Colorado-Oregon State Quotes - University of Colorado Athletics

Iowa State

Oct 11 (Sat)

1:30 PM

Colorado Interim Head Coach Mike Sanford

General
“I just got done addressing the team. And, you know, first off, hats off to Oregon State, that’s a very good football team and we knew that coming in. I think they're the upper echelon of the Pac-12 Conference; and what you learned, you know, as a team, and in games like this, we had our opportunities, but the margin is so small, and the margin of giving yourself an opportunity to win, as we know, is small. And some of those things obviously caught up to us. But once again, hats off to Oregon State, we look forward to having an opportunity, you know, to take a lot of the fight that we saw throughout the for the four quarters of football. I saw a lot of examples of fight; were a little dinged up and banged up. Guys were fighting and continuing to, you know, find some fun in the game of football, even in the fourth quarter. And, you know, the huddle offensively as we move the ball. You know, I just, I was really proud of how the offense continued to respond, we just got to take care of the football. And obviously, the outcome and the score of the game would be drastically different. So with that, I'll open up for questions.”

On Trying To Create Their Own Energy
“You know, I would say we had good energy. It is it is all about that on the road; you have to find your own energy. We had a good plan for that. I think sometimes just the combination of execution, and then your own personal energy and your response to adversity. I think all kind of they play together. But, you know, I was, I was pleased with our energy. I just think that the minute details of execution was ultimately what led this game get away from us. And then we're going to get back to work on Sunday. And, you know, we got to learn from these I don't think that's a locker room that's looking at this and saying ‘same old, same old.’ I think there's a lot of fight; a lot of belief. We just got to get healthy. And of course, a couple of days, we're not extremely banged up, but a little a little fatigued. And I think there's guys who will be returning to play against Arizona State.”

On Frustration Of Missed Opportunities
“Well, I mean, the biggest thing is, I believe in these players, you know, and I want them to continue to press through the feeling of having to make a play, and pressing to make a play. But just to go out there and make the plays. And, you know, I think we saw that in glimpses today, but just piecing it together consistently. And as I said, the margin of you know, to come and play a really good 6-2 now, Pac-12 team, you know, the margin is so small. So I think we just, we just got to continue to have that belief, that inner belief in ourselves to continue to go out and make those plays and, and I believe that we're gonna, we're gonna make those plays down the stretch; got a lot of football left, I got a ton of belief in these guys. And this is a locker room that is fighting, and will continue to fight, we're gonna go get some results that we want. Throughout the course of the next five weeks.”

On RB Anthony Hankerson Not Returning After Fumble
“No, no, it was it was an injury. You know, we're getting thin. You know, that's a true freshman running back that's out there. And a lot of times you want that, that player to have a chance to, you know, kind of learn through two to four, you know, carries a game and then build it to six or eight. You know, I think it's just, you we just got to be better with the football, we've emphasized a lot of practice. You know, those guys are a physical defense that are hitting, but we got to take care of the football and that's, I know that Anthony, he'll be fine. But it was, it was more of he was he was banged up and dinged up a little bit.”

On Hankerson Being Held Out, RB Jayle Stacks Playing
“I mean, I didn't number one, I didn't want to put him out there if he wasn't, you know, full, full speed. It wasn't a major, you know, major injury or any like that, but it was he was dinged up and and you know, when you get to a point where you're, you know, he's a very valuable player. For us. It's done a lot of really good things. You don't want to risk anything, you know, going forward, we got we got a lot of football left a lot of season to play for and, you know, just didn't want to press it too much with him. And yeah, that Jayle Stacks was a positive today. And you know, I was really pleased with how he ran the football, took care of the football. You know, that's, that's what we saw the Jayle in the spring. We even talked about it back in the spring. And so I'm looking forward to his continued ascension because he brings a different body type to the running back room and his style of run of running the football that I think is going to help us down the stretch.”

