Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Colorado State Quotes
September 17, 2011 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Jon Embree
On First Win As A Head Coach - "It feels great. My first win as a player was against these guys so to do it as a coach means a lot. I underestimated a little bit on how much last week's loss hurt us. We didn't quite have the same kind of juice as we had in our first two games. We are a team that has to play on passion and emotion. That is what we need to do and it felt to business like early on. It was like we were going out and trying to have a good practice. We have to find a way to start faster. Obviously as our schedule continues to go on, it will get nothing but harder. We have to continue to find a way to start better."
On Team Learning How To Finish "We finally had an opportunity where we had the ball, we had the lead and it was up to us to finish it off. The thing that I am proud about with these guys is I think we had two holding penalties in that (final) drive, and yet we still found a way to overcome ourselves. We made the smart plays, guys staying in bounds understanding it is our job to keep the clock running and then finishing in the end. (Quarterback) Tyler Hansen made a great check, we had a call on and they came out with a defense that was probably going to end up as a negative play, and he changed it to a quarterback sneak and picked up the first down and allowed us to keep the ball and continue on."
On TB Rodney Stewart Getting A Little Rest In The Game "I think it helped him a lot. Tony (Jones) went 6-for-23 and he was in some other plays where he didn't get the ball. Tony played well, he gave us a good burst, and we are going to continue to get him in. Speedy was cramping a little in the end and obviously he took some shots in a physical game. He took some shots and he will be sore tomorrow. That will continue to encourage us to continue to work Tony in a little bit more."
On WR Toney Clemons "I called him out during spring camp because I felt like he was underperforming and then we had some issues in Hawaii. He was man-enough to come in and talk and discuss what my expectations were and what his expectations were. I told him that I don't hold a grudge, and I don't. He got back in, and to his credit he came back in and made some plays for us."
On Importance of WR Toney Clemons Contributing To Team "It is important for him to be a player and contribute. Big plays or not, it is important for him to be a contributor for us it really is. The way our schedule is set up, we are going to have guys dinged at different times and with our depth, we are going to need guys like Toney Clemons to be players and be able to contribute for us."
On Offensive Tackles "We had that one hold. Look at me, I am supposed to be positive, right We just won. They did good. There was a couple issues and we'll work on that, but they did good."
On CU-CSU Rivalry Having Same Feeling As It Did When He Was A Player And A Coach "It does have that feel. Again, I don't think it was as intense as it needed to be. That last loss ready did sting us, it really did. I say that it cut us deep, it hurt and we'll find out what kind of team we are. If it hurts enough where we never want to feel like that again, if it hurts us enough to have the resolve to come out and win a game. Playing a team like CSU, you knew that they were going to come out and give it their best shot with a coach like Fairchild. We still have issues at corner, and he (CSU QB Pete Thomas) can expose you and can put a lot of pressure on you. The growth Pete Thomas has made that was a great test for us. It was a great test for our character, a great test for our resolve and a great test as we said are we going to be the team that we wanted to be back in August. It is easy to say something in August when you are undefeated. It is easy to come out and work hard when you are undefeated, but what do you do when you are 0-2 What do you do when they question you What do you do when it doesn't look good and everything that you are trying to achieve is going out of the window and is slipping out of your grasps To me, that comes down to leadership. We have a great staff, leaders on this football team as players and obviously all of those people stepped up and refused to let it go away without a fight. We put in too much work to let it go away without fighting for it."
On What He Told The Offense Before The Last Clinching Drive "Just that here is our chance, here is our opportunity. You guys were out at practice. How many four minute drives did we do We did it to death. To their credit, they never blinked. They never blinked when we had the holding calls and had a long yardage situation. We had a dropped pass that was a big play, but they never blinked because they knew that it is always about the next play we had been hampering on that as a staff. Just get the next play. They understand that and I am proud because I can tell that they are listening. You say certain things and you practice certain things put you never know until you get on the field and I am proud of them."
On Significance Of Having A Punt Block But Still Recovering The Ball "That is huge, that is probably at least a 10 point swing figuring in the worst case they would at least get a field goal. So obviously us getting a touchdown out of it is real big. I know they (CSU) are probably sick of it because that is something you work on to death blocked field goals and blocked punts and when to touch it and when not to. It was an unfortunate break for them but for us to get a second chance and to take advantage of it is huge."
