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Story by Liz Alper
Videos courtesy goaztecs.com
For videos of Quest Truxton and Ronley Lakalaka's portion of the press conference, click "read more" and scroll to the very end.
October 24, 2017 (San Diego) - SDSU football suffered another loss last week. This one was worse; the Aztecs only managed a field goal and lost 27-3 to Fresno State. Things are getting tense in Aztec Nation, and this week, head coach Rocky Long, senior wide out Quest Truxton and junior linebacker Ronley Lakalaka sat down with the media to calm the storm.
“Coaches and players are doing everything they can to try to rectify any of the issues or problems that we’ve had in order for us to continue on this season and finish off with a few wins," Long stated simply.
Long didn't seem too worried about what has been happening and what has been going wrong, saying simply, "People are outplaying us and out-executing us. What they are doing on defense is no different than what we’ve seen all year long. They are moving their defensive linemen and linebackers more than they have in the past and they are stunting a little bit more than they have in the past, but other than that, the scheme and where they line up and those types of things are exactly the same.”
Long doesn't think the issue is the young offensive line, but did say that they are struggling with injuries. “I think they are not performing as well right now because of the twisting and stunting of the defensive linemen but mostly because they are beat up. It is hard for players to play hard or at as high a level when they are not 100 percent [healthy] and it is really difficult for a young player to play at a high level if he is not 100 percent [healthy] because he has never had to do it before and he is trying to learn how to do it now...most of them are playing hurt and that is something that they have never had to do before. That is a learned activity.”
He also isn't worried about junior quarterback Christian Chapman. “Well, I don’t think it hurts you mentally at all. I think it hurts how you are able to perform if you are unable to sit back there and take your time. I think he probably feels a little pressure to do things more on his own than he probably should at times but everything is affected...Our players are playing extremely hard. They want to play well, they are just not playing well. Guess what? That happens. Everybody in this room has bad days or bad weeks or bad months. Every time you have a bad day, the difference is nobody is telling you how bad you are or how lousy you are. ‘I can’t believe you are down in the dumps today. Isn’t it a beautiful day?’ Well, something happened in your life that made you feel bad. Well, we’ve got some players that aren’t playing very well. How about that?”
However, on if Chapman was experiencing a lack of time in the pocket: "...I think there were times when he is holding the ball and does not throw it when he should."
Moving on, Long gave the scouting report on Hawaii's defense. “I think they are big and strong up front, very similar to the last two teams we’ve played. They haven’t shown a tendency to slant or stunt very much but I promise you we’re going to see it because that has been effective against us the last couple of weeks."
Long had bad news about the team's confidence. “I think it is very shaky. I think that was proven in the game Saturday. I think our confidence level is very shaky. You saw us start out with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of effort and a lot of physicality and we drove the ball straight down the field against a very good defense. And then we fumbled the ball and all of a sudden we could not do that anymore. And guess what, they were playing the same defense then as they were later in the game.”
Despite going 6-0 to start the season, Long isn't shocked by losing two straight. “It would surprise me if we had a veteran football team. It does not surprise me because we have a very young football team and some very young players playing in some key positions."
However, Truxton had a different opinion on if the 6-0 start affected the team. “Probably. When you come out 6-0, you get the love from everybody. You get the fan support way more and everybody hypes you up and it’s hard to not get lost in that and forget what got you there and I think that’s a big reason why we slipped a bit the past two weeks. We weren’t working with that same edge to prove ourselves. This team has had a standard for handling our side of the conference and I think some guys started expecting that would just happen, and we weren’t working for it the same way we were working to prove ourselves against the early Pac-12 teams and we got lost in that a little bit.”
Long cut to the chase when asked about the lack of turnovers the defense is causing. “Two things. I don’t think we’re hitting with the same collision power as we have before this. You can relate it to how banged up and beat up we are and how many games we’ve played in a row but that’s making excuses. I think we’re struggling scoring. The other teams’ offenses have gotten very conservative...Since we’re having trouble scoring, I think other offenses have gotten very conservative and they’re not taking chances. I also think that we’re playing as hard but I don’t think we’re hitting as hard. When we tackle, I don’t think we’re hitting as hard. The throws are quick throws. They’re not giving us enough chances to get to the quarterback. The quarterback is getting rid of the ball before we can get there. I think it’s a mentality that the offensive staff comes in here with. Guess what? It’s the exact same formula that we’ve been winning with for the last three years. They’re not dumb coaches out there. They see who’s won the championship and they wonder why, so they watch how you did things and now they’re copying us. That’s a backhanded compliment, by the way. We have to execute better. It’s a matter of players executing. At times, I think it’s because we’re not trying very hard but every time I go watch the film, that’s not the case. We’re trying hard. We’re just not executing at the same level as we did earlier in the season. Some of that with the offensive line is because they’re beat up and hurt. That doesn’t excuse any other position for not executing well. If those guys were juniors and seniors, you wouldn’t know it. Even if they were beat up, you wouldn’t see any difference in them because older guys learn how to play with bumps and bruises, and guess what? That group is learning to play that way so the next two or three years, they’ll be fine when they get the bumps and bruises. This is the first time this has happened in their lives and they’re not handling it very well.”
Truxton seemed a bit more confident about the team's mindset. “Monday was a great way for us to come out and show we’re not done yet. Two tough losses like that, you’re kind of heartbroken but the only thing you can do is move forward. I think we’re all coming together a little better. A lot of people made excuses for us about the Boise State loss. They said, ‘This play made that happen and if this went the other way,’ but last week, you can’t make any excuses. We just didn’t show up and it was really an awakening for us and I think we learned the most from that and we’ll learn from it and come back stronger.”
Truxton said he feels "embarrassed" by back-to-back losses. “It’s a first for me to have back-to-back losses, which is pretty embarrassing, and I’m sure it is for a lot of these guys. As a team, the ranking was nice to have but not a lot of guys have been ranked but you forget what that’s all about and what brought you there. The biggest deal for us right now is getting back to who we are and what we’re all about.”
Lakalaka echoed: “We get complacent at times so with these two losses, it puts us at a level where we need to be humble. Coming into practice with a purpose to prepare and that’s what I think we were missing. Quest said that something was missing so I think that we just got complacent and we just weren’t ready.”
So how do the Aztecs rebound? “You just do it for the guys next to you. You put your little dings and bruises aside because you know that your brothers are counting on you. That’s the biggest thing I’ve drawn from, to play through stuff like that and I’m certain that the young guys will get there eventually but when you first get somewhere, you think, ‘I don’t have to do this because this is hurting,’ or, ‘I can’t go as hard in practice because of this.’ But you eventually learn over time that that doesn’t cut it, and that doesn’t win football games.”
Lakalaka said the same thing: “You just need to fight for your brothers next to you. The most important person is the player next to you. You’re playing for them, for your family, for your coaches, for the fans. To be able to have the opportunity to play, you just want to take all of that opportunity and just play.”
Lakalaka, a Hawaii native, talked about what playing in Hawaii is like. “I’ve done it before. It’s nice to go back and see family and friends, to see them support our team and myself, getting to see them because I rarely see them during the year. I probably see my family three times during the year. It’s nice to be back and see their faces. It’s going to be bittersweet.”
He is excited for Saturday because he knows players on the Rainbow Warriors from high school and also talked about his recruitment to Hawaii. “I had an opportunity to go to Hawaii. It just so happened that I had an opportunity to come here and I’m so glad I made the choice to come here. Most of [Hawaii’s team] I know from high school, from other schools, and there are about four members on their team from my high school so it’s going to be fun. We’re just going to have fun.”
The Aztecs take on Hawaii on the island on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
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