Nevada quotes about SMU

[PonyPride]

The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl held its pre-game press conference Monday, with the head coach and a couple of players from each team addressing members of the media. Following are some selected quotes from Nevada head coach Chris Ault, offensive lineman Alonzo Durham and free safety Jonathon Amaya:

Head coach Chris Ault
We're excited to be playing such a quality school and quality program at SMU.

Nothing is easy about defending June Jones' offense. They're very good at the pass offense, and now they've added the run to it. It's going to take a very good effort to defend the whole field.

It's a one-game season now. All the stats before this don't count. You throw all of that out.

(On loss of running backs Vai Taua, who ran for 1,345 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2009, and Luke Lippincott, who rushed for 1,034 and 9 scores)
The tough thing about losing two guys like that is that you don't regain their experience. Those guys have tremendous experience running in this offense. But Lampford Mark (286 rushing yards, 3 rushing touchdowns), who will start, and Mike Ball — they're both faster than the other two guys. They're talented runners, and this game will give them an opportunity to showcase their talents.

(On quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who rushed for 1,160 yards and a team-high 16 touchdowns, and whether he now will shoulder more of the Wolf Pack's offensive load)
We will not change what we do. We're not going to call Colin's number more than we would have. We might throw it a little differently with the other running backs and their speed in there — that's what we've been working on — but we're not going to change our offense.

Colin is a guy who can do so many things. He's 6-6 and a great athlete — if any of you have ever seen him play basketball, you know that. He's a guy who could start at safety or receiver for us right now — he's that good of an athlete.

(On whether SMU will have an advantage with the crowd because of June Jones returning to Hawaii)
We're the visiting team — we'll be in blue. It doesn't matter if the crowd is for SMU. They're not going to help win the ballgame.

June Jones is a terrific coach, and he's taken that program and brought it back.

There are great passing teams that win championships, and there are great running teams that win championships. We believe in running the ball. We have not been balanced, and we have no intention of being balanced.

This is a game that will feature two distinct offensive styles. The difference could be their ability to run the ball with their 1,000-yard rusher, against our ability to throw the ball. That could be the difference.

Free safety Jonathon Amaya
In our conference, a lot of teams throw the ball a lot. That's something we have tried to build on each week.

(On SMU wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders)
I know he can run a little bit. We just have to be solid in our technique, have good eyes and do what we're taught to do.

(On whether Nevada will try to disguise more coverages to take advantage of SMU quarterback Kyle Padron's relative inexperience)
We work to disguise what we're doing all the time, whether the quarterback is a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior — it doesn't matter.

(On Padron)
He likes to throw the ball, but he's got a little shiftiness to him, too. He's definitely got some good receivers to throw to.

Offensive lineman Alonzo Durham
When I go to the line, I'm going to treat every defender with respect.

They have a good (defensive) front. They're tough and they play hard — they're definitely going to be a challenge for us. Their linebacker corps looks good, too, especially (Chase Kennemer) — he's a solid player to reads offenses well and seems to get in position and get his teammates in position to make plays.

[SMUSA2013]

they sound confident

[Dooby]

I agree. They sound like a team that thinks they are going to kick our [deleted].

[indianmustang]

lets send them back with a loss

[Buddha]

I'm not sure if they sound confident, or like a team that isn't taking us seriously, and therefore might be ripe for an upset.