Colorado-USC Quotes
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Houston
Sep 12 (Fri)
5:30 PM
Postgame Quotes
USC vs. Colorado, Sept. 30, 2023, Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.
Colorado Head Coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders
Opening Statement:
“Wonderful game. They played their hearts out. I addressed the team and told them I love each of them, coaches included, because they were resilient. They did not give up and they had multiple, multiple opportunities to give up. They fought to the end. We sustained injuries, meaning the next man up came in and did their thing. Omarion played his butt off, and he had a 196. Several guys played. Cormani came in and contributed tremendously. Still had some special teams that were not special. As normal, we got to fix this. I say this every week, but we truly must fix this one way or another. Running game showed its face and you see how better the offense flowed. With the running game, we are still getting out to tardy starts. We got to come out ready to play it. I must fix that myself, personally. We cannot come out, make a surge, right before halftime make a play, and then we start saying, “Okay, we're in the game.” They (USC) played wonderfully. The quarterback (Caleb Williams) was resilient. They hit us with some big play screens and backside things. But coaches always say, “We didn't do this, and we didn't do that.” They force you into doing certain things and they force you into making mistakes. But we must just fix the little issues that we are having. And I do not know if that's age, I do not know if that is just being new to the system. But overall, I'm really proud of, not only the young men, the coaches, the fan base, the student body, all of you. I'm truly proud of the way we represented Boulder today. I really am. Let's go.”
On when Deion started to see the talent in Shedeur Sanders while raising him:
“Well, his nickname in my phone, and most of you know this, is grown. G R O W N. He's very mature for his age. He's very confident. He doesn't flinch. He never gets flustered. He's the most sacked quarterback in college football and you can tell with the way he carries himself. He is just a kid. We knew, multitude of our fans know, and some of you wonderful and brilliant writers know if we would have got that ball last, we were going to go down and score. We knew that. We know that everybody in here knows that. His teammates knew that. And that is just what he brings to the table. He's unflappable. And he's very wise and understanding on the whys in what he sees out there on the field. He thinks a multitude of things through but he's a dynamic athlete and a dynamic young man. I'm proud to be his father and his coach.”
On what the locker room’s mentality was like regarding holding themselves accountable:
“Not early on. No, not whatsoever. You got to understand it. You can only hold people accountable when you're doing your job. You can’t go right here and hold everybody accountable if you're not doing your job. So, the more that these young men do their jobs and do it like the expectation that we have of them being, then they can hold others accountable. But, they're tremendously reluctant. There are only a few guys on his team that consistently do what we expect weekend and week out, as well as practice. I didn't think we were going to get that performance from Omarion. I haven't seen it yet. No, he hadn’t practiced well and it’s why he hadn't played, but he was forced into action. And he showed up and showed out. We celebrated the math of the game because of how he stepped up. And now I'm certain his confidence will soar through the roof. So, now we can really call set plays for him and really depend on him a lot more because he can take the pressure off Xavier and Jimmy in the running game as well. That's tremendous. But I'm proud of it.”
On how to get the switched flipped for the team in the beginning of the game like it did second half:
“That is game planning, that is scripting, that's going out there understanding what's at hand, and knowing that we don't need to get warmed up to do this. We have to come out smoking and ready to. When we come out of the locker room, we have to be ready. In between the kickoff and the first series of the second series, that's when we have a little lackadaisical type of effort. But that's going to have to come from the coaching staff as well as those OCs and DCS to make sure they put us in the right situation so that we're ready to go. They have to understand the personnel that you have out there on the field and make sure we can call certain things that they can fulfill, so to speak.”
On If He Believes In Moral Victories
"No, I don't."
On If The Second Half Team Was The Team He Imagined
"No, the team I imagined would have played four solid quarters. Being really physical, tough, definitive. Just make our mark and leave an impression. Not only on the opposing team, but the coaching staff, as well as our fan base. That's what we want to do. I challenged them all week on what our identity is. I don't know who we are from week to week. From practice to practice I do know, but we got to translate that into the games. So we're still searching for our true identity."
On If That Was Close To Your Identity Today
"We are still giving up points. We got to stop giving up those types of points and spotting teams. You don't want to do that. We're too vulnerable. In saying that, there are no excuses whatsoever, but we were three starters short in the secondary. The right tackle came in and did a phenomenal job as well. When Savion went out, we were praying for the big fella because he was in tears and he wanted to fight on. But I'm like, hey man, we need you for the long haul."
On The Freshman Stepping Up, Specifically Cormani
"He's supposed to take the field and play. We have an expectation of what they should be doing and accomplishing. But what those two young men did today, was separate themselves from their yesterday. Their yesterday was terrible. But today they came out and established themselves. We just want them to build on it, because now we will establish this expectation that we have for them. I'm proud of them for their success. I just saw a couple of recruits who can't wait to get here in the spring and get going. I mean, that entices them to make sure they get their schoolwork so they can graduate early so they can get here and get going."
On Importance Of Finishing Strong
"It's always important to finish strong. In whatever you endeavor to do. Why would you start if you don't want to finish right? I've always prided myself on finishing strong not only as a player but as a coach as well. In building our team in that aspect, we're well conditioned, we're in shape. It's not like we were tired down the stretch. Usually when people tire they start losing the thought process. Then they start blowing coverages, missing assignments, offsides, and I think we did a good job in penalties. That's one thing we harp on penalties, time possession, one time position today, but they give me that stat on penalties where we're penalized."
