Colorado-Oregon Quotes
vs
Iowa State
Oct 11 (Sat)
1:30 PM
Colorado Head Coach Karl Dorrell
Opening Statement
“We shot ourselves in the foot early on. We weren’t playing physical, especially on defense. We got a lot of offside penalties and were a little bit out of rhythm on defense, figuring out what adjustments we needed to make. They played hard, just didn’t play smart at times. They (Oregon) had opportunities to make plays in the passing game and in the running game. That’s a little uncharacteristic for us as a defense, particularly when they get moving. We’ve got to go back to work and figure out how to get better every day. I’ve got a very disappointed defense in there that felt like they didn’t play as good as they should.
Offensively I thought we made some progress. We kept fighting throughout the game and had some spurts where we had some quick series, but I thought this team played hard overall. Our offense made some tough plays in critical moments. There were some fourth downs we had to go for, had to extend some plays and we made those plays. The offensive line had some good protection. They made a lot of progress in a short week with a new coach at the o-line position. I was very encouraged and that’s a step of progress there.”
On Being More Encouraged
“I do feel better. The things that we did over the course of the week, we actually did a great job of executing those things. That’s what they’re buying into now, they know that if we have a good week of practice, this is what we can be. They’re starting to understand that process.”
On Nate Landman’s Absence
“We’re going to have to grow and it’s next man up. Nate can’t do everything, and I don’t think he would’ve done everything today. It was a number of issues on the defensive side that we struggled with and I don’t think Nate would’ve been the answer either. We’ve got to get better, it’s the next man up theory and guys got to step up and make plays.
They (Oregon) got us today. They had the ability to run the ball and throw the ball without any real risk. That’s unfortunate for us and hasn’t been characteristic of our defense. I’m sure that they’ll learn it when they watch the tape and we’ll get some things fixed, and get back to where we’re capable of playing."
On Landman’s Status
“We’ll see, he’s feeling better. I know they’re doing a lot of treatment. It’s really a weekly thing and he’s definitely feeling better. We want to do what’s best for Nate too. He has a potential career beyond here, so I want to make sure he’s ready to play. We know how he plays, he only plays one way and we don’t want to jeopardize his career and all those things. He wants to play and we want him to, but want to make sure he’s healthy enough to.”
On Brenden Rice
“He’s showing some big play potential, he’s getting very confident and he’s practicing that way too. That’s the thing that’s encouraging, when you have young players and they understand what practice should look like. He’s starting to understand that formula and when you start making plays, the quarterback starts looking for you more. We’re hopeful we’ll be able to keep all of those receivers coming along.”
OL Colby Pursell
On the Offense’s Production“That's something we've been lacking the last couple of weeks. It's a step in the right direction. [Oregon] is a very good team. They're the No. 7 team in the country. They're a good defense for us to come out and produce points. It's a step in the right direction. That's us growing up as an offense.”
On the Offensive Line Gelling
“You have to come together no matter what. ‘Come together’ is a weird term to use for the [offensive] line. All five of you guys that play have to be on the same page. The other [offensive lineman] that travel have to be on the same page. We have to be together all the time. We have to be a unit all the time.”
On Coach William Vlachos’ Message to the O-Line
“Coach Vlachos made some scheme changes, some technique changes and explained things differently. We had a lot of work to do. We had to put in a lot of work and practice and meetings to get things corrected. When it's a new coach, you always hear the term ‘new energy.’ That's true. A different coach brings a different style. Guys respond to that differently. We saw some results today.”
On Playing Better
“I think it's a good mixture of both. I think Coach Vlachos gave us some new tools. Those tools worked well. We knew that we had to come together as a group. We knew we had to perform more. We have to put in extra [work]. We knew that coming in. It’s a combination of both.”
On Players Responding to Coach Vlachos
“We're always going to listen to our coach's voice. It's something we’ve got to respond to at all times because coaches coach [while] players play. We’ve got to be able to take the coaching and move forward. His loud personality gets guys attention.
On If the Offense Gained Confidence
“I believe so. We’ve got to keep building on top of this.”
RB Alex Fontenot
On Scoring Two Touchdowns
“It felt nice, but it would have felt nicer to bust some more yards. I’ll take what I can get.”
On the Offense’s Production
“It's good. We’re keeping our heads down and keep grinding no matter what. We know we're going to bust something like that anytime. We've got to keep on the right track.”
On Brendon Lewis Gaining Confidence
“I think he's always had the confidence. He hadn’t put it together fully yet. This game proved what he can do in the passing game.”
On the Offensive Line Playing Better
“It was a big difference, honestly. I was seeing more holes [opening up]. The protection was overall better, especially against that type of defense. They changed a lot up in practice. The way that they block and the way that they [block for] the run game and pass game overall. It makes a world of difference. That gives us as [running] backs confidence that if we hit [the hole at] full speed, it's going to be there.”
