ASU head coach Todd Graham
Opening remarks
Just congratulate USC. They obviously were the better team tonight. I was proud of our team, how they responded in the second half. Obviously, self-destructed right there before the end of the first half. Our plan was to slow the tempo down and we wanted to play about 65 plays on defense and about 80 plays on offense. I think we ended up playing 79 on offense and 63 on defense.
Bottom line is we turned the football over four times and that absolutely killed us. They did a great job of executing. I mean, we got them in 3rd down and long over and over and over again early, and you've got to give them credit. They did some good things moving Adoree' around, and we knew that they're very, very fast.
I felt really good early because I knew they couldn't run the ball, and we were able to handle that. Just their speed and athleticism, we left a couple of critical errors, left some guys uncovered.
But at the end of the day we can't turn the ball over going in on the 1-yard line. I think that was, obviously, the play of the game. Then you run the ball out. I mean, we haven't done stuff like that. That stuff's unacceptable, and we as coaches can't have that stuff happening.
Those back-to-back, I mean, that was a 14-point swing, and I thought if we had punched that thing in and scored, I really, really thought because we were dominating the line of scrimmage defensively that we could win the game. We moved the football. I think there was five yards difference in the yardage. Who cares about that. But they were the better team tonight, and congratulate them, they did a good job.
On ball security
You know, we work really hard preparing them. We've got some new guys handling the football. Boy, there's a lot of dropped passes. I think we're putting the ball in jeopardy way too much, and we've never done that in the whole -- we've put the ball in jeopardy is what's -- if you do that, that's why I say that all the time, you're not going to have a chance to win games.
Now you have to give them credit, but what happened on the goal line is we have our back-up center in, and, again, that's no excuse. But snapped the ball up high and then we don't get the ball handed off or something happened on the mesh. It wasn't a read zone; he was just supposed to hand it off. So that resulted in 7 points the other way, 99.5 yards. So we've got to get that under control. If you look at the stats and you look at everything else, that's the difference. Because I'm just telling you now, they move the football on everybody they played. You can't give up the big play to them. But even when we did, we were able to get it down and battle. I thought our guys battled. I was really proud of Salamo Fiso and the defense, and how they responded.
Then just the deal on running the ball out of the end zone. Before the game I talked about, again, it doesn't matter about talking about stuff. We talk about with all the right intentions you don't operate. Actually, we didn't do it in the game, and somebody just tried to make a play, and we fumbled the ball, turned the football over there. You know, that was 14 points and a very short period of time.The game was extremely competitive early. Obviously, we were moving the ball. I mean, we were moving the ball and doing some good things, so I felt like we were going to be okay. If we could have gotten that touch, it would have made it a two-score game. That was obviously a kick in the gut, followed by another kick in the gut. So we're self-destructing when you're turning the football over like that.
On the third-down issues
We obviously were trying to pressure and then we were trying to defend. We tried just about everything. We had guys on guys. They got underneath us and we were struggling. It wasn't the deep ball. It was the unders. So then when we played zone, then the quarterback ran for 17 yards. I don't know. I'll have to look at the film and evaluate it. But obviously that was the biggest thing defensively in the first half was just not being able to -- and that is uncharacteristic of us. I think it had a lot to do with their speed.
You've got to give Cody credit. He did a good job of getting the ball out quick, and they ran mesh, T, Will. That's what they ran five times and that's all we practiced. So they executed and we didn't.
On how good the team is overall
I think this is the best team we've had overall, we're just not playing that way. We're not -- that's my opinion. I mean, I work with them every day. Our run defense and defensively we're better than we've ever been. Special teams-wise, we're faster and deeper. We're doing some good things there, and then you do things that are just uncharacteristic of what we need to be doing. But we're just not, we're not playing. We've got very talented players. Obviously, we've got some new people. A lot of new receivers, new people in there and we're dropping the ball and turning the ball over. So we've got to get a cap on that. We start practice every day with taking care of the football and doing all those things.
So we've just got to get the chemistry of what we're doing going where we need to be. I do think we played a lot better offensively tonight than we've played, and that was probably one of our better games. Obviously, you've got everybody back, but just the timing and execution hasn't been there and it has a lot to do with who we're playing. The team we played was pretty good, and they were better than us tonight.
