Sept. 23, 2000

Recap| Final Statistics

Mike Price

"Well, it wasn't a fluke, we got beat fair and square and we give credit to their players for the job they did and their coaching staff, and it's a hard pill to swallow."

On the two teams scoring streaks:

"We just kept answering ourselves, and I don't think either team could stop each other, you know, so it was just one of those games, whoever had the ball last, I guess, was going to win. But we had chances in the first half that I think offensively we let slip by, that we didn't take advantage of, and didn't score points, and I'll be looking back at those, you know. Their offensive line just kind of smothered us and played better than out defensive line."

On how Gesser played and how he "created" a lot:

"Well I think we've got a quarterback, there's no question about that. I think he played with a lot of heart. Chris Martin was sick all night with the flu. He caught the flu from his little baby daughter. He went to the hospital this morning and they gave him IV feeding and he played the whole game. So we had some courageous kids. Our kids have courage and just didn't play as well as we're capable of playing, and (Idaho) did."

On Gesser's two point conversion play:

"We had that play pretty much ready to go anyway. What happened on that was he double-covered the guys outside, we called a lob to use our height and out-jump them and they double-covered the outside guys, so then he just scrambled around and found somebody open.

On Gesser's leaping touchdown in the fourth quarter:

"Well, he's that kind of player. He's going to do everything he can to get the job done, and he competed very, very hard."

On Coach Tom Cable's first victory at Idaho:

"Congratulations to Coach Cable and their staff and their players. We'll be cheering for them for the rest of their games this year, and he did a great job. I got my hat off to him and his staff and their coaches and players, because they beat us fair and square today. So no excuses."

What do you take out of this game?

"Well you know, we've got a conference opponent coming up next and we'll watch them tonight, they play Fresno State on television. This same thing happened to Stanford, they come out and beat us and then the next game they got beat by San Jose State for the third year in a row and then they came back and beat a ranked Texas team at home, so you know if Idaho can beat us we can beat Cal."

You had a lot of confidence coming off of Utah. Does this hurt your confidence at all?

"I don't know if it hurt our confidence, it hurts getting beat by Idaho."

Gesser scrambling, how much by design?

"I would say probably fifty-fifty. We had some sprint-out where he threw the ball and some dashes and some bootlegs. The first touchdown was a planned call bootleg, but he sure makes plays happen and I'm glad he's our quarterback. He's tough to prepare for."

What about the dive for the TD?

"That thing happened on his own. You know he looked over at me and he said I can keep it if I fake it and I said go and I called zone left, keep. We don't even have that play in our play book. He knew it was there and I knew he could make it so I just let him go with it. Some times you have to do that, the kids are on the field they're the ones playing the game, sometimes you have to go with what they see, and I saw the same thing he did and he just looked at me in the eyes and said I'm going to fake it and I said go ahead and do it."

At that point you got the momentum, and then is it just a great Idaho drive?

"I think Idaho put together a great drive. They ran the ball very effectively against us and smothered our defensive line. We couldn't get off blocks and our linebackers were getting overrun."

Billy Newman on the performance of WSU's defense:

"We got four turnovers, the coaches put us in a great situation, they just still scored 40 points, I have never heard of that before."

On the success of Idaho's running game:

"Well, you know, they're good running backs over there and they have a big (offensive) line, and I credit it to them again. They just went out and they did what they had to do, and defense didn't do what they had to do, and that's pretty much the story of the game.

On mistakes made in a shootout:

"Well, I mean, the extra-points and the field goals, that's nothing. We have a lot of faith in Nick. I think he hurt himself today, but we have just got to go out and we can't make it close like that. Those little things are going to make a difference, and we have got to go out and just perform."

On his break-up of an Idaho touchdown late in the fourth quarter possibly being a game-saving play:

"Well, I was hoping, but it wasn't. They bounced back, they came back, and you know, they didn't miss a beat. They came back right, and they scored a touchdown a couple plays later. It's good for them."

Tom Cable, Idaho Head Coach

Q: How did you feel about your team's performance?
"We knew we'd be ready to play, so we just went out there and gave it up for each other and it worked. We won. It's not a finished product by no means. We've still got too many penalties and too many darn turnovers. The fact is we've got big hearts and we kept fighting and we answered the call every time today. It's incredible how proud I am of them."

Q: How good does this win feel in the face of all the doubt?
"That's the thing about being an Idaho Vandal, you don't ever cross us. We usually decide the outcome. We've decided the last three, besides maybe Oregon. We gave a bunch of points to Washington. They're a good team, no disrespect. Montana came in here and whipped us, and we let them do that. We laid down for them. Last week, we went out there and put ourselves in a bad position against a really good football team (Oregon), and they kicked our butts. They're a good team. Today, we kept coming back. Nobody said we were going to win. They questioned what kind of heart we had, and we answered that call pretty big today."

Q: Where did that heart come from?
"It's from the simple fact when people send you an email and they question whether this team has toughness and the ability to stay in there when it gets hard. That's a pretty strong message to me. I've always taken that personal. That was one of the things we talked about. Bottom line is you stay your course, keep believing what you're believing in, and it'll all work out."

Q: Penalties hurt. What kind of conversation did you have in the locker room?
"We really helped them today in terms of penalties. We gave them every chance to either be in the lead or be right there with us the whole game. We could never jump out and take advantage of it because every time we got into a good situation, we would commit a crazy penalty, and they're back in it with a first down. That's something we have to clean up."

Q: What was your confidence level watching Gesser on the last drive?
"I'll be honest with you, I was just looking downfield to see if I could find an open receiver that he would throw it to. I saw the fumbled snap on the shot gun, and I saw him start to roll, so I looked downfield to see if anyone was open. We had them all covered, he threw the Hail Mary in the end zone, and we knocked it down."

Q: How do you feel about your offense on that last drive?
"We have spent a lot of time with Welsh saying if you make a mistake, so what? We'll go get them next time.' And every time today he bounced back. I didn't see the emotional up and down that he'd been seeing. The second biggest thing I was really excited about was our offensive line. They came out today and took the game over. The closer we got in those situations, we just believed we're going to knock it up in there and get what we need. When we got down to the goal line there, we talked about a number of plays. The bottom line was this offensive line got us down here. Let's let them go win it, and they knocked it in there."

Q: How does this feel to get your first win for Idaho against WSU?
"It's incredible. The kids did it, and like I told them after the game, you just hung in there with us as coaches. To beat the Cougars the first time is incredible. It's one of the highlights of my life."

Q: This has been an emotional season
"We knew we were a good team. When you get kicked in the belly a couple times, you kind of start to wonder. To their credit, we really just kept hanging in there. Anyone who questioned us, we just kept fighting and we showed them today. We've got a long way to go before we're at where I think we can be, but today was a great start."

Q: Were you thinking touchdown all the way on the last drive?

"Absolutely. We were throwing that shallow little crossing combination we throw. We knew they were going to blitz us and it played right into our hands. Once we saw it come from the weak side, we did it again from the strong side. The rest was history. We got it down to the one-yard line, and the line knocked Jon in the end zone and we win. We were talking at one point that we should just get back into Ben's (kicker) range, and tie it and play for overtime. Jon stood in there and made some big throws, and guys made some big catches."

Q: What does a win do for the team?

"It solidifies the belief in each other more than anything else. When you're 0-3, a win of this caliber touches your heart, it touches your soul, and it just makes you a stronger team."