Colorado-Baylor Quotes
October 16, 2010 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Dan Hawkins
General
"We'll I certainly didn't like the score but I'm proud of our effort. You have to give Baylor a lot of credit; they made a lot of plays, certainly a little more than we did. I thought it was a heck of a football game and we came up on the short end. It wasn't from a lack of effort or trying or heart or soul, they made more plays than we did and sometimes that happens. You have to tip your hat to Baylor."
On Baylor QB Robert Griffin III
"He's pretty good. He's an accomplished passer and runner. He's a tough guy too because he got beat up a little bit and he hung on in there. So he has the intangible parts as well.
"People always talk about that you need to put two guys on the field to cover him. That is really not how you do it. The big thing is making sure that your gap is sound, that you don't have any gap errors, particularly when it comes to running it. The problem is that it takes you out of a lot of man coverage because you don't have anybody for the quarterback and depending on what the blocking scheme is, if they fold a guy, they have an extra gap in there that you have to fill that you haven't accounted for in man coverage. That makes it tough."
On trying to get the ball to CU's playmakers
"I think we moved the ball pretty well. We threw an interception and we had a fumble in the end zone so hopefully we could have got points on those two drives but we didn't. I thought in general (offensive coordinator) Eric Kiesau did a good job of mixing it up and Tyler (Hansen) made some nice throws and the running game in general was pretty effective."
On what changed his mind on giving PK Aric Goodman another shot kicking
"We really thought that if we had to take a long shot that Goodman would be the guy. I think he hit a 57-yarder in warm-ups and sometimes you go by feel and we really thought that if we had to kick a long one that it would be with Goodman. He made the long one and so obviously he was hot so we returned the favor and he made the other one as well."
On why he went for the two-point conversion on the first touchdown
"That is just the same thing that we did against Georgia. You get it and your feeling good and as it ended up it was kind of negligible anyways so then we had to go for two in sense of the second time."
On regretting going the two-point conversions
"No, we did it against Georgia and it worked."
On CU's defensive injuries
"It wasn't easy because (defensive coordinator) Ron Collins wanted to go dime and we really didn't have a dime group. So that made it really tough but that is part of the game. I'm proud of those guys, Jonathan Hawkins, for stepping up."
On defending their quick screen plays
"They got to us with that more than we certainly wanted them to. I think at times we did really well adjusting to it, but they did a nice job with that."
On TB Rodney Stewart
"He's a tough dude, he's a tough guy. He's got a heart of a Buffalo. He's not the biggest guy but he's tough and he certainly has some quick feet."
On the turning point in the game
"It went back and forth the whole time. I guess the turning point would be the final touchdown that they had."
On his confidence with the defense before Baylor's final drive
"I felt pretty good about it; obviously they moved the ball on us tonight. You're hoping that you can come up with a play. Even though they did move it at times, we were able to keep them out of the end zone, made them kick a few field goals and got a couple of turnovers in there. At least we kept them out of the end zone, which we did. It gave us an opportunity for us to get a touchdown or for our defense to get a turnover."
On QB Tyler Hansen
"He did a nice job. He would love to have that one throw back I'm sure, but he made some really nice throws."
On where the team is at now with now a 3-3 record
"I think these guys are pretty resilient, I really do. We talked about how the schedule matches up. We talked about this at the start of the season, how there is no easy day and how every day is going to be a grind. So if we win by two or lose by two you better redial and be ready to go by the next week, and I'm sure that is the way that it's going to be. We have too many games coming up."
On Texas Tech's spread offense
"Ron (Collins) has done a good job against those guys in the past. I know that they are not the same. They are a little bit different and their quarterback has running ability but he's not going to run it like Robert Griffin. So you have a little bit different attack there. The other side about it is that they will get in more two-back stuff and run it on you. So you just have to keep them off balance."
On if loss limits margin of error of going to a Bowl game
"Well yes certainly, but I mean you just have to keep playing and that is part of your goal. No matter what the deal is you just have to keep playing."
On if the last play was designed to go to WR Toney Clemons
"Yeah we had two verticals going there so it was kind of his (QB Tyler Hansen's) choice if he wants to go there or go to the other side and he went to Toney."
On play calling on the last series
"The thing is that what happens in those situations is that everyone thinks throw it down the field, throw it down the field, and really you are looking for 10 yard chucks so if they are going to give you the throw underneath and you are able to catch it and run it out of bounds and get your 10 yards then you're pretty good, which we were able to do a little there."
Baylor Head Coach Art Briles
General
"(Wins) are all big, but I think this one kind of sets apart a little bit. Really for getting victory number five; we haven't done that the past couple years. It sets us up on a different playing field and we need to take advantage of where we're at. It wasn't a gift, we had to fight hard and earn every bit of it. I'm very proud of the resiliency that our players showed in the game."
