Arizona State Interim Head Coach Shaun Aguano
Opening Statement:
“I would like to make sure, to any fans that are still out there listening, I would like to thank them. This has been a whirlwind week, with the Sun Devil Walk and them coming to the stadium and all the support that they have been giving me. I just want to thank them, because we will get there. I promise you we will get there. I just want to make sure we thank the media. They have been gracious to me, and I appreciate that wholeheartedly. I just want to say thank you, as well.”
On what issues Utah’s up-tempo gave them in the second quarter and second half:
“That up-tempo gets tough because you’re keeping the offensive linemen on the field without substitutions, then asking them to make plays over-and-over again. We understand that that is a pretty good football team and tonight they were better than we were. They are the defending champions, but there is no excuse. Our guys are getting better. You guys don’t see it, but I see it in the locker room. There is no pointing the finger, there is positivity. There was a fight until the end and that is all I asked them to do. What everyone else sees on the exterior, from the interior we are growing as a team. This is going to be a process. I didn’t think that this would be four days, then a miracle would hit. It’s going to be a process. I got the kids’ attention. They are going to play and we are going to get better. Going back to your question, it was tough. They are a well-disciplined, well-coached football team and they’re uptempo got us. I think they learned a little bit from Eastern Michigan, what they did to us last year, we couldn’t get guys’ off the field for substitutions, so we have to find a way to get stops.”
On the struggles behind the chains:
“We were definitely behind the chains. I thought we didn’t take advantage of our first downs, to give them a shot on second-and-five’s or less. We were not predictable. I thought that Utah’s defense was able to pin their ears back and come at us. That provides a lot of heartache for us, because then they are bringing four, and five, and six. I did like Emory [Jones’] poise in the pocket. Again, there’s a lot of duress, and there are bullets flying at him. He couldn’t get his feet set and he couldn’t make those throws. That is something we do have to work on because we played behind the chains all night. That’s something that I will address with our offensive staff. ‘How do we get better at that?’ and if we can get better in the next game, staying ahead of the chains, I think we will be able to elongate series and we will be successful as well.”
On how much of a factor protection was:
“I think it is something we need to work on, the protection part a bit. It’s tough when those guys know it is a pass and we’re third-and-ten, and they’re just coming full on, and they did a great job with the twist inside and we have to pass it off better and that's something that we need to work on. That’s always tough for offensive linemen, especially with the defensive guys are very athletic nowadays in that area. I promise we’ll get better in that area.”
On what the first week felt like for him:
“It was an amazing week for me to be in charge of these kids. For them to do everything that I have asked and then see them, the only thing that I asked was just play hard and we’ll see what happens. When we got in at half time, we brought them all in, ‘let’s just win the half no matter what the score is.’ Again, there was no finger pointing. I like the positivity. We’re going to grow from it. I love these guys with all my heart. I told them at halftime and I told them after the game, ‘there will be no quit from me, there is going to be no quit from our staff, and we’ll keep working. Whatever comes about I am happy and very honored to be a part of this staff and the head coach of these kids. We’ll make sure that we take care of our business, come next week.”
On what went through his mind pre-game:
“There’s a lot that goes through my mind. I try to go through situations that I might be in, in the game. When I walk on the field, if it’s 4th-and-1, do I go for it in this situation? I go through situations on the field and then I look into the crowd, with the billboards and the big screen and I feel very blessed to be in this situation to make a difference with young kids. If I can share the positivity, they can stay together. Isaiah [Johnson] has come a long way, but [Johnson and Khoury Bethley] can speak on what happens in that locker room, and it hasn’t wavered us at all.”
On how to keep the right mental approach, going against USC and Washington:
“It all starts with me. That same intensity and positivity that I brought when I first got the job that day when I first talked to the team, is the same positivity and energy that I will bring this week. It will start with me. Our coaches feel like they didn’t do a good job, now I have to make sure that I pick them up and make sure our kids are picked up, come watching our game. We can all get into a room and criticize what we’ve done, but let’s move on, let’s learn from it and let’s be positive. We’re still in the game of helping young men, too, so it is a game of football and we all want to win, but it is a process. These kids have been through a lot, and so I’m going to make sure that I am the rock for them, no matter what.”
