Colorado-Air Force Quotes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Mel Tucker
General
“We have to give Air Force a lot of credit. Those guys have some good players, play extremely hard, are well coached and made more plays than we made. Execution for us is what is lacking on a consistent basis. When we execute, we can move the ball score and finish drives. When we don’t, we are not very effective. Same thing defensively. When guys do their job and play sound and solid, we are able to stop people and get off the field on third down. It is death by inches. One guy has a lack of execution on a play there is a good chance you won’t have a successful play. Our job as coaches is to figure out why we aren’t as consistent as we need to be. We will look at the film and be very critical and get ready for the next one. That is what I told the players and we are going to move forward with this football team. I want to give air force a ton of credit. I have a ton of respect for Air Force and what they are all abbot. They made more plays than us.”
On Coming Out Of The Gates Slow
“We are trying to figure that out. We came out and got a takeaway on defense early and had a drive early. That was better for us. It is consistency. You have to do it play in and play out. That is where we are lacking right now. If you don’t execute it will catch up to you. Our guys fought and played hard, but it is not about that. It is about being able to execute for four quarters, 60 minutes. Plus being able to finish. That is where we are right now.”
On The Week Of Preparation
“I felt really good about our preparation. We got better as the week went. Our Friday was as sharp of a Friday as I have seen. From a preparation standpoint, it felt great going into the game based on what we did Monday through Friday getting ready for this opportunity. Make no mistake about it, there is no excuse about how many days we had to be prepare. That is not what we are all about. We had a lot of opportunities to get our job done. You can point to several plays where we aren’t at our best and didn’t execute and it costed us.”
On Aaron Maddox
“I haven’t (talked to him). We will see what happens. He was in a lot of pain. I am looking forward to catching up with him and seeing how he is doing.”
On Air Force’s Offense
“They did a really good job and came out with some scheme runs that we had to adjust to on some certain formations. They did a really good job of scheming us up and we had to adjust to that. As you make adjustments they go to the next thing. They get you with explosive plays. Explosive passes hurt us in the first. In the second half those scheme runs were tightened down and we eliminated those. We were able to get off the field on third down and that is why we were able to hold them in the second.”
On Air Force’s Defense
“We knew they were going to bring pressure. They are very aggressive on defense. Everyone you play is going to bring pressure and mix their coverages. They play some man but also some zone. That is to be expected. Give those guys credit. They played hard and made plays. When you call a play, there are certain things you have to do. Typically, when you look at the film after the game you will say, ‘This guy didn’t do his job’, or ‘We should have done this.’ It is death by inches. We have to coach off of it and we have to figure out how we keep that from happening. That is maturity as a football team. We will find answers and I am very confident with this staff. We have a very good staff with a lot of experience with players. We will figure it out.”
On What He Learned About His Team
“You find out something about your team every day and every game. Whether you win or lose, you find out things. My expectation is for us to look critically at ourselves on what we can do better. Let’s not fool ourselves. Look at it objectively and say, ‘This is how I have to improve.’ This is how I can get better and take the step to get better and move onto the next game. We have to play another game. It is going to come on us fast. All of our goals are ahead of us. This is a disappointment, but it’s not the end of what we are doing. We didn’t come this far just to come this far. It isn’t over now. Tt was one game where we are disappointed. Now we have to get ready to go again. That is our expectation. Give those guys credit for how they played, take a critical look at ourselves and get ready to go again.”
On If He Considered Going For Two At The End Of The Fourth
“No. There was no thought on that. We were playing pretty good on defense and offense. Let’s take it (extra point) and try to close it.”
On How They Need To Improve
“A lot of it will be based on tape and what we need to do to get better. I told these guys that this is a very unforgiving game at times. We have all been in locker rooms where we have been disappointed. How do you handle adversity? How do you handle a loss? Do you make excuses? We are not going to do that. Do you try to rationalize things? Or do you just say, ‘Listen, we weren’t good enough and this is what we have to do to get better.’ What you do on daily basis matters. That is my message to the team. Every day we have an opportunity to practice, prepare and meet we will take advantage of those days. Even if you win you have to move onto the next game. This is not a final situation. We are continuing to work with this football team. We have tremendous upside and we have to figure out a way to get it out of them. That is why they call us coaches.”
On If They Were Surprised By Air Force
“I don’t think there was as surprise on our part in terms of what we were up against and what team we went against and how they would compete and play. We all knew that and saw that. We were ready for a four-quarter football game.”
On Youth
“I haven’t even considered us being a young team. I haven’t talked about that before and don’t see a reason to talk about it now. We have good enough players at enough positions to get the job done. You can see that during our first three games. Both sides of the ball you can point and say, ‘That’s good football. Those guys looked good there.’ There are times you say, ‘That’s bad ball.’ Eliminating bad football is what we have to do. It is not about us being young. Sometimes being young is an advantage.”
On Physicality
“All of these games are tough and psychical games. Our guys will recover and get ready for the next game.”
