Postgame quotes from Arizona State's 45-38 win over #21 University of Washington.
Arizona State Interim Head Coach, Shaun Aguano
Opening Statement:
“I like to say thank you to all of our coaches who have been through a hard three weeks, the time they put into loving the kids. I’d like to thank the administration for all of the support, anybody who is a part of our program, I call it our ohana, our family. How much they’ve put in and believed in what I was trying to say. I would like to thank you guys (The Media), I know you guys are doing your job and you guys have been gracious with me. It’s hard and I look back and say “is this one of the greatest days of my coaching career?” Absolutely. I feel like I'm the richest man in the world right now, not by monetary trust me, but just because of the wealth of love and trust these kids have given me. As an educator you try to correct and hopefully they get it. You try to speak to them and teach them and hoping that they get it. You ask them to love and trust and hopefully they get it. Today shows there is no secret to success in coaching. It is loving these kids and making sure you inspire them and I can’t wait to go and hug my wife and kids and just celebrate.”
On Trenton Bourguet coming in and bringing the team together, if it makes the win better:
“It does, the “What’s Next” mentality, we don’t get a good down on first down or play on first down so it’s “What’s Next?” Then Emory (Jones) goes down and you never want to see that, but “what’s next”, “who’s next?” We put in a program that our seconds are getting more in practice from a development standpoint and it actually helped out since Trenton prepares as if he’s a starter every single day. He showed and came in and delivered. I’m so baffled at what these kids have been through in the last three weeks and how they’ve performed."
On how long he’s known Trenton and how everything unfolded; potential battle to come:
“I’ve seen it in practice in the last couple years. I’ve always mentioned to him that he has to be prepared. He’s not the tallest, fastest or doesn’t have the strongest arm but he has traits of a great quarterback because he knows how to anticipate, he knows how to rally around his guys and his guys rally around him. I’ve seen that leadership in him and I always said when you have an opportunity and when you get that opportunity to make sure you take advantage of it and he has done it. If not it’s going to be a battle because the biggest thing is that he’s an Arizona kid that's come in and won one of our biggest games. We can win with Arizona kids, and I'm going back to the recruiting part. I want to be sure to keep Arizona kids here. He amplied that for us. I say battle because it's a competition in everything. In the quarterback room you have competition, and competition makes everyone better. When I say battle I don't mean that he’s (Trenton) going to be the starter, but it’s going to be a good battle from a competition standpoint to make each other better.”
On Emory Jones’ Status:
“I don’t know his status, we’ll go back and I'll review with the medical staff. Some of it is precautionary. I want to make sure my kids are healthy first, football is just a game. If our kids aren’t 100 percent then I'm not going to let them play. I want to go back and make sure, when I walked out I gave him (Emory) a big hug and I saw it in his eyes that he’s okay, but I want to make sure from the medical staff that he’s okay.”
On the importance to win to gain confidence:
“It’s tough, you ask so much of them to work hard every day and you enhance the day-by-day and taking it step-by-step and stacking days. At some point they’re like “Coach it’s been 12 days and I have nothing.” The affirmation of the win makes everything sweet, the affirmation of all their hard work and then playing with what they put on the field says a lot about their character, their fight to win and our coaches fight to win. If we did not win today, it would’ve been tough to get them back. The win now means I got them so we’ll enhance that.”
On the end of the game:
“I saw the ball go up and I was thinking ‘Please just hit it down, please just hit it down’ then when I saw the ball hit the ground I turned around and wanted to look and see the fans reaction. I remember the same fans the couple games before were ‘booing’ and they should’ve since we weren’t doing well. I wanted to take a quick 10 seconds to see their happiness and we made a lot of people smile in Arizona and around here and that’s huge for me because I consider myself an Arizonian. My kids as well, we’re going to make a lot of people happy, we made a lot of people happy tonight and tomorrow so that makes me feel good.”
On the pick six:
“We talked in our pregame of needing to score in all assets of the game from special-teams, defense and offense. The offense was clicking, I thought they were strategic in what they were doing, they didn’t ask Trenton to do too much. Then when you get a defensive play like that, it puts you over the top because I knew it was going to be hard to stop Washington because they were very talented. If we could keep that buffer and keep fighting, I knew we had a chance in the end and that’s what happened.”
