Colorado-Arizona Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre

General
"It was a heck of a game, I know if you're a fan, to watch. [Arizona head coach] Rich [Rodriguez] and their guys did a heck of a job against us; he does an excellent job. I thought their guys played well. I thought our kids played extremely hard and just came up a little bit short again. Going back into the locker room with those guys . . . man I love those kids; I'm proud to coach them; they give everything they have and it just hurts to look in their eyes after a game like that. I told them, we all have to find a way to reach down into our soul, our heart, our mind, our spirit and find a way to keep taking another step. Because, the good thing is we have another game next Saturday. Those kids will bounce back, and we'll bounce back and keep striving along. I can almost taste it, but that one definitely hurt for sure."

On if Arizona putting in QB Jerrard Randall was a turning point
"It definitely was a turning point and we had practiced for that. He made some good plays. The play that really hurt was the dive, we just had a mistake, and then he hit and he made a guy miss and that was tough. But Randall made some good plays, he's a good football player. We didn't adjust quick enough on the field on it. We called the calls, we had practiced knowing they were going to do that: the tight end and the dive read and all the type of things that they did. He made us miss a couple of times, bounced outside then cut inside. That was a heck of a drive they had there off the goal line when we had them pinned back, that was tough, that was really tough."

On preparing for Randall
"Yeah, he had been playing so we prepared. We knew that he would run the ball more. They (the players) understood that, they were yelling, 'Eight's in the game, eight's in the game.' They all understood what was trying to transpire, we just didn't execute as well as they executed against us on some of that."

On the defense having surrendering zero points in the second and third quarter and what was working
"It goes quick, the game is going fast and they (Arizona) are good at what they execute. We kind of tried to simulate it in practice as best we can, they hit a couple on us, they hit a counter on us and it was a big play, we fit it up wrong. We settled in and the kids starting playing well and making plays. We didn't change anything, we just kept calling the different things we've been working on in practice and they just fit them up correctly and making more plays."

On what the team needs to finish games
"I'm trying to hit every button I can to figure that answer out, and I haven't figured it out yet, and our kids are too, they're trying to figure it out. We'll just keep fighting along and keep pushing at it. We're working on it every day. We feel like we're closer; we feel like we're near it, we're just not there and it's extremely frustrating for everybody."

On his assessment of the offense
"I think I said it this week, but I felt like we were really clicking in practice; I felt like we were moving well. I think the offense did well, we kind of right there had a couple chances to kind of get another score and get up and we didn't get it done a couple of times. They made some good plays on us. Right there in that spurt when we were holding them scoreless if we could have gotten up maybe 31-17 instead of 24-17, might of made a bigger difference because maybe they wouldn't have gone with a runner because they might of that they needed to keep passing. But, I thought they (CU's offense) had their best overall game of the year against a talented defense."

On QB Sefo Liufau
"Yeah I thought he made a lot of plays and did some good things tonight for us. We gotta play better defense, you know? We have to play better defense, we can't give up 600 yards and that's not very good."

On ILB Grant Watanabe's debut
"From the naked eye out there watching, I thought he played hard, I thought he played well. I know he made some mistakes but we expected that. Grant doesn't blink, he hits anything and he doesn't blink, he's one of those type of guys. It wasn't too big for him, and he'll keep playing and keep getting better for us. I thought he made some nice hits tonight."

On other young linebackers and their performance
"[Freshman] N.J. Falo played, thought he did some good things. When I get on film I can tell exactly what happened. They had to make some mistakes in there for a couple of those runs to pop. We'll just have to coach it better and work on it harder and the more reps they get the better they'll be at it."

On WR Shay Fields status after being injured in the fourth quarter
"They're X-Raying him right now, when I leave here I'm going to go check on him. As a matter of fact, I just saw his dad outside he said, 'You know anything yet coach?' I said, 'I'm going to go to the press conference and I'm going to go find out and get back with you.' That's hard on a parent."

On how Fields' injury affected the game plan
"We have some other quick receivers but Shay is a really good football player, we'll miss him for sure. I hope we can get him back. I hope we can go down there and get him fixed quick, but we'll see. We'll look at that, but we play quite a few guys at receiver so that helps us. We have some guys that can play inside or outside, but we definitely don't want to lose Shay."

