Tuesday Press Conference Quotes
November 26, 2019 | Football
Colorado Head Coach Mel Tucker
"Thanks for making it out here in the snow, I'm glad to see you guys made it safe and sound. Saturday night was really good to see. It was great to see our players have success against a very strong opponent and well-coached football team. Just cementing our culture, you could see that on Saturday with the way our guys played. Washington is very well-coached and our guys play relentless football, very physical, that's a brand of football that is a winning brand in my opinion. I've really got to take my hat off to our fans, they've supported us all season and continue to support us. It makes Folsom a very tough place to play and it made our senior night a very memorable night. It was very gratifying to see our fans show up and support our players and see success on the field. It just really displays what kind of football atmosphere we have here in Boulder. It's great for our players and for our recruits and future Buffs to see that."Â
"We've carried that momentum from the game into practice this week. It's been great so far and we're going to continue to emphasize toughness, relentless effort, complementary football. I told our guys today that we need to take pride in the way that we practice, that's our edge. How we prepare, how we meet, everything that goes into preparing for an opportunity. This week we're playing a great Utah team that's very well-coached and highly ranked. They're a physical football team and we're excited for this opportunity. It's our goal to finish strong and we don't feel like we're done yet."
On Playing A Top 10 Team In Primetime
"This is a great opportunity for our program because we get a chance to play football. You don't get many opportunities to play games, there's a lot of preparation in the offseason for very few opportunities. To play on a national stage in front of a great opponent is something that we have to take advantage of and we're going to finish strong."
On The Potential For A Huge Upset
"It's going to be about how we prepare this week and then how we play in the game. That's what it comes down to. Our relentless effort, playing for each other, complementary football start to finish, that's what it's going to be about. And that's how it is each and every week, this just happens to be the last week of our regular season against a very good opponent who's trying to get in the playoffs. It's a great opportunity."
On Arizona State Upsetting Oregon
"Our conference is very competitive. Throughout college football and pro football you have to show up and you have to play. Any team can beat any team on any given day. We've played those teams and know what those guys can do so it's not a surprise to anyone, especially in this conference, that a team like ASU could do something like that. They're a talented team and they have very good players and they're very well coached."
On The Team's Confidence Level
"I believe you gain confidence by having success and having some measure of success and then you have to build on that and learn on it to understand why we had success and what goes into that. We're gaining confidence and cementing our culture and we're starting to see it on the field on a more consistent basis. That's part of the process and that's what's expected."
On The Recent Performance of ILB Akil Jones
"Akil has worked very hard and coach Els has done a great job with him. He's a guy who has really good potential and upside, he's got great athleticism and he's strong, he's got great balance and body control. His instincts are starting to show up and he's starting to play fast. He has a better grasp on what to do, why he's doing it and why it's important to be done that way. When players know what to do they play fast and when you play fast you have a chance to be physical, and I think that's what you're seeing with Akil."
On Utah Limiting Their Opponents Offensive Possessions
"We have to make sure we take care of the football. We want to end every series with a kick, whether that's an extra point, a field goal or a punt. We have to move the ball efficiently on offense and have a balance in how we distribute the ball. We have to play penalty free football and when we get in the red zone we have to get points. Most importantly, we need to finish with touchdowns. We're going to make the most on the possessions we get and we have to do a really good job on defense of getting the ball back to our offense. It's going to be a team effort of complementary football. Utah doesn't make a lot of mistakes and they don't beat themselves so we're going to have to be at our very best, and that's why preparation is very critical to our success."
On The Respect He Has For A Physical Team Like Utah
"Tough, physical, hard-nosed football is how I believe the game was meant to be played. That's the essence and purity of the game is the physicality of it all. I have a tremendous amount of respect when I turn on the film and I see a physical line of scrimmage, running the ball, stopping the run. I think you can measure the toughness of a team by how your receivers block and how your corners tackle. When you turn on the film with Utah, that's what you see. So I have a high level of respect for them and for the brand of football they play."
On The Strength Of The PAC-12
"The PAC-12 has a tremendous amount of parity. There's a lot of great coaches. When you look at the head coaches in this league, it's really a whos-who of coaches. The guys have had a lot of success, college and pro. There's really good players on both sides of the ball week in and week out, every team has a good quarterback and skill guys, athletic linemen, good running backs. Defenses have good pass rushers, good corners that can cover, linebackers that can run. Every team has good specialists. It's a very competitive conference and every week you have to be at your best against really good coaches and great football players."
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Colorado Players
Steven Montez, QB, Sr.
On Utah's Defense
"I see a very talented team. I think they're very talented upfront, I think their safeties can fly around and play. I think they're very good at the game of football but I also think there's things we can do execution wise that can put us in good positions."
On What Other Teams Have Struggled With Against Utah
"I think a lot of teams have struggled with their front four and I think they've got some experienced and talented guys up front.I also think we've got talent too and I can't see why we can't go out and execute and do some good things on offense."