On the changes he’s looking to make on offense:
“I will go back tonight and look at it all over again. If I don’t make adjustments, then shame on me. And shame on me because these kids need to get the best of us as a coaching staff. So I’ll make sure that I go back and make adjustments on what I think. Do I make drastic adjustments that can come and confuse the players against USC? That won’t happen. But I will make little adjustments so that we can be successful, and that is a conversation for me and Coach [Glenn] Thomas. He needs to know that I have confidence in him and I do. So, these little adjustments will be made.”
On how being down defensive backs impacted the game:
“You know, to me those guys have been waiting in the wings and they practice really hard. It always hurts when the more experienced guy is not there. I thought that they grew as players tonight, and I thought that Isaiah [Johnson] did a great job and now he’s going to be there to give Ro (Torrence) a tough time. And I love that competition in the room. Whenever you’re not with those starters, it makes it tough. But I thought they played well and we will just see what happens. But Ro was pretty close to going, but his health is more important than the football game."
Arizona State Quarterback Emory Jones:
On what the last seven days have been like:
“It was a tough week for us… Losing a head coach, someone that we trust, and put in a lot of hard work throughout the weeks with him… It’s a tough situation. I think we moved on pretty quickly from it and we practiced pretty hard this week so I felt like we had a very great mindset throughout the week.”
If there was a different energy throughout the week in practice and in the game:
“We were definitely more energized in practice. We all felt it as a team. We sped up the tempo in practice a little bit, and we got a little more competition in. I think that’s great for us as a team. We have eight games left. Everyone knows that everything won’t change in one game. I feel like we just have to build off last week and keep being better.”
On the team learning from its offensive mistakes in opposition territory:
“We just need to execute. When we get into those situations where our defense creates turnovers, we need to capitalize and we weren’t able to do that and that’s something we have to get better at as an offense and dig at throughout the week.”
On the accuracy of his throws and confidence moving forward:
“Of course (I’m confident). I’m coming in and doing everything that my coaches ask of me on the field and my teammates are the confident of everything that I can do on the field… I mean, football is a hard game. You get in situations where you have to move off-platform. You got guys running into your face. I mean, it happens sometimes.”
On what made it difficult converting on third downs:
“We just didn’t really execute, honestly. A couple of third downs were on me. I threw a couple of high balls on third downs. We have to get off the field and that’s something that I’m going to have to clean up and I’ll do that.”
On his two interceptions:
“The first one the guy made a great play. He was probably playing eight yards off and he made a great play and jumped it. They’ve got great players on their team and that’s football. The second one I was expecting my guy to do something a little different and they blitzed. They were in Cover 0 and blitzed all their guys. I had to get the ball out quick – and I did – but the ball was a little behind him. There was a little miscommunication on our part.”
On the lack of a momentum change from not converting on fourth downs:
“Not really. We were always confident in our ability to make plays and convert in any situation. But I don’t think there was any momentum change that we regressed or anything like that. We just have to keep getting better throughout the week and execute a lot better.”
On the offense’s inability to run the ball tonight:
“I think we came out trying to throw the ball a little more. I took some sacks. We need to protect better. Like you said, we got behind the chains a little bit. And it’s tough to run the ball when you’re behind the sticks. I didn’t play my best ball today. That’s something that I’ve got to lock into next weekend and that I give my guys the best chance to win.”
On the potential of Coach Aguano’s new offensive implementations:
“I think we were definitely a better football team this week than we were last week. I think we played with a lot of heart and a lot of fight. We’ve got to execute better. I’ve got to play better. We just need to stay on top of everything that we do and just focus. Like I said earlier, nothing will be changed in a game or one week. But I do think the changes that Coach Aguano made will be very good for our team and the rest of the season and we will definitely improve game by game.”
On the unity of the team coming out of the tunnel crossing arms:
“It’s just a family thing for us. We all locked arms and we got each others back. We’re all in this together and that’s where we are. I mean, the head coach got fired this week. We look at each other and that’s all we have. So we’re going to stay together the rest of the season – offense and defense – and keep getting better every week. Obviously we hate losing but we’re going to come back tomorrow and attack the week and be ready for USC.”