On Anthony Hankerson Leading The Running Attack
“He ran the ball hard. He ran good. He's been consistent every game. We try to let everyone touch it to see how they are going and I think we had maybe four or five tailbacks who had the opportunity to touch the ball today. That's a good thing because all of them want to play because all of them deserve to play because they're really really good. But Hankerson stood out. He hit it. You know, he had a couple of one on ones in the secondary. I wish he would have shook them and got out of there but you want to just push pause right there and just throw Dylan [Edwards] in there and see if Dylan can wiggle out of it. But Hank is resilient, he's been doing a good job. All these guys tried to come in and force him out and he wouldn't relinquish his position. So I'm proud of him as well as a man.”
On Finishing The Game The Way They Did
“It’s tremendous belief-wise, but we got to believe no matter what. It can't be just because it's a quarter of the second half. We do believe in 2 [Shedeur Sanders]. We do. I don't give a darn what down it is, what quarter it is, what time of day it is, we do truly believe in what he's capable of doing with this offense. We just got to make sure we keep him in the right situations and protect him. Because ,shoot, he's a baller. He's a now player. He's a today player that young men want to play with. Receivers are calling from all around the country wanting to play with him as well. So they're encouraging him not to look down the street too far like we all are encouraging him because we understand what's coming. If you can't see what's coming with CU football, you've lost your mind. You’re just a flat out hater. If you can't see what's going on and what's going to transpire over the next several months. Something's wrong with you.”
On Not Giving Up
“We challenged them tremendously at halftime. You know, everybody says they want the light until they get in the light. Now, when you get in the light, the thing about the light is it echoes your blemishes. So we challenge them to come out here. Like I ain’t got time to try to fire you up and give you the most dynamic speech that I could craft, you know, intellectually, and use some true words that I have to look up in my vocabulary and in the thesaurus. I ain’t got time for that today, I just wanted to come out there. I wanted them to lift me up, you know, motivate me, encourage me not that I needed it. But I wanted to flip the script on them because I knew what they had in them. All they have to do is believe and regardless of the color of the uniforms on the opposing team, they just have to believe and that's something that they're doing. Week in and week out. It’s growing.”
On Recruits From Michigan
“I guess you guys are raising dogs. They’re raising dogs, I ain't hard to find. Raising cats, I am.”
On Cormani McClain’s Performance
“From the naked eye I think he played well. I really have to watch the film to make sure it is what it is. So it's hard to say now. And you go in to watch the film and you don't know. So I want to really reserve that to watch in the film, but I'm proud of him for just even stepping up to the challenge to get his butt in there and make a difference. I'm proud of him. I really am.”
On If Cormani Is Listening To Him
“You'd be a fool not to because you're not gonna play if you don’t. You’ll go sit right over there, probably where you sit and watch. But I'm proud of the kid. I'm not gonna change so somebody's gonna have to.”
On The Love The Team Is Receiving
“I don’t know if it’s all love. You’ll have to check the responses of the coaches we participate against. But we're excited, truly with the attention that's warranted to this wonderful, beautiful university. I'm excited and elated to be the coach here. I'm excited to really talk about the wonderful attributes that we possess. The young men don't see it because they’re in it. Oftentimes we can step a foot out of it and we see it from another view point and another vantage point, but they don't see it and they're so young. I didn't see it either when I was in college or early in my pro career. But I'm happy and thankful that we are a voice of hope, of desire and want. I think that's the thing that's touching souls around the country. That down and out person, that person that no one believes in, that person that no one desires, that person that’s stepped over and stepped by, stepped through and stepped past that we represent that person. Because no one wants to see what we're doing. They don't want to see us accomplish what we're doing. And I said and I will reiterate this, you got to be crazy if you can’t see the direction that we're headed, and I'm so happy and thankful to be the head coach of this wonderful university.”
On If USC Would’ve Won If Caleb Williams Didn’t Play That Way
“I don’t know, the kid always plays that way, I haven’t seen him play badly. I think that he had some throws that I’m sure he would’ve wanted back, but that kid is a flat out baller man. He is a difference maker - he makes them better. His thought process and even just directing traffic and putting them in the right play calls and right situations, he just does a wonderful job of checking off and changing things and getting the ball out of his hands. It was a pleasure for me to play against them and their head coach. I mean, that was really fun. That was fun for me, it really was. Probably didn’t look like it, but that was fun.”
On How Shedeur Impresses Him
“I’m his dad, I have an expectation for him. I’ve been seeing this and he has been built and reared for this for his whole life. From all of the previous locations that we’ve played, the kid has always won. He has always been dominant, he’s always been smart and intelligent and concise, he’s always been a competitor, he’s always lifted the level of competition, and he’s always given us a chance to succeed in every level. I could go on and on, I don’t want to sound like the dad - I’m really speaking to you as the coach. I tried my best not to speak to you as the father, but the kid can flat out play and I know a lot of people doubted him and said that I just trusted him into the starting position. All usages look in the mirror and slap whatever you see.”
Colorado Players
Shedeur Sanders, Jr, QB
On the 4th and 5th touchdown pass
“Really just trusting the play call. We just got to execute the play, often we were here and there and then we had a couple penalties. We can’t afford to keep doing that against these better teams. Yes, I'm proud of him (Omarion). For being able to step up and do his thing in that moment. His time was coming and he put it on display for you.”
On the the last six minutes
“All 11 players on the field weren't going to execute that exact play calling. I’d rather take my time then having negative plays. That goes on me for not controlling the offense and everybody not knowing what to do in those specific plays. I checked runs on some plays because it wasn’t a great look that we needed. We just want to play a real clean game and it's things we could always go back and do better. Everybody has opinions of what we could do with the ball in the moment, you all don’t know what we are seeing and if it’s going to work or not. We got to do something else and keep it going, keep us up tempo and have another play. So that's why I was really going slower and I put a lot of that on me. Coach, he's really a fast tempo guy, but I slowed it down and it's just on me.”
