Colorado-Arizona Quotes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
General
“Could someone please tackle No. 14 [Khalil Tate] for Arizona? That was the difference in the football game. He was amazing. He should be National Player of the Week. He’s a phenomenal player. I think they’ve found their quarterback now.”
On Adjusting To A New Quarterback To Defend
“We have to tackle No. 14. We had held up, we made him change direction and we stopped the original play multiple times and he just outruns us. We missed a few times. He made some great plays. Of course, we could have done better and coached better. We couldn’t tackle him.”
On The Play Of The Offense
“The offense did everything they could. After his (Khalil Tate) fourth time out there, I said I don’t know if we’re ever going to get this kid down. We did everything we could. We tried. We’ve got to do a better job on defense of corralling the quarterback. I told the offense that we’re going to have to run the ball and keep them off the field as best we can. We turned into, about halfway through the second quarter – except when we had to kick the field goal – into four-down territory. Everywhere on the field, because we weren’t going to stop them. You could just tell. He was just dynamic.”
On If He’s Ever Coached A Game Where He Wasn’t Able To Slow Down An Offensive Player
“I’ve never been in a situation like that, except for a couple times against [former Nevada quarterback Colin] Kaepernick, but they pulled him earlier in that. We couldn’t score against Nevada. They were so good at that time when they were like eighth or ninth in the country when I was at San Jose State. There were a couple plays we couldn’t touch Kaepernick. He was a heck of a player. We’ve got to get a better scheme when we play him next year to somehow corral him, there’s no doubt about it.”
On Whether There Were Discussions To Try To Onside Kick
“There was. In a three-point situation, we had them on the one third down and he threw a pass. He ran an option-pass and that was just a great play by him. We talked about it. I even talked about doing it at 11 minutes [remaining], because we hadn’t stopped them. But, I knew our offense had some momentum. Sure enough, the next play he throws a pass. I was thinking if there was any way we could just not have him go back out there. We talked about a couple different things. Maybe we should have tried, because they were going to score anyway.”
On If The Team Felt Demoralized
“I don’t think our guys are demoralized. They’re really dejected. We’ve lost two heartbreakers in a row, down to the wire. That’s the way Pac-12 games go. Last year, we won five of them like that. We’ll eventually win some more, so hopefully we can do that this week. They kept playing hard and kept fighting. I was pleased with that.”
On His Message To The Team
“We’re going to come back to work on Monday like we always do. Every coach says that but you do do that. Our rallying cry will be we’ve got to keep ourselves up and keep being positive and be motivated. We’ve got to win some games here and the kids want to do that and they well.”
On Running Back Phillip Lindsay Becoming CU’s All-Time Leader In All-Purpose Yards
“I knew it was right around the corner. It’s awesome for what Phillip’s done for our program, for the University of Colorado and the way he represents the state of Colorado. For him to do that, he’ll go down in the history books forever. It’ll be hard to break the all-purpose yards, because it’s stood for a long time. He’s got at least seven more games; that’s what we hope. He could put it far out there to where they’ll bring him back. He’ll hair will be gray sticking up by then. I’m really happy for Phillip for how he battled and fought. He was the first one talking to the team after the game in the locker room about what we needed to do and how we needed to do it. The key now is you don’t point fingers. You bond together. With the stuff we’ve got going on offense and we won’t play like that on defense again, we’ll be able to make some hay here. That’s what we need to do. We can’t start pointing fingers and griping and moaning.”
On Whether They Anticipated Khalil Tate Being The Primary Quarterback
“[Brandon] Dawkins was the one that played all the time and Khalil played a little bit. They ran the same stuff, but he just made more people miss. We needed to get tighter to him somehow. We’ll need to look at the film and see what we can do on that. If you just watch him, then they’ll hit you inside with the running back. All five of their linemen were back from last year, so they’re doing a good job up there. They moved the ball pretty good against Utah, but they had five turnovers and they still almost won the game. They beat us tonight. It’s a fun game to watch if you’re a spectator, but it’s gut-wrenching to watch if you’re a coach.”
On Whether The Team Will Finish The Season Bowl-Eligible
“I definitely think we’ll be in a bowl game. That’s what we need to do. That’s what we can hope we can do.”
