Tuesday Press Conference Quotes
September 20, 2016 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
Opening Statement
"Our guys are excited about our first Pac-12 game playing on the road at Oregon. Autzen Stadium is a great place to open up and play. They've been one of the perennial powers in our league. Mark Helfrich has done a great job and they've had a lot of great players and they still do. They've still got plenty of speed. They're a very good football team, so it's going to be an extremely tough contest for us but it's always fun to start your Pac-12 games."
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On Quarterback Situation With Steven Montez And Sefo Liufau
"Sefo was at practice today in full pads moving around better than he did yesterday. We'll make a decision game-time on that. Steven is getting a few more first-team reps for sure as Sefo keeps working on getting well. We'll see how that progresses."
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On Montez's Spring Reps Helping Him Now
"He had a good fall too. He had most of the reps in spring practice – did a good job there – and going into fall camp. He's played in all three games. His feet are wet; it's not like he's going to be jumping out there for the very first time. I definitely think Steven is capable of making plays and moving our offense; he has a good arm and can run. He can do well when he gets a chance to get in there."
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On Talking With Montez Prior To Going In
"I talked to him a little bit about it. We had the momentum, but Sefo goes down and then our kicker blows his Achilles and it's like bang, bang, bang. Our whole team, we're just trying to get them corralled. That had a little bit to do with it emotionally for our football team. They're really good on the D-line and they kept subbing them in. They wore us down a little bit. We had a chance on that fourth down to make a play and get another score, but we didn't. At the end of the third quarter we didn't play as well as we would have liked. Michigan had a little bit to do with that with the things they were doing. It is hard to get thrown in there in that situation at that time. Steven has a lot of moxie to him and has a lot of confidence. He'll bounce back from that."
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On Punting Issues
"We look at each unit as a committee. We had no problems in the first two games at all. We had a mistake on the first punt that caused it and then the next one we just messed it up a little bit. A lot of teams do the exact same scheme. Utah's punter has been the Ray Guy award winner the past two years and that's all they do is rugby punt. It's all about executing it. I wouldn't like to rugby punt as much as we did in the game. We've corrected that and worked on it. We'll be much improved on it for the rest of the way and we definitely need to be."
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On Defensive Line
"Our defensive front is doing well. Our backups are doing well, I like how they're doing. Some of the runs Michigan was doing were outside, so I'm sure Oregon is going to attack us outside more. We've got to sure that up. They're going to have to play well against Oregon. They always have to play well for us to be successful; they're good enough to control a game which they've done at times. At Michigan they controlled parts of the game. That's what I expect out of them."
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On Punting Formation Philosophy
"The philosophy is you can get your guys out front quicker and get them down there faster. You have the shield back there to protect. That's what we've done and most of the teams we play do it too. We didn't execute it well enough. We had to sure that up and I believe we have. I'd like to kick a little more conventional more often than rugbying it as much."
On Offensive Line Responding
"We responded well. When we got behind they knew we were going to throw a little bit so they could just lay their ears back. If we could have stayed more balanced throughout the game like we would have been more productive on the offensive line. I thought our offensive line did well for the most part against an excellent defensive line."
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On Sefo's Running Ability
"Some of them our scrambles that we do. Some of the benefits of our offense is to be able to run the quarterback some when they spread out over the field with our guys, then there are big gaps. If you don't take advantage of that, then your quick game doesn't make big plays either. We definitely want to protect him more. Hopefully he can stay healthy."
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On Play Of Aaron Haigler
"Aaron played well last week. Sam [Kronshage] had hurt his ankle and played some. Sam's ankle is getting well. Aaron did well, so you'll definitely see Aaron out there and see Sam out there also. It was good to see Aaron out there in his first start."
