Arizona State Head Coach Herm Edwards
Opening Statement:
“We did not play well. Opening this game up in the first half we didn’t play very well on either side of the ball. The take away I take from it is obviously the turnovers and miscues. Five turnovers is way too many and defensively they beat us on the 50-50 ball, they threw it up, they caught it. We had some opportunities to catch some balls and we didn’t. It became one of those games where all of the sudden they got up early and we were playing catch up football and that’s always hard to do. Then, it puts you in a position where you can’t control the tempo of how you want to play the game, or run the football in a sense that we’re trying to keep their offense off the field. They did a nice job of getting out early to an early lead at home against us and I think our players took this home venue for granted thinking that if we play at home then everything is going to work out but it doesn't work out when you turn the ball over, and drop balls, and give big plays in the passing game. We have a lot of fixing to do. Second half was a little bit better defensively. I thought we did some things early, we got off the field but offensively we kind of got going in the second half but it was just way too late. A lot of work to do, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
On the team’s effort today:
“I thought we played hard, I think sometimes when you get down like that you don’t see energy but I don’t think our players don’t play hard. I hear that a lot in football, players don’t play hard, but I think it’s energy. When you’re down you’re kind of stunned, like ‘wait a minute, what just happened?’ But I thought our guys for the most part, defensively we were behind the 8 ball early with a couple turnovers and stopped them but offensively we could never get out of our own way. We dropped some big time balls on third down and didn’t get in the red zone, we got down there and didn’t score. You have to catch those balls, when you’re playing a game like this and you’re behind you can’t make those glaring errors and that’s what kind of happened to us.”
On offensive performance and moving on from this game:
“It wasn’t complimentary football. We turned it over in the game, we got the ball and turned it over and the defense stopped them, for the most part. Then we get the ball again and don’t do anything with it and low and behold we turn it over again and it becomes one of those games and gives the other team energy. They’ve hit some big balls on us, down the rail. We’re man coverage and sometimes they hit those; the 50-50 balls they caught. We had some opportunities and we did not. So, all of those things become part of it.”
On players handling diversity:
“What’s kind of funny about that, or what’s really strange is that there’s a lot of guys that have played a lot of football here, it’s not like it’s young guys. I think sometimes their intentions are really good and when something happens they have to get through it and let it go, don’t hold on to it. I think sometimes we hold on to it a bit too long and that’s my assessment of it, that’s how I look at it. It’s a resilient group of guys, they’re hurting that’s no doubt. They’re hurting bad in the locker room. It’s going to hurt and it should hurt, it’s not fun when you lose. You lose two in a row, that sense of accomplishment that you haven’t had in a couple weeks, it’s been three weeks because we had a bye, we have to find a way to win a game so we can get some joy back in the locker room.”
On Johnny Wilson’s condition and Rachaad White:
“Johnny is still a little sore so we didn’t want to have to change it too much and Rachaad was almost ready to go but wasn’t 100% so we just felt like ‘we’re not going to put him out there’. We always try to protect the players, that’s the number one criteria as a coach, you don’t put players out there who can’t defend themselves. We had a chance up to game time but at warm ups we said, ‘no that’s okay’.”
On Jayden’s mentality going into the locker room after the first half:
“I mean, he knows kind of like everybody was shocked. You get the whole save no dollar 28-0 I told the defense we're gonna go down here and score going to halftime, you know, come out and we're gonna respond, but we did at the end of the day. No, we didn't. We didn't handle adversity well. Just like last week in Utah two weeks ago. Utah is someone you know just as a team, we got to do better as especially as an offense just started getting those guys together and like I said, it is frustrating.”
Arizona State ??????Quarterback Jayden Daniels
On the turnovers in the first half:
“I would say we talked about all week how Washington State was best in the country forcing fumbles and getting after the football. It was very frustrating as it’s something that we have harped on all week. They’re ball hungry and it was frustrating since we put the defense in a bad position, we can’t expect the defense to hold up for four quarters when we keep giving Washington. State the ball. Two of the turnovers are on me and at the end of the day I have got to play better, the offense has to play better, and it wasn’t good football.”