On if the pressure of the Utah defense wore down the ASU offense:
“I wouldn’t say it wore us down but it made it tough. When you get behind the sticks on sacks and I got a little bit antsy in the pocket at times and started looking at the rush a little bit but that’s something I need to get better at. The offensive line needs to protect better, the running backs need to protect better but we’re all in this together. Those guys have my back, I’ve got their back and like I said we’re all in this together. I talked with those guys after on improving on what we need to improve on and get better for next week.”
On his rushing attempts in the second half:
“I was just doing what the defense presented. I got some pulls and got to the edge a little bit… But I mean, when I’m running and passing, I feel like we’re a better offense.”
Arizona State Defensive Lineman, Nesta Jade Silvera
On the team’s mindset was coming into this week:
“Coach Aguano, he worked us this week. Everything he brought in, new juice, new energy, we really appreciated it. We reacted to it well as a team: offense, defense, special teams, all three phases. We had a stacked three days of practice, a fourth one if you count Friday, and we just didn’t capitalize on a great week of practice, because that’s what we truly had. We still believe in everything Coach Aguano has been saying, the team’s still in tact, we still know what we’ve got to do, and we still got a lot more to play for.”
On team’s effort and ability to score in a lopsided game and if they played to their best abilities:
“To speak for the whole team, I don’t know if I can do that until we dive into that film. From what I’ve seen on the sidelines, we kept throwing roundup, we kept fighting. When it came to halftime, we made our adjustments and made our corrections. They played a real good football team, so kudos to them, being able to come out and do what they did to us.”
On coming out of the game locked in arms and the energy in the stadium; if the players felt the support:
“I don’t know if I’d say [the support] is lacking, I don’t want to make it a coach Herm problem, I’m not going to even say it like that because I feel like since I got here, this team has been a band of brothers. You know, they welcomed me with open arms. They let me know how that is. You know, just locked in arms I feel like we’re showing that. Regardless of whoever’s in that head man’s seat, it’s the dudes on the inner ring that’s playing. We know that we’re playing for each other, we know who we’re playing for. I don’t think that was any different.”
On problems with adjusting to uptempo:
“When they get uptempo, we have to respond to the calls, get back to the formations. There’s not too much to it, you know.”
On executing Aguano’s new practices and translating that to games:
“We’re going to get back to work tomorrow. We play another great football team next week. That's a great opportunity to play in the Colosseum… I don’t give a damn where we play, sorry if I shouldn’t say that – but we play a really good football team next week and you know, Aguano, we gotta focus on diving into that film and make corrections, have the coaches coach us, coach Aguano coach us. We play USC in a week, so that’s where I’m at.”
Arizona State Defensive Back Khoury Bethley
On adjustments to execution of play throughout the season:
“I think ultimately it’s going to take a little bit of time but I think we had a great practice, I think everybody handled the change very well. Ultimately I think it comes to us executing and we didn’t do that today but we played our hearts out, we watched this tape you don’t see any quit in us. We played hard today.”
On playing three games against ranked teams:
“I don’t think there’s any discouragement at all, every day we come ready to play. Every game is an opportunity, I mean anytime we play is an opportunity to prove ourselves in front of people, so we come to work every day hard, the sky’s the limit for us. We just gotta keep taking it day by day and eventually it’s going to be good for us.”
On executing on third down:
“Ultimately, I think it was just execution. We preach that we gotta get off the field on third down and we didn’t do that today and it came and bit us. All we can do is to learn from it and to tighten up our coverage, at the end of the day we just gotta execute and get off the field on third down.”
Arizona State Offensive Lineman Isaiah Johnson
On new opportunities in today’s game:
“It’s a blessing… It felt really good to go out with the guys and just have fun, that’s what it was for me tonight. Do your job, have fun. Like Coach Aguano said, take it day-by-day all you can do is keep moving forward.”
On being prepared for RPOs:
“I thought we were prepared for everything, I thought we had a great game and practices– coaches did a great job, it was probably one of our best practices we had in awhile or at least since I’ve been here, ultimately it’s just execution.”
