ASU head coach Todd Graham
GRAHAM: First of all, I just want to say I love sitting back here listening to these guys talk. This senior group is just really a special, special group. Really proud of how our guys played today, offense, defense, special teams. I thought we brought the fight. I thought we were the aggressor. I thought we physically dominated the game. Got after them pretty good.
We always tend to make it interesting. But just really proud of these seniors and what they've meant to me personally. The six young men that are finishing their last home game today, that were in this room when I got here, they've been a part of really helping me and changing a culture here. I'm really proud of what they've been able to do.
Guys like D.J. Foster, D.J. is really special to me, and I know special to this university and this valley because he's a young man that right here locally trusted us and has had an unbelievable career. I think it was his 51st game with a catch. That's a whole lot of games to start, and I loved it.
They were interviewing him, and they were saying what would you tell someone here in this valley, young man, about what is it like to go to ASU? And he said, "Well, if you want to be a man, you come to ASU, because I've become a man." And that made me feel good, because I know what he's talking about.
Really proud of Kareem scores and great interception. He gets a penalty. And, boy, I was searching him out and I couldn't get to him because all the other guys were letting him know we don't do that.
Just really proud of Lloyd. Me and Lloyd go way back. Lloyd's been with me five years. I recruited Lloyd to Pitt from the same hometown. Grew up probably about three miles apart, something like that. I'm going to miss Lloyd. Really going to miss Lloyd. We had a couple more games left, but I was really -- my son caught the game-winning pass his senior year in high school against Lake Highlands when I was a head coach, and I almost had a tear in my eye, and I almost had a tear in my eye today when Lloyd intercepted that pass because that guy, what an incredible young man. I personally coach him.
It was a whole bunch of guys, Christian, and Nick, and Vi, I mean, Vi, 41st start today. Cherry, Longino, man, you see how that guy's grown. Obviously, all the guys I'm mentioning, most of those guys have already graduated from college, and I know going to live championship lives.
I'm so grateful to them because it's a great time to be a Sun Devil. We didn't hit the mark where we wanted to this year, but that one heals you up quite a bit. I liked that one. That was worth about five wins there, at least that's what all the fans say when I talk to them.
But this group of seniors have really laid a great foundation, and we're going to have a brand-new stadium here in a very short period of time. A new sports complex, shows unbelievable commitment, the leadership here, Dr. Crow, and Ray Anderson, man, we've got a chance to do some really special things.
I'm just grateful for these seniors because I can't tell you how fragile this has been for now going on four years. We've won a lot of close football games and these guys have busted their butt and given me everything they've got and I'm just really, really proud of them.
Q. Devin obviously had a big impact today. Can you talk about the adjustment process for him coming into this program and learning this offense?
GRAHAM: He would probably tell you, if he was honest, it was pretty tough. And I'll be real honest with you, I wasn't very -- it was something that I had to be sold on. I've never done that. It's hard in that short a period of time to really understand how we do things. I'm going to tell you, it was hard for him because how we work and how we do things and the discipline and the structure and the rigor, not only on the field but academically in everything that we do. You know, he has been great. What a great kid. He has really exceeded what I thought that that would be able to do in that short period of time.
Not that it's right or wrong, but just very different how we operate and how we do things. For someone to come in, it usually takes them a little while to get adjusted to what we do. I'm really proud of him.
I'm really proud of Berc. I think Berc had a lot to do with that. If not for Berc I wouldn't have done it because of their relationship. But he told me he would make sure it got done right, and it would be transitioned and it would be a positive deal, and he did what he said he would do. I'm really proud of him today. I loved sitting here listening to him talk. He was pretty nervous.
But that's good for those kids. All those kids need to do that, communicate, and do that. But I'm really proud of Mike Bercovici and how he's led the team. I got after him today for the first time. I hadn't gotten after him very often, but I got after him good on a couple of plays, and I like how he responded.
Man, I mean I thought we had 400 yards in the first half, two 100-yard rushers. I wish I could just show them the screen here of the huddle on the fourth down call. Boy, I did not want to do that.
I thought they were going to say that, because in the huddle I told them you better dang sure make this thing. Because at first I went, get the punt team, no, don't get the punt team. Call timeout. Get the punt team, no. And then Slocum said, "Coach, the rules say punt it. We're playing good on defense, punt it." And then Vi didn't say much and those guys and Nick said, "Hey, run the ball. We'll get it." I said, "You guys better make it. "
It would be really neat to watch that because it wasn't a very -- I didn't look very professional, because I was really concerned about that. That was really a difficult call that we went back and forth on about seven times in 20 seconds.
