Colorado-Utah Quotes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
General“Wow. These young men are special, special, special. You again saw the fight in them, which they’ve had – these guys that have been with me – for the whole time. I told them before the game, the people came to see them. They have built the mystique of Folsom back. It’s really exciting how we played tonight – how we just kept fighting, kept going, kept working and kept pushing. That’s what a championship team does, they find a way to win it. Worst to first, not many people can say they do that and our young men did that. Now, we’ve got one more to do, that’s what we set out to do. If we do that, then it takes care of everything else that could happen. I don’t want to answer any scenarios. We’ve just got to go against Washington. Right now, we’re just going to enjoy this tonight and wake up in the morning and get ready to prepare for Washington. I can’t say enough about these seniors, I’m speechless to be honest with you. They’re my heroes, that’s the best way to say it. A hero goes beyond and above what you think they can do. They don’t listen to anything. They keep going out there and rescuing people. That’s what these young men have done, they keep lifting each other up and lifting us up. I think some of these guys should be CU legends for what they’ve gone through and for what they’ve done for the University of Colorado and the University of Colorado football program.”
On Defensive Stands
“We did an excellent job of taking care of the run, which is what we knew we needed to do. We felt like our corners could lock up on their guys the majority of the game, which they did. We knew they’d make some plays. That was our plan. We had everybody up in there. The front line did an excellent job of being stout and our linebackers tackled well, our safeties tackled well. That was the key and that’s what helped us be able to keep them out of the end zone. I don’t know how many times Joe [Williams] ran the ball, but he didn’t really break out. He had one that was maybe a 15-yarder or so. He’s been breaking them and taking off. Our front seven was the key in the game along with the corners playing, because we had them on an island. So many plays out there they were one-on-one. That’s why corners are so precious.”
On The Feeling In The Locker Room
“The feeling in the locker room was awesome, but I think the feeling will hit them when they get all their family away. They’ll wake up in the middle of the night and go, ‘wow.’ They’ll have that moment when it’s just them by themselves when you’ve accomplished something that nobody thinks you’re going to accomplish and you do something nobody thinks you can do and really you probably doubted yourself at times. When you can do something like that, it’s truly a special life lesson. I’ll have fun with my family tonight and we’ll enjoy it. I guarantee I’ll wake up sometime in the middle of the night and go out in the den and just sit there, and pray and cry and yell. It’s an emotional deal. Then, we’ll get back together and get ready to go to play Washington, which is going to be awesome.”
On Utah’s Defense Slowing Down The Offense
“They did a good job. They went to a Bear Front mainly. We had some things going to work on it. They knocked down a lot of passes at the line of scrimmage, which hurt us. They pressured us a little bit. We made some plays. We could have had two or three more plays where we dropped the ball that would have made a huge difference in the game. Some of the things they were doing, it made it harder to run Phillip [Lindsay] as much. We got out of rhythm on a couple of them. We’ll get back to working on that and find a way to do that, because I imagine Washington will do that. We’ll be ready for that.”
On Forcing Fumbles That Result In Scores For The Offense
“I couldn’t see the one they fumbled going in (the end zone). The one coming out (of the end zone), we held him up and did exactly what we always do – we ripped it out. That’s a drill we work on every week. The other one, I couldn’t see if we just hit the ball or if he was holding the ball wrong. I’ll have to tell on film. They were both huge plays, but the one that I remember, we had him held up and Ryan Moeller ripped it out. That was a huge play.”
On How Forcing Fumbles Affected The Game
“That put us up 27-16, so it gave us more cushion. So, they had to throw the ball all the time. They moved down there and were able to score on that one drive. They had a good fourth-down hit that they got on a fourth down play. The big in the game to me was the stop on the two-point conversion. I thought that was a really big play. What I loved was that we got the ball back and we ran the clock out. They had three timeouts and we did that. That’s pretty special. We had the big heavy group and ran that. That’s something we work on. That was great to see. We needed to see that, because our defense was tired and they had a little momentum and that finished the game off.”