On turning around the season after today:
“We as the players have to look at ourselves with what type of season we want to have, we’re 5-3 right now and we know that the South is out of our control, so we have to hope that some of the other teams lose. The Pac-12 championship is not completely out of reach, but at the end of the day we cannot lose any more games. We’re going to have to take the loss and learn from it and see where we go from here.”
Arizona State Defensive End, Michael Matus
On challenges playing Jayden de Laura:
“I think you know, every time that we'll play Washington State when you we thought that they were going to air raid it quite a bit you know, you we had a five men box and they ran the ball on us you know, we were saying all week that we got to stop the run with a 5 man box. That's people getting off blocks, that's people making plays. You know, unfortunately, we just weren't able to get it done. But you know, at the end of the day players play and so just coach that's on us. For sure. We have the chance to drop off the ruins. Unfortunately, we just didn't make it happen. You know, we want the game on, onto the next.”
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On how lopsided the past two games have been:
“I think we have beaten ourselves the past two weeks, just the way we have been responding, we’ve responded too well, but I’m confident in this team, I’m confident in this offense and I’m confident in this defense. It’s only two losses and we can come back from it, but we have been beating ourselves and when you give a good team the opportunity and they seized it, they’ll beat anyone.”
Washington State Head Coach, Jake Dickert
On the first win as a Head Coach:
“It's really surreal. It's something you dream about. Something you want, you work so hard for, but at the end of the day the team won this game. I told these guys, their love and their support and their effort and their energy is more than I could ever give them. What a great team win, I’m just so happy for our players. They've been through a lot. It'll sink in for me at some point, but I'm just so happy for our guys and our team and what it means for them.”
On the tackling improvement from last week:
“I thought for the most part, we went into the game knowing we had to be better on first downs and being better tacklers. It felt like our fits were better, we were flying around. We were excited to play this game. You could see that on offense, defense, and special teams just in how hard we played and the tackling was way better and that will always lead to success. Just a great job by our coaching staff, good job by our players. It’s been an emphasis all week and they went out and executed.”
On the energy level on the sideline:
“I just think we challenged everybody to be their best today in whatever their role might be. That might be cheering on the sidelines, that might be playing 100 snaps and just being the most excited team to be on the field. It just really felt that we were. I think we won this game because we played harder. That's an immensely talented team. That's a very talented Arizona State team that our guys were just really excited to play and compete and be out there together and just prove who we can be and I just think that shows… You don't work football, you play football. And our guys played it. It's fun, and they enjoy it, love being around each other and I just thought that showed for 60 minutes.”
On Justus Rogers:
Justus Rogers is one of those guys that just stay the course, and it hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been perfect but he gives this team everything he has. He gives me, as a position coach and a defensive coordinator, everything he has. I love Justus. He means a lot to me, and his work ethic has come a long way. I've challenged him since the day I've been here, and I'm just proud to see him get some of these results.”
On the key to containing Jayden Daniels:
“He's an elite level player. He’s an NFL player. I thought our guys had an awareness there were times we needed to spy him and there were times we needed to be aggressive towards him. We needed (to force) him to make some bad decisions on the run, and I felt like we did that. We got some pressure on him, and it's not always about the hits, it's about forcing some bad throws and then taking advantage of those types of situations. You can't just stop a guy like that. You have to try to limit the situations and just always change up the pictures, and I thought we did a good job. Our rush lanes were really good and had some opportunities to make plays and some of our guys went out and did it.
On forcing five turnovers:
“We stress it every week. Our guys really understand, and we start off fall camp by talking about the value of the ball… and how you can affect the ball. There are so many different ways as a defender that you can do that, and they take it to heart. It doesn't just show up on saturday. These guys practice it during the week, our coaches drill it during the week, and it's just fun to see those guys create momentum and make those plays. It comes from playing hard and caring about each other. When the ball’s on the ground, we’re there because we care more and that's just the mindset that these guys have taken the whole season and I'm just so proud of them.”
On making a statement as underdogs:
“Not one time did we talk about being an underdog in this football game. We went into this game confident. We had a plan. We knew we would have to execute, and we'd have to play well against a good football team. By no means did we play the underdog card. We're confident in our ability, and confident in what we can do, and we’re playing good football and playing good football at the right time in the season. That's what good teams do, and we just keep progressing and getting better and learning. I think our “want to” is high and our care and love for each other is very high and I think that was really evident today.