“We have to give Air Force a lot of credit. Those guys have some good players, play extremely hard, are well coached and made more plays than we made. Execution for us is what is lacking on a consistent basis. When we execute, we can move the ball score and finish drives. When we don’t, we are not very effective. Same thing defensively. When guys do their job and play sound and solid, we are able to stop people and get off the field on third down. It is death by inches. One guy has a lack of execution on a play there is a good chance you won’t have a successful play. Our job as coaches is to figure out why we aren’t as consistent as we need to be. We will look at the film and be very critical and get ready for the next one. That is what I told the players and we are going to move forward with this football team. I want to give air force a ton of credit. I have a ton of respect for Air Force and what they are all abbot. They made more plays than us.”
On Coming Out Of The Gates Slow
“We are trying to figure that out. We came out and got a takeaway on defense early and had a drive early. That was better for us. It is consistency. You have to do it play in and play out. That is where we are lacking right now. If you don’t execute it will catch up to you. Our guys fought and played hard, but it is not about that. It is about being able to execute for four quarters, 60 minutes. Plus being able to finish. That is where we are right now.”
On The Week Of Preparation
“I felt really good about our preparation. We got better as the week went. Our Friday was as sharp of a Friday as I have seen. From a preparation standpoint, it felt great going into the game based on what we did Monday through Friday getting ready for this opportunity. Make no mistake about it, there is no excuse about how many days we had to be prepare. That is not what we are all about. We had a lot of opportunities to get our job done. You can point to several plays where we aren’t at our best and didn’t execute and it costed us.”
On Aaron Maddox
“I haven’t (talked to him). We will see what happens. He was in a lot of pain. I am looking forward to catching up with him and seeing how he is doing.”
On Air Force’s Offense
“They did a really good job and came out with some scheme runs that we had to adjust to on some certain formations. They did a really good job of scheming us up and we had to adjust to that. As you make adjustments they go to the next thing. They get you with explosive plays. Explosive passes hurt us in the first. In the second half those scheme runs were tightened down and we eliminated those. We were able to get off the field on third down and that is why we were able to hold them in the second.”
On Air Force’s Defense
“We knew they were going to bring pressure. They are very aggressive on defense. Everyone you play is going to bring pressure and mix their coverages. They play some man but also some zone. That is to be expected. Give those guys credit. They played hard and made plays. When you call a play, there are certain things you have to do. Typically, when you look at the film after the game you will say, ‘This guy didn’t do his job’, or ‘We should have done this.’ It is death by inches. We have to coach off of it and we have to figure out how we keep that from happening. That is maturity as a football team. We will find answers and I am very confident with this staff. We have a very good staff with a lot of experience with players. We will figure it out.”
On What He Learned About His Team
“You find out something about your team every day and every game. Whether you win or lose, you find out things. My expectation is for us to look critically at ourselves on what we can do better. Let’s not fool ourselves. Look at it objectively and say, ‘This is how I have to improve.’ This is how I can get better and take the step to get better and move onto the next game. We have to play another game. It is going to come on us fast. All of our goals are ahead of us. This is a disappointment, but it’s not the end of what we are doing. We didn’t come this far just to come this far. It isn’t over now. Tt was one game where we are disappointed. Now we have to get ready to go again. That is our expectation. Give those guys credit for how they played, take a critical look at ourselves and get ready to go again.”
On If He Considered Going For Two At The End Of The Fourth
“No. There was no thought on that. We were playing pretty good on defense and offense. Let’s take it (extra point) and try to close it.”
On How They Need To Improve
“A lot of it will be based on tape and what we need to do to get better. I told these guys that this is a very unforgiving game at times. We have all been in locker rooms where we have been disappointed. How do you handle adversity? How do you handle a loss? Do you make excuses? We are not going to do that. Do you try to rationalize things? Or do you just say, ‘Listen, we weren’t good enough and this is what we have to do to get better.’ What you do on daily basis matters. That is my message to the team. Every day we have an opportunity to practice, prepare and meet we will take advantage of those days. Even if you win you have to move onto the next game. This is not a final situation. We are continuing to work with this football team. We have tremendous upside and we have to figure out a way to get it out of them. That is why they call us coaches.”
On If They Were Surprised By Air Force
“I don’t think there was as surprise on our part in terms of what we were up against and what team we went against and how they would compete and play. We all knew that and saw that. We were ready for a four-quarter football game.”
On Youth
“I haven’t even considered us being a young team. I haven’t talked about that before and don’t see a reason to talk about it now. We have good enough players at enough positions to get the job done. You can see that during our first three games. Both sides of the ball you can point and say, ‘That’s good football. Those guys looked good there.’ There are times you say, ‘That’s bad ball.’ Eliminating bad football is what we have to do. It is not about us being young. Sometimes being young is an advantage.”
On Physicality
“All of these games are tough and psychical games. Our guys will recover and get ready for the next game.”
Air Force Head Coach Troy Calhoun
Feelings On The Win
“It’s a good one, but it’s just one win. No more than that. Even if the outcome was different, it still would have been just one game. What we have to do now is get back on our feet because it’s going to be a short week as we head on the road on Friday.”
On The Game-Winning Possession In Overtime
“I think we really executed a poor play and it turned out well. Defensively, our defense was holding the field on the first possession. They kept up the tempo.”