“Could someone please tackle No. 14 [Khalil Tate] for Arizona? That was the difference in the football game. He was amazing. He should be National Player of the Week. He’s a phenomenal player. I think they’ve found their quarterback now.”
On Adjusting To A New Quarterback To Defend
“We have to tackle No. 14. We had held up, we made him change direction and we stopped the original play multiple times and he just outruns us. We missed a few times. He made some great plays. Of course, we could have done better and coached better. We couldn’t tackle him.”
On The Play Of The Offense
“The offense did everything they could. After his (Khalil Tate) fourth time out there, I said I don’t know if we’re ever going to get this kid down. We did everything we could. We tried. We’ve got to do a better job on defense of corralling the quarterback. I told the offense that we’re going to have to run the ball and keep them off the field as best we can. We turned into, about halfway through the second quarter – except when we had to kick the field goal – into four-down territory. Everywhere on the field, because we weren’t going to stop them. You could just tell. He was just dynamic.”
On If He’s Ever Coached A Game Where He Wasn’t Able To Slow Down An Offensive Player
“I’ve never been in a situation like that, except for a couple times against [former Nevada quarterback Colin] Kaepernick, but they pulled him earlier in that. We couldn’t score against Nevada. They were so good at that time when they were like eighth or ninth in the country when I was at San Jose State. There were a couple plays we couldn’t touch Kaepernick. He was a heck of a player. We’ve got to get a better scheme when we play him next year to somehow corral him, there’s no doubt about it.”
On Whether There Were Discussions To Try To Onside Kick
“There was. In a three-point situation, we had them on the one third down and he threw a pass. He ran an option-pass and that was just a great play by him. We talked about it. I even talked about doing it at 11 minutes [remaining], because we hadn’t stopped them. But, I knew our offense had some momentum. Sure enough, the next play he throws a pass. I was thinking if there was any way we could just not have him go back out there. We talked about a couple different things. Maybe we should have tried, because they were going to score anyway.”
On If The Team Felt Demoralized
“I don’t think our guys are demoralized. They’re really dejected. We’ve lost two heartbreakers in a row, down to the wire. That’s the way Pac-12 games go. Last year, we won five of them like that. We’ll eventually win some more, so hopefully we can do that this week. They kept playing hard and kept fighting. I was pleased with that.”
On His Message To The Team
“We’re going to come back to work on Monday like we always do. Every coach says that but you do do that. Our rallying cry will be we’ve got to keep ourselves up and keep being positive and be motivated. We’ve got to win some games here and the kids want to do that and they well.”
On Running Back Phillip Lindsay Becoming CU’s All-Time Leader In All-Purpose Yards
“I knew it was right around the corner. It’s awesome for what Phillip’s done for our program, for the University of Colorado and the way he represents the state of Colorado. For him to do that, he’ll go down in the history books forever. It’ll be hard to break the all-purpose yards, because it’s stood for a long time. He’s got at least seven more games; that’s what we hope. He could put it far out there to where they’ll bring him back. He’ll hair will be gray sticking up by then. I’m really happy for Phillip for how he battled and fought. He was the first one talking to the team after the game in the locker room about what we needed to do and how we needed to do it. The key now is you don’t point fingers. You bond together. With the stuff we’ve got going on offense and we won’t play like that on defense again, we’ll be able to make some hay here. That’s what we need to do. We can’t start pointing fingers and griping and moaning.”
On Whether They Anticipated Khalil Tate Being The Primary Quarterback
“[Brandon] Dawkins was the one that played all the time and Khalil played a little bit. They ran the same stuff, but he just made more people miss. We needed to get tighter to him somehow. We’ll need to look at the film and see what we can do on that. If you just watch him, then they’ll hit you inside with the running back. All five of their linemen were back from last year, so they’re doing a good job up there. They moved the ball pretty good against Utah, but they had five turnovers and they still almost won the game. They beat us tonight. It’s a fun game to watch if you’re a spectator, but it’s gut-wrenching to watch if you’re a coach.”
On Whether The Team Will Finish The Season Bowl-Eligible
“I definitely think we’ll be in a bowl game. That’s what we need to do. That’s what we can hope we can do.”
