Head Coach Herm Edwards
Opening Statement
“Obviously, we had to rearrange our schedule due to the voting situation on Tuesday where all Pac-12 teams can’t practice. So we will practice this evening, players will come in around five, we will have some meetings and then we will go on the football field around seven o’clock. Then, we’ll have a practice this evening and then tomorrow we’re off and then we’ll get into our normal routine for the rest of the week. Playing USC, not a whole lot to be said about those guys, they’re very talented on all sides of the ball. It’s kind of interesting, they’re playing two quarterbacks right now and kind of rotating them. When you watch them play, they’re very talented. Drake London, I would like to say for him my prayers go out to him. He was injured and is out for the rest of the year and that’s a shame. I hate for any player to be injured but a guy like that obviously has a lot of potential and is going to play in the National Football League and you hate for that to happen to a guy and my prayers go out to him. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery. With that being said, obviously the USC game is an important game for us, it’s a game in our conference and we have a lot of players from California. This is always kind of one of those games, a lot of these guys know each other, there’s always some chippiness it seems when these two teams get together. They’re playing well, they’re talented and they’re doing a good job of playing offense and they have some really talented players on defense. So, we anticipate them coming in here and playing well against us and we have to start playing well, we have to play a whole game. We can’t play in halves and I think if we get back to our momentum, get going again and it starts for us early in games. We have to get it going offensively and defensively and just play a full game, we haven’t played a full game, we've played halves of football games and we aren’t going to win like that and obviously last week with five turnovers it’s very difficult.”
On reconciling the three turnovers after a bye week:
“I wish I could but I have no answer for that except the fact that it happened to us and we didn’t react in a way to give us a chance. It’s all about the reaction of what happens to you, how do you handle adversity and we didn’t respond, we kind of responded in the fourth quarter but at that point we’re in catch up mode and everything is very difficult. No one wants to start a football game with two possessions where you turn the ball over, that’s not anticipated and that hadn’t been the way we performed. In two games, a second half of the football game and a first half of a football game has really not been good and has given us a way to look at ourselves and say, ‘how do we get that fixed?’, and that’s part of my responsibility and that’s what we have to try to do, get it fixed."
On keeping the players motivated and focused:
“I think every week the thing you realize is that there’s so much put into this and what you get out of it is the joy of winning the game and we haven’t felt that in two weeks. That’s what football is really about, it’s about the process of when it starts every week you have an opportunity to win a game and the joy you feel and the accomplishment you feel as a football team to win and we haven’t felt that. We have been on the other side of it and it doesn’t feel good. There’s nothing comfortable about losing and you can’t get comfortable when you lose. You have to have a pit in your stomach and you have to walk around with that pit everyday knowing that you want the joy of winning. I want to walk in that locker room again and watch these guys celebrate and watch the joy on their faces. So, there’s always something to play for, it’s to win a game, that’s how it works. Goals are fine to have in the beginning of the season and the middle of the season but the whole deal is can you win a football game? We need to find a way to win a game again. So our fan base can be happy, our players can be happy, everyone can be happy and when you don’t win it becomes depressing for everybody. No one likes losing but someone’s going to lose, that’s how it works and when it’s not you, you don’t think about it but now you have to feel it. Once they decide to win again and we can win a game again, we will get that feeling back and that’s what we have to do. It’s that simple, it’s really that simple and it’s very not difficult. It’s that simple.”
On responding when they need to but how to play a complete game
“I think the players understand that now we have to go do it. This team has been together basically three years. I’m not going to say four because last year was one of those years. There’s enough of them here that have won a lot of games, important games, we just want the feeling back of winning again, of what it feels like to win. That’s what I want them to feel and I think our coaching staff understands that we have to be very diligent on what we want them to do on offense, defense, and special teams and make sure they understand that all the little things matter in a football game. We’re not a good enough team to turn the ball over or go three and out on offense and not score on possession, we’re not good enough. We’re not good enough to do that. People say talent, no teams win. Collectively, we can play in spurts but we have to play together as a team again and that’s how our season began. We won games as a football team and you lose games as a football team but when you look at how you lose them you go, ‘what happened here?’ That’s the whole process of the mental state of a team. How do you get them back to feeling the way they felt again, when they were winning, and that’s my job as a coach and it’s the players to respond and then they have to go do it. They have to execute it on the grass.”
On changing up the day to day basis:
“Well I think the only thing different is the fact that you lost two in a row, it doesn't feel good, you don’t panic. You cannot change your personality all of a sudden because that becomes a red flag. I have been a certain way around this place going on my fourth season, there are certain things that I can say or do and these guys know how to react to that behind closed doors, but I can’t all of a sudden change my personality because it does not work for me and it sets off a bad signal to the players because they are saying, ‘why is coach doing that now?’ I mean we had some seasons here where we lost a couple games and we found our way back and we have got to find our way back again and once we do we will get into a groove again and that is my job to figure out but as far as changing what we do and all these other things … can’t do that we got to be consistent in how we teach them, sometimes less is more. That is truly what I believe, sometimes you might try to do too much and you need to get back to simplifying things and doing things where they can play free and there is not a lot of thinking in it. Just because you have a veteran team doesn’t mean you add more to their plate, sometimes you have to take away stuff. I think if we get back to what we need to do, that will give us a better opportunity to win.”
