Colorado University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Colorado-Oregon Quotes
October 05, 2013 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
General
"First of all, Oregon is a very good football team, they're fast like I thought they were. I think their quarterback [Marcus Mariota] is a great player. I thought our young men fought from the very beginning; I thought they came out ready to play. We talked about don't stick your toe in the water - you know how a pool sometime is cold and you think, 'Ah, I don't know if I want to get in' - and you can do that against Oregon, or do you want to go play. We dove right into the pool, and we started swimming. We could have made a few more plays, I could have coached better on some things that we need to do in the secondary, but those guys (Oregon's players) are fast and they do a good job. I was pleased with how hard we played, I was pleased with our fight, I was pleased our aggressiveness and I thought we did some good things. I thought we could have scored a few more points, we just missed out on a few things here and there. But, of course we got beat 57-16 and we're not happy about that one bit; but I was happy with them going out there and fighting from the very beginning and believing that they could win, and I thought they executed some things good, and I thought they fought hard. We have to do a better job of coaching them and getting them in the right spots. We were off just a little bit, we were off just a little bit, and they made some plays. We have to go back to the drawing board and work hard again tomorrow afternoon and get ready to play Arizona State. But, I think Oregon is extremely good, everywhere you turn and look they have really, really good football players. I was pleased with our fight."
On Starting The Game Aggressively
"We started out with an onside kick, and it was a read look, if they lined up a certain way we were going to try to onside it and we had a chance but their guy caught it. I thought we played pretty good on defense there, and got excited. We tried to find ways to try to get the ball deep to No. 6 [Paul Richardson] and other people made some good plays also. But, we weren't going to let them just crowd (Richardson), so we tried to find ways to do that. So, that was the way we went out and said we were going to be aggressive, you know, we had nothing to lose. If we go out and try to play tentative, and try to hold the ball and try to do all that, they're going to score anyway. We wanted to be aggressive, have some scoring and keep fighting. There were a few plays there in the first half and it could have been - could've, would've, should've - but it definitely could have been 28, or 24 (points); but it wasn't. We're going to be aggressive. We're going to play every game to win, no matter what. I want to go for it on fourth down because I think we need to go for it in order to win, and were going to do different things that we need to do to do it."
On Determining When To Go For It On Fourth Down
"We got stopped on a couple earlier, and I just felt like we needed some points to try and get some momentum. We were looking at things they (Oregon) were doing, and I just felt like if we kept coming away with nothing that might have deflated us and so (kicking the field goal) gave us a little bit of energy. Later on we could have kicked some field goals, but at that time I figured we should try to go ahead and score at that point. I thought we still had a chance in the game on a couple of those when it was within 17 to 20 points at that time, so I felt like we needed to do something there."
On Oregon Being Faster In Person Than On Film
"They looked just as fast. They're fast on film, and they were fast out there today. I'll tell you the guy who I thought was faster today, to me, was 24 [Thomas Tyner]. He's big, and he was faster than I thought he was in person, and everybody else was about what I thought."
On Struggling On Third Down Conversions
"We had a few problems there on third down. They caused a few of them, and we missed a few, dropped a couple. But, we just need to keep getting better at it and try to improve on it."
On RB Christian Powell Running The Ball Harder
"He did, and I was glad to see that. He did run hard. We sat down with him and talked to him a little bit and we said to him, 'what runs fit you the best', and we felt some of them did (fit better). We utilized him in different ways, utilized him at fullback and getting Michael [Adkins] in there. I think we kind of found a good niche with that now."
On RB Michael Adkins Success Fueling Powell's Fire
"I would think so, yeah. I think competition always lights a fire. I've always said: The better players you have, the more you have, and more guys that can play, you're going to keep competing and keep playing. So, I think that is beneficial for us."
On Whether Team Gained Confidence
"I think the confidence of going out and start swinging and punching was gained. I think that there effort, and I think they'll learn from some things that happened tonight, and I'll learn from some things that happened tonight that I can coach better that I saw that I didn't coach as well as I should have. Once you got out there against that offense for the first time live, but I thought we did some good things."
On QB Connor Wood
"I thought there was improvement tonight. I thought it was better than (his performance) against Oregon State, for sure. We dropped a couple passes in the second half, and we have to catch those. We tried running the ball a little bit more in the second half to keep it closer."
