bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the game against Nevada?
DeWayne Walker: It was much more competitive than last year. Last year was a disaster game. I really thought we made some improvements schematically on defense and we get one more shot at these guys next year before they leave the conference. I just didn't feel the score indicated how the game actually went. I thought we moved the ball on them pretty good on them throughout the game we just couldn't score any touchdowns. Obviously Manley throwing the pick six didn't help us any. The one touchdown before halftime was uneventful but for the most part I really thought we improved this year versus last year.

bc.net: Your defense did a good job of containing Colin Kaepernick's running game holding him to under 50 yards of rushing.
DW: I thought Coach Lindsey came up with a great game plan and I think our defense did a great job. I think we kept him to 48 yards rushing. They probably threw the ball a little bit more. I think the game was never close enough for them to feel that we were threatening them but I knew they felt like we were just more competitive and we made them earn everything they got. I think they took a couple more chances throwing the ball just trying to get Kaepernick ready for the Boise game but again I thought it was a good gameplan and I thought we executed pretty good.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: You've talked about building your team this season to get to the stage of being a competitive program and in this game you were competitive for 35 minutes of the game before a couple of late touchdowns.
DeWayne Walker: Yeah, it's just great, I don't believe in moral victories but just knowing more about what's going on in the inside and really just paying attention to how we're building this program it was good to see our guys fighting all the way. That's what I've mandated to them these last five games and obviously the two left just preaching more of being competitive mores than just beating them over the head with, "we've gotta win, we've gotta win." I think they've responded a little more to that than what we stressed earlier in the year. We've got to find a way to be competitive this week against a nationally ranked team.

bc.net: Lennon Creer the running back from Louisiana Tech was able to get 100 yards on the game but your defense was really able to hold him in check considering he's had some big 150-plus yard, multiple touchdown games in the past month.
DW: He's a good player. When you looked at the Utah State game, Borel, we wanted to put the clamps down on him. I thought we did for the most part. This last game, Creer was a guy we were very concerned with and I thought we didn't let him get too crazy on us. The defense has answered the bell in terms of taking away star players. I felt like we've done that the last couple games. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to win the games but at least they're responding to certain things that we're going into games trying to take away star players.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your overall thoughts on the game?
DeWayne Walker: We beat them in almost every category except the scoreboard. You can always point at the kickoff returns that they had against us to say that that really gave them a leg up on us. It's unfortunately. It just shows that sometimes when you think you've outplayed somebody it doesn't show up on the scoreboard. We've had a chance to experience that now.

bc.net: Right before the end of the first quarter, Utah State called a timeout so that they could try to score the touchdown in the first quarter as opposed to letting the clock run out and trying for the score at the start of the second quarter. I thought it was kind of a big deal and nobody has really talked about it much. How much of a psychological difference is that going into the second quarter with a 14-7 score instead of a 14-0 score?
DW: I think when you're in the heat of the battle it's probably more conversation after the fact. I know we kind of looked at it the same way you're looking at it to a certain degree but it's kind of something that people aren't going to talk a whole lot about.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Lost in excitement of the last-second, game-winning touchdown was the fact that your team's offense was very efficient on Saturday afternoon scoring on six of their eleven possessions. It was probably the most efficient game that you've had since you took over.
DeWayne Walker: I would love to take credit for it and I guess I can. I turned the heat up, Coach Dunbar and I really talked a lot about what we can do to try to get some more firepower and it was great to see that they had some success. With Taveon getting more involved, I thought Coach Dunbar did a great job calling a great game and getting the ball to our playmakers and those were all the things we talked about doing and it was great to see it happen.

bc.net: You got the great start out of the defense that you were looking for in the first half. Overall the defense, but also the entire team's play in the first half was one of the best, if not the best, first half performances you've had in your two seasons.
DW: Yeah, I think we just really stressed about playing as a team and I thought our players answered the bell to start the game off and to finish the game if you look at it. I just know defensively it was a great half of football. They made some plays on us. We took some chances in the second half because we were so successful in the first half and we adjusted probably a little too late to be honest with you but we were aggressive and our gameplan was to be aggressive in this game and we were and it really helped for the most part. It hurt us a little too toward the end of the game but it was great to see them [defense] get a stop for us to get the ball back to help us get in position to win the game.

Offensively, I just really liked how we got the ball to our playmakers. That's what really ignited our offense and obviously if Matt Christian can play the way that he played throughout the rest of the season and we can come together as a team I think we'll be very competitive as we complete the season.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: In the first half of the game against Idaho the penalties really hurt the Aggies taking seven points off the board and essentially leading to 14 points on defense and what could have been a 17-14 game at halftime turned into a 31-7 game at halftime.
DeWayne Walker: Yeah, you hate to see that with your football team because you look at it and Idaho had their share of penalties too but you hate to go through that especially with a team like us who are trying to grow and setting us back against a pretty good Idaho team. I know at some point we're going to have to stop talking about the rebuilding phase but I still think we're in that phase and we have to constantly continue to learn from these things as we get ready for San Jose State.

bc.net: Your thoughts on the game overall. For the third straight weekend you had a strong second half by your defense.
DW: Yeah, that's something that we have spent a lot of time the last couple days trying to zero in. today I was teasing guys that if we play four quarters like that, we'll be pretty close to the '85 Bears. I just think it's really something to build on. I'm really excited about how they've played the second half these last few games and we've gotta figure out a way to really put that into play for four quarters.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the game against Fresno State?
DeWayne Walker: I know defensively I wish we could have played the first half the way we played the second half. It probably would have been another defensive struggle if we could have gotten a few things executed better in the first half.

