Colorado-CSU Quotes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Mel Tucker
General“I’m proud of the group, I really am. It’s very rewarding to take a group like this, that’s all bought in, players and coaches, and see them go out and perform and have a really good team win. We’re going to make our most improvement from the first game to the second game. I have a really good idea right now of where we are as a team, but it’s a starting point. This is not the end, it’s just the beginning of our program. I’m just really looking forward to watching film and making corrections, so we can get these kids ready to go for next week.”
On Performance Of QB Steven Montez
“He did a really good job tonight. He was into it and really excited. He was confident going into the game. I talked to him last night when we got to the hotel. He told me ‘Coach I feel so prepared’ and ‘I’m so ready to go’. He was able to settle in and make some big plays for us. Once again, we’re not leaving it up to one guy. We’re able to run ball, which helps him, and we have several play makers that can make plays for him. We want to have balance on offense, not just run-pass, but also with how we distribute the ball with carries and touches. Tonight was a starting point.”
On The Fumble To Start The Second Half
“It was huge because we didn’t play very well in the first half. We had to make some adjustments at halftime. We talked about how they [CSU] were going to have the ball to start the second half, which was huge. We talked about execution and takeaways. We went out there saying it was either going to be a three and out or a takeaway, we were going to change the momentum of the game on the defensive side of the ball, and we were able to get that done. The credit goes to the players. They didn’t flinch and there was never panic, even though we weren’t playing well at all. We were really hurting ourselves, but the players just continued to play the next play and not look at the scoreboard. The mental disposition towards competing and playing the next play really payed off for us tonight. ”
On His First Win
“Winning is good, you definitely want to stay in the left hand side of that column as much as possible. It was very gratifying, not so much for me, but for the team, the players, and the coaches. All of the hard work that has been put in, the belief in me, our coaching staff, and our process… then to go out and compete, and come out with a win, which wasn’t an easy win, it was very gratifying. Also, I was really proud of our fans. It was a great environment for college football. It was loud, everyone was into the game, and it was an important game. This team and this football program is important to so many people, and you can feel that. It was a win for our players and coaches, but also for our fans and our alums.”
On Defensive Mistakes
“We do talk about the turnover ratio, taking care of the ball and taking the ball away. If you’re plus two, you win 70 percent. If you’re plus three, you win 80 percent. If you score on defense you win 90 percent of the games. The turnover ratio is a big part of it. Obviously the yardage and some of the plays we gave up I’m not happy about, but we’ll get those mistakes corrected. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by anything I saw out there tonight, on either side of the ball or special teams. I wanted to make sure we came in here and got the win, because now we know exactly where we are. We have a really good idea of where we are as a football team and where we need to go. If we’re going to play great defense, we’re going to have to play better.”
On Mikial Onu
“He has experience, he’s played in big games and he’s a steadying force and just a presence in our secondary’s. He’s an older guy who is consistent and you need to have that in your secondary. You need to have guys who can make calls, settle other people down, and help make adjustments and make plays. Obviously, you can see why we made it a point to bring him here. He’s a good player, we got good production from him tonight, and I was proud of his effort.”
On Laviska Shenault, Jr.
“He’s an outstanding player and I think everyone knows that and he’s an unselfish player. You know I just watched him work through the game and I never saw him frustrated. He would block, he would play hard, and then whatever we needed him to do he would do and we talking about this before. We have other guys that can also make plays on offense and that showed up today. But Laviska’s going to get targets, he’s going to get touches, he’s going to make plays for us. He’s such a force. But we also have other guys who can make plays and that’s going to make defense hard to play against.”
On What He Wants To See Moving Forward
“We couldn’t run the ball on the inside on a consistent basis, they hit us with a trap early and that was pretty much the inside run game. Offensively we wanted to be able to run the ball, when we wanted to or needed to and get the ball to the players that can make plays: tight ends, receivers, running backs, and not leave it up to one guy and not ask Steven (Montez) to do things that he shouldn’t have to do all the time. Run the show, take what they give you, and get the ball to the playmakers. On special teams we have some things we need to clean up but they’re playing hard, they’re into it. Our organization and attention to detail really showed up today and we didn’t have a lot of stupid penalties, we didn’t have “not enough guys on the field” or gaps and mishaps that you usually see in the first game. We’ve got a ways to go until we’re the football team we want to have, and I think that’s obvious but that’s why they call us coaches.”