On Keeping The Team's Morale Up
"You're going to have to do that some, it's natural human instinct (to get down). But, I was pleased with the way they were acting in the locker room, I was pleased how they kept battling out there and didn't just lay down. I was pleased with their energy at the beginning of the game for sure."
On WR Paul Richardson As A Passer
"I thought he was good as a passer, we've been working on that hard. We timed that out really well and we thought it had a chance to come open and it did. It was a great pass, great execution. Nelson Spruce's block - did you see how long he blocked that guy - that was a heck of a block, I mean he blocked him for 25 yards. That was a great play. Then, little D.D.'s [Goodson] legs (animation) and there he went. It was fun to watch
On What Makes Paul Richardson Special
"He's fast. He can come out of cuts and keep his speed moving. Some guys are fast, but can't come out of a cut and keep their speed up, they're stiff. That's one of the things that makes him fast. He is able to cut and keep his speed up coming out of a break, which allows separation. He catches the ball well. I think he wishes he would have had one back, and I think Connor [Wood] wishes he had another one back if he would have had it in bounds a little bit we would have had two more huge plays. I was pleased with his effort and what he did."
On Coaching A Player Of LB Addison Gillam's Potential
"We had a kid at San Jose State named Keith Smith that made freshmen All-WAC, freshmen player of the year, and made All-Conference every year. He's a senior there and is the leading tackler in the history of the school. They both remind me of each other, except Addison is faster. Addison is really playing well, I'm really pleased with Addison. Some of the other young guys are getting in there and doing some good things. Greg Henderson kept battling tonight and made some good plays and did some really good things and he's getting better and better. All those guys are getting a little bit better, but sometimes No. 8 [Oregon QB Marcus Mariota] makes everyone look a little bit bad."
On Oregon QB Marcus Mariota
"I think he is really, really good. That's a stupid statement, but he's fast. Some guys that are running quarterbacks, they can run but they don't keep their eyes down field when they scramble and run. He can keep his eyes down field and go make the first down, and throw it. Most people keep their eyes down field and just throw it or throw it away, or they take it and always run. He can do both, and that's a special quality that he's able to do. A couple plays he made tonight, I mean C'mon I don't know what else we can do, he just made a play. He's a special player."
Oregon Head Coach Mark Helfrich
General
"Weird, kind of up and down, obviously didn't get off to a great start in any phase and that's on me. But I liked the way we rallied; I thought our defense played with a lot more urgency in the second half. We have a ton of room for improvement."
On Colorado's Game Plan
"They did a great job starting out with the onside kick, double moves and the reverse pass, we need to prepare a little bit better and execute a little bit better."
On Holding Colorado To Field Goals
"We did. I think we did a good job of holding them to field goals there in the first half and matching them with touchdowns. In the second half our defense played with much more energy."
On Oregon's Defense
"We challenged the defense at halftime. We didn't play our way in the first half, that's my fault. I don't know if it's the altitude or something else but whatever that may have been we responded well and that's important."
On Oregon's Wide Receivers
"Those guys are studs. Absolute warrior type guys, they love to play football. We have a physical group of playmakers that love to play football."
On Not Running Up The Score
"I didn't really think about mercy. That's a good program, a proud program. We're not in the embarrassment business. We're not in the statistic business and we don't think about individual awards; that's not our deal. We just wanted to get in a rhythm offensively."
On Oregon's First-Half Defensive Struggles
"It was pretty simple, I just didn't think we were playing up to our normal level, our frenzied level of attacking and tackling and finishing, we were up and down a little bit but they really finished strong."
On Holding Colorado To Field Goals
"Huge, they did a great job with that. If you hold the end result to a field goal you limit the bleeding."
On Colorado WR Paul Richardson
"We played a little bit better as the day went on, but that guy, wow, a couple of the one handed catches. That guy's impressive; a very good football player."
On Oregon
"We're 5-0, that's our best statistic, and we haven't played remotely to what we can in any phase in any game so that's encouraging. The guys we have on this team are excited to get better, excited to come to work and get better on Monday."
On Not Playing In Any Close Games This Season
"Not really, I think you can respond to adversity on Tuesday at practice. Our guys have a lot of things going on right now with class and all the things that go on, and whatever it is guys have to focus and be dialed in regardless of the conditions. If we can arrange for however many games we're going to play and they're all like this we'll take this."