On the tackling
There were times we missed some tackles tonight. Man, we gave up a hit screen on the sideline that's just, golly, we came underneath, and that's just something we don't do. But, I mean, they got some, they throw that ball out there to No. 2, and I mean, No. 2 and No. 9, Adoree' and those guys, JuJu, are pretty dad gum athletic, you know.
Now we missed some tackles tonight, and I think we had the ball I know a lot more than they did. I think about ten minutes more than they did on the night and that was by design.
I don't know, eight or nine TFLs and probably three sacks or something like that, and we needed to have about eight sacks. And we missed him back in the back field on one that just broke our back.
But you've got to give him credit. You've got to give them credit. On everything, it's obviously I do think that we played obviously with the guys back on offense, we played a lot better offensively tonight than we have. We had a lot of yards, just not scoring the points we needed to. Got a lot of drops and things like that.
So just got to go to work. I remember going home and getting my butt kicked by Stanford, and everybody -- that's how you respond to this. If this is the best team that we've had, then we're going to respond and go and figure out a way to go win next week. Half the teams in the conference are 0-1, so that's the way it is. So you've got to get up and go to work. But you can only make excuses for one or two more weeks and then you've got to win. So that's kind of the way it is now. It's single elimination.
Senior safety Jordan Simone
On defending USC’s receivers:
No I mean, we just got to do what we’re coached to do they get big plays when we don’t do that. A lot of it is on me, I gotta do better, I got to be a better leader out there and we just got to cover them better. They beat us on plays and that can’t happen in the secondary.
On how he feels about the state of the team:
I feel great my confidence in our team will never change. They were the better team tonight and we took a big loss last year early in the season against UCLA and we bounced back. We just got to move forward and get better. There’s another week, just move forward that’s the biggest thing.
On tackling problems:
That’s just something that we gotta do better. Tackling is something that we work on and talk about all the time just gotta do better in those situations, mostly myself, those under-routes, miscommunications, guys not doing what they are coached to do, I gotta do a better job communicating out there and I take all the blame for that just because I’m the leader of this defense and we don’t like stuff like that to happen and we’ll get it corrected and move forward and that’s the only thing we can do.
Senior quarterback Mike Bercovici
On fumble near goal line in first half:
We had a pretty basic play on, they got some really good pressure from the backside, Demario and I mishandled the snap, that’s on me as a quarterback you have to make sure those situations, first-, second-down worst case situations, just take a knee at quarterback and move on. It’s a learning experience but we have to know better than that. Our identity is owning football especially when you get down to the edge-line its gotta be score or making a play.
On stalled drives/overall offense:
Drops are going to happen. That kind of stuff you can’t control. Obviously you just move on to the next snap, other than that, I felt that we did a good job running the football tonight. Obviously I think the biggest thing for us is when we do get down to the 40-, 30-yard line we have to start moving forward into the red zone and start putting up points and as a quarterback that’s my job, whether it’s ball location or a couple times tonight, overthrown the receivers and whatnot. But I thought the protection was great today, the offensive line played their best game yet so I think this offense especially the way the defense played in the second half, we should be really excited about moving on next week because we are a championship caliber team in one of the best conferences in college football.
On dealing with big point deficit:
Next play, that’s all you can do. It’s just college football it’s the highest level of college football. As a football player in those situations you don’t look at the scoreboard, all you can control is next snap. As a quarterback, catch the snap, make your read and not go backwards it’s as simple as that. We’ve been in situations before where it doesn’t really matter what the scoreboard is, we know that we’re going to get to get a next snap and we have to execute and I think our defense did a great job on that in the second half and we as captains of our football team should be excited about the way our players responded.
USC head coach Steve Sarkisian
Opening remarks
I’m appreciative of our team and their effort and what they came with tonight. I think they came with the intention of playing really good football. They showed up in all three phases. I was just proud of the guys, they played a really good football game and they came right off the bat ready to go. All in all it was a good win against a quality opponent, got a little time out it kind of repaired for some bumps and bruises and then get ready for a stretch here, its going to be tough. We got to get ourselves ready to go.