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On Graduate Transfer Rule
"There's a bunch of conflicting thoughts on it. When a kid graduates, I guess he can do what he wants to do. You'd like to stay at your school unless he's not going to start and he has the opportunity to start and go somewhere else and play. Sometimes it makes sense in some situations. You both fulfilled your end of the bargain; you helped the young man graduate and he can go get his graduate degree somewhere else or he can get a graduate degree here. We have a lot of fifth-year seniors who stay here and get it. The two-year deal, I've heard that talked about. Some of the kids stay for the two years and get there masters and some of the kids are going to leave and go to the NFL. Do you have an APR (Academic Progress Rate) hit on your school then? He's already graduated, so what does APR mean to me? APR is for graduation and he's already graduated. There's a lot of different philosophies. To me it's really case to case. That's why it's a hot-button on both sides of it."
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On Oregon's Up-Tempo Offense
"They practice each other the same way. They have their signals, communication down. There probably won't be as many busts as you see with teams that don't do that, especially defensively. Offensively, they're able to play at a fast pace, get the ball snapped and get lined up quick. I think both of our teams defensively won't really have a problem with the speed of the game. It's going to be who executes the best."
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On Talking Football With The Family
"Mom and sis were both athletes. They've been around football for a long time. They get involved in it at times, there's no doubt. My daughter is kind of like the young girl – even though she's older now – from Remember The Titans. That's what she's like. She'll probably be embarrassed for me saying that, but she knows it's true."
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On Team Being Battle-Tested After Michigan
"You always have to be mentally ready for each game; you can't overlook any one of them. You go into that type of environment – all the pomp and circumstance there doing the national anthem and Tom Brady's out there and they take forever. It was kind of like an NFL game, we ran out there and stood there. We talked beforehand that. That's a little bit of an advantage for them. It did not bother us, we started fast. They played in a lot of places, but I think they'll be ready. Most of these kids have been to Eugene, Oregon before and played at Autzen Stadium."
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On Play Of Linebackers
"First of all, our edge-setter, Derek McCartney, went out so that hurt us a little bit there. They hurt us on a couple toss sweeps. They had some good blocking and running of course. Addison [Gillam] didn't play as much as we would have liked. He'll play more this week in the game. That'll be good for us. I thought Rick [Gamboa] did some good things; I thought Kenneth Olugbode did some good things. In this game when you go a fast pace, you're going to need to substitute some, so we will do that."
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On Jay MacIntyre's Pass
"He made a nice throw on the reverse-pass. He's thrown a lot growing up, so we know he can make that throw. We've practiced it a lot. He threw it okay. I wish the corner wouldn't have fallen off; the corner should've stayed on the post. I think Sefo would have run for a touchdown, but it worked out."
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On Oregon Attempting Two-Point Conversions
"We prepare every week for what we call muddle huddles. They have multiple muddle huddles, so we have to spend time on that. That's one of the reasons that Oregon does that is that you'll spend time working on that as a defense. You got to spend time in practice every day which takes away working on things with their offense. They're very dynamic at it. Charles Nelson, number six, is their two-point holder guy. Then, they bring in number 12, one of the backup quarterbacks, he comes in and holds. Mainly number six, he's fast, he's quick, he's made a lot of plays on that. They've got a lot of different formations. We need to line up correctly and stop it. Sometimes they're not worried about what you're going to line up in, they're going to run it anyway; sometimes they look to see what you're in, if you're lined up properly. If you're not lined up properly they run it and score easily. We've got to be prepared for that; they do a good job at it."
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"Our guys are excited about our first Pac-12 game playing on the road at Oregon. Autzen Stadium is a great place to open up and play. They've been one of the perennial powers in our league. Mark Helfrich has done a great job and they've had a lot of great players and they still do. They've still got plenty of speed. They're a very good football team, so it's going to be an extremely tough contest for us but it's always fun to start your Pac-12 games."
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On Quarterback Situation With Steven Montez And Sefo Liufau
"Sefo was at practice today in full pads moving around better than he did yesterday. We'll make a decision game-time on that. Steven is getting a few more first-team reps for sure as Sefo keeps working on getting well. We'll see how that progresses."