On Marcus Mariota Not Having Experience With Pressure
"I think every time you step on the field is a high pressure situation. I think 1st-and-10 on the 20 in the first quarter is a high pressure situation. And certainly for a guy like that (Marcus Mariota) has an incredibly high expectation for himself everything is a pressure situation. We like to talk about preparation and limiting pressure, if we prepare great and take care of our end of the process the other stuff happens."
On Oregon QB Marcus Mariota
"Marcus is a stud. He's such a great person first and foremost and he's, by the way, an incredible football player. The stuff he does in practice we look at each other and shake our heads, and that shows up in games. And that's the unique thing about him, De'Anthony (Thomas) and some of our best defensive players: They're not good practice players but great practice players."
Colorado Players
LB Addison Gillam
ON OREGON'S OFFENSE - "They're really fast; really hard to get aligned to and if you don't line up, they'll capitalize on those mistakes."
ON FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS (DEFENSIVELY) - "Personally, just the defense staying disciplined; knowing their assignments and knowing their role and sticking to that even in the game, even when it's fast."
ON GAME PREPARATION - "I watch film every day. Whenever I'm not doing something or have spare time, I like watch film. We watch extra film with Coach (Kent Baer); we all get together as players and go watch film."
RB Christian Powell
ON IMPROVED PERFORMANCE - "I knew eventually I would have to get myself going and I had been working on it all week. It's the little fundamentals, as far as getting my pads down, getting my feet up."
ON COMING OUT STRONG - "We've been talking about it all week; about basically, just fighting. We know it's a good team, but we were just worried about coming out and playing our game and that's what we did. It was just little mistakes on both sides of the ball and they capitalized on it."
ON FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS (OFFENSIVELY) - "From the offensive side, just knowing what you have to do as far as blocking assignments, knowing what you're doing coming out of the huddle, knowing the play calls, basically just knowing what's going on when you get on the field."
CB Greg Henderson
ON STARTING GAME AGGRESSIVELY - "Coach Mac, he emphasizes us to play aggressive, never give up and keep fighting. He wanted us to dive right in and play hard right from the start and that's what we tried to do. Especially against a team like Oregon, they're an aggressive team as well."
ON TEAM MORALE AFTER GAME - "I don't think we're down, I think we're disappointed. But like you said, this is a good team, the number two team in the country. We came out hard, we fought hard, we just have to learn from everything we did wrong and everything we did right. We still have a long season ahead."
LB Derrick Webb
ON THE DEFENSE: "We stood tall coming into the ball game, and I'm proud of how the defense came out and played and competed. We gave up some big plays down the stretch. We know Oregon is a running team, we really stressed stopping the run. They run the ball so well they had the paly action fakes off the run, they caught us a few times on the play option fake and they were able to get the ball down field."
ON OREGON'S SPEED: "They play so fast, our call comes in so fast, we have to get lined up so fast. They caught us once on that, but we were prepared for the speed of the game, we worked hard on that all week. Until you get into the game, you don't know how fast it actually is. I think we did well lining up all game, but they got us on a cheap touchdown in the first half. But we proved something to ourselves, we can play with these guys and play with anybody in the country, we just have to be confident and play until the end."
ON HIS NEAR INTERCEPTION: "I was following my reads, I had my eye on the player, the guy I was supposed to be guarding, I tried to get back to the inside when I knew it was coming to the middle. The ball snuck up on me and got into my gut pretty quick, but that's a play I need to make, maybe it changes the game."
ON HIS FUMBLE RECOVERY: "Chidera (Uzo-Diribe) caused the fumble or Parker (Orms), both of those guys played so hard, we all played so hard. Coming into halftime, we said we needed to create more turnovers and give the ball back to the offense. Greg Hendreson with two picks, and I was able to get a fumble recovery. Our defense will continue to get turnovers and we will continue to get better every game."
ON PARKER ORMS: "We have some tough guys on our defense, Parker Orms may be the toughest. He hits hard for four quarters, you may see him come out of the game once or twice but he'll be right back out there working hard."
WR Paul Richardson
ON THE START OF THE GAME: "We wanted to start off on a good note, but unfortunately we couldn't put six points on the board right away. We wanted to start fast and that's what we did."
ON THE TEAM'S HEART: "We have a lot of heart and we showed a lot of resilience; I'm just so proud of my team. It says a lot about how much pride we have, unfortunately we weren't able to close out the second quarter and second half the way we wanted to, but we have a lot to learn from.? This is an up-and-coming program and I know we showed a lot of people what we can do."