On if he has any concern about guys hanging their heads after another tough loss
"Yeah, you do. That's what I was telling them after the game, how much I appreciate them, how much I love them, how much I care for them. You are going to face some hard times in life, this is tough when you're a young man and putting all your heart and soul and time into something, but you have to find a way to keep moving forward. If you just shut it down and stop and give in, then you're going to give in later on in life. That's a lesson we're trying to teach them, I'm trying to teach them. You know, you work and you work and you push and you push and we're trying to climb and you work and you're so close and you can taste it. Sometimes that's harder than being far, far away really. Because you just know, you agonize over the little plays that you are talking about, and those little plays are big plays. So, we'll find a way to get there."

On P Alex Kinney's impressive performance tonight
"Yes he did. Alex is very talented, Alex is growing up. He's going to be an excellent punter. He did some good things for us, he put us in some good situations that helped us in the game."

On if he wants the team to remember the loss and use it as motivation
"To an extent you do, anytime you go through something in life where you felt like you didn't achieve it, it hurts your gut. I think your gut gives you that fortitude to keep moving forward, or you can give into it. You remember a little bit, but you just want to remember enough to keep you moving. You don't want to dwell on it all the time so much where you get depressed and you can't keep moving forward. That happens in a lot of situations that you go through. Our kids will remember it and then we have to regroup and keep moving forward."

On what you do as a coach when your offense is struggling
"There's different things that we looked at and were talking about on the sidelines. They started pressing a little bit more, so we took a couple shots there. We were trying to do a little bit different, a couple different runs to try to help us get going also. We wanted to try and get back in a rhythm."

On appearing proud of his team
"I hurt for my team, I hurt for those kids. I'm proud of how they always fight. I just really hurt for them. We have to find ways to get it done. I'll be hurting more in the middle of the night to be honest with you."

On stopping the big plays on defense
"You have to be consistent in your techniques and fundamentals throughout the whole time. When you get different looks, you have to be able to react to it on the field. We did not do that a few times and when you play a really good football program, a good offensive football team, it hurts you. It's just consistently doing it."

On RB Patrick Carr getting more playing time
"We had Patrick Carr in there and Phillip Lindsay; Phillip kind of got dinged up a little bit then he came out then we put him back in. Patrick Carr I think is a really good player. You could see his speed out there, I think. He's going to keep playing for us, I think he brings a speed dimension for us that will help our team."

Arizona Head Coach Rich Rodriguez

On Two-Quarterback Rotation
"We had to. We were off; Anu [Solomon] was off a little bit. We weren't executing well. The way they were playing us, we thought it fit Jerrard's [Randall] skill-set a little bit, and help our run game get going. He gave us a lift. He drives me crazy sometimes, because the last touchdown was supposed to be a handoff, and he kept it. I told him explicitly to hand it off. When I looked into the end zone, and Jared [Baker] was in the end zone without the ball, I was like did he fumble it? No, here it was Jerrard. I tried to be happy, but I couldn't be happy, but everybody else was."

On Offense's Success With Jerrard Randall Playing
"He's a talented guy. He wasn't feeling his best – he got the wind knocked out of him – but he did give us a lift. Anu's still an outstanding quarterback. I was really proud when he came back in and threw the touchdown pass. He didn't hang his head or nothing like that. Sometimes you're just not on for a variety of reasons and we'll work on correcting it."

On Go Ahead Touchdown
"We had used it before; it's kind of like one time a game. They actually blitzed and played zero coverage, and so they lost sight of the back. As soon as we saw the blitz and the zero coverage, I thought we would have a chance. It was either going to be a big play one way or another. Somebody's band was going to play; ours wasn't there. Jared bobbled it a little bit it looked like. It was much needed for sure."

On Defense Carrying The Offense During Middle Quarters
"They did. That's what I told the defense. For really two and a half quarters, they kept us in the game when we were playing so poorly offensively. That was good. They're [Colorado] banged up too, but I was looking out there a couple times, and there were two original starters on defense. That's it; two starters from the first game. That's when the game was on the line. We got to figure out a way to get healthy and whoever's in there's got to play."