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On Montez's Spring Reps Helping Him Now
"He had a good fall too. He had most of the reps in spring practice – did a good job there – and going into fall camp. He's played in all three games. His feet are wet; it's not like he's going to be jumping out there for the very first time. I definitely think Steven is capable of making plays and moving our offense; he has a good arm and can run. He can do well when he gets a chance to get in there."
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On Talking With Montez Prior To Going In
"I talked to him a little bit about it. We had the momentum, but Sefo goes down and then our kicker blows his Achilles and it's like bang, bang, bang. Our whole team, we're just trying to get them corralled. That had a little bit to do with it emotionally for our football team. They're really good on the D-line and they kept subbing them in. They wore us down a little bit. We had a chance on that fourth down to make a play and get another score, but we didn't. At the end of the third quarter we didn't play as well as we would have liked. Michigan had a little bit to do with that with the things they were doing. It is hard to get thrown in there in that situation at that time. Steven has a lot of moxie to him and has a lot of confidence. He'll bounce back from that."
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On Punting Issues
"We look at each unit as a committee. We had no problems in the first two games at all. We had a mistake on the first punt that caused it and then the next one we just messed it up a little bit. A lot of teams do the exact same scheme. Utah's punter has been the Ray Guy award winner the past two years and that's all they do is rugby punt. It's all about executing it. I wouldn't like to rugby punt as much as we did in the game. We've corrected that and worked on it. We'll be much improved on it for the rest of the way and we definitely need to be."
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On Defensive Line
"Our defensive front is doing well. Our backups are doing well, I like how they're doing. Some of the runs Michigan was doing were outside, so I'm sure Oregon is going to attack us outside more. We've got to sure that up. They're going to have to play well against Oregon. They always have to play well for us to be successful; they're good enough to control a game which they've done at times. At Michigan they controlled parts of the game. That's what I expect out of them."
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On Punting Formation Philosophy
"The philosophy is you can get your guys out front quicker and get them down there faster. You have the shield back there to protect. That's what we've done and most of the teams we play do it too. We didn't execute it well enough. We had to sure that up and I believe we have. I'd like to kick a little more conventional more often than rugbying it as much."
On Offensive Line Responding
"We responded well. When we got behind they knew we were going to throw a little bit so they could just lay their ears back. If we could have stayed more balanced throughout the game like we would have been more productive on the offensive line. I thought our offensive line did well for the most part against an excellent defensive line."
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On Sefo's Running Ability
"Some of them our scrambles that we do. Some of the benefits of our offense is to be able to run the quarterback some when they spread out over the field with our guys, then there are big gaps. If you don't take advantage of that, then your quick game doesn't make big plays either. We definitely want to protect him more. Hopefully he can stay healthy."
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On Play Of Aaron Haigler
"Aaron played well last week. Sam [Kronshage] had hurt his ankle and played some. Sam's ankle is getting well. Aaron did well, so you'll definitely see Aaron out there and see Sam out there also. It was good to see Aaron out there in his first start."
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On Graduate Transfer Rule
"There's a bunch of conflicting thoughts on it. When a kid graduates, I guess he can do what he wants to do. You'd like to stay at your school unless he's not going to start and he has the opportunity to start and go somewhere else and play. Sometimes it makes sense in some situations. You both fulfilled your end of the bargain; you helped the young man graduate and he can go get his graduate degree somewhere else or he can get a graduate degree here. We have a lot of fifth-year seniors who stay here and get it. The two-year deal, I've heard that talked about. Some of the kids stay for the two years and get there masters and some of the kids are going to leave and go to the NFL. Do you have an APR (Academic Progress Rate) hit on your school then? He's already graduated, so what does APR mean to me? APR is for graduation and he's already graduated. There's a lot of different philosophies. To me it's really case to case. That's why it's a hot-button on both sides of it."