On running game today
“It wasn’t really even what I saw, it was basically just following the keys and always having an understanding of what the play call is and executing it. These are the same plays we've been running forever, everybody runs power, everybody runs zone and that's what it is. It's about just the players executing it. So I feel today we had a better mindset and understood okay, we got to execute these plays for him to be able to work and that's what we did. We just gotta do it quicker.”
On Omarion Miller
“I been telling him, ‘I need you to step up’ even from day one in the summer during workouts and everything else. I said, ‘You could be a big part of the offense, or have a freshman year and wait’ I’m glad he finally came in and understood who he was as a player. Everybody's human. Everybody can be beat and he has what it takes to be able to go out there and dominate so I'm happy he was able, in one of the biggest games of the season to go out there and do that.”
On attitude at 34-7 in the first half
“They just executed plays and that’s why they were up. We didn’t execute our plays and that’s why we were down. You can’t just get bored with the easy things. We just had to lock in and understand that this was not going to be a recap of last weekend and that we were not going to go out like that. So we got to do whatever it takes, and that's that was the whole motto this week and that's how I prepare mentally, whatever it takes. I will do it and just put everything on the line. Getting in the zone from the start will help us avoid getting in those deficits.”
On being on the same stage as USC’s Caleb Williams
“I feel like my stage is my stage. He’s a great player but it’s not on his stage or anything like that. It’s not really a stage, it’s a big game and that’s it. Every game there is millions of viewers and it’s for you guys to set the stage and for us to go out there and play against human beings.”
On what together for you guys in the second half
“I know I am going to sound boring, but it’s football and all about executing and getting in that zone, getting into that mind frame from the beginning. Anyone who plays sports will understand getting into that zone and can’t hear nobody but just focus on your job and assignment and trust the guy next to you. I trust my o-line, I trust in our receivers. There’s things they're good at things they're bad at but play to everybody’s strengths. Get back with coach and talk about what we do and don’t like. He called a great game.”
On what this valiant comeback mean moving forward
“Nothing, we just lost. Just because it is a big team doesn’t mean we tip our cap and it’s time to get blown out now. A loss is a loss, we are humans and all put our pants on the same way. It's just understanding this is a problem and we gotta get to the solution and find a way to get to solution and start off fast.”
On taking momentum for where you guys are offensively after
“Just continue to go off the message that coach keeps telling us for weeks. We got to do the simple things right before we're able to do a lot of exotic things. I didn’t read the right way and things like that we cannot afford to do and it’s going to get us behind in a game.”
On Teams mindset
“Today we kind of got a glimpse of who our identity is when we play good football and we really haven’t had a taste of that until you know since week one. We know no matter what, no matter what happens, we gotta go out there and score every drive. That's where I feel like we got our mindset in the second half and we can take that from that and understand look we're able to get back to that point. We just got to be able to do that throughout. The whole game and not just the second half. Everybody has problems. Everybody has new players. There's no excuses. It's not that it's not new to you all or don't understand. It's up to us individually, and then we come collectively as a team.”
On health
“My ankle hurt a little bit, I am not going to lie. Reminded me of how it was back in the day when I was younger. So that was really it. I got twisted up. You know how Xavier Weaver gets hit and falls weird? That’s where I was at.
On his runing
“We don’t have predetermined talks about that. We got to understand how to plan this how to go and contain me. So it’s progression one, two, and if we feel something we are able to slide and on the interception, I feel like I should have slid. It’s stuff like that I can’t put on the receivers and that’s on me. In practice, even when I feel pressured, I gotta be able to stand in there and take it.
Omarion Miller, Fr, WR
On the 4th and 5th touchdown pass
“Just trusting the play, we go over those plays every day, and believing I can make that play. It’s all about trusting teammates. The DB just stepped in front of me and I took it back side and wanted to just tuck the ball.”
On his game today
“It was crazy, I dreamt about playing like this last night.”
On message from Michael Irvin
“It meant a lot coming from him. Kind of pumped me up a little bit and that message was really to just keep working. I got so much to prove, this is just one game and you all have seen nothing yet. Just telling me to keep working and do what I do best.”
Rodrick Ward, Gr., S
On start and going up against Caleb Williams?
“I found out earlier this week. It wasn't a shocker to me because being a grad transfer, I got experience. So I was waiting for the moment. I can tell you this whole week, I probably wasn't able to sleep a lot. I'll wake up in the middle of night thinking about it and just playing against a quarterback like Caleb Williams, man. That's a dream. It's a dream man. I wouldn't want to be nowhere else than where I was today. I thought I gave everything I had. There's still some stuff we got to correct as a defense but overall man, he was a dream come true.” - Rodrick
On what changed defensively in the second half?
“I feel like we were able to play together, the first half was where everybody and the energy was high. Once we finally came together the second half and everybody calmed down and focused on their keys and had their eyes in the right place. There was no stopping us man, we were able to steamroll and get that train rolling and get the ball back in his (Shedeur’s) hand. That's all we were trying to do.”
On what comeback means
“A loss is a loss. Go to the playbook, get your eyes right, find your film room and come back next week. That’s all you can do, come back next week.”
USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley
Opening Statement
“Fired up to get to win, guys played a really good first half, best first half we played all year against a good opponent and a tremendous atmosphere and we give Colorado and their fans, everybody, a lot of credit. It was a really tremendous road atmosphere even when we got up, that they kept it loud in there and I felt like they kind of kept their team in it in a lot of ways. Didn't play a very good second half on any of the three sides. Penalties, obviously we had one turnover, missed tackles, we did the things that you don't do when you're trying to finish out a good opponent on the road. So excited about the good, a lot that we’ve got to correct which, that's college football, that's how it goes and so, plenty to correct. I am excited, I thought our operation and response on the road and some of what we learned last week showed up and we did several things on both sides much better, but obviously, we’ve got to get a lot of work to continue to do. We're going to own the win, we're going to own the mistakes, we're going to own the good, we're going to go back to work and get ready to get back home in the Coliseum.”