On Getting The Road Victory
“I don’t know the feel or what not, but I think when you coach and you play you have to be like the pilot who hovers an F16 or F35. They always want to execute the next mission.”
On Momentum Heading Into Mountain West Play
“It’s not a roller coaster. Just one game. Each game we play is one game. Our guys are wise enough to do that. Where we are in six days will be completely different.”
“It’s a good one, but it’s just one win. No more than that. Even if the outcome was different, it still would have been just one game. What we have to do now is get back on our feet because it’s going to be a short week as we head on the road on Friday.”
On The Game-Winning Possession In Overtime
“I think we really executed a poor play and it turned out well. Defensively, our defense was holding the field on the first possession. They kept up the tempo.”
On Getting The Road Victory
“I don’t know the feel or what not, but I think when you coach and you play you have to be like the pilot who hovers an F16 or F35. They always want to execute the next mission.”
On Momentum Heading Into Mountain West Play
“It’s not a roller coaster. Just one game. Each game we play is one game. Our guys are wise enough to do that. Where we are in six days will be completely different.”
Colorado Players
ILB Nate Landman
ON HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS-“First loss obviously, after a couple of emotional wins, what needs to happen for us to kind of shake it off. Yeah, no doubt that this team is going to respond greatly to this loss and move on and take it as a learning point. And I don't think it's going to affect how we play next week, and for weeks to come. I think it will just boost our chip on our shoulder. And you know, because we hate this failure, we don't want to have this feeling again. And I think it just make us play harder.”
ON HOW THE INJURIES AFFECTED THE TEAM-“Yeah, it's definitely emotional, I mean me and Aaron (Maddox) are tight and you know, it comes to that shared experience on the field and he's a great safety is a hard hitting safety. You know, but we always talked about next man up, handle his business. But it kind of sparks our defenses to play harder because you know, we don't like seeing our guy go off in a stretcher or on the cart. And I think that that kind of just put another spark into the defense to you know, play for him.”
ON HOW THE INJURIES AFFECTED THE TEAM-“Yeah, it's definitely emotional, I mean me and Aaron (Maddox) are tight and you know, it comes to that shared experience on the field and he's a great safety is a hard hitting safety. You know, but we always talked about next man up, handle his business. But it kind of sparks our defenses to play harder because you know, we don't like seeing our guy go off in a stretcher or on the cart. And I think that that kind of just put another spark into the defense to you know, play for him.”
CB Delrick Abrams Jr.
ON TURNING IT AROUND-“We’ll try and get better every week and get ready for Pac-12.”
ON MADDOX INJURY-“It was kind of tragic. It really hurt me seeing one of my brothers on the ground in that much pain. After that I just pray for him and pray he recovers. He hit something on the sideline and it hit really bad.”
ON CONTINUING AFTER THAT-“It’s really hard because you have your brother in the back of your mind and you have to try and play the next play. So I’m just trying to clear my mind and think of him because I know he wants to be out there with us.”
ON MADDOX INJURY-“It was kind of tragic. It really hurt me seeing one of my brothers on the ground in that much pain. After that I just pray for him and pray he recovers. He hit something on the sideline and it hit really bad.”
ON CONTINUING AFTER THAT-“It’s really hard because you have your brother in the back of your mind and you have to try and play the next play. So I’m just trying to clear my mind and think of him because I know he wants to be out there with us.”
ILB Akil Jones
ON AIR FORCE OFFENSE-“I mean, scouting did a really good job at showing us looks at it. But I mean, overall, it's just Air Force. They've been running this offense for so many years that they've got it perfected and that they rely on us just to make a mistake. And then that's when big plays happen. So they'll just run you to sleep and then they'll hit you with the pass. And, you know, I think we just took them a little too lightly. But they have a really great offense, though.”
ON GETTING READY FOR PAC-12 PLAY-“I’m kind of glad that we got a little taste of this right now. And I'm just excited to see how everyone's going to react coming in.”
ON HAVING MORE PLAYING TIME-“Personally, just happy just to be out there making plays and stuff. But overall, I really just want to win.”
ON THE INJURY IMPACT-“ I feel like our secondary second string and everybody are always right there to be the next man up and I feel like we actually don't lose a step or a footing or anything. I feel like we actually continue to keep moving. They mix us up every day in practice. So we're, pretty used to it.”
ON GETTING READY FOR PAC-12 PLAY-“I’m kind of glad that we got a little taste of this right now. And I'm just excited to see how everyone's going to react coming in.”
ON HAVING MORE PLAYING TIME-“Personally, just happy just to be out there making plays and stuff. But overall, I really just want to win.”
ON THE INJURY IMPACT-“ I feel like our secondary second string and everybody are always right there to be the next man up and I feel like we actually don't lose a step or a footing or anything. I feel like we actually continue to keep moving. They mix us up every day in practice. So we're, pretty used to it.”
TE Brady Russell
ON PAC-12 PLAY NEXT WEEK-“We just have to come out and be focused and ready to practice and listen to what our coaches have to say. Not be on our own agendas, we just all need to be together and one and working together out on the field and learn from today for sure.”