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On Oregon's Up-Tempo Offense
"They practice each other the same way. They have their signals, communication down. There probably won't be as many busts as you see with teams that don't do that, especially defensively. Offensively, they're able to play at a fast pace, get the ball snapped and get lined up quick. I think both of our teams defensively won't really have a problem with the speed of the game. It's going to be who executes the best."
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On Talking Football With The Family
"Mom and sis were both athletes. They've been around football for a long time. They get involved in it at times, there's no doubt. My daughter is kind of like the young girl – even though she's older now – from Remember The Titans. That's what she's like. She'll probably be embarrassed for me saying that, but she knows it's true."
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On Team Being Battle-Tested After Michigan
"You always have to be mentally ready for each game; you can't overlook any one of them. You go into that type of environment – all the pomp and circumstance there doing the national anthem and Tom Brady's out there and they take forever. It was kind of like an NFL game, we ran out there and stood there. We talked beforehand that. That's a little bit of an advantage for them. It did not bother us, we started fast. They played in a lot of places, but I think they'll be ready. Most of these kids have been to Eugene, Oregon before and played at Autzen Stadium."
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On Play Of Linebackers
"First of all, our edge-setter, Derek McCartney, went out so that hurt us a little bit there. They hurt us on a couple toss sweeps. They had some good blocking and running of course. Addison [Gillam] didn't play as much as we would have liked. He'll play more this week in the game. That'll be good for us. I thought Rick [Gamboa] did some good things; I thought Kenneth Olugbode did some good things. In this game when you go a fast pace, you're going to need to substitute some, so we will do that."
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On Jay MacIntyre's Pass
"He made a nice throw on the reverse-pass. He's thrown a lot growing up, so we know he can make that throw. We've practiced it a lot. He threw it okay. I wish the corner wouldn't have fallen off; the corner should've stayed on the post. I think Sefo would have run for a touchdown, but it worked out."
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On Oregon Attempting Two-Point Conversions
"We prepare every week for what we call muddle huddles. They have multiple muddle huddles, so we have to spend time on that. That's one of the reasons that Oregon does that is that you'll spend time working on that as a defense. You got to spend time in practice every day which takes away working on things with their offense. They're very dynamic at it. Charles Nelson, number six, is their two-point holder guy. Then, they bring in number 12, one of the backup quarterbacks, he comes in and holds. Mainly number six, he's fast, he's quick, he's made a lot of plays on that. They've got a lot of different formations. We need to line up correctly and stop it. Sometimes they're not worried about what you're going to line up in, they're going to run it anyway; sometimes they look to see what you're in, if you're lined up properly. If you're not lined up properly they run it and score easily. We've got to be prepared for that; they do a good job at it."
Wide Receiver Jay MacIntyre
On Working With Freshman Quarterback Steven Montez
"In spring Montez was going with the 1's and the 2's and got a lot of reps. It made us feel more comfortable with him, which has helped us feel comfortable with him now. He's been doing a great job."
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On Filling The Leadership Void Created By Senior Quaterback Sefo Liufau's Injury
"We've got great leaders on the offensive side of the ball, with four of our captain's being on offense, tight end George Frazier, running back Phillip Lindsay, left tackle Jeromy Irwin, and Sefo. Sefo's always going to be there. He's a guy who leads by example and with what he says. He's going to be there leading no matter if he's playing or injured. We look up to all those guys, and they're always positive and uplifting. They'll be able to lead us."
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On The Offense's Performance Against Michigan
"As an offense I thought that we started out fast. We came into that game with a lot of confidence, and we still have a lot of confidence now. I think we thought that we could go in there and win and we proved that we could play with them at the beginning of the game when we were up 21-7. Once Sefo got hurt – and Sefo is our leader – that took a little bit of a toll. But Steven (Montez) is a guy who has a really strong arm and can make plays. Some of it was that we didn't make plays for him but we will this game if Montez happens to play."
