Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham:
Opening Statement:
“We're trying to attack bottom line, trying to attack and you have to play this game attacking if you want to beat teams like that, if you want to beat offensive coaches like Lincoln Riley and offensive quarterbacks like Caleb Williams, you have to attack, you can't play the game scared. So we said we wanted to call every shot that we had in the game and I probably called about three too many there in the second half on first down when it's a six point game that I'd like to have back.”
On the biggest difference in this loss
“I would say the turnovers offensively and struggling protecting the quarterback. And that starts with me understanding, being more timely with some calls in order to protect our line. I mean, those are, that D-line is a really, really, really, really good D-line. Coach Grinch has a lot of really good things schematically moving them and making those guys pass, protect even in seven man pro, you know, we're not there yet and I got to do a better job of protecting our guys on those early downs so we don't get behind the chains. That was the tale of the two halves. First half, we were ahead of the chains. Second half, first downs were aggressive calls that we were getting sacked on. We got to throw the ball away or not call those calls so we can stay ahead of the chains and stay in a rhythm.”
On instilling a program like USC:
“Winning. We're going to run our program. Every job is different. Every place is different. We're going to run this program. I'm from here. I'll say this on that topic. This was activating the valley… like this environment is activating the valley, the sold out crowd loud, 3rd and 20 the first drive with two penalties, like that was just as much that was just important to winning this game than anything I've done. I've done in my meeting rooms and my players because they go out there and no one cares and they feed off the energy and there's actually a competitive advantage when we have everybody in the stands, it's an advantage. So To see all the fans in the stands like that, to see the Valley like that, that's what we need every game. And if we get that every game, you're going to get the play that you guys want every game earliest.”
On the positives drawn from the game:
“I think our guys realize we have the ability. So the belief factor that they know that we can go out there and win football games, you know, it doesn't matter how we start. Like, what's the record matter this year anyways, it doesn't matter. It is getting better and we go on the road next week at and let's do everything we can to win a football game. Let's prepare more than we've ever prepared. So the positives I would say, I think our brotherhood is growing. I think players are feeding off each other more. I think the belief in the vision is still rising, the belief in the process is still rising and those are the things that excite me.”
On the adjustments made on the offense but from a sideline view:
“To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, you know, coach Ballwin did a phenomenal job communicating. Our entire staff did a phenomenal job communicating throughout the game. What we were seeing, I'd say the hardest thing is more seeing like the line twists and the stunts internally in terms of how they're trying to stop the run game with ET games or nut games, what they call them and I'm getting too detailed. We're good.”
On when he noticed the team’s energy change this week:
“The locker room after Fresno State, our guys are going to compete. Like if they're going to compete, they're going to compete, they're going to compete and they're going to go to work to get better every single day. I can't always guarantee you the perfect call. I can't always guarantee you a lot of things. I can guarantee you that our guys are going to go to work and our guys are going to play with passion.”
On what physical detail gave it away:
“The eyes when you look at people's eyes and they don't like that feeling. You can feel that they want to do something about it and create change and then you show up on Monday and you have the entire offense in the team meeting room 10 minutes early. You're like, okay, well, something changed offensively. So now he's going to play a complete game and if we play a complete football game, we're going to be a pretty good football team.”
On whether being aggressive but maybe not going too aggressive:
“Yeah, you just got to get a feel for your guys. I would say that's the balance is the more aggressive you can be the better, but you have to get a feel for how are your guys holding up? And I should have known with our depth at the old line that throughout the game, right, that there's going to be a little bit more rush as the game progresses because they're rolling, you know, 10 deep on the D line and we got seven guys, eight guys rolling right now in the old lines. So it was one of those scenarios where I should have known and had a better feel for kind of where our guys were and not put them in those situations.”
On the thought of containing USC QB Caleb Williams:
“Yeah, I thought our defense did a solid job, but I think there's a lot of things that they did. I mean, they have a great offensive scheme. They have a great quarterback that's really hard and they check almost every play at the line of scrimmage. They do it really quickly and they're all on the same page. So it's really, really hard to stop what they do when you combine the talent with good scheme. I think our guys, there are some things that we can do better. You know, it was our worst Wednesday practice on defense and that showed up Wednesday's third down day and it was our worst Wednesday and then all of a sudden it shows up at a 3rd and 20 and they convert, why? We get out of our wrestling. We bring a twist game and we don't loop. Ok. So there's a lot of things that we have to watch the tape and can't just say, oh, that's Caleb Williams. We have to say, ok, what can we do better to grow?” What can we do better? And that's a sign of a good football team is you go back to work on Monday and you don't look at your good place, you look at the place that you can improve upon and that's including myself as the coaches, as the play callers. That's everybody involved has to go back and look at themselves and say, "What can I do better?”
