Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
October 20, 2015 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
General
"Oregon State this weekend presents a big problem with their quarterback Seth Collins, (who) is an excellent runner, really good athlete, has excellent speed, has done a good job as a true freshman and he's an excellent weapon. They also have Storm Woods who is an excellent running back. They do a good job in their running game. Defensively, they play extremely hard, fly all over the place and they do a good job of attacking you different blitzes and doing a lot of different things there, an aggressive style. Their defensive coordinator [Kalani Sitake] was at Utah for a long time and did a really good job there. I know [OSU head coach] Gary [Anderson] from our days in the WAC, and he's an excellent football coach."
On using the fullback more vs. Arizona and doing so going forward     Â
"We felt like their scheme of defense, the 3-3-5, with the five nickel backs and the more linebacker type sets, a physical more presence would help us run the ball and it did give us some opportunities to run the ball a little bit better. We felt like that was something that would help us in last week's game. That's something we'll do, but last week's game personnel wise gave us a little bit better matchup we thought."
On if losing can "seep in to the team's DNA"Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
"I don't think it can slip into the DNA. I think it just tough things to overcome. The lows of losing are lower than the highs of winning, you've probably heard that a million times. You have to bounce back, look deeper into your soul, so-to-speak, and then you just have to find ways to win. Sometimes, a win just falls in your lap at times, but you have to find ways to win and finish it off. I think it breads excitement and enthusiasm, but it all goes back truly to technique, and X's and O's and blocking and tackling, and making plays and not making plays. So, those are the type of things that you have to execute and do under pressure; we have to do a good job of coaching it and the young men have to do a good job of playing in those situations."
On players struggling with the losing after coming from successful high school teams           Â
"I would hope they would struggle with the losing, if they don't you're not going to be able to get them out of it; it needs to hurt them. You put a lot of time and effort into trying to do something and do it well, it should hurt when you're not as successful at it as you would like to be. Hopefully that is in their makeup that the losing does hurt them and they want to keep working to overcome it."
On the turnaround process being referred to as an analogy of pumping water from a well  Â
"Yes, it is. It's a process, sometimes a process comes quicker than others and sometimes it takes longer. When you kind of hit the water or the oil, or whatever you want to say, it's a great feeling and it gives them (the players) inspiration to keep moving on and going forward. But at the time you have to keep chopping wood, however you want to say it, hammering the nail, you know all the different clichés. But, if you stop, then you have no chance. And that goes with anything in life, you have to keep taking one step at a time and go forward."
On the psychological dynamic this week with both teams looking for first conference win
"I know on our side, and I know [OSU head coach] Gary [Anderson] on his side, hopes that his team and our team looks at every game as a winnable game. You have to, you see it happen every week in college football and pro football and other sports. I guess if you look at it the way you're saying to look at it and everyone is saying, 'You should win this game, this is a great chance for you, if you don't win this game uh-oh,' all that kind of stuff. Which, really is just talk, that's all that is. You have to show up and play every game and do it, and find a way to win the football game. With us not winning some and them not winning some, I guess you put a little bit—you just asking the question puts the extra effort into it, or the extra emphasis on it, I guess."
On status of LB Addison Gillam and TB Michael Adkins Â
"Addison Gillam is going to get operated on again Friday, he's out for the year; which is very sad. He'll get a redshirt year (medical hardship waiver). Michael Adkins is not quite ready yet, we'll find out more and the end of this week."
On coaches evaluating themselves throughout the season
"We do that continually, and dissect what we're doing, how we're doing it. Then each week, you have different guys on the feel, because different guys are injured, and you try to find different ways to be successful. You try to utilize the strengths of the different players you have—that you have available that Saturday. Then, you look at best ways to attack the opponent, the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent to try to put your strengths on their weaknesses, and try to help where their strengths are going to attack your weaknesses. We constantly look at that, and constantly self-scout, quality-control and everything. You have to look yourself in the mirror every time and say, 'Was that the best thing to do? Yay or nay?' Sometimes it is the best thing to do, and sometimes you say, 'That wasn't the best thing to do.' You constantly look at that and try to find the best ways to fine-tune it. You tell your players that too, you say, 'Hey we screwed up here. You should have made this play here. Did we put you in the right position? Yes, we did, OK,' So, when you're honest with the guys, I believe they keep believing in you and you keep believing in them. Honesty and trust is always the best policy for trying to prove anything."
