Arizona State Head Coach Todd Graham
On impact of weather:
It had to have affected both teams. The wind was blowing 100 miles per hour in every direction. It turned it into a game where you had to run the football. I think both teams came to play. It was a very physical game. Their defense really got after it and did a great job. I’m so impressed with our team taking the ball with six minutes left, driving down the field and scoring. And how about Gary Chambers—it’s so awesome to see a guy work so hard to come from scout team to where he is. He caught the pass that set up the play at USC, and then he caught the game-winner tonight. I’m proud of our offense. They faced a lot of adversity tonight and you have to give them a lot of credit. I knew coming in they had a really great defense. I’m really proud of our special teams. Our punter under very difficult circumstances did a great job at kicking the ball. I thought we kicked the ball really well, especially in those conditions. And then our defense—I’m really proud of these kids. They are put under so much scrutiny. They’ve had to listen all year long about how we’re inexperienced and how great everybody else is. I’m really excited for them that they’re playing at the caliber that they are. We’ve strung together three pretty good defensive performances. Tonight was a defensive struggle, and you’re going to have that. I’m just really proud of our team collectively.
On going 4-0 on the road:
I don’t really listen to that, and I do that for a reason—there’s a psychology to it. You can’t focus on things you can’t control. Tonight, no one said anything about the weather—we just don’t worry about it. I used to love playing in the mud, that’s part of football. Winning on the road means a lot because it means that we get to compete for a championship. I always say you have to be undefeated on the road and we’ve had a hiccup there, but we have a chance. We have a heck of a football team coming in next week. We need every person on hand—it’s a big game. The winner of next week’s game controls their own destiny in the Pac-12.
On defensive turnaround this season:
If I got to do it again, I’d like to have a few more warm-up games before we got rolling in these big ones. I think that they’ve matured. We have good, talented players. It can be so hard to adapt to your guys, and you can adapt or die. I think we’ve adapted to them. And when you do what we do schematically, it’s just a mess at first. We were having 15 to 20 critical errors in games earlier in the year. But if you just stay with it, your guys mature and settle in. And I think we’ve made some adjustments to their skill set. You just have to keep plugging. We haven’t accomplished anything yet, but we have a chance because we can play defense.
WR Gary Chambers
That touchdown pass you really had to make a play and come back for it. Can you take us through that?
TK put the ball up there for a play to be made. Luckily I was able to track it and go get to it. Simple as that.
There was some crazy weather out there. How crazy was it on the field?
For me it was a little different because I am used to the warm weather. We prepare for everything and practice so hard. Once we’re on the field we are able to lock in and focus and block it out and go play football.
DB Jordan Simone
How did it feel coming home and getting a win like this?
It was awesome to beat these guys. I didn’t have a chance to play them my freshman year at Washington State. It feels great to play them and I got to play across from one of my good buddies from Skyline. Armand Perry and all these guys did awesome.
This looked unrecognizable from a couple weeks ago, what happened?
Something clicked. We believe in our system and we believe in our coaches. That’s what great defenses have to do is believe in the scheme and believe in each other. We are going 110%, balls to the wall. I am loving what our defense is.
What was the feel on the sidelines after UW came down the field to tie it?
We were ready. We knew our offense was going to go get back on the field and score. We held them to three points so they didn’t make it into the end zone. That was big for us. They drove all the way down the field and didn’t make it in the end zone.
LB Laiu Moeakiola
What was it like playing in that weather out there?
It was great. It reminded me of playing in high school playoffs. Coming down knowing this was win six. It was huge. Going back home we have Utah so we’re looking forward from here on out.