On Team's Play In Second Half
"The impressive thing is that we didn't really play that clean across the board offensively. We had some turnovers, we had some untimely penalties, and I thought our defense kept fighting and kept grinding. They kept making them work for what they were getting. We were hot enough offensively and ran the ball well enough that that we were able to sustain drives and control the football. I think the key to the game was us being able to rush the football."
On Colorado's Game Plan
"We really didn't know. We had a lot of respect for them defensively and as a football team because of seeing what they did to Georgia here, and they're known as a defensive football team. We weren't really sure what we were going to be able to get."
On Robert Griffin and Jay Finley's Play
"Those guys [Griffin and Finley], everybody, once we look at the tape we'll see that we had tremendous effort across the table. So all those guys stepped up and made plays when given the opportunity.
On Jay Finley
"Honestly I don't know what his stats were [143 yards]. Yeah that's really good. I think it's just a combination of those guys both messing with each other. They're looking at Robert and Jay's got it; they look at Jay and Robert's got it. I think it kind of works hand-in-hand."
On Colorado's Final Drive
"[The clock] was going very slow. I was having a lot of games flash through my head right there at the end because it's not over. If that ball hits the ground and the ref either shakes them sideways or lifts them up. When I saw the back judge give the safe signal, I thought, well good. Our guys did a great job in the box. Coach (Philip) Montgomery up in the box did a great job with handling all the play calling tonight. The defensive staff did a tremendous job making Colorado work their thing.
On Chance Casey's PBU On Final Play
"I saw him get up. It looked like a one-on-one deal from my vantage point. It was a high ball, so you're never really sure what's going to happen. But it looked like he had the advantage on the football; he was inside the ball, so I felt pretty good he would be able to at least bat it down or get his hands on it and get it out of the back of the end zone."
On Momentum Going into Next Week
"You know, they're all big. If you don't take care of business then they're not going to be big. If you take care of business then they just keep getting bigger. And that's okay, that's the plan. We'll get back and we'll get to work tomorrow and get ready for Kansas State. That's what we do, that's our job. We had a good game tonight; we won a big football game. But now we've got to use that."
Colorado Players
LB Jon Major
ON BAYLOR'S OFFENSE - "We've been a pretty solid defense, but it's a lot of credit to their [Baylor's] coaching staff. They did a great job scheming us. We had trouble finding answers, but the most important thing is that we kept battling and we didn't fold. It was definitely frustrating."
ON ROBERT GRIFFIN III - "He's just dual-threat. You can see in every play he's faking a run and throwing the ball. He's just a true dual threat quarterback."
ON PLAYING THROUGH DEFENSIVE INJURIES - "It's always tough for someone new to step up. It is definitely hard on them. The defense has just got to rally as a whole; we've got to get each other's backs. It makes it tough to lose your senior leadership [Jimmy Smith], but it's still on us as a team."
ON REMAINING SCHEDULE - "This thing is not a sprint; it's a marathon. We believe that. We know we can beat anyone. We have to refocus; this isn't going to hold us back, and we're not going to dwell on this. We still have an opportunity to win six games and that's how we're going to approach it."
QB Tyler Hansen
ON SPREADING THE BALL AROUND ON OFFENSE - "I thought we moved the ball alright. There were a couple plays that killed us: the fumble. Just a couple plays and that game is winnable. It's tough. We used our playmakers a lot tonight and I think we've got to keep doing that."
ON WILL JEFFERSON'S FUMBLE - "I was thinking he was going to score, he was really close. I think he was about to dive. I think that's just a case of a guy wanting to score so bad and giving that extra effort and the ball comes out. It's unfortunate and that's really just the difference in the game."
ON RED ZONE STRUGGLES - "Our struggles in the red zone are continuing. We need to reevaluate what we're doing down there and kind of change things up. When you're in the red zone you want to score a touchdown and we've got to score touchdowns."
ON EARLY TWO-POINT CONVERSION - "I was OK with it. Being aggressive, wanting to score points and get after it. It didn't go our way. But if it did we're saying, 'Hey, that's a great call.' That's kind of a tough deal, but I liked it. I like to be aggressive. That's just kind of a package we have that we've been working on the last weeks. It's Hawk's [Dan Hawkins] deal whenever he feels we have the need or whenever we want to. He's totally in control of that. I like the stuff we do out of it, it's good stuff, but it put us in a tough spot a little bit. We tried to give ourselves the edge and if it goes our way then we have a different attitude, a little mojo. It didn't and that's OK because we were still in the game."