On the impact of WR Shay Fields' injury    Â
"Shay won't be with us this week. We have other receivers that will have to step up and move around. The good thing is [wide receivers coach] Troy Walters does a really good job of double-teaching all our guys which helps them understand the concepts of the offense better. We'll have guys playing multiple spots out there, trying to get our best players on the field. It's tough losing Shay; Shay is a very good player, he does a lot of things for us. I think we have some other guys that can make some plays, they might be playing different positions this week, moving around to different spots. We just have to utilize the guys differently."
On the extent of Gillam's injury and his emotions             Â
"He's going to have another surgery on his knee, in the cartilage area again, it didn't come back exactly like we would like it, so there are other things they (medical staff) need to do to make sure it heals back correctly. He was trying to come back and it just kept swelling up every time he would run, so there was something else. They're going to go back in and clean it up some more and try to fix it. It will just take a longer rehab and that type of thing, so he won't be able to get back this year.
"We had a good conversation this morning about it, he's doing as well as can be expected. The silver lining on it is he would get a redshirt year (medical hardship waiver). The negative side of it, is he can't come back and help us. He was playing really good early and he's a really good football player, a guy that can make a lot of plays. I think he's a top Pac-12 type player when he's healthy. Not having him out there definitely hurts your defense. Not getting him back, the other guys have played a lot now, so we can't keep on moving on. He's also on our leadership council, he's also a captian and all those things. He's not really on the road, he's in and out of the training room, so you don't have his leadership qualities too, and you don't have his play-making. We've been without him, so we were hoping we would get him back, you always had that hope, now we don't have that hope any more. We'll have him back next fall."
On if there is another hump this team needs to get over
"I think the kids keep playing, I do not think they're sitting back, worrying about making mistakes, I think they are trying to play. Which is a big hump that we got over, we just need to go make the plays, and coach a little bit better, and have the ball bounce our way a couple more times. I don't think they are sitting back going, 'Uh-oh, I don't want to make a mistake.' I think they're playing hard. I did not see that, any hesitancy, in the game with our guys at all."
On LT Stephane Nembot
"First of all, Stephane has really, really grown in all aspects. When you get to talk to him and meet him, he's a phenomenal young man, has a bright, bright future, doing really well in school. He's kept developing his body better and better; he's a specimen, he's 6'-6" and a half, 323 (pounds) and no fat on him. He's kept improving, I would say he's improved every week in football (he's played). And he keeps improving, he's doing a good job at left tackle. I definitely think he has a future to play in the NFL. Where he gets drafted, I don't know. Do I think he'll make a team and play for a long time? Yes. Because, he's built well, I think he's smart, I think he's intelligent, he can play a few different spots on the offensive line. I think an NFL team, whoever gets him, would really like him because he is very mature, very articulate, and very smart. He's played in every game (knocks on wood), and he just keeps playing, and I think that's something you look for, the durability, especially NFL linemen, there's no doubt. I think he has a good chance to do that."
On LB Kenneth Olugbode's likelihood to play       Â
"He'll be back. He'll play Saturday. He's recovered quicker than we thought. We had one that didn't go so good (Addison Gillam) and one that did, and that's just how it will work out."
