Colorado-Oregon Quotes
vs
TCU
Oct 4 (Sat)
5:30 p.m.
Colorado Interim Head Coach Mike Sanford
Opening Statement
“Well hats off to Oregon really good football team coming in. I thought that at halftime we were competing at a fairly high level. You know, come out and and put together drive and get put through on the. Scoring after scores up for our offense proved to be a challenge. I think where the game got away from us was really the two interceptions and that's on all of us. That's on me. It starts out with the head coach, we got to make sure that put our guys in the best position where we started to run the ball fairly well. I was pleased with Alex Fontenot return. I was pleased with Anthony Hankerson is return. Dion was a little dinged up and I thought our defense in second half settled in fairly well. Oregon's got extremely dynamic offense and that for the most part we took away the chunk plays down the field, but as as per usual with Oregon's offense, a lot of those check downs turn into chunk plays, because everybody respects the speed so much. “
On Jordyn Tyson
“The most important thing for us right now is our thoughts our prayers are with Jordan Tyson. It looks like a lower leg injury. He's with our medical team right now. Obviously, he's put together as impressive of a true freshman campaign that I've personally been a part of at that receiver position, and so proud of his continued growth. So our thoughts, thoughts, are going to continue to be with him. We'll find out more information as we get that information out. I think that we've had our imaging yet on it. But it was a significant injury, and will obviously hope and pray for the best and then we'll communicate that when we meet again, later on. I personally love is just how much he wants to be out there and playing the game of football and, he obviously has turned into our our most dynamic playmaker, and when when he wants to find a way to get back out on the field. We feel like we're always in the fight and we're going to continue to fight no matter what happens. We know we have a gauntlet that started today, but, I think Jordan and is his love for the game of football is what separates him. And it just happens to be meshed with incredible physical attributes.”
On RB Anthony Hankerson
Hank wants to play to, I think that's who he is. He's been banged up. There really weren't a lot of discussions and thoughts about him wanting to redshirt and I think he's going to be a player that is going to maximize his four years of football. As we all know if you ever play in a season and you do have some type of sustained injury, you can still have that redshirt year available to you. It’s just because you don't quote unquote redshirt that first year. It doesn't mean by any stretch of imagination that you can at some point in your career utilize that. So it was it was something that we he wants to play and as we saw today, loving carries 54 yards against a really good football team. He’s gonna be a big part of being a playmaker for us. And once again, I just love the way he continued to just scrap down the stretch in the in the fourth quarter.”
On Oregon’s Program
“I think every program has its unique aspects to it. I mean, it's it's obviously very clear that the Nike part of Oregon is real, but we have what we believe there are really significant positives of Boulder with our support of our fan base.We have surrounding businesses that I believe are going to be coming into a position to jump behind our players and support them. Obviously they've had a very singular focus in terms of backing a program financially that's reality. You know that is the one of the largest companies in the industry of sports. And they have certainly a commitment from Nike to Oregon. And that's not something anything really anything that's new. Oregon is a good football team. They're well coached. I think the thing that's always interesting about Oregon they're certainly kind of going outside of what was the traditional Oregon model. And I think it's gonna be interesting to see what happens going forward.”
On CU’s Defense
“I thought, the biggest downside of our defensive effort today was the three scores and I mean, I thought our offense didn't answer a score with the score and give us a chance to make it a ballgame. I was proud with the second half effort we did against a highly dynamic offense, one of the most dynamic offenses in college football. They're averaging in the 40s. As we know they're averaging 450 to 550, depending on the day I thought we settled in and fought in, I thought we did have some answers in the second half. But the turnovers, I think, playing on the short fields, really in the second half, that's where the score kind of got out of got a little bit out of line for us, but, I am proud of our defensive effort in terms of the fight to the finish, even getting fourth down stop and finding ways to get stops in the second half. But as we know, they're a tough team to slow down. Bo Nix has played a lot of football. He had an obviously a very efficient day. You know, 20 of 24 There's 14 completions in there and he just takes what the defense gives him and everybody is so mortified at the speed going down the field that a lot of those underneath routes become, you know, they become check downs for him that get 1520 yards. So that's nothing that's really new for Oregon. It's what they've been. And if team ever really truly wants to challenge them, then it's going to be one of those type of down the field throwing games and they have the ability to do that as well.”