On Approaching the Next Game
“We are staying focused on the task and that is very important. We have days, practices, meetings; we have so many moments before we get to that big game that we have to take care of first. But I feel the energy and the passion from our fans and our alumni and our players and we know how big this next game is. We can’t get overwhelmed by the moment and the magnitude of a big because they’re all big in regard. We’ll stick with our process and make sure our guys are ready. I expect to see a better football team next week.”
On the Performance of Alex Fontenot
“I see that every day in practice. The way we practice and the pace at which we practice and the physicality, if we see it in practice you know you’re going to do it in the game. That’s why we wanted to just get out there and finally just play because we’ve been talking about it so much saying, ‘I know this guy can do it, I know this guy can do it.’ I know we got players that can make plays and now more people know about these guys.”
On the Sense of Relief of Having the First Game Over
“I wouldn’t categorize is as relief at all. I’m not a believer in relief because I’ve talked to players about relief syndrome. Relief syndrome is ‘I got an A on my first test, I can get an F on the next one and still get a C in the class and I’m good’ because you’re so relieved that you won a game. That’s not the emotion and feeling we want. It’s a level of accomplishment—job done, what’s next? ‘So what, now what’. That’s my mind set.
On the Defensive Play Change Ups
“I think it was organic and kind of came out of our defensive staff room and things like that. My thing was just, ‘are we going to get some take aways?’ None of that stuff matters if you don’t take the ball home. We were able to get that and I think it’s fun for the players and take aways are so huge in this game. Turnover margin is big. You saw that tonight. It’s just something our players are into and we’ll see where it goes. But that’s not the focus on what we’re doing. But it is something that the players like doing so we’ll have fun with it.”
On the Fumble
“You know I didn’t hear the whistle. But that’s the game of football. There’s always a couple plays in the game that go like that. ‘Was he down? Was it a fumble? Was it a sack?’ In football, it can be a very unforgiving game. “
On the Halftime Locker Room Message
“We talked about it and said it’s going to be a four quarter game. I told the players to expect the game to come down to the last possession. We’re going to have to play 60 minutes. But we’re build for this. We are at altitude, we’re in great condition, we do a great job in the weight room. We practice hard, we strain, and we fight and then we create adversity in practice and we respond to it. It was a work day. I told the players before we even went into the game, it’s about performance and playing the next play. Sometimes getting the win is just not enough, it’s just not. We got the win but it’s not the end all be all. There is things we have to improve upon and things we have to get straightened out. That’s the message to the team. We are not going to get too high. We are not going to get too low. We’re going to be steady and we’re going to work and trust the process.”
“We are staying focused on the task and that is very important. We have days, practices, meetings; we have so many moments before we get to that big game that we have to take care of first. But I feel the energy and the passion from our fans and our alumni and our players and we know how big this next game is. We can’t get overwhelmed by the moment and the magnitude of a big because they’re all big in regard. We’ll stick with our process and make sure our guys are ready. I expect to see a better football team next week.”
On the Performance of Alex Fontenot
“I see that every day in practice. The way we practice and the pace at which we practice and the physicality, if we see it in practice you know you’re going to do it in the game. That’s why we wanted to just get out there and finally just play because we’ve been talking about it so much saying, ‘I know this guy can do it, I know this guy can do it.’ I know we got players that can make plays and now more people know about these guys.”
On the Sense of Relief of Having the First Game Over
“I wouldn’t categorize is as relief at all. I’m not a believer in relief because I’ve talked to players about relief syndrome. Relief syndrome is ‘I got an A on my first test, I can get an F on the next one and still get a C in the class and I’m good’ because you’re so relieved that you won a game. That’s not the emotion and feeling we want. It’s a level of accomplishment—job done, what’s next? ‘So what, now what’. That’s my mind set.