On why Colorado came back
“They made plays and we kind of didn't. We had opportunities on all three sides with opportunities to finish some plays offensively, we had opportunities to get the quarterback down, we had opportunities to tackle hitches for a five-yard gain, and the things that we did in the first half and listen when you stop doing that, especially on the road against a team that has some talent like they do, they're going to make a run and they did and so it's self-inflicted errors. We give them credit, they made some really tremendous competitive plays, a couple of plays where our guys are right there and they made the plays and that's a lot of time when you have two good teams and really good individual players out there, that's what it comes down to are those competitive plays and we certainly didn't make as many and had a lot of mental errors in the second half, so a lot to work on.”
On working on some of the same issues this season
“It's not really the same issue so I don't I don't agree with it. I feel like even right now when something doesn't go our way, we're five games in, we're taking that litmus test right now. When something doesn't go our way, it doesn't look like last year, not to the trained eye, not to coach. We’ve still got plenty to correct and again there are two things today that absolutely, when we weren't good, killed us and that was: we didn't do a good job of keeping the quarterback in the pocket because really, we were suffocating them. I mean, that gave them life. That drive right before half gave them life. We were doing everything really well. He (Shedeur Sanders) gets outside of the pocket, makes a few plays, and then to give a quarterback confidence, there's nothing like being able to throw a seven-yard hitch route up there and there's a couple of those that went 30 40 plus. One went longer than that, so you’ve got to own those things, we have to be better at them and those are plays that we didn't make, but no, it doesn't look like last year. There's a lot that's improved and we’ve got to obviously put it all together.”
On the run game for both teams
“They obviously RPOed to some in the run game, they did commit to it a lot more than they have in the previous games and so I’ll have to go back and look at the tape but they put you in some of those positions where it's either going to be one on one and on the perimeter if you get those extra hats in the run game or you're going to give them potentially favorable numbers in the box and you’ve got to be able to control the line of scrimmage and make some of those. We had some missed tackles in the backfield, a couple of times where they came out that we didn't get the apt out. I give them credit, they were a lot more patient and stayed with it more than they had certainly in previous games and I thought they did a good job of staying with it even when we got way up. Running the ball, we weren't great on the offensive line, I didn't think. We didn't play our best game up front, we missed a couple of holes, I didn't think I called it very well in the run game, so it was just not a very good effort by the O-line.”
On how much it means to keep their lead in this environment
“You'd obviously love to finish it and separate it more but you put yourself in those moments and you get used to the adversity a little bit as a theme because it's coming. It's coming, you never know exactly what week it's going to be where you're not at your best and I think the guy's going through some of this together, especially with our roster continuing to change over quite a bit right now is really important. Like I said, listen, this is road football, and this is a tremendous atmosphere, we’re a team that gets circled every single week and to come to win these on the road, you go find a way because I promise you at the end of the year, nobody's gonna look back on this and care, right? They're gonna look back and see it was a dub and hopefully we can keep stacking those up.”
On what he saw from De’Jon Benton today.
“I’m still mad at him for the last penalty, so I’m trying to block that out of my mind. He was active, I noticed him in the backfield quite a bit. I’m proud of that kid. That’s one of the kids in our program that you point to in terms of the culture that you’re building. When we got here, I didn’t know if De’Jon was going to make it. The rigors of the program, the demands, the accountability, I didn’t even know if he would make it academically - not because of his capability, he just hadn’t quite found himself yet - we had a very up and down year with him. A lot of hard and tough love, some moments where he wavered, but man - I’ve been really proud of him as a blade. It’s funny, when you kind of get your whole life in order things turn around. All of a sudden his grades were good, he’s on time for stuff, he’s playing good ball, he’s starting to climb, he’s battled back from some injuries - he’s one of the guys that you point to, especially being one of the guys that were holdovers, right, like not somebody that we brought in that has really latched on to it. It has been really cool to see his transformation.”
USC Players
Caleb Williams, Jr., QB
On what was working for him today and if there was a certain level of competence - and how they respond in a “shootout” type of situation.
“A shootout is part of it. This is football - there’s times when we go up and down. It's part of it, you know, we work throughout the week each week for those moments, but whether it’s third down long, whether the crowd is loud and they just scored and we're back on the field or we have to go score - whatever the case may be, we practice for all of those moments. We practice them over and over and over throughout the week, and even before the season started. Things are gonna keep going and you got to keep working hard. It’s the only way that things keep being smooth and feeling that way. You can’t have however many passengers I had and touchdowns or you can’t have as many rushing yards as we had without our wide receivers - catching the ball and doing the job. The running backs continue to carry on their face and things like that. So, it’s a team effort for me to go out there and put up those numbers.”
On CU’s atmosphere.
“Deion and that team brought a lot of energy to Colorado, and it was great. We love going on the road, there’s just something about going on the road - it gets you up early in the morning and you can’t sleep at night, it’s fun, it’s enjoyable. They did a great job and it’s fun, like I said, but we came out with the win which is the most important thing.”
On what transpired for him after the first interception.
Mario was up and down the sideline, I didn’t get my legs under it…so got my legs under and had enough time to do so - threw my first interception and won the game.
Mason Cobb, Sr., LB
On what his assessment of the defense was.
“The first half I felt like we were playing a complete game, I mean, until they scored before we went out. The energy was high, we came in. Eventually they scored before halftime - and you know, the guys may not be as aggressive as they were in the first half, the energy was high and it’s all about staying awake - we gotta stay awake on defense and finish plays. We have the right coverage and everything.”
