ASU Head Coach Todd Graham
Opening Statement
“Just overwhelmed by our football team. What an incredible team effort. The first half wasn’t what we wanted and we couldn’t get much going. We had some unfortunate things happen and had a 10-point deficit (halftime). We came right out in the third quarter and erased it in a hurry. Blocking kicks, big plays, running the football. Demario Richard and these seniors, I can’t say enough about them. Our coaches and staff did a tremendous job. I thought we made great adjustments at halftime. I’m just so proud of our football team. I’m sitting here looking at this Cup and I’ve kissed it about five times already. I’m proud of Sun Devil Nation, man, they were awesome tonight. What a great atmosphere. Got that cup back where it belongs.”
On the big defensive plays
“I thought the blocked punt is when things turned for us. The interception was a big play as well. It was one big play after another. Our guys played. They balled out. Demonte King was phenomenal. He really grew up tonight and I’m really proud of him. He was playing for Das (Tautalatasi). Das wasn’t able to practice a lot this week so we didn’t feel good about playing him. But, that 21-point third quarter was pretty nice.”
On Arizona’s quarterbacks
“We knew that we hobbled him (Khalil Tate) in the end and hit him pretty good in the first half but the other guy (Brandon Dawkins) is explosive too. I wouldn’t say just as explosive because Tate is pretty special. In this game, it’s the team that physically whips the other team and then the turnovers. The turnovers are critical. And then we had another punt that went away from us. We have to be smarter about that. But that ball hit an inch past the line of scrimmage so that’s tough because if it’s behind the line of scrimmage they can advance it.”
On the team
“I’m just so proud of our guys. What incredible heart and character and what an incredible group of seniors. I know we’re going to get a good bowl being second place in the Pac-12 South, and I’m just proud of our guys.”
On the improvement throughout the season
“I think we made great strides. I’m really proud of this senior group getting this thing back on track where it needs to be. I want to take these guys to a bowl game and go get our eighth win. Our whole team is probably one of the closest teams I’ve been on. The relationships, the family values, how they lift each other up, it’s amazing. Demario Richards… wow. He just refuses to be tackled. On that last play I told him I said, ‘Look. You got to go get that first down.’ There was no doubt he was going to go get it. I was so proud of him and so proud of D.J. [Calhoun]. D.J. turned his ankle and you look up and he’s back in there. I had to tell the trainer to not let him back in because he’s got a hurt ankle. I’m just really proud of our guys and proud of our football team.”
On the defense
“We had quite a few sacks. We had three sacks and about seven or eight tackles for loss. Our guys got after it. The big thing was those turnovers. Those two turnovers and that blocked punt was huge in the game. The second half adjustments on third down, too. We were able to convert the third down situations in the second half. That really helped us. We were able to get off the field on defense. We decided to go after them. We decided to be more aggressive and that helped us. Our guys on offense executed. We were able to get the ball out quicker and on time. Guys did some great things. I’m just real proud of our football team and proud of Sun Devil Nation tonight. I’m thrill to have this cup right here with me.”
ASU Redshirt Junior Quarterback Manny Wilkins
On what this win feels like
“It’s a blessing… God’s work. At practice we continued to just push and push and push. We had a great attitude at practice. (We had to) come out firing and make sure everybody was just focused and locked in. We started out slow but we continued to say before the game we knew they had to play us for 60 minutes. We had a lot of momentum there coming out of the half - that was the turning point in the game, and then we just handled business.”
On what was said in the locker room at halftime
“We’ve been here before. We’re not going to sulk about anything, none of that. We were down 10 against Colorado going into the half so it’s just perseverance.”
On what worked offensively
“It’s guys just doing their jobs. We had some big time third downs that we got - that third down that N’Keal (Harry) caught, that was huge. We just ran the ball really effectively in the second half which helped us seal the game.”
On what it’s like to win the last home game of the season
“I’d just say thank you to Demario Richard for bringing the passion that he brings every day. This one meant a lot to me for these seniors. These are guys that I came in with and I told them before this week, ‘Just continue to press on, I promise that I’ll give my all.’ They’ve been riding with me and it’s awesome to get this for these guys because they put in so much time. We’ve been through so many summers together and it’s special to me to get this win for these guys.”