On the team being relentless and staying relentless:
“I told them a couple of days and in meetings that I'm going to be relentless on you being on time, I'm going to be relentless on us running on the field and relentless in the game asking you to do as much as you can. I told them that I was going to be with them the entire game, and I’m going to be relentless on the sideline when you’re not doing something right. They know that I'm coming for them. They know that I’ll never give up on them, they know our coaches will never give up on them so that relentlessness is now what you see on our kids because they’re relentlessly wanting to win. We want to stack this win against Stanford in two weeks, we’ve stacked the days, games and now we want to stack the rest of the season to make it a successful one.”
On keeping the momentum during the bye week:
“I’m going to make sure that we’re strategic with this bye. I told them tonight to celebrate, but be careful. They gotta celebrate wins. Tomorrow we’ll have our Ohana dinner with all of our coaches, families and kids which is a big part of the celebration we give. Then on Monday I'll give them off but we’ll be strategic in getting kids back from injuries and all those nicks and making sure that they have a sigh of relief because they need some rest too. These last three weeks have been very hectic on them. I gave them 24 hours to grieve and (I) ask so much of them, so now I'm going to give them some time off. I’m going to watch my daughter play volleyball and I haven’t seen her play collegiately because our seasons get together. I can’t tell you how happy I am inside. I know I'm not jumping all around but I'm so happy for our kids and this program.”
On knowing the kids bought into the change and gaining their trust:
“I ask them to trust me and I'll take them through a process they probably have never been through before. That is from being relentless on everything that I do and making sure we leave that practice field and game that our heads are up and telling them that we love them and we appreciate that. They’re practicing so hard, I want to make sure they understood that I got their back the entire time. In reciprocal of that, they’ve trusted me and that’s tough to do in three weeks because I can be talking and selling anything that I want to do. They’ve trusted me and put in my word. When I say I'm going to do something I'm going to do something, and (I) told them that we’re going to win. So when we stack days, I look to win again. I thought against USC I told them point-blank, that was our game that we didn’t take care of. That’s not going to happen again. I said at halftime we have to learn from the game before and we learned from the game before and we finished. To me, it’s a Catch 22 because I'm going to ask so much more from them and I'll push them and push them until they can’t go anymore. They deserve it, they deserve all the accolades and just a big win for the whole program.”
On trust level with Trenton Bourguet:
“Absolute trust, that’s at every position. LaDarius (Henderson), who couldn’t finish the game, caused another kid, a Red Mountain (High School), Arizona kid to come in. It’s the “what’s next” mentality and the kids know I will never skip a beat in putting the next person because I trust all the guys on our team. If they’re the second guy they’ve got to be ready to play because they’re only one play away. From that part they know that I trust them and I know they’re going to give me everything they got and it turns into playing a heck of a game.”
Arizona State Quarterback, Trenton Bourguet
On initial thoughts coming into the game:
“It’s the last thing you want to see, a starter going down especially with a head injury like that. Prayers go out to Emory (Jones), I think he’s doing fine. I saw him in the locker room and (I’M) glad to see he’s okay and he got banged up but he’ll be good. After the last four years... you’re always a play away I was told that. Southern Utah a couple of years ago, I got a half in but today was a lot different and prepared like a starter the whole time. At the end of the day, we came out victorious against a really good Washington team and it was very fun.”
On mindset moving forward after an interception:
“The defensive back made a great play and I’m not trying to force that one, that play was over and just trying to learn from it. I think at that time it ended up tying it up after that. Just make sure the defense had their back and I think we go done and score it. But he made a good play and I can’t force the ball like that.”
On trying not to push the ball down the field and finding rhythm:
“That first play was a great, first play to hand it off and we score on a handoff. That really got my confidence going and it’s kind of tough to get in rhythm coming into the game but I think the wide receivers did a good job catching contested balls and the line game had some pretty decent timing. The running backs made it easy because they’re finding holes and made it a lot easier. Coach (Glenn) Thomas called a great game.”
On what he saw on the sidelines before coming into the game:
“I think Washington pretty much ran everything that we were prepared for. It’s just a matter of trying to execute it and not force it and not play with dirty eyes and I think we had a great week of practice and we had a really good game plan and we ended up executing it.”
On his pass to X Valladay:
“That was my hot read, number 7 came off the edge and I think he’s from Arizona, Dominique Hampton. I grew up playing with him, so it was kind of funny– two Arizona guys. But he was a hot read and X came out open standing in the pocket and make the throw. Luckily he caught it and scored and just what Coach Thomas has taught me and what we’ve been taught in executing on the field.”