ON MADDOX INJURY-“I wouldn't say we take it lightly by any means like it sucks seeing your teammate down but you definitely have to move past it and not let it get in your head at all or let it affect the way you're playing. So I mean, it sucks and your teammates down, but at the same time, you can't let that have any effect on the game.”
ON AIR FORCE BLITZ-“There's definitely one I didn't expect to come in that threw me off a little bit. But other than that we were well prepared. I think the one that threw me off I should have had for sure.”
ON MADDOX INJURY-“I wouldn't say we take it lightly by any means like it sucks seeing your teammate down but you definitely have to move past it and not let it get in your head at all or let it affect the way you're playing. So I mean, it sucks and your teammates down, but at the same time, you can't let that have any effect on the game.”
ON AIR FORCE BLITZ-“There's definitely one I didn't expect to come in that threw me off a little bit. But other than that we were well prepared. I think the one that threw me off I should have had for sure.”
OLB Nu’umotu Falo Jr
ON THE DIFFERENCE ONE WEEK MAKES-“Coming off a win like that last week, it’s a great victory for us, for our team, for our program. And coming out here this week, and having to go to the battle that we went in to, I think it's a big emphasis on what we'd have to do as a team to get better and just to go out there and to win as a team and to start fast like we should, and just go out there and execute everything that we need to. So I think that it’s pretty much a big point for our team to bring those to understand how the rest of the season can go, depending on how we practice and how we go out there and take that mentality.”
ON THE 24 HOUR RULE-“Yeah Mikial (Onu) just said it right there. I mean, we really have to come in and get better in every aspect that we do. Every phase of the game, offense, defense, special teams, you know, we've got to execute everything that we do, and just come out and go back to square one and get it rolling again.”
ON THE 24 HOUR RULE-“Yeah Mikial (Onu) just said it right there. I mean, we really have to come in and get better in every aspect that we do. Every phase of the game, offense, defense, special teams, you know, we've got to execute everything that we do, and just come out and go back to square one and get it rolling again.”
WR Laviska Shenault Jr.
ON IF LAST WEEKS WIN AFFECTED TODAY-“Playing football is definitely a big emotional thing. I don’t think it played a part in it but we just know that you have to come out hard, you have to finish and you have to just do every little thing the right way so it kind of hurt us in this one.”
ON TEAM’S PASSING GAME-“When we we’re moving, we we’re moving. We’re unstoppable. But like I said little things messed us up, kind of slowed us down and we tried to pick it up. We could pick it up but like I said it was the little things. Little things just messed us up. It’s a good teaching moment.”
ON WHY THE TEAM TENDS TO START SLOW-“I don’t know, it might be a mindset thing I'm not sure but we can get the job done. Like I said we have to come out and execute and everybody has to do their part.”
ON HOW TO FIX THE ISSUES-“Listen to what the coaches have to tell us. Come in ready to practice on Monday.”
ON THE AARON MADDOX INJURY-“I’m definitely sorry to hear what happened to him but I mean this is the game of football so you have to just move on. Of course we are going to hate to lose him but we have to move on, we have to keep working, we have to keep fighting, we have to keep going. We have bigger goals, we have a lot of goals ahead of us so.”
ON THE TEAM’S COLLECTIVE MENTALITY-“I think that just shows that our team will never give up and shows that our team can get the job done. It also shows that no matter what we’re going to keep fighting so we definitely need that type of team if we want to do good in the stretch.”
ON WHAT’S DIFFERENT FROM LAST YEAR’S TEAM-“That starts with the head coach. When he first came in, he was a hard-working coach, relentless. He wants us to go hard 24/7. So that's where it first starts and I mean we’ve all seen what we can do when our backs against the wall and when times are hard so I just feel like we have to do all of the little things the right way.”
ON IF ANYTHING WAS DIFFERENT FROM TAPES ON AIR FORCE-“Not really. They pretty much were the same as what we watched on tape. We just weren’t executing, we weren’t doing the little things right.”
ON HOW THE TEAM HAS TO PREPARE FOR ARIZONA STATE-“For sure be more disciplined, be more smart. Like I said do the little things right. We did a lot of things right, we can click and when we’re clicking it’s hard to stop our offense. We just have to come hard, come hard and ready to practice on Monday.”
ON TEAM’S PASSING GAME-“When we we’re moving, we we’re moving. We’re unstoppable. But like I said little things messed us up, kind of slowed us down and we tried to pick it up. We could pick it up but like I said it was the little things. Little things just messed us up. It’s a good teaching moment.”
ON WHY THE TEAM TENDS TO START SLOW-“I don’t know, it might be a mindset thing I'm not sure but we can get the job done. Like I said we have to come out and execute and everybody has to do their part.”
ON HOW TO FIX THE ISSUES-“Listen to what the coaches have to tell us. Come in ready to practice on Monday.”
ON THE AARON MADDOX INJURY-“I’m definitely sorry to hear what happened to him but I mean this is the game of football so you have to just move on. Of course we are going to hate to lose him but we have to move on, we have to keep working, we have to keep fighting, we have to keep going. We have bigger goals, we have a lot of goals ahead of us so.”