Utah Head Coach Kyle Wittingham
Opening Statement:
“Solid game overall, all three phases. Offense was productive. Sputtered a little bit in the red zone at times. Still a work in progress in that respect. Run game was much more efficient in the second half which is something that we came out with a purpose and intent to do that. Defense, I felt like it was lights out and they ended up with almost zero yards rushing, maybe a few yards, it was negative yards for most of the game. So, the run defense was outstanding. Had we not had two miscues in kickoff coverage, we gave them great field position twice. Could have had less points given up, it is just how it is… Special teams, another game that’s four weeks in a row there really was no impact on game changing plays, they really swung the game. You talk about field position we lost a couple of times but crowded the ball a few times… Our field goal kicker continues to be perfect, so that’s a positive but Brant Kuithe is probably the big name of the game, we’ll find out more tomorrow but it doesn’t look good. I’ll have a report on Monday at the press conference. I just felt horrible for the kid. He’s such a great teammate, he’s a leader, he’s a captain. He came back another year to be with this team and help us win, so we’ll hope for the best. It’s not definitive but like I said, it doesn't look good.”
On Tavion Thomas’ availability:
“Yeah he was available physically, but I didn’t play him in the second half. Sometimes things happen and you have to make certain moves so that was an internal thing but Tavion is healthy and fine.”
On the red zone miscues:
“Well, we had a false start at 4th and one, and 4th and six pushed them right to the field goal situation. I think that might have happened twice. I can’t remember I’ll have to watch the tape but the overall for the entire year we’re pretty good. Our percentage is still pretty good, touchdown percentage but it’s always a work in progress and it’s such a critical element to the game, a key facet of winning is being efficient and effective in the red zone both ways, offensively and defensively. That’s something that we spend a lot of time on.”
On how wide receiver DeVaughn Vele played:
“He did, he’s a guy that I’ve been talking about since last spring. As you’ve seen his impact on the game. He’s a tremendous athlete and he’s done a great job returning punts for us as well. We didn’t have a lot of them tonight, only one for 16 yards but he’s a very valuable member and one of Cam’s go-to targets.”
On Karene Reid’s performance tonight:
“Very pleasing, the guy is distinctive, tough, student of the game. Much more athletic than you think. He can run, change direction and always a good Y’s position. Between him and our true freshman Lander Barton those two are holding it down in the inside linebacker spot and hopefully Mohamoud Diabate will be available next week, we thought there was a possibility of getting him this game but it wasn’t quite there so next week may give us another core linebacker, but those two guys have done outstanding.”
On Ja’Quinden Jackson moving to running back and if it’s permanent for the season:
“Yes, he’s a natural, he did play running back in 8th, 9th and 10th grade full time. Maybe 10th grade is when he transitioned to quarterback, but he has the background and he’s explosive, a big back at 230 pounds. Just shy of that, he’s fast, got really good vision. He makes some runs in practice and cuts back which is really impressive. The rest of this season we expect gives us another viable option at running back. When Chris went down, you’re a guy short, if anybody could fill the bill and we decided to give him a shot and he embraced it and said absolutely with his mentality and his skill set. What you saw tonight was just a taste of what he could bring to the table. Under further notice he is a running back, we’ll re-evacuate that at the end of the season.”
On Nate Johnson moving into a new role:
“He has a lot of big upside, he’s a freshman learning the ropes. He’s made a lot of progress since he’s been here and has a lot of tools. He has blazing speed, he’s a 10, 100-meter guy with a strong arm. His infancy and learning the system and learning how to play quarterback at this level.”
On Cole Bishop taking the next level:
“You are! He’s an absolute phenom at safety. He’s everything you look for, so athletic, great in coverage, great blitzer and tackler. He’s the whole package. He’s got size at 6-2, 225 pounds. So you’re seeing one of the best safeties in the pac-12 and in the country.”
On the potential targeting call:
“No, he turned his head, just because two helmets click together but it’s good to see the refs interpret it that way. But to me that’s not the spirit of the rule. I mean yeah, the helmets touched but a lot of times a defender can’t help when the quarterback ducks at the last second. There was no goal to use his helmet as a weapon to try to target someone.”
On shaping of defense:
“Yes they’re starting to get into sync and I think you’ve seen the last three weeks now we went through some progress but as the season progresses there will be challenges down the road. After that first game we were so disappointed so they’ve answered the bell for three weeks in a row.”
