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By Liz Alper
Full quotes courtesy Jamie McConeghy, Assistant Athletic Director
September 27, 2016 (San Diego) - With the bye week over, it's back to football. The Aztecs travel to Alabama to take on South Alabama on Saturday and head coach Rocky Long, redshirt sophomore quarterback Christian Chapman and senior defensive end Kyle Kelley talked with the media at this week's press conference.
“The truth of the matter is we are playing a very good football team, a very talented football team, that this year has been hot and cold," Long opened with. "Every game they have been hot and cold. (South Alabama’s) athletic ability is obvious because they beat a SEC school at their place. They have great athletes. They’ve got a great coaching staff that did some things last year that we hadn’t seen on film that gave us some problems and I’m sure they’ll do it again this year. We’re playing at their place and I’m told it’s the first time a ranked team has played them at home. I’m sure they’ll be excited about playing us."
Long says that in last season's game against South Alabama, reality differed from what he thought happened. "My recollection of last year was that it was a highly competitive, very close football game that we lost in overtime. The score was close, but in reality they completely dominated us, especially up front. They’ve got a lot of those same athletes back. I’m sure they have a lot of confidence because they’ve beaten us before and beaten us bad."
“Anytime somebody beats you, you relish the chance to return the favor," Long said about the rematch and if last year's game means anything for this year's game. "They outcoached us too. We got outplayed, especially at the line of scrimmage, and they did some things schematically that caused us some problems that they hadn’t done before they played us. I would assume they will do it again. I’m sure they are going to do some stuff against us that we haven’t seen in practice or on film."
Everyone was concerned with how the Aztecs will do coming off a bye week. Long doesn't think there will be a problem. “I don’t think there is any fear that we will come out flat. I think the fear is how we’ll play. A bye week is good for every football team. They come back refreshed. The guys that were beat up and banged up are not beat up and banged up anymore and have had time to recover. They’ll be excited about playing. They like to play football. The real concern is how well they’ll play."
SDSU is now 19th in the Top 25 AP Poll. Long was asked if there's any more pressure on the team because of this. “I don’t think it puts any added pressure on our team. I don’t think young people of this age think about it that way. They’re having a great time with everybody patting them on their back telling them that they are ranked. They are enjoying that. I think they think that’s exciting, I think they think’s that’s fun, but I also believe that we have mature players. You can put us against any team in the country and we’re liable to beat them, no matter who you put out there. And you can put any Division I team against us and we are liable to lose. That’s just the way the game is.”
Chapman echoed his coach. “We’re happy about getting the recognition and moving up (in the national rankings), but we still have our mission to do. We’re just taking it one week at a time. We’re trying to finish the season with an undefeated record and have a number in front of our name then.”
The QB also addressed what he'll have to deal with in South Alabama's defense on Saturday. “They’re really athletic on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve got some big boys up front. It will be the same thing as last year as they are going to try to play tough and we’ll have to execute.”
Long said last week that the Aztecs did not play their best against Northern Illinois. Chapman feels he made a few errors too. "There were a couple of deep shots that I overthrew a little bit and a few third-down attempts that I missed. There were a few mental errors on our side of the ball that we need to clean up and hopefully fix them this week (at South Alabama).”
Chapman feels better after coming off a bye week. “Everyone coming off a bye week is really healthy now. We got rejuiced, it’s kind of like our first game again. I think that’s good. I got my energy back and I feel healthier. We’re all hyped again and we are ready to get back into the swing of the season again."
Kelley echoed Chapman and Long about the national ranking. “It’s nice being recognized as 19th right now. I’m not sure if it adds pressure, because we all have a goal of going undefeated this season. There have only been three games so far though, it only matters where we are at the end of the season. We’re just worried about South Alabama. We’re not worried about the (national) rankings.”
Being on defense, Kelley talked about what he's looking for in South Alabama's offense. “They’ve got some good receivers and a good tight end. Their quarterback is new, but most of their offensive line and running backs are returning. It’s pretty much the same group we saw last year. They look like a solid offense and we’ll try to be ready for them on Saturday.”
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