On visualizing a moment like today’s win and preparing for moments like this:
“As a backup quarterback, you have to be prepared. It’s kind of different growing up. I’ve always been that guy starting since (I was) a freshman in high school and breaking records. For me, I always know what I’m capable of and God has a great plan. Four years ago I was the fifth-string back walk-on. Just trusting God’s plan and putting my head down and preparing for this moment.”
On his foot injury throughout Spring and last season:
“On the last day of fall camp, I kind of noticed my foot was hurting. I ended up getting an X-ray, MRI and it’s just kind of a stress fracture. But I didn’t want to sit out of the first half of the season because I probably would have to get surgery. So, good thing I didn’t because I ended up playing against Southern Utah and I played last year with it and I ended up having surgery right after spring ball. So this spring I was in a boot the whole time outside of football which nobody really knew about, so just trying to play through that was kind of tough. Battling for the starting job but also really being limited being on one foot. I got surgery but my foot was 100 percent and I was glad that I got it 100 percent and I thank God. I felt pretty good (in August) but I hadn’t really done anything since spring ball. I was pretty much out for a couple of months, just trying to get back into cardio and just throwing. But for me, throwing a football is just throwing a football, so I was glad to be able to come back in time for fall camp and compete to my best ability. I still probably wasn’t 100 percent but I feel really good right now.”
On how he was able to build confidence:
“I just think trusting in my training. Taking what the defense gives me like I said it was nice to be able to rely on the run game, we had some pretty good runs and protection held up pretty well. Washington’s a great defense and I think we had a great plan against them and I just stay focused the whole time this week and watching film on the breaking down and stuff. I was just trusting coach Thomas’s game plan and executing it.”
On message from Interim Head Coach Sean Aguano and offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas:
“Coach Aguano just said he believes in me and (I) take what they give me. Coach Thomas said pretty much the same thing. But this is what I’m supposed to do as a backup quarterback is to be prepared and I just thank my teammates and my coaches and I’m glad we came out with a W.”
On first moment realizing the student section would be storming the field:
“The first thing I saw was he was a lefty, so I was like just please knock it down and not get a PI. The first person that came up to me was my brother. It’s pretty special to play your whole life with him and especially at this stage, he was the first one who came up to me and we bowed our heads and prayed and gave thanks to God. But it was a super fun moment and I hope we have more in the future.”
On confidence behind big throws:
“Our wide receiver was really special. I got this guy. We have Bryan Thompson, Andre Johnson, Gio Sanders, a number of guys who make plays and it’s just a matter of giving them a shot and giving them an opportunity and trusting in them. I know I have full trust in them and the running backs too, our tight ends. We have a lot of lefties offensively and just taking what the defense gives me and just giving the ball and distributing it to them. You can see what they can do with the ball.”
On what the plan is for after the game:
“Nesta (Jade Silvera) had a great game and I think we all will have some fun. I actually was planning on going to the fair, but I think I’m going to wait until next week on the bye and stuff but it was very fun and we’re going to take this bye week, not take it for granted, but we’ll be ready for the next opponent.”
Arizona State Defensive Lineman, Nesta Jade Silvera
On how it feels to upset Washington:
“I can’t even put it into words, it just feels so good. It’s been a long time coming. Guys like B.T. stay down, wait their turn. Big-time players show up.”
On the exchange between Coach Aguano and himself after the game:
“I’ve been in college five years now. I’m a player that plays my heart out every week, and Coach Aguano has been a coach that, ever since he stepped in, he lets me know he appreciates it. That’s someone that I can play for any Saturday. I could play for him any game of the week, because that’s someone that is going to let his players know that he appreciates him. It’s a mutual respect with him and for that, I really love that dude. I appreciate him.”
On what it means for Coach Aguano’s first win to come in this game:
“He’s been pushing us. It’s been a long three weeks. We took a bad loss two weeks ago. We could’ve won the game last week, but should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. Now, it just feels great to finally get that win after a long month. It’s been a long month of losing, and it’s not easy for any of us. People come in and ask these questions, and they think it’s easy for us to answer them. We come out everyday to prepare to win. We don’t come out here to lose. So, just to get that win, and finally see the fruit of the labor pay off for a moment to enjoy it for a day. We have to go back to work, because no game is a guarantee.”