Arizona Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
On Performance of Back-up QB Khalil Tate
“He was phenomenal. I could tell all week he was really wanting an opportunity and a chance. I was obviously really proud of the way he ran the football, but also his composure when he got in there, his game management, how he was seeing the field. He got some great blocking up front and outstanding perimeter blocking, but Khalil was certainly made a big difference today. We struggled all day defensively, but Khalil and the running game kind of saved us.”
On Play Call on Final Third Down Play
“We were just looking for a run, obviously we had been effective running the ball all day. I yelled at him out there, ‘you need to get down now that you got a first down,’ and he said he was getting down, he’s such a competitive guy. He can run well, he’s got kind of a feel for making people miss. We were going to try to eat up as much clock as we could. If we didn’t get the first down we didn’t want to leave them a whole lot of time, they were scoring every time too.”
On Health of Starting QB Brandon Dawkins
“He was a little nicked up then, but after Khalil got in there I wasn’t going to take him out.”
On What This Victory Means for the Team
“You go enjoy it for 24 hours. We let a couple of opportunities slip earlier in the year. It’s a big road win, any win in the Pac-12 is good, but a road win is really good. They had a great environment. I thought their fans were into it, it was packed, they’ve got a really good home environment, and our guys kept their poise. We had a lot of young guys playing, particularly on defense, every time I looked over there were freshmen in there. We competed. I think we can learn a lot from this one.”
On Whether Khalil Tate Was Scoring ‘Too Fast’ At Times
“There’s no such thing. Unless it’s the last five minutes of the game.”
On Whether He Thought His Defense Was Tired
“It looked like we were gassed by the second series. We were rolling guys in and out of there. I’ve got to watch the film and make some corrections. Inexperience probably played a part in some of it. [Colorado] is talented offensively, especially at the skill positions. I think Phillip Lindsay is one of the best in the country. But we’ve got to play a lot better defensively, and we can.”
On Whether Back-up QB Khalil Tate Had the Best Rushing Performance He’s Even Seen From a QB
“It’s close. With Denard Robinson and Patrick White I’ve been blessed to have some really athletic quarterbacks, but this was a pretty special performance.”
On What Makes QB Khalil Tate So Hard To Stop
“He’s really strong. He’s got good vision when he’s running, but he’s a strong runner. Physically strong. When he was younger, and even earlier in the year, he would try to lower his shoulder. Then he realized that he’s got enough athleticism to make somebody miss too.”
On Whether Khalil Tate Will Be The Starter Next Week
“If you want to create a quarterback controversy and it helps you fill another few inches (of writing), that’s fine. I don’t mind you asking that, Khalil played pretty well today.”
On Pass Rush Recording Four First Half Sacks
“We got off blocks when they were throwing it. After they realized they didn’t have to throw, they could just run it, we didn’t do much in the second half. Again, there was a lot of young guys. Our defensive coaches will watch the film and try to get some stuff corrected in a hurry.”
On Confidence Boost From Winning a Close Game
“The best thing for confidence is winning. Winning close games, winning big games, whatever – that helps build confidence. I’m proud of our guys because two week ago when we lost, nobody was hanging their heads. We were mad, but it wasn’t mad feeling sorry for ourselves, it was mad like we’ve got to start pulling these close ones out. That’s what you have to do if you want to have a great season.”
“He was phenomenal. I could tell all week he was really wanting an opportunity and a chance. I was obviously really proud of the way he ran the football, but also his composure when he got in there, his game management, how he was seeing the field. He got some great blocking up front and outstanding perimeter blocking, but Khalil was certainly made a big difference today. We struggled all day defensively, but Khalil and the running game kind of saved us.”
On Play Call on Final Third Down Play
“We were just looking for a run, obviously we had been effective running the ball all day. I yelled at him out there, ‘you need to get down now that you got a first down,’ and he said he was getting down, he’s such a competitive guy. He can run well, he’s got kind of a feel for making people miss. We were going to try to eat up as much clock as we could. If we didn’t get the first down we didn’t want to leave them a whole lot of time, they were scoring every time too.”
On Health of Starting QB Brandon Dawkins
“He was a little nicked up then, but after Khalil got in there I wasn’t going to take him out.”