On his mentality as a coach when he is searching for a win          Â
"I think you do in the moment what you feel is the best  to help your team win a football game. If we feel like we can be aggressive, if you feel like you have the opportunity to do that, then you need to do it. If you feel like you need to be conservative because of a certain way the game is going situationally wise or where you are on the field, injuries that happen during the game. You want to try and find a way to win every game you're in, there's no doubt. I always go in with the mentality of wanting to be aggressive. Then, you kind of have to look at the situations in certain games, do you go for it on fourth-and-five backed up on your own 35 (yard line) in the first quarter, I don't know if you need to be that aggressive or not. You've got to look at it and see what you need to do. I've always said that you look at every game as a season within itself because every game is so different. Next week, we'll show up with a different team than the other game, because of injuries and guys coming back and not coming back, you know, weather and all the different things in different games that you play into. We want to try to definitely be aggressive on different situations. We talk about going into the game how we want to handle certain situations once you get there. Sometimes weather plays a factor on certain situations. Sometimes injuries play a factor on knowing if you can do this or you can do that. You get to certain areas of the field and you have already made up your mind on how you want to handle that, unless there is a big discrepancy and certain things that might happen. We always want to go in with an aggressive frame of mind, for sure."
On how the rotation will look at the Inside Linebacker position                            Â
"We'll rotate in [Rick] Gamboa, Grant [Watanabe] and Kenneth [Olugbode]. You know Kenneth, he's in good shape, he hasn't gotten out of shape, but just playing shape when you come back in and he wasn't able to do a lot on the leg at first, but he's been doing some biking and that type of thing. We'll rotate those guys in there and work them. The other guys will be playing some special teams as well, so you kind of work them in."
On if this team still enjoys the challenge that is in front of them             Â
"Yeah, I do. I think that all these young men came here to go to an unbelievable University to get a great education and they also want to play in an unbelievable conference that plays against the best. This game Saturday is a big game and we have a lot of other big games ahead and a lot of fun atmospheres that we play in against a lot of great players and great athletes. I think they enjoy the opportunity to go up against them and do that. I do see that, I do see them excited about every game they've played in and excited about Pac-12 games especially."
Colorado Players
QB Sefo Liufau
On the offense being more productive
"We've done some things a lot better than we have been at the beginning of the season, but we're still not executing at the level that we want to."
On the running game
"I don't think it really matters who is running the ball—each back has the ability to break big runs. We just have to be more consistent in being able to execute at all positions, because if one guy doesn't hit the right block, in terms of the run game, then the whole play can fall apart. We have to be able to hit our block, hit our fits (alignment), so it gives our running back a better hole to run through."
On what he wants to improve on offense
"Overall, just executing. Twice in the second half we had a third-and-three and a third-and-four, and I think we had two false starts—which puts you pack and third-and-eight or whatever it is. Those really hurt because third-and-three and third-and four, there's a lot in the playbook that you can do. And then when you move back to third-and-seven, third-and-eight, third-and-plus, it's a lot harder to get a first down and keep the chains moving. Just limiting mistakes on our own half that ultimately hurt us."
On where the team can expose Oregon State
"Oregon State is a really good team; they've got good players in every position. We see a couple things in the run and the pass game that we can hit them with. It just comes down to executing. Even last week if we would have executed, it would have been a different outcome. It just comes down to executing and being able to make the plays at the right time."
On not being able to extend the seven-point lead vs. Arizona in the third quarter
"It's very frustrating. It goes back to limiting mistakes on ourselves—penalties, holdings, false starts, and not converting on third-down. It's definitely really frustrating because it wasn't just on one person; it was everyone taking their own turn to have a mental mistake. We just have to be able to fix those and be able to come back this week and take away those mistakes that we can control."
On throwing to TE Sean Irwin
"I would like to have him more open. He's bailed me out twice now, speaking of Sean (Irwin). He's a great target for us; we don't want anyone to overlook him because he hasn't gotten the ball. He's done a really good job of making plays for us, and I expect him to keep making plays this upcoming week."
On losing mentality getting the best of players
"People can fall into a lull, or a rhythm of 'this is the norm.' It can kind of feel like the norm, which is really frustrating and you don't want anyone to ever feel that way. I don't think that is what this team is feeling. A lot of guys are really upset after games; we want to win. These are close games; there are things that we can do that are in our control to negate what the other team is doing against us."