On If This Is How He Would Feel After Getting His First Win "I thought that my first win would be on the island and that I would have some flying time back home to enjoy it. I just think of all of the people who sacrificed for me to be here. It means a lot. I know a lot of people did a lot. I'm glad that I can thank them."
On If He Is Going To Be Happier About The Win "I'm happy. I'll be happier. Coach Mac always said, 'You have to enjoy the wins because there is not enough of them,' and I look at 10 penalties that is what I look at. I look at we ran for 145 (yards) that is a step in the right direction. There are things like that that I'm looking at. I'm looking at our kicking game we kicked the ball out of bounds again. Those things are driving me crazy because those are all controllable things. I take responsibility for the personal fouls because I told the team in their today that I took the leash off there were no rules. There were no rules and I took the leash off them. We have to learn where the boundaries are and I have to be better at this. I take full responsibility on the personal fouls today that is Jon Embree, that is not the players. I told them that I wanted a certain thing and they came out and tried to do it. That is not on them, that is on me. We will continue to improve. We can't kick the ball out of bounds. We can't jump offside some of those things that can be a killer and kills me. But I'm happy."
On What CSU Did On Their First Drive "We knew that they were going to come out and do some stuff that we hadn't really seen or were ready for and how we could manage it. To their credit, a lot of people when they do that stuff it doesn't work because there is an element of 'what if they lineup not how we think they are going to lineup.' To their credit and to Coach Fairchild's credit, they went right down the field and scored. In my mind it was just that we missed an opportunity on the quarterback twice, that frustrated me, but for the most part just trying to remain calm and letting them know it is about four quarters anyways and that is something to expect and do some stuff we were not ready for."
On His Defense "I thought our 'D' did great. As you look at the stats, obviously the thing that jumps out to me is that they only had 55 plays, so we did a good job of getting off the field. The quarterback was 20 out of 30 that is ok but they only ran it for 67 (yards) on 25 carries. That is good because when we are spread out and when we are exposed sometimes, some things that we are doing to take care of the backend. The fact that we didn't give up some big runs, that says a lot about what the defensive line was doing up front."
Colorado State Head Coach Steve Fairchild
General:"We were just out of sync offensively. Before I go another step, congratulations to the University of Colorado; they deserved the win. Their coaching staff and Greg Brown did a great job and so be it. We just didn't make enough plays. We had a little flow going there early offensively but our challenge is we're still not dynamic enough at receiver. We're probably going to play the rest of the year with both safeties down tight trying to force us to throw. We obviously didn't execute our passing game as well as we need to in order to win a game like that. I thought we hung in there defensively for the most part. They've got a receiver out there that you've got to double and keep him honest so they ran the ball somewhat on us. I thought we hung in there for the most part. Last drive obviously they made the plays and we didn't get them off the field. Having said that, we're disappointed. I thought we played physical; I thought we played hard. I told our football team if they continued to do that, we'd have a good football team. We've got to get this one behind us and look forward."
On the blocked punt and fumble: "You look at the field position there and it gave them a good chance to go get seven when we were probably going to get a minimum of three out of it. There was a couple swings in the game like that but there's no funny bounces; that's just us not making plays. That's us not being smart and ultimately that's my fault. I'm responsible."
On what changed after the first drive: "If we're going against seven we're fine. And then all of a sudden with eight guys down there, you are not as productive with the run game. Some of it's not as easy; some of what you're calling, you're not going to do. Just taking an arbitrary guess here, in seven out of 10 snaps, they were in man coverage. They knew it; we knew it. We couldn't separate from them in play. Until we do, that's how we're going to be played the rest of the year."
On CU's final scoring possession: Well, they made enough plays. "I thought we had them. Nuku (Latu) busts through and it's hard to blame him; he's making a play in the backfield. He's a good player but (CU RB Rodney Stewart) is not very tall, and Nuku grabbed his facemask. He's just trying to make a play on the guy. There's a couple things like that. Both sides got out of whack on penalties. We'd just assume not have that be a factor in the game, and it was."
On Colorado's Paul Richardson: "Sometimes you don't get the stats but you have a factor in the game. Because of him we had to have safeties in the back. I don't think that killed us. Had we made the plays we needed to offensively that would have helped our defense more."
