot of pressure on him. I think we came with a variety of things on him, we got some pressure on a three-man, a four-man and a five-man rush. I think we had a pretty good defensive game plan, again I think they're a solid team and Trevyn Smith is an excellent, excellent running back. He's strong and he keeps the play alive all the time. Every time you punt the ball or kick it off you hold on to your hat that Eteuati will fall down on his own.

Senior linebacker Cristian Sarmento

"I think our key was capitalizing on the turnover game, that was obviously a big role. Turnovers kept us in the game and limited Weber State's offense.

Was it frustrating that offense couldn't capitalize on the defense's stops?

"Not so much. Really when you play defense in college, or offense in college, it's more of an intrinsic focus so you only focus on your side of the ball, your side of the game. On defense, there were some things we could have done better, I know we could have tackled Trevyn Smith better, we could have prevented some of the down-the-field passing better, some of the screen games better. We've got to focus more on that than anything else going on in the game.

On getting pressure on quarterback Cameron Higgins:

"We just wanted to try to get pressure with the four-man rush and we didn't want to blitz too much. It wasn't something we really planned on it just worked its way into the game.

On Weber State's turnovers:

"They were key. That's the reason the score was as close as it was. If we didn't have those turnovers it would have been a much different game and three of them happened in the red zone so that's taking points off the board right off the bat. Three (points) was automatic where they were.

What does playing with Weber so close do to the character of the team?

"What people don't understand is this is our biggest loss to a D-I (FCS) opponent all year and we lost by seven points. We know that we're good, it's just the line between victory and defeat is so minute and guys are still learning what that is. I just tell the team now, remember how it feels if you just work a little bit harder and prepare a little bit harder. It wasn't a shock that we came out and played with them. The other winning team, NAU, we botched a two-point conversion to lose the game. We know we've got a good team."