ON THE TEAM’S COLLECTIVE MENTALITY-“I think that just shows that our team will never give up and shows that our team can get the job done. It also shows that no matter what we’re going to keep fighting so we definitely need that type of team if we want to do good in the stretch.”
ON WHAT’S DIFFERENT FROM LAST YEAR’S TEAM-“That starts with the head coach. When he first came in, he was a hard-working coach, relentless. He wants us to go hard 24/7. So that's where it first starts and I mean we’ve all seen what we can do when our backs against the wall and when times are hard so I just feel like we have to do all of the little things the right way.”
ON IF ANYTHING WAS DIFFERENT FROM TAPES ON AIR FORCE-“Not really. They pretty much were the same as what we watched on tape. We just weren’t executing, we weren’t doing the little things right.”
ON HOW THE TEAM HAS TO PREPARE FOR ARIZONA STATE-“For sure be more disciplined, be more smart. Like I said do the little things right. We did a lot of things right, we can click and when we’re clicking it’s hard to stop our offense. We just have to come hard, come hard and ready to practice on Monday.”
S Mikial Onu
ON THE EMOTIONS AFTER THE MADDOX INJURY-“I was sick for him, just knowing what he's been through, knowing how hard he works every single day. There's not a lot of guys like that, you know, you just hate to see it happen to a guy like that. That loves football that much, cares about the team that much, about the game that much. And I’m even more sick we couldn’t get the win for him and just pray for speedy recovery. I love that kid man. I know what he can do when he's healthy and he’s always going to come back stronger than ever.”
ON IF THE TEAM WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY AIR FORCE-“No they hit us with what we knew we would get hit with. They had a good game plan, credit to those guys, we have to get better, tackle better, run the ball better, a lot of places to improve. So we will come back next week. And we're going to improve this week and we'll be ready.”
ON WHAT WAS SAID IN HUDDLE ABOUT MADDOX-“I mean, there's definitely an added emphasis on, you know, trying to try to play for him. I kept telling him everyone knows, I think everyone knows how much he wants to win, about how much he loves the ball. So stuff like that doesn’t need to be said, you know, you just feel terrible for a guy who's been through that much and just to see him go down. But yeah, we want to definitely play for him, get the win for him and I just feel terrible that we couldn't do that for him.”
ON THE 24 HOUR RULE-“I think, you know, we want to keep this feeling, you know, you don't have this feeling again, so I think we're going to come back tomorrow, and we're going to get better and watch film. And we'll see what we need to improve, you know, 24-hour rule applies, win, lose or draw. And you know, we're going to have the same focus, whether we win or lose, we're going to try to get better every day, whether we win or lose, and, you know, heading into conference, we definitely need to get better. And so, you know, we should come in and have the same approach.”
ON HIS FORCED TURNOVERS THIS FAR-“You know, it's less me and more coaches put me in good positions and guys, follow making plays. So, I mean, it's all cool. Turnovers are cool, you know, you try and help your team get momentum. You try to help your team head in the right direction but it means nothing if you lose. So, I mean, I could care less about what kind of turnovers I had, how many I have in the season. I want to win. So whatever I have to do to win that's my approach.”
ON IF THE TEAM WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY AIR FORCE-“No they hit us with what we knew we would get hit with. They had a good game plan, credit to those guys, we have to get better, tackle better, run the ball better, a lot of places to improve. So we will come back next week. And we're going to improve this week and we'll be ready.”
ON WHAT WAS SAID IN HUDDLE ABOUT MADDOX-“I mean, there's definitely an added emphasis on, you know, trying to try to play for him. I kept telling him everyone knows, I think everyone knows how much he wants to win, about how much he loves the ball. So stuff like that doesn’t need to be said, you know, you just feel terrible for a guy who's been through that much and just to see him go down. But yeah, we want to definitely play for him, get the win for him and I just feel terrible that we couldn't do that for him.”
ON THE 24 HOUR RULE-“I think, you know, we want to keep this feeling, you know, you don't have this feeling again, so I think we're going to come back tomorrow, and we're going to get better and watch film. And we'll see what we need to improve, you know, 24-hour rule applies, win, lose or draw. And you know, we're going to have the same focus, whether we win or lose, we're going to try to get better every day, whether we win or lose, and, you know, heading into conference, we definitely need to get better. And so, you know, we should come in and have the same approach.”
ON HIS FORCED TURNOVERS THIS FAR-“You know, it's less me and more coaches put me in good positions and guys, follow making plays. So, I mean, it's all cool. Turnovers are cool, you know, you try and help your team get momentum. You try to help your team head in the right direction but it means nothing if you lose. So, I mean, I could care less about what kind of turnovers I had, how many I have in the season. I want to win. So whatever I have to do to win that's my approach.”
QB Steven Montez
ON IF THE FIRST TWO GAMES IMPACTED THIS GAME-“Yeah, yeah, I mean, I just thought we didn't execute today, especially on offense and I mean, a lot of that just plain and simple is on me. I just got to do a better job, can’t come out there lethargic like that. And we just have to come out faster, and just better, just better execution. But although I mean, all the credit in the world Air Force, they played a hell of a game. They played lights out. They're a very disciplined football team. They're a very good football team. So all the credit to them.”
