Arizona State Head Coach Herm Edwards
Overall thoughts on the game
“I’m very happy for the coaches, and obviously the players. It was a sloppy football game for us. We had 11 penalties for 95 yards, that’s not a good day for me. The stats will show that when you can score that many points, and obviously we rushed the ball the way we were able to do and not allow them to rush, you get some turnovers and those stats kind of go away. There’s a lot of work still to be done for us to become a better football team than what we showed tonight. There were spurts where I felt we played pretty well. I thought the defense for the most part tackled well. Offensively though, we sputtered at times. You see all those yards but it was more big plays than sustaining drives. We have to do a lot of work still. We’ve got a really good football coming in Michigan State, so we’ve got a lot of work.”
On the success of the ASU defense
“We thought we had an advantage. They had an offensive line that was new and we felt our strength, as well as their strength, was the defensive line. We could penetrate that first line of defense and raise some havoc on the quarterback, which we were able to do which was a good sign to see. We put some pressure on the quarterback and took the ball away early and got some quick scores. That really gave us confidence. This was a game where you go in and you really don’t know what your football team is. I said that Thursday night. I had no idea how we were going to perform. I knew what we were capable of doing, but defensively I thought the turnovers really sparked the whole football team.”
On N’Keal Harry, Manny Wilkins, and the offense
“The capability of N’Keal and those guys that make big plays with the ball in their hand was fun to watch. We know a lot about N’Keal and what he means to this football team along with Manny [Wilkins], and I thought they had a fantastic night. I think it goes down to this – we play Michigan State next week and I don’t know if all those big plays are going to be available. We have to make first downs and we have to possess the ball for longer periods of time than we did. We only had 60 plays on offense and we should be averaging about 80. I’m not complaining, I get it. I just think that if we want to be the offense that we truly feel like we can be then we have to be more consistent.”
On scoring points
“We’re one of those offenses and I’m a head coach that’s going to take some chances. I just think that when you play college football, you never can score enough points. I’ve watched too many games where you think you have this little lead and, all of a sudden, people come marching back. You saw it all this week, these shootout games. I just think you have to be prepared to do some things on fourth downs.”
On sustaining a powerful offense
“I thought, for the most part, they did a good job and the coaches did a good job of communicating on the sideline when things got a little uncomfortable. As you said, the first couple of series offensively after we scored we were three and out and our offense is better than that. This defense we played tonight is pretty good, especially up front. We have to sustain drives. I don’t want our defense to have to play 77 plays. I would like to be on the other side of that, about 60 would be fine for me.”
On film helping prepare for the rest of the season
“That’s what’s great about football. Once you play that first game then the film doesn’t lie and so we have to go back to work.”
On redshirt junior punter Michael Sleep-Dalton
“He was fantastic and he needed to punt it good too because he had green shoes on. I told him if he didn’t punt it good with those green shoes on, it would be the last time he would ever wear those things.”
#1 N’Keal Harry, WR, Jr.
On taking the momentum from the win into next week
“Work harder, we have to work harder. Especially when practice comes around.”
On the first touchdown play
“I was just trying to make a play. It’s just all-natural God-given ability. It was just natural to me.”
#3 Eno Benjamin, RB, So.
On the offensive line’s performance
“The offensive line was all clicking. That’s what we worked on at practice all of fall camp, just making sure we were all on the same page. We had a lot of linemen coming back so it’s just being able to have that camaraderie and being able to talk with them and understand how they’re going to do this, how they’re going to block this and what I should be looking for.”
On his performance
“It was okay. It can always be better. The offensive line did a great job and I owe a lot to them, like I said just being on the same page with them, understanding the situation we’re in, knowing how the defense was set up and just knowing where I had to be. So I give a lot of credit to the offensive line and offensive line coach Dave Christensen as well. I just wasn’t out there speaking to Coach Simon, the running back coach, I was going over there with Coach Christensen and he was coaching me up a little bit.”
On Isaiah Floyd’s performance
“He’s a tremendous athlete. He meets the ball in space and things happen. He’s very fast and I think down the road we’ll have some special packages for him and he’ll be able to show what he’s got.”
#5 Manny Wilkins, QB, RSr.
