Quotes: USC 27, Colorado 24
November 14, 2015 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
General
"First of all, [QB] Sefo Liufau, lisfranc (midfoot) injury, he'll be out 6-8 months. I've been down there with his family and him, and it's tough, really tough. Thought [backup QB] Cade [Apsay] came in and did some things. Sefo was hot, he was playing good and it was kind of going to be his night (until the injury). Give Southern Cal their credit, coming back and getting the game there. That's definitely a heartbreaker for sure, for us. The kid keeps battling, keeps coming back and just came up short again. But wow, the last two years that team (USC) has shellacked us. We've caught up in a lot of areas, but that still hurts mightily for those young men. I feel bad for Sefo. Cade came in and I thought did some good things."
On the emotions of QB Sefo Liufau when the injury occurred
"It was tough because he was hot, he was on a roll, he had a great week of practice I don't think he missed a throw all week. He was getting back in rhythm. He was trying to go back in (the game) and I just looked at his eyes and said, 'You can't go back in.' They took him in (to the locker room) and he had a lisfranc. He was trying to tape it up and I said, 'No.' He's such a warrior and such a leader. He's in there on crutches at halftime, he's on the sidelines with them, he's trying to do everything he can; he's helping out Cade every way he can, just a phenomenal young man. Hugged his mom, and yeah it's a tough deal. It was just kind of the way they fell on his foot. He's been hit a lot harder than that before, you're like, 'Ah, that's nothing.' So, yeah, it was tough."
On the plan going forward with the QB rotation
"We'll go back to work. We'll have Cade [Apsay] and Jordan Gehrke and then [Steven] Montez as our third-teamer. Hopefully we don't have to pull him out of a redshirt – I don't think we will – but we'll go with Cade and Jordan this week in practice and work at it and go. He's (Apsay) taken a lot of reps in practice, he'll be even sharper next week and he'll be ready to go."
On the game not appearing too fast for Apsay
"No, (it wasn't) he's real accurate and he did some good things. He should have gotten the ball out of his hands a couple times a little bit quicker on some quick game things when it wasn't right there, or just thrown it away. He'll learn that on film; you have to learn that by playing, it's sad but you do. I think Cade has a lot of ability, he's a very accurate passer."
On USC making adjustments in the second half
"They made some adjustments, but we just fumbled the ball to them – gave them that – lined up off sides on a big third-down play, which would have made them kick a field goal, but they score the next play. Then, not having [QB] Sefo [Liufau] out there hurt us a few times – that's nothing against Cade [Apsay] – that just hurt us, there were a few things we didn't check right or we didn't do right which hurt us on some drives. But give Southern Cal some credit, they made some adjustments there. Mainly, we kind of gave them the game a little bit. Then we fought back there and didn't make the fourth-down play (on the final offensive drive) and then let them run the clock out. We had a chance to stop them there, would have had the ball back with a minute-and-something left and maybe had a chance to go get in field goal range."
On what he tells his seniors
"Wow, the way they fought gallantly – how about [WR] Nelson Spruce tonight, I mean was that something else that punt he took back and gave us a chance? Just hug their neck, tell them how much I appreciate them. We have two more games left. There's also an outside shot still – I know it sounds crazy – of going to a bowl [game] because there might not be enough 6-6 teams, and if we go 6-7 they might take a Pac-12 team over another team that is 5-7 or something like that with an open bowl. So, our kids are still hoping for that. Those guys in there, I've told them a lot of times: 'I didn't inherit you, you inherited me.' They've been great leaders and played hard, and I really appreciate them. Just hold their head up and keep moving along. They have helped us come a long way, we just have to find a way to get over the hump in more of these."
On when QB Cade Apsay began moving up depth chart
"He had a really good fall camp, a really good fall camp. Then he wasn't allowed to play the first two games. Since he wasn't allowed to play the first two games that kind of put him back behind the eight ball and then he started going again. I think all along he's had a really good camp and then he started going and kind of got his feet back wet. Then, Jordan Gehrke hurt his hip a little, so that sidelined Jordan in practice for a couple weeks he wasn't able to push off as good so then Cade starting getting reps with the second team. That's kind of how that all worked out."