On What This Victory Means for the Team
“You go enjoy it for 24 hours. We let a couple of opportunities slip earlier in the year. It’s a big road win, any win in the Pac-12 is good, but a road win is really good. They had a great environment. I thought their fans were into it, it was packed, they’ve got a really good home environment, and our guys kept their poise. We had a lot of young guys playing, particularly on defense, every time I looked over there were freshmen in there. We competed. I think we can learn a lot from this one.”
On Whether Khalil Tate Was Scoring ‘Too Fast’ At Times
“There’s no such thing. Unless it’s the last five minutes of the game.”
On Whether He Thought His Defense Was Tired
“It looked like we were gassed by the second series. We were rolling guys in and out of there. I’ve got to watch the film and make some corrections. Inexperience probably played a part in some of it. [Colorado] is talented offensively, especially at the skill positions. I think Phillip Lindsay is one of the best in the country. But we’ve got to play a lot better defensively, and we can.”
On Whether Back-up QB Khalil Tate Had the Best Rushing Performance He’s Even Seen From a QB
“It’s close. With Denard Robinson and Patrick White I’ve been blessed to have some really athletic quarterbacks, but this was a pretty special performance.”
On What Makes QB Khalil Tate So Hard To Stop
“He’s really strong. He’s got good vision when he’s running, but he’s a strong runner. Physically strong. When he was younger, and even earlier in the year, he would try to lower his shoulder. Then he realized that he’s got enough athleticism to make somebody miss too.”
On Whether Khalil Tate Will Be The Starter Next Week
“If you want to create a quarterback controversy and it helps you fill another few inches (of writing), that’s fine. I don’t mind you asking that, Khalil played pretty well today.”
On Pass Rush Recording Four First Half Sacks
“We got off blocks when they were throwing it. After they realized they didn’t have to throw, they could just run it, we didn’t do much in the second half. Again, there was a lot of young guys. Our defensive coaches will watch the film and try to get some stuff corrected in a hurry.”
On Confidence Boost From Winning a Close Game
“The best thing for confidence is winning. Winning close games, winning big games, whatever – that helps build confidence. I’m proud of our guys because two week ago when we lost, nobody was hanging their heads. We were mad, but it wasn’t mad feeling sorry for ourselves, it was mad like we’ve got to start pulling these close ones out. That’s what you have to do if you want to have a great season.”
Colorado Players
QB Steven Montez
ON THE OFFENSE BACKING UP THE DEFENSE- “To be honest I have full confidence, full faith in the defense whenever they step onto the field. I believe they are going to get a stop. To be honest I’m just worried about scoring points. Every time the offense steps on the field, that’s what all eleven guys are thinking about, just putting it in the end zone.”ON COLORADO’S BIG RUNNING GAME- “We knew we wanted to run the ball, we knew our offensive line was going to play great. We knew we were going to move people and Phillip (Lindsay) was going to do his thing and go run wild and that he was going to make people miss and just make plays tonight. And he did that, I think he played really well tonight and even Beau Bisharat played well tonight. He gave us some really good snaps tonight. I think he ran the ball really hard and safe. He protected it, he had it high and tight, he had the hopes and dreams of the team in his arms. I thought they played well, I thought our running backs played well; I thought our offensive line played really well. I thought they blocked their butts off.”
ON COLORADO PLAYING WITH TIGHTER FORMATIONS- “We mixed it up a little bit, we knew they were going to play a lot of zone coming into this game so they played a little bit more man then we thought they did out on the field but they still played a pretty hefty amount of zone. So we thought that we could move them up front and we did.”
ON HIM TAKING BIG HITS THIS WEEK- “Yeah it’s football, it’s football, sometimes the defense is going to chalk up a good play call and they’re going to get some pressure and they’re going to bring some guys that we didn’t account for. There were some times where I stood in there and I kind of bypassed my game plan, and I put that on myself. So I mean there were a few times that happened and we just have to stick to our game plan and get back to the drawing board Monday.”
ON IF THIS WAS A TOUGH LOSS- “I mean any loss is tough, going 0-3 in the Pac-12 is not what we set out to do at all. I think there’s still a whole lot of season left, I think we have great guys and there is still a lot of guys in there that are hungry and so we just have to stay together as a unit and not let any outside factors break us apart and I think we’ll be fine.”
OG Tim Lynott, Jr.
