OPENING STATEMENT…
“Another Pac-12 opponent. A very talented opponent on both sides of the football. Big athletic football team. They have playmakers on both sides of the ball. Its good to hear the quarterback (JT Daniels) is going to be available to play. That’s a good thing for them and a good thing for football. Those concussions all of the sudden start adding up and the players miss valuable time. He’s on the protocol with their physicians – they have cleared that young man, which is a good thing. You are always concerned about player safety and I’m glad he’s cleared and I’m glad he will be available to play. With that being said, previous years this has been a very emotional game for both parties. Fouls have really been a part of this. 30 penalties total in the last two years for over 300 yards. That’s not good football. We have to make sure we understand we can’t be a part of that and I know coach (Clay) Helton is telling his team the same thing - that you don’t want a game marred with penalties. It takes away from the game of football. I think it’s an emotional game. There a lot of kids from California playing in Los Angeles. It just becomes that. It’s fine to be emotional about a game, but you can’t let your emotions get the best of you because it becomes marred with fouls. It's just bad, bad football. I’m going to talk to our team about that. I know coach Helton, being the man he is, will also talk to his team. Hopefully, that’s not part of the game we watch this Saturday.”
ON ANY ADDED PRESSURE FALLING ANOTHER GAME BACK IN THE LOSS COLUMN…
“You don’t want to go to anything when you are losing, you want to try to win. That is the most important thing. I think anytime you play you are going out there with the intentions to win. I just think all games are important, they are. They are all meaningful because you are either one side or the other. One side you are very excited about winning and the other side of it, you are very depressed about losing. We just have to find a way to play better in close games and we need to make the plays that are necessary - You can go back to our last game or go back to the last four that we have lost by seven. We have had opportunities and we haven’t cashed in on those and I think our competitive effort is good, we just have to learn how to win. Plain and simple, you have to learn how to win those games. When we do, when we start winning games like that it becomes a part of your DNA and then you move past, but right now we are struggling with that.”
ON OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES…
“For us, it's just not sustaining drives and getting ourselves in 3rd and long situations and then making some costly mistakes. Mistakes always play a part of it. Look at the last game, you get two balls across the 40 and you lose possession of those balls. Well, that’s the worst case scenario for us, maybe that’s two field goals – you have a chance to intercept a pass in the red zone and you drop it. That’s taking points away from them and maybe putting some points for us, but at least taking points away from them. It’s just missed opportunities and I think that is the game of football and when you win games that are close you generally take advantage of those opportunities. When you lose games you can look back at the numerous five or six plays and those are the plays that get you. So far that has been our season within the games we have lost. It’s been right in there nipped and tucked. Someone has to make the play and we haven’t been able to do it yet.”
ON SATISFACTION FROM THE STEPS THE DEFENSE IS TAKING…
“I think we knew going in that we were trying to rebuild a new defense, a new system, asking players to do some things a bit different than they have done in the past. I think they are starting to understand what it takes to play good defense. Now, we have to continue to do that. We’re playing a very talented team. I mean, these guys are talented. They have always been talented. It never ends with these guys. The years that I was at Cal, they were very talented. They had 11 players that went to the National Football League on one team. That’s what you get and you know when you play a team like this they are always in the game because of their capability of making a big play on either of side of the ball – game-changing plays. That’s what they possess and you have to be well aware of that they are never out of the game. They can always find a way to make a play or two on either side of the ball to change the outcome of the game and we have to be aware of that.”
ON THINGS THAT WORKED WELL FOR THE OFFENSE IN WINS...
“In the Michigan State game was probably a level playing field for the most part. They probably had more experience, but we got it to where it was a one-score game, like a lot of big games and we were able to finish it off with the last drive. That’s how it worked. It just kind of worked out that way. I think for us offensively, we have sputtered some. There is no doubt about it. We have to find a way to get that going again and there is a lot of veteran guys on offense. We have to sustain drives, that’s the key to us. If we sustain drives, if we have a nucleus of putting some drives together then we are pretty good and when we don’t do that, were not very good. We are like any other offense so I just think that we have to take a look at it. And you are right, the caliber of the opponent has a lot to do with it. We have played some pretty good teams down the stretch here and their records indicate they are pretty good. Most of them have only lost one game so they are pretty good football teams – you can't give them second chances, we are not good enough to do that yet. There will come a time when we are good enough, but right now we are not. We have no margin for error, we have to play error-free and that’s hard against good teams because when you make a couple errors and you don’t take advantage of the opportunities, they don’t let you back into the game. That’s how it works.”