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On Wide Receiver Devin Ross's Improvements
"Devin's been awesome. He put in so much work during the offseason, and he puts in work at practice. He's just changed his mind set this year to play confident no matter what. Chev' (Coach Darrin Chiaverini) kind of brings that to all the receivers. He brings the one snap and clear mentality and he says to always play confident, that if you drop a ball who cares, on to the next play. I think that's really rubbed off on Devin. Devin's been playing great football and I'm really proud of the way he's been playing."
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On How The Offense Differs From Last Season
"We're definitely going faster this season. Chev' brings that mentally at practice, always telling us to hurry it up. He'll get upset if we're jogging after a deep route. We definitely have been going faster. I think last year that we were a good offense, but we didn't happen to score as many points as we wanted. But this year we've stepped it up and more guys are making plays and we're scoring more points so hopefully we can keep it up."
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On The High-Tempo Of The Offense Affecting Defenses
"I can definitely see defenses on their heels reacting to us. That first game that we played against Colorado State, in the first couple of possessions you could just tell that they were winded. That happened against Idaho State too. Even against Michigan when we got up on them, I noticed it as well. I think our tempo is key, and once we get a first down we just need to keep going and going. Once we do that we're able to put up points in a hurry."
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On Returning Punts
"I think I've done a pretty good job at returning punts. It's something I did in high school, and it's something that's always come natural to me. My dad and uncle were punt returners, so we've always returned punts as a family. At first when you go back there, you're not really sure what to expect. Now it's all comfortable and it comes natural to me."
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On Talking Football With The Family
"There's no football-talk-at-the-dinner-table rule. But we tend to keep football here, and be father-son away from football. I think we have a great balance with football and our father-son (relationship). But there's always sometimes where we'll bring it up and talk football at the dinner table. My brother likes to give his opinions on how I did or how my dad did. He's usually the one who brings it up and we have to answer all the questions because he's got plenty of them. My mom will also jump into the conversation as well – she's a football wife. My sister will jump in too. She's one of those people you don't want to sit by at a game, she'll go crazy. If we're losing, sometimes she'll have to get away and go throw up. It's definitely a football family, and we really enjoy each other when we're around each other. It's been good."
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On Throwing A Pass Last Week At Michigan
"I always dreamed about playing quarterback at the college level. When they called the pass play for me to go in and throw I was pretty pumped. I wish the corner hadn't gone off and Sefo could have scored. But I like the 217 passer rating, and I think that puts me third in the Pac-12."
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On Playing Oregon
"We feel like we can win every game we play. It's not really about Oregon, it's about us and that's how we go into every game. Coach MacIntyre has been preaching that since day one; that's how we're going into this game against Oregon. It's no different than going into the Michigan game or the Idaho State game. It's just us, and if we do our thing we think we'll be able to win the game."
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"In spring Montez was going with the 1's and the 2's and got a lot of reps. It made us feel more comfortable with him, which has helped us feel comfortable with him now. He's been doing a great job."
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On Filling The Leadership Void Created By Senior Quaterback Sefo Liufau's Injury
"We've got great leaders on the offensive side of the ball, with four of our captain's being on offense, tight end George Frazier, running back Phillip Lindsay, left tackle Jeromy Irwin, and Sefo. Sefo's always going to be there. He's a guy who leads by example and with what he says. He's going to be there leading no matter if he's playing or injured. We look up to all those guys, and they're always positive and uplifting. They'll be able to lead us."
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On The Offense's Performance Against Michigan
"As an offense I thought that we started out fast. We came into that game with a lot of confidence, and we still have a lot of confidence now. I think we thought that we could go in there and win and we proved that we could play with them at the beginning of the game when we were up 21-7. Once Sefo got hurt – and Sefo is our leader – that took a little bit of a toll. But Steven (Montez) is a guy who has a really strong arm and can make plays. Some of it was that we didn't make plays for him but we will this game if Montez happens to play."