On converting on fourth down
“We’ve been talking about fourth down situations – the analytics game to it, the percentages – all camp, so when the situation arose and we crossed the 50-yard line and they were brave enough to just play press man, they were on everybody. Our guy just won that battle. Really that’s all it is – preparation, detail. I can’t tell you how many times a day we work that throw in practice. We have a drill for that. It’s not easy but because we do it so much we’re comfortable enough to call a play like that on fourth down and just go for it.”
On the statement the team made this game
“We just come out here and try to win football games. Take it game by game. In the locker room I tell these guys all the time, the biggest enemy of success is complacency. If we get complacent with where we are, if we’re complacent with scoring 49 against UTSA, it’s not going to cut it next week. It’s not going to cut it the week after. We have to go back and see the mistakes that we made, correct those mistakes and continue to get better every single day. We haven’t made it; we’re nowhere close to making it. We just have to stay grounded – never too high, never too low. We just have to go out there and play football.”
On Coach Edwards’ words before the game
“Have fun, go play football. Don’t make the game something that it’s not, don’t put too much on it, but respect the game. And just stay grounded.”
On getting out of a lull and gaining momentum in the first half
“I think that we could have started faster and I put that on me. I think there was a couple, on that third drive maybe second drive that we had. If I just set my feet the right way on the post curl to N’Keal [Harry] that went in the dirt, move the chains and get going a little bit more and get going a little bit earlier. But I’m really, really proud of our team play. We made a lot of mistakes, but those can get cleaned up. Just little things like discipline, like holding your water.”
On the team not giving up any sacks tonight
“I think we had zero sacks tonight, I can’t recall the last time that happened here, so I’m really proud of those guys up front. They busted their butts all camp to be ready and prepared for this. We know we have a big opponent coming in here next week so this week is going to be a really big work week for us.”
On N’Keal Harry’s first touchdown of the game and his overall performance
“We game planned for that. We knew that they were going to, in that situation, run what they ran, press up on [junior WR] Brandon Aiyuk. We put him in the slot and we knew that we wanted to get him the ball there and he was the only option on that play. He got the ball in his hands and he did what he did. He looked a little faster than I think he is. He was moving and he did a really good job today. He led really well, was smart and didn’t take shots to his body that he didn’t need to take. He had some big time plays today.
On Eno Benjamin
“I was very impressed with Eno. He played a really, really good game. He does not look like a first time starting running back out there. He protected well and caught the ball in the backfield for a touchdown. He ran the ball really efficiently. I think after the first half, he was averaging over 10 yards a carry. He played really well. Again, it’s a testament to the offensive lineman, opening up those gaps for him to run through.
On the defense
“Outstanding. I was very, very impressed with them. That has kind of been their attitude the whole camp. They just had that mindset where they had to feel comfortable with each other on the field. They're running a new scheme so they got off the quarterback a lot and I think that early on, getting to the quarterback, it affects him later in the game. So I was very impressed with them and how [defensive coordinator] Coach [Danny] Gonzales called the game. They did a really good job.
On the team’s motivation
I think that we just feed off of each other’s energy. I think that when we go out there and see the defense get a pick-six, that is awesome for an offense to know that you have a defense that is trying to take the ball away. They did a really good job. Like I said, I was very impressed with them. That being said, we as a team made a lot of mistakes tonight and we can’t make those mistakes moving forward or we’ll lose football games.
On the offensive line
“The offensive line was very good and they just communicated really well today. [Junior OL] Cohl Cabral is the captain of this football team, but he also the captain of that offensive line. He’s the center, the centerpiece of that offensive line. He did a really good job when they tried to time up our cadence and stuff, he did his job, he held his water. He made sure his guys knew what they were doing.
#24 Chase Lucas, DB, RSo.
On Coach Edwards’ presence on the sideline
“He was talking to me; most of the time I’d walk up to him and ask how he was doing. It was a big learning experience for this first game and having a legend like Herm showed me a lot of things. We have a lot of freedom so I have to respect that freedom, we all have to respect that freedom. I think Manny, N’Keal and Eno, and obviously the line, did an amazing job. And Herm was feeding off of that. Herm’s not the type that says ‘Good job, good job.’ He wants more. He always says ‘there’s money to be made on the field’ and I feel like everybody in that locker room went and got some money tonight.”