ON HIS QUARTERBACK PLAY - "I thought I played OK. There were some mistakes I made, like that pick; I just didn't see that guy. I thought I did OK though."
ON THROWING TO TONEY CLEMONS ON FINAL PLAY - "Clem [Clemons] is a great player. He has a chip on his shoulder, he has a little swagger and before the play he said, 'Hey, give me a chance I'm going to go get it.' I was confident in him. He steps up in big stages, and I had a feeling and a confidence in him that he would go up and make that play. He almost did."
ON REMAINING SCHEDULE - "I think next week is a big week for us; we've got to get a win. 4-3 as opposed to 3-4 is really big for us."
ON STUDENT SECTION - "We love it when the crowd is going crazy and wild, but we are playing for each other and we're playing for the hundred-or-so guys on the field. The crowd is great. When they are going crazy it gets us pumped up, but we're playing for our brothers out there."
PK Aric Goodman
ON IF HE EXPECTED TO ATTEMPT HIS FIRST FIELD GOAL - "They told me before the game to just be ready and that 'long kicks are going to be you.' It was just in the cards today. I got an opportunity and made the most of it."
ON HIS CONFIDENCE LEVEL - "I still haven't lost confidence. Just here or there, some kicks haven't gone in. I went out there today and fortunately made the most of the opportunities I got. I can't get complacent; I have to keep working hard and getting better and make the most of the next opportunity."
ON IF HE EXPECTS TO START GOING FORWARD - "You never know. It's about the next kick, and if the next opportunity is mine, I have to go out there and make it. I have to put in the work this week to make sure that happens."
ON THE TEAM LOSING - "It's a team game, and unfortunately we didn't get it done today. We have to keep special teams working and get it rolling and get better every week."
CB Jalil Brown
ON PLAYING WITHOUT CB JIMMY SMITH - "It was rough because we're already hurting at that spot with DBs. We lost a few guys back in the spring and beginning of the season we lost a couple guys too. To have another one go down, especially a veteran, was tough on our part."
ON TEAM'S MENTALITY - "We keep playing. We still look at ourselves as a good team. We made a lot of positive plays out there. They [Baylor] made plays when it counts most."
TB Rodney Stewart
ON THE TEAM'S PERFORMANCE - "I think our guys played good. Everything isn't always going to go like we want it to, and we've won a lot of tough games here. There were a lot of good defensive players that went down and that kind of screwed us up on defense. I really can't say too much; some games you're going to win and some games you're going to lose."
ON BAYLOR'S DEFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS - "I think they made some good adjustments. They kind of got used to what we were doing and they made a good adjustment to try to stop it. We got some yards here or there, but their coaching staff did a good job."
ON THE MENTALITY OF THE TEAM - "The Big 12 is complicated; any team can beat any team. We just have to grind it out; you don't know where we'll be five games from now."
OLB B.J. Beatty
ON THE MENTALITY OF THE TEAM - "It's long season, we're just the midway point now. There are six more games left and they are all winnable. Yet at the same time, like you saw today, they are all losable. I think this team is ready to refocus a little more and take it to the next level and take things more seriously. A loss at home is unacceptable. This is our home turf and we have to defend it. Next week we have to start setting the bar higher."
ON TB WILL JEFFERSON'S FUMBLE - "It was kind of a big momentum shift for them. They were down and our offense was rolling and doing a great job moving down the field. The fumble hurt, and then they went down and scored. Things picked up for them and kind of stalled for us. Momentum shifted to their side on that play."
WR Paul Richardson
ON HIS EXPANDED ROLE IN THE OFFENSE - "It felt good touching the ball and getting involved in the offense. Coaches notified me earlier in the week that they were going to need me to step up. I feel like I stepped up to the plate and Tyler [Hansen] got me the ball so I had to make plays."
ON NEXT WEEK'S TEXAS TECH GAME - "I expect us to have a chip on our shoulder, definitely. Two losses in a row, we have to come out and ball. I expect us to come out and fired up and execute."
ON OUTLOOK FOR REST OF SEASON - "Right now, we're just looking forward to next week. We can't look too far ahead because we don't really know other teams. We just have to worry about us, and right now our group needs to get more solid on execution and finishing and closing out games."
WR Toney Clemons
ON THE LAST PLAY - "(QB) Tyler (Hansen) threw a ball and I just had to go make a play. The defender made a good play; he was in good position. We both tussled for the ball, it hit the ground, and the ball was incomplete."
ON PLAYMAKERS HAVING AN EXPANDED ROLE IN THE OFFENSE - "Being a factor in the game plan is definitely something you appreciate as a playmaker. I hope it continues and our play-calling is more aggressive in getting playmakers the ball and spreading it around a lot."
