On the mindset going into tonight’s game...
“I thought they took the approach that it was going to be a heavy-weight fight. I said ‘We have to be the physical group, and we’re going to have to play these guys for four quarters. If we play tough and keep the mindset that we can’t let them get out to an early lead, we’ll have a chance.’ Obviously, at the end they came surging back pretty back fast. When you think you have a lead and all of a sudden there are a couple of big plays in the passing game and they’re knocking on our door again.”
On capitalizing off turnovers…
“We capitalized off (turnovers), we got points off turnover. This was a team that lived off turnovers, Oregon scored 166 points off turnovers this year. We knew we had our hands full with these guys. They’re a very well-coached football team. That offensive line did a nice job of really running the ball on us. When we got a little bit of a lead we kind of took them out of that, so that helped us as well.”
On the strong start and controlling the clock…
“The whole key for us in the game, in my opinion, was how the game started. We just felt like they would try to come out and establish the run game and then try to score on us quickly and put us into a game where we couldn’t control the clock. Our whole mindset in this game was to control the clock and we did, we had the ball for 36 minutes.”
On using the run game to control the clock…
“We felt like we wanted to run the ball. We needed to control the clock and not allow them clock time or possessions. We did a nice job of that.”
On QB Jayden Daniels…
“The great thing about Jayden (Daniels) is he’s humble as well. He has a lot of fun playing football. I love talking to him on the sidelines, especially here towards the end of the game. I told him ‘It’s time. Can you throw a touchdown or do something? We need some scores here.’ Then he threw the one to Brandon (Aiyuk). I don’t know how long that one was, but it was a long one.”
Arizona State QB Jayden Daniels
On what the win feels like...
“It’s a great feeling. Like Brandon (Aiyuk) said, the games we were losing, it felt like we were better than the teams. Today we played a complete game as a team and it showed what we could do.”
On what the message was coming into the game from the coaching staff...
“Make plays and capitalize on opportunities. I mean you see what we did. We got up 10-7. The defense played their butts off. Offense - Eno (Benjamin) ran hard plays but (Brandon Aiyuk) when the time came he made a play, Frank (Darby) made plays, so just as a team we came to play our butts off.”
On how it feels to break ASU's freshman passing record...
“I’m just happy we won, but it really means nothing to me. I have a long career ahead of me and I’m just happy to get these guys a win.”
On ASU's success against ranked teams...
“We should be playing like that all the time really, but we have something to prove. We lost so many games in a row so this win just felt different. They just happen to be the No. 6 ranked team. These guys owed them something from last year, took (ASU’s) chances from the Pac-12 Championship, so just came out there and played with a chip on their shoulders.
On if there is more pep in his step playing against a QB as successful as Justin Herbert...
“No. I can see why he is the top choice in the draft, he’s been there for four years and about to go compete for a Pac-12 Championship and was trying to compete for the playoffs. I’m really just going out there to play the game.”
Arizona State WR Frank Darby
On how this win feels after last year's loss to USC and the two-point conversion that was called no good...
“It’s an amazing feeling right now. Amazing. I think about it now, they should have (given) me the two-point (conversion), they should’ve. It’s a blessing playing with these boys. They played their hearts out today. I love y’all to death, for real. We couldn’t do that without all of us doing what we have to do. It’s just been a blessing. I came out here with a chip on my shoulder and I know they all did too. Last time we played them it was just a bad outcome, missed opportunities, but we got them now.”
On what it's like catching deep passes from QB Jayden Daniels...
“If y’all can see us at practice, that’s all we do. That’s the main route we’ve been working on all week, just mostly going deep. We just knew that (Oregon’s) corners were going to play us man and the way we’ve worked all season we just felt like nobody could cover us one-on-one, and I’ve been mentioning that since the beginning of the year. I was saying we could do it. So they tried to man us up and we got them on both sides.”
Arizona State WR Brandon Aiyuk
On what the win feels like...
“We got the win, that’s exciting, and it just shows how good we could’ve been (this season).”
On if he feels Oregon didn't properly scout him based on the success he had tonight...
“Oregon is Oregon. They think they are big bad mighty Oregon, so I had a feeling they were just going to come out and do what they do. They were still giving me the ball and playing me man to man. Last year playing against Oregon, we know there was a lot of talkers, but didn’t say too much today. I’m glad they came out and played like that.”
On being selected to play in the Reese's Senior Bowl...
“It's exciting to be able to play in the bowl game, but I saw a lot of stuff that came out this week and there was a lot of Oregon people disagreeing with that stuff, so it was fun to show them what I am about.”
Arizona State DB Kobe Williams
On the difference in the defense's performance this week compared to previous weeks...
“Just our mindset coming into the game. Just knowing we were underdogs and knowing they messed up our season last year, that was our whole thing. We could come in, we do the same.But that’s our mindset, when we come in like that, we’re a team that’s hard to beat. When we come in on all phases of the football and just play hard, and we came out today and there was a different vibe from our team here today. It was all that emotion, all that heartbreak from the last week, we just came in to get this big win.”
On if he felt Oregon QB Justin Herbert getting frustrated later in the game...
“Oh yeah, most definitely. That’s just our defense. When we get up, if we get the lead, we’re a whole different team, and that’s how we played. We’re going to rattle you until you can’t anymore and we’re just trying to walk out with the win, but we knew their quarterback was a little rattled and everything was that. We just kept playing and tried to finish the game.”
Arizona State RB Eno Benjamin
On what it means to be bowl eligible in back-to-back years under Herm Edwards...
“It’s just to be able to give the seniors another game to look forward to and add it to their resume as they go on, because some players don’t play football anymore after college and to grant them another game is a huge opportunity to go out there and show the world that we are capable of playing teams from around the country, not just in the Pac-12.”
Arizona State LB Khaylan Kearse-Thomas
On what he felt was the key to forcing Oregon QB Justin Herbert's turnovers...
“It was just giving him pressure. We saw in some of the film when Herbert got pressure, he gets a little rattled and he can throw you the ball. I feel like that is what we did today and the outcome were the interceptions.”
Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal
Opening statement...
“Obviously a tough night, physical battle, they made a lot of big plays, we came back and started rolling later for the latter half of the football game but certainly too late to get going. Really proud of the way our guys continued to compete, but against a good team on the road you have to be at your very best from start to finish and we were not that tonight, so credit to the other team and we certainly have to get better.”
On ASU's explosive plays against the secondary...
“They hit some big plays. In a game like this if you can hit some of those plays it changes things. It changes things in a hurry. (Jayden Daniels) made some great throws, the receivers ran underneath those balls too and they connected. They were on point for some big ones.”
Oregon QB Justin Herbert
On what happened on back-to-back interceptions…
“I made a bad decision and the defense made a play.”
On mood of the locker room…
“Guys are disappointed, rightfully so. That is a tough game and we did not play like we could but we are going to get back to work tomorrow. We have practice tomorrow. We are going to do our best and learn from this, and do everything we can for this week.”
On what prevented passing game from clicking…
“We’ll look at the film and we will get after it. We will learn from it and we’ll get better.”
On how the long touchdown from ASU affected the game...
“It’s tough. They made a great play and Arizona State has a good offense and things like that happen. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the ball moving in the first half to overcome that.”