USC vs. Colorado, Sept. 30, 2023, Folsom Field, Boulder, Colo.
Colorado Head Coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders
Opening Statement:
“Wonderful game. They played their hearts out. I addressed the team and told them I love each of them, coaches included, because they were resilient. They did not give up and they had multiple, multiple opportunities to give up. They fought to the end. We sustained injuries, meaning the next man up came in and did their thing. Omarion played his butt off, and he had a 196. Several guys played. Cormani came in and contributed tremendously. Still had some special teams that were not special. As normal, we got to fix this. I say this every week, but we truly must fix this one way or another. Running game showed its face and you see how better the offense flowed. With the running game, we are still getting out to tardy starts. We got to come out ready to play it. I must fix that myself, personally. We cannot come out, make a surge, right before halftime make a play, and then we start saying, “Okay, we're in the game.” They (USC) played wonderfully. The quarterback (Caleb Williams) was resilient. They hit us with some big play screens and backside things. But coaches always say, “We didn't do this, and we didn't do that.” They force you into doing certain things and they force you into making mistakes. But we must just fix the little issues that we are having. And I do not know if that's age, I do not know if that is just being new to the system. But overall, I'm really proud of, not only the young men, the coaches, the fan base, the student body, all of you. I'm truly proud of the way we represented Boulder today. I really am. Let's go.”
On when Deion started to see the talent in Shedeur Sanders while raising him:
“Well, his nickname in my phone, and most of you know this, is grown. G R O W N. He's very mature for his age. He's very confident. He doesn't flinch. He never gets flustered. He's the most sacked quarterback in college football and you can tell with the way he carries himself. He is just a kid. We knew, multitude of our fans know, and some of you wonderful and brilliant writers know if we would have got that ball last, we were going to go down and score. We knew that. We know that everybody in here knows that. His teammates knew that. And that is just what he brings to the table. He's unflappable. And he's very wise and understanding on the whys in what he sees out there on the field. He thinks a multitude of things through but he's a dynamic athlete and a dynamic young man. I'm proud to be his father and his coach.”
On what the locker room’s mentality was like regarding holding themselves accountable:
“Not early on. No, not whatsoever. You got to understand it. You can only hold people accountable when you're doing your job. You can’t go right here and hold everybody accountable if you're not doing your job. So, the more that these young men do their jobs and do it like the expectation that we have of them being, then they can hold others accountable. But, they're tremendously reluctant. There are only a few guys on his team that consistently do what we expect weekend and week out, as well as practice. I didn't think we were going to get that performance from Omarion. I haven't seen it yet. No, he hadn’t practiced well and it’s why he hadn't played, but he was forced into action. And he showed up and showed out. We celebrated the math of the game because of how he stepped up. And now I'm certain his confidence will soar through the roof. So, now we can really call set plays for him and really depend on him a lot more because he can take the pressure off Xavier and Jimmy in the running game as well. That's tremendous. But I'm proud of it.”
On how to get the switched flipped for the team in the beginning of the game like it did second half:
“That is game planning, that is scripting, that's going out there understanding what's at hand, and knowing that we don't need to get warmed up to do this. We have to come out smoking and ready to. When we come out of the locker room, we have to be ready. In between the kickoff and the first series of the second series, that's when we have a little lackadaisical type of effort. But that's going to have to come from the coaching staff as well as those OCs and DCS to make sure they put us in the right situation so that we're ready to go. They have to understand the personnel that you have out there on the field and make sure we can call certain things that they can fulfill, so to speak.”
On If He Believes In Moral Victories
"No, I don't."
On If The Second Half Team Was The Team He Imagined
"No, the team I imagined would have played four solid quarters. Being really physical, tough, definitive. Just make our mark and leave an impression. Not only on the opposing team, but the coaching staff, as well as our fan base. That's what we want to do. I challenged them all week on what our identity is. I don't know who we are from week to week. From practice to practice I do know, but we got to translate that into the games. So we're still searching for our true identity."
On If That Was Close To Your Identity Today
"We are still giving up points. We got to stop giving up those types of points and spotting teams. You don't want to do that. We're too vulnerable. In saying that, there are no excuses whatsoever, but we were three starters short in the secondary. The right tackle came in and did a phenomenal job as well. When Savion went out, we were praying for the big fella because he was in tears and he wanted to fight on. But I'm like, hey man, we need you for the long haul."
On The Freshman Stepping Up, Specifically Cormani
"He's supposed to take the field and play. We have an expectation of what they should be doing and accomplishing. But what those two young men did today, was separate themselves from their yesterday. Their yesterday was terrible. But today they came out and established themselves. We just want them to build on it, because now we will establish this expectation that we have for them. I'm proud of them for their success. I just saw a couple of recruits who can't wait to get here in the spring and get going. I mean, that entices them to make sure they get their schoolwork so they can graduate early so they can get here and get going."
On Importance Of Finishing Strong
"It's always important to finish strong. In whatever you endeavor to do. Why would you start if you don't want to finish right? I've always prided myself on finishing strong not only as a player but as a coach as well. In building our team in that aspect, we're well conditioned, we're in shape. It's not like we were tired down the stretch. Usually when people tire they start losing the thought process. Then they start blowing coverages, missing assignments, offsides, and I think we did a good job in penalties. That's one thing we harp on penalties, time possession, one time position today, but they give me that stat on penalties where we're penalized."
