Tuesday Press Conference Quotes
November 01, 2016 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
Opening Statement
"We had a good off week and we're excited about playing on Thursday night here at Folsom. It's going to be a great atmosphere, it's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to seeing everyone there. It was good to have a bye week. Our guys got refreshed. We had excellent practices. We're excited about playing UCLA. UCLA is an excellent football team with a lot of excellent football players. They've played an extremely tough schedule, so they don't have quite as many wins as people would think they would. They're a really, really good football team. They're very talented. They've beat us the last three years I've been here, so it's going to be an extremely tough contest. It's another Pac-12 South game. We've got our work cut out for us."
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On UCLA's Quarterback Situation Without Josh Rosen
"Mike Fafaul played really well last week. In each week since he came in – we watched all the games of course – he's making all the throws, he's doing a lot of good things. He's an older kid, he's a fifth-year senior, but he also went to prep school. He's an older mature guy, I guess he's around 23 years old probably after doing all that. He's made a lot of plays. Their offense has changed quite a bit with him. It's been interesting to watch what they've done. They threw the ball a ton, they've got great, skilled athletes to get the ball in space. The young man, Mike, can get the ball out of his hands quick and easy. He can make all the throws. It's going to be extremely tough for us."
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On UCLA Throwing A Lot
"Well the number one thing is we've got to be able to pass-rush, but they do get the ball out of their hands quick so it's a little bit misleading. We're going to have to tackle well in space. They've got guys that can make you miss. They scored 40-some-odd points against an excellent Utah defense that doesn't give up points. I was really impressed with what they did there. Their skill guys are good. Their tight end No. 11 [Nate] Iese is a really good athlete, a big target that they threw to a lot. They'll stretch us for sure, so we'll have to play really good coverage."
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On Jordan Carrell's Development
"Jordan got stronger over the offseason, he's more powerful. He harasses the quarterback a lot even though he might not have a lot of sacks. He gets in the pocket and makes the guy move. He's done an excellent job on the run holding his alignment for the linebackers and being stout in his gap. I've been very pleased with Jordan's improvement from last year. I thought he played really well last year and I think he's playing really well this year."
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On Play Of Ryan Moeller
"Ryan's played really well, he really has. He's done a lot of excellent things. He's made plays up at the line of scrimmage, made plays in the backfield and made plays covering. Ryan was a good fit for us there. We play so many teams that play a lot of spread-type situations or one tight end with one back, so we were able to utilize his strengths there. He's extremely strong. If he took his shirt off, you'd see how big and powerful he really is. He's close to 210 (pounds). He's an excellent athlete. He has an advantage when linemen pull out, because he can dodge them. It's a little bit of a different animal for them to try to block out there than a bigger guy that's always going to take you on. He's done a very good job. It was a great move by Joe Tumpkin and Jim Leavitt to do that. We talked about it for a while when they brought it up. I was scratching my head thinking about it for a minute, and I said let's go with it, it sounds like a good idea. It worked out well."
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On Jordan Carrell Playing The Most Snaps On The Defensive Line
"It takes good stamina. The reason that he's played more snaps than Josh [Tupou] and Samson [Kafovalu] is when we go to our nickel package, he has a little bit better first step on pass-rush than a three-technique. That's where we used him and where he's helped us in some of those pass-rush areas. That's why he's played more snaps."
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On Davis Price
"He still has mono. We've done some tests and we'll do some more tests tomorrow or Thursday to see if he'll be able to play or not. Right now it's still up in the air."
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On The Final Four Games Being A Fight
"We're in the heavyweight battles, it's what we wanted to be in. We're there now and now we've got to perform in the heavyweight fights. The kids are excited about and I'm excited about it. Now we've just got to go out and do it. Like we say, we've just got to do what Colorado does and not worry about anyone else. When they show up to play, then we'll have to show up and play and get more points somehow. We say 'Welcome to the fight' every day, because every day is a fight in life. We parallel it to life and to football. I think they're getting it."
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On Who Will Return Punts
"Right now, Isaiah Oliver will be returning punts."
