Colorado-Kansas Quotes
October 18, 2009 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Dan Hawkins
General
"We have a lot of games left, we just have to keep on getting better. It gives us a little bit of juice that way and a little bit of confidence. We did a solid job, but we can still play better."
On Tyler Hansen
"He did a nice job. He made a lot of plays with his legs and made some good throws. Again, what a great kid he is. He and Cody (Hawkins) from get-go were being unselfish and that's one of the cornerstones of our team. Having two guys like that bodes well for the foundation of this team. It's about the team, it's not about you-and in the end the sun will shine on you."
"He got more experience. The couple turnovers he had weren't completely his fault; it was a combination of things. He has a lot more confidence and is able to see things. He feels more at home back there. One of the things I told him to do was to play ball the way he knows how to play ball."
On Kansas's Last Drive
"You know they can get after it in a hurry. We were hoping we could get one more first down and kneel on it. They are very electric and (Reesing) has been back there for a while so you know they are going to be a threat."
On the Win
"I am happy for our guys. It is about digging in on the process and to continue to approve and get better. I am really proud of our coaches and players."
"We have to know how to handle a victory; you take it in and enjoy it. But after tomorrow it's over, and you have to move on to the next one-that's how it has to be."
On Tyler Hansen and Todd Reesing
"The comparison is obviously that they both can run. They both have good arms and the ability to buy time with their legs. I really think as the receiving core continues to grow up and the offensive line continues to get continuity, you are going to see a lot of the same type of things. That's helpful for any quarterback. Todd Reesing is a great player."
On Todd Reesing
"One of the real joys for me is coming out every Saturday, entering great stadiums, playing against great players, that's why you do it. Whenever you are looking at the top players in the country, and there are usually several of those players on our schedule, that's why you're here and that's why you do it."
On the last Touchdown Drive in the 4th Quarter
"We had a couple of plays where we thought we could pop something big, and we dropped it. But obviously, Riar (Geer) made a great play to keep the drive alive. Tyler (Hansen) made some plays in there. If you keep feeding the ball to speedy (Rodney Stewart) a lot of good things are going to happen."
On the Fans
"The fans here have been really great. I said that from the first year I was here, even though there weren't a lot of wins. If we all want to get where we all want to get, we have to buy in and do this thing together. For them to show up and support us like that is huge. I think we are starting to get the students in at kick-off time and that's big. Folsom Field is one of the best places to place in for a lot of reasons. It's a great thing to be a part of."
Kansas Head Coach Mark Mangino
General
"CU had a good plan. They came out with several different looks with a lot of line stunts and blitzing. We didn't respond quickly, but we did get a beat on it in the second half. We moved the ball extremely well and got a feel for it, it took us awhile. It wasn't just that. They had some break downs. We didn't take care of the ball and that kind of put us in a bind in the first half."
On Defensive Adjustments
"I think it worked out pretty well. We only had a week to practice. We moved some guys from offense to defense, plus the more experience they get; they'll make that defense better. We've created competition at positions, and I think they'll be outstanding players for us. We took John Williams and made him a defensive tackle in one week. We took Bradley McDougald and put him over there with limited reps. Those kids can play. They'll make a difference. I thought that Lubbock Smith did some good things. I'm very encouraged. We've known the past couple weeks that we're going to make changes. I think they realize now that we're going to make changes."
On Final Drive
"It was a great game. Give Colorado credit, they made some big plays at the end of the game. We've got our best receivers going up for the ball in the end-zone and down the field. We dug a hole for ourselves. We can't blame anybody but ourselves. Credit to Colorado, their kids played well."
On Colorado QB Tyler Hansen
"The quarterback for Colorado was the difference maker today. It's unfortunate they picked this week to take his redshirt off, but I think they found their quarterback, that's for sure. He's a heck of a player. He made the difference tonight in my opinion."