ON POSSIBLE DANGER FOR TEAM INVOLVING ARGUING WITH OFFICIALS...
“I have always felt that they have a difficult job. They never have a home game. Wherever they go, they get the crucks of the blame depending on how it ends for the home team. They have got some difficult decisions to make and they are under the spotlight. TV and instant replay has really made it hard on their profession because we visualize things in slow motion and it is easy for us to sit in our living room or skyboxes and see things differently. If you are not in the right position, you might not see it all. There is a holding call on every play if someone wants to call it. What you don’t want to do as an official is give the opponent an advantage because you have then created an unfair advantage. An official should be in that position because they have to make a fast call because the ball moves so fast. When you see fouls, it is never good for football because officials do not want to be a part of the game. They want it to be a clean game. You never want a game to end, regardless of the score or outcome, in which people are talking about the officials. That is not good for sports. I think they have a tough job to do and they do the best they can. I am not one to talk about officiating. I have done this too long in my lifetime. I know how hard that job is. They do the best they can. Their eyes tell them something and they call it. Last time I checked, they will not pick up the flag when it is on the ground. You can rant and talk about it the week later, but the game would be over and we move on. I do not let my team talk about it. I know Danny (Gonzales) had a little outburst and I told him he can not do that because we should not get into that situation. He understood and apologized, which he should have done. I have never as a player or a coach, worried about officiating. I just try to get ready for the opponent and let the game be played."
ON VIEWPOINT OF WHERE THIS SEASON HAS GONE SO FAR AND LOOKING FORWARD TO RECRUITING...
“We will not know much about recruiting until the signing day, but I think we have made some headway on that. It is a process and you have to enjoy the process. There is a way you go about doing it and you have to stick to your plan. You can not panic. I have not panicked and will not panic. Have you guys seen me panic in these seven games you see me coach? You just will not. I have a great view and vision of what we are trying to do here. I think the players, coaches, and administration understand that. We are all on the same page. When our players walk into the stadium, they should leave whatever they have on the grass. We have not won enough games, but you will not question their effort. I want to win more games. This is too hard. Waking up at four o’clock in the morning every day and coming over here and opening thirteen hours a day. That is not fun, but there is a process. Anytime I can see players getting better, I am okay with that because I see improvement. Eventually, you start winning those games after getting closer, then it becomes a little bit of your DNA. We still have five more chances. We have a chance this week, but we have to play really good. We know that.”
ON LOSING CLOSE GAMES BECOMING A MENTAL ISSUE FOR YOUNG PLAYERS..
“Yeah, and I think what you do is reflect on the game and give them hope. They know that it was right there in front of us. They watched the tape. They get it. I like their resolve because they continue to fight and they understand we are that close. I feel bad for our players because of the effort and everything they put into it. I told them that it is going to cash in one day for them. So, we just have to continue to be playing that way and eventually, we will get one to go our way again and we will feel a lot better. I will not be sitting in here saying that we lost by seven again. If I was in Vegas, I would be betting on seven all the time. We would be winning. It is not Vegas though, it is football.”
ON MANNY (WILKINS) DEALING WITH TOUGH LOSS...
"I talk to Manny after every game. He is fine. I told him we were just a couple plays away here or there. He knows because he is a quarterback. When the table is set, any quarterback should want the opportunity to say that they have the ball. Hopefully, we can continue to do that and get him the ball in situations where he can make some plays. He is going to do it. I trust him because he works at it. He needs help too. It is not just all on him. Can our defense give him a short field to have momentum instead of starting from a deficit? Also, when our offense scores a touchdown, our defense has to not allow the other team to drive right back down the field for a touchdown. We have to build some momentum for him and he can not do it by himself. When he makes some throws, our players have to catch it too. It is a team effort. Obviously, the quarterback and the head coach are tied together. The quarterback and head coach’s record travels together for an entire lifetime. So, we are tied together.”