On keeping momentum from turning after the half:
“I thought the third quarter was the moment in the game where things could have slipped either way. We did a good job getting off the field on third downs on defense. They kept us off balance pretty much all day, especially in the first half. We looked at those moments either as a sack, or getting a penalty, or getting the offense behind the chains to get our offense on the field to create some field position. I think that third quarter was huge, and it was just getting off of the field on third down and everyone doing their job. That’s when we really proved that we could finish this game.”
Washington State edge, Ron Stone Jr.
On Dickert’s first win as acting head coach:
“We were all fired up, it was super exciting. It’s something we’re all proud of as a whole unit and a lot of people counted us out and doubted us and wondered how we were going to transition from this, we never doubted ourselves. We went out and we showed them what we could do and he has our full support.”
On the energy for the Cougars in today’s win:
“It was a great team win and I think we carried our energy all the way through the first to the fourth. There’s no real major lows, it was one of our most consistent games throughout the season. We never doubted ourselves. Ultimately we know what we have in our ability, we have what we need in our ability to be successful and to win games, so there was never any doubt on our part. We just go in, punch the clock and do what we need to do to go in and win another week.”
Washington State Wide Receiver, Calvin Jackson Junior
On the importance of the offensive line:
“The OL stepped up big time, we had a really great week of preparation leading up to this game and we knew what we were getting into coming to this game and I think they did a really great job of stepping up and handling those big boys upfront.”
On his career high of receiving yards:
“It was great, but I couldn’t of done it without those big guys up front and Jayden (De Laura) putting the ball where the ball needed to be but it feels good at the end of the day and to come out victorious as a team.”
Washington State Linebacker, Jahad Woods
On the first game with new head coach
“We knew we really needed this win, you know, and we practiced really really hard this week. You know we had emphasis on being physical, you know having great eyes. Everything we were supposed to do we had a really great practice this week and it showed.”
On keeping the energy and the game up
“I think it’s pretty simple, you know, just effort to the ball, running to the ball so we don't really you know like do turn over drills or turnover servers.”
Opening Statement:
“We did not play well. Opening this game up in the first half we didn’t play very well on either side of the ball. The take away I take from it is obviously the turnovers and miscues. Five turnovers is way too many and defensively they beat us on the 50-50 ball, they threw it up, they caught it. We had some opportunities to catch some balls and we didn’t. It became one of those games where all of the sudden they got up early and we were playing catch up football and that’s always hard to do. Then, it puts you in a position where you can’t control the tempo of how you want to play the game, or run the football in a sense that we’re trying to keep their offense off the field. They did a nice job of getting out early to an early lead at home against us and I think our players took this home venue for granted thinking that if we play at home then everything is going to work out but it doesn't work out when you turn the ball over, and drop balls, and give big plays in the passing game. We have a lot of fixing to do. Second half was a little bit better defensively. I thought we did some things early, we got off the field but offensively we kind of got going in the second half but it was just way too late. A lot of work to do, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
On the team’s effort today:
“I thought we played hard, I think sometimes when you get down like that you don’t see energy but I don’t think our players don’t play hard. I hear that a lot in football, players don’t play hard, but I think it’s energy. When you’re down you’re kind of stunned, like ‘wait a minute, what just happened?’ But I thought our guys for the most part, defensively we were behind the 8 ball early with a couple turnovers and stopped them but offensively we could never get out of our own way. We dropped some big time balls on third down and didn’t get in the red zone, we got down there and didn’t score. You have to catch those balls, when you’re playing a game like this and you’re behind you can’t make those glaring errors and that’s what kind of happened to us.”
On offensive performance and moving on from this game:
“It wasn’t complimentary football. We turned it over in the game, we got the ball and turned it over and the defense stopped them, for the most part. Then we get the ball again and don’t do anything with it and low and behold we turn it over again and it becomes one of those games and gives the other team energy. They’ve hit some big balls on us, down the rail. We’re man coverage and sometimes they hit those; the 50-50 balls they caught. We had some opportunities and we did not. So, all of those things become part of it.”
