Colorado-UCLA Quotes
vs
Iowa State
Oct 11 (Sat)
1:30 PM
Colorado Head Coach Karl Dorrell
Opening Statement
“I am very proud of this football team. It was a pretty good performance for the most part. We had some mishaps in the second half that need to be addressed and I’m sure we will get a chance to fix those things. I like how they came out to play and really controlled the first flow of the game. It was really good to see that. (We had) a couple of special teams plays that got us, offensively, going on a hot streak. I felt offensively we played well for most of the game, if not all the game. We put a lot of points on the board and a lot of yards. I am very happy about Jarek Broussard. I mentioned that to you guys prior to announcing he was our starter this game. I am just so proud of what he was able to do. You guys had a chance to see what he was doing for us in training camp prior to the season. He was doing the same type of runs and the same type of things that you saw today. I am really excited about him and really excited about Sam (Noyer).”
“Sam had a really solid start. He played really well and played competitive. He made some nice plays with his feet and with his arm. He wasn’t completely perfect, but he knows we had a few plays that we could have maybe capitalized on. That was a really, really good start for him on his first start of his career. The offensive line played really well. They protected him well and we ran for over 200 yards. There were no sacks. We did some really good things from that standpoint.”
“Defensively, we had a really good first half, held them to seven points and had a few turnovers and we capitalized on those turnovers. I was very happy with what that looked like but definitely a change in the second half. They were more aggressive and started exploring our secondary a little bit. We are going to need to get all of those things fixed but we hung on. Our guys found a way to win and a way to score more points in the second half when things got close and got within seven. We found a way to just hang in there. It says a lot about this team. They didn’t give up. They kept fighting and they hung on for a victory. I am very proud of them.”
On Scoring 48 Points
“We knew playing against a third-year starter at quarterback that we would have to put some points on the board. Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) is a very good player as you guys saw tonight. He can make plays with his feet and his arm. He got hot in the second half. It was really a challenge for us defensively. We knew that points on the board was going to be important. I didn’t know we were going to be able to score 48 but we did a nice job in doing that. Defensively, we kind of got caught a little bit. We had a couple of coverage mistakes in the second half. We will fix those things. We have a young secondary and will continue to work and get them better.”
“I am very pleased with the performance of Sam in his first start. I thought our defense created those turnovers early that we capitalized on. It was a good start to the season. It was a W. Obviously, there are some things to fix but I will take it.”
On The Team’s Confidence
“They should feel confident that they can win and win a lot of games. We won our first one so that is a big bonus for us. We won the game without playing our best football. It was a good start, and we did a better job offensively. We had a great first half with our defense. We need to get some things addressed in some other areas. We had some issues in our special teams. We had two blocked field goals. There is a lot of work to do but we should feel confident that we can do those things properly. We still have a lot of things we can sure up, fix and get dressed before we get into Stanford.”
On Sam Noyer As A Dual-Threat
Sam is a very competitive player. I am not surprised that he is able to make some plays with his feet. He is a really good athlete. He was a safety a year ago. Can you believe that? He is a very strong competitor. I think a lot of our players rally around him with his effort and what he does. It makes everybody play more inspired, particularly on the offensive side. When you talk to him, he is going to say there were a few plays that he could have made that might have given us an even bigger lead. It was a great start for him. He played well, took care of the football, and made some plays with his feet. I think he is going to continue to get better as the season unfolds. I am sure he is going to enjoy it but he knows there are some things left on the plate.”
On K James Stefanou
“There was a little bit of a nick with James. He had some issues that we felt we had to make a change and we were able to do that with Evan (Price). Evan has had some experience. It is good to have two kickers in our program that have had some playing experience. Evan had a lot of that experience last year and he came in and did a solid job. That is an area we will continue to work on and try to get better at. Our field goal protection with two blocks is not good. We need to really address that and make that a nonissue for us as we move forward.”