But I knew it was going to work the whole time (smiling).
Q. Coach, Demario obviously tried to stay in the game. Had to come out after one more play. Any update on whether you might have him next week?
GRAHAM: I haven't heard anything yet. He's a tough kid. He should be okay.
Q. How do you guys take this as a program?
GRAHAM: Yeah, it was pretty important. Bad, about as bad as you can need something. The former players and the former coaches and everybody. They let me know how important this game is. And it's personal to me. I mean, this game is very personal to me. It's one that we needed to win because we need to win next week. We need to win the bowl game. That is not still -- we have not reached our mark. But we're definitely headed towards it.
Yeah, it does a lot to help you. This game -- I can tell you this: We won 10 games last year, and we lost this game, we've won seven games or six, next week would be seven, if we win a bowl game, great. Whatever. If we won six games, I feel better right now than I did last year. Ever, I don't ever want to experience that again, because that was not good. People were not very happy, and it's pretty miserable when you lose this game.
Q. What was Kareem's situation the last week and a half, and what sparked the decision to put him in there?
GRAHAM: Kareem? He was hurt. He had an injury. He had an upper leg injury, and he wasn't able to play. It happened in the mid-part of the week, late in the week in practice, and he wasn't able to play. Really proud of Solomon Means. Solomon got to start tonight at corner. Never played free safety ever, and started there at free safety.
So Kareem got well this week, so we played him in nickel, because Solomon is our starting nickel corner. To me, it was weird. I called -- I was going home, because I was watching the receivers going, those receivers are really good. We've got to have some speed. I was coming to work early, and I was listening to some motivational stuff on the radio. And I said, man, this is Solomon's last game. He's one of the finest young men in the program, great character. I just called him and said, hey, you're going to start at free safety this week. It's going to be the best game of your life. So I'm really proud of him. He's someone that I wanted to mention.
But playing Kareem, he was ready to go. We started Solomon because Kareem wasn't able to practice the whole week. So that worked out good. Those guys, Kareem Moore is going to be special. He's got special ball skills. He's got a knack for finding the football. Really proud of Solomon though. That was maybe his first career start, and his last home game. So that's pretty cool. Played really well.
Q. You mentioned Mike earlier. We know his story pretty well of sacrifice and commitment to this program. What are your emotions seeing him get this sort of payoff in this game?
GRAHAM: Yeah, I mean, I think that was big for him. I really believe this. Every former player that I talk to and Coach Kush tells me, "Let me tell you something, how you're measured first and foremost as a Sun Devil, did you get it done in that game?" Period. Now everything else past that is big.
We have our players, our former players, write messages about this game. We had one of the players that wrote the message about the '87 Rose Bowl, and how they won the championship, the conference championship, they won the Rose Bowl, but the one thing that they still have a bad taste in their mouth about is losing this game.
I really appreciate them doing that, because the magnitude of this game is really, really big, not only to our players, but to our fans and everybody. So forever, Mike Bercovici got it done. So that's a big deal. We didn't win the Pac-12 Championship, but I have people tell me they'd rather win that than the Pac-12 Championship. So I'm not going to comment on that, but pretty dang important, I know that. I'd win both of them.
Q. You guys in the fourth quarter you had two pick-sixes. How big has forcing turnovers been in closing out games for you?
GRAHAM: Pretty big. I was so infuriated because we had played so well, and I mean, we get a 90-yard curl route? What was that? How does that happen? How do you go the whole game and play like that and give up that? So I think they do that to agitate me.
So I was pretty agitated. But when you get them in that situation like that and you can tee off, and then you kind of back them up, and we've got guys that are really good athletes making plays, you put a little pressure on quarterbacks and they'll throw it to you.
So that was big. It was fun. It was exciting. Just having faith in our guys that we're going to get it done and finish. Man, I love finishing that way. I love those pick sixes for touchdowns. I tell you what was interesting, I showed them every single turnover I think we've ever had in this game. The last thing I showed them was Damarious Randall's pick-six. I said, I wonder what that feels like right there? That feels pretty good. It must make you feel like that.
So we had some good -- I was really proud. Especially when Lloyd got his.
Q. What did you see from Arizona's defense or your own guys that encouraged you to take those deep shots early in the game?
GRAHAM: Mike and the staff did a great job of I think preparing and planning, and what happens is we can run the ball. When we're physical running the football, you've got to load the box up to stop us. And we run the ball and make six, seven yards, if people have seven, eight guys in the box. So that squeezed them down there. We just found some things and he did a great job of making the call, and guys did a great job of executing. But I think it had a lot to do with us controlling the line of scrimmage, pounding, and being physical.