On being top 15 and playing in big name bowl games:
“This is our third season, you guys have to figure that out, I mean that is not for me to say, that is you guys, you guys write, you guys have opinions, and that is up to you guys to say, I know one thing, the Rose bowl team was here, when was that? 25 years ago. So that is how hard it is, it is that hard. There have been a lot of good coaches that have coached here, it's hard, football is hard, it is not easy. Everything has to come together and we had an opportunity this year and we still have an opportunity this year to accomplish a lot of things in my opinion, that is just my opinion as a head coach. That is what the team understands, we need to get bowl eligible, that is kind of important, we need to figure out how to do that. All those things are still in front of us and I just think that... if it was easy, it would just happen and it doesn't happen that way. There are a lot of highs in it and there are a lot of lows in it. Right now, we are low and we have to get out of it, we want to feel better, we want everyone to feel better. It is part of the process and you know it and you have to live with it and I have done this a long time and I have seen it and you go ‘okay, how do we get out of it?’ and we have to find our way out of it.”
On looking for leaders in the locker room:
“I think how they go about their business in the meeting rooms and practice… and we will do some things structurally in practice a little bit differently that I have changed up. I think it can be a little more competitive; it needs to be more competitive in practice. When you get to a point where you can look at it and go okay, ‘I can help them if we do this’ and so that is what we will do, we will become more competitive in things we do and put them in position where they have to compete, the ones against the ones a lot of the time, just the good against the good and I think sometimes, that gets them in a mold of “this is what it feels like” rather than one period, lets just do this now, let's get back to almost like training camp but not the physical part but just athletes against athletes and make them compete more and I think that is what we have to do and the feeling of okay, ‘this guy is as good as me, he won that play, now I have to win the next play’, we have get into that a little bit more and the leaders on the team are the leaders, some of them are vocal, some of them are not but at the end, we are all in this together. That is the great part about our football team, these guys are together. They are together. They are going to play for each other, the coaches are going to try to put them in positions so they can play well and that has not changed, through the two losses. I can remember the loss after BYU… we found our way and we will find our way again, that is the goal, find our way back again and if you win a game, you will feel a lot better and everybody will feel a lot better.”
On the mentality in practice:
“I think they realize that this is just the way it is. When you play a team close to your backyard even though they are in California, I get it. When they are in your conference, you play them every year, this is what happens and you understand it. When you play the teams in our conference it is one thing, but when you play the LA teams, because we have so many kids from Los Angeles, they have grown up with these guys, they have played Pop Warner football with them, high school football with them, so they know who they are. They’re probably texting each other a week prior to the game… I don’t pay attention to it but that is the fun part of it, that is the rivalry part of it when you come from the same state and you played against them in high school or some of these guys are your teammates, you are just giving each other the business now.”
On hearing fans boo:
“That’s part of it though. Remember, I played in Philadelphia. Fans are invested in their teams, they have a right to be angry and be frustrated, but the great part about them is that they will come back this week and they will come in here and be hollering for the Sun Devils. We get that, we don’t ever take that personally. You can’t. That’s the great part about being in an arena, I’d rather have people come here and get their anxiety and get mad and let it out and be done with it. Now this week we get another opportunity, and hopefully they can leave here and if we win a football game they will be excited. I don't take that stuff personally. I have walked in too many arenas as a coach and as a player. I grew up in one of the best arenas to ever be in, in Philadelphia. You get it. You don’t take it personally, you just understand that that’s part of it.”
On winning the conference:
“I think that they are trying to win our conference, and be competitive in the conference. I said that when I first got here. Except for last year, the COVID year, I think we have been pretty competitive in the conference and we have won enough games and that’s what we have to do. I stated that when I first got here. Let's be competitive enough in this conference so we can look back and say, ‘hey we have a chance.’ I think our players are going to look back and realize that we have a chance. That’s the goal. If you win the conference, it just takes care of itself. You don't have to set any more goals, you know what’s going to happen. But, that has to be it. It’s no different than the NFL… it’s no different to be in a conference. Until you can compete in your conference and be competitive, and be in games, it’s hard. You have to be able to do that, and once you can do that, everything takes care of itself. That’s how I look at it, to be quite honest.”
On the Washington State game:
“I think the veterans on the team, their expectations were high like all of ours because they decided to come back. I think it is a learning lesson. The BYU situation was different than Utah… they're all three different situations in my opinion as a coach. It's just the way I look at it, they're all unique situations. We’ve been on the road. One was at home, and when you turn the ball over five times you get 24 points. I didn’t see that coming. I don’t think anybody did, the players didn't either. It just happened. I think how we respond going forward is the most important thing. Are we learning anything from this? If we don't, we find ourselves back into that, and we don’t want to get into that. There could be some highs and lows in this game, and how we respond is very important because this is a very talented team. We know that. They’re never going to be out of the game because they have enough playmakers on both sides of the ball that could change the game. You have to be aware of that when you play them, and I think our guys understand that. We just have to compete and play a full game. Not halves and quarters, we have to play a full game and if you do that then you feel better about yourselves and you give yourself a chance. We haven't given ourselves a chance in two of our last games to be quite honest.”
On communicating with the captains like last week:
“I’ll visit with certain guys on the team, and guys that have leadership qualities, and the guys that I can lean on. There have been a few guys that I have spoken to already and they’re doing alright. There have been a lot of guys already in the building, so they’re disappointed. They’re a disappointed group. They don't like being in this situation. I said the only way you can clean it up is to win, then you’re not in this situation anymore and you don't have to worry about it. But, we’re in this situation and we have to find our way out. I'm betting on my players; they're going to play and we are going to find our way out of this.”