On Getting To The Title Fight
“I’m really excited for these young men that we have the opportunity to experience this. Washington’s goal is to win the Pac-12 and our goal is to win the Pac-12. It’s going to be a great game. It’s exciting to have the best team in the north and the best team in the south going up against each other. It’s going to be spectacular. I think it’s been a while since either one of us to get to a championship game. It’s really exciting.”
On Sefo Liufau Leading Touchdown Drive To Go Up 20-13
“We really needed it, because we were just sputtering there with all the tipped balls. We knew they had a good defense. I think they lead the country in sacks. We knew that was going to be tough. We had a heck of a drive. He made a heck of a throw down the sidelines and hit Jay [MacIntyre]; that was a big play. He made a great throw on the fade route to Shay [Fields]. That was excellent drive. It showed a lot of guts, because it looked like they stopped us again. That’s when our guys turned it on.”
On Meaning Of Going To The Pac-12 Championship
“I can’t really put it into words right now. The best word I can use right now is joy. Joy from the bottom of my toes to the top of my head for the players, the coaches, everybody involved with our program, all the fans that stayed with us and all the fans that came back. It’s just really gratifying on that side of it. I’m so happy for these kids and we have the opportunity to go play for the Pac-12 Championship.”
On The Play Of The Special Teams
“The first one, on the punt, we just didn’t get a very good punt and we line-drived it right to the dude and he got going. He made two of us miss and was able to hit it fast before we got down there and got in shape. He made a great run, they had good returners. The other one, they took the kickoff return and the guy hit it up in there. It looks like we got knocked out and a guy missed a tackle. Great job by Chido [Awuzie] running him down. They got three points. That was huge at the time. He could have not gave that effort. I think that’s a prime example of a senior giving everything he’s got and barely knocked his foot out of bounds. I thought that was a big momentum play when we stopped them right there. That’s something we’ve got to keep working on. When you play good teams, things like that are going to happen. You have to overcome them and make plays on the other side of it. Our field goal kickers kicked well tonight, which is exciting.”
On Preparing For Washington
“We already broke them down. We have every game broken down. We have that ready to go and we’ll start on that tomorrow morning. The good thing is we already had Washington State broken down, so we started breaking down Washington. We broke it down today. I haven’t watched them a ton, because we were all focused on this game. They’ve got a great quarterback. They’ve got some great running backs and receivers. Their defense is stout. They’ve got great corners like we do. It’s going to be a heck of a contest. I know they’re looking forward to it and we’re looking forward to it.”
On What Phrase Best Describes Tonight
“‘Welcome to the fight’ and ‘Don’t blink.’ They just kept going and they never blink. They don’t let anything get them down, they just keep playing. We’re going to find a way. That’s what you have to do if you want to be a championship team, because you’re never going to always be pretty. You’d like to win every one of them 41-7, but that’s not going to happen.”
On Team Finishing Games
“I said it when it was happening, when we would be ready to do it, we’d do it. It’s a process mentally, physically. We have more depth, we have more guys that can keep going. They’ve been in that situation a lot. Now that you win a few, they think they’re going to win. That’s the mentality part of it. You wish you could take a magic wand, but it takes hard work and them believing in themselves. They calm down in those situations instead of getting hyper. We still play with the same intensity.”
On Defense Forcing 24 Turnovers And Limiting Teams To 23 Touchdowns
“It says that they’re good. We’re a good defense and we’re a good offense. We’re a good football team. We’ve been causing turnovers, that’s something we’ve worked on since the day I got here. We keep improving it. Our DB’s are breaking on the ball well.”
On Missing Bryce Bobo And If He’ll Play Next Week
“I sure hope so. I hope Bryce is ready to go. There’s a good chance that he will be. He was with us all week getting treatment. He’ll be in there tomorrow morning. I thought Kabion Ento did well in his spot, but we still miss Bryce. That shows you our depth. It looks like we’re okay right now (as a team with injuries). I really won’t know until later on tonight.”