Q. I was just wondering what it felt like going through that third quarter? Some offensive struggles. The 95-yard touchdown, and then you responded with one of your longest drives of the season on offense, and got a touchdown to put it up two scores. What was that whole feeling like on the sidelines going through that third quarter?
GRAHAM: Yeah, it seems like -- I need to quit talking about it because I always tell them, hey, don't have a let down. Let's don't have -- I need to shut up. I think I'm making us have a letdown. It was not -- I was concerned. Even though I felt like we were under control because I didn't think they could sustain drives and score because I didn't think they could run the ball. So if we didn't give up cheap ones in the air, I thought they were going to struggle.
Then we should have -- what we do is pressure and play man, and we should have. We made some bad calls, I thought, and got a little conservative and stuff. Because when we brought Heat today, it was hard for them.
ASU players Mike Bercovici, Lloyd Carrington, Devin Lucien, Antonio Longino
Q. The up and down season that you've had, what's it like to beat your rival and kind of pull away at the end the way you did today?
BERCOVICI: When you're at the point in the season where we were before today, you can't look back. The focus is solely this game, and everybody that's a part of Sun Devil nation knows what this game means to us, especially the feeling last year that we had on that field. But just for this senior group, for this football team, for the future of this program, it's ignited us, and we've seen the way we've been able to play in the fourth quarter, and it's fun to be a Sun Devil right now.
Q. Can you just kind of elaborate on the way that you guys won, the defense comes through and not only makes some stops but puts it away?
CARRINGTON: That was just continuing to fight, not get down on ourselves. You know, we gave up some plays and a few scores helped get them back in the game, but man, we have great leadership on this team. That's from the players, from the coaching staff. We all do a great job of just sticking together, and in times of adversity, we all pull everything together, stay focused, and just be able to stay poised in those situations, and that's what I believe helped us the most.
Q. Is this the kind of performance you dreamed about when you came here in the first place? Can you walk us through sort of adjusting to this program, to this offense, and what it felt like to cap it off with this today?
LUCIEN: Well, the adjustment wasn't as hard as most people would think, just because of the senior group that I had, and they really took me in under their wings as soon as I got here, Lloyd, Berc. I was at Berc's house damn near every day over the summer, and then just being here, it hasn't really been an adjustment, and then to have a game like today, my hat goes on to everybody else who helped put me in that position to do what I did. It was great, and I'm really at a loss for words because this is my first time really doing something in a rival game.
Q. Mike, in the first half you guys had several huge plays. I think it was five plays for 260 yards, just really big plays. What was going on with their defense that allowed that?
BERCOVICI: It was more about our preparation. Coach Norvell does an incredible job. This game, like I said before, we circle this game in the summertime, so the preparation has started in August to play against these guys, and we saw a lot of things on film that we liked, but our players made plays. Devin stepped up huge around the ball because I know he's going to go get it, but the offensive line played great, protection was awesome, wide receivers played fantastic, and in the first half it was fun to get some explosive plays.
Q. What was going through your mind, you've got 4th down on your own 49 and it's a one-score game. What were the conversations with Coach Graham?
BERCOVICI: Yeah, obviously the decision to punt it or go for it was up in the air, but when you have three senior interior linemen saying, run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, it's pretty obvious that we're confident in those types of situation. We've been in those situations before, and the offensive line did an amazing job getting a push. Fortunately I was able to pull it around the corner, but that's just all up front, just incredible push all night long.
Q. Devin, can you compare the rivalry games?
LUCIEN: Y'all are funny. You know, not really. It's just -- it's two totally different games, honestly, just the whole feel and everything. But I'm not going to give the edge to either rivalry, just to be politically correct, but I'm going to tell you I had a lot more fun in this rivalry than I ever did in the USC/UCLA rivalry.
Q. Mike, you wrote an open letter to Sun Devil fans at the beginning of the season, you and Jordan and DJ. I pulled that letter up. In the last sentence of that letter, it says, one last note: The Territorial Cup will return to Tempe this year. How does it feel to fulfill that promise?
BERCOVICI: It's home. It's home where it belongs. The mission all summer long, shoot, ever since January, was that that Cup needs to come home, and obviously we're sitting in a different situation than where we thought we'd be in the summertime, but we're here. We're living in the moment, and like I just said, the Cup is home and it's going to stay here for a long time.