On if anything in practice this past week changed:
“Coach Aguano says it’s a one percent better every day thing. Like I said, we don’t practice to lose. We aren’t out there everyday in that heat to lose on Saturday. It’s just a process that we’re going through as a team, as a unit, both sides of the ball, all three phases of football.”
On if there is a word to sum up the victory:
“I’m lit right now. Let’s just enjoy the win.”
On his plans after the game:
“I’m going to be at the crib, watching film, and trying to get better. Call our coaches, try to get better with the film.”
Arizona State Linebacker, Kyle Soelle
On how it feels to upset Washington:
“I feel like we’ve been saying it for the past few weeks, we really feel like we can play with anyone. We just had to put a full four quarters into a game, and we finally got it done today. It feels great. We get the bye week next week, so we can rest up and keep going.”
On the interception:
“I thought Nesta (Jade Silvera) got his hand on it, but someone had to get that and take it to the grave. We needed it.”
On what changed with the defense against USC, compared to against Washington:
“I still don’t feel that we’ve played the full game that we wanted to, but when you come away with a win you have to be happy. Like I said, we really feel like we can play with anyone, we just have to put together all four quarters and execute. We’re just going to keep coming out to practice trying to get better.”
On where this celebration ranks among his career:
“With everything that’s happened these past few weeks, especially having some new guys in the building and everything that’s going on, this is definitely up there. A lot of hard work was put into this win, and we want to keep stacking them. Coach Aguano says, ‘just stack everyday, one percent better everyday, and you just have to keep playing.’”
Arizona State Wide Receiver, Bryan Thompson
On what Trenton Bourguet brought in the game:
“What he did today isn’t a surprise to any of us. He prepares the right way. He does everything right. For him to come in, we were fully trusting of him. We were excited, he’s the next guy up.”
On his recent burst, and the wide receiver unit, as a whole:
“The big thing is just staying patient. Staying patient for your time, because it’s going to come. The two main things are staying patient and keeping your head down until that time comes. Just believe in God, believe in the steps that come with it and you’ll be alright. Coach (Glenn) Thomas told us, ‘don’t change the kind of person you are in big moments.’ You have to stay the same person you are, work hard. It all manifests, so it’s no surprise.”
On if there is a word to sum up the victory:
“I can’t even put it into words. It’s just a long time coming. It feels good.”
Arizona State Offensive Lineman, Ben Scott
On how he is feeling:
“I feel pretty good. Coming in here against a ranked opponent and getting that win is always a good feeling. Obviously, this isn't the end. We have a lot of games left and a lot of the season to go.”
On what quarterback, Trenton Bourguet brought:
“I thought Trent did a really good job taking what the defense was giving him. He wasn’t going for the big plays. He wasn’t trying to prove himself. He was taking little check-downs, taking little five-in routes and building his way. He had the offense marching. It looked really good.”
On the offensive line’s strides against Washington:
“It came down to this week in practice. We were really putting in the work. We didn’t come off the best against USC and we took that to heart. We have to know that we’re not a terrible offensive line, we’re actually decent, and we’re going to come out and show it. I thought we came out and did pretty good today. We can always improve the run game, but I think our pass protection was decent today.”
On missing two starters:
“It’s always ‘next one up’ (mentality). We had two tackles that filled in equally. When (LaDarius Henderson) went down, Ben Bray was right there ready to go and he held his own out there. I thought he did really good. He puts in the grind everyday. He knows what he’s doing. I wasn’t baby-ing him out there, because he knows what he’s doing. He’s just another guy out there.”
On Trenton Bourguet:
“He just took over. In practice, he gets reps with the ones every once in a while, so this is nothing new to him. He knows the offense better than close to anyone. He’s as cool as a cucumber. He reads more than some of the coaches in the box, up there. He was smooth.”
On getting the victory:
“It’s a great feeling. In my mind, it’s the start of something. I feel like we are in a drought out here. We were trying to get the first win to bounce back and now that we’ve done that we have to take off from here. It’s a start.”
On the message during halftime:
“Going into halftime we were up by seven, so we had a zero, zero mentality. Offense was up, thinking we have to go out and score, which I don’t think we did, but the game was far from over, so we had to keep doing what we were doing. I feel like some teams have trends of being up at halftime, then letting it slip in the second half because they think they already won. We were trying to make sure we didn’t do that, so we approached it like it was a 0-0 game.”
Arizona State Defensive Back, Isaiah Johnson
On how he is feeling:
“Just adding on as we go, step-by-step, being a team, all that good stuff. We have to listen to what Coach Aguano says, ‘take it day by day.’”