On defeating OSU and ending the conference losing streak
"Every game is a good opportunity to end a losing streak. I don't think that any team in the Pac-12 sucks. Every team is a great team; every team has great players—Division I athletes. We have to come ready to play. If you don't come read to play, especially at an away game, that can get up on you early and get the crowd behind them; it is really hard to dig yourself out of that hole."
On pushing for the first conference win
"You always have to keep pushing and fighting until you get that break through, and even then to not be satisfied and go for more. I don't think that anyone here on this team is satisfied with coming close. It's definitely frustrating from top to bottom. Everyone in this building is pretty frustrated with how we have been playing. Just take it this week; one game at a time, one practice at time so we can be ready for Oregon State on Saturday."
On trust relationship with WR Bryce Bobo?
"I've trusted him this whole time, ever since I've been with him freshman year. He's a great receiver and I expect him to go out there and make big plays, because he is a great receiver. It is what is expected of him, and he expects it of himself. He definitely has the ability to do so."
On the emotion of the team to end the losing streak
"Every team will desperate for a win if you don't have one, especially in conference. Both team are going to go out there and definitely try their best to get the win because it will help them try and kick start the second half and the rest of your season. There are only six games left, for us at least. There is little for error left in the season. For us especially, this is a really important game not because of who we're playing, but because of how many games are left and what we want to accomplish."
On how TE Sean Irwin bailed him out
"One was against ASU and one was against Arizona. Both were seams down the middle. The backside safety didn't want to take the corner route on the back side, and Sean ended up just going out and catching the ball over the defensive back—and that's what I mean by bailing out. It wasn't the worst read in the world, but I definitely think there was a better option looking back at film. But he went out there and made an athletic play—which is rare for him (laughs)."
DB Ken Crawley
On encouraging the team
"I just keep on encouraging them. I tell them every day, 'You got to grow up.' I experienced some bad times my freshman year; it's nothing similar to their situation. They just got to grow up and play ball. They came to the Pac-12 to play. I think it's the best conference in the country, so you just got to play ball. You got to go out there and play."
On struggling with the run-first quarterback
"These past three weeks, the quarterbacks have been similar. And one of our defensive goals is to stop the run. We feel like the coaches gave us the right plays, put us in a great position to stop those plays—it's that we didn't execute; we didn't clog up the gaps we were supposed to; we had our own pursuit angles. Now were taking it in consideration, and getting better, and watching film more. The coaches are trying to put the best players in position to make the plays."
On getting the team away from the losing mentality
"We are very frustrated right now, but we just have to keep playing. We believe in ourselves; Coach Mac (Mike MacIntyre) believes in us. We are just going to keep striving for greatness. We know any time we can knock any team off; we are better than those teams. We just got to keep fighting."
On the hunger as a senior and leader of the team
"I'm very hungry. What I experienced the last three years wasn't what I expected when I came here. I was a high-profile player coming out of high school and I wanted those bowl games, those gifts and stuff like that, championships and those things. Because I came from a good high school that won championships. Seeing our team progress over the years has been exciting, and that's what I want to see. As long we're getting better for the future, I'm all for it."
On the team showing progress
"Just keep battling. We're showing a glimpse of what we can do. This defense is new; [defensive coordinator] coach [Jim] Leavitt is doing a great job of throwing a lot of new things at us. The offense just keeps improving. We can be an offense that scores 50 points a game because we have those weapons. And on defense we have quality players. With the new facility, it is going to bring a lot of good guys in here. We are setting the stage for the future and I feel like it's going good."
On the challenge of facing a dual threat quarterback
"They run similar plays to Arizona. We just have to play. Our corner coach [Charles] Clark tells us to play to our receivers. When we cross the line we have to pursue and tackle. We just have to read our keys and play them better."
On expectations for the rest of the season
"Just keep believing in ourselves. At this point, we don't need a pre-game talk; we just got to go out there and do our job and execute—there's no other way to say it; that's what we got to do. We're grown men now; we came to school to play (Division I) football, so we just got to play."