On Running Back Jared Baker's Play
"Nick [Wilson] couldn't play, couldn't go. Jared's a veteran, he runs hard; he's one of the fastest guys we got. I think you saw that in a couple of the runs. I thought he blocked pretty well too when Jerrard was running."

Colorado Players

C Alex Kelley

ON THE LOSS - "I don't know what it was. We kept doing the same thing but I just feel like they kept stepping it up on us. They're a really good team. They went to the Pac-12 Championship game last year. They still have that championship mentality so it took us a while to get out there and match that."
ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE - "I feel comfortable with whoever is in there. These guys come out here week in and week out and give it their all. I have the utmost respect for everything that they do."
ON WHAT CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE - "I think it's just keeping our level of intensity the entire game. Like I said, they're a heck of a team and they came out there and started matching our intensity. At that point you can step it down or step it up. From here on out we just have to keep the intensity up the entire time."

DL Jordan Carrell

ON QB ANU SOLOMON - "[Arizona's Anu] Solomon was great standing in the pocket. He was pretty capable of getting out of tackles and stuff. The other guy, number 8 (Jerrard Randall), he just hit the hole and found a way to get through that hole."
ON MOVING FORWARD FROM THIS LOSS - "We just have to put this one away and correct things tomorrow and move forward. Everybody on the whole team, including coaches, have to get better. It's not easy. I think this conference is the best in the nation and every week is a tough matchup. We just have to keep grinding. It starts at practice. I believe that practice and the weight room is where games are won. That's where we have to focus in this week, lock in and get it done."
ON KEEPING THEIR SPIRITS UP - "We come out here, we all love this sport. We're all giving 100 percent effort. We just have to find the mistakes. It's only a couple of plays that separate the plays so we have to correct those mistakes and come back to work tomorrow."

LB Grant Watanabe

ON HIS FIRST START - "It was great to get the butterflies out finally. I've been waiting for so long to play. It was definitely a great feeling. When I went out, I was freaking out. The noise and the calls and everything [were overwhelming]. I just had to get used to it. Everyone was helping me through it. It felt good coming back in the second quarter."
ON DEFENSIVE DISCIPLINE - "We just knew what they were doing and it came down to discipline. Really that was about it. [We need] discipline. After we went through those series' of shutting them out, I think we got a little bit off our game today. It's just how the game turned out."
ON THE OTHER LINEBACKERS - "Coach MacIntyre always says that Rick [Gamboa] is our smartest linebacker. Everyone on defense trusts him. It was hard when [Ryan] Severson got hurt because we knew we were in an emergency situation. Rick did a really good job of leading me and N.J [Falo] and all of the other young guys and giving us some experience that he and Addison [Gillam] and Kenneth [Olugbode] had as well."
ON QB JERRAD RANDALL - "[Arizona's Jerrad Randall], what we knew going into the game, was that when he's in the game, it's a different game plan. It was a surprise to see him. It changes the game a little bit. We knew what they were doing but again it came down to discipline and the little things that we need to work on."

DL Justin Solis

ON ARIZONA'S RUN GAME - "We did a pretty good job in the first half and in the third quarter shutting down their run game. We were getting some good pressure on their quarterback too and I feel like they just threw in that quarterback [Jerrard Randall] to see if the power reads and option games would work. Obviously it did and we didn't play like we could have. That just shows good planning and good coaching on their part."
ON HIS PERSONAL PERFORMANCE - "It doesn't matter what I do. I'm just one guy. It takes all 11 of us to win a game. I could have done my job as best as I can but if everyone else around me isn't doing their jobs, it doesn't really matter what I do. We came out with a loss and that's not acceptable. We are out here trying to get some wins. What I do doesn't really matter. I care about what the rest of my guys on defense do. If they don't win then I don't win. It doesn't matter how well I do."
ON FOURTH QUARTER SHORTCOMINGS - "One of our big things is to win the fourth quarter and that the fourth quarter is ours. We just need to be in the fourth quarter and just letting the game slip away like that hurts more than getting blown out the whole game. We all played our hearts out but to go into that fourth quarter and let it slip away like that really hurts a lot more."
ON TEAM SPIRIT - "The guys on this team, we're all fighters. We lose games but we don't hang our heads. Like Coach Leavitt tells us, what's done is done. We move on. That's what we're going to do. We're going to move on and focus our attention on Oregon State. We're going to go over the film and make the corrections we need to make but we're going to let the past be in the past. We can't let this slow us down. We have six, seven more games left to play and we plan on winning those games."