On his relationship with Coach Graham
“My relationship with Todd Graham has grown tremendously this year. I think I’ve taken some huge steps maturity wise and he’s helped me grow as a leader of this football team. There are just some things that with the experience he has, it helps to have him in my ear in certain situations during certain times to just handle things the right way. It’s been a blessing to have him as a coach and I’m sure it’ll continue.”
ASU Senior Running Back Demario Richard
On the journey from the beginning of the season to the end
“In the beginning of the year we were only predicted to win three games. We went seven and five. We exceeded expectations. We should’ve won more - some games we shot ourselves in the foot but we came out on top. No, we didn’t want to be number two in the Pac-12 South… Of course we wanted to be number one but it’s all in God’s plan. We’re blessed to be here. There’s a million other people who wish they were in our shoes. We’re blessed to be here and we’re going to take advantage of every opportunity given to us.”
Demario Richard on his relationship with Todd Graham and how it’s changed
“Our relationship was never bad. When I got around Coach Graham I was just always quiet and now I feel like I have more of a vocal role. Now I can talk to him about anything. He’s probably texting my phone right now, that’s just the type of relationship we have and I’m grateful for him. I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else and I wouldn’t want to play with somebody else. I know how much this game meant to him and how much it meant to us so we’re going to celebrate.”
On what Todd Graham has meant to the program
“He changed the whole program around, honestly. They were barely winning games. [When I was] getting recruited, I never thought I’d come here. When I took my official visit, I was with Manny [Wilkins] all the time. I was committed to Washington. Manny told me we were changing it over here. [Graham] means a lot to this program. I wouldn’t hire anybody else.”
ASU Senior Defensive Back Chad Adams
On Khalil Tate’s injury
“We kind of saw him on the ground but we weren’t quite so sure. He came back in the second half but we knew he was kind of banged up so we prepared for both quarterbacks and we just went out there and executed. It didn’t really give us a boost. We played against Dawkins last year. He’s an effective quarterback and he can run like Tate. They ran the same offense so we stuck to our game plan.”
On defensive changes in the second half
“We didn’t really change much. We tighten up a couple of our lineman and kind of got away from it in the second half. It was on them, they just switched it up.”
Arizona Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
On Khalil Tate’s injury
“He got hurt and banged up. He tried to go, but couldn’t go. So the other guy (Brandon Dawkins) went in.”
On keeping things together in the third quarter
“You just play. We are a Division I team and we can’t cut a snap and punt the ball. The kids are trying, but it is just remarkable.”
On play calling and clock management at the end of the first half
“We took a timeout so we had a of couple minutes to go and then we tried to score. We didn’t move the ball and they (ASU) took timeouts, which they should have.”
On Brandon Dawkins
“He did alright and made some plays. There were some things you just shake your head at. I made some bad play calls. At the end of the game, I wish I had those two plays over and would certainly have called different plays.”
On regrettable play calls in the first half
“When the ball crossed the midfield. Lord knows I don’t want to punt. We took it down on fourth down then tried on third down to get field position. We were down there and took one shot at the end zone.”
On if the Hail Mary aggravated Tate’s injury
“No, he was hurt before that and it was a concern. Somehow in the first quarter, he messed up his left shoulder (not his throwing shoulder). It affected him mentally and physically a little bit.”
On the defense
“I thought there were moments we played pretty good defensively. Especially in the first half when we stopped the run and had a couple of three and outs. The field position our defense was put in was horrendous.”
On regrouping for the bowl game
“We have to regroup. We have a couple weeks left of school so the guys need to concentrate academically for the next week. Next we’ll find out where we are in a bowl game. We will be mad for a couple of days because you lose the Territorial Cup which makes you angry.”
Arizona Quarterback Brandon Dawkins
On coming in during the third quarter and trying to rally
“You know sometimes I say it’s not the first time but this really wasn’t the first time. It’s kind of like the same exact situation from two years ago. I just have to come out and play. I’m always preaching the next man has to be able to step up and take the reins and be able to go full speed. That’s kind of what I needed to do.”