On Keeping Talent At CU
“Well, I think it's everything that we've put forward as as an athletic department and really more than that is just the, the communication that we're having with our fan base and with our supporters. I think obviously Jordan is a phenomenal talent. He's a freshman. I think not only the NFL space, but also just as a as a community to wrap our arms around a guy like him, because he really is what this program is going to trend towards. I mean, Jordan didn't have one other power five offer. I don't know if anybody knows that the zero he had. He was Texas State, Texas Southern something along those lines, you know, was really his only other offer. So I think that that is a niche for us both as a program and then certainly wrapping our arms around him as as a football community and as a CEU community. But I think that goes even further than just one player. I think we do have some good young players that are growing up. I think there's a lot of players that the retention of those players is can be really important for our program. You know, we you just look out there where we are young, and that's that's nothing that is foreign to anybody. We're young. We're developing, we're growing. The margin for error is small. Because of that youth and when you're a true freshman or redshirt freshman playing 70 snaps a game in different positions are some things from a developmental standpoint and you know, a maturity standpoint. I think you need to continue to keep those types of players around that have gone through the hard times. But what I'm most proud of with this team is not once have I seen since I've had a chance to look him in the eyes and on the sideline. I've never seen one person you know, quit on the on the field. I think we're fighting through for four quarters. And that's going to be our calling card because you just never know when it does all click and all of a sudden here we are in a ball game against one of the top teams in the country.”
On the Shotgun Snap Exchanges
“Today in particular, I can speak to today. It was honestly one of the most incredible things I've ever seen especially in the late third early fourth quarter. I was watching the snaps come back and they look like right on the money and they were getting blown. Literally blown down, blowing to the left, one to the right. You saw when the ball was placed down on the field, the umpire was putting his foot on the ball and it was doing the same exact thing. Certainly, the weather had an impact on the game. It did happen rip kind of later where those gusts really picked up. That's a hard thing to truly prepare for other than just going under center every play, which we did, obviously in that true final drive. You saw with Oregon too, there were some balls that were getting batted around in the area, but it happened a little bit later in the game. Some of it too is just communication. There's times where we've had different centers playing, we've had different quarterbacks playing, just the communication of the various tempos that we run and those are some of those mistakes that I'm talking about that you have to grow up in those situations if we do change tempo, just that the communications on a on a very high level and that's something that we're going to continue to harp this week in particular as we go and play in a in a hostile road environment.
On JT Shrout’s Performance and the Quarterback Situation
“I thought JT did some good things, obviously, not the easiest of tasks. I think there were some throws that he made that I thought were really good. I thought he continues to see it better. I do see that. Obviously, we're in a position with Owen (McCown), to give an update on Owen. He's fully participating in practice. He's his running scout team, but there are some limitations that he still does have. Clearly we're going to not put him in a position where we think we should just roll him out there and you don't know what's going to happen. The quarterback position in particular I think is very different. Particularly when you are a somewhat of an underdeveloped player as a true freshman. I think we're trending in that direction to make sure that we make the best decision for Owen and with him not being fully cleared and there's certain even movements that he does. He's cleared to play football, but in terms of throwing on the run to the left, he does have some limitations that I don't want to put him in those situations that, you know, either he can further aggravate an injury, or he's not just fully 100% healthy. He's been fantastic in terms of his commitment to the team. His preparation, even our scout team is getting a really good look with a guy that was a PAC 12 starting quarterback really running the scout team right now. He's trending in a good direction, health wise, but we're obviously making some decisions for the best of his future and CU’s future.”
On Alex Fontenot’s First Game Back
“I was pleased with it. I think one of the runs, the 27-yard run that he had was spectacular. I thought he did a good job. You worry about just ball security, coming back, not having really any live licks. In practice we've been not getting him full contact. He ran out, I thought he ran well, he ran fearlessly. A couple of things on our outside zone play we took a negative on one that he ran, but that's more for us kind of sorting through the different movements of Oregon's front and the pressures that they were bringing. I think that gives us a lot of confidence in him and a lot of confidence going forward to these next three weeks, but he put on eight ten pounds, and this time, I thought he looked bigger, looked more physical, was running out of some tackles and I think that is what we're talking about that maturity, that season kind of veteran player. I think that's going to help us as we play these last three games.”
