The Aztecs fell to the Washington State Cougars on Saturday night, 36-13. Here we’ve compiled the quotes, exactly as is, from head coach Sean Lewis in his post game meeting with the media.
Coach Lewis speaking with all the media immediately after the loss.Courtesy: SDSU Aztecs on YouTube.
Obviously not a great effort, right? Need to do a better job coaching and leading. Need to do a better job with our third down plan. Need to do a good job with the fundamentals and putting together a great practice plan here over the next 14 days, so we can learn and we can grow from this opportunity.
Obviously not the results that anyone is looking for. Got a lot of disappointed guys in the locker room, because I know they could play better. You know, it was a good plan by the Cougs—they executed better than us tonight. But I’m encouraged to see how our guys respond, right?
We’re going to test our culture here as we go, right? The guys have told me time and time again that the culture is better, the connection’s better, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they respond. Because it’s easy to be together and have a strong culture when things are riding high.
We get tested with a little bit of adversity here early in the season with a group of young guys, particularly offensively, that are going to pull together from this. We’ll be better because of it and looking forward to a good two weeks of prep as we go to face a really–really good Cal team.
So, looking forward to that. Looking forward to getting home safely and looking forward to to leading and putting together a better performance. Because obviously that was not the standard. That was not good enough. Go Aztecs.
Coach Lewis speaking in his live post game radio interview with AM 760 San Diego’s Sports.
What went wrong tonight:
We didn’t execute the basic things at a high level. When you do that to make things very simple, you’re gonna come up short. We didn’t tackle well enough in space, we didn’t play pitch & catch well enough, we didn’t sustain blocks well enough. All of that starts with me and my third down plan, and preparation going into it.
We need to do a better job. I need to take ownership of that. We all collectively need to do better as we move into a 14-day prep period for a very good CAL team that comes here in two weeks.
What do you need to do to keep the offense on the field a little longer, so the defense has time to rest?
Yeah. That’s the third down plan that I put together. At one point in time we were 0-for on that down and distance, regardless of what it was on third down. That starts with a plan that we put together for the kids that they can execute that at a higher level. We need to continue to be efficient on 1st & 2nd downs so we can put ourselves in an advantageous 3rd down.
But yeah there was too much of a string there where the lack of a good third down plan to be executed by the boys was not implemented by myself and the staff. And so we have to do a better job with that. Because when you have a three and outs that we did, the defense was out on the field for too long. And then we have a critical error on the penalty on special teams that gifts them 15 yards that puts them in positive field position that leads to a score and it sort of snowballs from there.
So it starts with a plan preparation in terms of being focused having enthusiasm to play and then being able to execute the calls that are called properly.
On Tano Letuli and Ross Maseuli Injuries:
We’ll learn more as we get back. Obviously Ross came back. Tano was held out. When we get back to San Diego we’ll get more on that. But fortunately have the 14 day prep period as we go into it. So I would expect them to be ready to go against Cal.
On the Safety of QB Jayden Denegal that was the turning point:
Yeah that’s not on him. That’s the management of myself in that situation. Obviously the middle 8 is a critical point in any game but was going to be aggressive there. On 1st down we missed the throw. Should’ve managed that situation better for the team because obviously the transition there giving up 9 and then another 7 coming out right, so those points end up looming large and become a big momentum swing that really impacted the game.
So clearly didn’t win the middle 8 by the way that I managed it. Got to be better in that regards and put the kids in a better position to be successful.
Was it surprising at all when Washington State when to a hurry up offense—almost to keep Trey White on the sidelines?
No it wasn’t a surprise. Obviously we knew coming in the strengths of their team and the multiple ways in which they have multiple pitches to play with the pace. So they did a good job executing again, we need to do a better job. But our basic skills the communication, with tackling, and creating an advantageous down and distances for us.
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2 Responses
Not asking for Coach Lewis to be fired, right. Lewis himself, though, had reported several times last season that by the second game of a new coach’s (i.e., his) second season, all will be worked-out, polished, and finally be on display and demonstrated as to what we can expect from him and his teams going forward, right. Doh!!! As alumni and fans, we’re getting tired of the circle-speak jibberish and mea culpas from Coach Lewis, right. All the excuses and reasons given for everything wrong happening to this point in his tenure has still not resulted in wins, but rather is reflected glaringly in the loss column instead, right. And Coach, quit saying “right” all the time as if to brainwash us, when all is still very wrong, right.
IMO he came off as a little stand-offish in today’s presser. I find Lewis to be a very hard person to listen too as there is just too much fluff vs. getting to the point. He says “its on him” but I really wonder if he truly believes his own words. He should walk down the hall and seeking some mentoring sessions from Dutch.