On Defense Improving With Jim Leavitt And Joe Tumpkin
“They’ve made a big difference in that. We’ve always done the same exact drills. Our kids are bigger, stronger, faster and more powerful. When you hit them a little harder, the ball bounces out. When you’re a little bit stronger, you can hold them up and pull the ball out. All those types of things have helped tremendously too. We play aggressive. They do an incredible job with that. Jim and Joe have done a really good job.”
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
General“I’m proud of our guys, our guys are warriors. It’s a shame they had to lose, especially the defense. Defense played hard, special teams gave us a chance to win, kept us in the ball game. That’s a good team we played and its shame that we didn’t get it done. We had our chances, but you’ve got to score and we didn’t do that.”
On Up And Down Season From RB Joe Williams
“He was a huge part of our success once he came back (from retirement). I don’t know where we would’ve been without him, maybe somebody would have stepped up, but we know that he was a huge value to our football team. He struggled tonight, put the ball on the ground a couple of times. I love Joe Williams, he’s a competitor.”
On Whether Execution or Play Calling Caused Inability to Run the Ball
“We had no idea that we would do that on offense, or not do that as the case was. We were non-existent on offense. I think it with a performance like that it’s all the above (play calling and execution).”
On One Red Zone Failure Adding Pressure To Others
“I don’t know about that, I just know that we’ve been brutally bad in the red zone all year long. Coaches have as much responsibility as anyone, if not more. I’m not going to point fingers at the players, that not how we operate.”
On Whether He’s Happy To Go Anywhere For Bowl Game
“Yeah, I think we’re happy to go anywhere. I don’t know where we’re going. I guess, what is there, six bowl eligible teams in our conference, I don’t know how that’s all going to shake out, it’s a little bit different this year than most years, so I don’t know how it’ll work out. We’re excited to be going to a bowl game, I’m glad these guys get to play together one more time because they deserve that. It’s a chance to win our ninth game and that would be a very positive end to our season, as disappointing as the last few weeks have been.”
On Offensive Adjustments Before Bowl Game
“I think it depends on what bowl you go to. Some bowls are really quick (soon), some bowls are later on, I think the timing of that would come into play, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
On All Six Meetings With CU Being Decided By Seven or Fewer Points Since Joining Conference
“It’s been a great series. It’s been tight as far as the outcome of each game. We got beat by them the first year, then a run of what, four in a row? Then we got beat today, but every game has been competitive and gone down to the wire and been exciting.”
On Whether CU Feels Like a Rival
“No, because there’s no bad blood. I’ve got all the respect in the world for these guys (Colorado). They do it the right way, they’re well coached. Their players act the way they’re supposed to act on the field… and that’s very impressive, how they act, and carry themselves, and conduct themselves on the field.”
On Whether His Team Was Sufficiently Motivated
“Oh yeah, I think so. I think we were very motivated, practices were great all week long. This team fought all the way to the bitter the end, there was no lack of effort, or lack of interest, or lack of focus with these guys.”
On Message To Team After Game
“That I was proud to be there coach, that I loved every one of them. They were all a bunch of tough warriors and I’m looking forward to being able to line up and coach them one more time, those seniors especially.”
On Boobie Hobbs Not Returning
“Injury. We’ll find out more tomorrow and Monday but he was not able to come back. That was a heck of a return, he had a couple nice returns, but that one was phenomenal. That was on a ‘safe’ punt return where you usually don’t have a lot of blocking, but I give credit to our defensive personnel, they take that very seriously. In a ‘safe’ punt situation, you leave your defense on the field, we have a designed return man that did a great job executing it. Then Kyle Fulks with his kickoff return, what we got down to the 4-yard line, 3-yard line, and come up with a field goal, how about that? Pretty much sums up the night.”
On Added Disappointment Seeing Colorado Achieve His Teams Goal Of Playing In Pac-12 Championship Game
“I don’t know, we’re just disappointed. They earned, and deserve more than their fill.”