On Adjusting Defensively in the RedZone
“That's been a staple. When you have obviously really good players, you have to commit to the run fit. A lot of times in a run fit, once you commit to the run fit a quarterback can’t be challenging to peel off. A lot of times almost like you have to smell a rat as a player. We worked a variety of trick plays, but because of how they do run the football and sometimes the tempo and obviously the timing of the call, there was a good call particularly the throwback to Bo (Nix) was something in particular and then they run basically a tackle in a ineligible jersey number. Obviously, we're selling out to stop the run. They hadn't released him on the season but we did from a coverage perspective, we did have somebody for him, it's just executing in that moment I think becomes something that is challenging when you're pinning years back and trying to try to get a stop.”
On the Pass Rush
“Really good offensive line play. If you think about it, the way they throw the football, the balls out. The ball is out quickly. Either they're moving the pocket or the balls out and there's empty quick game. Some of the check downs that you see so I think there are challenges. I thought our pass rush got better as the game went on. I thought Chance Main started to show up being in position to apply pressure. Chances is a guy that I expect to see his best ball out of them really the last three weeks. He's eager to apply some pressure so good offensive line play, the ball was getting out, they moved the pocket pretty well. Pretty consistent with all their games this year, probably minus the Georgia game and obviously, Georgia is playing the NFL front. They have a good scheme and they have good players.”
On Former Players Making Big Plays
“I think that's a great example of just the modern space of college football. This is going to become commonplace. What I know that we as a department are doing and I know that this fan base wants to win and wants to win next season and that's got to be our goal. We’ve got to win, we want to win next week. Certainly, retention is multifaceted. We’re going to see I think two more players that were on this team last year next week. That's the modern space that we live in and certainly I think this is a reminder to all of us, coaches, players, everybody that we’ve got to make this the best place to be at in every way possible. This has got to be a place that, we know it's beautiful, we know it's a great academic institution, but our players experience here, in every single way is got to be the best experience. I think that's been something that I've taken to heart, personally and just leading this program through troubled times is, how can we continue to make this a great experience for our players, and that's some of the stuff that I think I've been fairly proactive with regards to our current roster, and I think that their greatness in that roster as they get older as they continue to develop. There is greatness in that roster and we’ve got to make sure that those players know how much this institution, this coaching staff and really this community that loves CU football and is going to care for them.”
On the Wind Impacting Kicker Cole Becker
“It was interesting. Obviously, Cameron Warchuck wasn't snapping so I think it's important for us to, there's always moving parts so it's snapper obviously the holder from the beginning of the season. Cole has been so good this year. I think the wind plays some bit of a factor. I think that laces were facing which myself as a former four-year starting holder, I know the value and the importance of us putting the ball down and presenting the laces at the pipes. I think that was something that played a factor in that. Sometimes it's the depth of the snap if your set up at seven yards instead of eight yards, that might just change the rotation by just a half spin. Those types of things do all play a factor in it and I always say as a as a holder and I know my long snapper Clayton Adams and field goal. Clayton was our short snapper, we took great pride in making sure that we presented the laces and that's something that I know we'll do going forward. It's just football. The winds blowing, there's different factors. We’ve got to make sure we continue to put him in the best position to be successful and he had plenty of leg as we know I just think the ball just pushed right a little bit.”
Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning
General“Fun environment, I was excited to see a lot of duck fans in the stands today. I think that was really impressive by our fans to show up. It's always a benefit to go on the road and feel like at times you're playing in a home environment. I thought we played a more complete game today. We talked about playing a four-quarter game, not just in the middle, and we started off pretty fast on offense, had some success really on defense, and then we're able to finish the game off closer like we want to be able to play. This is a game we expected to do well, in dominant fashion. I think, for the most part we did that. That being said, a lot of things you walk away with that we can clean up. We continue to have some issues with pre-snap penalties at times, got to do better job on third down defensively. But our guys played and they're hungry to get better. We're about to hit a stretch and some really tough games here coming up. So excited to see us hit the ground running for improvement as soon as we get back to Eugene.”
On the wind effecting the game
“I think that's the windiest game I've ever coached in. I can't think of a situation where I've been in a game where it's been that windy and it's different. You're literally talking about, we feel like we can’t throw the ball right now because the wind. What was unique is how the wind continue to change. You would feel like it's ball in one direction one minute and then the complete opposite direction the next. Certainly, a different situation than we're used to, but I thought our guys handled it well. Thought our kicking game was actually pretty solid considering we were able to kick a lot of the kickoffs out of the endzone, regardless what direction we're kicking.”
