Colorado-Arizona Quotes

vs
Houston

Sep 12 (Fri)

5:30 PM

Colorado Head Coach Karl Dorrell

 
Opening Statement:
"It didn't start out quite the way that I hoped. We had a little bit of a slow start where I think they were very challenging right from the start. They had a couple big runs and got up on some scores. Before we knew it, it was 13-nothing. We made some mistakes offensively where we were just out of rhythm. We threw a couple interceptions, which is uncharacteristic of us. But we ran the ball pretty well and I think by the time halftime rolled around we did find a way to get ourselves back in the game and we were actually leading at halftime 14-13.
 
"It just tells me a lot about this team. It was the first time this year that we've been down by at least two scores; two major scores. There wasn't any panic, there wasn't any concern that we were in trouble or that look that you get on players faces when they seem to lose confidence or something like that. I didn't sense that at all. There was more problem solving. Trying to find answers and solutions as we're on the sidelines making adjustments.
 
"Our defense did a nice job of kind of getting themselves back in control. Obviously the second half we shut them out. They had a couple of great opportunities to put points on the board. They went for a couple fourth down situations and the defense came up big. Particularly the one that was the second to the last drive of the game where they were inside the five yard line, I think it was first-and-goal at the three. They had a tackle for a loss play and obviously it was a fourth and five situation and we ended up creating a huge play. Then I asked the offense, I said "You know what? We need to go 95 yards here. We need points right here." We would've loved to have gotten seven points.
 
"I told Jarek as soon as he sheds that knee brace, he might have three touchdowns. You know with him still wearing that knee brace, he's obviously very productive and doing a great job. I was joking by the way with him. I'm so excited about what that kid does for us offensively. He creates such a spark plug for us.
 
"I was encouraged with a lot of things. Ashaad Clayton got some carries and got his first touchdown today. It was good to see that. All the backs played, all of them had production. On the defensive side, Nigel Bethel came in and had a big, big stop with an interception. That was a big play for a guy who hasn't had a lot of time. There have been a lot of really good positives of guys coming in and making some plays for us. It was a good team win. It wasn't the prettiest, but we got the job done, basically."
 
Can you talk about third downs for you guys. How big was the pressure that you guys were bringing tonight?
"We needed that. We wanted to get after their quarterback and create some havoc within the line of scrimmage and mess with his timing, things like that. That was huge. I thought our defense did some nice things in the passing situations, particularly on third down and fourth down. We had a few fourth down stops I believe, too. That was something that I think was huge for us. They were 0-2 on fourth down. It was complementary football in a lot of ways.
 
"There was some shakiness on both sides of the ball, but it seemed like either side kind of picked up the slack when one of the sides was struggling a bit. That was something that was really encouraging that this team has found a way to pull out wins. It wasn't easy being 13 down, but I'm really encouraged by what they've done."
 
After Sam's second interception, it looked like you were having a heated exchange on the sideline, could you go into detail what that was about and how you guys are doing now?
 "He's going to have to because I'm going to have heated discussions with everybody that makes a mistake. That's the nature of what I am and he knows that. It was a bad mistake. The things that I'm teaching him about being down in the red zone. You have to be a little bit more cautious with the football, you can't just throw it into places. Even though I think the receiver was open, it was just a poorly thrown ball, but it's one of those things. We're going to continue to have those discussions as long as I'm the head coach here. If I see something wrong, I'm going to address it right away. But he was pretty upset about it and that's part of the game. I think that's part of the competitiveness that we all have as coaches and players. We don't take anything personal from it, it's just the competitive nature of being in the game."
 

Colorado Players

 

RB Jarek Broussard

ON NOT FINDING THE ENDZONE- “I don't really trip on stuff like that. My job is to help the team win. If I have to go for 300 (yards) and no (touchdowns) and we win, I’m cool with it.”
ON HIS SEASON SO FAR- “I am very proud of myself, I must say. All of the hard work, hours of rehab, and cold nights in the hospital, it is all just paying off. It feels real good.”
ON TRAILING 13-0 IN THE SECOND QUARTER - “We knew from the jump that we had to play for 60 minutes straight. Being down 13-0 way early in the game, you can't get down on yourself. We still had three more quarters to play. We just stuck to the script and kept on chopping.”
ON RUNNING FOR 300-YARDS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF RASHAAN SALAAM- “It was really huge to do that. Every day we walk in the Champions Center and walk past that (Heisman) trophy. It means a lot to be in that kind of company with that sort of player.”
ON A NEXT MAN UP MENTALITY - “We play with a next man up mentality, as you can see. Nobody knew who I was before this season. When I finally got my shot, I just made the most of it. With the next man up mentality, you can get in at any given moment. You just have to stay ready and be ready.”
ON WHERE THE TEAM STANDS ON A NATIONAL LEVEL- “I don't really focus on anything like that. I just focus on winning games every week, week by week.”
ON IF HE IS SURPRISED BY HIS SEASON SO FAR- “No. All of the hard work I put in throughout rehab, I really expected this. It doesn't really come to me as a surprise.”
 
