Oct. 18, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
ASU head coach Todd Graham
On the game overall...
"First of all, I want to apologize to our fans. We worked hard to put ourselves in this position and I appreciate them filing the stadium with the blackout. To our students, lettermen and former players, obviously we let our players down as coaches. We had a poor plan and had some things happen that we didn't react very well to, so I want people to understand that. We have a good team and we're headed in the right direction. It was just one game. You have to give Oregon a lot of credit. The margin of error was very small. They had big three plays on us and all of them were alignment errors."
On Will Sutton leaving the game...
"Losing Will was very disruptive and we did a poor job being prepared for that as a staff. So much of what we had planned was around him and you have to have a plan B and it took us well into the game to figure out what to do there. Making no excuses, we got beat by a team tonight that's a lot better than us, but we made them look a lot better by making a lot of mistakes."
On rallying at halftime...
"I'm proud of our guys and how they responded. They came in at halftime and we had no bad body language and went to work. We never gave up. We never quit. We came back and shut them out in the second half defensively. I was proud of how our guys played scored-on defense. Their defense is a really good defense. We had some good things on special teams. With the onside kick at the end, we were trying to win the game. That's our mentality and what we're trying to teach kids. I'm obviously very disappointed. I did a poor job in having a plan when we faced a bit of adversity, and we made some bad calls that resulted in some big plays that I apologize to our kids about."
On the Oregon Ducks...
"The bottom line tonight was that we were overmatched and had some things happen that can't happen. But you have to give credit to Coach Kelly and that team. There's no doubt that they're one of the best two teams in the country and they showed that tonight. You have to congratulate them and move on. But I had guys come up to me on the sideline patting me on the back and saying 'Coach, we'll see these guys again.' And I hope we do. That's our mindset. I told these kids they're the best team I've ever coached and I said it before the game and again after the game."
On looking forward to UCLA next weekend...
"We have a good football team and it's just one game, so we go to next week. This next week is a big, big game in the south and even with a poor showing tonight, we're still in first place. We have to go to work and UCLA is the next one up and we have to figure out how to win that one. ... I know our fans are disappointed, but we can't do anything but move forward and we're going to work hard to make sure we don't let them down again."
Safety, Alden Darby
On the fumble recovery in the first and the Will Sutton injury...
"It was a high-low moment for us. We were excited about the turnover and then we looked down and saw Will Sutton, one of our key players on the d-line line, down on the field. He's a great guy. It brought us down to see all that happen in one play."
On the tempo of Oregon compared to ASU...
"Honestly, I didn't see their tempo at all. Everybody talks about how fast they are. They go faster than normal, but I wasn't affected by their tempo at all."
On the amount of points scored by Oregon...
"They came from mistakes. Once you get the wrong gap or wrong assignment, they're going to take it all the way."
On what caused the mistakes on defense...
"I think it was the panic. We called plays that we shouldn't have called. We over-coached and over-thought ourselves."
On how Will Sutton acted after his injury...
"He provided motivation. He told us to keep going out there and pushing. He was a great motivator on the sideline. It's tough to do what he did. He got hurt in the second play of the game and he didn't go out hanging his head. He continued to be a leader."
Safety, Keelan Johnson
Thoughts on what happened that first half...
"I think the hype got to a lot of guys. With Oregon coming in and being number two overall in the country, they made the guys want to play higher than their potential. Some guys played other people's assignments and get away from the things the coaches were doing. It cost us in the first half, but coming into the second half we corrected some things. As you can see, Oregon wasn't able to put up any points on the scoreboard in the second half."
On losing Will Sutton...
"Will Sutton is one of our impact players, he's the one of those guys on the front line that can get cut on the quarterback and make everyone's job on the back end a lot easier. We don't have to cover as long."
Quarterback, Taylor Kelly
On the quick offense start and then drastic change in momentum…
“We had great momentum. The defense really showed up their first series and got a big turnover for us and we executed that. This game was a great learning experience for us and we just have to bounce back next week for UCLA.”
On what you learned from tonight…
“Protecting the football is a huge thing. Taking what the defense gives you, for me personally, whether it is throw the ball away, hit the check down or run I just have to take better advantage of that.”
