Everything Fresno State Coach Matt Entz Said in Preparation for Big Game vs SDSU

Opening Statement from Fresno State football head coach Matt Entz as he addresses the media before the anticipated San Diego State vs Fresno State matchup Saturday, October 25, 2025.

Good to see everyone. Great opportunity this week. Play a really good football team. San Diego State in my opinion, probably as the best team we’ve played or faced since probably Kansas. And so have a have a ton of respect for what coach Lewis has done. You look at kind of the evolution of their football team. You know, and you see, you know, positive signs that they’ve grown a ton since year one. You can tell they’re getting their type of kids in there. You can see that their kids are believing in their system.They do a great job in their quarters. Robbie does a tremendous job on the defensive side. I know Sean is going to is going to challenge him both offensively. You can tell they’ve they’ve just continued to grow. They’ve grown in personnel, they’ve also you can tell the the environment is is that of learning. Those kids have gotten a ton better from year one to year two. 

Offensively, you know, an RPO based system. Big offensive line that’s going to stay connected. they don’t really come off their combos which which forces the conflicted player to have to make some decisions and they can hurt you equally effective with with the run pass game. They have an elite group of wide receivers. They have a tremendous receiver and number two. They line them up all over the place, use them in the run game as well. Kind of the the jet the quarterback run game, the power sweep, the Q counter. A lot of motion from FIB and then their run game. They got two backs that I think complement each other really well. They complement that offensive line really well. And then defensively, huge quarters team. You can tell that they they understand it. They understand the issues within it and they have answers. They have solutions to it. They play extremely hard. They got a really good group of kids up front, the defensive line that play unbelievably hard. They probably have a draft pick, defensive end, that was I think the defensive player of the year preseason. They have a corner number one who I think will line up everywhere. Probably projected third round draft pick.

So, they got good players and we’re going to have to we got to execute at a higher level than we did the last time we lined up and played. You can’t miss tackles. You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t have administrative penalties. And when you do that, you’re beating yourself. And it doesn’t matter what you run, what calls you have. When those things aren’t working and you’re struggling, I’ve been a play caller before when you struggled to tackle? There ain’t a whole lot of calls on the sheet that just all of a sudden get you to tackle better or eliminate the the turnovers. It all comes down to decision- making. It all comes down to the preparation that we have during the course of the week. So had a solid practice this morning. Looking forward to get our guys back this afternoon and then we’ll move on from there. 

Talk about how much you wanted to not have the bye-week after that game. How quickly was that turn out of that game? Did you even watch the tape or was it just all those mistakes you mentioned in terms of how the team performed? 

No, we we we made sure we watched the tape. Probably watched it a couple different times. You know, and made sure that we pointed out some things where we’re better. I mean, when when you have good football players that aren’t playing well, you’re going to struggle. And you know, I can list, you know, a dozen different guys that just didn’t play to their capabilities. And then all of a sudden, you know, you feel like you’re handcuffed, you know, being an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator because where do you go to next? And so we have to go into every game with a chip on our shoulder. We play better when we kind of have that underdog mentality. And the fact that that we got big-headed or, you know, we we started to look beyond shame on me and and and that won’t happen again. 

In terms of just playing a complete football game for this team, avoiding mistakes, all those things—what is the emphasis? Obviously, you don’t want to commit penalties. You can’t just tell guys to stop committing penalties, but how do you effectively turn that around?

Obviously 13 last week and avoid those situations. Well, you know, we have of the 13, half of them are administrative and that means they happen before the snap or something silly after the snap. We can significantly impact those during how we practice, making sure that we, you know, pay attention to those little things at practice, which we had done a great job of, you know, earlier in the season. We had we had minimized those things, but all of a sudden they start to avalanche on us. And so got to get back to the basics. You know, again, when things don’t go right, you know you can throw everything out the window and start over. But I think you lose credibility when you do things like that. We just got to lean on what’s got us here to this point and get back to get back to who we are. 