Colorado Players
C Alex Kelley
ON THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS MOMENT - “Yep, this is the best moment of my Folsom career. We have one more game next week, Pac-12 Championship and if we win that, that’ll be the next best moment of my career. It’s so nice. It was awesome. From where we’ve been to where we are now and how I’ve been here through all of that; I can’t even put it into words how awesome it is.”ON PREPARATION FOR THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP - “We’ll continue to do what we do, stick to our process and continue to prepare for Washington. We’re going to stick to what we’ve been doing the whole year.”
LB Addison Gillam
ON HAVING SO MUCH OF THE GAME RELY ON THE DEFENSE - “We just look at it as a positive thing. It’s not really a negative thing to us anymore. We like it. We like going out there and being able to stop, showing what our defensive is about. It feels good, I like it.”ON SLOWING DOWN UTAH’S RUN GAME - “That was the plan, trying to slow down their run game. We knew it was going to be a physical game. They have a great o-line who’s really physical. We are just trying to go out there and be more physical than them and stop the run.”
ON THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS MOMENT - “It’s hard to describe. It’s crazy. It hasn’t really hit me yet. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s hard but it’s great, it feels so awesome.”
ON MOVING ON FROM BAD PLAYS - “The biggest thing is that we don’t get down on anybody. If we don’t or do make a play, it’s like okay good job, and we move on to the next play.”
ON PREPARATION GOING INTO THIS WEEK - “Staying focused is the biggest thing. Coach MacIntyre says it all the time; we just have to stay laser focused throughout the week. We have to stay focused in practice and go out there every day and try to get better.”
DE Jordan Carrell
On the emotions for himself and the team after the victory - “We started from the bottom and now we are here. It is just a great team win and I’m excited for where we are headed. We made it to our goal and now we just have to go out there and win. We like to say the saying, ‘everybody eats’ - and that is what happened today. All sides of the ball, everybody got their share and everybody played well. It was a great team win.”On what allows the defense to repeatedely get the job done for the team – “Our defense is all about senior leadership – and we are a tight brotherhood. We all have each other’s backs on and off the field. We trust each other. We know that defense wins championships and that this was going to be a defensive battle. Best defense was going to win today and that is what we did.”
ON HOW TOUGH IT IS TO FOCUS ON NEXT GAME CONSIDERING THE STAKES – “We are all excited. I sent a text out to Coach Mac. Last year on December 31st. he said, ‘I can’t wait to coach you 2016 PAC-12 champs.’ Just looking back at that text, it is a great feeling to know that we made it to this championship and now it is time to really give Buff Nation what they deserve – and that is to win another championship out here in Colorado. I just can’t thank this team and these coaches enough for preparing us well. We are ready to get back to work at 9:30am tomorrow after the banquet. It’s going to be a great one on Friday in Levis Stadium.”
OLB Jimmie Gilbert
ON THE DEFENSIVE GAMEPLAN TONIGHT- “Our main thing was to limit number 28 to as few yards as possible, being able to set edges, stop the counters, stop the zone reads, and fly’s, and everything else that they do – and really try to make them as one-dimensional as possible.ON HOW THE DEFENSE MANGES TO CARRY OUT A VICTORY- “One thing our coach always says is, ‘They are not heavy, they are our brother. When one group is not producing, it is the other groups job to step up and carry the weight. Today the offense was having a hard time putting points on the board so as a defense we tried our best to work together and limit them to as many yards, touchdowns, and scoring opportunities as possible. When we do that, we know sooner or later our offense is going to get rolling again and put more points on the board. If we can keep them below our offense, we are good.”
ON HOW EMOTIONAL TONIGHT WAS FOR HIM – “It wasn’t really emotional for me because for me, I feel like we still have another job to do. It is a special night, great night, final game at Folsom, and we came out with a victory. But now that that game is over, my attention is just turned to the next one. We still have a job to do, we still have business - so I try not to celebrate too much on one victory because I know next week we have another fight on our hands.”