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On How The Team Handled The Bye Week
"I think they approached it really well. It's unique. I haven't had one before where we had a game on Thursday coming out of a bye week. I like that to be honest with you. It kept up the energy of the game with it being closer. I'm excited about seeing them play. It's unique that both of us have the exact same situation with a week off before the Thursday game. That's the way the league should do it. You shouldn't have one of us have a week off and one of us have to play Thursday. That wouldn't be a fair advantage. I like the way our league worked that out. It being a national television game is nice too, playing here. I'm glad we're playing at night, but three o'clock in November in Folsom, there's nothing prettier than that. Hopefully we can get some more two or three o'clock games in the future."
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On If The Kicking Situation Will Change Throughout The Game
"It really will depend how the game is going and how we're doing. It'll also depend on the wind in our stadium. As you know, sometimes it swirls in Folsom at times. We've really got to be alert to that. We will see how the guys kick this week and how they're kicking in warmups and get a feel for that. We definitely would like to score more touchdowns than kick field goals. We'll look at that as the game goes along and with different situations we come in to."
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On Wind Being A Factor With The Kickers Without Diego Gonzalez
"Diego's leg was so strong, we didn't have to consider it as much."
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On Sefo Liufau Playing Well
"Reps, reps reps, experience, experience, experience. He can see it. If he does make a mistake – which he'll make one eventually – he'll be over it the next snap and ready to go again. He won't shy away a bit. It's just his experience and his competitiveness; he's seen so many things and studies film so well. He's just grown into it."
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On Alex Kinney Place Kicking In Practice
"He has place kicked in practice this week. He has a very powerful leg. We've just got to get him back into the rhythm to be consistent hitting it. He has kicked in practice this week. Right now we'll look to Chris [Graham] first, and hopefully that goes really well. If it doesn't, then we'll go to Alex. Chris has had an excellent week. He's kicked better than he has any weeks that we had so far. He's made some kicks in some games, it's just getting into that rhythm and getting out there and doing it."
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On Injuries To Phil Lindsay, Aaron Haigler And The Success Of The Running Game
"Phil and Aaron practiced all week and looked good, so we feel good about both those guys. Our offensive line has stayed relatively healthy. Aaron comes in and out, but he's back which helps us a tremendous amount. The other thing is Phil's done a good job of hitting the holes well, has good vision and runs through arm-tackles. I think it's a combination of that. Our quarterbacks have done an excellent job of getting us in the right calls, making sure we don't have as many negative plays. That's key. Playing extremely fast has helped us too, because there are some times when they aren't lined up right."
On Having More Motivation Preparing For UCLA After The Two Previous Years
"I don't think they have payback on their minds, but I definitely believe – against anybody we play – they believe they can win the game. I'm pretty sure UCLA thinks we'll find a way to screw it up, because we have the last couple years. What we need to do is go out there and focus and play Colorado football. I believe our guys will do that. We don't have anything up on the bulletin board or signs that say 'payback' or 'revenge.' We haven't been successful in the Pac-12 South. We won our first one the other day. They like the taste of it and I hope they keep coming with that same type of fire. Maybe it's a couple years of buildup and they keep doing it for every game we play."
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On Phil Lindsay's Injury
"He's 100 percent healthy. His hair looks good too. I told him don't cut it."
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On His Halloween
"I got home a little bit at the end of it with the eight o'clock group that came through. Our dog, Amelia, was dressed up like a queen mermaid. I don't know how they did that, but that's what she was dressed up as. Everybody loved our dog, so that was fun. I wasn't trick-or-treating. I'm glad I gave away all the candy, so I wouldn't eat any."
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On Development Of Isaiah Oliver
"Isaiah's an excellent athlete. He scored points in the decathlon and the long jump or hurdles in the Pac-12, which is pretty impressive. He's extremely bright. I look at him as a starter back there. He plays a tremendous amount. When he's in there, we don't blink an eye. I've been very pleased with what Isaiah's done. I think he'll keep being an excellent player. He's definitely a high-caliber Pac-12 corner. He's long, athletic, he can judge the ball, he's tough and extremely bright. I'm very, very pleased with Isaiah."