OLB Carson Wells
ON NATE LANDMAN AND WELLS LEADING THE DEFENSE- “He’s (Landman) my roommate. We’ve been together for like two years and this whole quarantine. Obviously when I went home, I worked out with my dad, but once we got back, I would do the workouts with Drew (Wilson) and we had a field across from my house so we would go and do extra work and that is really paying off.”
ON THE OVERALL DEFENSE - “We played well. I don’t think they scored in the second half. Everybody was playing hard no matter what the score was, first half and second half. Once we got the lead, we just kept playing hard for each other.”
ON ANY DEFENSIVE CHANGES TO MAKE A LIGHT OUT MENTALITY- “We knew they were going to go to tempo. I feel like we settled in. They got that touchdown and a couple field goals, then after that they really didn’t get much. They got a couple drives at the end, but we didn’t break attitude. It really paid off for us today.”
ON CHANCE LYTLE’S INJURY - “He’s a big guy. He gets the offensive line going. You can’t replace him. I know the offense will come up with a good game plan and get that rolling.”
ON NOT PANICKING AFTER BEING DOWN - “We didn’t really change much on the defense, I know the offense kept running the ball, sticking with the game plan. I think (Broussard) had a 300-yard game, something crazy like that. We just had to be patient. We thought we were the better team going in, so we just had to play like that.”
ON BEING 4-0 - “I was a part of being 5-0 and we just need to keep playing. We can’t get complacent; we just need to come out and do the work every day during the week and come out and show the work on Saturdays.”
 

C Joshua Jynes

ON HIS FIRST START- “It was great. I had the leadership of the older guys there. They was telling me, bringing me along, and just telling me, everything's gonna be alright, just do what you do, trust practice, and trust coaching. It was great. We had a great win.”      
ON HAVING A 300-YARD RUSHER IN HIS FIRST START- “That's most definitely what I'm going to tell everybody about my first start. That's a big achievement. Shout out to Jarek Broussard for making us look good and vice versa.”         
ON WHAT THEY CAN IMPROVE ON FOR NEXT WEEL- “Just do what we can. Just keep doing what we've been doing. Just keep working and keep listening to coaching. Coach Dorrell has been leading us real well. Just keep going and just keep grinding like we've been doing.”
 

RB ASHAAD CLAYTON

ON HOW IT FELT TO GET ON THE FIELD - “I can't even describe the feeling. I’ve been waiting on my turn, waiting on my opportunity, praying about and it finally came. I took advantage of it. After the first touchdown, I just knew I was ready. I was back in that high school mood, the high school mindset. As soon as I touch the ball I just go. I got the butterflies out and I was just ready.”  
ON THE STRONG RUNNING GAME - “We got a great running back room. And with Jarek, he can't carry the load by himself. He needs breathers at times. That’s what we all here for, to have each other’s back.”
 

LB Nate Landman

GENERAL-“It was a four quarter game, it was our first time being down, and it was crazy to see how this team responded.  Our coach (Karl) Dorrell said at the end that he kept it quiet and let us handle it.  We try to be a player run team and we came out in the second half and dominated and dominated the second half.  That’s just a credit to the want and the heart of this team.”
ON DEFENSE NOT PANICKING DOWN 13-0-“We knew that our offense was going to click in and we would settle into playing our base defense.  Those first 20 plays are always scripted and always tough plays.  We were able to make those adjustments and at halftime.  That really showed in the second half.”  
 

OL Will Sherman

ON RUSHING ATTACK-“This is definitely the most developed offensive line that I have been a part of since I have been here.  A staple that we wanted to live by this year was being able to run the ball on our terms, and at will.  That is definitely something that we have been able to do these four games, and we definitely take pride in that.
ON NEXT MAN UP MENTALITY-“Definitely, especially on the offensive line.  It’s five people out there all working as one unit, so we definitely try to have the same execution level with the one’s as we do with the two’s, and three’s.  I think that this year we have great depth. I was glad to see Joshua (Jynes) go out there and get some playing time, and Kanan Ray get some good playing time.  We were still able to run the ball and do what we do.