ON HOW CHALLENING NEXT WEEK WILL BE CONSIDERING THE STAKES AND A SHORT PRACTICE WEEK AT HAND – “We have played on short weeks before. We just have to come in, study film, get mental reps, get film reps, the practice reps – get everything in as much as possible, as fast as possible. They are coming off of a short week too. They put their pants on just like we do. We always respect our opponents, give each opponent the same respect every game. We are going to work hard to stop Washington.”
DB Ryan Moeller
ON HOW SPECIAL TONIGHT WAS AFTER NOT PLAYING LAST WEEK’S GAME – “It was amazing, fantastic, everything you can think of. It is the best feeling being able to send these guys off with a victory – I don’t think we have been able to do that in a few years. We have been close but to be able to finally do it and being able to say I came in with these guys – and I get another year at it. The packed house, the entre environment was just bred for us to win. Me having to come back and play, I knew I needed to prepare for my teammates and my brothers – otherwise I would let them down on this big night.”ON THE KEY TO THE DEFNESVE GAMEPLAN TONIGHT – “We had to look at where they were going to score their points. When you have a high-octane offense like this where they have speed from receivers, speed from the backs, and experience from the line, you really have to identify each bit of it. For their run game, everyone had to be gap-sound. Everyone has to do their 1/11th. Once you start worrying and hoping someone else will be there, then you aren’t paying attention to your own job. We just had faith in everyone and knew where everyone was going to be – we just had to execute.”
LB Rick Gamboa
ON STOPPING UTAH’S RUNNING GAME - “Joe Williams is a great running back, he’s been playing really well recently and that was a big part of our game plan going into this game. We couldn’t let him run a route on us and if we were able to slow him down and stop him then we knew we would have a chance to get this win tonight. I nth red zone we preach that if they’re going to get there we can’t let them get in the end zone. We have to hold them to field goals or create turnovers. That’s what we were able to do tonight. A key turnover was the one that Ryan Moeller caused. That was big for us at that moment in the game.”ON HE AND KENNETH OLUGBODE’S CONNECTION - “We were both talking about that; we knew that the offense was struggling a little bit and that defensively we needed to make a play. We were talking about forcing a turnover and getting the offense the ball or scoring as a defense. I held the running back up and I pulled the ball out and he was in the perfect spot to pick it up and score. That was a big play for us in the game.”
ON STOPPING UTAH ON FOURTH AND ONE – “We definitely had a prideful moment there, especially in the front seven. For them to go for a fourth and one at that moment, we knew up front that we had to make a play and we had to make a stop. We did that. That was a big turning point in the game and helped the offense with good field position which they didn’t get a lot of early in the game.”
DB Tedric Thompson
ON TEAM EXCITEMENT - “I’m not really thinking about the individual stats. I’m just happy that we won. It’s truly a blessing. Nobody thought we’d be here, especially four years ago. But we kept our faith in Coach Mac and in each other. It’s a blessing to see the excitement in the locker room and the excitement on the seniors faces and the excitement on Coach Mac’s face. We have to keep it going because we’re about to face a great Washington team on Friday.”ON DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT THE PAST TWO YEARS - “I think you have to give a lot of credit to our coaching staff. Coach Leavitt and Coach Tumpkin came here and pretty much turned it around. We weren’t getting that many turnovers before. Coach Leavitt has been stressing that since he’s gotten here. It’s hard to create turnovers but if we do create them we give the ball back to Sefo and the offense and they’ll make something happen. Each and every game we try to go in there and create as many turnovers as we can.
ON STICKING BY HIS TEAM - “I think I come from a strong background. Being raised by my mom, she taught me to never give up on anybody so I think that’s the main reason. Even when I was getting recruited, Coach Bernardi was my recruiting coach. He told me from the coach that I wasn’t going to come here and go to the Rose Bowl straight from the start. I respected that because during the recruiting process, a lot of coaches come in and tell white lies. Me being a 17 year old kid, I didn’t know who was telling the truth or not but with the help of God, my mom, my baby sister and my grandma, they got me to the right place. You can tell that Coach Mac truly cares about winning. We’re going to stick with him until the end.”