On Anthony Hankerson Leading The Running Attack
“He ran the ball hard. He ran good. He's been consistent every game. We try to let everyone touch it to see how they are going and I think we had maybe four or five tailbacks who had the opportunity to touch the ball today. That's a good thing because all of them want to play because all of them deserve to play because they're really really good. But Hankerson stood out. He hit it. You know, he had a couple of one on ones in the secondary. I wish he would have shook them and got out of there but you want to just push pause right there and just throw Dylan [Edwards] in there and see if Dylan can wiggle out of it. But Hank is resilient, he's been doing a good job. All these guys tried to come in and force him out and he wouldn't relinquish his position. So I'm proud of him as well as a man.”
On Finishing The Game The Way They Did
“It’s tremendous belief-wise, but we got to believe no matter what. It can't be just because it's a quarter of the second half. We do believe in 2 [Shedeur Sanders]. We do. I don't give a darn what down it is, what quarter it is, what time of day it is, we do truly believe in what he's capable of doing with this offense. We just got to make sure we keep him in the right situations and protect him. Because ,shoot, he's a baller. He's a now player. He's a today player that young men want to play with. Receivers are calling from all around the country wanting to play with him as well. So they're encouraging him not to look down the street too far like we all are encouraging him because we understand what's coming. If you can't see what's coming with CU football, you've lost your mind. You’re just a flat out hater. If you can't see what's going on and what's going to transpire over the next several months. Something's wrong with you.”
On Not Giving Up
“We challenged them tremendously at halftime. You know, everybody says they want the light until they get in the light. Now, when you get in the light, the thing about the light is it echoes your blemishes. So we challenge them to come out here. Like I ain’t got time to try to fire you up and give you the most dynamic speech that I could craft, you know, intellectually, and use some true words that I have to look up in my vocabulary and in the thesaurus. I ain’t got time for that today, I just wanted to come out there. I wanted them to lift me up, you know, motivate me, encourage me not that I needed it. But I wanted to flip the script on them because I knew what they had in them. All they have to do is believe and regardless of the color of the uniforms on the opposing team, they just have to believe and that's something that they're doing. Week in and week out. It’s growing.”
On Recruits From Michigan
“I guess you guys are raising dogs. They’re raising dogs, I ain't hard to find. Raising cats, I am.”
On Cormani McClain’s Performance
“From the naked eye I think he played well. I really have to watch the film to make sure it is what it is. So it's hard to say now. And you go in to watch the film and you don't know. So I want to really reserve that to watch in the film, but I'm proud of him for just even stepping up to the challenge to get his butt in there and make a difference. I'm proud of him. I really am.”
On If Cormani Is Listening To Him
“You'd be a fool not to because you're not gonna play if you don’t. You’ll go sit right over there, probably where you sit and watch. But I'm proud of the kid. I'm not gonna change so somebody's gonna have to.”
On The Love The Team Is Receiving
“I don’t know if it’s all love. You’ll have to check the responses of the coaches we participate against. But we're excited, truly with the attention that's warranted to this wonderful, beautiful university. I'm excited and elated to be the coach here. I'm excited to really talk about the wonderful attributes that we possess. The young men don't see it because they’re in it. Oftentimes we can step a foot out of it and we see it from another view point and another vantage point, but they don't see it and they're so young. I didn't see it either when I was in college or early in my pro career. But I'm happy and thankful that we are a voice of hope, of desire and want. I think that's the thing that's touching souls around the country. That down and out person, that person that no one believes in, that person that no one desires, that person that’s stepped over and stepped by, stepped through and stepped past that we represent that person. Because no one wants to see what we're doing. They don't want to see us accomplish what we're doing. And I said and I will reiterate this, you got to be crazy if you can’t see the direction that we're headed, and I'm so happy and thankful to be the head coach of this wonderful university.”
On If USC Would’ve Won If Caleb Williams Didn’t Play That Way
“I don’t know, the kid always plays that way, I haven’t seen him play badly. I think that he had some throws that I’m sure he would’ve wanted back, but that kid is a flat out baller man. He is a difference maker - he makes them better. His thought process and even just directing traffic and putting them in the right play calls and right situations, he just does a wonderful job of checking off and changing things and getting the ball out of his hands. It was a pleasure for me to play against them and their head coach. I mean, that was really fun. That was fun for me, it really was. Probably didn’t look like it, but that was fun.”
On How Shedeur Impresses Him
“I’m his dad, I have an expectation for him. I’ve been seeing this and he has been built and reared for this for his whole life. From all of the previous locations that we’ve played, the kid has always won. He has always been dominant, he’s always been smart and intelligent and concise, he’s always been a competitor, he’s always lifted the level of competition, and he’s always given us a chance to succeed in every level. I could go on and on, I don’t want to sound like the dad - I’m really speaking to you as the coach. I tried my best not to speak to you as the father, but the kid can flat out play and I know a lot of people doubted him and said that I just trusted him into the starting position. All usages look in the mirror and slap whatever you see.”
Colorado Players
Shedeur Sanders, Jr, QB
On the 4th and 5th touchdown pass
“Really just trusting the play call. We just got to execute the play, often we were here and there and then we had a couple penalties. We can’t afford to keep doing that against these better teams. Yes, I'm proud of him (Omarion). For being able to step up and do his thing in that moment. His time was coming and he put it on display for you.”
On the the last six minutes
“All 11 players on the field weren't going to execute that exact play calling. I’d rather take my time then having negative plays. That goes on me for not controlling the offense and everybody not knowing what to do in those specific plays. I checked runs on some plays because it wasn’t a great look that we needed. We just want to play a real clean game and it's things we could always go back and do better. Everybody has opinions of what we could do with the ball in the moment, you all don’t know what we are seeing and if it’s going to work or not. We got to do something else and keep it going, keep us up tempo and have another play. So that's why I was really going slower and I put a lot of that on me. Coach, he's really a fast tempo guy, but I slowed it down and it's just on me.”