On Getting Adoree' Jackson the ball on offense
He’s pretty good. But we’ve known this about Adoree', he’s a phenomenal player. The hardest thing about dealing with Adoree' is when and how and how many times; it’s a challenge because he’s so good in all three phases. I think the reality of it was he was a quality player on defense, he was effective on special teams and return game, and the obviously offensively just with the ball in his hands to make them plays. So, all in all we have to continue to find ways to make that happen.
On Using Adoree' back-to-back
Sometimes that’s a little easier when you can find a little rhythm for him, and that’s probably a better question for Adoree'. But once we get it to him once we try to find a little rhythm because he’s in that mode of being on offense, and so it worked tonight and hopefully we can continue to utilize him in the future.
On forced fumble going into the half
You know what’s so cool, last night as a team it wasn’t just the defense. I probably went on a 30-minute peerage of about how to create turnovers and how we want to play defense and just getting after the football. It was so cool to come out tonight and to get four of them, you know. We went all the way to how to pick up the ball when the ball is on the ground, how to scoop it up. We went to the elementary phases of the game. So for it to happen that way, as crazy as it might have felt, for me and for these guys I think it was like yes. Everything we’re talking about it turned out and it worked, but that’s when we’re going to be really good and we have to get after the football. That’s what really good defenses do, and we were able to do it tonight, especially in the first half.
On the team leadership
“I think we’ve got a resilient team, and I think these guys understand the message when we promote it and when we’re in team meetings. I’m thankful for the leadership we have. I mean guys like Cody, Suda, Antwon, all those guys, Max, they really accept the message that we bring and then promote it. The key is to take this game and then build from it and not just accept it and show everybody we can come back after the loss. Let’s build. Let’s get better and let’s continue to get better. We’ve got a really good football team. We didn’t play our best a week ago, it showed, we got beat. But, that game’s not going to define us. We need to move forward, and as we continue to move forward that’s what’s going to define this team. I’m just lucky to have really cool leaders and a really quality team of guys that we can continue to build with and go on and see what we can accomplish.
On relief about how the game went
Not at all. We just prepare and call the game. It is what we do. We are football coaches and these guys are players. We’ve watched the film, we make our corrections, we put together a game plan, we motivate our players. So, it’s not about relief, it’s not about satisfaction. It’s about being proud of the guys you get to work with everyday, that’s what I told the team. I am proud and lucky that I get to work every single day. That’s how I feel.
USC player quotes
Adoree' on his favorite play of the night:
Probably the screen, when I caught it and ran down the sideline and Steven was pushing me and I was just carrying the pile of people. That was probably my best one, just as far as being out there on the offensive side of the ball, just making plays for my team, getting the momentum going, I'm just appreciative.
Kessler on his favorite play of the night:
I would probably say that touchdown pass was my favorite of his. Like coach said, that's what we do on offense: We find ways, whether we use them or try to disguise them. It is so tough to do, especially at the college level to learn a whole defense, what do I have to do at corner, what your coverage is, what your responsibility is on this play and then come over on Tuesday and Wednesday for little segments of offense and learn 10-15 plays. That is not easy to do, but I think it shows how mature he is for only being a sophomore, making so many plays, as a young guy to be able to do everything really scares defenses and makes it tough. And the coolest thing for me is when he comes out on the field, everyone on the defense is all, "two is in, two is in", everyone is aware of it on defense and that just speaks volumes on the type of player he is.
Kessler on how badly they needed to win tonight to put the season back on a positive course:
I don't think we necessarily really needed to win. The coolest part for me, obviously we had a let up last week, but we came in Monday and coach told us the truth, it is tell the truth Monday, he told it how it is and guys responded so cool and the next day they came out and no one was hanging their head down. The first Tuesday practice, no one had their head down, no one was upset and I think the biggest cure for a loss is getting back out there, getting back to our environment out on the practice field, learning what we did wrong, making the changes from that. I knew the mindset going into this game, these guys were going to be effective, I knew that our team was going to come out, make plays and respond from last week and it was really cool to see. It is exciting and it makes my job a lot easier when all of the guys come to practice with that mindset and come out to the games and we do not have to a lot of yelling, me or coach, we can look in their eyes and know they are ready and I think these guys played great tonight.