On Bo Nix
“Bo did what we expect him to do. He has set a standard for himself now. Now if he doesn't operate at that standard, then there's an expectation and I think he has higher expectations for himself than anybody else. Really proud of his performance, really proud. I think Bo would be the first one to tell you that performance is credit to an offensive line, that performance is credit to a pass from Bucky, that performance is credit to his coaching staff. That's what makes Bo good but pleased with the way he handled things today.”
On Bo Nix being versatile
“All the things you guys have seen all season. He continues to do what we expect, big fan of our quarterback right now he's playing really well.”
On using trick plays
“I think when you’re a team that’s complete and you're hard to predict, it's harder to really prepare for you. Some people will talk about how you could have saved this save that, for us they're not really trick plays when you execute them consistently in practice. That being said we want to come out here and score and the standard doesn't change regardless who you play.”
On Christian Gonzalez
“Every time you talked to Christian going into this week he just said it's just a normal game. But let's be honest this wasn't a normal game for Christian. He had an expectation for how he wanted to perform. I have to go back and watch the film to see how he did. Obviously had two exceptional plays.”
On Offensive Coordinator Kenny Dillingham
“Kenny would be the first to tell you our whole offensive staff has really been in sync, and our offensive play calling has been in sync and we do a good job setting up plays. You guys saw some plays that got ran today. There were also several plays that got called and then we got checked out of because our quarterbacks able to control the game like that. I understand how you guys might see those different plays, but those are some of the same plays we've called all year and then our quarterbacks decided it was there wasn't there, based on the look we got.”
On the coverage problems
“Complete coverage bust on the deep one, we have a guy that's not even playing the half field. So that was certainly disappointing. We have to do a better job on third down. A couple of the calls that we have are designed to take certain plays that actually they threw, so it shouldn't be there. We got to coach it better. Look for us to perform better in that scenario and we'll grow from it.”
On the touchdown by Josh Conerly
“That play was a check. So, Bo checked us into that play if we got a certain look. Credit again to the performance of our quarterback. It’s built in and we had another play called if we got a certain look, we're able to check that play. We'll go back to again, the preparation from our offensive staff and our players. Josh has been prepared for his moment and just so happens to be his birthday. So pretty cool.”
On the defensive line
“I thought we had some really positive moments from all those guys up front. Also think there's some certainly some moments of growth for us there. We don't care really who we're playing or what the situation is. Excited to watch the film and see where we're at.”
On the touchdown by Noah Sewell
“Never asked once, but he was certainly excited when we put it in. We watch explosive plays every single week of really every team in the nation. We pull some and that triple option type look, we felt like that'd be something we can build off of and he was a good fit for that.”
On playing Washington for the first time
“I'm excited. Obviously, this is a game that our fans are passionate about. I certainly understand the expectation for our team and so do our players. We want to go out there and execute at a high level. They're playing really well. They had a tough win last night in a unique environment. So, we have to go out there and play well. When we get out there on the field, I promise our guys will be ready.”
On if Christian Gonzalez familiarity helped in this game
“I think he's a guy who plays with heightened awareness. I think they showed some formations that they'd shown earlier in the year and we had an idea on the routes that we were going to get. He did a good job on the last interception of falling off on a route that we kind of expected to see. I don't know if it was necessarily familiarity with them more so than just a new offense coordinator new system, but a good job of film study on his part.”
On scoring over 40 points again
“The more points you score, the better chance you got to win. You want score more than the other team. That's always our goal. We don't care about stats. Stats are for losers. We want to win the game. I'm sure our players take pride in it. I don't want that to come across the wrong way. The goal is to win, the goal is always win. The goal is meet the expectation of for us. Sometimes that equates to a lot of points. Sometimes that equates to a 15-play drive. But it's an expectation for performance. That's the goal.”
On the preparation for Washington
“Preparations really already started. Before we even get into that next week. We've kind of taken our time even throughout the bye week and said okay, what do we really want this week to look like as we enter this this last stretch of the season. You don't make it a different game than it is. But at the same time there's an expectation This is an important game for us and we want to go win the game. But you do that with work. We're going to go work that's what that's what we're going to do. Do you change your routine? Not necessarily. You'll do some things potentially different but you don't change what got you here.”