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On Wide Receiver Devin Ross's Improvements
"Devin's been awesome. He put in so much work during the offseason, and he puts in work at practice. He's just changed his mind set this year to play confident no matter what. Chev' (Coach Darrin Chiaverini) kind of brings that to all the receivers. He brings the one snap and clear mentality and he says to always play confident, that if you drop a ball who cares, on to the next play. I think that's really rubbed off on Devin. Devin's been playing great football and I'm really proud of the way he's been playing."
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On How The Offense Differs From Last Season
"We're definitely going faster this season. Chev' brings that mentally at practice, always telling us to hurry it up. He'll get upset if we're jogging after a deep route. We definitely have been going faster. I think last year that we were a good offense, but we didn't happen to score as many points as we wanted. But this year we've stepped it up and more guys are making plays and we're scoring more points so hopefully we can keep it up."
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On The High-Tempo Of The Offense Affecting Defenses
"I can definitely see defenses on their heels reacting to us. That first game that we played against Colorado State, in the first couple of possessions you could just tell that they were winded. That happened against Idaho State too. Even against Michigan when we got up on them, I noticed it as well. I think our tempo is key, and once we get a first down we just need to keep going and going. Once we do that we're able to put up points in a hurry."
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On Returning Punts
"I think I've done a pretty good job at returning punts. It's something I did in high school, and it's something that's always come natural to me. My dad and uncle were punt returners, so we've always returned punts as a family. At first when you go back there, you're not really sure what to expect. Now it's all comfortable and it comes natural to me."
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On Talking Football With The Family
"There's no football-talk-at-the-dinner-table rule. But we tend to keep football here, and be father-son away from football. I think we have a great balance with football and our father-son (relationship). But there's always sometimes where we'll bring it up and talk football at the dinner table. My brother likes to give his opinions on how I did or how my dad did. He's usually the one who brings it up and we have to answer all the questions because he's got plenty of them. My mom will also jump into the conversation as well – she's a football wife. My sister will jump in too. She's one of those people you don't want to sit by at a game, she'll go crazy. If we're losing, sometimes she'll have to get away and go throw up. It's definitely a football family, and we really enjoy each other when we're around each other. It's been good."
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On Throwing A Pass Last Week At Michigan
"I always dreamed about playing quarterback at the college level. When they called the pass play for me to go in and throw I was pretty pumped. I wish the corner hadn't gone off and Sefo could have scored. But I like the 217 passer rating, and I think that puts me third in the Pac-12."
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On Playing Oregon
"We feel like we can win every game we play. It's not really about Oregon, it's about us and that's how we go into every game. Coach MacIntyre has been preaching that since day one; that's how we're going into this game against Oregon. It's no different than going into the Michigan game or the Idaho State game. It's just us, and if we do our thing we think we'll be able to win the game."
Defensive End Samson Kafovalu
On The Challenge That Oregon Presents
"We're pretty prepared for that up tempo offense. Our defense is based on the three front but we may run some four fronts. We're definitely getting prepared to keep inside leverages which is my job and play within the defense."
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On Last Week's Michigan Game
"Michigan being number four, they had some nice jerseys, the Jordan ones. But they've always been a power house. Harbaugh's been a great coach there. Technique wise going up against their linemen, they're sound in their feet and hands. They were a pretty big competition for us. We learned that we were in it with them. There are just little things that we have to correct to be elite. They're an elite team and we're a good team who's striving to be better every day. We need to just correct the plays that we messed up on and not boast about the great plays we made."
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On Josh Tupou
"Our defensive front is a lot better than last year. Justin Solis was a big factor in some of our wins last year and stops on defensive fronts. Just having Toupou there is a big presence. He's a big guy. I love him. He and I are long distance cousins. The bond and chemistry that we've made since we got here is special. He's definitely a great guy."