On the run game: "If I could do it again and I felt we had any more chance of separating I would have thrown the ball every time out there. I'm not sure I would have even called a run. But obviously we weren't able to make a play so it was tough. "
On what has to change at receiver: "Well obviously, we've got to be able to beat man coverage. Somehow, some way we've got to be able to find a way to make a play at receiver."
On the loss: "We're all disappointed because you don't get these opportunities that much in your life, as a player in particular, and as a coach. Going into a game like that with the energy; it's just fun. That's a bigtime thing out there and you don't get these opportunities very much. We're all very disappointed we didn't win the game. However, within 24 hours we've got to get back to work and get ready for Saturday."
On the sideline-interference penalties: "I'll say anything and I'll get in trouble...I'm not going to say anything about it."
On whether he was disappointed that most CSU fans didn't show up for the game: "I heard them; I don't count them. I don't spend too much time looking at them. There were enough people there to provide an atmosphere."
On the CU defense: "It was to our advantage from a schematic standpoint to throw the football; however, if we're not executing it doesn't make sense, either."
On any positives: "I thought we played hard and we played physical. I like the way we were playing. We're not executing as well as we need to. If we go out and play hard and physical this year we're going to win some games."
On whether the outcome would have been different had CSU not had so many injuries entering the game, as well as Caprioglio: "No. It's part of the game; they had some, we had some. We've just got to play."
On T Joe Caprioglio: Joe is a tremendous football player. "He's our weakside tackle, which is equivalent to a left tackle in the NFL. I think he's got a future. He's still a junior; he'll come back next year. I think he's got a future past college. We'd love to have him but he got injured so Mason Hathaway had to go in and play."
On Caprioglio's playing status for the remainder of the season: "I don't know but it appeared to be a serious knee injury. I'll know a lot more after the doctors examine it."
Colorado Players
QB Tyler Hansen
On His Ability To Scramble "We game planned this week and we saw some stuff that we could utilize. I saw some opportunities to use my feet and it worked out and it felt good."
On The Importance Of The Ohio State Game "The Ohio State game is a big game for us, a couple guys like Rodney [Stewart], Doug [Rippy], and Ayodeji [Olatoye] really want this next one bad so we are going to fight for them and work our butts off"
On The Win Having A Positive Effect "You know it was a different feel from last week, our guys were hurting and we had a couple guys cry. So it felt differently and we really wanted this one bad, plus they were our rivals."
On The 10 Minute Drive At The End Of The Game "Rodney [Stewart] did a great job, as well as the offensive line. They told me to milk as much time as possible so I kept looking at the play clock and kept milking it and milking it. Some penalties pushed us back but we kept fighting and did a great job."
On How Good It Felt To Connect With Toney Clemons "It felt really good, he has been fighting, he's had a hard last couple of weeks. He deserved that one and he was really happy to get going this week, we need this guy real bad."
On The Tackles On The Offensive Line "They did real well Sione [Tau] and Alex [Lewis] had their rough spots here and there, but overall they did really well especially for tackles they did a great job of opening up holes for 'Speedy.'"
On How It Felt To Get Coach Embree A Win "It means a lot, we love Coach Embree. It was really important for us to get that first win."
OL Ryan Miller
On Jones' and Stewart's Performances "Tony and Rodney both ran hard today."
On The Improvement Of The Running Game "We blocked our assignments correctly, to be honest. It was going to click and it finally did."
On Whether This Was The Most Complete Game Thus Far "Definitely. Special teams were fantastic. Defense did a phenomenal job; they brought the pressure all day. They laid the wood when they hit. To see this on offense just drives you to play better."
On What The Offense Is Capable Of "We can be capable of a lot of things."
On What To Take Into Ohio State "A lot of thingsa lot of good things. There are a lot of things we need to fix too. [Today] definitely wasn't a perfect game. We had a lot of penalties; we need to clean that up."
On Penalties "It's disappointing. You have to draw that line between playing hard and playing smart."
WR Paul Richardson
On His Game "Today was a rough day. Our receivers showed [everyone] that we have more than one receiver. They all had awesome games. Kyle Cefalo had a touchdown. Clemons had a really good touchdown. We showed that we can block on the outside as well."