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"We had a good off week and we're excited about playing on Thursday night here at Folsom. It's going to be a great atmosphere, it's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to seeing everyone there. It was good to have a bye week. Our guys got refreshed. We had excellent practices. We're excited about playing UCLA. UCLA is an excellent football team with a lot of excellent football players. They've played an extremely tough schedule, so they don't have quite as many wins as people would think they would. They're a really, really good football team. They're very talented. They've beat us the last three years I've been here, so it's going to be an extremely tough contest. It's another Pac-12 South game. We've got our work cut out for us."
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On UCLA's Quarterback Situation Without Josh Rosen
"Mike Fafaul played really well last week. In each week since he came in – we watched all the games of course – he's making all the throws, he's doing a lot of good things. He's an older kid, he's a fifth-year senior, but he also went to prep school. He's an older mature guy, I guess he's around 23 years old probably after doing all that. He's made a lot of plays. Their offense has changed quite a bit with him. It's been interesting to watch what they've done. They threw the ball a ton, they've got great, skilled athletes to get the ball in space. The young man, Mike, can get the ball out of his hands quick and easy. He can make all the throws. It's going to be extremely tough for us."
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On UCLA Throwing A Lot
"Well the number one thing is we've got to be able to pass-rush, but they do get the ball out of their hands quick so it's a little bit misleading. We're going to have to tackle well in space. They've got guys that can make you miss. They scored 40-some-odd points against an excellent Utah defense that doesn't give up points. I was really impressed with what they did there. Their skill guys are good. Their tight end No. 11 [Nate] Iese is a really good athlete, a big target that they threw to a lot. They'll stretch us for sure, so we'll have to play really good coverage."
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On Jordan Carrell's Development
"Jordan got stronger over the offseason, he's more powerful. He harasses the quarterback a lot even though he might not have a lot of sacks. He gets in the pocket and makes the guy move. He's done an excellent job on the run holding his alignment for the linebackers and being stout in his gap. I've been very pleased with Jordan's improvement from last year. I thought he played really well last year and I think he's playing really well this year."
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On Play Of Ryan Moeller
"Ryan's played really well, he really has. He's done a lot of excellent things. He's made plays up at the line of scrimmage, made plays in the backfield and made plays covering. Ryan was a good fit for us there. We play so many teams that play a lot of spread-type situations or one tight end with one back, so we were able to utilize his strengths there. He's extremely strong. If he took his shirt off, you'd see how big and powerful he really is. He's close to 210 (pounds). He's an excellent athlete. He has an advantage when linemen pull out, because he can dodge them. It's a little bit of a different animal for them to try to block out there than a bigger guy that's always going to take you on. He's done a very good job. It was a great move by Joe Tumpkin and Jim Leavitt to do that. We talked about it for a while when they brought it up. I was scratching my head thinking about it for a minute, and I said let's go with it, it sounds like a good idea. It worked out well."
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On Jordan Carrell Playing The Most Snaps On The Defensive Line
"It takes good stamina. The reason that he's played more snaps than Josh [Tupou] and Samson [Kafovalu] is when we go to our nickel package, he has a little bit better first step on pass-rush than a three-technique. That's where we used him and where he's helped us in some of those pass-rush areas. That's why he's played more snaps."
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On Davis Price
"He still has mono. We've done some tests and we'll do some more tests tomorrow or Thursday to see if he'll be able to play or not. Right now it's still up in the air."
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On The Final Four Games Being A Fight
"We're in the heavyweight battles, it's what we wanted to be in. We're there now and now we've got to perform in the heavyweight fights. The kids are excited about and I'm excited about it. Now we've just got to go out and do it. Like we say, we've just got to do what Colorado does and not worry about anyone else. When they show up to play, then we'll have to show up and play and get more points somehow. We say 'Welcome to the fight' every day, because every day is a fight in life. We parallel it to life and to football. I think they're getting it."
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On Who Will Return Punts
"Right now, Isaiah Oliver will be returning punts."