On how well the defense did eliminating big moments for Washington:
“The key word was trust. Trust the guy beside you, in front of you, behind you. Speaking for myself, I have a ‘no one is better than me’ mentality, so I try to spread that across the field, by saying nobody is better than us. We might give them a play, but nobody is better than us. I feel like that mentality today was the best we could have for this game and it gave us a great outcome.”
On how well the secondary defense communicated:
“We stayed as one and made big plays and stops. We did much better on third-downs this week. We made adjustments. It really goes back to getting the job done on offense, so that the guys can go back out and get the job done.”
On Jordan Clark’s interception:
“I had a feeling we were going to get it. I saw [Clark] sprint as hard as he could and I knew, he’s going to the crib. It’s a great feeling for Jordan, and I’m happy for him.”
On getting the victory:
“It’s a beautiful feeling, speaking for myself, but I know the guys feel the same way, especially our older guys. Coach Aguano came in and set up a whole new approach, and we’ve been taking a whole new approach to game days and off days. Just to see it all pay off, just shows it’s making a difference. Speaking for myself, it’s going to make me want to take my talents to a whole other level after seeing it pay off.”
Arizona State Running Back, X Valladay
On what he saw from the Washington defense:
“I saw yards, I saw a whole lot of yards and I wanted to get them and I trusted my O-line, trusted the game plan, trusted what the coaches had to go out there in practice all week. When I feel things I kind of keep it to myself because I’m not ‘a leaving a look’ type of person because I feel like if I say things too much it kind of loses value to it. When I feel it in my heart I just keep it and everyone else on the team wants to bring that energy and everyone bring the passion and emotions.”
On Trent coming in:
“Trent being here, there's a lot of guys on the offensive side of the ball that trust him and I even knew that when I got here. It doesn't matter what type of coaches come in because at the end of the day it’s the guys between the lines that are going on the field and you know Trent (Bourguet) is a baller. I feel like we have ballers throughout our whole depth chart. It's just that when your number is called you go out there and like we said from the beginning of the season this team is so close and were so passionate for this game and especially for each other. There will be no question of who is out there on the field, we're gonna trust in them and they're gonna give it their all, and Trent (Bourguet) definitely did that tonight. My hat’s off to them.”
On winning for interim head coach Sean Aguano:
“It was big, not even for Coach Aguano but it was big for all of us. Just to persevere through that adversity we went through these last couple of weeks and we definitely knew we wanted it. I’ve even seen it on the defense on the side of the ball, especially on the offensive side. I’ve just seen our guys, they were really, really hungry and once you get smacked in the mouth so many times, you’re going to get up and throw off the first punch– start and finish it. So I definitely think my team, our team did this and I’m just very excited that we pulled out with a victory today.”
On how the field storm felt:
“I saw that, but I thought it was all media. I didn’t know who was coming up to me. Then, I heard different players’ names and thought, ‘oh my God.’ There were a lot of people. It felt like we were playing in the Super Bowl. It’s a good feeling to have the fans engaged. I thank God that the outcome was what it was. I can’t thank my teammates enough, and I know [Clark] will say the same thing. It was a big win for us, so there are a lot of emotions all over the place.”
Arizona State Safety, Jordan Clark
On his pick six:
“I was like, ‘oh my god.’ I couldn’t believe it. Really I was trying to make sure I was secure in the catch. It was like slow motion.”
On how his pick six changed the game:
“I don’t know how much it changed the game but I know the offense was clicking anyways. I know we needed just a little bit of momentum on defense, I think it gave it some swagger, some of our energy we always wanted.”
On fourth down stopping and having those key plays:
“It’s a bet on us mentality. Whenever we work how we do when the coaches put us in positions just playing football and guys like K.B. (Khoury Bethley) and fast guys like Kyle (Soelle), they’re just quick to make the plays and coach puts us in the right position, all we’re doing is executing.”