And then embracing the challenge of this opponent—nationally starting to get recognized in terms of how good they can be. How the guys thought about this opponent accepting the challenge of what San Diego State presents, especially in a big game like this on Saturday. 

You know, I’ve gone through a little bit, kind of gave him a rough, you know, Matt Ants scouting report this morning. I know we started work on them last week. But again, I still think that, you know, the the product we put on the field will influence us greater than than probably what San Diego State does. Every game is a big game you only again I know we like the mock and you know we we kind of think it’s silly to talk about being one and but boy the last time we showed up it all of a sudden became really important we all wish we were 1-0 and so you know that’s it this is the biggest game of the year because it’s the next one— it’s the biggest game of the week because it’s the only one. 

Jeff Tedford has had a big influence here at Fresno State have you had an opportunity to make a connection or relationship with him?

Yeah we’ve talked a number of different times he’s been up to the office. He’s been out to practice. We’ve communicated face to face, on the phone. You know, Coach Tedford’s been tremendous. He’s been a huge support. He’s allowed me or helped me kind of get my feet on the ground with you, how do things operate, where the rabbit holes, where are the traps, in Fresno State, dealing with, you know, across campus and all those things. He’s been he’s been really good. and you know to get recognized this weekend will be a fun opportunity for him and his family and for all the former players that played for him. Because without them I know coach Tedford would say it you know what he what he accomplished wouldn’t have happened without the former players, the former staff. It takes a village to make a program go. 

This will be your first rivalry game since becoming head coach. Is there an extra I would say extra emphasis on this week or is it same?

As we talked a little bit about the traveling trophy this morning, just to gave our guys a quick history about what it was. But it’s funny you say that because I swore you said that during the Hawaii week too. So but we’ll move on. 

And then the the blackout game is have you been able to embrace the the black uniforms at all? 

We’ve given our guys kind of a what it’s going to look like. We talked about it this morning. We shown them what the helmet is going to look like. You know, all those things. Just at least try to minimize distractions and let’s move on. 

Coach, was this bye week any different than the previous one?

We practiced a little bit longer. We went four days last week. So, was good was good for our players. Still emphasized the same thing. The Bulldogs getting better trying to be corrective. Still trying to game plan at the same time. So, I think the emphasis was similar to how we went about our work was significantly different. 

This San Diego State team, they’ve won games with 6 points and and they’ve scored in the 40s. Can you speak about kind of the different ways that they can attack you perhaps? 

Well, you know, I think one thing when you look at the game against NIU that they only scored six points, I think one of the things that you look at is NIU did a good job of getting them off schedule and very few people have been able to do that. They get ahead of the chains, they have answers, they have solutions. Like I said, I think their run game complements the RPO shots that they’re going to going to utilize to take advantage of. They have some deep threats. They have some guys that are really good with the ball in space. They’re okay to throw the RPO and break a tackle. And so, we have to do a really good job not only of defending the box on traditional run frames, but also on the perimeter as well do a great job of keeping the cup, you know, and trying to minimize those explosive plays and and see if we can find a way to get them off schedule a little bit. 

Is there any value in the fact that both of your two teams last two films are against the same two opponents? Does that help at all? 

Maybe a little bit. You understand kind of who they’re playing. But again, you’re so focused on, you know, what they’re doing, how they’re attacking people, what their personnel looks like. I don’t know if I put a ton of thought into that. 

Is EJ Warner, still your quarterback?

EJ, as of right now, unless you know something that I don’t. 

Well, I know the nine interceptions and three lost fumbles. I mean, how do you coach him? How do you address him to prevent the 12? 

Well, it comes down to decision- making, you know. Again, there was frustration on last Friday or a week ago Friday.You know with just the late throw over the middle. That’s not a recipe for success. But at the same time, you take the nine interceptions away and you look at the 70% completion 10 touchdowns you know he has 500 snaps under his belt but you know we continue to evaluate. He needs to be you know we need more leadership we need you know we need EJ to have more skin like a duck you know he needs to let some things go. I worry that things compound you know when he has one bad play, you know, one turns into two, turn two turns into four. And so we trying to work with that a little bit over the course of the bye-week and moving into this game. 