On Being More Involved in the Passing Game
“It's never a bad thing. We do it all. We run and pass it.”
On the Offense Going for It on Fourth Down
“When you’re playing a team like this, we need points on the board. Sometimes three [points] won’t cut it.”
On Gaining Confidence from the Coaches Calling a Run Play on 4th-and-Goal -- “Definitely, especially when it's a run play. It means that he trusts me and the [offensive] line to get the job done.”
S Isaiah Lewis
On the Loss
“It came down to executing our assignments and paying attention to details. Our performance today was pretty unfamiliar overall. It will definitely be easy to go back, take notes and not make the same mistakes.”
On Nate Landman Coaching Guys Up on the Sideline
“I give props to Nate. He was out there on the sidelines as if he was in the game. He's making sure guys are on their assignments. It came down to more, like I said, we’ve got to take on our roles and execute them no matter who’s out there.”
On His Interception
“We knew if we got the ball back, we could make this a game. That was the mindset from that point on. That's the mindset every down. We knew if we got the ball back it would make a difference in the game.”
On Oregon’s Athleticism
“We knew that their quarterback [Anthony Brown] was versatile. Their receivers are really good athletes. We made sure to have them schemed up and [we’re] ready to play against them.”
On Needing to Win with All Three Phases
“Right now, we need to play full-team football. All three aspects of our team need to be full go. I know we will execute the way we're supposed to. Special teams have been dominant all year. Our defense has been doing really well and the offense has found their spark. I’m excited to see these next four games and how we can compete.”
On the Offense Playing Well Today
“I think it helped them more than anybody. We know that they can do that. Once they were starting to produce, we were like ‘Okay, we've got a product here.’ We can feed off each other.”
WR Brenden Rice
On Feelings After Good Individual Performance Despite Loss“Of course we had a loss today but you saw a lot of grow from our O-line, our QB’s, receivers, all of us in general. Even our run game, running backs were making catches. They were running the ball explosively. Our line got pushed they were creating holes. So you just saw that jump from us as an offense. But there's no moral victory we didn't get the win so that's all that matters. “
On What He Saw Differently Today
“I'm going to give a big shout out to I believe (Coach Vlachos). First of all, he came out here and just he was already fired up. He fired the O-line up. The O-Line was fired up. So I guess a scene of change of intensity. Yeah, we went out with them, they let us out today. They set the example, they set tone and from that we just bounced energy off them.”
On How Guys Stepping Up In Practice Led To Their Game Performance
“All that accountability because everybody started losing. I mean, we want to change the narrative honestly. You saw when passes were dropped, you wouldn't even have to tell a guy to do his push-ups. He would just get down. All these things it was more accountability at practice so like you didn't have you didn't have to go over to the guy you didn’t have to mention it. He's going to go out and take care of it himself”
On Offense Moving The Ball
“I mean it feel great. I mean I'm happy B-Lew (Brendon Lewis). I’m happy for I mean that first touchdown I believe was Ty (Robinson). I'm happy for Alex (Fontenot) on that second touchdown. I’m happy for anybody who just went out there and balled out. It feels good after all the struggles and just to see everybody come about and make plays and that's what we’ve been looking for as an offense because we know we're explosive. We know how we have the capability to do these things it’s just a matter of doing them. “
On His Touchdown Catch
“I’m just trying to sit down and find a hole on like a curl route. And out of nowhere, B-Lew just looks at I was like right in the middle of the hole he just kills it in there, bullet ball. That's the things we need from a quarterback. I’m happy to even see him do that. That was a confidence builder right there for me and him. That’s a chemistry builder because that was in-between two guys. I was very also surprised, I was anticipating a hit.
On QB Brendon Lewis
“He came out just ready to go. He was calm, he was composed he was fluent in the pocket. That's also a big shout out to our O-line because they did their thing, so B-Lew was able to do those things. And like he made plays and I'm super proud of him. I mean, if you guys hadn't noticed, I don't think B-Lew had to pressure in the first half so that’s a big step. I’m proud of everybody on that offense.”
On His Kickoff Returns
“On that first one I thought I was going to take it to the house but out of nowhere I just see a flash of green or yellow or whatever and I just got hit. I was very disappointed. I was trying to get to the end zone all day. Big shout out to my kick return team because they were blocking their asses off for me today, and I couldn't ask for anything better from them.”
On Offense Moving Forward
“I mean, the job's not finished. We’ve got to finish out the season, set the standard for next season. Like we still have I believe it's Utah, we have UCLA and Oregon State next week, and Washington. We still have those four teams to go out and play. We still got to finish all the way through. Utah’s going to bring it, Oregon State’s going to bring it, Washington and UCLA. All the teams are ready to go and we got to make sure that we're raising the standards and make sure that we're going to go out there and perform the right way. We need to perform better than what we did today.”