On the preparation of the offense
“I think it's always that unique piece of having an identity. There's some plays that you'll see us carrying every single week and then being able to build off of that identity with some wrinkles that might work for you. Everything in football is stolen. It's no different for defense offense, special teams’ football. You see it somewhere else. You say, that's something we can have success with. I think what our offensive staffs done a good job of is continuing to play with an identity of physicality, whether it's running duo or inside zone or counter. Being able to throw the ball down the field but then build off of it with a wrinkle where you get to throw the quarterback a touchdown.”
Colorado Players
G Casey Roddick
ON OREGONS DEFENSE “They're a top top five defense, one of the top defenses in the PAC-12. Their D line is very solid. The front seven line is really solid overall. To say that they out-physical us, you can can't really say that, we still put a lot of rushing yards on the board but at the end of the day, they were fast and physical and at the end of the day it comes down to execution.”ON THE MISCOMMUNICATION ON THE SNAPS “At the end of the day it’s just execution. We didn't play our best ball and we know that. When we come into this next week of practice, that's going to be a pinpoint for us.”
ON LOSING JORDYN TYSON “At the end of the day, it's next man up. We're praying for Jordyn, we're here for him regardless whatever he needs, but at the end of the day it’s still the next guys got to come up and produce.”
ON THE SHORT WEEK AHEAD “It's still practice until practice, we're still going to be physical, we’re still going to get after it. how to get up. We’re going to going to take a load off a little bit at the end of the day, but we have USC next week and we're excited to get ready for it.”
ON PLAYING A NUMBER 8 RANKED TEAM “It's a blessing to play a team like that, put your name on film, go back and see how you match up against a number eight team especially individually as well. To say that football isn't fun at this point, it's only getting more fun at this point. We have a lot of opportunities against a lot of great teams and that was a great team right there. We put our best foot forward as an offensive line especially. We're ready for another challenge.”
ON PLAYING AT THE COLISUEM “At the end of the day, it's another game. You’ve got to take the historicalness out of it. You’ve got to take the background of everything out and at the end of the day it’s still a 100-yard-long football field and 53-yard-wide football field. We're still going to play it regardless.”
OLB Jamar Montgomery
ON OREGON’S OFFENSE “They had a few tricks but it comes down to that Tuesday and Wednesday when we’re practicing going through all of those things and just realize and remember those things outside on the field.”ON MAINTAINING FOCUS “We're a group. We're brothers outside of this and we love each other. That's what we go out there doing, playing for each other and loving each other. Going outside, giving it everything we’ve got and giving it our all”
ON PLAYING AGAINST THE BEST OFFENSE SO FAR THIS SEASON “They're oriented. They’re schemed really well obviously you can tell a winning team and they've been winning a lot of football games and once those things get out of hand, it’s hard to get it out.”
ON THE SHORT WEEK AHEAD “Everyone's just got to get critical on the tape. It’s the same thing every week, be critical on the tape, go in and watch everyone be critical on their selves first and foremost. Try to get in next week.”
ON CHRISTIAN GONZALEZ “It was obviously tough for him but it was good to see that he's outside still doing the things that he's capable of doing.”
RB Anthony Hankerson
ON OREGON’S DEFENSE DOING ANY PLAYS THEY WEREN’T EXPECTING “No, not anything in particular. You’ve got to give it to them, they're a nice defense. They read it, they played hard out with us, they didn't look at us like no other way. Not really in particular, everything they did pretty much they showed on film. They were just causing a lot of stuff. We picked up on other big plays, we were able to break apart of the coverage but not in particular.”ON THEIR DEFENSE OVERALL “No doubt, their defense is pretty good. They go hand in hand with their offense and we knew coming in this game, the offense had to literally break in to their defense. In order to keep his game close, we would have to score points and that's kind of where we kind of failed at today. We’ve got a little bit of a week ahead of us, sum a lot of different stuff up and be able to take it to USC next week.”
ON THE SHORT WEEK AHEAD “It's a short week, so it’s cut down for us a little bit but today's game is over with so we start preparation now pretty much tonight we start watching film on them and be able to break down their coverage as well. As their defensive scheme so we'll be able to make big plays and put up big numbers on offense.”
ON COMING BACK FOR THE ROAD GAMES “We’ve got a nice decent schedule to finish out our season. We look at every other team like just another team. Obviously, they're a good team, but they shoot up paths just like us. They bleed just like how we bleed and it’s football, anybody could win and you don't have to be the best team but as long as you the best team that day when you play, you’re good.”