On WR K.D. Nixon
“He is close to 100-percent. He probably could have played if we wanted him to. It is just the start of the season and he has missed some time in training camp. We didn’t want to put him out there when he is not completely prepared to do that. We are hopeful this week. He has a great mindset about getting himself back as quickly as he can. We just didn’t feel like this was the game for him to come back yet.”
On Emotions Coaching Against UCLA
“It wasn’t an emotional moment for me until the end of the game for our players. I am just so proud of them and what they accomplished today. It gives us a start to recognize that we are an up-and-coming program. We didn’t have many practices to get ready for a season, had no spring and a new quarterback. It tells you a lot about our coaches and how hard they worked and how hard our players worked to create the production that you saw today. There is a lot that we are looking forward to moving into the future. I am proud of these players. For me personally, I haven't been on UCLA’s sideline in over 13 years. I have been at four or five different stops since then. There wasn’t any emotional reaction, from my standpoint, because of me being an alumnus there. We are going to be playing UCLA every year in the south division. It is all about taking care of business and taking care of the things that are right in front of you and going onto the next one. The next one is Stanford, and we have to get ready for that one.”
On Broussard And Noyer
“(There is) perseverance for sure for Broussard. He hasn’t played in a while and for him to have the game he had and the confidence in how hard he ran, that just tells you a lot about what I’ve expressed to you guys in training camp. He was having a great camp and was so consistent, so effective, and so efficient. You saw all of that today. With Sam, this is definitely vindication for him. He believed he was a quarterback but did a team, unselfish thing a year ago when he moved to safety. Finally, he is back playing a position he has wanted to play from the very beginning. For him to play the type of game he played today in his first start, I am very proud of him too. Both of those guys had well deserved accolades for their first performance.”
UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly
On if he saw anything in the defense that could’ve helped their chances
“I think we put our defense in some adverse situations in the first half. We dug too deep a hole in the first half to be able to come back when you’re down 35-14 at half. We got to do a better job securing the football. I thought our defense started off well. We forced them into a punt, but then we turned the punt over and gave a short field. There’re things we can build on. I thought there were some newcomers and new players that flashed and did some really good things for us. We need to continue to grow and get better.”
On if the big deficit felt familiar
“I don't think anything about 2020 feels familiar.”
On how to account for this start in the season
“I think it's one game. I talked about that, I mean it's not anything more than we turned the ball over too many times, and we need to rectify that. You're not going to win games when you have four turnovers in the first half. That's what this league is all about and we've got to do a better job coaching.”
On if the early turnovers changed the game plan
“I don't know if it really took us out of our game plan, but it just put us into a little bit more hurry up. I still think we were able to run the ball. Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) had a big long run right at the beginning of the second half for a touchdown. Felton had one for a touchdown. But we probably threw the ball a little bit more than anybody wants to throw it. I think when you're behind 21 you’re going to throw the ball.”
On Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s performance
“I think like everybody there's a lot of positives you can build on. Obviously, mounting the comeback that we did, there were a lot of positive things there. But it's a matter of everything. You got to look at the whole game and how do we clean up what happened to us in the first half and build on what happened to us in the second half.”
On who stood out tonight
“Obviously, I thought Qwuantrezz Knight was around the ball and doing some really good things for us on the defensive side of the ball. JonJon Vaughns showed up a few times and made some plays. We'll look at the rest of the tape and see things, but those are some guys on the defensive side that caught my eye.”
On if they felt unprepared for CU’s run game
“No, it was the same offense they ran a year ago. It was the same offense and same defense that they've run. Darrin Chiaverini, the coordinator, kind of did the same things that he was doing before. But again, we put our defense in bad situations so I can't look at that part of it and say, ‘Hey, we didn't come up where we needed to come up’. I think they're obviously going to run the ball a lot more because they were up the way they were up when the lead was so big. They're trying to work clock and they ran the ball probably more than they thought they were gonna run the ball coming into it. But we need to improve on that.”
On if he’s considered using Dorian Thompson-Robinson as a running option more
“Yeah, I think we did that tonight. Sometimes I think the score dictated we were throwing more. Some of the throws off the back foot are necessary because he couldn't step through. We've got a rush and they got a pretty good third down package and blitz package that they've run and bring people from different angles and people at him so that's understandable. Obviously, we'd like to be a little bit more balanced. We always want to be able to run the football and obviously he's a he's a threat in the run game.”
