Nov. 1, 2010
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Photo Gallery
Arizona State Head Coach Dennis Erickson Washington State vs. Arizona State 10/30/10
On the game and how the team rebounded from last week's loss: "They fought back. Last week was very disappointing to us and it showed a lot of character. I guess that happens, you see it all the time. You don't want it to happen to you, but it did. But our guys came back, particularly in the first half, we totally dominated the game. I thought we played well on both sides of the football."
On Washington State: "I thought they were going to score points, I really did. They have some really gifted, skilled guys out there and [Jeff]Tuel is a good quarterback but we just got a pass rush on him. That was real key. We played well in the secondary. We played really well, LeQuan Lewis came in and played really well for us and it was just a great effort by our defense and defensive front and our linebackers. I'm just proud of how they played."
On Steven Threet's play and rebounding from injury: "He threw the ball real well and shook off what happened last week with the injury. He came in with a purpose and ran the offense. I thought he executed and read things extremely well. That's what it is all about on our offense. You have to be able to read things and he did that. I thought we ran the football really successfully to balance it out and that helps."
On what was the problem the past couple games: "Well we threw out a lot of our stuff and got away from it to be honest with you. We spent a lot of times going through our first four football games, what we do in our first four football games to be successful and now all of a sudden we were not so successful so we just went back to our basic stuff, simplified it a little bit but just our basic stuff. We threw the ball out to the backs and then that opened downfield and then that opened our running game which is what our offense is all about."
On the defense and pass rush on Jeff Tuel: "Yeah it's the most pressure we've got. We knew we had to do that. People had gotten pressure on [Tuel] but not a lot really because he was running the football. Coach Bray did a nice job of seeing what was going on and taking away certain routes that they were throwing successfully, forced [Tuel] to hold it a little bit more and that was the biggest difference. I thought Junior [Onyeali] and all of them did a great job. It was a great pass rush."
On only freshmen and sophomores scoring for the Sun Devils: "I didn't know that but yeah those are our freshmen and sophomores. I guess we have a pretty good future."
Player Quotes Washington State vs. Arizona State 10/30/10
Quarterback Steven Threet:
On the game: "We came out, had a good game plan, practiced hard all week and really prepared well. We executed well."
On if he felt like they needed to win big to get last week's game against Cal out of their system: "I don't know if that was necessary, we just wanted to play well, treat every play as important as it could be and execute one at a time."
On if it's safe to say the Cal game is out of their system: "It was on Tuesday at practice. Obviously, it left a bad taste in our mouths and we wanted to come back and perform well in this game. This is just like we had to move on from Cal, we have to move on from this one and get ready for USC."
On if he thinks there is more success when he spreads the ball out between the receivers: "Yeah, we have some great skilled guys. To make the defense defend them all is difficult. Spreading the ball around really helps our run game just as well as our pass game."
On where he thinks the team is at: "We're sitting at 4-4 with four opportunities left. We're focused on getting prepared for USC and trying to play the best game we can next Saturday."
On he felt the good offensive game tonight would help overlook the struggles in past games: "I think we have the capabilities of doing this. It's there, we just have to execute. Today we were able to do that."
On if he was worried about coming back after his concussion: "Nope, it felt good. I took it a little bit easier in practice this week at the beginning. As the week progressed I kept on feeling better and better. I knew yesterday I felt a hundred percent so I was ready to go."
Offensive Lineman Jon Hargis
On returning to the field: "It feels good. It feels great. It was nice to get knocked on the ground once or twice actually. I pancaked my guy, so it was nice. It kind of just built some confidence up, it's good to be back."
On if it feels good to come back during a game like this: "I was always hoping for the fastest part to come back to. Doctors told me a month ago that this was the day I was coming back. It was nice to come back this week and help give the team an emotional lift."
Cornerback LeQuan Lewis
On if they played to its potential: "I believe we stepped up and put the game last week behind us, instead of having it hang over our heads. We weren't talking about how many points we gave up and how many mistakes we made. I feel like if we stay consistent and believe in what we have, we will be very good."
On playing cornerback: "I always told myself I was going to wait and be patient. I didn't get that much playing time at the corner spot, so when I got the opportunity I was going to take it and not let go of it."
On if he knew his foot was in when he got the interception: "I thought I had two feet in. I thought I had some part of my body inside the end zone."
On the mentality of the defense: "We weren't in fear today. We have said all season that we weren't going to let teams score. Today we really stepped up. We lit it up in the end zone and really played very hard. We put a lot of effort into it. Some guys were going down and other guys came in and stepped up."
On if their focus came from giving up so many points last week: "I believe that game was behind us. It was just another game and another week. We felt that we should have dominated these guys, and that's just what we did."
Wide Receiver Jamal Miles
On the energy in the locker room: "We have a lot of energy going on in the locker room. Everybody is really excited we got a win. We're going to take it on to next week."
On if it was exciting for the offense to have a good game: "It was good to see us finally get rolling and connecting with each other and getting the ball down the field."
On why he thinks they had a good game: "It was preparation in practice and working hard. We executed our plays and didn't commit a lot of penalties."
Washington State Head Coach Paul Wulff Washington State vs. Arizona State 10/30/10
Opening Statement: "It was clearly our worst performance of the year. We didn't do anything right. We were not very emotional. We were flat and didn't execute in any phase. I thought we had been mentally ready, but today we were not. It comes back on me and I have to do a better job."
On the team's mood: "Hopefully, they feel embarrassed, because I know I do."
On turnovers: "I think it's an accumulation of a lot of things. I thought Arizona State played a very good game. Offensively, this was probably the best they've played all year. They were in sync and played good. We couldn't force anything and we couldn't make plays. We didn't block well and there were a lot of dropped balls. Defensively, we tackled poorly and couldn't get to the quarterback."
On ASU's pressure: "It's misleading that they didn't have a lot of sacks this year. If you watch their games closely, they pressure the quarterback all game long. There is somebody in his face and the quarterback very seldom gets to set his feet and throw the ball. There is something that disturbs the pocket non-stop. When they know its pass they will sack you."