On the Defensive Play Change Ups
“I think it was organic and kind of came out of our defensive staff room and things like that. My thing was just, ‘are we going to get some take aways?’ None of that stuff matters if you don’t take the ball home. We were able to get that and I think it’s fun for the players and take aways are so huge in this game. Turnover margin is big. You saw that tonight. It’s just something our players are into and we’ll see where it goes. But that’s not the focus on what we’re doing. But it is something that the players like doing so we’ll have fun with it.”
On the Fumble
“You know I didn’t hear the whistle. But that’s the game of football. There’s always a couple plays in the game that go like that. ‘Was he down? Was it a fumble? Was it a sack?’ In football, it can be a very unforgiving game. “
On the Halftime Locker Room Message
“We talked about it and said it’s going to be a four quarter game. I told the players to expect the game to come down to the last possession. We’re going to have to play 60 minutes. But we’re build for this. We are at altitude, we’re in great condition, we do a great job in the weight room. We practice hard, we strain, and we fight and then we create adversity in practice and we respond to it. It was a work day. I told the players before we even went into the game, it’s about performance and playing the next play. Sometimes getting the win is just not enough, it’s just not. We got the win but it’s not the end all be all. There is things we have to improve upon and things we have to get straightened out. That’s the message to the team. We are not going to get too high. We are not going to get too low. We’re going to be steady and we’re going to work and trust the process.”
Colorado Players
S Aaron Maddox
ON DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT IN THE SECOND HALF-“I like how our defense doesn’t point fingers when we make mistakes. We know how to bounce back. I like how we bounced back from our mistakes in the second half.”
WR K.D. Nixon
ON COLORADO’S TOUGHNESS- “Honestly, our practices are way harder than games. We’re way more physical in practice every day, this is what I’m saying, every day. So those hits that you think are hard, that’s not hard because we’ve been hit like that by our own defense a million times. Even when they know the play, we’re being hit. That’s coach’s favorite thing, relentless and toughness, so if you’re not relentless and tough you won’t play, so you have to get up, it doesn’t matter if it does hurt. Like you said, Tony (Brown) took a hit, got back up, Laviska (Shenault) took a hit, got back up, I took a hit, got back up. That’s not showing what kind of team we are, that’s just letting people know, hey, we can be physical too. You know next week we have a big team in the Big Ten, so you know you just have to practice way harder and get ready to get hit again.”
ON THE TEAM’S OFFENSE IN SECOND HALF-“Honestly it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish, also they tried to give us their best game in the first half. It’s just basically the delay, it could be multiple things but we just have to connect, going out there and playing football sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. Coach already told us there’s going to be some bumps and bruises, ups and downs, a rollercoaster. So you just have to be able to prepare for that and that’s what we did, we came back in the second half and coach told us, ‘do what your coach says’. The coaches got on our butts and it’s time to go to work. We literally said we were going to get two turnovers right off the bat. We just speak it into existence and having fun with your brothers, celebrating.”
ON THE COACHING STAFF’S MESSAGE AT HALFTIME-“Just keep doing what you’re doing. They’re going to wear down really soon. That’s what we’ve been practicing all day, every day we practice so hard where in the game, it’s too easy. So we literally knew they were going to die down. Just like when Floyd Mayweather knew McGregor was going to wear down. Coach Tucker knew exactly what they were going to do. So it’s just basically watching film, studying, they did exactly what we thought, cover two, we just played our best game and we’re going to keep getting better week by week.”
ON HOW TO DEAL WITH EXCITEMENT FOR NEBRASKA-“Honestly, trust our coaches, like we’ve been doing. Practice, practice, we never worry about our opponent, you know it’s a big rivalry but hey, only we can beat ourselves. So we’re going to go into practice, once again, all week practice hard, physical, fast, toughness and we’re going to give our best, every practice. So that’s what we really focus on, we’re not worried about any of our opponents, I know you guys are saying it’s a big rivalry but the only team we’re worried about is the other team in the locker room and we’ll be ready.”