Utah Quarterback Cameron Rising
Opening statement:
“Shout out to the defense for just holding it down. They did a great job dominating on all facets and we just have to be better in the red zone as an offense and just keep it going.”
On Jaylen Dixon starting the game:
“It was nice he did a great job making sure that he was hitting the ball hard. We’d been talking about it all week and he was ready to go and I was just fired up to give him the ball.”
What was it like seeing Ja’Quinden Jackson out as a running back:
“That was awesome. He’s running downhill and hitting it like it’s supposed to be hit, and it’s fun to see him develop and progress as a running back like that.”
On the second touchdown to Dalton Kincaid and what he saw:
“Just making sure he had enough room to make a catch, and he’s a guy that’s just a play maker and any time you can put it in his vicinity he’s probably going to come down with it more times than not.”
On how important Kincaid is if Brant Kuithe is out:
“He’s going to be the number one guy inside, and we’re going to be looking for him to produce, and he’s going to have a great amount of production.”
On what he learned from the offense in this game:
“I think I learned that we don’t flinch, and whatever happens we’re just going to keep going and keep giving it our best and just taking it one rep at a time. That’s the most important thing, and we just have to keep continuing to do that.”
Utah Safety Cole Bishop
On being dialed in defensively and the game prep:
“Coach Scalley and all the staff really helped us get a good game plan going in the week, we knew a lot of their tendencies, we just came out and executed it. We played physical and fast and got the job done.”
On importance of starting off conference play with a win:
“I feel like we really didn’t look at the game, like ‘oh we can go in and kill this’ we didn’t go in with that mentality. It’s more just the first week of Pac-12 play and we got a win, we’re at the top of the conference right off the bat so you’re starting off strong and try to come back and that was really important for us.”
On the targeting review and thoughts on call:
“I was more concerned about next week. We were already up by a good bit and obviously I wanted to finish that game but I was just worried about being suspended for the first half of Oregon State but luckily they didn’t call me for it.”
On if he thought it was targeting while the review was underway:
“No. I was just worried because it was my head, but it was my face mask, so I’m pretty sure that’s how the rule works.”
On what was working well on the defensive end:
“The play calling was great for a lot of them, my targeting almost-call was a great call. I was lined up on the other side of the field and he changed it so I had to run over and ended up blitzing right into it so it worked out perfectly.”
Utah Linebacker Karene Reid
On being dialed in defensively and the game prep:
“I feel like I’ve seen a big change in practice this week. I feel like the intensity is turned up a notch. Coming into the game it was we practice hard so you can play the games easily. So I feel like that is how we were.”
On getting 5 sacks today and most this season and what was working:
“I think it was a couple things. The D-line definitely got after it but there were a couple of times you where the quarterback would try and get the ball out but the secondary was able to keep him in the pocket and have him hold on to the ball, so a combination of the D-line and coverage.”
On the key to his success and team-lead in tackles tonight:
“Just trying to take it day-by-day. We knew this was the first game of the Pac-12 but we’re really just trying to take it a game at a time and for me taking it a day at a time.”
Utah Tight End Dalton Kincaid
On coming out and starting faster than the last couple of weeks:
“It was definitely a big emphasis this week. It was on our minds a lot. We kind of feed off the defense’s energy too, so just being able to go out there and start fast, I feel like they kind of feed off that too. It kills two birds with one stone.”
On the second touchdown, his catch, and what he was seeing:
“To be honest, I don’t really remember most of those. It kind of is just a blink of the eye thing. But, I knew I had a chance with the play call and then just getting out there and giving me a chance to go get it.”
How important is it to this offense for him to step up with Brant (Kuithe) being out:
“It’s huge, Brant’s a huge part of this offense, he’s a huge leader on the team so we’re still gonna need to lean on him for his leadership but that was definitely a brutal loss and it hurts a lot.”
On stalling three times in the end zone and what attributed to it:
“Not quite sure honestly, if I had the answer then we wouldn’t really be stalling but that’s definitely a big emphasis for us. We started fast and then we scored in the red zone every time we had a chance to.”
What was it like seeing Ja’Quinden Jackson out there as a running back:
“It was awesome, I got see him go and do that and you guys got another taste of Thomas Yassmin today so it was pretty cool to see both.”