On what did you learn about your guys' ability to play in intense moments?
“It's not too big for them. They want these moments. You come to ASU to play in these moments and every kid goes to a college and a lot of their decision is the environment. To be honest, the environment we create is going to not only affect wins, it's going to affect recruiting and that environment today. That environment today, I challenge people to bring that because that was an environment that was an environment you can win at a high level in. That was an environment that our kids deserve. That was an environment our fans deserve because it's fun. It's fun to be in that environment and we're going to keep getting better as a football team and let's keep getting that turnout because that was a really good environment and credit to the fans, man. I couldn't be out here with the turnout and thank you.”
On the brotherhood of the team:
“No, I think it's just time, you know, adversity, either tears you apart or brings you together
So I think those are the two choices you have. Adversity makes you quit or makes you work harder. So I think our guys right now are treating this adversity and coming together and treating this adversity and working harder. And that's the sign of the direction that we want to go as a program. And I say this a lot. I sat in this exact same seat four years ago just calling the plays. Not as the head coach. I've seen this process, I've seen it and we're on the same trajectory. We're working on our brotherhood, the way our kids talk about each other, the way our kids work. We're working to get there.”
On preparation for other elite quarterbacks in the Pac-12:
“Yeah, this league is on to the next elite quarterback in this league. I mean, you Penix, right, kid down south is good, right? I mean, there's a lot of good quarterbacks right now in this league. This is arguably the best league in college football right now. So we've got our work cut out for us. We got to go back to work on Monday. We got to do, like I tell the kids every week, what are you doing more than you did last week? So we got to do more this week than we did last week. We got to go back to work and we got to come out against Cal on the road and put our best effort out there.”
On whether the loss was a moral victory:
“No, I told the team losing… it does never feel good. If you walk into this room now and you have an ounce of feel good, that's not what we're about at all in any way shape or form and it will never be what we're about, but we got better. So the win and loss put aside, look at our own game. Did we improve? Yes, we improved in some areas. Did we not improve in other areas? Yes, we got to get better in those. So you should never get comfortable or never be happy with losing a football game. But what can you grow from? What can you learn from? And what can you take away from it is a completely separate conversation. And we played one of the best coaches in college football, one of the best quarterbacks in college football and we were in it and I really think I could have done a few things better for our players, helped our players a little bit more to give them a better chance and I'm going to do everything I can moving forward to try to put our players in a better situation next week than I did this week because that's my job.”
Arizona State Running Back Cam Skattebo
On the play-calling being different from previous games:
“It was super aggressive. We ran the ball a lot more than we have in the past. We were downhill attack. We knew we could run the ball on these guys and it was working. So we stuck with it. We called our shots when our shots needed to be called. We had a couple of mistakes that kind of bit us towards the end of the game. But I mean, I'm pretty happy for the most part. The defense and the offense are really coming together a lot more than the last three weeks on the sidelines. Felt more of a family out there, tighter knit, a lot more energy. It was beautiful out there with all the fans still there. You know, when I come out at half time and I see everybody still on the sidelines or everyone is still in the fan. It's like they believe in us. So that was good to see. But yeah, it was nice to see the play-calling being aggressive and using his players as much as he could.”
On being used in various ways:
“I like to do everything. I believe I could do everything. So when they put me in those situations, I believe I'm gonna excel at them with the help of this dude right here. He made it happen on one of them. So I mean, I'm put in the right position with the right guys around me. So I'm just going to keep playing hard and trusting what the coach has got for us.”
On the last time you punted?
“The fourth game of my senior year and then I put it about 70 something yards.”
On the fake punt and his 52-yard touchdown reception:
“I'm gonna be in trouble tomorrow. The fake, the throw on the fake punt was not supposed to happen. But me and him were kind of in connection in the middle of the play. It wasn't planned before, but I start yelling (ASU WR Elijah) Badger's name and he looks over so I know he's got my back if I put the ball in the air. But I mean, I expect to score every play. So on that last play, I just kept my feet and I was able to stay balanced and keep going.”
On if this game boosts confidence:
“Dillingham preaching in the locker room every day, we believe we can beat anybody in the country. We should have beat that team. We had a couple of mistakes late. They kind of got us, we had them on the ropes and then we kind of didn't exceed in what we had planned, but it happens, we'll be back next week and that's it.”