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On How The Team Handled The Bye Week
"I think they approached it really well. It's unique. I haven't had one before where we had a game on Thursday coming out of a bye week. I like that to be honest with you. It kept up the energy of the game with it being closer. I'm excited about seeing them play. It's unique that both of us have the exact same situation with a week off before the Thursday game. That's the way the league should do it. You shouldn't have one of us have a week off and one of us have to play Thursday. That wouldn't be a fair advantage. I like the way our league worked that out. It being a national television game is nice too, playing here. I'm glad we're playing at night, but three o'clock in November in Folsom, there's nothing prettier than that. Hopefully we can get some more two or three o'clock games in the future."
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On If The Kicking Situation Will Change Throughout The Game
"It really will depend how the game is going and how we're doing. It'll also depend on the wind in our stadium. As you know, sometimes it swirls in Folsom at times. We've really got to be alert to that. We will see how the guys kick this week and how they're kicking in warmups and get a feel for that. We definitely would like to score more touchdowns than kick field goals. We'll look at that as the game goes along and with different situations we come in to."
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On Wind Being A Factor With The Kickers Without Diego Gonzalez
"Diego's leg was so strong, we didn't have to consider it as much."
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On Sefo Liufau Playing Well
"Reps, reps reps, experience, experience, experience. He can see it. If he does make a mistake – which he'll make one eventually – he'll be over it the next snap and ready to go again. He won't shy away a bit. It's just his experience and his competitiveness; he's seen so many things and studies film so well. He's just grown into it."
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On Alex Kinney Place Kicking In Practice
"He has place kicked in practice this week. He has a very powerful leg. We've just got to get him back into the rhythm to be consistent hitting it. He has kicked in practice this week. Right now we'll look to Chris [Graham] first, and hopefully that goes really well. If it doesn't, then we'll go to Alex. Chris has had an excellent week. He's kicked better than he has any weeks that we had so far. He's made some kicks in some games, it's just getting into that rhythm and getting out there and doing it."
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On Injuries To Phil Lindsay, Aaron Haigler And The Success Of The Running Game
"Phil and Aaron practiced all week and looked good, so we feel good about both those guys. Our offensive line has stayed relatively healthy. Aaron comes in and out, but he's back which helps us a tremendous amount. The other thing is Phil's done a good job of hitting the holes well, has good vision and runs through arm-tackles. I think it's a combination of that. Our quarterbacks have done an excellent job of getting us in the right calls, making sure we don't have as many negative plays. That's key. Playing extremely fast has helped us too, because there are some times when they aren't lined up right."
On Having More Motivation Preparing For UCLA After The Two Previous Years
"I don't think they have payback on their minds, but I definitely believe – against anybody we play – they believe they can win the game. I'm pretty sure UCLA thinks we'll find a way to screw it up, because we have the last couple years. What we need to do is go out there and focus and play Colorado football. I believe our guys will do that. We don't have anything up on the bulletin board or signs that say 'payback' or 'revenge.' We haven't been successful in the Pac-12 South. We won our first one the other day. They like the taste of it and I hope they keep coming with that same type of fire. Maybe it's a couple years of buildup and they keep doing it for every game we play."
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On Phil Lindsay's Injury
"He's 100 percent healthy. His hair looks good too. I told him don't cut it."
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On His Halloween
"I got home a little bit at the end of it with the eight o'clock group that came through. Our dog, Amelia, was dressed up like a queen mermaid. I don't know how they did that, but that's what she was dressed up as. Everybody loved our dog, so that was fun. I wasn't trick-or-treating. I'm glad I gave away all the candy, so I wouldn't eat any."
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On Development Of Isaiah Oliver
"Isaiah's an excellent athlete. He scored points in the decathlon and the long jump or hurdles in the Pac-12, which is pretty impressive. He's extremely bright. I look at him as a starter back there. He plays a tremendous amount. When he's in there, we don't blink an eye. I've been very pleased with what Isaiah's done. I think he'll keep being an excellent player. He's definitely a high-caliber Pac-12 corner. He's long, athletic, he can judge the ball, he's tough and extremely bright. I'm very, very pleased with Isaiah."