On The Depth At Wide Receiver "It means a lot; it doesn't cripple us when we go against other teams. It definitely helps us."
On What This Win Means "We just have to use it as momentum. We did get the win, but now the game is over. We need to go back to the film and get ready for Ohio State."
On What Needs To Be Improved For Next Week "As a whole, we just need to stay focused. We play hard, we play physical, we play fast, but if we eliminate the penalties and stay focused, we'll be fine."
WR Toney Clemons
On Using This As Momentum Against Ohio State "Going against Ohio State is going against Ohio State. It's all business first. I'm familiar with that team; I've played them twice. The Horseshoe is going to be a mad house. We have to get ready to go play against them. Right now, we're playing against ourselves. That's the main goalto stay focused."
On Playing In Columbus "I played in Columbus my sophomore year. It's going to be a sea of red, and those guys are going to be amped-up. They had a big win this week, and I'm not sure how they did. Either way, if they win or lose, they're going to be ready. We're going to be ready too."
On Why He Was So Successful Today "It was a mix of everything. Their coverage with a mix of my preparationthe main thing was that the coaches were giving me a shot to go out there and play. Having their support, beliefs, and trust in me is what really helped me go today."
On Talking To Coach Embree After His Touchdown And Penalty "He handled it better than I thought he would. He was still a coach about it, but he wasn't upset. He's a competitor, he understands. He played this game. He knows how it is in rivalry games. I haven't seen the penalty. Some say it wasn't bad, but a penalty is always bad, so I'll get in there and watch film to see what it looks like on tape."
On How Big Of A Win It Was "Huge win. It was a huge win for our senior class, huge win for our program, and an even a bigger win for this coaching staffthose guys deserve it. We work hard, but they work much harder. We want to go out there and play for those guys and win for those guys. This could be the start of something big for us."
SS Anthony Perkins
On CSU QB Pete Thomas "He played well; like any other quarterback he is not afraid to run. On that first drive in the first quarter he showed that. He is a good quarterback and is going to continue to progress. He has some great potential and he has improved a lot since last year, so that's a great quarterback right there."
On CSU's First Drive "That was tough but nobody blinked. We just kept doing what we do as a defense, and got settled in a little bit and played our game."
On Playing Without CB Travis Sandersfeld "Missing Travis hurt but the guys stepped up and that's how it's got to be on a good team. It's tough losing a guy like Travis, but like it should be other guys stepped up and made plays."
On Moving Forward From The CSU Game "As soon as possible; we're going to enjoy it but at the same time we had 10 more games, and each game will be bigger than the next one so we have to stay focused."
On The Size Of The Horseshoe "How big is it Yeah that will be up there, I am excited for the atmosphere and I know all of the players are excited to go out and play in that kind of atmosphere. Yeah that will be one of the biggest stadiums I've played in but at the end of the day the field's 100 yards long and there are 11 guys on the field and you just have to do your job."
RB Rodney Stewart
On How The Last Drive Felt "It was big, it was the fourth quarter and had to maintain the lead, we worked that drill over and over and it helped and transferred over to the game."
On What They Can Do Better On Offense "We can get a lot better; we need to get off to a faster start. In the first quarter we were making a lot of mistakes and if we fix that we can be a better team."
On His Health "I have a shoulder bruise, I have a lot of things but I have to come in and be a leader for my team."
On What It Means To Him To Play At Ohio State "I just have to keep my head straight, I might cut my phone off this week but it's going to be a big game. I'm going to be playing in front of my family; it will kind of be like a home game for me."
JLB Josh Hartigan
On How The Defense Played - "I think it was time for us to come out and put on a show for everybody, I think it was time for us to step up and go out and create plays."
On The Defense Stacking The Box "Our whole thing was stopping the run and being physical and I think having 11 guys in the box is part of being physical."
On The Defense Being "Let Off The Leash" "Coach let us go today and we had a lot of opportunities to make plays and that's what we did, it was time for everybody to step up. We need that momentum going into Ohio State. It's time."
On Their Slow Start "Both sides of the ball need to get better at starting fast. The defense needs be able to come out and get a three-and-out and get the offense the ball."
On The Offense's Long 4th Quarter Drive "I was happy that they were able to hold the ball, that they were able to drive the ball down the field, and that they were able to get in the end zone. We needed them to score a touchdown."
