"The Aggies opened the season with a 28-7 loss to Winston-Salem State on Saturday. On Sept. 8, the Aggies will face Prairie View A&M 5:30 p.m., (eastern) at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the Angel City Classic. During his weekly press conference, N.C. A&T head football coach Lee Fobbs discussed the WSSU game, while previewing Saturday’s game against the Panthers."

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 Coach Fobbs on the Winston-Salem State Game
“Mostly the first half was not a good half for us offensively. We didn’t come out like we wanted. We wanted to come out a whole lot faster. We wanted to come out a whole lot faster…move the ball and try to keep their defense on the boundary. We struggled early in the game and really didn’t get into sync until second half of the football game.”

 Fobbs on the later moments in the Winston-Salem State Game
“We had opportunities to score in the red zone, but did not get it in. It felt like the momentum was swinging our way during that time, but we weren’t able to get in and of course they were able to capitalize when we turned the ball over. They were able to move the ball back downfield and score." 

 Fobbs on the Aggies defense
“I thought (Andre) played well for us defensively. Actually, all 11 guys played well. There were some things upfront we did give up to them on a couple of scores. But as a defensive unit we felt we got some things accomplished during the course of the game.”

Fobbs on the focus of practice this week
“We need to get some continuity offensively. We really need to get going upfront with the offensive line. I was very disappointed upfront with those guys just looking at the grades here. They played particularly well watching the film; we just didn’t sustain our blocks enough to give our backs time to get the ball down the field. I thought they ran pretty hard and did a nice job, but we have to do a better job up front.”

 Fobbs on youth playing a factor
“Time is up for that right now. Guys played a lot last year. Right now, it’s just knowing your assignments and making sure there are no busted assignments. I think there were too many busted assignments upfront.”

 Fobbs on the Aggies secondary
“We’ll probably make one change – probably at our strong safety. We practiced this morning and everything is pretty much the same.  (Ihsan) Shaheed is a little banged up but did practice this morning. We’re expecting him to practice all week.”

 Fobbs on what the first win will mean for the Aggies
“It will mean a lot in a lot of ways. I can sit here and point them out  -- 10 or 15 – or however many it is. But bottom line, it will mean a lot. I said to the reporters after the ballgame, I was pleased but not happy simply because our kids played hard. I have nothing negative say about our effort, but obviously we just can’t beat ourselves.”

 Fobbs on the Miller interception in the end zone
“We couldn’t tell (if the Rams player dropped the ball). Of course we don’t have replay. People near the boundary over there said the ball hit the ground. We couldn’t tell on the film. I talk to (Curtis Walls) and he said ‘coach I couldn’t tell.’ “And of course from where we were we couldn’t tell if it hit the ground or not, so there really wasn’t anything for us to argue about.”

 Fobbs on sophomore linebacker Andre Thornton
“Andre was a true freshman last year and was starting for us last year.  The key for us for him, we knew where he was ability wise, so wanted him to get as much as experience as possible. Along with Andre and several other guys who played a lot of football for us last year, we’re seeing that pay off and he has outstanding career ahead of him.”

Fobbs on Prairie View A&M
“They are a gun spread type offense – zone type offense. Their offense is built around their quarterback. Actually, if you’re looking at the stats, he had over 100 yards rushing and 100 some odd yards passing. The next closest guy to him had 21 yards rushing. So basically, even before looking at the film, we knew where the running game was, we know where the offense is built around. They are spread team, they spread you out to get him one-on-one. Some of things we saw last week are kind of similar, but not the same thing. (Defensive coordinator) Demetrius Adams did a great job preparing for Winston and he’ll do the same thing this week in preparing for Prairie View A&M.”

 Andre Thornton on the spread offense
“It’s a challenge we have to step up and take on. I think we’re ready for the challenge. I see it has any quarterback in this league can run, so it’s actually the same as every other week because you’re always facing a quarterback that can run. But this one particular quarterback has an arm. I see we need to get to him faster so make him choose to either run or pass the ball.”

 Fobbs on the Aggie running backs|
“There is only one ball. And when opportunities present themselves like they did with David, you want to keep the ball his hands. Yeah, we want to get those other guys going as well. (Michael Ferguson) played really well and we want to try to get the ball to Chancellor a little more too. We have to take advantage of our weapons.”

 Fobbs on L.A. plans
“We do plan to work out in the Coliseum prior to our game. It will be pretty much a walk-thru practice – shorts and helmets type practice to review everything we put in. I hear there are several things they have planned for us to do when we get there. But like we talked about this morning, the reason we’re going out there is to win the football game. That’s the only reason.”