On running game today
“It wasn’t really even what I saw, it was basically just following the keys and always having an understanding of what the play call is and executing it. These are the same plays we've been running forever, everybody runs power, everybody runs zone and that's what it is. It's about just the players executing it. So I feel today we had a better mindset and understood okay, we got to execute these plays for him to be able to work and that's what we did. We just gotta do it quicker.”
On Omarion Miller
“I been telling him, ‘I need you to step up’ even from day one in the summer during workouts and everything else. I said, ‘You could be a big part of the offense, or have a freshman year and wait’ I’m glad he finally came in and understood who he was as a player. Everybody's human. Everybody can be beat and he has what it takes to be able to go out there and dominate so I'm happy he was able, in one of the biggest games of the season to go out there and do that.”
On attitude at 34-7 in the first half
“They just executed plays and that’s why they were up. We didn’t execute our plays and that’s why we were down. You can’t just get bored with the easy things. We just had to lock in and understand that this was not going to be a recap of last weekend and that we were not going to go out like that. So we got to do whatever it takes, and that's that was the whole motto this week and that's how I prepare mentally, whatever it takes. I will do it and just put everything on the line. Getting in the zone from the start will help us avoid getting in those deficits.”
On being on the same stage as USC’s Caleb Williams
“I feel like my stage is my stage. He’s a great player but it’s not on his stage or anything like that. It’s not really a stage, it’s a big game and that’s it. Every game there is millions of viewers and it’s for you guys to set the stage and for us to go out there and play against human beings.”
On what together for you guys in the second half
“I know I am going to sound boring, but it’s football and all about executing and getting in that zone, getting into that mind frame from the beginning. Anyone who plays sports will understand getting into that zone and can’t hear nobody but just focus on your job and assignment and trust the guy next to you. I trust my o-line, I trust in our receivers. There’s things they're good at things they're bad at but play to everybody’s strengths. Get back with coach and talk about what we do and don’t like. He called a great game.”
On what this valiant comeback mean moving forward
“Nothing, we just lost. Just because it is a big team doesn’t mean we tip our cap and it’s time to get blown out now. A loss is a loss, we are humans and all put our pants on the same way. It's just understanding this is a problem and we gotta get to the solution and find a way to get to solution and start off fast.”
On taking momentum for where you guys are offensively after
“Just continue to go off the message that coach keeps telling us for weeks. We got to do the simple things right before we're able to do a lot of exotic things. I didn’t read the right way and things like that we cannot afford to do and it’s going to get us behind in a game.”
On Teams mindset
“Today we kind of got a glimpse of who our identity is when we play good football and we really haven’t had a taste of that until you know since week one. We know no matter what, no matter what happens, we gotta go out there and score every drive. That's where I feel like we got our mindset in the second half and we can take that from that and understand look we're able to get back to that point. We just got to be able to do that throughout. The whole game and not just the second half. Everybody has problems. Everybody has new players. There's no excuses. It's not that it's not new to you all or don't understand. It's up to us individually, and then we come collectively as a team.”
On health
“My ankle hurt a little bit, I am not going to lie. Reminded me of how it was back in the day when I was younger. So that was really it. I got twisted up. You know how Xavier Weaver gets hit and falls weird? That’s where I was at.
On his runing
“We don’t have predetermined talks about that. We got to understand how to plan this how to go and contain me. So it’s progression one, two, and if we feel something we are able to slide and on the interception, I feel like I should have slid. It’s stuff like that I can’t put on the receivers and that’s on me. In practice, even when I feel pressured, I gotta be able to stand in there and take it.
Omarion Miller, Fr, WR
On the 4th and 5th touchdown pass
“Just trusting the play, we go over those plays every day, and believing I can make that play. It’s all about trusting teammates. The DB just stepped in front of me and I took it back side and wanted to just tuck the ball.”
On his game today
“It was crazy, I dreamt about playing like this last night.”
On message from Michael Irvin
“It meant a lot coming from him. Kind of pumped me up a little bit and that message was really to just keep working. I got so much to prove, this is just one game and you all have seen nothing yet. Just telling me to keep working and do what I do best.”
Rodrick Ward, Gr., S
On start and going up against Caleb Williams?
“I found out earlier this week. It wasn't a shocker to me because being a grad transfer, I got experience. So I was waiting for the moment. I can tell you this whole week, I probably wasn't able to sleep a lot. I'll wake up in the middle of night thinking about it and just playing against a quarterback like Caleb Williams, man. That's a dream. It's a dream man. I wouldn't want to be nowhere else than where I was today. I thought I gave everything I had. There's still some stuff we got to correct as a defense but overall man, he was a dream come true.” - Rodrick
On what changed defensively in the second half?
“I feel like we were able to play together, the first half was where everybody and the energy was high. Once we finally came together the second half and everybody calmed down and focused on their keys and had their eyes in the right place. There was no stopping us man, we were able to steamroll and get that train rolling and get the ball back in his (Shedeur’s) hand. That's all we were trying to do.”
On what comeback means
“A loss is a loss. Go to the playbook, get your eyes right, find your film room and come back next week. That’s all you can do, come back next week.”
USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley
Opening Statement
“Fired up to get to win, guys played a really good first half, best first half we played all year against a good opponent and a tremendous atmosphere and we give Colorado and their fans, everybody, a lot of credit. It was a really tremendous road atmosphere even when we got up, that they kept it loud in there and I felt like they kind of kept their team in it in a lot of ways. Didn't play a very good second half on any of the three sides. Penalties, obviously we had one turnover, missed tackles, we did the things that you don't do when you're trying to finish out a good opponent on the road. So excited about the good, a lot that we’ve got to correct which, that's college football, that's how it goes and so, plenty to correct. I am excited, I thought our operation and response on the road and some of what we learned last week showed up and we did several things on both sides much better, but obviously, we’ve got to get a lot of work to continue to do. We're going to own the win, we're going to own the mistakes, we're going to own the good, we're going to go back to work and get ready to get back home in the Coliseum.”