On if it was the most complimentary football that the team has played all season:
“He does what he does. There's a reason he has the best offenses in the country. And I mean, today it showed a lot, a lot today. We made a few mistakes and there wasn't too much, mistakes in play calling, I would say we had a couple missed assignments and errors and stuff here. But, we were put in the right position to win that football game and had a couple of mistakes. That's it, defense played their butts off the whole game. I honestly didn't think they were going to score another point after 27. But once offense kind of slows down, it's hard for the defense to continue to keep their foot on their necks. And I mean, they played hard. We played hard, just made a couple mistakes.”
Arizona State Wide Receiver Elijah Badger
On Kenny Dillingham calling plays and the rhythm that you got into tonight:
“I think he went into the game with a great plan and I think he was aggressive, aggressive play call and I just think he used everybody to the best of, to the best of their, everybody moving around motion in different tempos. And I think he just, the way he just came in with a good game plan. I think it helped us a lot from going into the games with just better game plans and I think we just score more points.”
On if this game boosts confidence
“I don't think we ever just lost confidence. I think it just came back and kept practicing, kept the family together and we just knew what we could do and we put it out.”
Arizona State Linebacker Tate Romney
On if this game boosts confidence
“It was good to see. I mean, I think overall as a team we improved, I think there was like, Scott was saying before, there was more of a family culture on the sideline, everyone getting involved with each other. And that was good to see. Obviously, it's not the outcome we wanted. And I mean, you can't be too happy about that. You can't ever be happy about losing, but there are good things coming forward and we feel like we can keep building from this.”
On how did the team kept a positive outlook with throughout the week
“I mean, Coach Dillingham is big on this. You always believe you have to win and I mean, everybody has to look in the mirror at themselves and say to themselves that we are going to win this game. That's what it all comes down to is confidence, believing that you're going to win. When you doubt that you're going to win, that's when bad things start to happen. And so, it starts with coach dealing from the beginning of the week, he told us we are going to win this game. And so it really helped us to get the confidence coming in practice and coming into the game.”
On How USC was able to rush for over 200 yards:
“I think they’re the top offense in the country coming into this. You obviously have Caleb Williams, he was calling out a lot of checks and stuff before plays. They were making a lot of adjustments pre snap. I think that led into a lot of that, you know, we didn't execute plays like we wanted to. Yeah, it's fortunate.”
USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley
Opening Statement:
“Tough road win for us tonight. Road wins are really, really difficult.That's college football. You see it all across, when you play at programs like USC, you're going to see different atmosphere, inspired football team. Give (ASU Head) Coach (Kenny) Dillingham a lot of credit with all the injuries and adversity they've had. They obviously came out and did a lot of really good things, challenged us in a lot of ways. So, give him and their program a lot of credit. Tough losses like they had the week before aren’t easy to come back from and they certainly did that. So, a lot of respect for those guys. For the first three quarters, it was kind of an example of how the road games can challenge you. It was an example of how mistakes tend to show up on the road a little bit different than they do at home. And we obviously made some critical mistakes that kept that a pretty close game at half. A lot of the numbers were drastically different, but obviously the missed exchange there that led to a touchdown, the kind of whatever you want to call it… the kind of fake punt that was… I don't really know what to… how to describe that, but it found its way into one of their receiver’s hands. Those were two huge possessions where we really had a chance to separate in the first half and were some uncharacteristic mistakes by us. Didn't play very good offensively in the red zone, but I thought we stepped up in a tough environment there at the very end and played our best ball in the fourth quarter, which that's what you got to do. Certainly wasn't our cleanest performance. We know we're going to have to get a lot better. We know there's a lot of things to learn from and I think this team will do that and look forward to our next challenge.
On whether he attributes the penalties and mistakes to preparation or road atmosphere:
“Both. You get on the road and everything is just magnified a little bit and then we were just a little tick off, especially offensively in terms of just moving. Play clock got down on us a lot and we did not handle that well, so we'll have to do a better job preparing the guys for that. And then we had a couple of untimely penalties defensively that really put them out of some of the holes that we were putting them in because we were getting so many negative plays. Gotta be better there. I mean, listen, the road is challenging and there's a reason why 70% of the time the home team wins in college football and it's been like that forever and ever. So, we know we're gonna have to get better at it with many more road challenges ahead.”
On whether Coach Riley thought he should have ran RB MarShawn Lloyd more:
“We rode him pretty hard. Didn't run the other guys quite as much. He got dinged up there for a minute and came back, but we rode him pretty hard. We end up hitting some big plays in the pass game that shorten some of those drives there at the end. But, as good as he was running, you could argue that we probably should have given it to him more.”