On turnovers still being a problem in his third year at UCLA
“I don't think the year has anything to do with it. If it was year one or year 40. Penalties and turnovers are things that you can’t do if you're trying to win football games in this league. I don't think that the context of the year has anything to do with it. You need to clean up and win the turnover battle. We also have to be able to stay away from the self-inflicted wounds. The offsides on the defense to keep drives alive and things like that. It seemed like there was a lot of flags on both sides tonight. It was not a very clean game by any stretch of the imagination, and I think you talk about it, but we need to continue to drill it and work on it.”
Colorado Players
QB Sam Noyer
ON HIS PLAY - “It felt great, getting my first start under my belt and getting the win, it was a fun game for sure. There are some things we need to clean up for sure, but overall a great experience. Obviously, it's our new norm playing in front of 900 people rather than 55,000 and that takes getting used to but you know, we continue to preach that nothing changes and we have been putting in a lot of work during the week to be prepared and I think you saw that tonight.”ON FIRST START- “I’ve learned under two great quarterbacks, Sefo (Liufau) and Steven (Montez) and some guys on the defensive side last year. There were some jitters but with a great offensive line and weapons we have, it really helps and made me feel a lot more comfortable out there.
ON PUTTING UP POINTS WITHOUT NIXON AND FONTENOT- “I would say we would put more up. We left a lot of points out there tonight and we have some things we need to clean up. I mean if a guy goes down, it's the next man up and that’s the mentality that we have. Jarek did a great job coming out here tonight.”
ON RUNNING THE BALL - “I’d like to say (running) is part of my brand. When Coach (Dorrell) called me to get me back here, that’s one thing he wanted me to do (utilize my legs) and I think you saw that tonight. As far as my health, I feel great. I mean obviously I played safety last year so I’m kind of used to the hitting at this point and I have to be smarter in some situations.”
ON OFFENSIVE WEAPONS – “It's awesome. It just makes you feel so much more comfortable back there in the pocket knowing that I can go through my full progression knowing if he's not open then I can get to my next guy and he'll make a play. And knowing that my offensive line will do a great job of keeping me protected, and I think that happened tonight and you know I think you're gonna continue to see that happen. And like I said there's some things that we need to clean up, but overall, I just love the guys that we have, and like I said we have a next man mentality and everybody's ready. It's great having those weapons for sure.
ON EMOTIONS OF STARTING-“It felt amazing. You know, I just wanted this opportunity from the start. And I finally got it in, and that's all I could ask for. I mean I’ve got to continue to get better and there's things I need to continue to do to get better. But overall, I mean it's just, it was a great opportunity. UCLA is a great team and I tip my hat to them. They fought back and they showed resilience, and so I think it was just overall a great night and it just feels good to get the W under our belt.
ON TEAM PLAY WITH UNCERTAINTY-“Guys are just excited to be back out there playing ball. A couple months ago we didn't know if we would get this opportunity. So, guys feel very happy to be back out there playing, and you know, not just playing against black and gold jerseys, but we're playing against other teams now, and so we're just we're just excited to play. I mean I think you saw that with some of the energy on the sidelines tonight. It's just great to be back out there and I can speak for my whole team, when I say that.
ON DEFENSE-“I think they're gonna clean up the small mistakes that they had. Just like we will on offense, but I mean it's important to capitalize in those in those situations, and you know we got however many turnovers we had on defense. The defense side of ball did a great job and you know we got to go down there and score every single time so that's one thing you know we're gonna work on and get better at. That’s just capitalizing a little bit more in those situations when our defense gives us the ball in great field position.