On players handling diversity:
“What’s kind of funny about that, or what’s really strange is that there’s a lot of guys that have played a lot of football here, it’s not like it’s young guys. I think sometimes their intentions are really good and when something happens they have to get through it and let it go, don’t hold on to it. I think sometimes we hold on to it a bit too long and that’s my assessment of it, that’s how I look at it. It’s a resilient group of guys, they’re hurting that’s no doubt. They’re hurting bad in the locker room. It’s going to hurt and it should hurt, it’s not fun when you lose. You lose two in a row, that sense of accomplishment that you haven’t had in a couple weeks, it’s been three weeks because we had a bye, we have to find a way to win a game so we can get some joy back in the locker room.”
On Johnny Wilson’s condition and Rachaad White:
“Johnny is still a little sore so we didn’t want to have to change it too much and Rachaad was almost ready to go but wasn’t 100% so we just felt like ‘we’re not going to put him out there’. We always try to protect the players, that’s the number one criteria as a coach, you don’t put players out there who can’t defend themselves. We had a chance up to game time but at warm ups we said, ‘no that’s okay’.”
On Jayden’s mentality going into the locker room after the first half:
“I mean, he knows kind of like everybody was shocked. You get the whole save no dollar 28-0 I told the defense we're gonna go down here and score going to halftime, you know, come out and we're gonna respond, but we did at the end of the day. No, we didn't. We didn't handle adversity well. Just like last week in Utah two weeks ago. Utah is someone you know just as a team, we got to do better as especially as an offense just started getting those guys together and like I said, it is frustrating.”
Arizona State ??????Quarterback Jayden Daniels
On the turnovers in the first half:
“I would say we talked about all week how Washington State was best in the country forcing fumbles and getting after the football. It was very frustrating as it’s something that we have harped on all week. They’re ball hungry and it was frustrating since we put the defense in a bad position, we can’t expect the defense to hold up for four quarters when we keep giving Washington. State the ball. Two of the turnovers are on me and at the end of the day I have got to play better, the offense has to play better, and it wasn’t good football.”
On turning around the season after today:
“We as the players have to look at ourselves with what type of season we want to have, we’re 5-3 right now and we know that the South is out of our control, so we have to hope that some of the other teams lose. The Pac-12 championship is not completely out of reach, but at the end of the day we cannot lose any more games. We’re going to have to take the loss and learn from it and see where we go from here.”
Arizona State Defensive End, Michael Matus
On challenges playing Jayden de Laura:
“I think you know, every time that we'll play Washington State when you we thought that they were going to air raid it quite a bit you know, you we had a five men box and they ran the ball on us you know, we were saying all week that we got to stop the run with a 5 man box. That's people getting off blocks, that's people making plays. You know, unfortunately, we just weren't able to get it done. But you know, at the end of the day players play and so just coach that's on us. For sure. We have the chance to drop off the ruins. Unfortunately, we just didn't make it happen. You know, we want the game on, onto the next.”
??
On how lopsided the past two games have been:
“I think we have beaten ourselves the past two weeks, just the way we have been responding, we’ve responded too well, but I’m confident in this team, I’m confident in this offense and I’m confident in this defense. It’s only two losses and we can come back from it, but we have been beating ourselves and when you give a good team the opportunity and they seized it, they’ll beat anyone.”
Washington State Head Coach, Jake Dickert
On the first win as a Head Coach:
“It's really surreal. It's something you dream about. Something you want, you work so hard for, but at the end of the day the team won this game. I told these guys, their love and their support and their effort and their energy is more than I could ever give them. What a great team win, I’m just so happy for our players. They've been through a lot. It'll sink in for me at some point, but I'm just so happy for our guys and our team and what it means for them.”
On the tackling improvement from last week:
“I thought for the most part, we went into the game knowing we had to be better on first downs and being better tacklers. It felt like our fits were better, we were flying around. We were excited to play this game. You could see that on offense, defense, and special teams just in how hard we played and the tackling was way better and that will always lead to success. Just a great job by our coaching staff, good job by our players. It’s been an emphasis all week and they went out and executed.”