ON DEALING WITH EMOTIONS AT THIS POINT OF SEASON...
“I am great. You guys just thought I was on TV not doing anything. You guys just thought I was on television for an hour per day. I was traveling 6,000 miles per week going to work and coming back from California to Bristol, Connecticut. Everybody thought I lived in Bristol because I was there so much. Even my family thought I lived there for a while. I am fine. This is what I have done for my whole life. This is who I am. My emotions are fine. You would not see me talking to players or in meetings. You usually would see me on the practice field and every once in a while I have an outburst. For the most part, I have done this too long. Players do not want to fail. I get that as a former player. You have to help them. They go off of my lead and look at me every day how I am coming into meetings and how I am feeling. I am the guy that turns the lights on in this building, so I have to have energy, but that is who I am. That is my personality. I love life because life is short and life is a circle. It is a big circle. These are young men and you always have to give them hope that every Saturday we walk onto the ballyard, we will have a chance to win. They truly believe that. It does not matter if we are at home, road, favorite, underdog, we will have a chance to win. We have to do some things correctly to win, but I think our guys trust in me that we will do that.”
ON MULTI-STAGE PROCESS OF WHAT DEFENSE IS PROGRESSING INTO...
“There is a process of what you should be doing on both sides of the ball understanding that there are certain things that have to stay in place because of the players. You do not want to put the players in a position where everything is new. You try to build a program with the talent you have and you figure out what they can do well. With that being said, you also try to establish a foundation of where it is going. Defense is not very hard because it is new. Offense is just a little bit different because of the players that are back on offense. There are more veteran players over there than on defense. So, you want to keep that somewhat similar. The run game has changed a bit. That is going to be us as we continue this process. Now, it is just a matter of how we blend that with the pass game and how they both fit together. That is what we are trying to do along with understanding what Manny’s strengths are. We have to make sure the passing game is in a place where he feels comfortable doing what is required of him. If you do not do that as a coaching staff, then we have failed him. We will not do that."
“Another Pac-12 opponent. A very talented opponent on both sides of the football. Big athletic football team. They have playmakers on both sides of the ball. Its good to hear the quarterback (JT Daniels) is going to be available to play. That’s a good thing for them and a good thing for football. Those concussions all of the sudden start adding up and the players miss valuable time. He’s on the protocol with their physicians – they have cleared that young man, which is a good thing. You are always concerned about player safety and I’m glad he’s cleared and I’m glad he will be available to play. With that being said, previous years this has been a very emotional game for both parties. Fouls have really been a part of this. 30 penalties total in the last two years for over 300 yards. That’s not good football. We have to make sure we understand we can’t be a part of that and I know coach (Clay) Helton is telling his team the same thing - that you don’t want a game marred with penalties. It takes away from the game of football. I think it’s an emotional game. There a lot of kids from California playing in Los Angeles. It just becomes that. It’s fine to be emotional about a game, but you can’t let your emotions get the best of you because it becomes marred with fouls. It's just bad, bad football. I’m going to talk to our team about that. I know coach Helton, being the man he is, will also talk to his team. Hopefully, that’s not part of the game we watch this Saturday.”
ON ANY ADDED PRESSURE FALLING ANOTHER GAME BACK IN THE LOSS COLUMN…
“You don’t want to go to anything when you are losing, you want to try to win. That is the most important thing. I think anytime you play you are going out there with the intentions to win. I just think all games are important, they are. They are all meaningful because you are either one side or the other. One side you are very excited about winning and the other side of it, you are very depressed about losing. We just have to find a way to play better in close games and we need to make the plays that are necessary - You can go back to our last game or go back to the last four that we have lost by seven. We have had opportunities and we haven’t cashed in on those and I think our competitive effort is good, we just have to learn how to win. Plain and simple, you have to learn how to win those games. When we do, when we start winning games like that it becomes a part of your DNA and then you move past, but right now we are struggling with that.”