On Lack Of Game Film On Hansen
"I don't know about that. A scrambling quarterback is a scrambling quarterback. There's only so many plays you can run on the field. I wouldn't say that was a key factor. We would have liked to have some tendencies on where he likes to throw the ball to, and reading progressions in the passing game. But that's no excuse. They beat us. There's no excuse at all. They deserved to win the game and they ended up with more points on the board than we did."
On Upcoming Schedule
"You learn from it. When you lose, you learn from your mistakes and things you don't do well. The Big 12 Conference is a slug fest every week. Anybody can beat anyone. We don't sit around doing a lot of feeling bad for ourselves. We'll get back on the practice field tomorrow working on our mistakes, working on Oklahoma. We're looking forward to playing OU at our stadium."
"We're one-and-one. Nobody wants to lose. It is what it is, and we'll get better. We'll learn from it and get better. That's how we do it at Kansas, we learn. It's a good lesson for us."
On Penalty at Goal Line
"They didn't explain it, but I know that it's a call where I think they called the pick. That's a routine play. I don't know, no comment."
On Running Game
"I didn't think Jake [Sharpe] had a lot of running room. I think their line stunts and things got us in trouble. Jake's pretty healthy though, but I don't think we gave him the opportunity to play well. It's not on Jake."
Colorado Players
TE Riar Geer
GENERAL- "I think we came out really strong, did some really good things. In the first half we were pushing the tempo, trying to make some plays, get the offense rolling, get the defense rolling. Then in the second half the offense came out ready to score, and get points on the board. We started struggling in the third quarter. They won the third quarter. We turned the ball over, two fumbles, which gave them the ball. We started struggling on defense; we needed to get things together on offense. We came back in the fourth quarter. We had a really long drive to come back after they went up. We were able to get those four points up on them. We got the momentum to shift, after losing it all in the third quarter. We kept fighting. We held them on that fourth down, in the red zone. Our defense did a great job against a quarterback and an offense that can make things happen fast. They did a great job of holding strong."
ON PLAY OF TYLER HANSEN- "He did great. He brings a whole new type of quarterback to our offense, with his speed. We can count on him to get out of the pressure and then we can open up some more options. He did a good job for coming out half way through the season, leading our offense and team to a victory."
ILB Jeff Smart
ON TODD REESING'S PLAY- "He has a great ability to make plays when it breaks down. He battled out there and so did we."
ON QUARTERBACK PRESSURE- "It makes it much easier on our defense when we get pressure on the quarterback. When the quarterback is sitting back there with all day to throw it's tough. It's tough to get stops. So it was huge we were able to get pressure on him."
ON LOOKING TO THE FUTURE- "We knew all along, that having just started Big 12 play last week that we have a lot of goals ahead of us. We get better and better each week. It's right there for the taking."
CB Cha'pelle Brown
ON PHYSICAL PLAY-"They want me to play linebacker now. I just like to go out there and tackle"
ON IMPROVEMENT- "The coaches are letting us go out there and play. We were learning a new defense at the start of the season, so it was kind of difficult. Now were able to say 'Coach lets run this.' We think about it and if we think we can do it we go out there and execute."
ON ATOMSOPHERE IN LOCKER ROOM- "It's like it's the Super Bowl every week. We've got the Big 12 coming up, and we can still get to the championship. Everyone knows that we are a young team, but there are no excuses. We had to come out and make plays. This week we were just trying to get closer and learn the defense a lot more, and the offense did their thing today."
CB JALIL BROWN
ON THE LAST KANSAS DRIVE-"I was so nervous that last drive. I didn't know if I was going to make it. Luckily, we all played disciplined and I stayed deep, and we didn't let anybody get behind us. We were mixing plays to stop them from getting in the end zone, which we needed to do."
ON MENTALITY DURING LAST DRIVE-"Do not let them get in the end zone. That was the main thing we recognized. Don't let them get in the end zone and we're getting out of here with a win."
ON KANSAS' OFFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS-"I think they did a lot of stuff to get across the middle. They stopped going to the outside and deep and started to go across the middle in the second half."