On if it was clear at halftime that he was going in
“It was 50/50, play it by ear. Time rolled around, I went out there and warmed up, and I was ready. Coach called me from the sidelines and I knew it was time to go.”
On ASU bringing pressure
“That’s how ASU does it. If you’ve seen any of the last few games, especially the last time we were here, all they did was bring pressure just about every play. Hats off to them, they did an excellent job making sure they were in position at all times. We just needed to execute on offense. I’m proud of our guys as they had my back all game and I had theirs. I wasn’t going to quit on them.”
On seeing the positive in seven wins
“We were picked dead last [in the conference] so I feel like we shocked a lot of people. We never count ourselves out or hang our heads. I can’t thank my team enough, I love those guys to death. They work real hard all the time, they have my back, Khalil’s [Tate’s] back and I have Khalil’s back, too. It’s like a mutual love throughout the program.”
Arizona Cornerback Lorenzo Burns
On when the momentum was lost
“[It was lost] when we first came out after half time we made those couple mistakes on special teams. That blocked punt gave them short field so they could score quickly. At the end of the day we fix those mistakes and we win the ball game.”
On the defensive plan to stop the run
“[Our plan was to] stop the run, put heavy pressure on the quarterback and force passes which we kind of did. But we made a lot of mistakes as a team.”
On defense in the first half
“I think we did well. We came out hot, on fire. We tried to keep our energy up the whole game and lift the team up. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”
On the season as a whole
“I enjoyed it, I thought we shocked a lot of people. We were picked dead last in the whole Pac-12 Conference so I thought we did a great job of coming together and proving a lot of people wrong. I’m not happy with the result today but with the overall season, I’m pretty happy with it.”
Arizona Linebacker Tony Fields II
On what changed from the first to second half
“ASU came out more intense, more ready the second half. They had more fire in their eyes. I feel like we settled down and thought we already had the win.”
On what they were doing to try to get back in it
“We’re all stressing a turnover. We stress three turnovers a game and we didn’t get that. That was a big problem.”
On how the season went
“I feel like we grew as a team when comparing this team to last year’s. For this upcoming bowl game we can show our peak and edge for next season.”
Opening Statement
“Just overwhelmed by our football team. What an incredible team effort. The first half wasn’t what we wanted and we couldn’t get much going. We had some unfortunate things happen and had a 10-point deficit (halftime). We came right out in the third quarter and erased it in a hurry. Blocking kicks, big plays, running the football. Demario Richard and these seniors, I can’t say enough about them. Our coaches and staff did a tremendous job. I thought we made great adjustments at halftime. I’m just so proud of our football team. I’m sitting here looking at this Cup and I’ve kissed it about five times already. I’m proud of Sun Devil Nation, man, they were awesome tonight. What a great atmosphere. Got that cup back where it belongs.”
On the big defensive plays
“I thought the blocked punt is when things turned for us. The interception was a big play as well. It was one big play after another. Our guys played. They balled out. Demonte King was phenomenal. He really grew up tonight and I’m really proud of him. He was playing for Das (Tautalatasi). Das wasn’t able to practice a lot this week so we didn’t feel good about playing him. But, that 21-point third quarter was pretty nice.”
On Arizona’s quarterbacks
“We knew that we hobbled him (Khalil Tate) in the end and hit him pretty good in the first half but the other guy (Brandon Dawkins) is explosive too. I wouldn’t say just as explosive because Tate is pretty special. In this game, it’s the team that physically whips the other team and then the turnovers. The turnovers are critical. And then we had another punt that went away from us. We have to be smarter about that. But that ball hit an inch past the line of scrimmage so that’s tough because if it’s behind the line of scrimmage they can advance it.”
On the team
“I’m just so proud of our guys. What incredible heart and character and what an incredible group of seniors. I know we’re going to get a good bowl being second place in the Pac-12 South, and I’m just proud of our guys.”