ON JORDYN TYSON GOING DOWN “It's tough seeing a brother go down and just be able to watch that, that's kind of crazy. We put it all in the tank and were able to just take it to the defense for the final moments. Tough loss, God's with him. He got his hands on him and the whole locker room is praying for him.”
RB Alex Fontenot
ON HOW RECOVERY AND HOW IT FELT BEING BACK AFTER INJURY – “Really just rehab every day. Just getting at it, and just trying to get my body back to 100% so I could be back on the field 100%. But yeah, it was tough that whole time, I’m just glad that I could go out there and do my thing.”ON WHEN HIS INJURY OCCURRED VERSUS AIR FORCE –
“It was the second quarter.”
ON WHAT IS LEFT TO ACCOMPLISH AS A TEAM–“We just want to play to the best of our abilities, and just ruin other people’s seasons. That’s really what it is at this point. Like, we can’t make a bowl game, and so the next best thing is to knock out whoever’s next. That’s the joy in it right now, just making other people upset.”
ON JORDYN TYSON’S INJURY–“Honestly feel really bad for him, he’s a great player. But, at the end of the day, it’s the next man up. That’s an opportunity for somebody else to show that they can do what he can do, maybe even do it better.
ON HOW THE RUNNING BACK ROOM HANDLES INJURIES – “Yeah, we’re just really close in that room. We just feed off of each other, so even though one of us may go down, we know that the dude behind us can do [what the others can do], maybe even better. There’s never really a step lost in our rotation, so I think that’s what we pride ourselves on.”
ON OFFENSIVE RHYTHM-“It’s hard getting out there and making simple, simple mistakes, or just shooting ourselves in the foot, because I know our team is way better than what we produce on Saturday. I see it every day. I know, I see the full potential, and it just sucks going out there [when] little mistakes will kill us. That’s just the hardest part about it.”
ON GAINING WEIGHT DURING TIME MISSED --“Honestly, I feel like I’ve always thought I was big, strong and physical. Honestly, I feel the same; I feel like I’m still explosive, still have that weight. But yeah, I feel like today, it was easier moving people, which was a plus. It made my confidence go up.”
ILB Josh Chandler-Semedo
ON WHAT CHALLENGES OREGON’S OFFENSE PRESENTED -“Historically, that’s been a tough offense, but things they’ve been able to do from the beginning of the season until what they’ve got going on now. They hit us with a bunch of stuff we just haven’t seen before. In game, I feel like we adjusted well to the things that were on tape, but they had some new wrinkles for us, and they executed very well.”
ON BO NIX – “I felt like he was solid. I’ve played against Baker [Mayfield] in college, Jalen Hurts too. So, my impressions of quarterbacks is kind of high, he’s solid though.”
ON HOW IT FEELS TO MAKE STRONG STOPS DEFENSIVELY – “It feels great, honestly, because that’s the main thing we harp on. Being an older guy, seeing different things, like that’s the one thing I’ve preached: complimentary football. It’s the best thing for us. We understand our lapses, on both offense and defense, but we’re able to come together. Collectively, it’s good football for us. Sadly, we just haven’t been able to do it consistently over the season.”
ON LOOKING FORWARD TO USC ON A SHORT WEEK-“Watch the film. See where we messed up, because I mean, college football and football in general is a copycat league. Things that we didn’t execute well today on tape, [watch for] things we haven’t done. USC is going to do the exact same thing. Just like they did the exact same thing that Oregon State did a couple of weeks ago. So, that’s really what it is, just adjust and bounce back. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got a short week, who cares? [We have to] come in and play football.”
ON COACH CHATMAN AND OTHER DEFENSIVE COACHES–“I love him, I’ve got the utmost confidence in him. The stuff he calls, I’m not going to worry whether it’s right or wrong, just because him as a person, him as a man, I respect him as a man. The love and care I have for him, man to man, is ridiculous. So, whatever he calls out there, he can call a bomb pressure every play, I’m going to run it to the best of my ability. Because I know that he has the love, and I know the work he puts in, for us. The defensive staff coaches, they’re up here until 12 to 1 o’clock in the morning, almost every single week, every day, just trying to draw things out to see how things fit. We installed a brand- new defense four weeks ago, I don’t think people really understand that. Like, completely different. You got Tyron, and Tyron goes from Nickel to Free Safety, [he’s] never played Free Safety before in his life. You’ve got to teach new schemes, teach new concepts, the coaches and the defensive players, it’s been a ton of work [for them]. I’ve been blessed to be able to see different things, so the scheme isn’t necessarily new to me, but you’ve got guys who it’s just their first or second year of football, they learn something new, now at the bye week you have to learn a completely new defense. So, they’ve been working tirelessly.”