On the communication between the young defense
“It was ridiculous; we knew what they were doing before they did. It was something that I didn’t think was going to be a big issue but, when we got to the field, it was like everything was sparking. We were calling out the coverages, every time they motioned trying to get us off whack we knew exactly what they were doing. As for the young guys, (sophomore DL) Shannon Forman had a pick six as a defensive lineman and he didn’t play that much last year, but he’s a dog. It just shows that your experience doesn’t matter; you’re going to go out there and ball. Especially with Herm, we wanted to prove that Herm is a good coach. We wanted to prove that we were ready to run through a wall for him and I think that’s exactly what we did this game.”
On the efficiency of the defense
“We’ve been playing against the number one receiver, the number one quarterback (N’Keal Harry and Manny Wilkins) - we’ve been playing against these guys all summer and they got us where we needed to be. In fall camp, we knew that we were going to have some changes, we knew we were going to have some people that were hurt, we knew we were going to have people that needed to step up. As you can see, a lot of them stepped up. (Redshirt sophomore CB) Terin Adams, (junior CB) Dominique Harrison, he came in his first game and balled. It was (sophomore CB) Langston Frederick’s first start and he balled. Everybody was balling and I feel like we just need to watch the film, figure out what we did wrong and just learn from it and go against Michigan State and ball again.”
UTSA Head Coach Frank Wilson
On message to the team in the locker room
"Well we didn't play well enough. We were deserving of finishing second today because, in all three phases, we looked like a team trying to find an identity – offensively certainly, defensively at times and special teams as well. There were some moments of flash but as far as consistency, in not one of the three phases of the game did I think we excelled."
On trouble getting the run game going
"They were moving stuff that we had seen – slanting and twisting, two-man games and blitzing backers and safeties – but it was stuff that we've worked on throughout the summer throughout camp. It was nothing new, but we are. We're youthful at some spots and a couple of times, we were put in position where a back was on a defensive end instead of what we had planned to have our tackles on the defensive end and that's communication throughout our team. We looked like a youthful offense that sputtered. We're growing up at the quarterback position. Even when we had positive gains, they were only negated by sacks and negative run plays that took away from it. The good thing is we have no other place to go but up so I feel we will learn from it. We will grow from it and we will get better."
On QB play
"I think at times we held the ball a little too long and did not give our receivers a chance to make plays on it. I thought at times when we got into a tempo or a two-minute drill, they looked comfortable at times doing it. But again, both quarterbacks are trained to have two hands on the ball, especially when they are in the grasp of a defender and yet we had two of them – two balls on the ground from a fumble stand point that turned it over to our opponent and then one was an excellent call defensively where the defensive end in the first series dropped in two coverage after being mugged up top. That one you could see that could happen but as far as the fumbles we can't have that. Experience is the best teacher and I think our guys were baptized, if you will, in experience and they will get better. We'll grow from it."
#33 B.J. Daniels, RB, So.
On struggles of rushing the ball in the first half
“There were just some miscues, some things we need to clean up in practice. There were some lanes there and through time it will definitely show. I have so much faith in us.”
On scoring first career touchdown
“Very bittersweet. You can't really celebrate when you’re down by 40 points. I wish it could have been under better circumstances. That’s all.”
On bouncing back from the loss
“We have a lot of work to do. We are going to go into the meeting room tomorrow. Sundays are about the truth and we're going to point out what we did wrong and we're going to correct it. We’ll make corrections all day tomorrow and come back next week with heads high. I'm confident we are going to get the win against Baylor.”
#55 Josiah Tauaefa, LB, Jr.
On the mood in the locker room after the game
“After a tough loss like this, coach always just reminds us that it counts as just one loss. As bad as it was, there are things that we didn’t do well but there are takeaways from it. We're going to watch this film tomorrow and get better and move on from this. We can’t get too high or too low. [You can’t walk] around with your head down but there is nothing to laugh about after a loss like this.”
On mindset after 14 quick points by ASU
“That was a rough little stretch right there but we kept emphasizing that it was at the beginning of the game and we had a lot of football to play. We didn’t get to hung up on that. We tried to move past it and we knew we were going to make mistakes. We knew they were going to make plays.”
On struggles from the young guys
“I think it was a lot of first game jitters. They just got done competing hard for that spot so there is a lot to be ironed out on both sides of the ball. There are a lot of improvements to happen on both sides of the ball and we’ll make our corrections tomorrow and move on.”