On What The Win Means To The Team "It gives us a lot of confidence, it gives us a lot of momentum. With confidence you build momentum. I'm very confident in my team and we are going to go out and play the game. We are ready to play Ohio State."
Colorado State Players
RB Raymond Carter
On the frustration of this loss: "It's real frustrating. We put in hard work this past week to get ready for CU. Obviously the outcome didn't go the way we wanted. At the same time, the thing is with football, we still have more games to play. So we got to put this one behind us and get ready for the next one."
On not being able to capitalize on momentum after the first drive: "Yeah. We got a lot of work to do. Things happen in the game that we can't control. There is always room for improvement. We just have to do better.
"We came out firing on that first drive. We tried to do the same thing. We need to capitalize better and the mental mistakes have to go."
On CU's defense: "Yeah, they played a good defensive game. Their scheme was kind of everywhere and we were prepared for it but at the same time we have to execute."
QB Pete Thomas
On how he feels: "I feel terrible. I'm really disappointed in myself. I should have made a lot more plays and execute a lot better and it would have been a different outcome."
On the difficulty of getting the pass game going without an effective running game: "It goes hand-in-hand. I should have made more plays in the pass game. Maybe we should have made a few more plays in the run game but we can't play like that against CU and expect to win."
On what he and the receivers have to work on: "They need to do a better job of getting off press and running their routes right. I obviously have to put the ball where they can catch it. We have a lot of work to do to be the team we want to be."
On CU's defensive adjustments: "They didn't do anything different than we saw on film. After that first drive they played a little more man coverage, stopped the run, brought some exotic blitzes and we weren't ready for it and I have to do a better job."
On not being able to capitalize on the momentum from the first drive: "Definitely; after that drive I thought we did have a lot of momentum. Our defense went out and stopped them but we just didn't execute on offense."
TE Crockett Gillmore
On whether he felt something changed after the first drive: "Not really. I felt like we were fired up and came out strong; we just couldn't finish."
On the difference between last year and this year: "Last year we came out and we were just a bunch of freshmen playing. This year we came out and we felt like we could play. We just couldn't finish it off."
On his 34-yard screen reception: "We had a great sell and it was just wide open."
On what CSU has to work on for next Saturday's game against Utah State: "We got to come out fired up and we need to practice harder, faster than we did the last few weeks."
WR Lee Clubb
On what CU was doing to stop CSU's receivers: "We just weren't getting separation. They were pushing us out-of-bounds. It's something we need to work on; it's nothing we can't change."
On the frustration of losing: "It's very frustrating because we worked so hard all week long for this game and to come up a little short, it's upsetting. This week we are going to work that much harder to beat Utah State."
DE Nordly Capi
On CU's last drive: "It was so frustrating. When I first looked at the clock it said 11:40, maybe 30 something. When they scored, I looked back it said 1:15. That was very embarrassing for the defense. For a team to have the ball for over seven minutes period (on one drive), that is embarrassing. But a team to have the ball over 10 minutes That was very disappointing and embarrassing."
SLB James Skelton
On whether Paul Richardson took attention away from Rodney Stewart and Tyler Hansen: "I don't think so. We respected Richardson. We knew he was a good player. I don't think that took us off No. 5 (Stewart) at all or the quarterback at all. We'll have to go look at film and see what really happened."
On what changed after the first quarter: "Just mistakes. In the first quarter we played well. Everybody played their assignments, everybody believed in each other. The mistakes kept piling up. We can't beat ourselves and expect to win."
WLB Mike Orakpo
On CU's last drive: "It was very frustrating. We just have to do a better job of tackling. Everybody has to swarm to the ball, wrap up and make a tackle and that's what we did a poor job of today."
On how much the defense misses Mychal Sisson from an emotional standpoint: "It's a big loss and everybody is feeling it. It's just something we need to overcome. First game without him, we didn't get the job done and we need to step up."
On screen passes to Stewart: "They just ran that at good times."
On the momentum change after the change of possession on the blocked punt: "That was a huge momentum change. Special teams can win the game and they can lose the game. We just couldn't pick it back up from there."
On lack of turnovers: "That was what we were preaching. We were trying to get turnovers and it wasn't happening for us. Not getting any turnovers, that can really help you lose a game."