ON HIS SEVEN INTERCEPTIONS THIS SEASON - “I know it’s pretty crazy but you’re going to get tired of me saying this but it really is a blessing. I really don’t know what to say around the fact that I got seven but you go back and look at them, the majority of them are because of team efforts. The d-line giving pressure or the backers can’t make their routes and the quarterback just overthrows or something. Interceptions that I have caught, I’m pretty sure that there isn’t one that was just an individual play. Even if it looks like I’m breaking from the middle of the field, it’s something the coaches told me in the middle of the week and that I was able to do at practice because our coaches are so great at breaking down film and stuff like that. It says my name next to the interception but it’s really a team effort. As long as we’re creating turnovers then I don’t care if I catch the pig skin or not.”
OB Sefo Liufau
ON BEING PAC-12 SOUTH CHAMPIONS - “Very exciting to be able to grind one out. The defense really stepped up today and offensively, we were hot and cold. It just came down to one and one match ups but shout out to the defense holding Utah’s offense. It was really big all game. It’s a great feeling to put in the hard work with these guys and to finally get something out of it. We have been working hard for the whole time I’ve been here and we don’t have much to show for it but this year we do. I can’t thank the defense enough and guys like Devin [Ross]; the guys you all don’t really want to interview or talk to all the time, those guys are stepping up this year and making plays. I really struggled today in terms of keeping hold of the ball. I fumbled twice but the defense had my back today, the offensive line had my back and the receivers had my back. I think because we are such a close team now, it makes everything that much sweeter.”ON RUNNING THE BALL – “They just ran a lot of guys in the box and they played man on the outside. When they do that it’s really hard to run your running back because they always have a free man running. It’s the same reason why I ran a lot tonight. There is an extra blocker if I am running the ball because you have to account for them and their safety was coming down really fast. So, we just had to adjust on the fly. We didn’t do the best as an offensive unit. We didn’t always do our job consistently and that’s kind of why we struggled tonight.”
ON MISTAKES MADE DURING THE GAME - “In a game it’s never as good or bad as it seems. I think we did some really good things and we just didn’t capitalize. I was an idiot and I missed Devin a few times, he’s too fast for his own good sometimes, streaking through the end zone. I missed a throw to George Frazier. It’s not all bad. There’s definitely some positives we can take. That Utah defense is one of the best we’ve played all year so it’s also a credit to them for how they played. Their front is very good, very active. Those linebackers were making some one on one plays with our running backs which is really big.”
ON KEEPING HIS EMOTIONS IN CHECK AFTER HIS FUMBLE - “It was very important. I think for the most part during the year I’ve done a good job of keeping my emotions in check but I kind of let them go after that fumble because we were moving the chains and rolling. To fumble like that is really frustrating. It was really important to go back down there and make some big plays need be and score some points. Our defense had been doing a lot during the game and I didn’t want to keep putting them back out on the field because it’s unfair to them to be on the field so much and for us to rely on them so much.”
ON DEFENSIVE PLAY - “They had some very key turnovers for us. Ryan Moeller had one forced fumble and Kenneth Olugbode took the other forced fumble in. The front seven did a helluva job keeping that running back in check who’s been doing well all season. The secondary, those DBs back there, I’ve been going against them for four years now and to see how tight it is back there, you have to make some good throws and having great timing with your receivers. They’ve been working hard all year. It’s a testament to how they’re working. They deserve a lot of the credit tonight because they played very well.”
ON THE BUFFALO HEART AWARD – “I got the Buffalo Heart Award. It’s a great honor to get that award. Nothing but thanks, praise, blessings. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates pushing me and getting through these years because it’s been a grind to get through all off the bad to get to the good. In my mind it’s not just my award because sometimes when I’m really down those guys pick me up and keep me going. I’ve very thankful and blessed for the award.”
WR Devin Ross
ON IS CU GREAT AGAIN? – “We’re getting there We’re close. We’re getting really good after that win but we still have a lot of work left to do.”ON EMOTIONS ON THE SIDELINE - “The sideline was emotional. Especially for me because I dedicated this game to my grandma who passed away this week. I also dedicated it to the seniors. It’s exciting. I was pretty emotional on the sideline. It was an unreal, a once in a lifetime experience. I just appreciated my teammates and my seniors coming out and being here for the last four or five years. I’m glad we got to help them go out on top.”