Q. Lloyd, in that last pick six, you had just gotten a pick six, and then sort of trying to get back into it. What was going through your mind as that ball was in the air?
CARRINGTON: Really just, man, my brothers, thinking about this senior group we have on this team, man, so much we've done to get to this point, all the sacrifice and the hard work we put in, man, I honestly couldn't think nothing but them, but about them, and just being able to just do my part and play my role in the game and be able to get that score to help put the game away. But the main thing really, man, just us being able to go out playing the only man and enjoying this last moment as seniors, playing here in Sun Devil Stadium.
Q. What does the performance that you had today indicate about the type of relationship you've built with these seniors just in a season?
LUCIEN: I mean, me and Berc worked all season on deep balls and just having that connection so we can have a game like we did today. I remember during -- I remember vividly, we were in the bubble, and I run a post route and he missed me by an inch, and we'd just keep going and going and going, and today you see us connect on one. It's just little stuff like that. When you take it back five months and you see all the hard work that you do, that really comes out towards the end of the season. Like I've always said, this senior group is amazing. I don't like to compare, but this is a really, really close-knit group. I went to an all-boys' school, Crestview High School, and we were very close there, and like I always said, as soon as I got here, I felt the same exact vibe here at ASU.
Q. To the defensive guys, when they pulled their quarterback, did you know much about the redshirt freshman who came in at all? Had you discussed him during the week in your preparation at all?
CARRINGTON: Well, we didn't know too much, but Coach Graham and the staff, man, they do a great job of preparing us. We knew what type of quarterback he was, although he was a freshman and we didn't have much film on him, but we understood what he liked to do and the type of offense that they ran. We pretty much didn't have to do too much as far as our game plan to change things up, just as players just go out and do our part and execute.
Q. Antonio, you said after last week's game that you wanted to fight back onto the field, be healthy, just play the last couple games with your brothers. Now it's back-to-back multiple sack games. How would you evaluate these last couple games and sort of how it's felt?
LONGINO: Time is ticking, so just enjoying it, just having fun. That's what our coach wants us to do, just have fun. I mean, it's a big game, but play it like any other game, just passionate, just have fun. So that's what it is, man. I mean, sometimes -- it took a while because it finally -- it takes a while when it finally clicks into your head what they're trying to say to you, like have fun and do what you do best and just be coachable like that, and it took a while, but that's what we all started doing. When we play together, like we really can't be beat. I mean, we just have fun and go get it, you know. Count on the man next to you to do their job, and you see the results.
Q. Mike, when you cut it down to a score, with that 95-yard pass in the third quarter and you guys responded with an 11-play 74-yard drive, what happened on that drive? It seemed like the offense really kind of clicked and got back to what you guys were doing.
BERCOVICI: Yeah, we didn't flinch. I think when you just see the type of response you get from the sideline right before you're about to take the field, obviously defense has been controlling the game all night long, and now it's our part, and basically like you can't say enough about our front five. Those guys set the message every single time we step on the field, and when you've got playmakers and an offensive line that believes in running the football and believes that we're going to get in the end zone, I mean, the rest is history. We knew -- it was clear. It was clear what we had to do.
Q. Mike, you hit on a couple long touchdowns there in that first half, one to Devin. Both those balls were very accurate. What were you seeing in that that enabled some of those opportunities?
BERCOVICI: Like I said before, it's a lot of preparation that goes into it, a lot of things that we saw on film. It's something that we were excited about going into this game. We have some serious deep guys, deep threats, especially guys like Devin, Jalen Harvey, a young redshirt freshman has stepped up, and all it is is protection, and just it's timing. It's reps and reps and reps. Gosh, I mean Coach -- when you overthrow a post in practice, you'll hear it, and it feels good to connect on some of those, but you just can't say enough about the playmakers we have. As a quarterback it's easy and it's fun to throw the ball. I mean, those guys are the ones running it and getting it.
Q. You guys kind of talked about it's all clicked. It's coming together. The coaches, their message finally has gotten through. You talked about being just an inch off in practice, and it seemed like that was kind of the case throughout the year where the offense would play well one game, and then the defense. It seemed like it all came together today on this stage. How nice is it to have it come together in this game against this team?
BERCOVICI: Yeah, fortunately people remember how you finish, and Coach Graham has been preaching that all week long; how you finish is how you're going to be remembered about these last couple games, especially this game, and when you have a coach that every week steps in here, writes on the white board a message that immediately clicks with you and trickles down from the seniors all the way back down to the freshmen, you don't flinch, just like when we were down and we had to go score 95 yards. It's just what we do.