Overall thoughts on the game
“I’m very happy for the coaches, and obviously the players. It was a sloppy football game for us. We had 11 penalties for 95 yards, that’s not a good day for me. The stats will show that when you can score that many points, and obviously we rushed the ball the way we were able to do and not allow them to rush, you get some turnovers and those stats kind of go away. There’s a lot of work still to be done for us to become a better football team than what we showed tonight. There were spurts where I felt we played pretty well. I thought the defense for the most part tackled well. Offensively though, we sputtered at times. You see all those yards but it was more big plays than sustaining drives. We have to do a lot of work still. We’ve got a really good football coming in Michigan State, so we’ve got a lot of work.”
On the success of the ASU defense
“We thought we had an advantage. They had an offensive line that was new and we felt our strength, as well as their strength, was the defensive line. We could penetrate that first line of defense and raise some havoc on the quarterback, which we were able to do which was a good sign to see. We put some pressure on the quarterback and took the ball away early and got some quick scores. That really gave us confidence. This was a game where you go in and you really don’t know what your football team is. I said that Thursday night. I had no idea how we were going to perform. I knew what we were capable of doing, but defensively I thought the turnovers really sparked the whole football team.”
On N’Keal Harry, Manny Wilkins, and the offense
“The capability of N’Keal and those guys that make big plays with the ball in their hand was fun to watch. We know a lot about N’Keal and what he means to this football team along with Manny [Wilkins], and I thought they had a fantastic night. I think it goes down to this – we play Michigan State next week and I don’t know if all those big plays are going to be available. We have to make first downs and we have to possess the ball for longer periods of time than we did. We only had 60 plays on offense and we should be averaging about 80. I’m not complaining, I get it. I just think that if we want to be the offense that we truly feel like we can be then we have to be more consistent.”
On scoring points
“We’re one of those offenses and I’m a head coach that’s going to take some chances. I just think that when you play college football, you never can score enough points. I’ve watched too many games where you think you have this little lead and, all of a sudden, people come marching back. You saw it all this week, these shootout games. I just think you have to be prepared to do some things on fourth downs.”
On sustaining a powerful offense
“I thought, for the most part, they did a good job and the coaches did a good job of communicating on the sideline when things got a little uncomfortable. As you said, the first couple of series offensively after we scored we were three and out and our offense is better than that. This defense we played tonight is pretty good, especially up front. We have to sustain drives. I don’t want our defense to have to play 77 plays. I would like to be on the other side of that, about 60 would be fine for me.”
On film helping prepare for the rest of the season
“That’s what’s great about football. Once you play that first game then the film doesn’t lie and so we have to go back to work.”
On redshirt junior punter Michael Sleep-Dalton
“He was fantastic and he needed to punt it good too because he had green shoes on. I told him if he didn’t punt it good with those green shoes on, it would be the last time he would ever wear those things.”
#1 N’Keal Harry, WR, Jr.
On taking the momentum from the win into next week
“Work harder, we have to work harder. Especially when practice comes around.”
On the first touchdown play
“I was just trying to make a play. It’s just all-natural God-given ability. It was just natural to me.”
#3 Eno Benjamin, RB, So.
On the offensive line’s performance
“The offensive line was all clicking. That’s what we worked on at practice all of fall camp, just making sure we were all on the same page. We had a lot of linemen coming back so it’s just being able to have that camaraderie and being able to talk with them and understand how they’re going to do this, how they’re going to block this and what I should be looking for.”
On his performance
“It was okay. It can always be better. The offensive line did a great job and I owe a lot to them, like I said just being on the same page with them, understanding the situation we’re in, knowing how the defense was set up and just knowing where I had to be. So I give a lot of credit to the offensive line and offensive line coach Dave Christensen as well. I just wasn’t out there speaking to Coach Simon, the running back coach, I was going over there with Coach Christensen and he was coaching me up a little bit.”
On Isaiah Floyd’s performance
“He’s a tremendous athlete. He meets the ball in space and things happen. He’s very fast and I think down the road we’ll have some special packages for him and he’ll be able to show what he’s got.”
#5 Manny Wilkins, QB, RSr.