ON RED ZONE STRUGGLES - "We just have to execute. As you can see, down in the red zone we're not executing as an offense. You have to score points so to do that you have to execute well, make sure everything is packed up, backs run hard, and receivers make plays and block hard as well."
ON THE MENTALITY OF THE TEAM - "I don't want to say we're desperate. We definitely need wins and we need more than just one win. We need multiple wins. This team still has goals, and there are goals out there for us to go conquer. Coming off this, we have to really evaluate ourselves and go out there and clean up the problems that we have."
Baylor Players
S Byron Landor
ON FUMBLE PLAY- "I saw the running back trying to get it. I tried to grab him. I was grabbing him by the neck. We picked up the ball. It was a great play. I take no credit for this game; I'm just a player on this team. It was a team effort; everyone played hard, everyone gave effort, and that's how we won."
ON KEEPING CU OUT OF THE END ZONE AT THE END- "Oh man. I'm telling you, I know my blood pressure is out of the roof right now. I was feeling it. It seemed like every time we would get them to third down, they would get a first down. They would run out of bounds, and I was thinking to myself 'this clock is going so slow.' I thought to myself we have to stop them. We kept on fighting. They were so many people who made mistakes today, but we all fought through those mistakes. I missed a lot of tackles, but at the end of the day it is a win, and I will take it any way I can get it."
ON INTERCEPTION- "That's my first interception of the season. It feels good man. It was an out-of-body experience. I couldn't believe that I caught it. There have been so many that I have dropped this year. I caught it and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I just tried to follow Big Phil (NG Phil Taylor).
ON NEXT WEEK- It would be a great win for us. We know what the situation is. We know that this puts us at 5-2. We are going home and were going to have a lot of alumni at the game; so many fans that are supporting Baylor. There is no better way to get it then at homecoming. We have to continue to get better.
CB Chance Casey
ON LAST PLAY OF GAME- "We were just out in our blanket coverage, making sure Colorado couldn't do what they wanted to do, throw the ball deep into the end zone. They threw it towards me and coach told me time is running out, so just knock it down and end the game. I thought that they would try to run some weird type of screen and run the ball in but I saw the ball in the air so I had to knock it down. It was a deep ball, so I thought it was going to sail out of the end zone."
ON BEING ONE GAME AWAY FROM BEING BOWL ELIIGBLE- "It's pretty big. We're 5-2 now. It gives us momentum going into next week; we just came out of a tough fought game. We made a lot of mistakes but we fought through them and came out with the win."
QB Robert Griffin III
ON OFFENSE TODAY- "Some of the guys were joking that I looked like vintage Griff out there. I do what I can; coach was calling them so I had to run them. The offensive line did a great job of making holes, and all I had to do was pick one and go. Jay (TB Jay Finley) ran the ball very well today, and we are proud of that. We were able to get our running game going by the end of the night. I've always told people that Jay Finley is the best running back no one is talking about. We have run very much this year. He was waiting for a break through game. The defense played really soft all game. Our whole passing game was sideways, for the most part. If you rack up 200 yards throwing it sideways, I'm okay with that."
ON MISTAKES IN FIRST HALF- "We did everything to lose the game early, and even late, but we overcame it. It was really big for this team for the defense to go out and win this game for us, when everyone has been bad mouthing them so much. It's huge for their confidence as well."
ON THE RUNNING PLAYS CALLED- "They were just run plays, not straight runs for me, just run plays. You have to take whatever the defense gives you and I felt like everyone on offense was clicking. We did a good job of taking whatever they gave us. On one play I saw them roll to cover three, and I told Jay (Jay Finley) to go, because I knew he would be gone. Colorado they just gave me the run plays. They wanted us to run the ball."
ON BEING ONE WIN AWAY FROM BEING BOWL ELIDIGBLE- "It puts a smile on your face, but we have to bunker down, make sure we stay consistent with our preparation, and go out there and execute like we have been with limiting those mistakes."
ON OVERCOMING THREE TURNOVERS- "It's very impressive. Jay's (Jay Finley) fumble and my interception. Coming off the sideline, it was kind of hostile, but I told the team you can't do anything about a tipped ball. Tipped balls get picked. You have to focus in and be positive and not negative."
WR Kendall Wright
ON OFFENSE- "We should have scored more points, but we got what we could get when we could get it."
ON LATERAL PASS THAT WAS A FUMBLE- "It was a forward pass, but I have to go after it. You have to play it like a fumble."
ON RUNNING GAME- "Robert Griffin did a great job today. He was able to hit the holes and accelerate. It was the first time we got a chance to see Griffin accelerate like that. So it was vintage Griffin. He is officially back."