ON MONTEZ BEING PRESSURED A LOT- “It’s frustrating, that’s all of us clicking as a team, and it’s frustrating but in the beginning there was things we had to re-adjust to especially as an offense. When he was getting rushed and everything, we all had to adjust and that’s what we did in the second half. Everything was just starting to click, we were picking stuff up, and it really felt like last year. We had a cohesive group and that’s what we need.”ON WHAT WAS WORKING FOR THE RUN GAME- “Yeah it was, that’s a game plan every week, run the ball. And if you want to run the ball, you have to win the game. I felt like we did that but we came a little short. We did that in practice and I think we did that well. We prepared and it was just runs, runs, runs and there was nothing with passing. When it works out there it works, when it doesn’t work it’s going to be other things besides runs, but it was clicking tonight and when it clicks, it builds confidence. When confidence is up we keep running the ball and Phillip gets yards and any other running back.”
ON IF TONIGHT BUILT CONFIDENCE- “Yeah I think so, I think it was one of those things where when you have that, it builds the confidence up, especially as the offense and that’s what we needed tonight. We didn’t have that in the past couple of games and everyone’s been talking about how the offense hasn’t been clicking as much, but tonight it seemed like everything was just click, click, click. Every cylinder was just running on high and that’s what we needed as a team. I think that’s going to build and we’re going to be hungry in practice and get back to it next week.”
WR Shay Fields
ON MISSED RECEPTIONS– “It’s frustrating. We obviously want to hit those. It was a big night for Phil [Lindsay]. We couldn’t get the passing game going so the run game had to click like it did. The passing just has to be better. We have to get in the lab honestly. The receivers have to get together with Montez and we just have to hit those.”ON THE LOSS - “It’s only so much we can do. We played a good team. We should have won. We had chances, they had chances and they made more chances. We just have to put this behind us and get ready for Oregon State when we get to practice on Monday.”
ON HIGH SCORING GAMES - “As an offense we’re fine with it. That’s just more chances for us to get points. I can’t really speak for the defense. Just watching it, we have to get stops in order for us to win. Defense is what wins games.”
WR Bryce Bobo
ON OFFENSIVE PLAY OVERALL- “Honestly I think we played pretty well as an offense. Steven [Montez] and Shay [Fields] didn’t connect on a couple of deep balls and stuff like that but I don’t think that showed how well we did today as an offense. Phil [Lindsay] ran for a lot of yards. We completed the passes that we wanted to, we scored the points that we wanted to. We just came up short.”ON THE OFFENSE CARRYING THE GAMES - “It was more of the fact that we’re not used to the offense having to hold the games I guess you could say. If you go back to last year, our defense held us during the game until our offense actually came up and started scoring more points. Tonight was just something different. We tried to take as much as we could on the offensive end to back up the defense and it just didn’t turn out well.”
ON THE REST OF THE SEASON - “That’s what it comes down to. If we want to be who we want to be, we can’t lose the rest of these games. A lot of people might not think we can do it but if we just stay around our teammates, we have that mindset to be who we were last year. We just have to come back on Monday and get back to work.”
TB Phillip Lindsay
ON BECOMING CU’S ALL-TIME LEADER IN ALL-PURPOSE YARDS – “At the end of the day, we did not get the win. That is what we wanted. We are going to go back to square one and get stuff rolling again. I am proud of my teammates. Ryan, [Moeller] I love you. And we are going to keep this stuff rolling.”ON HOW HE MANAGES TO STAY UPRIGHT AND RUN FOR TOUGH YARDS
“I do it for my team, period. I am going to do whatever I have to do to help win and bring glory to this program. We came up short so obviously I didn’t do enough. I am going to go back to square one and get my team going. We are going to go out there and get ready to win in Corvallis.”
ON HOW TOUGH OF A LOSS THIS IS – “It was tough. It was a hard fought game. Arizona is a great team. They had a great quarterback. At the end of the day, it comes down to Colorado. For us, we have to go back to the drawing board, go and tweak little things here and there, and go and get a win. That is what we are going to do. We are in this together. Coaches, players, at the end of the day, that is all that matters. We are going to get it done.”
