On problems in the red zone
“We just didn’t score. We had all three times with negative plays on first or second down that got us behind the count. It winds up being fourth & four or fourth & three. It was a 10 point game in two of the three situations. That would of made it a seven-point game. Those were times we needed to score when we got down there. 98 plays and we scored 30 points – you need to score more points than that. I tell ya, our guys after looking at the film, I am proud of how hard our guys played. The story, after looking at the film, we gave up more rushing than we should have. We needed to make them one dimensional. Defensively, it was just big plays. We left four critical errors that we haven’t made. We left a back uncovered twice, one time out of the backfield on a fly route, and one time on a swing route. Just critical errors. It really was just big plays. They hit one post down the field and that was about it. It was a great throw; our guy was there contesting it and just didn’t make the play. After looking at the film, they had a lot of drop balls. A lot of intermediate plays that we were contesting. Really the thing that hurt us defensively that helped them score points was the four critical errors that allowed them to have big chunk gains.”
On the swing of the game after the pick six
“Batted ball. I can’t fault; Manny has been tremendous taking care of the football. I think we have had three interceptions off of batted balls and we are suppose to cut the guy down (UCLA Defender) and we don’t cut him down -- he gets back up off the ground and makes a great play. It's usually a safe call. It was a batted ball, so it wasn’t like he made the wrong read or being careless with the ball at all. It could have been avoided -- better fundamental technique up front was supposed to cut the guy down. Actually, would have been a big play. Our footwork with our quarterback was delayed too so that was just one of those plays that we have to be better fundamentally. We were at a point with a lot of momentum and we had tempo. It was 14 to nothing. We had a chance to go down and make it 21. That was first and 10 so that was a backbreaker. Our guys coming back and blocking the punt for a touchdown. Really proud of the guys on the special teams unit. That tied the score up. That was another huge play. The next series we have to play defense and we didn’t. They went back down and scored. You have to give them credit too.”
On loading the box for the run
“In our league, everybody is going to play man free and they're going to put six or seven in the box based on what you have in there. We were blocking with six and they had a seven-man box most of the night. They never stopped us. We go back offensively -- we had almost 600 yards of offense. The big thing was not scoring touchdowns in the 'gold zone.' The only thing we could have done differently – one, we have to be more efficient in the 'gold zone' which we have been. We had some mistakes on some of the pass plays. We had a dropped ball down there. The fourth downs, if I had to do it over again with what I know now, I would go for it on every one of them. Where we were at in the down and distance -- Going for it around the 48-yard line or 45, 46-yard line. We have to do a better job of executing there. That was tough. At the time, I wanted to be aggressive there because we were struggling to stop them so I just didn’t want to punt the ball back to them. That was about 45 or 46 yards of field possession that were important. At the end of the day we didn’t play good enough defense to stop them -- we gave up too many points. A lot of it was off critical errors we just have to clean up. It hurt us not having Daz (Tautalatasi). We have young guys like Evan (Fields) playing there. Demonte King got in there some, so having a different guy in there was a little bit challenging and they did a good job attacking that. (Josh) Rosen was really good. We had several chances to sack him and we couldn’t get him down. I think when you're going against that guy you have to get after him and we weren’t able to do that.”
On Oregon State style adjustment since coaching change
“They’re much more aggressive. They’ve got very talented running backs and skill players. Their quarterback is a really good operator. There is a lot of misdirection and trick plays, but they (Oregon State) had Stanford beaten and I think Colorado was a one-score game. They play very well at home, just like most people in our league are going to play better at home than on the road. It’s their senior day and I know we’re going to get their best game. Our guys have got to go and get one on the road. We have an early kickoff, which I kind of like. I like playing during the day. Our guys know that we have to go out and get a win. On the road, it’s not going to be easy. We have tremendous respect for them and for their players. They’ve got very good players, just like anybody else. They’ve been close in a lot of games. They obviously just had the coaching change and they’ve played with some spirit and enthusiasm. This is their senior day. Not a senior in the country won’t get up and play their best game on a senior day. It’s all about us playing disciplined football, getting after it, and being hungry to get our next win.”