On any specific concerns defensively:
“The tackling was the biggest disappointment, defensively. We had a lot of negative plays.
We were, on the night, pretty clean on the run game in terms of gap assignment, but we did not tackle them well and we knew the back, coming in, was a tough runner. He's a good runner. He runs out a lot of tackles and I saw a lot of shoulders, a lot of guys kind of launching it, guys trying for big hits, and fundamentally wasn't where we needed to be. So, it will be a big focus point. But is it correctable? For sure, we tackled well three of the four, and we need to get back at it here this week.”
On if it felt like the team took a step back in its development with the the penalties and poor tackling:
“No, the season is just a climb. You tell people all the time like this whole road deal and what it's about and looking for a mistake. You know what I mean? There's examples every year, all the time. It was just simply a new challenge and I think what we'll take from it is there's a lot of really positive things we did to come out here and win despite a lot of those mistakes and there's a lot of those mistakes that I think we'll take a lot from and be better ahead. But that's a season, right? You're never just going to be like this every single performance. Like, how are you going to go on top? You know, being up 49-3 at half the previous week, that's not reality. It's just the challenges continue to change and then you either respond and keep growing together as a team and getting better and winning along the way or you don't. We won. We did a lot of good things. We got a lot to get better at and we got to get ready for another tough road one next week.”
On if and how the play calling changed with Kenny Dillingham as the new play caller:
“I mean a little bit. It definitely did, Kenny is an experienced play caller and you could tell very quickly that I said it through the week, even if you have injuries at the quarterback position, if you know who you're going to play with, and you've got a full week with good coaches, you're going to have a better plan than all of a sudden if you lose two guys right at the first of the game. Even a bad offensive coach is going to have a way better plan and Kenny is a tremendous offensive coach. So, we knew we were going to see a different atmosphere, a different team, a different challenge. We weren't surprised by that and they did a good job with it and they threw a little bit of everything at us and some of it we handled well and some of it, we need to handle a better plan.”
USC Quarterback Caleb Williams
On how he worked on his deep passing over the offseason:
“I for sure worked on it. There's things that go back and I said multiple times throughout the summer, spring, or whenever we do interviews and things like that, that I need to work on everything. Coach was saying I need to work on everything. I thought I was pretty efficient last year, but this year, when you have those moments and you have those big plays that come up, you want to be able to execute and capitalize in those moments. And so we've been able to do that so far and within the game and when those moments happened we've been able to do so. So, I for sure worked on it with the guys and it just becomes with consistency. That's something that I've been saying and preaching, and something that we weren't so good on today, whether it was myself getting the calls in, making checks, whether it was us doing our assignment, whether it was penalties and holdings or jumping offsides or not catching the ball; whatever the case may be, all leads to the leaders and us being consistent throughout the week. And I'm one of those guys and so I'm gonna be preaching that and trying to be consistent, especially throughout this week.”
On how his trust and connection with Brenden Rice has grown from last year:
“It's gotten better just trying to understand Brenden. I love Brenden, he's an interesting kid. But no, it's gotten better, and a lot of it has come from just being around him more throwing to him after practice, whatever the case may be hanging out with him a little bit more, you know, out of practice and just being around each other has made that connection that y'all speak on a lot better. So, we're gonna keep working on it. We got other guys that are gonna step up here soon and keep making big plays.”
On how what it is like playing in the state of Arizona:
“It was great. I played in Arizona last year. So came out with the win both times in Arizona. It's been fun and I plan on getting ready for next week.”
On the pre-snap and what was going on with the timing:
“Yeah, it's something that we practice probably more than anybody in the country which is just a tough environment and that's what Arizona State provided this night and they did a really good job on defense. They did a really good job with the crowd, they were loud and rowdy and it's our first road game. You know, there's going to be things that happen on road games that doesn't happen at home games and those are some of the things that happen. I'm glad we came out to win. We kept fighting, we responded to all the events that happened throughout the week or throughout the game, I mean. We got things to get better at. That's just simply what it is. It's game four for us coming off a bye week, we got a tough opponent next week. So we got to get better. We're going on the road again. Good thing we have film to go back and look at and keep working on.”
USC Outside Rusher Jamil Muhammad
On his assessment of the defense and tackling:
“We could have done a much better job tackling, myself as well. I could have done a better job of just taking my gap, instead of just giving them so much leeway of being able to block me on some plays, and I think we can be better across the board, like Coach Riley said. But finishing the game, we live on the mantra that the longer we go, the better we get. Me as a leader, and some of the other guys, we just preached on finishing the game and obviously on the defensive side of the ball that starts with us up front. So, we just have to take pride in that.”