ON WHAT HAS TO CHANGE MOVING FORWARD – “We need to get breaks. In any football game, it comes down to whoever is going to get the most breaks whether it is a fumble or a kick return to the house for us. It is the little things that matter. It is the little things that are hurting us. We have a couple of young players and a couple of people that are filling in. We are going to be good. We are going to be okay. Whether you guys believe it or not, it is irrelevant – we don’t care. At the end of the day, as long as we believe it, that is all that matters.”
ON THE SENSE OF URGENCY TO BECOME BOWL ELEGIBLE – “We take it one game at a time. We are going to a game plan for Oregon State – another decent team that is ready to play and go from there. We’ll see what happens. I am pretty positive I know what is going to happen. We are going to be alright at the end of this.”
ON IF THESE TOUGH LOSSES REMIND HIM OF THE LOSSES FROM PREVIOUS SEASON – “This is football. Anything can happen at any given day – especially in college football. We go back to the drawing board and we go back to work. Somebody has to win. Somebody has to lose on the other side. For me, I am going to continue to lead. I am going to lead like no other. I am going to go back to the drawing board for myself and try to push my soldiers to the limit. We are going to get stuff rolling.”
ON IF THIS TEAM IS UNDER ACHIEVING – “You have to understand. When you have people leave to the NFL and you have to bring more people in, it takes time. That is for any team. We are going to be alright.”
S Ryan Moeller
ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR ARIZONA’S AGILITY – “There is always a way to prepare. When it comes down to it, execution wasn’t there on my part. Execution wasn’t there. As a defense, we are out there to tackle, out there to make plays, out there to stop – and we didn’t do it.”ON THE TEAM’S PREPERATION FOR [QB] KHALIL TATE– “Well I didn’t even know his number if I’m going to be quite honest. We were expecting a different guy to back up and someone else came into the game. We didn’t execute.
ON MOVING ON FROM HERE-“I think you just have to hit the drawing board. You have to take it a week at a time – quarter by quarter, half by half, game by game. You have to out there, give it your best fight, and execute. Obviously, we did not do that.”
ON WHETHER OR NOT DISCIPLINE IS AN ISSUE FOR THE TEAM – “I don’t think discipline is an issue. You can put anyone out there. You can bring Tom Brady and put him out there, we just have to prepare better and we have to execute. We are going to have those tough downs. We are going to have those long runs or big passes. You are going to have those penalties. You just have to bounce back. You can’t hang your head.” Like Phil [Lindsay] said, it is time to hit the drawing board and come back with vengeance.”
TE Chris Bounds
ON HIS TWO TOUCHDOWN RECEPTIONS – “I was just being ready for when my number was called on. We plan for a lot of these plays so it is not like these were out of the blue. I was just being ready for when I was called upon and doing it for my brothers.”Arizona Players
OL Jacob Alsadek
ON TATE’S RUNNING GAME- “It was cool when you get that one play drive and you just come off, so that was kind of nice. It was super fun, it was super back-and-forth and high scoring. That’s the way we like to play, so it was fun.”ON HOW TATE HANDLED HIMSELF- “Very well, he was trying to make plays and that is something with this offense that you can do. He was trying whatever he could, especially at the end. It was kind of a dead play but he went as hard as he could to make it happen.”
ON TATE BEING CALM THROUGHOUT GAME- “Yeah he is always calm. He is a laid back guy, super reserved and quiet, so I think that he handled it really well.”
ON IMPOSING RUN GAME- “That’s why you play this position. You just try to take everything they have in them out of them. [DT Javier Edwards] No. 9 was coming out and he is a great player, but he came out and a lot of guys couldn’t handle it. It is something special for us, a lot of the time he was just coming behind us. For us that is pretty awesome, we were making plays for him so that he could make plays for us.”
ON LAST THIRD DOWN CONVERSION- “So the end pinched inside and I just kind of pinned him in. I set the edge and he was rolling so it was pretty cool.”
ON TATE CREATING OPPORTUNITIES- “Today was a great example of him doing that. Like I said, he just went out there and made plays. He didn’t really follow what he was supposed to do the whole time but he saw openings and took them, good things happened.”
ON IMPORTANCE OF WIN- “In my head, right now we could be 5-0. We have only lost by nine points one time. The Utah game we should have won, and we could have won that Houston game. All of the games that we have had have been toss-ups, this was another close one. I think that this team wants to fight and show people who we are.”