On converting on fourth down
“We’ve been talking about fourth down situations – the analytics game to it, the percentages – all camp, so when the situation arose and we crossed the 50-yard line and they were brave enough to just play press man, they were on everybody. Our guy just won that battle. Really that’s all it is – preparation, detail. I can’t tell you how many times a day we work that throw in practice. We have a drill for that. It’s not easy but because we do it so much we’re comfortable enough to call a play like that on fourth down and just go for it.”
On the statement the team made this game
“We just come out here and try to win football games. Take it game by game. In the locker room I tell these guys all the time, the biggest enemy of success is complacency. If we get complacent with where we are, if we’re complacent with scoring 49 against UTSA, it’s not going to cut it next week. It’s not going to cut it the week after. We have to go back and see the mistakes that we made, correct those mistakes and continue to get better every single day. We haven’t made it; we’re nowhere close to making it. We just have to stay grounded – never too high, never too low. We just have to go out there and play football.”
On Coach Edwards’ words before the game
“Have fun, go play football. Don’t make the game something that it’s not, don’t put too much on it, but respect the game. And just stay grounded.”
On getting out of a lull and gaining momentum in the first half
“I think that we could have started faster and I put that on me. I think there was a couple, on that third drive maybe second drive that we had. If I just set my feet the right way on the post curl to N’Keal [Harry] that went in the dirt, move the chains and get going a little bit more and get going a little bit earlier. But I’m really, really proud of our team play. We made a lot of mistakes, but those can get cleaned up. Just little things like discipline, like holding your water.”
On the team not giving up any sacks tonight
“I think we had zero sacks tonight, I can’t recall the last time that happened here, so I’m really proud of those guys up front. They busted their butts all camp to be ready and prepared for this. We know we have a big opponent coming in here next week so this week is going to be a really big work week for us.”
On N’Keal Harry’s first touchdown of the game and his overall performance
“We game planned for that. We knew that they were going to, in that situation, run what they ran, press up on [junior WR] Brandon Aiyuk. We put him in the slot and we knew that we wanted to get him the ball there and he was the only option on that play. He got the ball in his hands and he did what he did. He looked a little faster than I think he is. He was moving and he did a really good job today. He led really well, was smart and didn’t take shots to his body that he didn’t need to take. He had some big time plays today.
On Eno Benjamin
“I was very impressed with Eno. He played a really, really good game. He does not look like a first time starting running back out there. He protected well and caught the ball in the backfield for a touchdown. He ran the ball really efficiently. I think after the first half, he was averaging over 10 yards a carry. He played really well. Again, it’s a testament to the offensive lineman, opening up those gaps for him to run through.
On the defense
“Outstanding. I was very, very impressed with them. That has kind of been their attitude the whole camp. They just had that mindset where they had to feel comfortable with each other on the field. They're running a new scheme so they got off the quarterback a lot and I think that early on, getting to the quarterback, it affects him later in the game. So I was very impressed with them and how [defensive coordinator] Coach [Danny] Gonzales called the game. They did a really good job.
On the team’s motivation
I think that we just feed off of each other’s energy. I think that when we go out there and see the defense get a pick-six, that is awesome for an offense to know that you have a defense that is trying to take the ball away. They did a really good job. Like I said, I was very impressed with them. That being said, we as a team made a lot of mistakes tonight and we can’t make those mistakes moving forward or we’ll lose football games.
On the offensive line
“The offensive line was very good and they just communicated really well today. [Junior OL] Cohl Cabral is the captain of this football team, but he also the captain of that offensive line. He’s the center, the centerpiece of that offensive line. He did a really good job when they tried to time up our cadence and stuff, he did his job, he held his water. He made sure his guys knew what they were doing.
#24 Chase Lucas, DB, RSo.
On Coach Edwards’ presence on the sideline
“He was talking to me; most of the time I’d walk up to him and ask how he was doing. It was a big learning experience for this first game and having a legend like Herm showed me a lot of things. We have a lot of freedom so I have to respect that freedom, we all have to respect that freedom. I think Manny, N’Keal and Eno, and obviously the line, did an amazing job. And Herm was feeding off of that. Herm’s not the type that says ‘Good job, good job.’ He wants more. He always says ‘there’s money to be made on the field’ and I feel like everybody in that locker room went and got some money tonight.”