Opening Statement:
“We're trying to attack bottom line, trying to attack and you have to play this game attacking if you want to beat teams like that, if you want to beat offensive coaches like Lincoln Riley and offensive quarterbacks like Caleb Williams, you have to attack, you can't play the game scared. So we said we wanted to call every shot that we had in the game and I probably called about three too many there in the second half on first down when it's a six point game that I'd like to have back.”
On the biggest difference in this loss
“I would say the turnovers offensively and struggling protecting the quarterback. And that starts with me understanding, being more timely with some calls in order to protect our line. I mean, those are, that D-line is a really, really, really, really good D-line. Coach Grinch has a lot of really good things schematically moving them and making those guys pass, protect even in seven man pro, you know, we're not there yet and I got to do a better job of protecting our guys on those early downs so we don't get behind the chains. That was the tale of the two halves. First half, we were ahead of the chains. Second half, first downs were aggressive calls that we were getting sacked on. We got to throw the ball away or not call those calls so we can stay ahead of the chains and stay in a rhythm.”
On instilling a program like USC:
“Winning. We're going to run our program. Every job is different. Every place is different. We're going to run this program. I'm from here. I'll say this on that topic. This was activating the valley… like this environment is activating the valley, the sold out crowd loud, 3rd and 20 the first drive with two penalties, like that was just as much that was just important to winning this game than anything I've done. I've done in my meeting rooms and my players because they go out there and no one cares and they feed off the energy and there's actually a competitive advantage when we have everybody in the stands, it's an advantage. So To see all the fans in the stands like that, to see the Valley like that, that's what we need every game. And if we get that every game, you're going to get the play that you guys want every game earliest.”
On the positives drawn from the game:
“I think our guys realize we have the ability. So the belief factor that they know that we can go out there and win football games, you know, it doesn't matter how we start. Like, what's the record matter this year anyways, it doesn't matter. It is getting better and we go on the road next week at and let's do everything we can to win a football game. Let's prepare more than we've ever prepared. So the positives I would say, I think our brotherhood is growing. I think players are feeding off each other more. I think the belief in the vision is still rising, the belief in the process is still rising and those are the things that excite me.”
On the adjustments made on the offense but from a sideline view:
“To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, you know, coach Ballwin did a phenomenal job communicating. Our entire staff did a phenomenal job communicating throughout the game. What we were seeing, I'd say the hardest thing is more seeing like the line twists and the stunts internally in terms of how they're trying to stop the run game with ET games or nut games, what they call them and I'm getting too detailed. We're good.”
On when he noticed the team’s energy change this week:
“The locker room after Fresno State, our guys are going to compete. Like if they're going to compete, they're going to compete, they're going to compete and they're going to go to work to get better every single day. I can't always guarantee you the perfect call. I can't always guarantee you a lot of things. I can guarantee you that our guys are going to go to work and our guys are going to play with passion.”
On what physical detail gave it away:
“The eyes when you look at people's eyes and they don't like that feeling. You can feel that they want to do something about it and create change and then you show up on Monday and you have the entire offense in the team meeting room 10 minutes early. You're like, okay, well, something changed offensively. So now he's going to play a complete game and if we play a complete football game, we're going to be a pretty good football team.”
On whether being aggressive but maybe not going too aggressive:
“Yeah, you just got to get a feel for your guys. I would say that's the balance is the more aggressive you can be the better, but you have to get a feel for how are your guys holding up? And I should have known with our depth at the old line that throughout the game, right, that there's going to be a little bit more rush as the game progresses because they're rolling, you know, 10 deep on the D line and we got seven guys, eight guys rolling right now in the old lines. So it was one of those scenarios where I should have known and had a better feel for kind of where our guys were and not put them in those situations.”
On the thought of containing USC QB Caleb Williams:
“Yeah, I thought our defense did a solid job, but I think there's a lot of things that they did. I mean, they have a great offensive scheme. They have a great quarterback that's really hard and they check almost every play at the line of scrimmage. They do it really quickly and they're all on the same page. So it's really, really hard to stop what they do when you combine the talent with good scheme. I think our guys, there are some things that we can do better. You know, it was our worst Wednesday practice on defense and that showed up Wednesday's third down day and it was our worst Wednesday and then all of a sudden it shows up at a 3rd and 20 and they convert, why? We get out of our wrestling. We bring a twist game and we don't loop. Ok. So there's a lot of things that we have to watch the tape and can't just say, oh, that's Caleb Williams. We have to say, ok, what can we do better to grow?” What can we do better? And that's a sign of a good football team is you go back to work on Monday and you don't look at your good place, you look at the place that you can improve upon and that's including myself as the coaches, as the play callers. That's everybody involved has to go back and look at themselves and say, "What can I do better?”