CB Jace Whittaker
ON TODAY’S GAME- “It was a dog fight out there tonight. We were trading one for one but I think that our ones were a lot better.”ON TATE’S PERFORMANCE- “When he is on the field, he is electrifying. I think that he is the best quarterback in the Pac-12. It was only a matter of time till he saw the field. We have seen this since high school, like there was no carry over. Sometimes you see guys get into college and their game is a little slower but Khalil has hit the ground running ever since he got here.”
ON DEFENSE GETTING TIRED- “The high altitude played a part, there is no way that you can train for that. I think that we held it down for the times that need be and we got off the field when we needed to.”
ON TRYING TO COVER PHILLIP LINDSAY- “We had to stop it. We were trying to load up the box and play more man coverage on the outside so they were hitting us with double moves. Lindsay is good, he is real good.”
ON GETTING SACKS- “We were trying to bring pressure all the time. I think that our coaches really trust our secondary, I will say that much. They believe in us, so they send the blitz. They know that and they see it on film, the guys got after it today they were a little more hungry.”
ON FINALLY GETTING A WIN- “Everybody wasn’t happy during our bye week, we were still angry. We needed a win desperately and we did that so hopefully that hunger carries over. I think it will.”
ON DEFENDING MONTEZ- “We were trying to bring the pressure to him. I mean he was a tough guy with a strong arm and he showed that tonight. Credit to the defense, those guys up front and we didn’t quit. They kept playing hard the whole night.”
QB Khalil Tate
ON HIS 327 RUSHING YARDS- “The offense did a great job getting open. The defense played well and we got the outcome that we wanted.”ON GETTING AN OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY- “I mean yeah, anytime anyone’s on the football team they want to play.”
ON HIS MINDSET ENTERING THE GAME IN THE FIRST QUARTER-“I just knew when I got into the game that I needed to keep the team rolling and put points on the board.”
ON HOW HE’S CHANGED SINCE LAST SEASON- “I’m more confident. I have more understanding of the game and I’m more knowledgeable.”
ON HIS LAST RUN OF THE GAME- “I knew it was third down. The crowd was very energetic and we did an outside zone and I knew I had to get it and if I didn’t get it, it was on me.”
ON THE SHAPE HE’S IN- “I’m in a lot better shape [than last year] thanks to our strength coaches like Coach CA (Chris Allen) and Parker [Whiteman].”
ON WHAT THIS WIN MEANS - “It’s great for us, but next week we have UCLA so we just have to get back to the drawing board and prepare for them.”
ON THE OFFENSE’S GAMEPLAN- “Really just to keep putting points on the board. The defense was struggling a little bit so we knew we had to hold up our end and that’s what we did.”
ON HIS SHOULDER INJURY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON- “It was really bad. I had an AC joint sprain so it’s kind of like spraining your ankle, you can’t put any pressure on it. It’s kind of like not being able to throw the ball with your right arm and I’m a right-handed quarterback. This week in practice [I felt normal again]. I kept practicing, I kept getting reps and my offensive line and receivers help me a lot.”
ON THE ENVIRONMENT- “They were very hostile. They were loud and I heard them, but it didn’t faze me at all. I had first time jitters, playing in Colorado, since I’ve never been here before, but it was a great environment to play in and we got the win so that’s all that matters.”
DE/LB DeAndre Miller
ON WHAT THIS WIN MEANS FOR THE TEAM- “It’s a step forward in the right direction as far as our team. This win was big. We’re trying to get to the Pac-12 Championship and right now it’s open, the Pac-12 is crazy, wild and everybody is bouncing back everywhere so this is definitely a good one for us.”ON PHILLIP LINDSAY- “He’s a hard runner. He’s good, he has a low center of gravity, he keeps his feet moving. I give him credit, he’s a tough guy to take down.”
ON COMING BACK FROM HIS INJURY- “First game back, it felt good to get back out there with my team and help try to get a win. [Sitting out] was rough, but I learned a lot individually. It made me mentally tough. I had to sit down and reevaluate myself and not let it bring me down, but bring me up. I had to shake the rust off a little bit, but every week I get more conditioned and better for my craft.”
ON KHALIL TATE’S PERFORMANCE-“He’s a baller. He carried us as a team so all credit to him. He’s young, I know he has potential. This game allowed him to show it to the world.”