ON IF THERE WAS AN EMOTIONAL LET DOWN-“I think that we were definitely up for it. I mean, it's not like, all of us didn't want to play, you know, we're definitely up for it. We just didn't execute, we didn't do a very good job executing the plays that were called in the assignments that we had. And then it just it didn't, it didn't bode well for us, we put ourselves behind the sticks a lot. And that that got us into trouble. So we just have to do a better job of cleaning that stuff up. And I think we'll be in a lot better shape. I think we clean up some of those penalties, some of those missed throws, some of those missed assignments, I think that we will be in a lot better shape.”
ON WHAT WILL HELP THE OFFENSE EXECUTE-“I mean, to be honest, I don't know that question. I don't think I have an answer for that. As of right now. I mean, I think we have to figure it out. I think we have to keep practicing hard. And I think that'll help us be more consistent. But as of just kind of just like a magic switch kind of flip and everything changes and all of a sudden we're consistent now. I don't think we have that. So I think we just have to keep just continuing to practice and just work at our fundamentals and work in the mental game. And I think that'll make us more consistent if we keep doing that on a day to day basis.”
ON THE AARON MADDOX INJURY-“Yeah, just prayers to him. First of all prayers to him. I don't know exactly what his injury is but I heard it didn't look too good. So prayers to Aaron Maddox for that. But he's a key part on our defense he's a hitter, he'll come down, he'll hit you. And I mean, Coach ‘Tuck’ likes that on the defense. So he's a big piece. Hopefully, his injury is not too bad a he'll be back soon.”
ON IF HE WAS DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT-“To be honest, no, it didn’t it kind of just felt the same, felt like the same sense of urgency. Just kind of just felt the same and just kind of felt like things started to click for us a little bit. I mean, we have to figure out a way to get them clicking earlier, you know, we can’t just go out there and not produce for a whole half of football.”
ON HOW IMPORTANT MONDAY PRACTICE IS-“Oh, it's very important. It's very, very important for us to come out here and correct all these mistakes that we made and just start getting prepared for ASU, because they have a very good football team up there in Tempe. So we're excited about it. We're excited for the opportunity to play football again. I mean, this is obviously a tough loss, but 24-hour rule, after 24 hours, I mean, hey, it's out of our mind, out of our heads, so we're on to ASU. So We're excited, we're excited to get an opportunity to play football next week.”
ON IF THE LOSS IS GOOD FOR A WAKE-UP CALL-“To be honest, I'm not sure yet. I'm not really sure how we're going to respond to it. I mean, that'll be obviously a big test for us on Monday, how we're going to respond to this loss and how our guys come back. I mean, I think it could kind of be like a little gut check, a little punch in the gut, see what we're working with. But I mean, I think the guys are going to come out strong. I mean, we got some tough guys in our locker room. So I think they'll come back on Monday and be ready to work and I mean really we'll come back tomorrow and get our rehab in and people will probably watch film tomorrow so it really starts tomorrow, just getting all of those mistakes on paper understanding what we did wrong and just fixing the small details of the play that we need to get corrected to have success.”
ON IF THE AIR FORCE DEFENSE CHANGED ANYTHING-“No, they were good on defense don't get me wrong, they were a very good defensive team. I think we just had a hard time executing, I think a lot of it was putting ourselves behind the sticks, didn't put us in a good position to be successful on second and third down. And then I think just not executing in the plays just missing throws, missing assignments, just missing blocks, it was just a bunch of different stuff. Just a bunch of different stuff that kind of put us in a bad situation. We were able to give ourselves a chance at the end but the way we the way we want to run this offense, we don't want just a chance at the end, we want to be up top at the end. So we have to come back and work at it and hopefully get better over this next week and come into ASU more prepared.”
ON IF THERE WAS AN EMOTIONAL LET DOWN-“I think that we were definitely up for it. I mean, it's not like, all of us didn't want to play, you know, we're definitely up for it. We just didn't execute, we didn't do a very good job executing the plays that were called in the assignments that we had. And then it just it didn't, it didn't bode well for us, we put ourselves behind the sticks a lot. And that that got us into trouble. So we just have to do a better job of cleaning that stuff up. And I think we'll be in a lot better shape. I think we clean up some of those penalties, some of those missed throws, some of those missed assignments, I think that we will be in a lot better shape.”
ON WHAT WILL HELP THE OFFENSE EXECUTE-“I mean, to be honest, I don't know that question. I don't think I have an answer for that. As of right now. I mean, I think we have to figure it out. I think we have to keep practicing hard. And I think that'll help us be more consistent. But as of just kind of just like a magic switch kind of flip and everything changes and all of a sudden we're consistent now. I don't think we have that. So I think we just have to keep just continuing to practice and just work at our fundamentals and work in the mental game. And I think that'll make us more consistent if we keep doing that on a day to day basis.”
