Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham
On the victory:
“We won the football game. We beat another ranked team in Mountain America Stadium. This is all about the guys, these guys battled, these guys fought, these guys found a way to win and it doesn't matter whatever happened at the end, it happened, but you know what? We got to rush the field twice. How about that? We rushed the field three times this year. That's pretty cool. Not many people get the opportunity to do that.Come to Arizona State because there's going to be a lot more of that coming forward.”
On aggressive playing throughout the game:
“Keep the momentum, obviously (there’s) four downs. There's some - like I said, making a team go 96 yards. So fourth and ones, we're going to go for it. Everybody knows it. If you can't get fourth and one consistently, you're not going to be a good team anyway. So who cares? We were going to go for it. But, when you start to go to those aggressive fourth down calls it's really just time of the game, field position and score. I kind of alluded to why we went for the one to start the third quarter. We were playing good defense, making them go 96. If they get three, then they're down to 15. Who cares? You're still in the driver's seat. If you score a touchdown right now, you take a four-possession lead as opposed to kicking a field goal, taking a 21-point lead. They still have to get three touchdowns. So you changed nothing of what they had to accomplish and you gave them the ball on the 25 instead of the four. So just the risk vs. reward there, that was the thought process.”
On onside kick decision:
“So that was actually a squib kick. But when we squib it, the way they angled their dude, we said, ‘let's squib it,’ but we also tried to hit him on the way to the squib. So if it hits him, we have a chance to recover it. But if we don't hit him, we recover the ball around the 30-35 yard line. So it's a very low risk onside kick. It's like, if it works well, right, but if it doesn't work, then they get the ball at the 32-35. So very, very low risk onside”
On message to the team while BYU stormed back:
“Guys, we're still winning, it gets tighter and tighter. Guys were still winning, like we're still winning. Relax. We're going to make one play. We make one play the rest of the game we win. (If) we catch the ball in the end zone right on the play before we went for it, win the game. (If) we get the fourth and one when there's two minutes and whatever, 30-40 seconds left, (we) win the game. (If) we get one sack or one interception, (we) win the game. So many times, just one play. And guess what? We got it, we got the play. We got the play to win the football game and what’s just so special is that we have a bunch of guys that when you look at the guys,(they) have such confidence. it's like, ‘oh, the game's close? oh, I'm glad I'm on this sideline.’ I wouldn't want to be on the other sideline because that's what we do. We win close games and we like drama. So it's perfect.”
On game atmosphere and future atmospheres:
“How expensive are these tickets? Like 300 bucks if you bought a season ticket to begin the year? You probably would have to spend, what, another 150? There's going to be a lot more games that tickets get at that price. So, if you want to be a part of them, you better buy season tickets. You better do it right now, you better sell it out because we're going to have a lot more games where this state wants to show up and you are going to want to have season tickets for those things because you're not going to have to pay $300 to get in the stadium every single time. So buy your season tickets. Let's make that every single week of next year because why would you not want to be in that environment? That was one of the most fun places to be in college football. Why would you not want to do that every Saturday? All it is is the fan base saying, ‘this is what we choose to do.’ So buy your tickets and donate to keep our team. Let's repeat next year and let's try to run it back at home...Activate the Valley, baby.”
Arizona State Running Back Cam Skattebo
On the turnaround, the team has had this season:
“The boys, they fought every day. We go back to the summer workouts and everybody fights every single day. We didn't blink out there when they started scoring points and we weren't. We came back, scored a touchdown, got a comfortable lead and then they scored again. So we just keep fighting. These guys have a lot of heart. This kid right here (Jordyn Tyson), he yelled at me, ‘don't be selfish.’ We looked at each other, alright let's go. The culture's changed and everybody loves each other. We've turned this thing around, but it's not finished yet because there's still work to do in the process.”
On signing an autograph after scoring a touchdown:
“That's actually one of my boys. The touchdown before, he held the ball out with the sharpie. I talked to my team and my lineman, I was like ‘next touchdown, I'm going to go sign and try to get behind me so the refs don’t see it.’ That was on me. I made that mistake so that definitely won't happen again. That was a one time thing. I think that might be my second personal flag in my entire life. I think the thought of just going over there and feeling that after a touchdown was awesome.”
Arizona State Wide Receiver Jordyn Tyson
On proving people wrong:
“It's just a testament to the team. They counted us out and we continue to keep working and proving the haters wrong. I have a tattoo right here that says a diamond in the rough. That describes the team, just a diamond in the rough. We just keep working, and pressure builds diamonds. That's what happened today.”
On areas of growth in the game:
“I’ve had two big fumbles on the year that kind of kept other teams in the game. So just keeping the ball. That's one of our key topics in our team meetings. So that's one of them, then just the details, fundamentals, route depth, stuff like that. All of the little stuff and all the little stuff matters. Big stuff is kind of easy, but the little stuff really matters.”