On the improvement throughout the season
“I think we made great strides. I’m really proud of this senior group getting this thing back on track where it needs to be. I want to take these guys to a bowl game and go get our eighth win. Our whole team is probably one of the closest teams I’ve been on. The relationships, the family values, how they lift each other up, it’s amazing. Demario Richards… wow. He just refuses to be tackled. On that last play I told him I said, ‘Look. You got to go get that first down.’ There was no doubt he was going to go get it. I was so proud of him and so proud of D.J. [Calhoun]. D.J. turned his ankle and you look up and he’s back in there. I had to tell the trainer to not let him back in because he’s got a hurt ankle. I’m just really proud of our guys and proud of our football team.”
On the defense
“We had quite a few sacks. We had three sacks and about seven or eight tackles for loss. Our guys got after it. The big thing was those turnovers. Those two turnovers and that blocked punt was huge in the game. The second half adjustments on third down, too. We were able to convert the third down situations in the second half. That really helped us. We were able to get off the field on defense. We decided to go after them. We decided to be more aggressive and that helped us. Our guys on offense executed. We were able to get the ball out quicker and on time. Guys did some great things. I’m just real proud of our football team and proud of Sun Devil Nation tonight. I’m thrill to have this cup right here with me.”
ASU Redshirt Junior Quarterback Manny Wilkins
On what this win feels like
“It’s a blessing… God’s work. At practice we continued to just push and push and push. We had a great attitude at practice. (We had to) come out firing and make sure everybody was just focused and locked in. We started out slow but we continued to say before the game we knew they had to play us for 60 minutes. We had a lot of momentum there coming out of the half - that was the turning point in the game, and then we just handled business.”
On what was said in the locker room at halftime
“We’ve been here before. We’re not going to sulk about anything, none of that. We were down 10 against Colorado going into the half so it’s just perseverance.”
On what worked offensively
“It’s guys just doing their jobs. We had some big time third downs that we got - that third down that N’Keal (Harry) caught, that was huge. We just ran the ball really effectively in the second half which helped us seal the game.”
On what it’s like to win the last home game of the season
“I’d just say thank you to Demario Richard for bringing the passion that he brings every day. This one meant a lot to me for these seniors. These are guys that I came in with and I told them before this week, ‘Just continue to press on, I promise that I’ll give my all.’ They’ve been riding with me and it’s awesome to get this for these guys because they put in so much time. We’ve been through so many summers together and it’s special to me to get this win for these guys.”
On his relationship with Coach Graham
“My relationship with Todd Graham has grown tremendously this year. I think I’ve taken some huge steps maturity wise and he’s helped me grow as a leader of this football team. There are just some things that with the experience he has, it helps to have him in my ear in certain situations during certain times to just handle things the right way. It’s been a blessing to have him as a coach and I’m sure it’ll continue.”
ASU Senior Running Back Demario Richard
On the journey from the beginning of the season to the end
“In the beginning of the year we were only predicted to win three games. We went seven and five. We exceeded expectations. We should’ve won more - some games we shot ourselves in the foot but we came out on top. No, we didn’t want to be number two in the Pac-12 South… Of course we wanted to be number one but it’s all in God’s plan. We’re blessed to be here. There’s a million other people who wish they were in our shoes. We’re blessed to be here and we’re going to take advantage of every opportunity given to us.”
Demario Richard on his relationship with Todd Graham and how it’s changed
“Our relationship was never bad. When I got around Coach Graham I was just always quiet and now I feel like I have more of a vocal role. Now I can talk to him about anything. He’s probably texting my phone right now, that’s just the type of relationship we have and I’m grateful for him. I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else and I wouldn’t want to play with somebody else. I know how much this game meant to him and how much it meant to us so we’re going to celebrate.”
On what Todd Graham has meant to the program
“He changed the whole program around, honestly. They were barely winning games. [When I was] getting recruited, I never thought I’d come here. When I took my official visit, I was with Manny [Wilkins] all the time. I was committed to Washington. Manny told me we were changing it over here. [Graham] means a lot to this program. I wouldn’t hire anybody else.”
ASU Senior Defensive Back Chad Adams
On Khalil Tate’s injury
“We kind of saw him on the ground but we weren’t quite so sure. He came back in the second half but we knew he was kind of banged up so we prepared for both quarterbacks and we just went out there and executed. It didn’t really give us a boost. We played against Dawkins last year. He’s an effective quarterback and he can run like Tate. They ran the same offense so we stuck to our game plan.”