University of Washington Head Coach, Kalen DeBoer
Opening Statement:
“Second week in a row coming down to the wire and we’re giving ourselves a chance late in the game, but we have to do a better job earlier in the game. Especially in the first quarter, second quarter we were just digging ourselves a hole. Some plays that can be made out there just were a step slow in getting off the field and a turnover that was the difference in the game as well. I don’t fault the guys for fighting all game but it is one of those things where in our program… it’s alright to be upset and mad. What transpired today, and the key is you can be upset but we’ve got to make sure we move on because there is a lot of football left to be played. There are six games left. We’re a 4-2 football team. We’re disappointed in what's happened in the last two weeks, but we gotta take that next jump from not just being an okay or a good team, but to being a good to great team. It’s just going back to work in practice and we have to get some guys healthy that will certainly help some things out too, but I love the fight in our guys. There’s no questioning that, they keep believing. At some point we have to find ways to win and not just ride out throughout the fourth quarter and hope that happens.”
On anything early in the season that indicated they’d have defensive struggles:
“No, because it was different guys on the football field playing together. We knew we did not have a lot of depth as far as experience and that’s showing up. A lot of what we practice during the course of the week, it’s not those guys on the field just because we’re pretty dinged up. There’s a lot of guys that played some snaps today that I wouldn't have expected to play many at all. Some were brought along as an emergency and had a low pitch count whether it was through special teams or on the field defensively, and they ended up having to be out there quite a bit. So, that continuity is what it is. The game of football is a physical sport and we just have to get over this hump and try to get some guys back. Having Asa (Turner) make the trip was a really big positive for us, kind of a morale boost. He played so well in the short span, and to have him out there with us for pretty much most of the game… pretty much the guys that are out there are the guys that are healthy. The healthiest.”
On when Michael Penix Jr. went down:
“I didn't think that he was going to be coming back in. He was hurting pretty good. There came a point where he kind of got his wind back and he really quickly turned the corner and all of a sudden I went from ‘ok, he’s got a chance to maybe get back out there.” It says a lot about him. He’s been a fighter his entire life and I am super proud of him. I know he always wants to be better, and he's going to look back on probably the pick six that went the other way, a bad bounce but that’s just the way he is. He wants to be great, and he's done some great things for us helping us win. He’s been a great leader for us too. Just the fighter in him is something I think a lot of guys see and we need him to continue to do that and bring the team along.”
On what he said when Michael Penix Jr. went down:
“He didn’t tell me anything… he was hurting pretty bad. It was a matter of just survival at that time for a minute or two there.”
On the third down struggle and cleaning it up:
“Unfortunately you go in with a plan and wrenches get thrown into the plan and guys are out. Certain guys with certain roles. There is some youth out there that you just can’t throw everything at them because there are so many looks that they’re going to see. There were specific down and distances and moments where we were going to have certain packages with the rotation that gets thrown off. With guys getting dinged up and guys not being in the game. Asa (Turner) again, one of those situations. A lot of it has to do with… we go through the week right now we’re just trying to get to Saturday because of health-wise. Practicing right now we’re putting everything into it and guys are grinding through it but we just need their bodies to feel better. There were a lot of snaps that were played today that were above and beyond what I imagined for many players.”
On rotating a lot of safeties in and out of the game because of injury:
“Asa was gonna be a bigger part of that too throughout the game and then that put more pressure on a few guys that are just not moving around the way that we know they can.”
On players getting hurt at practice:
“No, that’s the thing we had a lot of just carry over from last week's game. Nobody got hurt at practice this week.”
On the team having similar confidence as last week to come out of the half and win the game:
“Yeah I did, I think that going into the half with that score right at the end was huge for our morale. I mean in the locker room I didn’t sense anything as far as from any doubts. I felt like that that was big to pull within one score and you the guys belief was all there and we saw last week what happens when you keep fighting and keep playing and you know you just keep telling the guys it's gonna come back to us the game is gonna keep coming back to us and then all of sudden of a 14 point deficit ends up being a tight ball game at one point again today. So that’s gonna be the case when you keep fighting, we just have to do a better job of executing and having some continuity out there on the football field.”
On using many running backs today:
“Guys unable to play as the game went on. I’m just gonna say it, if a guy all of sudden is out there on the football field for us right now for our football team there is probably a reason and it’s probably health related.”
On the thought process of going for it on 4th down on your own 30:
“There’s looks off of looks and just things that we do, feed off of each other and I feel like we have gone for it a lot and have been very successful and the 1 yard in that area of that field is a little bit of a risk, I get that but it’s been something that I feel like we can do. We can be successful giving the ball to Rome, one of your play makers who hasn't been stopped on that sort of play yet this year from what I remember from that type of situation this year. We need to be aggressive and there's times where we just felt like starting the third quarter we can set the tone and move the ball down the field and I have no second thoughts on that 4th and 1 situation.”
