Nov. 13, 2010
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Stanford Cardinal v. Arizona State 11/13/10
Arizona State Head Coach Dennis Erickson
On the game:
“No question about it, it’s as good of a defensive effort as we have had this year. We created turnovers and had a lot of opportunities obviously. Offensively we’re not very productive as far as getting points on the board. We had some opportunities, we were down there in the first half and ended up turning it over. That’s the story of the game. You turn it over, you get some penalties at the end of the game and you end up losing.”
On Threet’s fumble in the end zone:
“Yeah we had a roll on, we had the option to run it or throw it, had a couple guys open in the end zone and he decided to run it and didn’t protect the football so you give away seven or three for sure because it was second down. You talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, but they have to execute it.”
On what the defense did to limit Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck:
“Well we played the run. That was a key number one. We manned up outside against them in the passing game pretty well and got some good pressure on Luck, and forced him to make some bad throws. We played a lot of zone and forced him to throw it in there, I thought it was a great defensive effort.”
On the sacks by the ASU defense:
“It was a whole group, there were six or seven of them in there and a lot of times the sacks don’t tell the whole story. He was forced to get rid of it early and make some bad throws because of the pressure that our front four had.”
On where to go from here:
“Well it’s challenging. We have two games left: UCLA and Arizona. We have a bye next week and we just have to get ready to go, that’s all I know how to do. We’ve lost some real close ones that kind of tell the story of the season. We could be whatever we could be, but that’s not the case. We’re sitting here 4-6 and two games left. We just have to get ready and play those two football games.”
On the injury to Threet on the last drive of the game:
“He’s going to be okay. He could have gone back in had we got the ball back.”
On the penalties at the end of the game:
“I mean I couldn’t see what happened when we first got the interception. The facemask, I mean there was no facemask. They called it because he grabbed the jersey and it looked like a facemask. Sometimes they make calls that are real critical that you just don’t see.”
Linebacker Colin Parker
On the game in general:
“It’s another tough one. We fought our hearts out, and made some mistakes during the game. We didn’t capitalize on certain opportunities and let this one slip away. We’re really close, and we’ve been trying really hard to find what we’ve been doing wrong and correct it. We just have to go into the bye week, keep working hard, and go out and try to get these last games.
Quarterback Steven Threet
On the fumble on the goal line:
It was a sprint-out, and I thought I could get in the end zone. I dove and tried to stretch the ball out, and he knocked it out. I did not [see T.J. Simpson] at the time.
On the loss in general:
It’s very difficult. It’s the same thing. We have to capitalize on the opportunities we have and make the most of the chances we get, and tonight we weren’t able to do that.
On Stanford offense:
It was a great job by their offense, and they moved the ball down the field and scored when they had to.
On the difficulty of not having the ball time-wise: A little bit, but at the same time it’s kind of our fault. There’s too many three-and-out, incomplete passes. And when you get the chance to, we had the opportunities.
On Cameron Marshall:
Cameron did a great job. He’s breaking arm tackles at the line and really fighting to get extra yardage. He did a great job in protection also. He played very well.
On any possible negative thoughts on the defense:
We have all the confidence in our defense that they’re going to make the stop and not put them in that situation again. Like I said, it’s missed chances and missed opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on.
On the postseason:
It’s disappointing. Our goals were much higher than this, and it’s tough, but after the fact, there have been too many close losses. We had opportunities to win games, and we weren’t able to pull that out. That’s the result.
Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
On Arizona State:
“They are just a darn good football team. We talked about it, it’s easily an 8-2, 9-1 type of team right now, and our guys prepared for that. They knew it was going to be a 60-minute, football fight. I think this is the kind of game that brings your guys together. You rely on each other, you trust in each other, and every play is critical. They feel good about each other now after that game, and the reason they do is that they know they themselves and their teammates played like champions. Champions win those type of games. I’m proud of them.”
On their defense tonight:
“We talked this whole year about packing the defense for the road games. That means you bring the defense with you, and I thought they played great. I really believe that’s why we’re having so much more success on the road this year; the way our defense is playing.”
Quarterback Andrew Luck
On the ASU defense:
“They’re very disciplined, play their zone, and really get after the quarterback. We definitely had our hands full. They forced some pressure. They held us for negative plays, zero-yard plays, and did a heck of a job. It was a testament to the O-line to get some points on the board, because it was tough sledding out there today.”
On if they expected this type of challenge tonight:
“Absolutely. We knew they were a good team. They’ve held a lot of good teams to low numbers. We knew they were better than their record and had a very good defense.”