On How The Locker Room Feels
"It kind of feels like we're getting back to where we were earlier in the year and executing and cleaning up the mistakes. We still have some mistakes we need to clean up but I think we just need to execute and play tough football, because we know they're going to be tough and they're going to execute. We need to match their intensity and I think we can, I think we have the guys who can do it. We're going to go out and play the best football that we possibly can for 60 minutes."
On Being A 28.5 Point Underdog
"I just think it shows what Vegas thinks about us. Good, let them sleep. It doesn't really matter to us. We're still going to work and we're still going to go out and play as hard as we can."
On What Advice He Would Give To His SuccessorÂ
"Just win football games. That's the best advice I can give to anybody coming in here is just win football games, because when you do, your life is a whole lot better and things are positive. When you're losing you get all kinds of questions and week after week it gets repetitive. Just win football games and work hard. Those are the two biggest pieces of advice I would give."
On How Much He Enjoys Running The Ball
"I love running the football and I've always said that. I think it's fun to get out there and run with the rock. Sometimes you take some hits but everybody does, that's football. I enjoy it, I like trying to make people miss. You wouldn't think at 6'5", 235, you could shake the backers and DB's but sometimes I get to fool them."
On ILB Akil Jones's Improvement As A Player
"I think he's playing really well and he's playing really physical. He's being a dog right now. That's what we've needed out of him and he's doing a really good job at that position. Hopefully he can keep that up going into this week. I think that we really need it from him, especially stopping the run game of Utah."
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Davion Taylor, STAR, Sr.
On Playing For A Bowl Game Against A Top 10 Team
"We're hungry. We really want this bowl game. It's been since 2016 that we've last had a bowl game here in Colorado so we're really trying to just push and give everything we've got this week. It's do or die and we're really just trying to be physical and competitive in every moment at practice this week. They're a very good team and we're projected to lose and we're trying to come out on top. We're hungry for it, we're going to work for it, and we'll just see how it comes out on Saturday."
On Utah's PhysicalityÂ
"That's one thing that coach Tucker tries to get us to focus on every single practice is just being physical. Even today it was emphasized more because we know Utah is a physical team and we're just trying to make sure we're thudding and finishing tackles. We want to be perfect on everything."
On Stopping The Run
"We want to be a run stop defense, that comes first. We practice it all the time and in the last two weeks we've been putting more of an emphasis on it and trying to keep our opponent under 100 yards. We've succeeded these last two games and we know that Utah loves to run the ball so we're more hyped to take on the challenge of keeping them under 100 yards and stop their run game."Â
On If He Enjoys Defending The Run Or Pass More
"Me personally I love the run game. I love being physical with the big guys and setting the edge. Making big plays on the running back and getting TFL's. I love the run game way more."
On What Has Changed With The Defense Over The Last Two Games
"I feel like we've been way hungrier these last two weeks. We really want to send the seniors out with a bowl game and we know what we want this program to be and we want to set a foundation for the future. We feel like the foundation starts this year and we just really want to go hard these last couple games and go 100% every time we're on the field."
On Facing Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss
"He's probably one of the best quarterbacks in this league and Zack Moss is arguably the best running back in this league. We're hyped about it but we just have to make sure that we watch film and read keys and make sure we know when they're going to run the ball. They're both talented guys and we can't let them get loose because even one mistake is enough for these two guys to get a touchdown."
On Setting The Foundation For The Future
"That's one of the things that's been on my mind all year as a senior. Every time I come to practice I'm just making sure I go out there and give everything that I've got in my tank because if I do that then I feel like the people around me will do the same because we all want to succeed."
On Having The Chance To Knock Utah Out Of The CFB Playoffs
"All we're focused on is getting a victory. We just want to win and get a bowl game. This week coach Tucker has been emphasizing all the little things and making sure we do everything correct. We really just want to get a bowl game. It would be big for this program, it would be big for the state of Colorado, and that's one thing we're just really trying to do."
On Playing In CU's First Primetime Game In 11 Years
"Just knowing that I'll be playing in front of a million people makes me more excited to do great, same thing for this team. We know everybody is going to be watching and we just want to show what Colorado football is all about."
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Laviska Shenault Jr., WR, Jr.
On Playing In Primetime
"Oh, yeah, I think it's always really exciting to be on TV, especially ABC. It's even bigger because of the team we play, especially how we're a 28.5 point underdog. I didn't know that until today and that's just going to give us a little bit more energy and make us a little bit more rowdy."
On Utah's Defense
"Of course we've got to play very physical, it's a very physical defense that we're going against. We've got to do the little things the right way. We've just got to execute when it's there, we can't really make mistakes, and we've just got to do us."
On Moving The Ball Well In The Past Couple Games
"I think that should be the way that we come in every drive. We have the talent. We have the players that can get the job done so I think that's how it should be every drive."
On Utah's Secondary
"They're some headhunters for sure, they're going to be wherever that ball is. They're a good man coverage team too, they have a good scheme. We've just got to come in and do the little things right and do us."