On defensive changes in the second half
“We didn’t really change much. We tighten up a couple of our lineman and kind of got away from it in the second half. It was on them, they just switched it up.”
Arizona Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
On Khalil Tate’s injury
“He got hurt and banged up. He tried to go, but couldn’t go. So the other guy (Brandon Dawkins) went in.”
On keeping things together in the third quarter
“You just play. We are a Division I team and we can’t cut a snap and punt the ball. The kids are trying, but it is just remarkable.”
On play calling and clock management at the end of the first half
“We took a timeout so we had a of couple minutes to go and then we tried to score. We didn’t move the ball and they (ASU) took timeouts, which they should have.”
On Brandon Dawkins
“He did alright and made some plays. There were some things you just shake your head at. I made some bad play calls. At the end of the game, I wish I had those two plays over and would certainly have called different plays.”
On regrettable play calls in the first half
“When the ball crossed the midfield. Lord knows I don’t want to punt. We took it down on fourth down then tried on third down to get field position. We were down there and took one shot at the end zone.”
On if the Hail Mary aggravated Tate’s injury
“No, he was hurt before that and it was a concern. Somehow in the first quarter, he messed up his left shoulder (not his throwing shoulder). It affected him mentally and physically a little bit.”
On the defense
“I thought there were moments we played pretty good defensively. Especially in the first half when we stopped the run and had a couple of three and outs. The field position our defense was put in was horrendous.”
On regrouping for the bowl game
“We have to regroup. We have a couple weeks left of school so the guys need to concentrate academically for the next week. Next we’ll find out where we are in a bowl game. We will be mad for a couple of days because you lose the Territorial Cup which makes you angry.”
Arizona Quarterback Brandon Dawkins
On coming in during the third quarter and trying to rally
“You know sometimes I say it’s not the first time but this really wasn’t the first time. It’s kind of like the same exact situation from two years ago. I just have to come out and play. I’m always preaching the next man has to be able to step up and take the reins and be able to go full speed. That’s kind of what I needed to do.”
On if it was clear at halftime that he was going in
“It was 50/50, play it by ear. Time rolled around, I went out there and warmed up, and I was ready. Coach called me from the sidelines and I knew it was time to go.”
On ASU bringing pressure
“That’s how ASU does it. If you’ve seen any of the last few games, especially the last time we were here, all they did was bring pressure just about every play. Hats off to them, they did an excellent job making sure they were in position at all times. We just needed to execute on offense. I’m proud of our guys as they had my back all game and I had theirs. I wasn’t going to quit on them.”
On seeing the positive in seven wins
“We were picked dead last [in the conference] so I feel like we shocked a lot of people. We never count ourselves out or hang our heads. I can’t thank my team enough, I love those guys to death. They work real hard all the time, they have my back, Khalil’s [Tate’s] back and I have Khalil’s back, too. It’s like a mutual love throughout the program.”
Arizona Cornerback Lorenzo Burns
On when the momentum was lost
“[It was lost] when we first came out after half time we made those couple mistakes on special teams. That blocked punt gave them short field so they could score quickly. At the end of the day we fix those mistakes and we win the ball game.”
On the defensive plan to stop the run
“[Our plan was to] stop the run, put heavy pressure on the quarterback and force passes which we kind of did. But we made a lot of mistakes as a team.”
On defense in the first half
“I think we did well. We came out hot, on fire. We tried to keep our energy up the whole game and lift the team up. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”
On the season as a whole
“I enjoyed it, I thought we shocked a lot of people. We were picked dead last in the whole Pac-12 Conference so I thought we did a great job of coming together and proving a lot of people wrong. I’m not happy with the result today but with the overall season, I’m pretty happy with it.”
Arizona Linebacker Tony Fields II
On what changed from the first to second half
“ASU came out more intense, more ready the second half. They had more fire in their eyes. I feel like we settled down and thought we already had the win.”
On what they were doing to try to get back in it
“We’re all stressing a turnover. We stress three turnovers a game and we didn’t get that. That was a big problem.”
On how the season went
“I feel like we grew as a team when comparing this team to last year’s. For this upcoming bowl game we can show our peak and edge for next season.”