On why Colorado came back
“They made plays and we kind of didn't. We had opportunities on all three sides with opportunities to finish some plays offensively, we had opportunities to get the quarterback down, we had opportunities to tackle hitches for a five-yard gain, and the things that we did in the first half and listen when you stop doing that, especially on the road against a team that has some talent like they do, they're going to make a run and they did and so it's self-inflicted errors. We give them credit, they made some really tremendous competitive plays, a couple of plays where our guys are right there and they made the plays and that's a lot of time when you have two good teams and really good individual players out there, that's what it comes down to are those competitive plays and we certainly didn't make as many and had a lot of mental errors in the second half, so a lot to work on.”
On working on some of the same issues this season
“It's not really the same issue so I don't I don't agree with it. I feel like even right now when something doesn't go our way, we're five games in, we're taking that litmus test right now. When something doesn't go our way, it doesn't look like last year, not to the trained eye, not to coach. We’ve still got plenty to correct and again there are two things today that absolutely, when we weren't good, killed us and that was: we didn't do a good job of keeping the quarterback in the pocket because really, we were suffocating them. I mean, that gave them life. That drive right before half gave them life. We were doing everything really well. He (Shedeur Sanders) gets outside of the pocket, makes a few plays, and then to give a quarterback confidence, there's nothing like being able to throw a seven-yard hitch route up there and there's a couple of those that went 30 40 plus. One went longer than that, so you’ve got to own those things, we have to be better at them and those are plays that we didn't make, but no, it doesn't look like last year. There's a lot that's improved and we’ve got to obviously put it all together.”
On the run game for both teams
“They obviously RPOed to some in the run game, they did commit to it a lot more than they have in the previous games and so I’ll have to go back and look at the tape but they put you in some of those positions where it's either going to be one on one and on the perimeter if you get those extra hats in the run game or you're going to give them potentially favorable numbers in the box and you’ve got to be able to control the line of scrimmage and make some of those. We had some missed tackles in the backfield, a couple of times where they came out that we didn't get the apt out. I give them credit, they were a lot more patient and stayed with it more than they had certainly in previous games and I thought they did a good job of staying with it even when we got way up. Running the ball, we weren't great on the offensive line, I didn't think. We didn't play our best game up front, we missed a couple of holes, I didn't think I called it very well in the run game, so it was just not a very good effort by the O-line.”
On how much it means to keep their lead in this environment
“You'd obviously love to finish it and separate it more but you put yourself in those moments and you get used to the adversity a little bit as a theme because it's coming. It's coming, you never know exactly what week it's going to be where you're not at your best and I think the guy's going through some of this together, especially with our roster continuing to change over quite a bit right now is really important. Like I said, listen, this is road football, and this is a tremendous atmosphere, we’re a team that gets circled every single week and to come to win these on the road, you go find a way because I promise you at the end of the year, nobody's gonna look back on this and care, right? They're gonna look back and see it was a dub and hopefully we can keep stacking those up.”
On what he saw from De’Jon Benton today.
“I’m still mad at him for the last penalty, so I’m trying to block that out of my mind. He was active, I noticed him in the backfield quite a bit. I’m proud of that kid. That’s one of the kids in our program that you point to in terms of the culture that you’re building. When we got here, I didn’t know if De’Jon was going to make it. The rigors of the program, the demands, the accountability, I didn’t even know if he would make it academically - not because of his capability, he just hadn’t quite found himself yet - we had a very up and down year with him. A lot of hard and tough love, some moments where he wavered, but man - I’ve been really proud of him as a blade. It’s funny, when you kind of get your whole life in order things turn around. All of a sudden his grades were good, he’s on time for stuff, he’s playing good ball, he’s starting to climb, he’s battled back from some injuries - he’s one of the guys that you point to, especially being one of the guys that were holdovers, right, like not somebody that we brought in that has really latched on to it. It has been really cool to see his transformation.”
USC Players
Caleb Williams, Jr., QB
On what was working for him today and if there was a certain level of competence - and how they respond in a “shootout” type of situation.
“A shootout is part of it. This is football - there’s times when we go up and down. It's part of it, you know, we work throughout the week each week for those moments, but whether it’s third down long, whether the crowd is loud and they just scored and we're back on the field or we have to go score - whatever the case may be, we practice for all of those moments. We practice them over and over and over throughout the week, and even before the season started. Things are gonna keep going and you got to keep working hard. It’s the only way that things keep being smooth and feeling that way. You can’t have however many passengers I had and touchdowns or you can’t have as many rushing yards as we had without our wide receivers - catching the ball and doing the job. The running backs continue to carry on their face and things like that. So, it’s a team effort for me to go out there and put up those numbers.”
On CU’s atmosphere.
“Deion and that team brought a lot of energy to Colorado, and it was great. We love going on the road, there’s just something about going on the road - it gets you up early in the morning and you can’t sleep at night, it’s fun, it’s enjoyable. They did a great job and it’s fun, like I said, but we came out with the win which is the most important thing.”
On what transpired for him after the first interception.
Mario was up and down the sideline, I didn’t get my legs under it…so got my legs under and had enough time to do so - threw my first interception and won the game.
Mason Cobb, Sr., LB
On what his assessment of the defense was.
“The first half I felt like we were playing a complete game, I mean, until they scored before we went out. The energy was high, we came in. Eventually they scored before halftime - and you know, the guys may not be as aggressive as they were in the first half, the energy was high and it’s all about staying awake - we gotta stay awake on defense and finish plays. We have the right coverage and everything.”