On the difficulties of losing Liufau for spring ball
"It will be tough, because it will be tough for him. He's had enough (reps), but we just have to get him back, hopefully May, but the summer will be big for him. He's such a leader, he'll grab those receivers and make them go out and throw."
On his emotions following another close loss
"This hurt, that's why I'm late. This hurt, and then with Sefo's situation this really hurt. It hurt the guys in there. They destroyed us the last two years and we had our opportunities, and so it hurts that much more."
On if this loss will hurt enough to motivate players that much more to put even more effort
"I sure hope so, I believe they will. They've been a resilient bunch. Our coaches do a great job of not 'brow-beating' them; they (the players) do a good job of taking it (the coaching). They were hurting, which is a great sign, and they should be. They're like me, they are getting tired of hearing, 'You're so close.' I walked in here and I just looked at my phone and I got all these texts, but you have to win those games. And we will, we will."
USC Interim Head Coach Clay Helton
General
"What a great win for our football team. I can't tell you how proud I am about a bunch of kids who really played inspired football in the second half. Terrific effort by Coach MacIntyre and his Colorado Buffaloes. That's a good football team that has improved every year under his leadership."
On Who Blocked the Kick
"It was somewhere between Delvon [Simmons] and Adoree' [Jackson]. Both of them looked like lightning coming off. What a huge play in the game."
On Team Continually Being Down Early
"In this Pac-12 it's hard. You don't want it to happen, but we had a lack of execution offensively. That really put our defense in some bad situations, especially in the red zone after an interception and punt return inside of our five-yard line. Defensively, I thought they held up and won the game at the end. Another third-down-and-seven run by Justin Davis to end the game. I'm proud of our kids."
On Reasons for Slow Start
"I loved the first drive. We didn't finish it, but I thought that was going to be the mindset of the game. I thought they (Colorado) did a good job, I really did. They loaded the box up and we missed some shots early in the first half. Credit to them. I thought they played well and we played poorly. We fixed it at halftime and addressed some issues and had 11 men doing their job in the second half, both offensively and defensively. Any fault of these players is on me. They prepared extremely well."
On Team's Mindset Before the Game
"I thought they were in a great place, I really did. As we were going on that first drive, I could feel great confidence. Again, credit Colorado. They fought their butts off that whole game. Obviously you can't do that every week or you're going to lose a ball game. We got to find a way to fix it."
On Halftime Adjustments
"There's an extreme amount of poise on this football team. They didn't get overexcited. I said that this is a terrific football team. If 11 men do their job and we execute, you're going to be very happy at the end of the game. It was as simple as that. The defense gets a stop, we go down and score a touchdown; defense gets another stop and all of sudden we're up in the game. That's football."
On Moving Forward to Oregon
"If you said that in the beginning of the year that you'd got an opportunity to win the Pac-12 South with two games to go, that's where you want to be. The problem is, we got two really good teams we're getting ready to play, and the first one up is Oregon. We've got some stuff to clean up, especially offensively. I'm a little bit harder on the offense than I am the defense."
On Colorado's Sefo Liufau Being Injured
"I thought that they did a great job of doing things that the backup could do. He played well. [Nelson] Spruce, 22, what a player. What a terrific player, and he's done that for quite a while in this league. We have the utmost respect for him."
Colorado Players
DB Jared Bell
ON SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERCEPTION—"Like I said before it's all about the win. It would have been a much better memory if we had pulled it out today but unfortunately we didn't execute well enough to do that."
ON COMPETING AGAINST FAMILIAR PLAYERS FROM CALIFORNIA—"It's fun to compete but we're here to compete and win. It's not enough just to compete. I'm over the moral victories you know, this program is over the moral victories. It's time to finish, execute and win these games."
ON USC's SECOND HALF SUCCESS—"It's USC. You've got to give them credit, they came out and executed. They must have schemed up something at halftime in the locker room to get us on our heels which we did but you just have got to give them credit for going out there and making the plays they were supposed to."
ON DEFENSIVE SUCCESS—"It was good but it wasn't enough. It always comes down to the little things for us. Like for me, I gave up that touchdown in the redzone and that's on me. So it's just little things we need to clean up, we did well but it's never well enough."