We decided to put Matt Christian in the game, he's our starter and Fresno State's defensively line kind of got after us early and we didn't want to shellshocked our young quarterback. We thought Matt played okay, we've just got to try to generate more points on offense and find a way to get the ball in our playmakers' hands.

Our special teams with the exception of getting punts inside the ten, I thought our special teams really handled their return game as well.

bc.net: Speaking of special teams, for the second straight game your special teams recovered a muffed punt and actually the second punt of the game was very close to also being a muffed punt recovery in your favor.
DW: Coach Murphy has done a good job the last couple of weeks getting our coverage teams to cover well and that's something that we need to continue to do throughout the year.

bc.net: You got a good performance out of both running backs and maybe a sign of good things to come for both of them.
DW: That was something we thought that we would get earlier in the year. Kenny was kind of dinged up through camp and it appears that he's getting his mojo back and we're going to need these two guys down the stretch to try to help us get some more wins.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the big win over New Mexico this past Saturday?
DeWayne Walker: I think it's great for our program. I know a lot of people, especially the analysts, want to make a big joke about it. The worst game, two teams that are winless and this and that but for us, this is a building point for us as we continue to build our program and build some confidence.

It was just great to the players and the coaches and the alumni and the student body and the administration, it was just good to see everybody have the chance to enjoy a big win from my standpoint. That's what it's all about at this stage of the season.

bc.net: We've talked a little bit through the first four games about there being moments in each of those games where in the back of your mind where you're thinking, "Here we go again." There were a couple of those moments on Saturday but your kids fought through it and really created their own good fortune. The special teams play towards the end of the second quarter and then the forced fumble in the fourth quarter that set you up for the game winning drive.
DW: We tweaked some things last week in practice which for me, I think gives me a chance to be more creative paying attention to our football team and just looking for things. I spend most of my time other than looking at their offense, defense and special teams and really studying our football team. We did some things last week from a practice standpoint and continuing to work on our mental approach to what we're trying to get done and it was just good that they believed that they could win a game. It was fun to see them win a game in that fashion.

Last year we beat UNM in the same type of fashion, we beat Utah State, we held off Prairie View who ended up having a very good football team. It was just fun looking at the stadium being packed, you had a good football game going and we were able to pull the game out. To me, that atmosphere, that's what I dream about being able to establish here for the years to come.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the game against Boise State last Saturday?
DeWayne Walker: We got a chance to see the third ranked team live and in color and they're everything we thought they would be. Obviously we were severely overmatched in a lot of ways. It was good to get through it and it was good to experience a top five team in the country.

bc.net: Who were a couple of players that had good individual performances against Boise State?
DW: Taveon Rogers did another good job running back kicks. Donyae Coleman continues to show up. He's continued to play his butt off for us week in and week out. Those were the two that probably stick out more than the others.

bc.net: Talk a little bit about the injury that Matt Christian suffered and what's his status for the game on Saturday against New Mexico?
DW: It's unfortunate. This is football and things are going to happen. It's too bad that we may not have him this week. He'll be a gameday decision but it is something that we have to play through like other teams.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Talk a little bit more about your decision to turn your defensive play calling duties over to Coach Lindsey.
DeWayne Walker: I just think it's time for me to be the head coach. I know that with the state of our team right now I think it was more important for me to spend more time trying to round this team the way that I want it moreso than spread myself thin by calling to call defenses, trying to be the head coach, trying to be an administrator.

It was starting to wear on me a little bit because I'm really competitive and I just felt like I'm really "Jack of all trades, master of none" to that degree and I just want to spend more time and sit down and really build this program the right way. I just felt like I had too much on my plate to do it the right way.

bc.net: Was this something that you'd been thinking about for a while?
DW: Yeah. Probably moreso this season. Last season I was kind of like the energizer bunny, I was running around doing everything which was still stressful for me last year because there was a lot of stuff going on but I got through it. I just felt like I couldn't continue to do it that way and really be who I was hired to be. It's important for me to be around the offensive players and special teams and be able to critique the coaches, the offensive coaches just as I was critiquing being around the defensive coaches. I just felt like that would give more support to this football team versus being one sided to a certain degree.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: You've had a couple of days to break down film after the UTEP game, what are your thoughts?
DeWayne Walker: It's a little disappointing, you never want to play that way in a rival game. I thought we showed some progress against San Diego State and thought we would be able to improve on it and it just didn't come to light like I thought it would. UTEP is probably better football team than we anticipated going in. They're going to win some games this year. Seeing a team, quarterback and offensive that have been together a little bit, they just outclassed us to a certain degree. We just have to not panic and not listen to the naysayers and try to stay on course.

bc.net: Defensively, what are some things that you saw from Saturday's game that you know you'll need to improve heading into the game against Kansas?
DW: Just not making mistakes. That's probably been the most frustrating. The first thing when you don't play well defensively, the first thing I'm always going to question is the scheme [offensive]. When we went back and watched the tape, they [UTEP] did everything that we practiced, they did everything that we thought they would do. We talked to the players and asked them and they said, "No coach, they did everything you guys thought they would do." So we just didn't execute. That's a problem I'm think we're having. We're younger on defense this year, we've got some new guys and we just have to figure out a way to cut the scheme down. The players don't think it's too much scheme, we've just got to be able to execute under pressure.  Continue Reading This Post >>