ON BEATING TODD REESING-"All of these years we've been playing him, and he has been beating us. He's been like a thorn that we couldn't get out. This game, it felt great to go out there and finally get a win."
ON HIS INTERCEPTION-"I played disciplined. The receiver cut in front of me and I jumped his route. Reesing threw the ball, and I stepped in front and picked it. I was on my way to the end zone, and I saw green. I was getting excited, and then Reesing popped up out of nowhere. That's one of those plays you wish you could have over again."
ON OFFENSIVE TURNOVERS-"We say that it's a team thing. There are times that we make mistakes and a team will score, and our offense will come out and do the same thing to the other team. It's kind of disheartening, but we work together as one."
RB RODNEY STEWART
ON THE WIN-"It gave us confidence. To finally get a win a win against a great team does a lot for that. If we do that, I think we can beat a lot of great teams."
ON OFFENSIVE BALANCE-"If the play breaks down, Tyler is able to scramble and make something out of nothing. We need that if we want to win."
QB TYLER HANSEN
ON THE FINAL SCORING DRIVE-"It was a good drive. We were frustrated because we had turned the ball over twice and they had scored. We had a big lead and we gave it up, so it was frustrating. We needed to do something, so I looked around and said 'someone is going to have to make a play. It was a great team effort. The offensive line played great, and receivers made plays. Everyone made plays on that drive, so it was huge."
ON TAKING OF HIS REDSHIRT TWICE-"It's been a fun ride. Going through playing and not playing, it's been fun. I've battled through it. Me, (Coach Eric) Kiesau, Cody worked together to get through it. Right now, it's the best decision. We just beat Kansas."
ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS YEAR AND LAST YEAR-"I play a little smarter than I did last year. Today, I took a little longer to go through my progressions, and I looked down field a little more. I didn't just look to run. I was able to scramble around and look down field. That's probably the biggest difference between this year and last year."
ON RECEIVING HELP FROM CODY HAWKINS-"He was telling me what they were doing defensively and what we were going to do on our next drive. He was always there. He was like another coach, so he's been awesome."
ON THE FINAL DRIVE- "I have no words for that feeling. It's like a dream come true. It's unbelievable."
GENERAL-"We didn't play perfect on offense. We had turnovers, and we didn't convert on some third downs. We have to clean that up. We'll go in tomorrow, watch some film and analyze our play, and we'll see what's what. This feels good, but we have to move on and beat the Wildcats."
ON RECOGNIZING PRESSURE-"It's really more feel. You're looking downfield, so you don't see the defensive linemen coming at you. You will get a feeling that someone is coming from the edge, and you have to step up. Those guys are big guys, so I'm running for my life."
ON BEATING KANSAS-"It's a big win against a top 20 team. Kansas has had our number the past three years, so they're a big target on our schedule. It's a huge win, and it builds momentum. Our schedule looks pretty good right now. We're confident that maybe we can get some W's during the next couple of weeks."
ON HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE-"We have some crucial home games coming up. The home crowd was awesome tonight, so we definitely have a home field advantage. We have to enjoy the win tonight and look to Kansas State next week."
ON OFFENSIVE BALANCE-"It's always good to be 50/50 on run and pass. It's always good to have similar rushing and passing yards."
Kansas Players
QB Todd Reesing
ON KU'S OVERALL PLAY- "We didn't execute, we turned the ball over twice, gave them 14 easy points. You can't spot a team 14 points on the road. We just didn't execute our plays. There are a lot of things you can point to, it just wasn't a good start."
ON THE SECOND HALF- "We didn't do anything differently. We just started making plays. We threw the ball all over the field in the second half. We just didn't get enough touchdowns. Still trying to figure out that pass interference call, I don't know what that was about. But we just didn't make enough plays and put enough points on the board. That is what it comes down to."
ON BOUNCING BACK- "It won't be very hard. We aren't going to quit after losing our first game. We are still a good football team. We have confidence. We have a big game next week against Oklahoma. We are going to come back tomorrow and learn from the film and take away what we can. We are going to get better and move forward. Every team in the North has a loss at this point. There is no reason to hang our heads."