ON THE TEAM’S OFFENSE IN SECOND HALF-“Honestly it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish, also they tried to give us their best game in the first half. It’s just basically the delay, it could be multiple things but we just have to connect, going out there and playing football sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. Coach already told us there’s going to be some bumps and bruises, ups and downs, a rollercoaster. So you just have to be able to prepare for that and that’s what we did, we came back in the second half and coach told us, ‘do what your coach says’. The coaches got on our butts and it’s time to go to work. We literally said we were going to get two turnovers right off the bat. We just speak it into existence and having fun with your brothers, celebrating.”
ON THE COACHING STAFF’S MESSAGE AT HALFTIME-“Just keep doing what you’re doing. They’re going to wear down really soon. That’s what we’ve been practicing all day, every day we practice so hard where in the game, it’s too easy. So we literally knew they were going to die down. Just like when Floyd Mayweather knew McGregor was going to wear down. Coach Tucker knew exactly what they were going to do. So it’s just basically watching film, studying, they did exactly what we thought, cover two, we just played our best game and we’re going to keep getting better week by week.”
ON HOW TO DEAL WITH EXCITEMENT FOR NEBRASKA-“Honestly, trust our coaches, like we’ve been doing. Practice, practice, we never worry about our opponent, you know it’s a big rivalry but hey, only we can beat ourselves. So we’re going to go into practice, once again, all week practice hard, physical, fast, toughness and we’re going to give our best, every practice. So that’s what we really focus on, we’re not worried about any of our opponents, I know you guys are saying it’s a big rivalry but the only team we’re worried about is the other team in the locker room and we’ll be ready.”
TB Alex Fontenot
ON PLAYING A GAME-“It felt good. I knew how good I could do and I told my team every day in practice. Being able to show other people was awesome. Before the game, I was nervous but after the first snap I knew I could do it. I’m not afraid to put my shoulder pads down.”
ON ESTABLISHING RUN GAME-“Of course I wasn’t running every play but I know we have to pass.. I knew I had to keep pounding and pounding to open up. I wanted to see all the younger running backs run and it was cool to see.”
ON SCORING-“It’s a different feeling scoring a college touchdown compared to a high school touchdown because you look up and see the crowd and they’re wild and that’s something I never got to experience fully. What (Tucker) is telling us is true. We bought in and the results are paying off.”
ON ESTABLISHING RUN GAME-“Of course I wasn’t running every play but I know we have to pass.. I knew I had to keep pounding and pounding to open up. I wanted to see all the younger running backs run and it was cool to see.”
ON SCORING-“It’s a different feeling scoring a college touchdown compared to a high school touchdown because you look up and see the crowd and they’re wild and that’s something I never got to experience fully. What (Tucker) is telling us is true. We bought in and the results are paying off.”
WR Laviska Shenault
ON HAVING 48 YARDS AND ONE TOUCHDOWN“It’s a team sport and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Ready for next week.”
ON TD IN SECOND QUARTER-“That was a big play. Big, big thing that we needed for sure. I didn’t think I was going to get to that ball honestly, but I got to it. It definitely got us going. We were doing good all game but it definitely just sparked us a little bit more.”
ON IF HE ASKED FOR MORE TOUCHES-“They were kind of telling me to be patient and that’s it’s coming. Like I said, it’s a team sport. I’m gald we came out with the win.”
ON HOW HE FELT PHYSICALLY-“I felt like I did okay. It comes with time. I feel like I’ll be okay.”
ON HOW GOOD THIS OFFENSE CAN BE-“There is no ceiling. We have talent everywhere and we have guys that want to win and we have guys that want to go out there and do what they gotta. That’s what we need to win games so I’m glad that everybody can do their part and play their role.”
ON WHETHER HE EXPECTS TEAMS TO PLAY HIM LIKE CSU-“I noticed that. I hate that a lot but it is what it is. I’m blessed to be in the position that I’m in. I look forward to seeing a lot of that.”