These next two weeks, San Diego State and Boise State following. You have the inside track to the conf title game. If you lose one, you’re probably out. How do you handle the importance of the next two games? What do you tell your team about the extra importance of these two games? 

We just have talked about, you know, this game being the most important one because it’s the only one we have this week. And so they know we’re playing a really good football team. We know we’re going to have to play some of our best football and most complimentary football to have success this this Saturday, excuse me. 

It’s a daytime game. Do you prep your team any differently now that we know the starting time? 

We’re going to keep practicing in the morning. You know, I think that just fits us best. That fits our class conflicts. But, you know, I think the fact that we’re a morning practice team will fit well into what we’re doing. and it’s no different than what we did up at Oregon State as far as that there’s a little bit of a shell of what that schedule looks like. Fact that it’s a home game, we’ll be able to follow our normal routine. 

Any injury updates from the Colorado State and the bye?

No, none right now. I mean, we got guys banged up, but you know, halfway point of the season, you’re going to have a little bit of that. 

And if it does come down to a tiebreaker between you and UNLV, it could go down to the computer polls. The sports source poll is one of the polls used and they’re not public. It’s a private poll. Mountain West are going to release it. Sports sources are going to release it. Do you think that’s fair for the media, for the public that we don’t know? 

That is the farthest thing from my mind right now. You know, I’m worried about playing San Diego State this week. 

Coach, just want to ask how you just kind of bounce back on that flight home and the reflection that you have. 

Well, I don’t know if you know you bounce back on the flight home and you know, the flight probably, you know, get you even more fired up because you got a two-hour flight. You sit there and watch the film and, you know, try to evaluate, try to look at personnel—self-reflect. And so, you know, I think as after Monday, we needed to start turning the page. We can sit around, feel sorry for ourself, continue to, you know, wear and tear on our team, but at some point, we got to get them back. We got to get them going. And so, that was an emphasis last week. Let’s learn from our mistakes. Let’s have some corrective periods during the course of the of the week and then let’s start let’s start improving as a football team. I don’t think what we put on the field at Colorado State was indicative of who we are. I think people in this room myself we’ve seen us play better football. But we’ve seen we haven’t seen both phases play poorly at the same time and that that can’t do that. We got to we got to have complimentary football. Both sides of the ball need to we need to rally. We need to play better. 

When you got back to the facility on Monday, did you see any sense of urgency from the guys that came back or just really wanted to get back on the field? 

I think so. There’s a level of frustration. You know, we talked about it right after the game. We talked about it u on Monday that you’re going to wish you had that one back. You know,  you’re going to wish that you could you could go back and redo it, but you don’t get redo’s in this world. You got to live with it and we got to grow. Either you’re either you’re winning or you’re learning. And hopefully we’ve learned a great lesson in that game. 

And then just speaking about the opponent, San Diego State again kind of just a different team, kind of a team that was underrated coming in the season in the preseason poll was projected to finish the bottom five and they’re five and one. How much does that not give you confidence in what people think preseason and going into the season and how things play out?

Well, I think I think if you get caught up and lost in what the experts think or the media, you’re spending your time doing the impossible. You’ll never be right. And I kind of kind of mentioned it earlier. I think it shows that coach Lewis and his staff  have done a tremendous job of getting buy in, getting their type of guys in the program. You see that, you know, they just they stayed, you know, the course with what they were going to be, who they wanted to be, and their kids are buying into the product. And so it’s refreshing to see someone that walked into a program that was struggling, you know, and just kept doing his thing. They keep doing their thing and now they’re reaping the benefits of that—that’s why you show up every day in practice. 

Coach, I’m just curious things that you might know or you have heard about Coach Tedford and the way that he coached this program that you think maybe still linger in this program and will continue to linger throughout old history. 

