John Mateer Postgame — New Mexico

I wouldn't say it went very well. I start, first throw down, throw a pick, and then another one. When a quarterback puts his defense in bad situations, obviously it means the offense. I think I did it again. I'm tired of getting up here and saying that I keep making mistakes and this and that. I believe it will change. I do. I'm being tested. I believe I'll persevere. John, what did you see on both of the picks? How do you feel like you bounced back from that later in the game? The first one, I just, you know, throwing it back over the middle. Not a good idea. I thought I could get it in there. Obviously didn't. And then the second one, a little miscommunication. But, I mean, there's so many places to throw the ball. And it ended up, you know, right there. And it's like, what? But it's on me. I mean, you just can't do it. And there's another option on the play to throw it somewhere else. So, you know, if I see it not going well, just, you know, throw it to the other place. How do you feel like you played the rest of the game? I thought it was clean. You know, completion percentage was good. Taking the access. We knew they'd give us access. Some good run checks. Other than that, I thought it was pretty good. On the play to Isaiah, the bomb that you did, it looked like he got wide open. How did that play get set up and how did it materialize? I think we ran some plays out of that. We ran the ball out of that formation earlier in the game. So, the middle safety came down to fit the run. We had a run fake. And then I was late to it. I looked left and I kind of skipped over to the third read. And I kind of heard everybody screaming. And then I was like, well, you know, something must be going on. And I see Isaiah puts his hand up. I'm serious. Puts his hand up and I see him. You must have heard screaming from the crowd. Yeah, fans. Yeah. Normally you don't hear it. But sometimes, yeah. You know, I think I'm going to go back. I think Sunday was a big day for me. You know, coming off Michigan. It re-centered me with the Lord. Because, you know, I didn't look at my phone. But if I did, it put you in a bad place. I'm not going to say I was in a good place after that game. The only way you can get out of it, you can beat yourself up. But, man, you got seven days to play another game and give everything for this team and this university. And I'm going to be honest. You know, I regave it, you know, give it to the Lord. And it's like, you know, it's like it's off me. The burden's off me. So, I thought I was going to come out here and play clean and play ball. First throw, pick. So, I'm like, oh, my God. You know, I'm not freaking out. But I'm like, this is, you know, again, not how I thought it would go. And none of our plans is what actually happens, you know. But I knew that I would be tested again. And in that moment, what would I do? Would I turn away from the Lord? And football and the Lord, you know, I need to be better at a game of football. But I do believe I'm being tested from the Lord through the game of football. And I knew I was getting tested again. I was like, all right, well, next play, you know, make a play. And then it happens again. I throw another one. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, you know. And I need to be better at the game of football. But I knew I just can't give in. You know, I'm not going to tap out. I'm not going to give up on my guys. They're not going to give up on me. And my teammates have done a great job. And I appreciate them more than they know. Saying they have my back, getting tired of them saying they have my back because they're only saying it because I keep making mistakes, you know. And one day it's going to, you know, it will stop. But, yeah, I kind of rambled. But that's what I got. John, the last three – the last two games, you've got three – you've got three touchdowns all on long pass. Mm-hmm. Is that how you – until you get the running game and everything sort of sorted out, is that how you guys are going to have to score? It looks like they're daring you to just beat them all. Is that what you just have to do? I mean, I think you can score different ways. I mean, I think it's been schemed up well. We've schemed up some long pass plays. And if you can score from deep, score faster, then why not do it, you know. Yeah. There's something about the connection with the tight end. I mean, blocking these first couple of weeks, getting them to use their own application to touchdown. There's something about the tight end. Yeah, I mean, they're old players. They're veteran players with a lot of experience. And, I mean, their coach is pretty good. So they know where to be. We have a great relationship. And I know where they're going to be, you know. And they play fast. And they block really well. So, you know, it brings a dual threat in that. You know, on that one to Hayden, they didn't know, you know, defense. They bid on the run because we had ran that earlier. And that's exactly what happened. So that's why Hayden broke free like that. What do you think about the run game tonight? And why do you think there's been a struggle to get the run game? I mean, I think defense did a good job, you know, rotating, you know, to where we need to go. And I missed some run checks early. I did. And stuff from practice I need to take to the game. But I think, you know, we just need to be physical and run the ball. I think that's, you know, there's more detail to it. But it's not really my place, you know. I'm not playing left guard, you know. But I believe in those guys. And it's going to happen. You know, there's obviously a lot of frustration with the offense. I'm sure you've heard some of the fans, too, tonight. Yeah. What's just your message to people getting this thing happening, right, with your offense? Yeah, I think Eddie does a great job speaking up. Isaiah, Hayden. We've got a lot of leaders that care a lot, you know. And we're out there. We don't, you know, it's not we're in that huddle, you know, going into victory. And it's like, man, you know, we got it. But it's like this is not, you know, what it's supposed to look like. And we know. You know, it's not like, you know, you don't need to boo us. Sure, do it. You can do whatever you want. But, you know, we know. You know, we're people, too. But, I mean, we're going to go to work, you know, get our bodies right, go to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And, you know, we play Saturday. And we're going to get one game better. And I believe in these guys. And we love each other. So we're not going to give up. And we're not going to go backwards. We're going to keep fighting. The last drive in the first half, clock management, couldn't get away from you. What were you guys trying to do? And if anything went wrong, what did go wrong? I think we had a second one, so we tempoed it. I think we were going to get the first down. And then you don't. So you're kind of in a position. You can do a couple things with it, choose to do whatever. I mean, we have a great kicker, you know, so we have guaranteed points. You know, it didn't work out. And that is what it is. But you got a couple, you know, a couple ways to go with that. We just decided to do it that way, so I just did my part. Thank you.