ON PLAYING A FULL GAME: "Knowing that we can play a good first quarter or play a good first half isn't enough. We need to put four quarters together and we have to be able to finish games."
QB Connor Wood
ON HIS THOUGHTS OF THE GAME - "We had them there at the beginning. With an offense like that, we just have to play four quarters with them. We have to limit the turnovers and the three and outs. We have to convert on third downs and just have to keep working on that. To pinpoint some of the things we are going to work on this week: third down conversions, limit the turnovers, also scoring in the red zone."
ON IMPROVING THE MISTAKES - "You almost have to be [perfect]. We came into the game knowing that we have to eliminate our turnovers and we didn't do that tonight, so we have to really find ways to get better next week. We have a good opponent at Arizona State on Saturday, so we have to move on from this game, watch it, learn from it, and go."
ON THE FIGHT IN THE TEAM THIS YEAR - "Yeah I think that I would agree with you, that we have more fight. At the same time, I think Coach MacIntyre really said it well there at the end to us as a team when he said, 'We are competing with them, but we have to be more pissed off.' We're not imploding ... We're staying together as a team, which is great, but we have to keep pushing even if we are down a couple of touchdowns. We've got to keep pushing and playing pissed off, which is what good teams do."
ON LOOKING AT THE POSITIVES - "Yeah, absolutely. In any game you play, you have to take the positives out of it. I think we had a lot of positives today. I think Paul [Richardson] got me ... He had one (TD pass) I didn't have any. We had some good plays. We can build on a lot of good things we did today."
ON THE ONSIDE KICK AND REVERSE PASS - "I think with a team like Oregon, we have to be aggressive in what we do. We have to understand their strengths and understand our strengths. The coaches didn't have a conservative game plan. We took shots on them early, did a double move offensively with Paul [Richardson], and opened it up. With a team like that, you have to do that."
LB Ryan Severson
ON THE KICK RETURNS - "Yeah, I felt a lot more comfortable. I got some practice in and the coaches really wanted me to take the role to just go out there and return the kicks. I love it."
ON HIS ABSENCE IN THE SECOND HALF - "It was my hamstring. It has been acting up a little bit, so I couldn't run full speed. There is no point if I can't go full speed, take me out right there. I am just doing rehab right now. It's not serious. I will be fine by next week."
ON HIS IMPROVEMENT - "Yeah, 100 percent better. I have a lot more confidence in me now, so I am doing great. There were two [kick returns] where I was so close. On one they just got my shoe, but next week I will get them for sure."
DT Justin Solis
ON THE TEAM'S OVERALL PERFORMANCE - "First of all, I think my teammates and I all played very hard. There were a few mistakes here and there, changing little things, executing the way we know we can. It could have been a close game, but we all played hard. I am proud of the way we played."
ON PREPARATIONS FOR NEXT WEEK - "Arizona State is a very similar team to Oregon. They run a fast-paced offense. We just have to really work on getting aligned, just doing what we are coached to do, and keeping it simple."
RB Michael Adkins II
ON HIS THOUGHTS ON TODAY'S GAME - "We came out strong, we started off really fast, but I think it just got away from us."
ON NEXT WEEK'S STRATEGIES - "We have to do a little bit of what we did this week. We've got to start off fast, get that momentum, and keep going. There were a couple of plays that made the momentum shift in the game. We did a great job this game with starting off fast. We need to keep the momentum going pretty much."
ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE OFFENSE NEXT GAME - "I thought we did a fairly good job. The running game was alright, we got the passing game going better than last week. I think we did pretty well, we just have got to go out there and keep practicing and click everything up."
ON CHRISTIAN POWELL - "I mean Christian [Powell] is a big back. He's a converted fullback, big power back. He did a great job today getting downhill. He looked like his own self a little bit today. He really did a good job."
Oregon Players
QB Marcus Mariota
ON LETTING THE OTHER QUARTERBACKS ON THE ROSTER PLAY - "For me, there are four other guys behind me who practice their tails off all week. I think that they deserve to play. For a lot of us, our goal is to get those guys out on the field; they put in a lot of effort, just as much as we do, and that's my take [on it.] It's really up to whatever the coaches want to do, and I'm really proud of those guys."
ON TEAM CHEMISTRY - "It's a lot better [this season]. During the off-season, those guys were really working hard, and it's starting to pay off. I'm proud of my guys, because they made a lot of big plays."
ON COLORADO'S AGGRESSION - "They started loading the blocks and putting good guys out there. We have the type of athletes, though, that can handle that and take advantage of that. The [Oregon] guys did awesome.
