AZTEC FOOTBALL PRESS CONFERENCE 10/11: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

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Story and photos by Liz Alper

Full quotes courtesy Jen Heisel, Assistant Media Relations Director

October 11, 2016 (San Diego) - The Aztecs are traveling to Fresno State this Friday for a game under the Friday night lights, just like in high school, for the Battle of the Oil Can.  Coach Rocky Long, quarterback Christian Chapman, cornerback Derek Babiash and tight end David Wells spoke at today's press conference.

The Aztecs have only had one padded practice this week because of the short week.  They normally have two. "We have to get a game plan in one less day and we’re traveling to where I think is one of the better home field advantage stadiums in our league," Long said in his opening statement. "it’s going to be a challenge, like always.” 

After a big loss to South Alabama that ruined the Aztecs' hopes of an undefeated season, they came up with a big 26-7 win against UNLV at Qualcomm on Saturday night.  “I think we played harder," Long said. "we made fewer assignment errors and made more plays in coverage. It’s just about players playing. I don’t think it had anything to do special with game plan or anything else. I think our players played at a higher level than they did up to that point. It’s players playing better.”

This week, Long talked a lot about special teams and its effect on the game.  Kicker John Baron II made two field goals--one from 48 yards and one from 50 yards--on Saturday night that Long said were "very important in us maintaining momentum." Baron was an under 17 player on the national men's soccer team when he was younger, so Long doesn't think the transition from soccer to football was a confidence issue. “I think it’ll (hitting two long field goals) help his confidence but I don’t think he was hurting for confidence anyway. Anybody that can kick a 48-yarder and a 51-yarder, they’re pretty confident guys when they walk out there...he's not just a kicker; he's a competitor."

Also included in the special teams discussion was junior transfer Quest Truxton's comfort as a punt and kick returner. “I think he’s done well. It’s an interesting deal with kick returners. The good ones have a natural feel for doing it and they’re comfortable doing it. Quest has a natural feel for punt returns. There are very few guys that do both because it’s a completely different situation. Quest has a natural feel for it and likes doing it and he’s got some athletic ability so it gives him a chance to be pretty good at it."

Chapman's play improved in this game compared to earlier games this season.  Long said it's because the coaches went with a simpler game plan. “This week, we went simpler with Christian and he played better. It wasn’t as simple as the game plan was last year in his two starts but I think our coaches decided we were giving him too much to think about and he didn’t play well in two games."

Long said the team did better with penalties on Saturday night, garnering only seven.  However, UNLV had none.  He also gave an overview of Fresno State. “Their biggest problem has been in consistency. They’re a really talented football team that plays really well at times and sooner or later, they’re going to put a game together where they play an entire game to their ability and when they do that, they could beat anybody. But they’ve been inconsistent in things. Fumbles have hurt them, turnovers have hurt them. They want to be a 50/50 team. They have a couple really good running backs. Their offensive line is pretty good. They’ve got the best set of receivers we’ve seen since we played Cal. Their quarterback at times misses receivers and at times throws darts. At defense, they’re big up front, they run pretty good at linebacker. They have a pretty talented football team that hasn’t played well to this point."

Chapman felt more comfortable and confident in the UNLV game than in the South Alabama game. “The coaches made the offense a little more comfortable: plays that I was comfortable making. Me and (SDSU quarterbacks) Coach (Blaine) Morgan just sat down and said, ‘what do I have to do to feel comfortable throwing? What do I like the most on third down?’ We went over that and I was just more comfortable going in with the game plan and was more confident with what we were doing. Against South Alabama, we were doing a lot of new things, a lot of stuff we hadn’t shown before and Coach Morgan thought it would be best for the offense if I was more comfortable and confident.”

He said it feels like high school playing on a Friday night in college. “Back in high school, you’re playing a Friday night game and then on Saturday, you’re watching college football so in some ways, it’s kind of like high school again.”

Wells was pleased with the tight ends and their play on Saturday night compared to South Alabama. “I think that we got back to running the ball how we wanted to. It took a while to get us going back again. Against NIU and against South Alabama, as a tight end group, we didn’t do our best job. It was a focus of us and our coaches this week to make sure we’re getting back to what we’re doing. We needed to be good in our fundamentals, make sure we were perfect at that, and just coming off the ball with our hair on fire and coming out and hitting them.”


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