On the disappoint of the loss considering the huge crowd…
“It is huge disappointment. We have to better as a team and we are going to bounce back with that. We have some great teammates and belief in one another, so we will come back together for UCLA.”
On preparing for UCLA…
“That is how we are as a team, we move on to the next play, the next team. We will move on and start getting ready for UCLA this weekend.”
On what Oregon was doing to challenge you defensively…
“Their coverage and lining guys up everywhere. We have to be better at working with that.”
On your comparability with Oregon….
“We will be there. 0ffensively we can get to that tempo. We have great player makers and a great coaching staff to put us in there and our defense will be with us the whole way.”
On what this game shows offensively…
“We are an explosive offense, we will put up some points but Oregon did a great job defensively and we just have to bounce back next week.”
On his interceptions…
“On the first one I just under threw him and threw behind him and it just got away from me. The second one it got tipped and he made a great play.”
On the difficulty of trying to run the offense…
“They were blitzing three and four and dropping seven or eight so they were covering the flats or hooks and deep coverage. They had a coverage game for us and if that defense does that I just have to go out and run.”
Oregon Quotes
Oregon head coach Chip Kelly
On answering after the forced fumble and Arizona State touchdown…
“Things did not start off the way we had planned, I’ll tell you that. I give them credit on the nice play; (Will) Sutton caused the fumble and to come out and score on us. One thing I love about this team is that they don’t flinch. We talk about playing a full game and this group just bounced back going in at halftime 43-7. I think our defense is playing outstanding right now and that’s the key to being a great football team.”
On Kenjon Barner’s 71-yard touchdown being what they needed…
“It was and that’s the type of kid Kenjon is. He is really the guy we are riding on the offensive side of the ball. When we can get those type of plays out of him, with him being an explosive type of guy, then you tack on Marcus’ (Mariota) long run, I think we have a pretty good weapon in terms of how we are running the football right now. Again, total team effort. I think both the offense and defense during the first half really distanced us from them.”
On getting in a rhythm after the first scoring drive…
“It did in the first half; rushing the ball. I thought we had a real good rhythm. Obviously, the interceptions with our defense gave other opportunities to get on the short field. We feed off of each other. Obviously, weathering a little bit of storm is not the way you want to start and we allowed their crowd to get into it a little bit. I think our kids just didn’t blink and that’s what I love about this group.”
On keeping Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly uncomfortable…
“It takes eleven. I think with Dion (Jordan) and those guys up front generating a little good pass rushing and not letting them get comfortable and then I think we are always close in coverage. Our guys Ifo (Ekpre-Olomu), T-Mitch (Terrance Mitchell), Avery (Patterson) and that whole crew back there, have done a very good job from a coverage standpoint.”
On their red zone defense shutting down Arizona State second half on fourth and goal…
“Yeah and that is something that we pride ourselves on. They feed off of each other. You watch our sideline and see guys like Dion (Jordan) and Kenjon Barner coaching their tails off in the fourth quarter says a lot about this team.”
RB, Kenjon Barner
On running his 71-yard rushing touchdown into the gap Arizona State’s Will Sutton would have been in…
“I think he would have been backside on that play. Our offensive line did a great job at opening the window. I would say their linebackers over pursued and I was able to get it up the field and scored.”
On if Arizona State missing defensive tackle Will Sutton was a big deal…
“Yeah, I am pretty sure it was big for them. He’s a stud on defense so I am sure it was a big loss.”
On putting up 43 points in 19 minutes…
“We just came out and did what we had to do. We came out and executed well, came out and made big plays, made plays that we were supposed to make and ended up with 43 points.”
On how important their defensive stops and picks were…
“Our defense has been huge throughout this entire season. It is probably a surprise to a lot of people but after facing them everyday in fall camp this is what we come to expect from them.”
Quarterback, Jackson Rice
On if the running game was used to keep Arizona State from blitzing…
“It was just the game plan. The game plan was just to run a little bit. Once they started to load the box, we tried to throw outside and we got some success out there but just to be able to run the ball the way we did, we just couldn’t go away from it.”
On what he saw behind the line of scrimmage…
“Just the offensive line moving the line of scrimmage. Kenjon (Barner) and them were finding the holes and again they did a really good job.”
On how he deals with throwing an interception…
“I just try to go on to the next play. That play is in the past and you just have to focus on going on to the next one.”