ON TEAM POTENTIAL - “It shows that we have so much potential even playing as bad as we did overall on the offensive side of the ball. It shows how much potential we have in the upcoming weeks so we have a lot of game planning to do for the next couple of weeks and we’ll execute.”
Utah Players
DE Hunter Dimick
ON GAME -“I’m disappointed, we had our chances we just didn’t capitalize on them.”THOUGHTS ON OFFENSE - “You will have to ask them, I worry about the defense.”
ON CURRENT EMOTIONS- “Again I am disappointed. However, we got a bowl game that we have to go to. As bad as it hurts we have another game that we need to get ready for.”
ON BEING READY FOR GAME - “We feel like that every week. We don’t show up expecting not to win, credit to them. They made more plays than we did tonight.”
ON COLORADO’S RUN GAME - “We made some quick adjustments at half time. We felt that we had a good grip on their game plan coming in. They executed some plays well against us at first, then we made some corrections for them.”
ON OFFENSE NOT CONVERTING - “It’s a team game man. They didn’t convert sometimes, we didn’t get stops sometimes. There isn’t any finger pointing.”
ON INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE - “It’s just a game. It’s not about me, it’s about us. We didn’t get the win, it is always fun to play well. However the bottom line is the win or loss that determines the mood.”
RB Joe Williams
ON FUMBLES - “I just didn’t carry it well enough. They have a good defense that cause a lot of forced fumbles and turnovers this year. You just have to tip your hat to them because they made a good play.”ON TRYING TO MAKE PLAYS - “They play a sound defense, they are really disciplined filling their gaps. Some of the plays it was hard to get to the second level.”
ON SEASON - “It has been a rollercoaster. Everybody understands me leaving and coming back but I have a good group of teammates and coaches that understood and supported me every step of the way. It has been a blessing to come and finish the season off.”
ON RED ZONE PERFORMANCE - “It is just bad execution on our part, we just have to get better in that area. It has been a problem all season. We just have to go back to the drawing board and get ready for this bowl game.”
ON PLAY CALLS - “I’m not selfish. If they call Troy’s number, I am just going to block for him. Scoring helps the offense, I’m not selfish.”
ON COLORDAO’S ABILITY TO LOCK HIM DOWN - “I guess that was a pretty significant part of their game plan this week, just to slow me down. But that also opened the door for the receivers and other aspects of our offense. We came up a little short, I just wish that we would have capitalized on some of those field goals and made those into touchdowns but that is just how the game went.”
QB Troy Williams
GENERAL - “I'm disappointed. I let the seniors down. I feel like I let everyone down. This is not the way we wanted to go out.”ON PLAY IN THE RED ZONE - “We just weren't able to get it done; point, blank, period. I don't know if it's a scientific thing about it or statistics, or whatever, but we just didn’t get it done.”
ON HANGOVER FROM OREGON LOSS - “There was no hangover. The defense played lights out, it was offense that couldn't get it done.”
ON MISCOMMUNICATIONS DURING THE GAME - “No, we just couldn't get it done.”
ON BOUNCING BACK FROM A LOSS - “We just have to focus on the winning the bowl game. We don't lose bowl games that's what coach just told us. So, we have to focus on that. At the end of the day, though, we are blessed to be playing this game of football. That's how I look at it. It hurts to lose, but it's still a blessing to be in this position.”
ON PLAY CALLS - “No finger pointing. We just didn't get it done.”
ON TIRING AT THE END OF SEASON - “No. We talk about it all the time. We were three plays from being undefeated, despite this game. But I don't feel like we were tired out or anything. We just couldn't get it done.”
ON HIS WORDS TO TEAM AS CAPTAINS - “Everybody has got to keep their heads up. It hurts, but we still have one more game. We still have one more time to go out there with each other and enjoy it.”