ON AREAS FOR PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT - "[I need to be] more consistent. There are times when I have some erred throws, and I need to get more consistency."
ON MAKING ADJUSTMENTS - "A lot of times, teams come out and read some looks. We have come to a point where we're used to it. It doesn't take us long to adjust to things. Our receivers did a good job deciding what they needed to do, and we started to tweak some things around."
ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLAYING A CLOSE GAME AND PLAYING AN EASY ONE - "There's no difference. Some people will press, and I have complete trust in the guys around me. They gave me the utmost confidence. There are not a lot of things that people can do to stop us."
ON NOT PLAYING DURING THE FOURTH QUARTER - "We go through so many different scenarios during practice that we are prepared no matter what the situation is. If it calls for a fourth quarter situation, then the coaches have done a great job preparing us for it."
ON COLORADO'S EFFORT - "I thought they came out and played hard. They really gave us their best effort. I have a couple of buddies on this team. I grew up with Juda Parker, and he really likes where [Colorado] is going. They put in a lot of work, and I hope that they have a good rest of the season."
ON POSSIBLY WINNING THE FIRST HEISMAN FOR OREGON - "I think it would mean a lot to this team and the university. For me personally, [winning it] is a dream of mine. I can't think of that, because that's outside noise. If I take care of what has to be done on the field, then things will take care of themselves."
TE Pharaoh Brown
ON BEING INJURED VS. BEING ABLE TO PLAY - "It's nice to be out [of the game] and able to just watch the game, but it's also really nice to be out there and able to play, running around again."
ON HAVING INJURED PLAYERS ON THE ROSTER- "It's kind of hard [to have people out], but at the same time, it's scary to think about how good we are when we're all healthy. We haven't all been there all season yet, but the rotation is pretty much 'there.' I'm confident that we can reach our goals."
WR Bralon Addison
ON CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE NEXT GAME - "I think it's just up to the level of preparation throughout the week. Coach has been coaching us pretty hard. It's all about practice, and as long as we practice hard, I think all of us guys will play well on Saturday."
ON THE ABILITY TO ADAPT - "We talk about that all the time: Everyone needs a quarterback who can improvise, and you can't just rely on one play. We know that [our quarterback] can do things with his legs and also great things with his arms to compliment those legs. We just have to keep our roster alive and keep looking down-field."
ON THE 75-YARD TOUCHDOWN - "I think they tried to go with a cover-two look, and I had an outside route, and Josh had a bubble string route. The corner came up and the safety came over the top in time. Marcus, being the great guy that he is, saw me and threw it out there. I just had to catch the ball and keep running."
ON HOW HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH MARCUS HAS GROWN - "I think that as a unit, all of us have gotten better with Marcus. Last year, we saw a lot of times when we would misconnect or disconnect, and I think that during the offseason, we worked a lot, and we continue to get better each week. Marcus does some amazing things with his legs and, again, he has the arms to compliment those legs. It's almost like he's playing a video game out there."
CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu
ON THE FIRST HALF COMEBACK - "I think that when it was 10-8, at that point, we were able to get off the field on third downs, and that just changed the game. They were one-dimensional and they tried to run the ball and open up the play action, but we were ready for it. We were making them play our game rather than the other way around."
ON COLORADO'S DEEP SHOTS - "I think after the first one, of course they're going to keep testing you. They made a great play on the ball on my side. I was just waiting really; they happened to not throw it again, but in the meantime, we fixed our defense up. At first, we were playing with just on middle close safety, then we put two deep and were able to pressure them."
ON Paul Richardson - "I thought he was a great receiver. Of course, he made plays on the ball, and that's the most you can ask for out of a receiver. He made a lot of plays down-field, and he's definitely one of the best down-field receivers that I've played against since I've played here."
ON FEELING PRESSURE WHEN PLAYING AGAINST A GOOD PASSING TEAM - "I think [the level of pressure] is the same each game. At the beginning, we were caught a little bit off-guard, but after the first two drives, we were into the game. To start off the game, we need to come in with more of a sense of urgency. I feel like so far, this season, we have played against the same skill-levels of quarterbacks. As a whole, [Colorado] was really good, but they really wanted to get the ball to one guy, and in the first half, they were able to get him those deep shots. In the second half, though, we always made sure that someone was on him and was looking for the fake bubble screen. That really changed the game."