QB Sefo Liufau

ON KEEPING PLAYERS FIGHTING – "No, I don't think so. We have a team of fighters. It sucks to lose but we never quit and we will come back and work tomorrow."
ON OFFENSE – "No I think for the most part we did pretty well. Besides after the first drive of the second half, I think we were sputtering, which is frustrating. We want to be, for the most part, consistent throughout the game and we weren't. So we have to go watch film and watch why we couldn't execute on offense. It just comes down to us."
ON ARIZONA'S DEFENSE – "I don't think so, I just think that there was a majority of the time where they were beating us in different positions. I will have to go back on film to give you a better assessment."
ON FRUSTRATION OF NOT BEING ABLE TO FINISH – "Yeah it sucks. We just have to go out there and finish a game. It is as simple as that."
ON COMING OUT SHARP – "I just think I am healthier now and I have been able to practice more, which definitely helps the rhythm of the game and being on time with everyone. Just coming out with the mindset that we can't be stopped because we had the tendency of coming out slow in the first and second half. It has been a goal of mine to get this offense kicked started in the beginning of each half."
ON LOSING WR SHAY FIELDS – "Everybody. Everybody has to step up and be able to pick up Shay's load, for lack of a better word. He is a great player and I hope he is not out for long but we have plenty of guys who can step up and be able to make big plays for us."

OL Stephane Nembot

ON KEEPING PLAYERS FIGHTING – "I agree with Sefo. We have a leadership counsel and we will get our guys motivated, so we can come back out and keep practicing hard and focus on the next game."
ON FRUSTRATION OF NOT BEING ABLE TO FINISH – "Very frustrating, obviously. We fought hard and we thought we were putting ourselves in a position to win a game and it just didn't happen. We have to go back out there and practice hard and focus on the next one. Keep pushing basically and keep fighting. That is all we can do right now."
ON OFFENSIVE LINES PREFORMANCE – "We just keep working hard. We have periods of time where we don't do a good enough job but the focus on this week was to keep working hard. We have to route guys at different positions. So it is good to see that we definitely have a potential to keep Sefo healthy and protecting him. We just have to do a better job throughout the whole game."
ON TRANSITION TO LEFT TACKLE – "Yeah now I am feeling comfortable. The first week it was kind of shaky but now I am feeling comfortable. It is just a mind shift because I was used to kicking with the right leg and now I am kicking with the left leg. It takes a little bit of time to switch it, along with the play calling. The way you run on the left tackle is not the same as the way you run the right tackle. But we definitely got better on that level. We just have to keep getting better as a whole."

ILB Rick Gamboa

ON DEFENSIVE EXECUTION - "No, we were prepared for it but there were just things that we weren't doing as a defense. We just weren't executing what the call was. Our Coach [Jim Leavitt] was getting the plays in but it was just us, the players. We weren't executing like we were earlier in the game."
ON GRANT WATANABE - "I thought he played great. He filled the holes, he made the plays he needed to make. He had a few mistakes but you're never going to play a perfect game. When he was on the field he made the plays we needed him to."
ON QB JERRARD RANDALL - "Randall was a much more mobile QB than Solomon but guys in the game were just not executing later in the game than we were earlier in the game. It just comes down to guys executing and doing their jobs."
ON ARIZONA'S RUN GAME - "The run game was very real devastating. As a defense, one of our main goals is to slow down the run. We did it for most of the game but the fourth quarter, things were just not going our way. We weren't executing like we were earlier in the game and it just started hurting us. I wouldn't say fatigue was a factor. I feel like everyone on the field is well conditioned and everyone was ready to play. A goal of ours is knowing that we have to play 60, 70, 80 snaps a game so we prepared for that."
ON OFFENSE FALLING SHORT - "We can't do anything on the offensive side of the field. As a defense we just focus on what we have to do if the offense isn't having the game that they want. Then we have to step up and slow the other team down and just do our jobs. We have no part of what the offense does. We need to focus when we're on the field."
ON RB JARED BAKER'S RECEPTION FOR A TD – "It was just defensive breakdown, guys losing who they had because of all of the mess and everything that was going on. Like you said, they hadn't ran that play and we hadn't seen it and it was just a play on our part that we didn't execute.