On what did you learn about your guys' ability to play in intense moments?
“It's not too big for them. They want these moments. You come to ASU to play in these moments and every kid goes to a college and a lot of their decision is the environment. To be honest, the environment we create is going to not only affect wins, it's going to affect recruiting and that environment today. That environment today, I challenge people to bring that because that was an environment that was an environment you can win at a high level in. That was an environment that our kids deserve. That was an environment our fans deserve because it's fun. It's fun to be in that environment and we're going to keep getting better as a football team and let's keep getting that turnout because that was a really good environment and credit to the fans, man. I couldn't be out here with the turnout and thank you.”
On the brotherhood of the team:
“No, I think it's just time, you know, adversity, either tears you apart or brings you together
So I think those are the two choices you have. Adversity makes you quit or makes you work harder. So I think our guys right now are treating this adversity and coming together and treating this adversity and working harder. And that's the sign of the direction that we want to go as a program. And I say this a lot. I sat in this exact same seat four years ago just calling the plays. Not as the head coach. I've seen this process, I've seen it and we're on the same trajectory. We're working on our brotherhood, the way our kids talk about each other, the way our kids work. We're working to get there.”
On preparation for other elite quarterbacks in the Pac-12:
“Yeah, this league is on to the next elite quarterback in this league. I mean, you Penix, right, kid down south is good, right? I mean, there's a lot of good quarterbacks right now in this league. This is arguably the best league in college football right now. So we've got our work cut out for us. We got to go back to work on Monday. We got to do, like I tell the kids every week, what are you doing more than you did last week? So we got to do more this week than we did last week. We got to go back to work and we got to come out against Cal on the road and put our best effort out there.”
On whether the loss was a moral victory:
“No, I told the team losing… it does never feel good. If you walk into this room now and you have an ounce of feel good, that's not what we're about at all in any way shape or form and it will never be what we're about, but we got better. So the win and loss put aside, look at our own game. Did we improve? Yes, we improved in some areas. Did we not improve in other areas? Yes, we got to get better in those. So you should never get comfortable or never be happy with losing a football game. But what can you grow from? What can you learn from? And what can you take away from it is a completely separate conversation. And we played one of the best coaches in college football, one of the best quarterbacks in college football and we were in it and I really think I could have done a few things better for our players, helped our players a little bit more to give them a better chance and I'm going to do everything I can moving forward to try to put our players in a better situation next week than I did this week because that's my job.”
Arizona State Running Back Cam Skattebo
On the play-calling being different from previous games:
“It was super aggressive. We ran the ball a lot more than we have in the past. We were downhill attack. We knew we could run the ball on these guys and it was working. So we stuck with it. We called our shots when our shots needed to be called. We had a couple of mistakes that kind of bit us towards the end of the game. But I mean, I'm pretty happy for the most part. The defense and the offense are really coming together a lot more than the last three weeks on the sidelines. Felt more of a family out there, tighter knit, a lot more energy. It was beautiful out there with all the fans still there. You know, when I come out at half time and I see everybody still on the sidelines or everyone is still in the fan. It's like they believe in us. So that was good to see. But yeah, it was nice to see the play-calling being aggressive and using his players as much as he could.”
On being used in various ways:
“I like to do everything. I believe I could do everything. So when they put me in those situations, I believe I'm gonna excel at them with the help of this dude right here. He made it happen on one of them. So I mean, I'm put in the right position with the right guys around me. So I'm just going to keep playing hard and trusting what the coach has got for us.”
On the last time you punted?
“The fourth game of my senior year and then I put it about 70 something yards.”
On the fake punt and his 52-yard touchdown reception:
“I'm gonna be in trouble tomorrow. The fake, the throw on the fake punt was not supposed to happen. But me and him were kind of in connection in the middle of the play. It wasn't planned before, but I start yelling (ASU WR Elijah) Badger's name and he looks over so I know he's got my back if I put the ball in the air. But I mean, I expect to score every play. So on that last play, I just kept my feet and I was able to stay balanced and keep going.”
On if this game boosts confidence:
“Dillingham preaching in the locker room every day, we believe we can beat anybody in the country. We should have beat that team. We had a couple of mistakes late. They kind of got us, we had them on the ropes and then we kind of didn't exceed in what we had planned, but it happens, we'll be back next week and that's it.”