On the energy level on the sideline:
“I just think we challenged everybody to be their best today in whatever their role might be. That might be cheering on the sidelines, that might be playing 100 snaps and just being the most excited team to be on the field. It just really felt that we were. I think we won this game because we played harder. That's an immensely talented team. That's a very talented Arizona State team that our guys were just really excited to play and compete and be out there together and just prove who we can be and I just think that shows… You don't work football, you play football. And our guys played it. It's fun, and they enjoy it, love being around each other and I just thought that showed for 60 minutes.”
On Justus Rogers:
Justus Rogers is one of those guys that just stay the course, and it hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been perfect but he gives this team everything he has. He gives me, as a position coach and a defensive coordinator, everything he has. I love Justus. He means a lot to me, and his work ethic has come a long way. I've challenged him since the day I've been here, and I'm just proud to see him get some of these results.”
On the key to containing Jayden Daniels:
“He's an elite level player. He’s an NFL player. I thought our guys had an awareness there were times we needed to spy him and there were times we needed to be aggressive towards him. We needed (to force) him to make some bad decisions on the run, and I felt like we did that. We got some pressure on him, and it's not always about the hits, it's about forcing some bad throws and then taking advantage of those types of situations. You can't just stop a guy like that. You have to try to limit the situations and just always change up the pictures, and I thought we did a good job. Our rush lanes were really good and had some opportunities to make plays and some of our guys went out and did it.
On forcing five turnovers:
“We stress it every week. Our guys really understand, and we start off fall camp by talking about the value of the ball… and how you can affect the ball. There are so many different ways as a defender that you can do that, and they take it to heart. It doesn't just show up on saturday. These guys practice it during the week, our coaches drill it during the week, and it's just fun to see those guys create momentum and make those plays. It comes from playing hard and caring about each other. When the ball’s on the ground, we’re there because we care more and that's just the mindset that these guys have taken the whole season and I'm just so proud of them.”
On making a statement as underdogs:
“Not one time did we talk about being an underdog in this football game. We went into this game confident. We had a plan. We knew we would have to execute, and we'd have to play well against a good football team. By no means did we play the underdog card. We're confident in our ability, and confident in what we can do, and we’re playing good football and playing good football at the right time in the season. That's what good teams do, and we just keep progressing and getting better and learning. I think our “want to” is high and our care and love for each other is very high and I think that was really evident today.
On keeping momentum from turning after the half:
“I thought the third quarter was the moment in the game where things could have slipped either way. We did a good job getting off the field on third downs on defense. They kept us off balance pretty much all day, especially in the first half. We looked at those moments either as a sack, or getting a penalty, or getting the offense behind the chains to get our offense on the field to create some field position. I think that third quarter was huge, and it was just getting off of the field on third down and everyone doing their job. That’s when we really proved that we could finish this game.”
Washington State edge, Ron Stone Jr.
On Dickert’s first win as acting head coach:
“We were all fired up, it was super exciting. It’s something we’re all proud of as a whole unit and a lot of people counted us out and doubted us and wondered how we were going to transition from this, we never doubted ourselves. We went out and we showed them what we could do and he has our full support.”
On the energy for the Cougars in today’s win:
“It was a great team win and I think we carried our energy all the way through the first to the fourth. There’s no real major lows, it was one of our most consistent games throughout the season. We never doubted ourselves. Ultimately we know what we have in our ability, we have what we need in our ability to be successful and to win games, so there was never any doubt on our part. We just go in, punch the clock and do what we need to do to go in and win another week.”
Washington State Wide Receiver, Calvin Jackson Junior
On the importance of the offensive line:
“The OL stepped up big time, we had a really great week of preparation leading up to this game and we knew what we were getting into coming to this game and I think they did a really great job of stepping up and handling those big boys upfront.”
On his career high of receiving yards:
“It was great, but I couldn’t of done it without those big guys up front and Jayden (De Laura) putting the ball where the ball needed to be but it feels good at the end of the day and to come out victorious as a team.”
Washington State Linebacker, Jahad Woods
On the first game with new head coach
“We knew we really needed this win, you know, and we practiced really really hard this week. You know we had emphasis on being physical, you know having great eyes. Everything we were supposed to do we had a really great practice this week and it showed.”
On keeping the energy and the game up
“I think it’s pretty simple, you know, just effort to the ball, running to the ball so we don't really you know like do turn over drills or turnover servers.”