ON OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES…
“For us, it's just not sustaining drives and getting ourselves in 3rd and long situations and then making some costly mistakes. Mistakes always play a part of it. Look at the last game, you get two balls across the 40 and you lose possession of those balls. Well, that’s the worst case scenario for us, maybe that’s two field goals – you have a chance to intercept a pass in the red zone and you drop it. That’s taking points away from them and maybe putting some points for us, but at least taking points away from them. It’s just missed opportunities and I think that is the game of football and when you win games that are close you generally take advantage of those opportunities. When you lose games you can look back at the numerous five or six plays and those are the plays that get you. So far that has been our season within the games we have lost. It’s been right in there nipped and tucked. Someone has to make the play and we haven’t been able to do it yet.”
ON SATISFACTION FROM THE STEPS THE DEFENSE IS TAKING…
“I think we knew going in that we were trying to rebuild a new defense, a new system, asking players to do some things a bit different than they have done in the past. I think they are starting to understand what it takes to play good defense. Now, we have to continue to do that. We’re playing a very talented team. I mean, these guys are talented. They have always been talented. It never ends with these guys. The years that I was at Cal, they were very talented. They had 11 players that went to the National Football League on one team. That’s what you get and you know when you play a team like this they are always in the game because of their capability of making a big play on either of side of the ball – game-changing plays. That’s what they possess and you have to be well aware of that they are never out of the game. They can always find a way to make a play or two on either side of the ball to change the outcome of the game and we have to be aware of that.”
ON THINGS THAT WORKED WELL FOR THE OFFENSE IN WINS...
“In the Michigan State game was probably a level playing field for the most part. They probably had more experience, but we got it to where it was a one-score game, like a lot of big games and we were able to finish it off with the last drive. That’s how it worked. It just kind of worked out that way. I think for us offensively, we have sputtered some. There is no doubt about it. We have to find a way to get that going again and there is a lot of veteran guys on offense. We have to sustain drives, that’s the key to us. If we sustain drives, if we have a nucleus of putting some drives together then we are pretty good and when we don’t do that, were not very good. We are like any other offense so I just think that we have to take a look at it. And you are right, the caliber of the opponent has a lot to do with it. We have played some pretty good teams down the stretch here and their records indicate they are pretty good. Most of them have only lost one game so they are pretty good football teams – you can't give them second chances, we are not good enough to do that yet. There will come a time when we are good enough, but right now we are not. We have no margin for error, we have to play error-free and that’s hard against good teams because when you make a couple errors and you don’t take advantage of the opportunities, they don’t let you back into the game. That’s how it works.”
ON POSSIBLE DANGER FOR TEAM INVOLVING ARGUING WITH OFFICIALS...
“I have always felt that they have a difficult job. They never have a home game. Wherever they go, they get the crucks of the blame depending on how it ends for the home team. They have got some difficult decisions to make and they are under the spotlight. TV and instant replay has really made it hard on their profession because we visualize things in slow motion and it is easy for us to sit in our living room or skyboxes and see things differently. If you are not in the right position, you might not see it all. There is a holding call on every play if someone wants to call it. What you don’t want to do as an official is give the opponent an advantage because you have then created an unfair advantage. An official should be in that position because they have to make a fast call because the ball moves so fast. When you see fouls, it is never good for football because officials do not want to be a part of the game. They want it to be a clean game. You never want a game to end, regardless of the score or outcome, in which people are talking about the officials. That is not good for sports. I think they have a tough job to do and they do the best they can. I am not one to talk about officiating. I have done this too long in my lifetime. I know how hard that job is. They do the best they can. Their eyes tell them something and they call it. Last time I checked, they will not pick up the flag when it is on the ground. You can rant and talk about it the week later, but the game would be over and we move on. I do not let my team talk about it. I know Danny (Gonzales) had a little outburst and I told him he can not do that because we should not get into that situation. He understood and apologized, which he should have done. I have never as a player or a coach, worried about officiating. I just try to get ready for the opponent and let the game be played."
ON VIEWPOINT OF WHERE THIS SEASON HAS GONE SO FAR AND LOOKING FORWARD TO RECRUITING...