On if it was the most complimentary football that the team has played all season:
“He does what he does. There's a reason he has the best offenses in the country. And I mean, today it showed a lot, a lot today. We made a few mistakes and there wasn't too much, mistakes in play calling, I would say we had a couple missed assignments and errors and stuff here. But, we were put in the right position to win that football game and had a couple of mistakes. That's it, defense played their butts off the whole game. I honestly didn't think they were going to score another point after 27. But once offense kind of slows down, it's hard for the defense to continue to keep their foot on their necks. And I mean, they played hard. We played hard, just made a couple mistakes.”
Arizona State Wide Receiver Elijah Badger
On Kenny Dillingham calling plays and the rhythm that you got into tonight:
“I think he went into the game with a great plan and I think he was aggressive, aggressive play call and I just think he used everybody to the best of, to the best of their, everybody moving around motion in different tempos. And I think he just, the way he just came in with a good game plan. I think it helped us a lot from going into the games with just better game plans and I think we just score more points.”
On if this game boosts confidence
“I don't think we ever just lost confidence. I think it just came back and kept practicing, kept the family together and we just knew what we could do and we put it out.”
Arizona State Linebacker Tate Romney
On if this game boosts confidence
“It was good to see. I mean, I think overall as a team we improved, I think there was like, Scott was saying before, there was more of a family culture on the sideline, everyone getting involved with each other. And that was good to see. Obviously, it's not the outcome we wanted. And I mean, you can't be too happy about that. You can't ever be happy about losing, but there are good things coming forward and we feel like we can keep building from this.”
On how did the team kept a positive outlook with throughout the week
“I mean, Coach Dillingham is big on this. You always believe you have to win and I mean, everybody has to look in the mirror at themselves and say to themselves that we are going to win this game. That's what it all comes down to is confidence, believing that you're going to win. When you doubt that you're going to win, that's when bad things start to happen. And so, it starts with coach dealing from the beginning of the week, he told us we are going to win this game. And so it really helped us to get the confidence coming in practice and coming into the game.”
On How USC was able to rush for over 200 yards:
“I think they’re the top offense in the country coming into this. You obviously have Caleb Williams, he was calling out a lot of checks and stuff before plays. They were making a lot of adjustments pre snap. I think that led into a lot of that, you know, we didn't execute plays like we wanted to. Yeah, it's fortunate.”
USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley
Opening Statement:
“Tough road win for us tonight. Road wins are really, really difficult.That's college football. You see it all across, when you play at programs like USC, you're going to see different atmosphere, inspired football team. Give (ASU Head) Coach (Kenny) Dillingham a lot of credit with all the injuries and adversity they've had. They obviously came out and did a lot of really good things, challenged us in a lot of ways. So, give him and their program a lot of credit. Tough losses like they had the week before aren’t easy to come back from and they certainly did that. So, a lot of respect for those guys. For the first three quarters, it was kind of an example of how the road games can challenge you. It was an example of how mistakes tend to show up on the road a little bit different than they do at home. And we obviously made some critical mistakes that kept that a pretty close game at half. A lot of the numbers were drastically different, but obviously the missed exchange there that led to a touchdown, the kind of whatever you want to call it… the kind of fake punt that was… I don't really know what to… how to describe that, but it found its way into one of their receiver’s hands. Those were two huge possessions where we really had a chance to separate in the first half and were some uncharacteristic mistakes by us. Didn't play very good offensively in the red zone, but I thought we stepped up in a tough environment there at the very end and played our best ball in the fourth quarter, which that's what you got to do. Certainly wasn't our cleanest performance. We know we're going to have to get a lot better. We know there's a lot of things to learn from and I think this team will do that and look forward to our next challenge.
On whether he attributes the penalties and mistakes to preparation or road atmosphere:
“Both. You get on the road and everything is just magnified a little bit and then we were just a little tick off, especially offensively in terms of just moving. Play clock got down on us a lot and we did not handle that well, so we'll have to do a better job preparing the guys for that. And then we had a couple of untimely penalties defensively that really put them out of some of the holes that we were putting them in because we were getting so many negative plays. Gotta be better there. I mean, listen, the road is challenging and there's a reason why 70% of the time the home team wins in college football and it's been like that forever and ever. So, we know we're gonna have to get better at it with many more road challenges ahead.”
On whether Coach Riley thought he should have ran RB MarShawn Lloyd more:
“We rode him pretty hard. Didn't run the other guys quite as much. He got dinged up there for a minute and came back, but we rode him pretty hard. We end up hitting some big plays in the pass game that shorten some of those drives there at the end. But, as good as he was running, you could argue that we probably should have given it to him more.”