S Derrion Rakestraw
ON DEFENSE ISSUES – “We just had to make a couple corrections, there were a couple missed assignments, but it was nothing major. It was nothing that we couldn’t fix. Going in next week we’ve got to be keyed in on those kinds of things, and we are going to continue to get better. This was a good first win.”ON SETTING EARLY TONE-“It was huge, we have been stressing that all week, that we want to go out and set the tone. The takeaways are something that we have been working on all of camp. We have been working at punching the ball, trying to get the ball out, and trying to get takeaways. It was good to see that translate onto the field today.”
ON 4th DOWN STOP-“That was huge, and it was crazy because Nate Landman was telling us that he was going to go in there and make a play. I think that he was the one who made that play so it was crazy to see that happen. That was huge for us we needed it.
ON TYSON SUMMERS MESSAGE-“On game day coach (Tyson) Summers is always pretty chill. He just got us to the sideline and got us corrected. It was really just the missed assignments, and guys not being where they need to be, and those are easy fixes for us. And once we get those things corrected, we can just go onto the next week.”
ON PUTTING OFFENSE IN GOOD FIELD POSITION-“That’s huge to be able to put the offense in good field position. That’s why we stress it on punt, we want to pin them deep. We needed the takeaways down in their territory, so that was great.
ON CHRIS MILLER, ISAIAH LEWIS-“They played great, Chris Miller is an athletic freak so he’s always going to be able to go out there and make some great plays. Isaiah Lewis has been waiting on his time, so it was good to see him go out there and do some good things. Those two guys are going to continue to get better.
LB Carson Wells
ON THE WIN-“It felt good. We got out to a hot start early, got a little rough there at the end but we were able to finish it.”ON THE INTERCEPTION-“I actually messed up. I shouldn’t have even been there, but, it happens. I got lucky on that. I should’ve had that second one, I should have had it.”
ON THE IMPORTANT STOPS-“It was all about the turnovers.”
ON IMPROVING-“We have got to limit the bus. Too many big plays. We left two guys wide open for touch downs, two screens, we shouldn’t have let that happen.
TE Brady Russell
ON BEING BACK PLAYING-“It’s incredible. I’ve been waiting to play another opponent.”ON HAVING SAM NOYER IN THE GAME-“Shoot, everything. They’re bomb. They carried us for sure. It was fun blocking for Sam because he was running the ball well. It was awesome.”
ON IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED-“There’s lots to improve on. If you execute every play right, you’re hitting 70. There’s always little details that the crowd might not notice but we notice for sure and we are going to fix those in meetings and hopefully come back better next week.”
ON HIS GAME-“I had an alright game; I always have high expectations. I played well but I could have done better. I’ll fix my mistakes too and get back out there.”
OL Kary Kutsch
ON NOYER AND BROUSSARD- “Both looked really solid (Sam and Jared). You can’t really ask much more than that.”ON O-LINE CONFIDENCE-“Nothing’s ever perfect. The numbers say we did pretty well in the end, but there’s always things we got to fix. Overall, we are pretty happy with it.”
ON CREATING OWN ENERGY-“I think we are all just so close just because of quarantine and everything so we just have a certain internal energy among us. We just all have to keep going together.”
CB Christian Gonzalez
ON FIRST START-“I feel I played alright, could have done better. But looking back at everything, we got the first one under the belt. I’m excited about that for sure.ON DIFFERENCE FROM HS-“Honestly, not really, especially with the crowd. I’m from Texas so I am used to big crowds at every game. The game was a little faster but in terms of just going out and playing it’s just about the same as high school.”
ON CREATING ENERGY-“Coach told us last week that there’s not going to be that many fans so we have to come out and just bring our own energy. We created it in the locker room then took it out on the field.”
TB Jarek Broussard
ON THE WIN “This really means a lot to us and what we had to go through with the coronavirus and getting cancelled/paused, it felt really good to come out here and get the win tonight”ON HIS O-LINE- “Shout out to my hogs, they really did a good job tonight opening a bunch of holes.”
ON OVERCOMING INJURIES- “All those experiences I use as motivation for me honestly.