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Colorado Quarterback Sefo Liufau
On Comparing UCLA's Secondary To CU's Secondary
"They have some good DB's and safeties back there. But I don't think I ever looked at the film and said that's a Chibode [Awuzie] right there. There's some good players back there, but I don't think it's anything that we should worry about, because I think we have some good receivers as well. I think it'll be a good matchup all game long."
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On Protecting The Ball This Season
"There's a couple things in my mind that are the reason for that. I think experience being one of them, knowing when and where to go with the football; knowing when to pull the ball down and run and knowing when to throw the ball away. I think another big thing too is the O-line up front. Being able to sit back in the pocket and deliver balls to our playmakers allows for you to be more comfortable. And you don't have to rush as much, so if there's a tight window you can wait for the next one to open up and that makes it a lot easier on yourself. It comes down to decision making, but it helps with the O-line up front in terms of them blocking."
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On Establishing The Run Game Against UCLA's Defense
"It's definitely a key of ours. I think the biggest thing is to take what they give us. We think we have a couple ideas of what they're going to do. And whether or not they showed it on film is irrelevant. Because I think that we have an idea of what they're going to do, due to some of the things teams in the past have done to have success against us. Running the ball has been a key of ours all season long, especially when you're running the ball at a high level as we have. I think it's a key for us, but overall we're just going to go out and take what they give us and go out there and execute."
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On Being Possibly Too Cautious When Throwing The Football
"I don't think I have been. I think the biggest example of that is the game against Stanford, where I missed eight open throws. So, it's not about not making a throw or trying to fit the ball in tight windows. I just think everything is just flowing a lot smoother, with the O-line doing so much better. And I think the coaches have put us in better position. Sometimes if it's not there just taking the ball down and running, or if you have to switching up the route combination even after the plays been called."
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On The Stanford Game
"It just wasn't my best game. I'm not upset about it anymore, but in the heat of the moment it's very frustrating because in the past that's lost us games. That's why after the game I said hats off to the defense they really won us that game. To be able to not play your best game and still come out on top, for me its lucky but it just kind of shows the depth of our team and how far we've come. So it just wasn't my best game."
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On Time Spent During The Bye Week On The Stanford Game
"I think just one day is all we kind of took. We go over the game and review it, looking at the key coaching points and what we could've done better. Then we moved on, and I think it ultimately comes down to making plays. Because the receivers are there, so it comes down to waiting a half a second longer and taking the hit and getting the ball off. Or straight up just making the throw. So it's not like we're going to reinvent the wheel because the throws are there. It just comes down to me giving the ball to our playmakers and letting them go run."
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On Tying The School Record For Most Career Starts By A Quarterback On Thursday Night
"I guess that's the first time I've heard of that. It's a blessing to be able to play so long in college football. But sadly that's also means that's it's almost over. So I just want to focus on going out and getting a win, and to try my best to help this team get however many wins we need this season.  We've got four-plus more games but this one coming up is the most important one and the one we're going to focus on."
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On The Season Coming Down To The Last Few Rounds
"I think being ranked is also going to give extra incentive for teams to come out there and give us their best shot. So each game is critically important. Each game is like a championship game because destiny is in our hands and each team is going to come out and try and win. Especially with three out of the last four games being at home, they're just really important games. The opportunity is in front of us. Usually during this time of the season we're playing for pride and now we have something to play for. It's a great feeling, and it adds a lot more intensity to practice and a lot more focus. And just the need to go out there and succeed, showing up each week."
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On Jordan Carrell's Improvements This Season
"Well first if Jordan came through the line in practice he's not going to catch me. But he's done very well this season. I think the strides that he's made from last season to this season, is exceptionally leaps and bounds of what he's been able to do in the off-season. I don't think I can stress enough how much you win games in the off-season. And he's done a lot of work in the off-season to prepare himself to be in the position that he's in. And he's just making a lot plays, but in the terms of when we practice, he won't catch me."