ON WHAT HE SAW IN OREGON’S PLAYCALLING–“Nothing really different than what we put on tape. With what they’ve put on tape, they of course had a couple of wrinkles, like the one they sent the fake screen with a tight end going up the seam to number three. They kind of played with the keys a little bit, that was the biggest thing, they have things to play with your keys, naturally. So, you feel like you’re right, based off of what you’ve been taught. But for that specific play, you’re always going to be wrong in it, and we’re about to put our offense in. I’m familiar with the Lincoln Riley Oklahoma offense. At USC now, that’s basically what they do. So, the stuff we put on film today, we kind of got to get that off because that’s their bread and butter at USC now.”
Oregon Players
ILB Noah Sewell
ON GETTING IN THE END ZONE – “I scored, and I was celebrating. I was by myself on the floor screaming at the top of my lungs. I looked around and thought this was weird. Then I just went off the field and zoomed back over on defense.”ON OFFENSE – “It is the first offense I've ever been with that creates whatever imagination that they have and it really makes it a lot of fun. It’s good for the team.”
ON UP COMING WEEKS- “This week we’ve got to come in with mentality that we have to just go to work, no matter who the opponent is. We just have to do to work.”
RB Bucky Irving
ON CREATIVE PLAYS – “Once you put it into practice, he was just asking quarterbacks who would be able to throw it I just stepped up and made the play.”ON LAST TD PASS – “I'd probably say the last time I threw a touchdown pass was my JVL, little league, I was a quarterback, I threw a couple of touchdowns.”
ON JOSH CONERLY’S RECIVING SKILLS – “He is pretty good, and I told him you better not drop that. It’s that's easy money for him.”
DB Christian Gonzalez
ON HIS RETURN TO BOULDER – “Yeah, that was great. Real fun coming back, seeing everybody I know. Just playing in an environment I was at for two years it was just really fun and I had a lot of fun.”ON IF HIS TIME AT CU HELPED - “No, it wasn't really when I was here. It was just film study all week. Studying every day and every week like I do. And I just trusted my gut and went up and made the play.”
ON THE INTERCEPTIONS – “The first one I was in a different technique where I had eyes on the quarterback and I saw it was kind of a bobbled snap and receivers are taught to just go. So, I knew that was going to come and he did it and I got my eyes around and it came. The second one goes back to film study. We knew when they got in that formation, what routes were coming so I just trusted my instincts and went.”
ON THE WEIRDEST PART ABOUT RETURNING TO CU – “Just driving in and seeing everything it was like I already knew everything. And then just coming to the opposite side of everything and being on the away sideline and the away locker room. It was just surreal. But I had a lot of fun.”
ON WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO WIN HERE – “It was great. Coming in with a new team and to get a win, you know, we're just going to celebrate our win and then get ready for Washington tomorrow.”
ON THE JORDYN TYSON TOUCHDOWN – “It was just a lack of communication. It was kind of the same formation that I got my interception on. We knew the routes were coming, but we just didn't communicate correctly and we're going to get that fixed.”
ON RELATIONSHIP WITH NIKKO REED AND KAYLIN MOORE – “Yeah, I think they're two of the best corners in the Pac-12. They're young, but they know what they're doing. It was great seeing them and I watch them every week, you know, I watch their games and talk to them almost every day, especially Kaylin. He was like my little brother and same with Nikko so it's just been great seeing them make plays and then being on the field again with them.”
QB Bo Nix
ON RECEIVING A TOUCHDOWN- “That was my first ever one in all football so that was pretty cool. I think it was just cool Bucky [Irving] got the passing touchdown. Now he's got a passing, receiving and rushing on the year. That's pretty good for Bucky [Irving]. It was one of those plays where we kind of schemed it up and then we got the look we wanted so we just ran it and he made a good throw and it worked out for us.”ON OFFENSES CREATIVITY- “We have a very creative offense. Coach Dillingham does a good job of doing unique things that gets all sorts of guys in open field and gets different guys the ball. We also have a bunch of different talents. When you have that you disperse the ball out to a lot of different guys and then they make plays. You look at it today, so many people scored and so I think that's just one of the most unique things about offensive. Is why it makes it so creative. makes it so dynamic and hard to read.”