On run game vs. UCLA
“We ran the ball plenty. We ran the ball very well. We had 294 rushing yards. It was frustrating getting in the 'gold zone' and not scoring touchdowns because that’s just something that we haven’t done. We’ve been as good as anybody in the country in the red zone and 'gold zone'. I call the 'gold zone' inside of the ten (yard line). These were plays inside the five (yard line). We’ve got to be able to run these ones into the end zone. That’s the easiest and best way to do it. You have to give them credit though. They kind of bent, but didn’t break down in there and they did a good job. That was the difference because it was a close one-score game. The difference was us kicking three field goals, so that’s 12 points if those are touchdowns, instead we missed a field goal and then the interception for the touchdown. I think that’s 22 points. If those are touchdowns and our missed field goals. There’s a lot of hidden things like that, but our guys played extremely hard. I thought we did a lot of things right. Our guys gave great effort and showed great heart, we just made too many mistakes. That was the thing that was frustrating. We made a lot of mistakes in just alignment and assignment on defense that we have not made that were critical in the game. I think coach said that there were like 150 yards of offense in the air in which the ball wasn’t thrown more than 3 yards down the field. It was the swing pattern and the full-back in the flat weak. We had guys that absolutely made a mental mistake and didn’t cover. Those were big gainers in critical situations that hurt us. When we get down into the 'gold zone', we need to score. It was frustrating because it was one that we really felt like it was a game that we let get away from us. Going back and looking at it the second time through, we didn’t play good enough defense to win the game. We rushed the ball well, but we also made errors offensively that stopped our ability to score touchdowns. Same thing from the special team's standpoint: We did some good things and we scored on special teams. That was one of our big focuses in continuing to be explosive there. But, also some of our punts and coverage weren’t where we wanted to be.”
On the mindset of current players who faced Oregon State in a loss
“Our guys don’t think about all that stuff. Instead, our guys are focused on getting the next win and getting bowl eligible. Our guys have put a lot into this and they’ve been a great group to coach and work with. I think right now they’re focused on the seniors and winning this next game and becoming bowl eligible. That’s it.”
On added pressure to become bowl eligible
“No. The pressure would have been to beat USC, UCLA and win the conference championship. It’s something that we don’t even talk about. We talk about winning championships. But, we did talk about it after this game that we have to get things corrected, get better and have a good week of practice. For these seniors, we need to get bowl eligible."
“We just didn’t score. We had all three times with negative plays on first or second down that got us behind the count. It winds up being fourth & four or fourth & three. It was a 10 point game in two of the three situations. That would of made it a seven-point game. Those were times we needed to score when we got down there. 98 plays and we scored 30 points – you need to score more points than that. I tell ya, our guys after looking at the film, I am proud of how hard our guys played. The story, after looking at the film, we gave up more rushing than we should have. We needed to make them one dimensional. Defensively, it was just big plays. We left four critical errors that we haven’t made. We left a back uncovered twice, one time out of the backfield on a fly route, and one time on a swing route. Just critical errors. It really was just big plays. They hit one post down the field and that was about it. It was a great throw; our guy was there contesting it and just didn’t make the play. After looking at the film, they had a lot of drop balls. A lot of intermediate plays that we were contesting. Really the thing that hurt us defensively that helped them score points was the four critical errors that allowed them to have big chunk gains.”
On the swing of the game after the pick six
“Batted ball. I can’t fault; Manny has been tremendous taking care of the football. I think we have had three interceptions off of batted balls and we are suppose to cut the guy down (UCLA Defender) and we don’t cut him down -- he gets back up off the ground and makes a great play. It's usually a safe call. It was a batted ball, so it wasn’t like he made the wrong read or being careless with the ball at all. It could have been avoided -- better fundamental technique up front was supposed to cut the guy down. Actually, would have been a big play. Our footwork with our quarterback was delayed too so that was just one of those plays that we have to be better fundamentally. We were at a point with a lot of momentum and we had tempo. It was 14 to nothing. We had a chance to go down and make it 21. That was first and 10 so that was a backbreaker. Our guys coming back and blocking the punt for a touchdown. Really proud of the guys on the special teams unit. That tied the score up. That was another huge play. The next series we have to play defense and we didn’t. They went back down and scored. You have to give them credit too.”