ON THE AARON MADDOX INJURY-“Yeah, just prayers to him. First of all prayers to him. I don't know exactly what his injury is but I heard it didn't look too good. So prayers to Aaron Maddox for that. But he's a key part on our defense he's a hitter, he'll come down, he'll hit you. And I mean, Coach ‘Tuck’ likes that on the defense. So he's a big piece. Hopefully, his injury is not too bad a he'll be back soon.”
ON IF HE WAS DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT-“To be honest, no, it didn’t it kind of just felt the same, felt like the same sense of urgency. Just kind of just felt the same and just kind of felt like things started to click for us a little bit. I mean, we have to figure out a way to get them clicking earlier, you know, we can’t just go out there and not produce for a whole half of football.”
ON HOW IMPORTANT MONDAY PRACTICE IS-“Oh, it's very important. It's very, very important for us to come out here and correct all these mistakes that we made and just start getting prepared for ASU, because they have a very good football team up there in Tempe. So we're excited about it. We're excited for the opportunity to play football again. I mean, this is obviously a tough loss, but 24-hour rule, after 24 hours, I mean, hey, it's out of our mind, out of our heads, so we're on to ASU. So We're excited, we're excited to get an opportunity to play football next week.”
ON IF THE LOSS IS GOOD FOR A WAKE-UP CALL-“To be honest, I'm not sure yet. I'm not really sure how we're going to respond to it. I mean, that'll be obviously a big test for us on Monday, how we're going to respond to this loss and how our guys come back. I mean, I think it could kind of be like a little gut check, a little punch in the gut, see what we're working with. But I mean, I think the guys are going to come out strong. I mean, we got some tough guys in our locker room. So I think they'll come back on Monday and be ready to work and I mean really we'll come back tomorrow and get our rehab in and people will probably watch film tomorrow so it really starts tomorrow, just getting all of those mistakes on paper understanding what we did wrong and just fixing the small details of the play that we need to get corrected to have success.”
ON IF THE AIR FORCE DEFENSE CHANGED ANYTHING-“No, they were good on defense don't get me wrong, they were a very good defensive team. I think we just had a hard time executing, I think a lot of it was putting ourselves behind the sticks, didn't put us in a good position to be successful on second and third down. And then I think just not executing in the plays just missing throws, missing assignments, just missing blocks, it was just a bunch of different stuff. Just a bunch of different stuff that kind of put us in a bad situation. We were able to give ourselves a chance at the end but the way we the way we want to run this offense, we don't want just a chance at the end, we want to be up top at the end. So we have to come back and work at it and hopefully get better over this next week and come into ASU more prepared.”
Air Force Players
CB Milton Bugg III
ON WHAT HE TALKED TO LAVISKA SHENAULT ABOUT-“I said they’re running you like a horse out here man, just cause he looked dead tired. But I knew when it came down to the fourth down they’re going to look for him. So I just put my energy into that.”
ON HOW THE WIN FELT-“It just feels great, it feels great to come out to someone else’s house and just win. Flat out win, it just felt great especially with the way it happened.”
ON SHUTTING DOWN CU’S OFFENSE-“We believe that we should have shut them down the whole game, I mean that is the way that we always think. We think that no one should be able to score on us. They got out of a lot of 3rd-and-15s, the longest was a 4th-and-1 and I feel like we just came out a little shook. But after that we were able to do everything we could to help our team win.”
ON HIS INTERCEPTIONS-“It feels great, just taking every opportunity I can and going out there doing what I can for my brothers. That is just how it played out this week. I honestly don’t even remember thinking during that play. I saw the ball and just went to try and make a play. But yeah it definitely helped our offense get a little boost and it gauges the defense for sure.”
ON HOW THE WIN FELT-“It just feels great, it feels great to come out to someone else’s house and just win. Flat out win, it just felt great especially with the way it happened.”
ON SHUTTING DOWN CU’S OFFENSE-“We believe that we should have shut them down the whole game, I mean that is the way that we always think. We think that no one should be able to score on us. They got out of a lot of 3rd-and-15s, the longest was a 4th-and-1 and I feel like we just came out a little shook. But after that we were able to do everything we could to help our team win.”
ON HIS INTERCEPTIONS-“It feels great, just taking every opportunity I can and going out there doing what I can for my brothers. That is just how it played out this week. I honestly don’t even remember thinking during that play. I saw the ball and just went to try and make a play. But yeah it definitely helped our offense get a little boost and it gauges the defense for sure.”
ILB Kyle Johnson
ON HIS MINDSET GOING INTO OT-“Just the next play. We take everything one step at a time, one play at a time, have trust in your brothers and we will make the process work for us.”
ON STOPPING THE RUN-“We got caught off guard a couple of times, we will make those adjustments going into next week. But I think overall we didn’t really want them to run, we made them one dimensional like we were trying to do.”
ON THE EXCITEMENT OF THIS GAME-“It was a lot of fun, I just wish we had finished when we had the opportunity to. But it just makes them more exciting going into overtime so I’m okay with that.”
ON TRYING TO COVER SHENAULT-“I mean obviously we have to be aware of his talent and his skill but we are still going to play our defense the way that we play our defense. We just got to focus on finishing tackles.”