ON SAM NOYER-“Early in the game we told each other that we had to depend on each other and you know we just got comfortable”
ON TURNOVERS “We all feed off one another, so you know when the defense is making big plays, it brings momentum to the offense. It makes it a lot easier to put it in the endzone”
ON HIS HEALTH-“I’m good. I’m a little nicked up but I mean if we had to go another quarter, I would've been out there.”
ON IMPROVEMENTS TO BE MADE-“Sure, there is always room to improve, but we came out, got a win and we’ll be back next week.”
ON PLAYING IN FRONT OF LIMITED FANS-“I came into the game like football is football, you still have to show up and do your job and that's what I did.”
UCLA Players
QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson
ON HOW THE EARLY TURNOVERS HURT THE TEAM"-Yeah, I mean, anytime that will hurt right? Coach told us this statistic from the NFL, if you have two or more turnovers you might as well go home. It's hard to turn the ball over and win the game. What Coach told us after the game, we got ourselves in a hole, but couldn't get ourselves out."ON HOW THE TEAM CAME OUT AND PLAYED BETTER IN THE SECOND HALF-"Coach made some great in-game adjustments. We saw what the base looks were going to be, so we could make adjustments on that. Really just the players coming together as one, you know we have to play one play at a time. So just doing that and executing."
ON IF HE WAS TIRED TOWARD THE END OF THE GAME-"You can never put an estimate on your stats, or how many times you're going to get the ball, so whatever it took to win is what I was going to do. In terms of being fatigued, I was not fatigued. They had a good defensive line, they put a lot of pressure on me and so I was getting hit around a little bit for the first time in a while."
ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FIRST HALF OFFENSE AND SECOND HALF-"Yeah I mean I think just coming together as one offensive unit. Again, just playing for each other, playing for the defense and all that stuff so just coming together as one and just playing each play."
ON THE UNFAMILIAR SITUATION LEADING UP TO TONIGHT-"Yeah, I mean, we haven't played against a live opponent most of the year. You see it around the country, guys making mistakes early on and even later on in season too, so it's definitely a tough year. It's different, different from any other year. You just have to go out there and again, just play each play and execute each plan into place."
ON WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR DEFENSE AFTER 4 TURNOVERS-"Its not us going up to them, it's them going up to us, letting us know that we got their backs and vise versa. It's definitely a brotherhood around here, and you can definitely see that on the field."
LB Bo Calvert
ON WHAT WAS SAID TO THE TEAM LEADING UP TO THE SECOND HALF-"Yeah I mean I think the whole team was together, obviously it's the season opener, first game, it's the first live reps you're getting for a long period of time. Obviously there are a lot of jitters and nerves you're going to have, especially in a season like this. Everything is new, we haven't experienced this stuff yet, so I think you saw a lot of that in the first half, a lot of mistakes. A lot of things that are obviously easily correctable and you know, what we can fix. So that is a positive thing but coming into the second half, like you mentioned, people were able to come in more relaxed, a lot more realizing that it's just a regular game and things slow down."ON HOW THE DEFENSE OVERCOMES THE CHALLENGE OF FOUR TURNOVERS IN THE FIRST HALF-
"I think you just have to find shelter, you know, against the wind right there, you just have to lean into it, there is nothing you can do about it at that point. A lot of it is not in our control but we have to make the best of every situation. I think the most reassuring thing is seeing that guys were not willing to give up easily and I saw that in the second half, we'll fight to the very end. I just wish we were able to do that in the first half."
ON THE EMERGENCE OF NEW COLORADO RB-
"I think we made him look a lot better than he was but we did know some things coming into the game. That other starters might have been injured but obviously coming into the first game, like I mentioned before, is the first time that you're full go for the whole game, for 60 minutes. Seeing that beginning obviously having a hard run game and having to stop that. Some things are just because it's the first game, but I think we'll be better coming into week 2."
ON IF THE MISSING CROWD NOISE HELPED THE DEFENSE AT ALL-"Not really, no, because you know you can hear everything that everyone is saying. So if they make a check, we can hear that and check right back. You know what I mean, so I don't think there's really any advantage offensively or defensively. It just becomes sort of a different game."