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On Starting Pac-12 Plays
"I've been very excited to get to the opener of the Pac-12. I'm very glad it's Oregon. My brother walked on to Oregon so I'm excited to dominate some of those guys on the line. The complexly of their O-Line, we're aware of it. We know their technique is sound. They run hit screens, they run zone, they block down on the tight end. I'm very excited and I know the team behind me is excited as well. Growing up, I've always known Pac-12 schools, USC being my favorite. I've grown out of it. My older brother got letters from Oregon and showed me all of their new uniforms. I didn't want to see it. It's very important for me to come out in this game and do what I have to do."
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On Derek McCartney's Season-Ending Injury
"I just remember when Derek scored that touchdown. I just hopped and praised. I knew in that moment that he's very blessed. When I saw that he was hurt, it affected me. I knew that we weren't going to have the same guy sitting on the edge rushing the quarterback and getting after it at the games. I'm pretty sure NJ Falo and Christian Shaver and Terran Hasselbach will be pretty good substitutes for Derek."
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On Oregon Quarterback Dakota Prukop
"He's very fast. His speed is there. He can scramble in and out of the pocket and scramble for first downs. He's very athletic. He can make a lot of people miss. Once he gets outside, I feel like he's not afraid to go hit somebody. Just being in the pocket, he can throw the ball, he can throw the screen. He's a very mobile and athletic quarterback."
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"We're pretty prepared for that up tempo offense. Our defense is based on the three front but we may run some four fronts. We're definitely getting prepared to keep inside leverages which is my job and play within the defense."
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On Last Week's Michigan Game
"Michigan being number four, they had some nice jerseys, the Jordan ones. But they've always been a power house. Harbaugh's been a great coach there. Technique wise going up against their linemen, they're sound in their feet and hands. They were a pretty big competition for us. We learned that we were in it with them. There are just little things that we have to correct to be elite. They're an elite team and we're a good team who's striving to be better every day. We need to just correct the plays that we messed up on and not boast about the great plays we made."
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On Josh Tupou
"Our defensive front is a lot better than last year. Justin Solis was a big factor in some of our wins last year and stops on defensive fronts. Just having Toupou there is a big presence. He's a big guy. I love him. He and I are long distance cousins. The bond and chemistry that we've made since we got here is special. He's definitely a great guy."
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On Starting Pac-12 Plays
"I've been very excited to get to the opener of the Pac-12. I'm very glad it's Oregon. My brother walked on to Oregon so I'm excited to dominate some of those guys on the line. The complexly of their O-Line, we're aware of it. We know their technique is sound. They run hit screens, they run zone, they block down on the tight end. I'm very excited and I know the team behind me is excited as well. Growing up, I've always known Pac-12 schools, USC being my favorite. I've grown out of it. My older brother got letters from Oregon and showed me all of their new uniforms. I didn't want to see it. It's very important for me to come out in this game and do what I have to do."
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On Derek McCartney's Season-Ending Injury
"I just remember when Derek scored that touchdown. I just hopped and praised. I knew in that moment that he's very blessed. When I saw that he was hurt, it affected me. I knew that we weren't going to have the same guy sitting on the edge rushing the quarterback and getting after it at the games. I'm pretty sure NJ Falo and Christian Shaver and Terran Hasselbach will be pretty good substitutes for Derek."
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On Oregon Quarterback Dakota Prukop
"He's very fast. His speed is there. He can scramble in and out of the pocket and scramble for first downs. He's very athletic. He can make a lot of people miss. Once he gets outside, I feel like he's not afraid to go hit somebody. Just being in the pocket, he can throw the ball, he can throw the screen. He's a very mobile and athletic quarterback."
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Players Mentioned
TE
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OL
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OLB
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OL
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DT
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TB
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QB
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WR
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OLB
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QB
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ILB
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WR
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OLB
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DL
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DT
/ FootballColorado vs Delaware | Week 2 Highlights
Wednesday, September 10
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders Weekly Press Conference
Wednesday, September 10
Colorado Football Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 07
Mark Johnson & Gary Barnett break down the win vs Delaware | The Buffalo Stampede: Colorado Football
Sunday, September 07