Mike Jacobs press conference transcript (San Diego State)

Mike Jacobs press conference transcript (San Diego State)

Jacobs: Really, really exciting win for us today. Going into the season, San Diego State was a team a lot of people were talking about potentially as the G6 representative in the playoff picture. They've had a tough schedule, obviously, with us and JMU and UCLA. But I thought this was a complete three-phase victory for our guys today.

San Diego State does a tremendous job on special teams. I thought we did a great job handling all the special teams situations today, including you saw some swinging gate from them, you saw a surprise onside. They attacked the punter 89 percent of punts, and we held up and did a fantastic job there. As far as the defense goes, we really challenged our guys. No one in this building was satisfied with the effort last week against Temple.

And our challenge was, we want to be more in the attacking mindset. We want to be the aggressor, the classic hammer, not the nail. And so I really felt like our defense was dialed in. I thought our staff had a tremendous game plan, right? The stat line for San Diego State was when they rushed for 200 yards, they were like 96 percent win percentage. And so today, not only did we hold them under 200, we held them under 100. We held them to 48 yards rushing today.

Then in turn, you look at it offensively, we rushed the ball for over 200 yards. John Alan was on point again. Again, we had 22 attempts. We had no sacks. We were right at 50 percent on third down. We scored a defensive touchdown. That is a really complete game victory. I'm super proud of our kids and the way they played.

I think the staff did a fantastic job in preparation. And we're gonna enjoy this one this this afternoon. That's the beauty of an early game, right? And then we're gonna get ready for our MAC slate.

Question: Mike, maybe most impressive is just the way you guys absolutely dominated both lines. What did you see up front?

Jacobs: Really, going into the game, I thought their two linebackers were really good football players. They’ve play a lot of football, whether it be at San Diego State or other schools. I thought their safeties did a good job. I thought that's a good unit.

They had quite a bit of turnover there on that side of the football. But listen, I thought offensive line-wise, we did a much better job finishing blocks today, at least without watching the tape. I thought we did a good job with the game planning piece of it.

And then defensively, I think our D line was just – they wanted to play well. They were not satisfied with how they played last week. And that was an inspired group, and we did a good job keeping them off balance with different coverage looks.

Question: Was there an executional adjustment that you saw, just from the defensive line? Was it all just schematics that allowed your guys to dominate their offensive line?

Jacobs: Yeah, I think last week we watched the film, and, obviously, we talked about being hypercritical. It starts with the staff, right? We’re critical of ourselves first. Do we put our kids in position? And I thought Temple, a handful of times, did a really good job schematically getting us into some tough run fits. And then we missed more tackles.

Y’all jinxed us. We talked about how good we had been tackling, and then we didn’t tackle great. And then today, we worked on it each day in practice, so we’re in pads Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then they executed at a really high level.

So, what’s most gratifying to me is seeing the things that we’re working on in practice translate on the field to game day. And I think that was really the big difference.

Question: Just the way you guys ended non-conference play, obviously with the huge momentum booster, with the Temple win, the dominating play, what can you say about the way your team has really just come together these last few weeks, and just how you're feeling momentum-wise going into next week?

Jacobs: Yeah, I feel great after a big win, right? I thought our student section was great today. They did a great job showing up, right? It's 70 and sunny. And it's about as good of a football day in the fall as you can get. And so we're certainly excited to win today, but we're never satisfied, right?

Again, the 24-hour rule’s in full effect. I’ll enjoy it, and then we’ll come back, and we’ll get to work on Ball State right away. But now it matters, right? Now, we got a tough MAC slate with some really good opponents. But I'm excited about the way we’re playing, coming out of what I feel is a pretty tough out-of-conference schedule.

Question: Mike, you have a lot of talented kids from the area, and obviously today Bryson steps up and gets his first-career touchdown. Just what can you say about him and his development?

Jacobs: I think the big reason he decided to come back was he wanted to be really involved in the pass game as well. And I think what’s been special so far for us, just in general, not specific to Hammer. But for us, it’s been a different kid each week that's had a big receiving day, and that’s gonna happen. And everybody wants their touches, whether it’s a ball carrier or a receiver, or a tight end.