On QB Situation
“We’ll kind of evaluate that as we go with Owen (McCown). But regardless, with regards to JT (Shrout), you know, I think, you know, we got to continue to help around him and I thought he did some good things that he responded well to adversity, you know, and did make some explosive plays down the field. I think JT just continuing to get him in a rhythm because you can see the ‘wow’ throws, they’re there. You can see the pocket presence, the demeanor. You know, he's a guy that I think will continue to get better as the year goes on as he gets into a groove in a rhythm, and we'll see what happens with Owen.”

On Difficulties Against The Run
“Yeah, you know, just you look out there, just kind of the advancement of the program with regards to the body types in the offensive line and the full backs the tight ends. You know, that's it, that's an impressive long, well built team that, they went through their lumps playing young players, you know, and I think that they've kind of, they've had that opportunity to develop over the course, last two, three years. And, like I said, the margin is so small when you're playing against a team that has that physicality. And I think it's just shoring up some of the things from a run game perspective, how we fit the run. They had a good plan, and I thought we had a good plan going in and they had good counter punches for it, to be quite honest, it was really just getting off the field was a challenge. It wasn't the multiple 40 yard runs. There were a few of them mixed in there. But it was, it was you know, that 3-5-7-122 It was just, you know, the just the methodical driving of the football down the field and you know, they're gonna win a lot of football games this year. You know, they're it's they're a tough team to play because they're well rounded football team in all three phases.”

On C Van Wells Injury
“I think it’s probably the first time he’s gotten caught under a pile and, got kind of contorted backwards and there was some pain. There was dinged up, but I think there's a lot of fear as well, but I think Van’s going to be fine. It was awesome; he went in the tent and they were calling plays in the fourth quarter and he's in the huddle with us on the sideline, smile on his face ready, ready to go back in if need be. So I thought Austin Johnson responded really well. And, you know, he's got it's played football here and started games. We do feel confident with, you know, Van returning, but also with, with Austin Johnson being able to take that role if need be.”

On RB Situation, Using Players Who Haven’t Played
“I think we'll want to evaluate that. I think there's some guys trending in the right direction to come back and give us depth there it you know, we had Dante Capolungo was playing scout team safety corner, two weeks ago, and Charlie’s shoe came off, Jayle was a little banged up, and we threw Dante out there. And, you know, he knew what to do. And we've, we've given him a lot of opportunities to, you know, to scrimmage in live situations in the last two weeks. So, you know, it's, it's thin, but we're, I think we're gonna get we're gonna get some reserves back.”

On 4^th Down Stop Showing Team Has Fight
“Even some of the drives and you know, down the stretch offensively, the defensive stop there, you know, there was there was, there was a good feel of fighting and resolve on the sideline, and on the field. But it wasn't enough. But that's what we're gonna do, as coaches as the, as the adults and the grown ups and the paid professionals are gonna go back to work, you know, we're going to put the best product on the field against Arizona State. And there's that we're going to want to make sure that we bring the same energy, great game plan, get back to work and, you know, put on what we believe is gonna be a great Saturday of football, you know, at Folsom field.”

On WR Chase Penry Not Playing
“You know, he's battled a pretty significant offseason situation injury wise. And, you know, it's just, it's just about making sure that he's at his optimal level of performance to play him. You know, he's, he's, I believe he's at three games right now. You know, he did play more, you know, then the redshirt his freshman year. So it's a decision that we're gonna make in his best interest, you know, we're always going to err on the side of the student athletes best interest if he's not at his best playing shape, then obviously, we're not going to put him in that position. So, you know, we're, we're a little bit dinged up at certain positions. He's healthy, but I want to make sure when he does play, he's at his best.”

Colorado Players

LB Josh Chandler-Semedo

ON OSU RUN GAME-“They know what they want to do and they do it very, very, very well. This probably one of the best stretch teams I’ve played against in my five years of college football. Great backs and offensive line. They really know how to block it. It's not really even a scheme, it's not really personnel with them, it's more so plug and play. They really know how to scoop block and how to get in your way. They know how to get the backs just enough of a seam to get vertical and get downfield.”