“We will not know much about recruiting until the signing day, but I think we have made some headway on that. It is a process and you have to enjoy the process. There is a way you go about doing it and you have to stick to your plan. You can not panic. I have not panicked and will not panic. Have you guys seen me panic in these seven games you see me coach? You just will not. I have a great view and vision of what we are trying to do here. I think the players, coaches, and administration understand that. We are all on the same page. When our players walk into the stadium, they should leave whatever they have on the grass. We have not won enough games, but you will not question their effort. I want to win more games. This is too hard. Waking up at four o’clock in the morning every day and coming over here and opening thirteen hours a day. That is not fun, but there is a process. Anytime I can see players getting better, I am okay with that because I see improvement. Eventually, you start winning those games after getting closer, then it becomes a little bit of your DNA. We still have five more chances. We have a chance this week, but we have to play really good. We know that.”
ON LOSING CLOSE GAMES BECOMING A MENTAL ISSUE FOR YOUNG PLAYERS..
“Yeah, and I think what you do is reflect on the game and give them hope. They know that it was right there in front of us. They watched the tape. They get it. I like their resolve because they continue to fight and they understand we are that close. I feel bad for our players because of the effort and everything they put into it. I told them that it is going to cash in one day for them. So, we just have to continue to be playing that way and eventually, we will get one to go our way again and we will feel a lot better. I will not be sitting in here saying that we lost by seven again. If I was in Vegas, I would be betting on seven all the time. We would be winning. It is not Vegas though, it is football.”
ON MANNY (WILKINS) DEALING WITH TOUGH LOSS...
"I talk to Manny after every game. He is fine. I told him we were just a couple plays away here or there. He knows because he is a quarterback. When the table is set, any quarterback should want the opportunity to say that they have the ball. Hopefully, we can continue to do that and get him the ball in situations where he can make some plays. He is going to do it. I trust him because he works at it. He needs help too. It is not just all on him. Can our defense give him a short field to have momentum instead of starting from a deficit? Also, when our offense scores a touchdown, our defense has to not allow the other team to drive right back down the field for a touchdown. We have to build some momentum for him and he can not do it by himself. When he makes some throws, our players have to catch it too. It is a team effort. Obviously, the quarterback and the head coach are tied together. The quarterback and head coach’s record travels together for an entire lifetime. So, we are tied together.”
ON DEALING WITH EMOTIONS AT THIS POINT OF SEASON...
“I am great. You guys just thought I was on TV not doing anything. You guys just thought I was on television for an hour per day. I was traveling 6,000 miles per week going to work and coming back from California to Bristol, Connecticut. Everybody thought I lived in Bristol because I was there so much. Even my family thought I lived there for a while. I am fine. This is what I have done for my whole life. This is who I am. My emotions are fine. You would not see me talking to players or in meetings. You usually would see me on the practice field and every once in a while I have an outburst. For the most part, I have done this too long. Players do not want to fail. I get that as a former player. You have to help them. They go off of my lead and look at me every day how I am coming into meetings and how I am feeling. I am the guy that turns the lights on in this building, so I have to have energy, but that is who I am. That is my personality. I love life because life is short and life is a circle. It is a big circle. These are young men and you always have to give them hope that every Saturday we walk onto the ballyard, we will have a chance to win. They truly believe that. It does not matter if we are at home, road, favorite, underdog, we will have a chance to win. We have to do some things correctly to win, but I think our guys trust in me that we will do that.”
ON MULTI-STAGE PROCESS OF WHAT DEFENSE IS PROGRESSING INTO...
“There is a process of what you should be doing on both sides of the ball understanding that there are certain things that have to stay in place because of the players. You do not want to put the players in a position where everything is new. You try to build a program with the talent you have and you figure out what they can do well. With that being said, you also try to establish a foundation of where it is going. Defense is not very hard because it is new. Offense is just a little bit different because of the players that are back on offense. There are more veteran players over there than on defense. So, you want to keep that somewhat similar. The run game has changed a bit. That is going to be us as we continue this process. Now, it is just a matter of how we blend that with the pass game and how they both fit together. That is what we are trying to do along with understanding what Manny’s strengths are. We have to make sure the passing game is in a place where he feels comfortable doing what is required of him. If you do not do that as a coaching staff, then we have failed him. We will not do that."