Arizona State Wide Receiver Xavier Guillory
On his 61-yard touchdown reception
“Playing with this offense, we have Skatt and we have JT who I think are top players in their positions in the country. So it’s just being ready and that's just the model that our receiving group follows. Staying ready and just doing our job. It’s so awesome that Sam trusted me in that play, and it turned out to be a big, big play when it came down to the game. So it felt great, and I was trying to get going as soon as I caught it. It was an awesome feeling scoring and just helping the team.”
On his journey to get to this point:
“I actually went to Idaho State before this and I played against BYU and lost 77-7 or something like that. It was something crazy. So it felt awesome just to be here with the team where everybody's bought in and nobody is really tripping over their own personal accolades. We are all playing for each other. This is something special that we have here with the players that we have and the coaches that we have. So it feels awesome to be on this side and I'm just thankful. I wake up and I’m thankful to be here, it’s an honor.”
BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake:
Opening Statement:
“What a cool environment in college football, this was awesome. Big 12 football. A lot of fun, obviously we didn’t work out in our favor but just really proud of the team. I’m proud of the guys. I think they could have quit at any moment and so it didn’t look great, especially in the first half but I’m proud of the guys fighting back. Even when they had that score to have 28 points on the board the guys just kept fighting and so I’m really proud of the leadership of this team, the coaches, our players. Obviously we didn’t do enough to get the win but you have to give a lot of credit to Arizona State, Kenny Dillingham and the team. They were ready and I thought they had a great start, a well-coached team. You look at the weapons that they have on offense and then you look at what the defense has done. That's an underrated defense that I don’t think a lot of people give enough credit too. But overall just a really good game and it just didn’t workout in our favor. I thought the experience, the environment was really cool. Just happened that we were a few yards short. Looking at our team and our players, we’ve earned the right to extend the season, already. All I know is that we have two games left for sure, but we’ve got to win the next game at home, for the seniors against Houston. So there’s still a lot more to play for and we’ve got to get back and learn from this.”
On the difference in the second half compared to the first half:
“In the first half, it seemed like Arizona State got the momentum and they just kept pounding it. I think the kickoff where they squibbed it off of our guy put a tired defense back out there. We’ve got to learn when our guys are tired to put fresh guys in there. And I think they took it to us and then we had to respond. They’re style of play is to be physical and we had to decide if we’re going to do that and match it or not and get ran out of here or hold our ground. I’m proud of the way our guys responded and we just needed to do that before. But that’s easier said than done though, these are really good teams. I know this coaching staff at Arizona State really well, a lot of the guys on the staff are excellent coaches and I know a lot of the players that played did a great job.”
On the field-storm and what was going through his mind:
“I was just hoping for all kinds of stuff. Like how many penalties do they get or trying to get an unsportsmanlike conduct or something like that with the crowd and their student section. Just hoping we had one more shot. We had the one-second at the 49-yard-line and I think there’s a good way we can respond from this in a positive manner. When you put yourself in the hole too much it’s going to be hard to crawl out of it. Especially against quality teams like Arizona State and we found that out. It’s a tough lesson to learn but give them credit, they deserve to win and they got it. We have to learn from this and get better but we’re sitting at 9-2 and there’s a lot of parody in this league so we can’t just show up and think the Houston game will be an easy one. That’s our senior game, so there’s a lot to play for.”
BYU Center Connor Pay
On the difference between the second half and first half:
“We made some good adjustments I think at halftime. They came out and they did a good job in the first half and we didn't. That's a bad recipe when you come out and you're making mistakes and they're playing well and I think we made a few adjustments that I'll keep to myself that were pretty key.”
On the players mindset within the locker room:
“Obviously it hurts because you had chances to win. And obviously it sucks for us as an offense to play the first half that way. Have to be in that situation to come back from a deficit. Obviously we're going to need some chips to fall for us, but in a very real way we're still very much in the hunt for a bid to a conference championship game. So, we gotta go take care of business against Houston and then let the cards fall where they may.”
BYU Wide Receiver Chase Roberts
On his thoughts on how they started the first half:
“We came out flat, both on offense and defense. We didn't play our game in the first half and you saw what happened, we have to change that up. When we start fast, we're undefeated and that's a fact. That's what we do, that's BYU football. We start fast and we play with heart and we don't let them get close and we run away with it. We weren't able to do that today and we had to come back from behind. I love the fight of our team in the second half and what we showed. I thought it was cool, it was special to watch. Unfortunately, came up a little short.”
On what sparked those three consecutive touchdowns in the second half:
“We just needed to calm down and play our game and that was the message in the locker room, and we were confident in what we could do and that's what we did. Just play one play at a time and do our 1/11, play our play and everyone made plays. We were able to spread the ball out, the run game got going. We just need to start off the game like that and we weren't able to do that.”