ON FRUSTRATION FROM PAC 12 LOSSES AT HOME—"I'm very disappointed because I know we can beat these teams and we believe that we can beat these teams but it's up to us to go out and do it."
ON SIGNIFICANCE OF SENIOR DAY—"Six years went by fast believe it or not. I try to just relish the moment and try to enjoy every second of it."
ON MOOD AFTER INJURY TO QB SEFO (LIUFAU)—"Sefo (Liufau) is one of the toughest people I know. It's a great job for Cade to go out there and step up. He went out there and made a couple plays and we all rallied behind him, we needed him to win this game and we all knew that. There was no reason for us to put our heads down, we have faith in Cade and our offensive coordinators and our plays so it's up to us to go out there and execute."
DL Justin Solis
ON COMING UP JUST SHORT OF WIN - "First of all USC is a great team. We went out there and they played a good game like Jared (Bell) was saying we just look at the little things. For the most part I feel like we played a good game but it's always the small things you know turnovers and all that. Playing the right call, playing the right coverage, doing the right things on the line, it's just the small things that hurt us in the end. We've just got to go out there and practice and execute. Make these changes and fix these mistakes."
ON RUN DEFENSE—"Yeah I feel like we did a good job on the run defense but we didn't win the game. Ultimately that's our goal, to win the game and in the end we didn't so we can always improve on that."
ON COACH MAC'S MESSAGE POSTGAME—"He always tells us to keep our heads up. This one really hurt, especially for those seniors on senior night to go in there and lose such a close game. We've just got to keep on fighting. We still have two games left. We still have a chance you know to potentially make a bowl game. This one definitely hurts but we're going to try to leave this one behind us, come back on Monday and start getting ready for Washington State. We're down right now but we're definitely not out and we'll definitely be back next week."
ON COACH LEAVITT'S REACTION TO CLINCHING FIRST DOWN—"It was you know like I said the small things. Someone wasn't in the right place you know, there wasn't an edge on that play and he was able to get out to the corner and get that first down. But we don't point fingers on this defense. We're in it together, we're not going to point fingers and blame it on one person."
QB Cade Apsay
ON BEING READY TO PLAY – "I was ready the second I saw him struggling; it wasn't like a frightened mood or anything."
ON SEFO LIUFAU ACTUALLY GOING DOWN – "It is actually impressive. He has taken a lot of shots and has gotten up from a lot of them. So to finally see him get hurt and stay down was impressive to see someone succeed at getting him down."
ON PERSONAL PREFORMANCE – "I think it was okay. If I were to give it a grade it would average like a C because there was a lot of things I could do better and execute better; make better decisions, better checks, etc. It was okay. I could do better for sure."
ON PACE OF THE GAME – "I have gotten used to it [fast pace] in practice the practice defense and scout team work hard. So that look definitely helps."
ON FIRST PLAY GETTING SACKED – "I was expecting it to hurt a lot more. I was a little scared to get hit from behind and when I finally did, the first time, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."
ON ADVICE FROM SEFO – "He told me, 'to stay calm, I know you are prepared, so go out there execute and play football.'
ON SPRUCE'S PUNT RETURN IN THE FOURTH QUARTER - "It was paramount. I expected to get the ball at the 50 yard line, somewhere around there wherever he caught it.
I looked down to talk to someone and looked back up and he was already inside the 10. Obviously that made my job of getting the ball into the end zone a little bit easier."
ON THE BLITZ - "I was told to get the ball out a little bit quicker and run quicker plays. There were some protection checks that I was told to make, that's pretty much it."
ON THE FINAL OFFENSIVE DRIVE - "It was a shovel play that worked before. The defensive end came up and I was trying to pitch it in. Donovan [Lee] was getting held and it got a little panicky. I had to dish it out. Honestly I should have just taken off but I just had to do something with the ball on the play."
ON HIS FOCUS AS THE NEW STARTER - "It'll definitely intensify 100 fold. I was always studying film and asking questions in meetings. Now it'll definitely be more film, more questions, just much more focus. But I'm a lot more confident in myself and in the playbook now than [in the Stanford game.]"
