Sept. 13, 2003
ASU Head Coach Dirk Koetter
"You have to be happy to be 2-0 and I'm sure we're going to be one of the top 15 teams in the country but I'm not sure we're playing like that way all the time".
"We have a lot of things we can build on. I thought we did a better job of getting pressure on the quarterback with a four-man rush today. Also, we held four very good football players out of this game. Two of them are starters in the secondary and our starting backfield (Mike Williams and Mike Karney). We said that this is the deepest team we've ever had and that depth was put to the test tonight. Our defense played very well tonight."
"Give Utah State credit. Their quarterback did a very good job and they played very well."
"I want to thank the crowd, they were awesome tonight. We love to play at home. Maybe we just need to go on the road and have everyone against us and rally up. I think our team just isn't trusting each other enough to make the plays they need to make. We just have a few things that aren't clicking on all cylinders yet and that's why we have practice."
ASU's Andrew Walter
"Our main problems executing tonight were turnovers and a lackadaisical effort on the offense. We will have to rise to the occasion next week at Iowa."
"Tonight it was like there were two different games (first half and second half). This was the longest game I have ever played. The game just never ended."
On tonight's performance
"Offensively, it's going to be ugly to watch tape. The (Utah State) defense played great tonight. You have to give them a lot of credit. They were on the field a lot tonight, which was due partly to us (offense)."
ASU's Riccardo Stewart
"They (Utah State) ran what we thought they were going to run. They performed a lot of shifts and formations. We thought #89, Chris Cooley, was going to be used more. Utah State ran the ball a lot more than they threw. Overall, our defense did a good job."
On his interception for a touchdown
"I've been trying to get a touchdown for a long time. It was a great feeling, I am very happy and excited."
ASU's Skyler Fulton
On the play of the receivers
"I've been saying this ever since we got out of camp, we have depth at receiver. Every week it can be anybody that will step up. That is a tribute to Daryl Lightfoot, Derek Hagan, Moey Mutz and all of the receivers. The coach puts us in great positing and then it is up to us to make the plays."
"Andrew knows what I can do. He goes through his reads and if I'm open he will throw the ball in my direction. I don't think he is looking to throw the ball my way on every play. I'm just going out there and making plays."
On his two touchdowns
"I don't know what happened on my first touchdown. I think it might have been blown coverage by the Utah State secondary. On that play I just ran straight up the seam and caught the ball for a touchdown. On the second touchdown, I just ran a corner route and caught the ball between two guys."
On his record day
"I didn't even know how many yards I had at halftime, I was just playing the game. But this team can be so much better. There are little things we need to improve on, no fumbles and finishing our blocking assignments. I thought the intensity we came out with tonight was great, we just need to correct some of our mistakes. This team needs to get better."
"I was the receiver who stepped up this week. I just go out there and do what the coach says. I was just lucky enough to be open tonight. But it could be Hagan, D-light, or Moey to step up next week. We all feed off each other. D-Light was pushing Utah State deep tonight and that opened up a lot of plays for me. That's just a tribute to his play."
ASU's Jimmy Verdon
"Last week the defense played uptight. We were thinking too much out on the field. We just need to go out and play the game."
"I think me and Brian Montesanto have a chance to be a force this year, and the entire defense as well. We have a lot of returning players. Last week is not an indication of how this defense can play. We will be a force. We will play better."
"I have to give Utah State credit, they came to play tonight. They came out with some intensity. But every team makes mistakes and we just need to correct them. The defense improved from last week and we are going to improve next week. It doesn't matter what the final score was, a win is a win. I'll take a 2-0 record."
Utah State Head Coach Mike Dennehy
"Our guys played about as hard as they can play. They played a hell of a football team and this was up there as one of the toughest teams we've ever opened with. I think we can be very proud of the effort tonight. I'm disappointed in that we are a better football team that like we played. We didn't execute as well as we needed to in order to beat a team like Arizona State and that's disappointing. I think our guys will learn from it and we'll be better as a result of it."
On ASU Quarterback Andrew Walter:
"I watched him play against NAU, I've watched him play on TV and I saw him play live last year. I think that he's a great player. I really do. We did a lot of things tonight defensively to try and survive and most of them ASU hasn't seen. I'm sure that this is a game that he's going to take a look at and its going to help him a ton."
"We threw some different looks at him (Walter) tonight on defense and that was our intention, to confuse him. We've played teams that very different from ASU. With the kind of players that they have, big strong quarterbacks with great arms, fast and strong receivers, you can't sit there and play static defense on every single down or else, he'll kill you. We gave him a lot of different looks, things that he hasn't seen in a defense and that's tough to prepare for. He'll be a better play as a result of it, I'm sure."
USU's Chris Cooley
On playing ASU
"We played with a lot of heart tonight. We played a good game and we battled through the whole game giving it everything we had. It was a huge game for us and we came in expecting to win. I felt like, from an offensive standpoint, we were really wearing their defense down and we could feel it by moving the ball up and down on them."
On teams trying to defend him
"The last two games I feel teams have to prepare for me, but from our offense and from our coaches I come out of different formations, I come out on motions and shifts, so it is almost impossible to really key on one particular player on offense. Kevin Curtis had 80 catches last year, I will probably have 80 catches this year."
USU's David Fiefia
"At the beginning of the game, we were passing the ball a lot, and later on the holes opened up, and we started running the ball a little more. I think that we should have run the ball more at the beginning and then give the receivers their chance to catch the ball.
"I think our offense did a good job of wearing their defense down, the run that started on the one yard-line really took a lot of energy out of their defense."
On preparing for conference play
"I think its really hard going in to conference play on a loss, but we have played against some real solid teams. These past few games have helped us prepare mentally as well as physically, and we can use some of the experiences from these games against teams like North Texas. We can say 'Hey, we did that against Nebraska, so we can do it now.'"