On the communication between the young defense
“It was ridiculous; we knew what they were doing before they did. It was something that I didn’t think was going to be a big issue but, when we got to the field, it was like everything was sparking. We were calling out the coverages, every time they motioned trying to get us off whack we knew exactly what they were doing. As for the young guys, (sophomore DL) Shannon Forman had a pick six as a defensive lineman and he didn’t play that much last year, but he’s a dog. It just shows that your experience doesn’t matter; you’re going to go out there and ball. Especially with Herm, we wanted to prove that Herm is a good coach. We wanted to prove that we were ready to run through a wall for him and I think that’s exactly what we did this game.”
On the efficiency of the defense
“We’ve been playing against the number one receiver, the number one quarterback (N’Keal Harry and Manny Wilkins) - we’ve been playing against these guys all summer and they got us where we needed to be. In fall camp, we knew that we were going to have some changes, we knew we were going to have some people that were hurt, we knew we were going to have people that needed to step up. As you can see, a lot of them stepped up. (Redshirt sophomore CB) Terin Adams, (junior CB) Dominique Harrison, he came in his first game and balled. It was (sophomore CB) Langston Frederick’s first start and he balled. Everybody was balling and I feel like we just need to watch the film, figure out what we did wrong and just learn from it and go against Michigan State and ball again.”
UTSA Head Coach Frank Wilson
On message to the team in the locker room
"Well we didn't play well enough. We were deserving of finishing second today because, in all three phases, we looked like a team trying to find an identity – offensively certainly, defensively at times and special teams as well. There were some moments of flash but as far as consistency, in not one of the three phases of the game did I think we excelled."
On trouble getting the run game going
"They were moving stuff that we had seen – slanting and twisting, two-man games and blitzing backers and safeties – but it was stuff that we've worked on throughout the summer throughout camp. It was nothing new, but we are. We're youthful at some spots and a couple of times, we were put in position where a back was on a defensive end instead of what we had planned to have our tackles on the defensive end and that's communication throughout our team. We looked like a youthful offense that sputtered. We're growing up at the quarterback position. Even when we had positive gains, they were only negated by sacks and negative run plays that took away from it. The good thing is we have no other place to go but up so I feel we will learn from it. We will grow from it and we will get better."
On QB play
"I think at times we held the ball a little too long and did not give our receivers a chance to make plays on it. I thought at times when we got into a tempo or a two-minute drill, they looked comfortable at times doing it. But again, both quarterbacks are trained to have two hands on the ball, especially when they are in the grasp of a defender and yet we had two of them – two balls on the ground from a fumble stand point that turned it over to our opponent and then one was an excellent call defensively where the defensive end in the first series dropped in two coverage after being mugged up top. That one you could see that could happen but as far as the fumbles we can't have that. Experience is the best teacher and I think our guys were baptized, if you will, in experience and they will get better. We'll grow from it."
#33 B.J. Daniels, RB, So.
On struggles of rushing the ball in the first half
“There were just some miscues, some things we need to clean up in practice. There were some lanes there and through time it will definitely show. I have so much faith in us.”
On scoring first career touchdown
“Very bittersweet. You can't really celebrate when you’re down by 40 points. I wish it could have been under better circumstances. That’s all.”
On bouncing back from the loss
“We have a lot of work to do. We are going to go into the meeting room tomorrow. Sundays are about the truth and we're going to point out what we did wrong and we're going to correct it. We’ll make corrections all day tomorrow and come back next week with heads high. I'm confident we are going to get the win against Baylor.”
#55 Josiah Tauaefa, LB, Jr.
On the mood in the locker room after the game
“After a tough loss like this, coach always just reminds us that it counts as just one loss. As bad as it was, there are things that we didn’t do well but there are takeaways from it. We're going to watch this film tomorrow and get better and move on from this. We can’t get too high or too low. [You can’t walk] around with your head down but there is nothing to laugh about after a loss like this.”
On mindset after 14 quick points by ASU
“That was a rough little stretch right there but we kept emphasizing that it was at the beginning of the game and we had a lot of football to play. We didn’t get to hung up on that. We tried to move past it and we knew we were going to make mistakes. We knew they were going to make plays.”
On struggles from the young guys
“I think it was a lot of first game jitters. They just got done competing hard for that spot so there is a lot to be ironed out on both sides of the ball. There are a lot of improvements to happen on both sides of the ball and we’ll make our corrections tomorrow and move on.”