ON OSU MAKING ADJUSTMENTS TO NEW DEFENSE-“Cal really didn't know what we were going to do at all. We ran a completely different defense. Oregon State got to see us at our peak of running that defense and they were a little bit more prepared. We made plays, but at the same time they had some adjustments ready for us and they executed very well.”

ON OSU RB DAMIEN MARTINEZ-“He’s really really good, really good. He’ll be one of the better backs for the next couple years.”

ON FRUSTRATIONS OF NOT STOPPING THE RUN GAME-“I was a little frustrated, but it was more on us than they were the schematic answers. We just gotta make plays when you're presented.”

ON RESILIENCE SHOWN BY FOURTH DOWN STOP-“We are definitely a resilient team. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, anybody in our situation probably would have packed it in. But that just goes to show the resilience and it's not just me. So, you can you can say yeah, I made that play, but that's preparation throughout the week. That's my teammates and that's having each other's back when we were 0-5 and everything was down bad. The defensive linemen had to make the play and be in their gaps to even be able to shoot that, so that was a total team effort right there and I just saw the resilience.”

ON IF THERE IS STILL FIGHT IN THIS TEAM-“There definitely still is. We've been treating this as a new season. Right now, we're one and one. Basically, we’re playing ourselves. We look ourselves in the mirror every day. We played ourselves today, we lost. So, we got an opportunity at home, hopefully in front of a big crowd again, Homecoming trying to be two and one.”

ON BRINGING THE JOY BACK AFTER A LOSS-“Looking at a loss like this, we know exactly what it is. Before it was a lot of different fingers pointing a lot of different ways. A lot of different things were wrong. We could point okay, we didn't do X, Y and Z Correct. How can we get this better? What players can we put in better situations? How can we as players on the field, what can we do better with our coaches to make them more comfortable to call certain calls? So not really, its on us.”

ON CREATING ENERGY ON THE ROAD-“It definitely is. We got the first turnover and we tried to create as much energy as possible. It really just staying with what Coach Sanford and Coach Chapman have been emphasizing a lot. It's been a complete resurgence of energy over the last couple of weeks, and I feel like that's fed into us. Before we were lifeless. You guys could tell by the way we played on the field but the way we responded to certain things. Now we got a little bit more energy to us a little bit more life. We just got to be more consistent.”

ON MAKING MORE TACKLES FOR LOSS-“It's great to be able to make impact plays like that. I've been blessed to have a lot of career tackles. But as far as making plays in the backfield I haven't really made as much as I wanted to over my career and with this defensive and things that Coach Chapman allowed me to do and allowed me to play. It's allowed me to play fast and try to make plays for the defense ultimately. But it's not really about me, honestly. The D line got to make key things and gotta be in a certain place for me to even get those plays.”

WR Jordyn Tyson

ON TOUGH LOSS FOLLOWING CAL WIN- “It was very tough. I feel like we didn't do enough as a team to come out with a win, even though we really wanted it. I feel like we brought good energy this whole week and good practices and stuff.”

ON EXPERIENCE OF BEING AT COLORADO-“It's been amazing just to be a part of this program. This has been good we got a win last week and that was one of the best feelings we’ve had but I just want to keep building on things, keep building on the program and that's all you can do.”

ON DROPS AND LACK OF EXECUTION BY OFFENSE-“The drop I mean I let the team down. Fourth and five I have to make that catch even though I slipped out of my brake. That’s on me and the team's going to fix it.”

ON SWITCHING BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT HANDED QB-“I wouldn't say it's really challenging. It's a process though, especially with the left-hand quarterback and a right-handed quarterback switching and we just have to adjust like everybody else has to.”

ON WHAT’S HOLDING OFFENSE BACK-“I think we’re just not coming together and putting it all together. We got the right pieces, we just have to put it all together and make things work with what we got.”

ON REGAINING SPARK FROM LAST WEEK-“I think we definitely could pull away. Oregon State's a good team and I'm not going to take anything away from them. They came out here and won it, but I think we can definitely do some things in this conference.”

ON BEING A KICK RETURNER-“It was a good experience. First college returns. Should have done some more things, but we're going to build on everything.”