We're so thankful to have a coach like that that believes in us no matter what anyone else is saying because we know the characteristics that this program is built on and the pillars of how we do things, and it's just a recipe for success, so what we're going to do right now is enjoy this game a lot, and it's time to go get our next win.
Q. When you say a lot, like how much?
BERCOVICI: Yeah, it's just -- it just feels good to know how many people -- Coach says that you're remembered by the games that you play against the team down south, and fortunately for the guys that have been here since 2003, we're 3-2, and I can promise you whether this senior group is on the field or not next year, we're going to do whatever we can to help beat them again.
UA head coach Rich Rodriguez
On the defense early on:
“We came out and had a couple good stops defensively and we had a couple good plays, but what killed us the whole game and particularly the first half were the big pass plays. They are allowed to do those, we just need to learn how to defend them better. “
On injuries:
“Twelve straight weeks, 16 straight counting camp, guys are a little beat up coming in and it’s not an excuse, I’m just telling what it is. Guys were banged up coming in and four special team players got hurt during the game. So it was just looking around and throwing guys in and they competed. We had a chance, we needed to get a play or two at the end and we didn’t.“
More on injuries:
“Have never had so many in one position, and then you go today and have no depth. It’s a warm day, you are playing a lot of plays, so who do you put in there. When a coach says those things it sounds like excuses, but the reality is that it has been a challenge since week one. I told the team in the locker room, if nothing else they showed they had some competitiveness today. We are not playing well at times, but we will be alright. We will recruit, develop, these young guys will come back and get better.”
On the season:
“We have to get better, and we know that. This is not fun. Being 6-6 is average. Nobody in our program wants to be average and we are not going to stay there. “
On the game:
“We can’t kick field goals and win this kind of game. We have to get touchdowns, but we still had a chance, when there was five or six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.”
On the defense making changes in the third quarter:
“If you let them get seven or eight yards on a first down it will be tough. I think our first-down defense was tough, we made it second and 10 or second and nine because if they get seven or eight yards on a first down you are always on your heels. Our first down defense was better at the beginning of the second half. “
On if there is a worst feeling from losing to ASU in Tempe:
“I don’t think so, from an athletic standpoint. There are worst things outside of football. From a football standpoint I will be ticked for 24 hours or more, and so will the players, but then we will figure out how we can get better. “
UA players Will Parks and Brandon Dawkins
On chance to get back in the game:
PARKS: It was always the time that we felt like that- the whole time we were down. Everybody on this team played in the comeback game last year against Cal that’s what I had in mind. But nobody on this team held their head down. Everybody stuck in and had confidence and believed in each other. Even still now, we still believe in each other. We’re going keep it positive here, I’m going to keep positive I know I’m talking kind of low but we’re going to be okay.
On young guys playing:
PARKS: That was good for them to get that type of exposure, if you want to bring something good out of it. In that type of atmosphere, you should be able to make big plays and stay focused because it’s easy to get rattled with the fans screaming at you and a lot of pressure on you. You just got to stay composed. Even as defense you got to play like just like the quarterback too. Always keep in mind there’s 10 other people on the field with you and has the same job as you just in a different aspect. As long as you keep in that type of mindset then everybody should be cool and the young guys did a pretty good job. I’m proud of them for competing out there to the very last whistle.
On playing in a bowl:
PARKS: Playing in a bowl game gives us another chance to let people know that this game doesn’t determine how our season went. We had a pretty good season. We took a lot of “Ls” but at the same time you can’t discard people for the losses that they take or something negative that they do. A lot of people work hard throughout the season and unfortunately it’s the game of football you’re going to take wins or you’re going to take losses but at the end of the day as long as you competed with force and came out of the game scratching and crawling then you’re fine.
On advice from Anu Solomon:
DAWKINS: That’s just a big thing with us. He’s always a guy I’ve been able to lean on even when he was in starting these last two years I was always right there on the sideline waiting to tell him what I saw, what he could’ve done, what’s open, what’s there and being the good competitor he is he was beside me the whole time helping me out the same way. He was there there the whole time for me.
On being hit a lot:
DAWKINS: I’ve been hit pretty good but that was a little extensive to say the least. They got me a couple of good times but just wish a couple of plays could have gone a couple of different ways. The defense stood in there the whole game. They’re the reason we got back in. There was a couple of more drives we could’ve put back in the end zone- change the outcome of the whole game. Just little things that we know we can correct, move forward from here and just keep playing for the seniors. Bowl game is for the seniors.