"It was just hard work. At the start of the season, I had to get my priorities straight and ever since, things have just fallen into place. Hard work pays off. That's really it."
ON SEFO GOING DOWN – "I saw him limping around and I was like, 'Oh he's all right, he'll come back', then he got taken out to the locker room and Cade has to come in. You know to his [Cade] credit, he has been prepared, but for me honestly I don't know what is going through his head half of the time. But he came in and did his job and even more. So I am excited to see what he can do these next to weeks."
ON ADVICE FROM SEFO – "He was in my ear the entire time and you know just keep Cade going and keep him focused. He told me to be quick and to get open quickly, stuff like that."
ON RECEIVING THE BUFFALO HEART AWARD – "It means a lot. I have accomplished a lot here but this award is up there with everything else because I pride myself with being that guy that goes to work every day, is a tough player and sets that example for the team. So for the fans to recognize that and that I got that award means a lot to me."
ON WALKING OUT ONTO THE FOLSOM FIELD FOR THE LAST TIME – "I was sad obviously. From the minute I step on the field, I was trying to enjoy every minute of it tonight. It was a great night to be out there, black-out game on ESPN, and running out behind Ralphie for the last time, it was pretty emotional for me especially seeing my family out there crying. It was a special night and I definitely cherish it."
ON LOSING THE LAST GAME AT FOLSOM – "I was talking about this week getting that signature win and that would be my memorable moment here and we were right there. But the story of this season, we are just not able to finish. So being my last game this was definitely one that I wanted even that much more so it does hurt a little bit."
ON NOT GETTING ABOVE .500 – "A bowl game was our goal starting out at the beginning of the season but 6-7, if we can get to that, we aren't totally out of a bowl game; depending on how that scenario plays out. We are just going to try to take it week by week for these next two."
ON MACINTYRE'S MESSAGE IN THE LOCKER ROOM – "It's just doing a little extra during the week. We have to start holding each other accountable for these last two weeks that we show up to meetings. We need to be focused and locked in and doing all of our lifts because we're obviously not doing enough to put us over the edge. Like I said, we need to do that little extra to try to get us there."
ON THE HALFTIME GOAL - "Our goal was to come out and keep fighting. We didn't want to become complacent because Arizona was up almost the same score and USC came out and won it. Our thing was 'don't become complacent. Keep going and fighting.'"
ON THE QUARATERBACK CHANGE - "We just wanted to keep rolling. Cade [Apsay] is a heck of a quarterback. He has a little different play style but we just wanted to keep rolling. That's all."
ON USC'S DEFENSE - "We found success in wearing them down. When we started rolling and moving the ball, they got really tired. Some of the difficulties (are because) they're really good. We have to just keep fighting."
ON QB CADE APSAY'S ABILITY - "I absolutely have confidence [in Cade]. He almost just beat USC with our help. I love Sefo [Liufau] and I hope he gets better but I have all the confidence in the world in Cade."
ON NOT SCORING AFTER THE INTERCEPTION RETURN - "I think our secondary played really well and it was hard for him to find open guys."
ON THE LITTLE MISTAKES - "You look back at it and think 'if I would have made this play, it would have changed things.' But you never know what may happen after that one play."
ON THE POSITIVES OF TONIGHT'S LOSS - "The positives are what we've been seeing all season. We know we can be great but we just have to do it every play."
TB Philip Lindsey
ON THE BUFF'S SUCCESSFUL FIRST HALF - "We came out there and we just played how we know how to play which is executing, having no mistakes and driving the ball. That's the thing; we have to stay on the field and convert on third downs, you have to move the ball on third down."
ON THE QUARTERBACK CHANGE - "Of course it's going to be a little bit different because Cade is coming in and he doesn't have that much experience. Once he got the hang of it, it started clicking again. Cade needs to go back and get his confidence. It was tough at the beginning losing Sefo with the momentum like that."
ON HOW USC ADJUSTED TO CU'S FRESHMAN QB - "USC started stacking it, bringing more blitzes. They knew we have a "so called" inexperienced quarterback so they figured we would run the ball more. But I feel like they (were surprised) because Cade came out here and started throwing. It's good that we let him throw the ball a little bit and get comfortable."