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On The Last Two UCLA Matchups
"I remember those games vividly; I don't use them as extra motivation. I haven't thought about it in a way to use it as motivation. I think that ultimately, I had two picks in each game, it's about taking care of the ball.  I think taking care of the football and scoring points, even though it sounds basic and self-explanatory. But last year when we put so many yards up against them and moving the ball up and down, basically controlling the Rose Bowl but not being able to put points up that really hurt. The big thing this week is to score touchdowns not field goals, being able to put points on the board and being able to put them away. Because I think that we've let a couple teams stick around. And the defense has done their job, but offensively we haven't gone out there to put more points on the board and to put the other teams away. Arizona State was a great example of that, where we came out strong to start the second half with the big run from Phil [Lindsay]. But after that we just kind of stuttered and didn't put more points on the board until the last drive where we ran the ball all the way down the field."
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On Personal Goals For The Remainder Of The Season
"My goal is to win. I think that's the biggest and ultimate goal. These last four games are really important for us. Obviously you want to take the next game as your most important, but these next four games are really important to be able to do something that hasn't been done in a while in the terms of being able to go to a championship game. Just being able to turn the program around and to leave it on a better foot, that's my goal. It's to leave it in a better spot and to keep winning. And to take care of the football I definitely want to take care of the football."Â
Colorado Defensive End Jordan Carrell
On His 'Return To Dominance' Hat
"One of the guys that looks out for us had a couple extras and a couple of us on the D-Line were able to get one. It definitely means something to me. When I first got here I knew that Colorado was on the up and this year we've proven that we're on the rise. So, I feel like it fits with the saying 'The Rise' as well."
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On His Sack Against Stanford
"The play call that we ran, as a three tech, I had to pop to contain. It wasn't really an A to B rush so it felt good because sometimes you're not going to get there but there are going to be times when it falls right in your lap. That's what it did. The pressure flushed him out and he had nowhere to go while I was right there to make the play."
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On The Chemistry On The D-Line
"As a defensive front, it's great to have good chemistry and a good bond between your brothers. You have to rely on that guy next to you to make the play if you're not there. Over this off season we really connected well. This is our first season that all of us got together to play. In the off season we got together to work every day. We go out to eat three or four times a week and we have that connection that not many D-Linemen have that. We don't just talk about football. We talk about life and after football plans, just everyday things that come into our lives. We're pretty close."
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On Adjusting To Playing So Many Snaps
"I think being from California and then coming to this altitude it took me some time to adjust. But once I did, I felt in way better shape than I did playing at sea level. If I get tired, this year I've played less snaps and I know that there are guys behind me ready to step in and make plays. I have trust in those guys and I'm not afraid to come off of the field when I get tired."
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On This Week's UCLA Game
"Studying them on film this week has been everywhere. They do a lot of different things. At the beginning of the year they were pretty balanced and as the year has progressed, they have become more one dimensional. As far as what I think they're going to do, I think they're going to come out early in the game and try to establish the run like they did against Stanford with 13 personnel. They tried to pound the ball at the start and had a little bit of success. They tried the same thing against Utah and it didn't go so well. I think they're going to try to establish the run early and if we can fill our holes and let our secondary play how they play [we'll be successful.] I believe that we have the best secondary. If we force them to pass, I don't think they stand a chance."
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On Last Year's UCLA Game
"I think there was one play last year that separated us from winning and it all came down to our D-Line. We didn't come out right on the play and they went out the gate to the touchdown. So, we're more disciplined this year and like you said, when you hear UCLA, being from Sacramento, they were shaky on recruiting me. And then the next year they recruited two other guys from my junior college. It's a California team so I'm coming after them for sure."
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On The Segway He Rides Around Campus
"I feel like it's 2016 and technology is taking over so I wanted to join that trend and basically start a new trend here on campus. I'm the only guy here that rides it around campus so it's cool to get all of these snap chat videos and people pulling out their phones and filming it. It's pretty funny. The hover boards had a small stint on campus so I wanted to bring it up a notch and bring it onto campus. My family business is called 'Jam On It Basketball Academy' and we work a lot in convention centers so traveling from one side of the building to another can get hectic. So we have six segways on our team. My uncle drove it down to Sacramento and dropped it off with my mom and she drove it down to the USC game. Then I put it on the equipment truck. It saved me a couple of dollars."