ON WHAT THIS WIN MEANS GOING FORWARD-“Well the second we walk out of this locker we are prepping for Boise (State) so we are going to treat it like any other week. It’s a short week so we play on Friday so bus back and practice tomorrow.”
ON POTENTIAL BRAGGING RIGHTS-“I think that it is really cool we got to play again after like 45-50 years. And like we said we want to see who the best team in Colorado is.”
ON STOPPING THE RUN-“We got caught off guard a couple of times, we will make those adjustments going into next week. But I think overall we didn’t really want them to run, we made them one dimensional like we were trying to do.”
ON THE EXCITEMENT OF THIS GAME-“It was a lot of fun, I just wish we had finished when we had the opportunity to. But it just makes them more exciting going into overtime so I’m okay with that.”
ON TRYING TO COVER SHENAULT-“I mean obviously we have to be aware of his talent and his skill but we are still going to play our defense the way that we play our defense. We just got to focus on finishing tackles.”
ON WHAT THIS WIN MEANS GOING FORWARD-“Well the second we walk out of this locker we are prepping for Boise (State) so we are going to treat it like any other week. It’s a short week so we play on Friday so bus back and practice tomorrow.”
ON POTENTIAL BRAGGING RIGHTS-“I think that it is really cool we got to play again after like 45-50 years. And like we said we want to see who the best team in Colorado is.”
FS Jeremy Fejedelem
ON HIS MINDSET GOING Into the game-“We came in very mentally prepared for this team. We scouted them, they had two really tough games. So they showed us a lot of film and we came prepared.”
HIS MINDSET GOING INTO OT–“Going into overtime we knew they had a bit of momentum in the fourth quarter. But you just got to do your job. And I know the coach or coaches are going to call a good scheme and we got to execute.”
HIS MINDSET GOING INTO OT–“Going into overtime we knew they had a bit of momentum in the fourth quarter. But you just got to do your job. And I know the coach or coaches are going to call a good scheme and we got to execute.”
QB Donald Hammond III
ON THE VICTORY-“We came into this week knowing we were going to win this game. We just had to prove to the world that we could but everybody in the lockeroom knew we were going to win. We believe that nobody in the nation can stop us.”
ON KEEPING COMPOSURE IN OT-“We were the only ones who were stopping ourselves. They weren’t stopping us. All we had to do was play our game and keep it going.”
ON HIS PASSING-“It felt really good because they ran Cover Zero and let everybody loose and I just tried to find my guys And they made plays.”
ON WATERS 81-YARD TD Catch-“I was surprised on his burst of speed. At first I thought he was going to get tackled when they tried to trip him up but he got away. It was huge for him because he’s a Denver guy and he had a lot of family members here at the game.”
ON BEATING AN IN-STATE OPPONENT-“We view this as a state championship game because they beat [Colorado State] and we just beat them so all we have to do now is beat CSU and we win the state.
ON THE IMPORTANCE FOR AFA ALUMNI-“For any of us grads this is huge I think for the past eight times we played a Power 5 team we are 1-7. So to beat a Power 5 team is really huge and the grads are proud of us.”
ON EXCITEMENT FOR REST OF SEASON-“I told you earlier that I was excited about this year. I think we’re going to be really good we just have to keep our momentum going and not beat ourselves.
ON MOMENTUM INTO MWC PLAY-“This is huge. Right now we know we can beat anybody. Even when its not a good day. We had three turnovers today and still came out with a win. This is a huge confidence booster.”
ON TEAM KEEPING COMPOSURE-“We have a lot of guys on our team from last year and we lost a lot of close games last year. Most of our games we didn’t lose by 10 in most of them so we knew coming in what we had to do to win and get even better.”
ON KEEPING COMPOSURE IN OT-“We were the only ones who were stopping ourselves. They weren’t stopping us. All we had to do was play our game and keep it going.”
ON HIS PASSING-“It felt really good because they ran Cover Zero and let everybody loose and I just tried to find my guys And they made plays.”
ON WATERS 81-YARD TD Catch-“I was surprised on his burst of speed. At first I thought he was going to get tackled when they tried to trip him up but he got away. It was huge for him because he’s a Denver guy and he had a lot of family members here at the game.”
ON BEATING AN IN-STATE OPPONENT-“We view this as a state championship game because they beat [Colorado State] and we just beat them so all we have to do now is beat CSU and we win the state.
ON THE IMPORTANCE FOR AFA ALUMNI-“For any of us grads this is huge I think for the past eight times we played a Power 5 team we are 1-7. So to beat a Power 5 team is really huge and the grads are proud of us.”
ON EXCITEMENT FOR REST OF SEASON-“I told you earlier that I was excited about this year. I think we’re going to be really good we just have to keep our momentum going and not beat ourselves.
ON MOMENTUM INTO MWC PLAY-“This is huge. Right now we know we can beat anybody. Even when its not a good day. We had three turnovers today and still came out with a win. This is a huge confidence booster.”
ON TEAM KEEPING COMPOSURE-“We have a lot of guys on our team from last year and we lost a lot of close games last year. Most of our games we didn’t lose by 10 in most of them so we knew coming in what we had to do to win and get even better.”