But that's why I played center, right? The center and the quarterback are the only two that touch the ball every play. So that’s why I played center, but everybody wants their touches. But I think our kids, you see them just playing together, being excited for each other. And again, Bryson’s done a great job. It was a massive play before halftime to get the points. The big play, one, just the emotional swing, and then two, knowing that we got the ball coming out of half.

So he’s been a huge part of what we’re doing. Haven’t had a ton of kick return opportunities with him or punt return opportunities. So to see him more involved in the passing game is awesome.

Question: And then you touched on the balance, just kind of your assessment on being able to run at football.

Jacobs: We come into everything, you’d love to be 50-50. Again, last week, we thought we had some advantages on the outside of the perimeter with our wide receiver matchups. This week, I felt like we were gonna need to be more balanced. And I give our offensive line a lot of credit for running the football. And then you see it’s 200 yards, it’s running back by committee.

But Autavius Ison, 91 yards. Connor Walendzak, 62 yards. CJ Miller, 39 yards. Those guys, they're tough, and when they're fresh, it makes them even harder. And so again, the selflessness that they’re playing with right now is good.

Question: You guys are clearly showing you’ve got a tough, exciting team with a lot of local stars on top of that. I'm just curious, the crowd was better today, but as you move forward, what is your pitch to why this is a team worth supporting?

Jacobs: Listen, we’re fun to watch, and they do stuff the right way, right? Again, I’m happy to talk about it after a victory. But you see us out in the community. Every Friday, we go to a different elementary school, and we’ll continue to do that. You see us set the team GPA record.

These guys aren’t just getting by – they’re excelling in all facets. And so again, much like the city of Toledo, there’s a blue-collarness, there’s a toughness, there’s a togetherness about how these guys play. And folks should wanna show up for a reasonable price and have a great day with their family. I promise I’ll watch my language.

Question: Going back to Bryson, so much of his greatness has been attached to kick returning and punt returning, but what are the things that we haven’t seen that led you to believe that his skill set is so much more?

Jacobs: He’s got elite hands. He’s fast, right? He can win in one-on-one coverage, which he did. The first long touchdown, he split the safeties. And then on the second one, he had man-to-man, and he just beat the nickel, beat the brakes off him right after we had the big turnover right after they attempted the onside.

So those two plays, back-to-back, right to in the half and coming out, right? People talk about the middle eight minutes – the four minutes at the end of the first and the four minutes coming into the second half – being really important. And he made huge plays, but it’s his hands, it’s his speed, it’s his ability to beat people one-on-one. All those things are things that are helping him excel.

Question: You came into the year expecting to win every game, but how much more confidence, if that’s the right word to use, do you have seeing the way you guys dominated over the past few weeks?

Jacobs: Listen, I think that every day we try to come in here and breathe life into this thing, every day you have to show up, right? You have to be the same person in this building, you have to go to work, you have to work at the basics, and you gotta love on each other.

And I think that I’m excited about where we’re at, we’re never satisfied. We have an opportunity to do something big next week and play a good opponent in conference, and we’re excited to do that on the road again.

Question: Mike, the pick-six [by Isaac Zay], did you knew right away it was a house call.

Jacobs: Listen, man, he can go. He can run a little bit, and there weren’t many people over there. That was a great call to change up the coverage look a little bit. And then he secured the football, and again, man, you can see him, he can run.

So I’m really proud of the way he’s played, he continues to be a massive factor. I thought Nick Thompson showed up today in extended minutes. Really pleased with the young man getting to see more action. And you saw him be super impactful.

So again, what’s been really cool is that it’s been different people each week on different sides of the ball and in different phases. And I think all that leads to what ultimately will be a really good football team.

Question: You mentioned that you’re never satisfied. Is there anything that stood out as something to work on?

Jacobs: Listen, we had 10 penalties today. And with the ones we took, again, I’m fine with try-hard play. But if you’re playing your butt off, that’s one thing. We had some pre-snap stuff on both sides that we gotta get cleaned up. But I’m not gonna pout about a 41-16 victory ever. That just makes everybody miserable, man. We’re gonna enjoy the hell out of it.

Thank you, guys.

Mike Jacobs press conference transcript (San Diego State)

Footer