ON HIS FUMBLE- "I was close, just couldn't pull it under my legs. It's one of those things where you try to make a play and the ball gets knocked out and it's all my fault. I can't put the blame on anyone but myself."
WR Dezmon Briscoe
ON LAST PLAY OF GAME- "I was close. I actually had the ball and came down. The guy with the helmet hit the ball. He made a play and was in great position. It is what it is. They came to play and we didn't."
ON BOUNCING BACK IN SECOND HALF- "Second half we fought back hard. It's one of the greatest efforts of a team I've ever played on. It just shows we have a lot of character and good players on the team. They like to fight back in tough situations."
ON THE LOSS- "It's the most shocking loss I've been a part of here. Their record doesn't show how good they played today. The crowd was in it and their players had all the emotion. We left some plays on the field nothing you can do about it now."
SS Darrell Stuckey
ON TEAM'S MINDSET- "We never lost faith at all. We always knew that we had a chance to win it. It was up to us to go out there and make it happen and get the ball back in the offense's hands."
ON NEWCOMMERS TO DEFENSE- "I've got total confidence in the adjustment of our coaches. If they put a player out there, the player has the full ability to go out there and make plays in every way. When it comes to player by player whoever is out there is going to have my full confidence in them because I know they went through the whole week just like I did."
ON THE LAST PLAY- "There is always hope. He's [Dezmon Briscoe] an amazing player, he's one of those guys that makes things happen when things aren't there. Just a little disappointed that he didn't make it."
ON FIRST HALF PLAY- "Of course our backs were against the wall sometimes you just have to force them to kick a field goal so they don't get a touchdown. It's one of those things that you can't let them score after that, as a defense you always want to make them kick a field goal it looks better on film and a lot better for your offense."
WR/QB Kerry Meier
ON OFFENSIVE PASS INTERFERENCE CALL- "I was surprised by it. As I was running my route, I peaked inside a saw little contact but thought it was on their player and not us for setting a pick. It seemed like they got a lot of calls and we didn't, but you can't make excuses. We dug ourselves in too big of a hole and Colorado played a good game."
ON WR DEZMON BRISCOE- "Those jump balls are a routine play for him. He's able to use his athletic ability and come down with those."
ON THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME- "It seemed like he (WR Dezmon Briscoe) rose an elevator to go get that ball, but that is a tough play to make with that many guys around you."
ON THE OFFENSE- "We had a tough first 27 minutes. Then we executed the two-minute drill and got a score before half. We got momentum after and started to chip away at that lead a little bit. We came out of the gates in the second half and executed but we put ourselves in too big of a hole."
ON THE LOSS- "It feels like any other game that you lose. It hurts bad when you fight so hard and come up short."
PK Jacob Branstetter
ON HIS PERFORMANCE- "I feel good about the way I hit the ball today. Coach Mangino has always had confidence in me. I'm happy I was able to come through, but disappointed about the loss."
ON THE LOSS- "It's disappointing but not devastating. Devastating means that you are out for the count. We're 5-1 and the North is still wide open. We're going to come out and work hard for next week."
ON THE LAST DRIVE- "I had 100 percent confidence when we got the ball back that (QB) Todd (Reesing) would win us the game. Even that last play, I thought (WR Dezmon) Briscoe would come down with it."
S Chris Harris
ON THE LAST DRIVE- "When you have Todd (Reesing), Dezmon (Briscoe), and Kerry (Meier), anything can happen. I had faith we would score. I have confidence in my guys that we wouldn't quit."
ON WHAT COACH MANGINO SAID AFTER THE GAME- "He said that we need to come back tomorrow and learn from the loss. He was happy we fought hard."
ON THE LOSS- "It was very disappointing to come back and take the lead and then lose it."
ON THE DEFENSE- "We could have stopped the run a little more but I was pleased with how the defense played today."