ON NEBRASKA-“Very excited. They get to come in our house this time. It’s a big rivalry, everyone knows that so it’s going to be fun to able to go out there and put on and hopefully the team comes together and plays a good game. That’s the plan.”
QB Steven Montez
ON EFFORT TO RUN MORE-“It helps me out by just taking a little bit of the pressure off and not having to throw every play. Big credit to our O-line today. They played an absolutely phenomenal game. No sacks, they were moving guys around in the run game and also a huge credit to Alex Fontenot coming out in his debut game and having 125 yards and three touchdowns. That’s huge for us. If we can get that every week that would be so big.”ON LOW-KEY CELEBRATION POSTGAME-“I mean it’s just another day at the office for us. We work hard all week and this is the first game of the season. We want to win a whole lot more games than just the first game. We’re business, business as usual. We’re going to come back to work on Monday and start getting prepared for Nebraska.”
ON IMPORTANCE OF TURNOVERS-“Yeah absolutely. Those two picks were huge. They were huge for us getting the ball back. That fumble right out of the (second) half was big for us because we took the ball, went in, and scored I believe. They were just big for us. We turned the momentum around and brought it on our side. I think we just kind of kept it after that.”
ON GETTING THE BALL TO LAVISKA SHENAULT-“I think it’s nice because we have two different options. We don’t just have to pitch it to Viska. We can either give it to Viska if we like the numbers or if we don’t like the numbers then we’re going to hand off zone or whatever run we have called back to the boundary.”
ON NOT SETTING EXPECTATIONS FOR LAVISKA SHENAULT-“To be honest, before games I don’t really set expectations for anybody on the team to have a certain amount of stats, certain amount of touchdowns, a certain amount of yards. Today, Viska did enough to get the job done and I think that’s what we need every week. One week it might take him 200 yards and four touchdowns and this week he had 48 yards and a touchdown. Just everybody doing their job, everybody doing their 1/11th will get the job done for us. “
ON MATURATION PROCESS OF BEING A QUARTERBACK -“Sometimes I kind of get caught in the spot where I try to do too much myself and I end up making bad decisions, which lead to turnovers and just bad throws that shouldn’t be thrown. I think I’ve been working on that a whole lot and just working on keeping the ball safe. Working on trusting my eyes, working on throwing the ball away, and just doing all of those things just to keep the ball safe and not put the ball in harm’s way basically.”
ON BEGINNING THE MEL TUCKER ERA-“We knew when Coach Tucker got here we were excited about him. We knew that he was going to bring a little bit different attitude, different mindset to our team and I think it showed up today. It showed up a lot. It showed up in the second half more than anything, especially on defense. They played lights out. They played real physical football and on offense I like to think that we played pretty physical upfront as well. It’s definitely showing.”
ON GETTING MORE COMFORTABLE AS GAME WENT ON-“Yeah, absolutely. It’s a brand new offense for us and we kind of had to get those lumps and bumps out of the way early but I think after half we came out and things were a lot smoother and we kind of got a rhythm going.”
ON NEVER LOSING TO CSU IN HIS CAREER-“I mean it’s fun. It’s always a good game, it’s always a great atmosphere here at Mile High. I’m very blessed to be able to play in this game and I’m very blessed to be able to play as many of these games as I got to play. These are memories that I’ll keep with me for my entire life. The emotions haven’t really hit me yet. Just very fun. It’s very fun playing football and very fun when you win.”
ON WALKING AWAY WITH A WIN-“It feels good. I heard it in high school and I always just keep it in the back of my head. It’s hard to win football games. It’s very difficult and we go to work every single day of the week. Trying to win football games, that’s our main goal so to have our work pay off this very first game is huge for us. It's a very big morale boost for us and it just only shows us that we need to come back to work on Monday and work even harder and prepare even more for our opponent next week.”
ON RUNNING THE NEW OFFENSE-“I love it. I love it. Theres still a lot of things that I got to learn and got to get better at especially with checks and shot clock, and doing all of that stuff. I’m feeling extremely blessed to be able to be in this offense, especially at this time in my career.”