ON TOUCHDOWN PASS TO CONERLY JR.- “It was one of those things where we're gonna call this play and forget to look, if they don't cover Josh [Conerly Jr.], then we want to throw it to him. To be honest, it really it was kind of close. The linebacker was playing kind of inside with eyes to the backfield, and I knew he was going to be run flow. We also did a good job with kind of hiding Josh [Conerly Jr.]. I didn't know he was that athletic but he showed it off today. He was wide open. I threw it up there for him and he went up there and high pointed it. I think there may be some future time, even though he's extremely good tackle as well. He's going to have a bright future for himself. But we're just dynamic. A lot of different guys catch the ball. A lot of different guys touch the ball and run plays. We just do a good job of getting those situations.”
ON START OFFENSIVELY- “We wanted to make a point of emphasis to start and end fast. We've been doing a good job in the middle part of the game, but we wanted to have a better first quarter, and we did that with a few touchdowns. That kind of stuff just gets the momentum of the game on your side. When they came back and score, we just had to go and respond. Then our defense continued to just stop them throughout the game so we kept scoring and they kept stopping. We worked as a unit, all sides of the ball. We just had a complete game today.”
ON MULTIPLE RECIEVERS WITH TOUCHDOWNS- “Happy birthday to Josh [Conerly Jr.]. I didn't realize until after. It was like oh, it's his birthday too. I'm like, wow, that's pretty awesome to be a tackle and catch a touchdown on your birthday. He's just one of the leaders on the team. He deserves that kind of stuff. You see other teams get their guys touchdowns. He was a really good offensive player in high school, so we got him out there and used him. Now teams have to guard for that. It's just like I said, we're just very multiple, very smart, Noah [Sewell] got in there and did exactly what he wanted to do and we got the win.”
ON OFFENSIVE COACHING STAFF- “Sometimes we skim some things out but it doesn't go in our favor. I'll give credit to our coaching staff. Offensively they do so many different things that they get when they game plan. You got so many different trees in our staff room to where they had been around a lot of football. You got a lot of experience and a lot of creative minds and Coach Dillingham just puts together a great package and he continues to build on what we're good at. I think that's part of the reason that we continue to build, it’s because they have to stop the things that are working for us that we can elaborate on that. Then once they stop one thing, we just try to stay ahead of the game ahead of the curve. You can just only credit coach Dillingham and our staff for that.”
ON COACH DILLINGHAM- “He's so aggressive and I respect that about him. He's not afraid to take a shot on first, second or third down. Then with Coach Lanning he allows us to be very aggressive on some fourth downs, so when we get in those situations, we kind of understand each other. I know why he's doing certain things. Then the flexibility he allows me to play with, if it's a bad look, check it into a good play and we're so dialed into our run game and the pass game. We know what look we can be. A certain play could be a certain look. There's just dialed into that. He's just very dynamic. He's an extremely smart play caller he has a great feel of the game and great flow. When he gets into that it's just really important.”
ON THE ELEMENTS- “The wind is always tough because there's nothing you can really do about it. You never know where it's coming from. You may have to alter a play or two, and we had a good plan going in. If a gust of wind came on, I wanted to change the play so we can get a throw off. But also it's [the gust] not going to last forever. We just wait to use the play clock and just hopefully let it die down. We didn't really run into a problem that today Thank goodness, even though at times, especially at the end of the game, the wind really picked up. One thing I've learned is that you get a lot of different elements. It's not just hot and rainy but you get some cool games, some rainy games and so it's been good for me to play and ask questions.”
ON GAME AGAINST WASHINGTON- “Just like every other week, to be honest with you. We've been doing something right for the last eight weeks, so we don't want to change. But like Coach Lanning said, we got to work harder this week than we ever have. We got a really tough final stretch here. It starts with this first game with Washington. They got an extra day off so they're going to prepare and have some more time to prepare. We just got to jump on it and jump fast. We just got to have a really sharp week this week and continue to do what we do, running the ball, taking completions, taking shots, doing what we're successful at, and then kind of make them beat us. Because when we don't beat ourselves we were more efficient. That's one thing that we have to continue to harp on is not hurting ourselves. Just taking this week exactly like we've done it, and just go back to work and work extremely hard.”