Arizona Players

RB Jared Baker

ON GETTING OPPORTUNITY TO PRODUCE — "It was great because we pulled out that win. My dad's probably going crazy at home so that's good."
ON PUTTING UP BIG NUMBERS THE LAST TWO WEEKS—"It's been great. Our offensive line has been doing tremendous. It's great to be able to produce out there."
ON REACTION TO GETTING THE START TONIGHT—"Just that, I've got to get it done and fill in that spot. He's (Nick Wilson) a great player so you've got to fill in that hole."
ON BEING SO OPEN ON THE TOUCHDOWN CATCH—"I was definitely surprised. I felt a little nervous that I was so open and I had to catch that."
ON PLAYING A FULL 60 MINUTE GAME—"Yeah we definitely did. We never went down, the whole sideline was still in the game no matter what, and then we just pulled it out in the first quarter. I think 60 minutes of Arizona football."
ON RANDALL OPENING UP RUNNING SPACE—"Yeah that definitely helps when you have a guy that can run as fast as he can. He's definitely a threat and it definitely opens up lanes."

S Will Parks

ON PLAYING 60 MINUTE GAME—"That's just what it is. coach Rod implements it in every day you know, 60 minutes of Arizona football and you've just got to be prepared for those minutes. That was a tough team; they grind it out just like we do so it was good that we came out with the victory. We've got a couple things we need to focus on and fix up."
ON OFFENSE STRUGGLING—"That's just football you know the offense won't be able to be perfect every time and as a defense that's where we come in and make plays and get a couple of stops on third downs and things like that. We just have to be prepared for the moment and I'm glad the guys buried down and stayed buckled up."
ON MINDSET GOING INTO THE FOURTH QUARTER—"Just to get stops. Get third down stops and get them off the field on third down and get them off the field and get the offense the ball back. The offense with Jerrard (Randall) came in and was able to score and make a couple of big plays for us."
ON YOUNG GUYS GETTING MORE PLAYING TIME—"Me being a senior, I just make sure guys know what they're doing at all times and make sure the defense is intact. A lot of the guys stepped up and did pretty good. All around good effort by the defense."
ON TEST FOR FRESHMAN JACE WHITTAKER—"It's going to be good. He's the kind of kid that is always looking for a challenge. He's not the biggest kid but he'll get up in your face and make you do things you don't want to do. He's a great player and I'm looking forward to getting to watch him next week."

QB Jerrard Randall

ON REACTION TO BEING PUT INTO THE GAME—"I was kind of cold so I just wanted to warm up. After the first run I kind of warmed up and kind of got used to the cold. I just came in and wanted to move the ball down the field and score some points."
ON OFFENSE GAINING MOMENTUM AFTER GOING INTO THE GAME—"Yeah you know because the defense couldn't account for the quarterback too so the quarterback run kind of helped us out."
ON PLAYING IN BIG MOMENT—"I kind of still feel regular. We won the game but it's a team thing."
ON HELPING A STRUGGLING OFFENSE—"It was very important because we were down and we needed to come back to win. It's a conference game and we need to win this game to go where we want to go so it was a good feeling. I got in, Jared (Baker) started running the ball and those guys account for me, there were like three guys looking at me and not paying attention to Jared (Baker), so he was running down the field for 50."
ON IMPORTANCE OF THE WIN—"It puts us in a good place in the conference. We know we can come away with a Pac-12 South championship. It's a great win, a loss would have been very bad because it's a conference game and we need the conference games to get where we want to go. We struggled on offense but we'll fix it. We just needed that win right away."

Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre

Arizona Head Coach Rich Rodriguez