On loading the box for the run
“In our league, everybody is going to play man free and they're going to put six or seven in the box based on what you have in there. We were blocking with six and they had a seven-man box most of the night. They never stopped us. We go back offensively -- we had almost 600 yards of offense. The big thing was not scoring touchdowns in the 'gold zone.' The only thing we could have done differently – one, we have to be more efficient in the 'gold zone' which we have been. We had some mistakes on some of the pass plays. We had a dropped ball down there. The fourth downs, if I had to do it over again with what I know now, I would go for it on every one of them. Where we were at in the down and distance -- Going for it around the 48-yard line or 45, 46-yard line. We have to do a better job of executing there. That was tough. At the time, I wanted to be aggressive there because we were struggling to stop them so I just didn’t want to punt the ball back to them. That was about 45 or 46 yards of field possession that were important. At the end of the day we didn’t play good enough defense to stop them -- we gave up too many points. A lot of it was off critical errors we just have to clean up. It hurt us not having Daz (Tautalatasi). We have young guys like Evan (Fields) playing there. Demonte King got in there some, so having a different guy in there was a little bit challenging and they did a good job attacking that. (Josh) Rosen was really good. We had several chances to sack him and we couldn’t get him down. I think when you're going against that guy you have to get after him and we weren’t able to do that.”
On Oregon State style adjustment since coaching change
“They’re much more aggressive. They’ve got very talented running backs and skill players. Their quarterback is a really good operator. There is a lot of misdirection and trick plays, but they (Oregon State) had Stanford beaten and I think Colorado was a one-score game. They play very well at home, just like most people in our league are going to play better at home than on the road. It’s their senior day and I know we’re going to get their best game. Our guys have got to go and get one on the road. We have an early kickoff, which I kind of like. I like playing during the day. Our guys know that we have to go out and get a win. On the road, it’s not going to be easy. We have tremendous respect for them and for their players. They’ve got very good players, just like anybody else. They’ve been close in a lot of games. They obviously just had the coaching change and they’ve played with some spirit and enthusiasm. This is their senior day. Not a senior in the country won’t get up and play their best game on a senior day. It’s all about us playing disciplined football, getting after it, and being hungry to get our next win.”
On run game vs. UCLA
“We ran the ball plenty. We ran the ball very well. We had 294 rushing yards. It was frustrating getting in the 'gold zone' and not scoring touchdowns because that’s just something that we haven’t done. We’ve been as good as anybody in the country in the red zone and 'gold zone'. I call the 'gold zone' inside of the ten (yard line). These were plays inside the five (yard line). We’ve got to be able to run these ones into the end zone. That’s the easiest and best way to do it. You have to give them credit though. They kind of bent, but didn’t break down in there and they did a good job. That was the difference because it was a close one-score game. The difference was us kicking three field goals, so that’s 12 points if those are touchdowns, instead we missed a field goal and then the interception for the touchdown. I think that’s 22 points. If those are touchdowns and our missed field goals. There’s a lot of hidden things like that, but our guys played extremely hard. I thought we did a lot of things right. Our guys gave great effort and showed great heart, we just made too many mistakes. That was the thing that was frustrating. We made a lot of mistakes in just alignment and assignment on defense that we have not made that were critical in the game. I think coach said that there were like 150 yards of offense in the air in which the ball wasn’t thrown more than 3 yards down the field. It was the swing pattern and the full-back in the flat weak. We had guys that absolutely made a mental mistake and didn’t cover. Those were big gainers in critical situations that hurt us. When we get down into the 'gold zone', we need to score. It was frustrating because it was one that we really felt like it was a game that we let get away from us. Going back and looking at it the second time through, we didn’t play good enough defense to win the game. We rushed the ball well, but we also made errors offensively that stopped our ability to score touchdowns. Same thing from the special team's standpoint: We did some good things and we scored on special teams. That was one of our big focuses in continuing to be explosive there. But, also some of our punts and coverage weren’t where we wanted to be.”
On the mindset of current players who faced Oregon State in a loss
“Our guys don’t think about all that stuff. Instead, our guys are focused on getting the next win and getting bowl eligible. Our guys have put a lot into this and they’ve been a great group to coach and work with. I think right now they’re focused on the seniors and winning this next game and becoming bowl eligible. That’s it.”
On added pressure to become bowl eligible
“No. The pressure would have been to beat USC, UCLA and win the conference championship. It’s something that we don’t even talk about. We talk about winning championships. But, we did talk about it after this game that we have to get things corrected, get better and have a good week of practice. For these seniors, we need to get bowl eligible."