On any specific concerns defensively:
“The tackling was the biggest disappointment, defensively. We had a lot of negative plays.
We were, on the night, pretty clean on the run game in terms of gap assignment, but we did not tackle them well and we knew the back, coming in, was a tough runner. He's a good runner. He runs out a lot of tackles and I saw a lot of shoulders, a lot of guys kind of launching it, guys trying for big hits, and fundamentally wasn't where we needed to be. So, it will be a big focus point. But is it correctable? For sure, we tackled well three of the four, and we need to get back at it here this week.”
On if it felt like the team took a step back in its development with the the penalties and poor tackling:
“No, the season is just a climb. You tell people all the time like this whole road deal and what it's about and looking for a mistake. You know what I mean? There's examples every year, all the time. It was just simply a new challenge and I think what we'll take from it is there's a lot of really positive things we did to come out here and win despite a lot of those mistakes and there's a lot of those mistakes that I think we'll take a lot from and be better ahead. But that's a season, right? You're never just going to be like this every single performance. Like, how are you going to go on top? You know, being up 49-3 at half the previous week, that's not reality. It's just the challenges continue to change and then you either respond and keep growing together as a team and getting better and winning along the way or you don't. We won. We did a lot of good things. We got a lot to get better at and we got to get ready for another tough road one next week.”
On if and how the play calling changed with Kenny Dillingham as the new play caller:
“I mean a little bit. It definitely did, Kenny is an experienced play caller and you could tell very quickly that I said it through the week, even if you have injuries at the quarterback position, if you know who you're going to play with, and you've got a full week with good coaches, you're going to have a better plan than all of a sudden if you lose two guys right at the first of the game. Even a bad offensive coach is going to have a way better plan and Kenny is a tremendous offensive coach. So, we knew we were going to see a different atmosphere, a different team, a different challenge. We weren't surprised by that and they did a good job with it and they threw a little bit of everything at us and some of it we handled well and some of it, we need to handle a better plan.”
USC Quarterback Caleb Williams
On how he worked on his deep passing over the offseason:
“I for sure worked on it. There's things that go back and I said multiple times throughout the summer, spring, or whenever we do interviews and things like that, that I need to work on everything. Coach was saying I need to work on everything. I thought I was pretty efficient last year, but this year, when you have those moments and you have those big plays that come up, you want to be able to execute and capitalize in those moments. And so we've been able to do that so far and within the game and when those moments happened we've been able to do so. So, I for sure worked on it with the guys and it just becomes with consistency. That's something that I've been saying and preaching, and something that we weren't so good on today, whether it was myself getting the calls in, making checks, whether it was us doing our assignment, whether it was penalties and holdings or jumping offsides or not catching the ball; whatever the case may be, all leads to the leaders and us being consistent throughout the week. And I'm one of those guys and so I'm gonna be preaching that and trying to be consistent, especially throughout this week.”
On how his trust and connection with Brenden Rice has grown from last year:
“It's gotten better just trying to understand Brenden. I love Brenden, he's an interesting kid. But no, it's gotten better, and a lot of it has come from just being around him more throwing to him after practice, whatever the case may be hanging out with him a little bit more, you know, out of practice and just being around each other has made that connection that y'all speak on a lot better. So, we're gonna keep working on it. We got other guys that are gonna step up here soon and keep making big plays.”
On how what it is like playing in the state of Arizona:
“It was great. I played in Arizona last year. So came out with the win both times in Arizona. It's been fun and I plan on getting ready for next week.”
On the pre-snap and what was going on with the timing:
“Yeah, it's something that we practice probably more than anybody in the country which is just a tough environment and that's what Arizona State provided this night and they did a really good job on defense. They did a really good job with the crowd, they were loud and rowdy and it's our first road game. You know, there's going to be things that happen on road games that doesn't happen at home games and those are some of the things that happen. I'm glad we came out to win. We kept fighting, we responded to all the events that happened throughout the week or throughout the game, I mean. We got things to get better at. That's just simply what it is. It's game four for us coming off a bye week, we got a tough opponent next week. So we got to get better. We're going on the road again. Good thing we have film to go back and look at and keep working on.”
USC Outside Rusher Jamil Muhammad
On his assessment of the defense and tackling:
“We could have done a much better job tackling, myself as well. I could have done a better job of just taking my gap, instead of just giving them so much leeway of being able to block me on some plays, and I think we can be better across the board, like Coach Riley said. But finishing the game, we live on the mantra that the longer we go, the better we get. Me as a leader, and some of the other guys, we just preached on finishing the game and obviously on the defensive side of the ball that starts with us up front. So, we just have to take pride in that.”