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On Last Weekend's Utah vs. Washington Game
"I watched the whole game. We do control our own destiny. We just have to stick to that one game mindset. If we handle business this week then we're on to Arizona to handle our business next week. So, after watching that game, it was a physical game on both sides of the ball up front. I just really feel like it came down to the D-Line and O-Line play for both teams. Washington's quarterback is pretty good, he's another Sacramento guy. I was pulling for them to win because Utah is in our division but I can't wait to play this week and then move on to the next one.'
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"One of the guys that looks out for us had a couple extras and a couple of us on the D-Line were able to get one. It definitely means something to me. When I first got here I knew that Colorado was on the up and this year we've proven that we're on the rise. So, I feel like it fits with the saying 'The Rise' as well."
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On His Sack Against Stanford
"The play call that we ran, as a three tech, I had to pop to contain. It wasn't really an A to B rush so it felt good because sometimes you're not going to get there but there are going to be times when it falls right in your lap. That's what it did. The pressure flushed him out and he had nowhere to go while I was right there to make the play."
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On The Chemistry On The D-Line
"As a defensive front, it's great to have good chemistry and a good bond between your brothers. You have to rely on that guy next to you to make the play if you're not there. Over this off season we really connected well. This is our first season that all of us got together to play. In the off season we got together to work every day. We go out to eat three or four times a week and we have that connection that not many D-Linemen have that. We don't just talk about football. We talk about life and after football plans, just everyday things that come into our lives. We're pretty close."
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On Adjusting To Playing So Many Snaps
"I think being from California and then coming to this altitude it took me some time to adjust. But once I did, I felt in way better shape than I did playing at sea level. If I get tired, this year I've played less snaps and I know that there are guys behind me ready to step in and make plays. I have trust in those guys and I'm not afraid to come off of the field when I get tired."
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On This Week's UCLA Game
"Studying them on film this week has been everywhere. They do a lot of different things. At the beginning of the year they were pretty balanced and as the year has progressed, they have become more one dimensional. As far as what I think they're going to do, I think they're going to come out early in the game and try to establish the run like they did against Stanford with 13 personnel. They tried to pound the ball at the start and had a little bit of success. They tried the same thing against Utah and it didn't go so well. I think they're going to try to establish the run early and if we can fill our holes and let our secondary play how they play [we'll be successful.] I believe that we have the best secondary. If we force them to pass, I don't think they stand a chance."
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On Last Year's UCLA Game
"I think there was one play last year that separated us from winning and it all came down to our D-Line. We didn't come out right on the play and they went out the gate to the touchdown. So, we're more disciplined this year and like you said, when you hear UCLA, being from Sacramento, they were shaky on recruiting me. And then the next year they recruited two other guys from my junior college. It's a California team so I'm coming after them for sure."
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On The Segway He Rides Around Campus
"I feel like it's 2016 and technology is taking over so I wanted to join that trend and basically start a new trend here on campus. I'm the only guy here that rides it around campus so it's cool to get all of these snap chat videos and people pulling out their phones and filming it. It's pretty funny. The hover boards had a small stint on campus so I wanted to bring it up a notch and bring it onto campus. My family business is called 'Jam On It Basketball Academy' and we work a lot in convention centers so traveling from one side of the building to another can get hectic. So we have six segways on our team. My uncle drove it down to Sacramento and dropped it off with my mom and she drove it down to the USC game. Then I put it on the equipment truck. It saved me a couple of dollars."
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On Last Weekend's Utah vs. Washington Game
"I watched the whole game. We do control our own destiny. We just have to stick to that one game mindset. If we handle business this week then we're on to Arizona to handle our business next week. So, after watching that game, it was a physical game on both sides of the ball up front. I just really feel like it came down to the D-Line and O-Line play for both teams. Washington's quarterback is pretty good, he's another Sacramento guy. I was pulling for them to win because Utah is in our division but I can't wait to play this week and then move on to the next one.'
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Players Mentioned
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