Coach Todd Graham
On Senior Day:
"We are proud of our seniors. We are proud of our program. That was our 27th win in three seasons. We are averaging nine wins a season since I have been here. These guys have just been so special to me. When Taylor Kelly came out of the tunnel with tears in his eyes, I walked back in and asked the team, 'You see those seniors right through that tunnel? Have you never seen them look that before? Lets go out there and play for them.' I am so proud of all the seniors, particular Kelly and Jamil Douglas. They are remarkable leaders. I so proud that we are 3-0 on senior day."
On the defense:
"We were just getting turnovers all over the place. Four interceptions and one fumble recovery. Five turnovers is pretty good. We did not score any points off defense but we sure did set up points for our offense. We had this whole plan of rushing four and playing coverage. But we scratched that plan when we went down 21-7. One of the things we measure everyday is turnovers. When we are an attacking defense, turnovers is exactly what we want to happen. We are really proud of our defense."
On the offense:
"Cam Smith made some explosive plays. DJ Foster came to play like he always does every single game. Deantre Lewis stuck out for me, he did some nice things on the field. We had a lot of drop balls that should not have been dropped. But it was 52-31, that is all that matters."
On Taylor Kelly:
"I was so proud when we took the field and the student section chanted Taylor Kelly's name. That guy has meant so much to this program. Being a quarterback is pretty tough. Probably tougher than being a head coach. That young man has been stealer. He is the one that has truly led this team. Without his leadership, we will not be where we are at today. Because of his influence and humility he is the single most important player in our program. He is a special person. I am proud of him, I think he had a great senior day. In 27 years of coaching he is the most special person I have ever been around and I am proud that I had the chance to coach him. In my career there has only been one Taylor Kelly."
On Marcus Harrison:
"That guy is on beast mode. He has really matured. We have challenged him and demanded more out of him. I told him from the beginning what his potential was and it just clicked. It just clicked about four weeks ago. He is playing with unbelievable confidence. He is so athletic to snag that ball like that on his interception. He is always talking and leading our defense. We need someone to talk and lead like he has. He is the most talented defensive linemen. He is the real deal. What was missing was that fire in his eyes. I am very proud of him.
On Cam Smith filling in for Jaelen Strong:
"We did not know Strong was going to play until right before the game. I did not need to say much to Smith. He is a Barrett's Honors college student. He is very smart and a man of few words. I gave him a little fist bump and asked for a touchdown. I am really proud of him. It is a very challenging thing to be in Honors college and be on the football team. He is always studying. He really embodies what we want in a student-athlete."
Senior Quarterback Taylor Kelly
On the impact of Jaelen Strong’s absence and scheme changes:
“We don’t do anything different. We have great players behind Jaelen like Ellis Jefferson, Fred Gammage, and Cameron Smith. I found out today that Jaelen would not playing, and even though he felt fine he just was not able to make it.”
On how the defense helped him at the field position:
“It helped us out tremendously. Field position was what this whole game was about. I can always count on them to give us great field position; whether it’s a turnover, or turnover on downs, our defense is an attacking defense and I love to see what they do.
On the Territorial Cup:
“We are going to treat it just like every other week and we’re going to attack it, we’re looking at it like it’s a Pac-12 Championship game. It’s down in Tucson on a Friday afternoon, so we have to start preparing tonight and get to work.”
On Cameron Smith’s growth this season:
“Cam is a tremendous athlete, he’s one of those guys who’s always going to be early to practice, early to treatment, and just keeps chopping at the wood. He has been waiting for his time and he got that opportunity and took advantage of it.”
On defense forcing turnovers:
"It was huge. We just had to come out and execute. We weren't doing that early on, and we kind of lost our focus at the beginning of the game. Our defense played a great game again, and they were unbelievable. You can always rely on them, and they rely on us. That's what makes a great team.
On playing in last career home game:
"That's something I'll always remember for the rest of my life. When the clock hit zero, I was looking at the fans, my coaches, my teammates. To see their faces, that was a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life."
On being emotional before the game:
"It was very emotional. I kind of lost it when I gave Coach Griswold a hug and Coach Graham. Just all of the hard work and relationships that I've built with this team over the years and how close we've become as a family is one thing that I'll remember for the rest of my life."
On not having Jaelen Strong:
"Jaelen is a great asset for us. We just had a few drops early on and misplaced balls. Cam Smith had one of his best practices all season, he came prepared and he came after it today."
On facing adversity in the first half:
"Adversity hit early on, and our team responded really well. In the second quarter, we came together as a unit offensively and defensively, and we just put on a great show tonight."
On whether the team came out slow because of the loss last week:
"No, it was just the focus. We didn't execute. Whether it was bad placement on a ball, a drop or timing on certain things, we just weren't clicking in the first quarter."
Redshirt Senior DB Damarious Randall
On the defense’s mindset that led to five turnovers:
“We basically have an attacking style defense. With our great crowd that we have here and with just a lot of noise, the other team really can’t communicate a lot whenever we’re doing a lot of skimming and scheming. So that’s kind of hard for the offense.”
On how the defense handled 76 passing attempts:
“Our defensive line starting creating a lot of pressure and once we created a couple turnovers, their offense started slowing down a little bit. Their quarterback started second guessing himself and that’s when we started attacking more and more.”
On the Territorial Cup next week:
“That’s a must win game and that’s basically us competing for the South championship. Just hoping everything will take care of itself this afternoon.”