Well, I know there’s some things that we do from a from a tradition standpoint that probably where coach Tedford, you know, either he brought him back from his early careers playing for coach Sweeney or instilled them in our program. And again, we’ve tried to be as respectful as as possible. Again, I realize that the pride, the tradition for this program is bigger than one coach. It’s bigger than one player. think Coach Tedford would tell you that as well. And then you just the I’ve had an opportunity in in the nine 10 months that I’ve been here to meet a ton of former players and just the the respect, the admiration that they have for him, for the product that he put on the field. The attention to details that he had is something that we’re trying to emulate, trying to mimic um and just, you know, created a really good college football program. 

I remember talking to Sean Lewis at media days and he didn’t call you guys Fresno State. He said the team up north because he’s really leaning into the rivalry part of it. I’m curious if leaning into the rivalry part of it at Fresno State would help get more passion from the team even more than what you guys already have at practice. 

I don’t know your question. I haven’t thought of it. 

The 12:30 kickoff means that fans have a chance to, you know, leave games at 4:00 instead of 11:00. What do you think the impact of a fan base has full fill in the stadium at in the fourth quarter? What could that mean for this game, especially with it being a close game potential? 

Well, again, anytime you have home field advantage and you feel it late in the game and there’s a false start, there’s a you know, situational awareness. Having a packed house, I mean, I don’t think it matters if it’s a high school team or NFL team or a collegiate team. I mean, that’s a that’s a positive sign. uh you know 18 to 22 year olds, they get a lot of excitement, a lot of energy based on you know the atmosphere. And again I’m sure I’m sure coach Lewis is warning their players who talking about you know the environment that potentially exists you know when they come to Valley Children’s Stadium. And did you notice the lack of an atmosphere in this last fourth quarter of your last home game? The fact that you guys needed a stop against Nevada but there was a half full stadium in the fourth quarter. 

I did—I did notice. I was pretty concerned with what was going on in the field. 

Coach, you mentioned attacking the work during the bye-week differently this time around. What was different? 

Yeah, just the maybe the length of practice. What we were the dress what we were in uh maybe was conducive to a little more contact. uh we did we practiced an extra day and we did in the initial Bulldog week early in the year. Not anything that anyone would really notice but except the people internally. 

I want to ask about the defense. What was changed or added to practice this past week that kind of helped the dogs stop the run a little bit?

We’ve tackled every day. We’ve tackled every day. You go back and watch that film. I don’t think it was a structural problem. It was a tackling problem. We went from having five missed tackles against Nevada to over 20 against Colorado State. Same kids, same point of emphasis all week long. We got to execute, period. I can’t miss any more tackles. 

You’ve mentioned as the weeks have gone on seeing the run game and all the phases really click together. Do you feel like we’re close to that point?

I think so. I think you go back to last week. When you’re down 35-7 at halftime, you’re not going to lean on the run game a whole lot. They’re trying to find ways to get back in the game. You look at last week, for example, on the 22 run plays that we called, we average over six yards a carry. So, it doesn’t—I don’t think it’s broken. We just need to protect the football. We need to tackle better. We need to play complimentary football. And I think you all we’ll see more run game when we have those moments. 

And with San Diego State coming to town, the first trophy game, I know you mentioned a little bit earlier, you talked to the guys about the rivalry. What does that mean to you knowing that this is going to be an opportunity to get some hardware in the case? 

Well, I think it’s exciting. I think uh again we presented it this morning. I don’t think our players had a ton of ex understanding. We didn’t play San Diego State last year. I don’t think really this I think they’ve only played for it like 13 times. So, it’s not probably as they probably don’t know as much about this because again you didn’t play for it in COVID, you didn’t play last year. It’s kind of been a hit and miss traveling trophy the last few years. So, I think, you know, just up giving them the information, making sure they understood what’s out there, what the opportunity is. But again, it’s going to create some excitement. It’s going to create a little bit of buzz around the game, but at the end of the day, we still got to continue to execute at a high level. We got to understand the game plan. We got to dive into it. We got to really, you know, start to believe that it’s doable and that we can show up and we got to play well.