ON THE LOSS - "It's tough and it gives you a sickening feeling because it came down to us, the players. You can go back and say 'coaches did this, coaches did that' but it was us. The fact that we didn't go and finish the game like we were supposed to, we kind of gave it to them. That's what irritates all of us the most. That was our game. We need to get ready to beat up on Washington State. They're bowl eligible, they're trying to get another win and we need to stop that. We need to get our wins going."
ON WINNING THE LAST TWO GAMES OF THE SEASON - "We have to go out there with that grit, that anger. We have it. We're executing now. Now it's just time to go out there and show it. Now everybody can see that we're here to stay, we're here to compete. Now it's time for us to win. We're going to go to Washington State and handle our business."
OLB Kenneth Olugbode
ON THE DEFENSE'S EFFORT TONIGHT - "Everybody was doing their job and making tackles and plays. It comes down to that."
ON USC QB CODY KESSLER - "We got a rush. We hit him a couple of times and definitely got in his face. We played tight coverage."
ON WINNING CLOSE GAMES IN THE FUTURE - "Not even in the future. I see us winning these every time today, every time we step on the field. I see us winning."
ON HOW THE DEFENSE NEEDS TO IMPROVE - "The little things, we need to take care of those."
ON THE DEFENSE'S PERFORMANCE TONIGHT - "I'm pretty pleased but I think we can do better. I always hold us to a high standard and know that we can always get better."
QB Cody Kessler
ON THE GAME (GENERAL) – "It was obviously not the start we wanted the last two weeks. The guys seemed ready, I guess we just like giving Coach Helton a heart attack. It's really cool, under all the circumstances, for us to pull out a win like this, being down 14. The guys fought back. We were down going into halftime and Coach Helton came in and got the guys pumped up. We made adjustments, we talked about it and figured out what we were going to do and the guys responded great."
ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE – "The O-line was struggling a little bit in the first half. The cool part about it is we got on them, I started getting on them, letting them know, 'hey, it starts with you guys.' Second half they came out and played great."
ON FOUR-GAME WIN STREAK – "I think the guys have been playing hard, but we know that we have two very good football teams coming up."
ON BOUNCING BACK FROM TOUGH FIRST HALF – "I'm not going to say they (USC teammates) got sick of getting beat in the first half. I think at halftime everybody said 'we're in this together, we can either quit, or we can come out and play as hard as we can.' It shows how close this team is, the offense has a long drive and starts making plays and immediately the defense gets a turnover. We kind of feed off each other and I think that's just us coming together over the past few weeks."
ON LONG 'DAGGER' TOUCHDOWN PASS AFTER FORCING TURNOVER – "It wasn't necessarily the dagger, because they're a good football team, they really are. It definitely got momentum on our side and took the crowd out of it a little bit. Nelson (Spruce) got them back in it with that punt return; that kid is a stud by the way. It was fortunate for us to make those big plays."
ON PLAY OF JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER – "That kid is just unreal. He had surgery on his hand, he's in pain constantly. During the week of practice he didn't really catch the ball, it was just all route running to keep the pressure off his hand. He just shows up every week, he's been a huge safety blanket to me, I'm so proud to be able to play with him."
DT Delvon Simmons
ON DEFENSIVE MINDSET IN SECOND HALF—"We all got together and talked about it. The first was poor, we weren't playing like we should have been playing. We listened to Coach Helton saying, 'fight on, fight on,' and we went out there and executed."
ON SECOND HALF PRESSURE—"It just clicked. Coach Wilson always preaches about playing on the opposite side of the line, and like I said, we just got together, started talking about it, and came together. We just came in at halftime and fixed it and just executed our adjustments."
ON BLOCKED KICK—"We ran the same play we ran the first time they attempted a field goal and this time we switched sides. They didn't flip the offensive lineman so that lineman didn't know what was going on. I knew it was going to happen, I was going to come, and Jabari (Ruffin, LB) got a great mug on the tackle that allowed me to come free. I give credit to all the other guys too."