Washington State Head Coach Mike Leach
On the turnovers:
“Well we had five turnovers, two were pressure, one was a dropped ball and we tipped it to them, and two were bad decisions by him (Luke Faulk), and they were interceptions. And then I think that offensively, we need to overcome it better, although we should remain explosive. And then defensively we got them three and out, three and out, three and out. And then at least in one half the first half, I don’t know if that quarterback (Taylor Kelly) has been it that much. But as soon as we turn it over, doesn’t matter where it is on the field, defensively we feel entitled to let them score. So, that’s the part that needs to score. The part that needs to end, is the ability to compete every play regardless of what happens.
On ASU pulling away in the fourth quarter:
“If we turned it over we let it frustrate it offensively, and then thing is like I say, we can do it, there is no question we can do it, we have a bunch of three and outs, we have a bunch of sacks, and then all of a sudden if the ball’s turned over and it’s 70-yards away, we will let them march right down, then we are just token resistance, How can we be so formidable down, after down, after down, and then if we turn it over, they just walk down field. Well then offensively, we can’t turn it over. We’ve got give him (Faulk) time, and not let him get hit, if the ball hits us in the hands we need to catch it, and he (Faulk) has to make better decisions, and he does it everyday in practice. You can’t turn the ball over five times and win.
On inability to create turnovers:
“That’s a huge problem. We have to be better at turnovers, we have to be better at not giving it away, and we’ve got to be better at taking the ball away. Arizona State was trying to give us the ball several times, we have to find away to get the ball and take it away. Maybe it’s maturity, but, one way or another you have to find a way to take the ball away. Everybody else does. And that’s one thing we’ve been battling all year, and battled this game, is we never get the short one, we never get the easy one.”
On if this game as “there to win”:
“No doubt, my assessment is like I said, each play is an isolated play, you’ve got to compete each play. You turn it over, you can’t come out with a bunch of anxiety the next series, and then recover by the series after that. That’s what we did offensively. And defensively we played tough, the majority of the game, and then if we turned it over, it didn’t matter where the turnover was, it was like: ‘oh the got a turnover they deserve to score’ I mean we went from doing a pretty good job attacking them and limiting their overall effort today, because Arizona State’s a great offense, but if there was a turnover we just give up, we don’t even look like the same defense.
Luke Falk, Washington State Quarterback
On what he attributes his interceptions to:
“Bad reads mostly. There were a few ones where they got lucky a little bit, like when the d-lineman got it. I need to do a better job, it’s hard to win a game when you turn it over that many times. And that’s on me. Obviously, the sacks are on me as well.
On whether his success in the past two games made him think things would always work out for him:
“Not really. This is Pac-12 football, they’re 16th in the country so we need to do a better job of just finishing drives. We’ve got a lot to work on this week and we will get it fixed.”
On what he was thinking about after the game:
“I was just mad at myself. Thinking back on some plays, I think we had a real shot to win it. There were times where we just didn’t make the plays, so we’ll have to look back on film. But we have to make those plays on critical times and that’s on me. We’ll get it fixed.”
On whether his mistakes were a result of trying to make the highlight play:
“The first one was just a stupid decision. And then my last one was a result of trying to throw over a guy and it got away from my hand. I’ll make those throws every single time but I didn’t make it that time.”
On whether his mistakes were a result of seeing their lead dwindle and disappear:
“Maybe I was pressing a little bit. I need to do a better job of just focusing on the next play like Coach Leach always says and no matter what the score is just doing my job. I didn’t do a very good job of that in the second half.”
On whether any of the different looks the ASU defense gave him were confusing:
“Not really. They’re a great defense and they did a lot of man (coverage) and threw in some pressure. I just need to go through my reads and find the open guy. There’s a lot to improve on this week and it was a great learning game for us and we will be better the next week.”
On whether he saw a lot of blitzes, and if they got to him as a quarterback:
“They heated you up more than most teams. We just needed to do a better job of just putting the ball in play, and that’s on me. When they bring the heat, if you put the ball in receiver’s hands, there’s big money to be had and I need to do a better job of that.”
On whether he came into the game expecting to use the running backs heavily in the passing game:
“Every week they can be a weapon so it just depends on what the coverage is and whether they are in my reads at all. Those guys are great weapons so we’ll probably start utilizing them more.”
Washington State Left Tackle Joe Dahl
On reacting to the number of different looks ASU defense threw at them:
“They were still using the same things, but at a higher frequency. I think as the game was close they wanted to throw more blitzes at us to try and get us in some trouble.”
On the ups and downs of the game:
“I think it was just some sloppy plays in there. I think for the most part we did pretty good as an offensive line but there were just plays from time to time where we didn’t get our job done and were a little sloppy. That’s where you saw those six sacks come into play.”
On Marcus Hardison:
“He’s a pretty good player. Obviously he’s really big and athletic. I just think he’s a good, solid player. I’m not sure on his stats, but I think he’s a solid player.”
On whether the frequent blitzes confused the offensive line at times:
“I think for the most part we were pretty prepared for it. Maybe we got a little worn down or we just got lackadaisical at times, but we knew what kind of blitzes we were going to get and we were just a little sloppy at times.”
On whether ASU’s defensive line was more fresh at the end of the game compared to WSU’s offensive line:
“I think it happens every game. You always get a little worn down by the fourth quarter, but it’s your job to just be mentally tough and not use it as an excuse. But I think it contributed to more of the sacks in the second half.”