On Josh Jackson leaving the game:
“Yeah, he got dinged up the rest of the game.”
On losing anyone for an extended amount of time:
“That’s the thing it kind of becomes a rotation and a wear and tear on guys. At some point you’d like to just get everyone healthy and get everyone back. When you have someone get dinged up it puts more pressure on the other guys to take more reps and we had a couple more guys get dinged up on offense today as well.”
On if any of the injured players be back soon:
“Right now we don't have any season ending type of things.”
On if Sam Adams was apart of the game plan:
“Yea Sam has done a great job and just continued to grind and work. We got confidence in him and with just the way the running back room and guys getting dinged up as the way the game was going on – he had an opportunity to get out there and make some plays. I thought he did a nice job creating something off of the one easy throw had to him and make a couple of guys miss and try to get a few yards and fighting.”
University of Washington Edge, Jeremiah Martin
On UW’s biggest issues right now:
“I mean, from the D-line perspective, we got to get a better rush. I feel like, just get a better rush up front and it will help out the back guys a lot more. So, I feel like it’s on the defensive front right now, trying to get a pass rush. Playing UCLA and this team, they’re chipping us and trying to take us out of the game as edges. We got to work off of things like that and just keep pushing.”
On taking advantage of facing a backup quarterback:
“With a backup, you never know. I know when I was a backup, I prepared like I was a starter. So, he came in and did his job. Hats off to him. I respect him for that. He did his job, read his keys, and picked apart the defense. We just gotta get better as a whole, as a defense, right now we got to fill in the holes that we have as a defense and keep moving forward.”
On facing a 1-4 team with an interim head coach
“It’s the game of football. You only get 12 opportunities, and each week is going to be a dog fight. Especially in Pac-12 play, SEC play, ACC play, it doesn’t matter. The team could be 0-5 and beat the #1 team in the country. It just works like that every week. Like I said, it’s a dogfight every week and you gotta go in with the mentality of wanting to win the game as bad as you want to breathe sometimes. That’s really about it. I don’t care if they’re 1-4, 0-5, 5-0, they came out to play and played hard. That’s gonna be an every week thing, so hats off to them.”
University of Washington Quarterback, Michael Penix Jr.
On how he’s feeling his fourth quarter injury:
“I’m alright … we’ve just got to win the football game. I’m good, I’ll be back. I’ll be at practice tomorrow and for sure I’ll be there next Saturday.”
On his message to the team after the tough loss:
“We just can't beat ourselves. Don't get me wrong we played a good team, but we’ve got to do a lot better executing and just controlling what we can control. Yeah, we’ve got to put our head down and we’ve got to do better executing the small things and not beating ourselves and putting ourselves in bad situations.”
On the failed fourth down conversion in the third quarter:
“Yeah, I don’t know, it was just a tackle for a loss … I was going the other way so I couldn't see it. We had the look we wanted. I know Coach (Ryan) Grubb called it, I know he wanted to call it with the right look and we didn’t get it so it had to be something with execution so we’ve just got to be sure we execute.”
How he felt immediately after his fourth quarter injury:
“It was just shocking. I’m good though. It was scary but I’m good. I didn't know (I would be able to get back on the field) when it first happened. But I was able to catch my breath and stuff. And it stopped hurting as much. And then I was like, ‘I was getting back out there no matter what.’ I want to say no matter what … but if I was hospitalized, it would have been bad. But if I knew I could play, I was gonna play and that's what I did. I never quit on my team. And, I know if I could play, I’ll never back down from that. No matter what the situation is, even if it's not the best situation, I want to be a part of something great. So, you know, I definitely wanted to get back on the field as soon as I was able to realize I was good.”
On rallying the team after two straight losses:
“We just gotta focus on, like I said, what we can control, it's about us, you know? So we just gotta have a 1-0 mindset and not really worried about worry, right now we got a 24-hour rule, so we're gonna break down the game and stuff like that and fix all the stuff we messed up execution-wise or stuff we did good … talk about that, but I'm just gonna have a 1-0 mindset and just challenge guys to just continue and go out there and keep fighting. Because we can't let one loss carry onto the next week. We just have to make sure we stay doing it, and have a good week of practice. So we come on next weekend, and come out on top.”
On the frustration of scoring lots of points but not being able to win:
“I wouldn't say it's frustrating. We just learned a lot of lessons. We take our losses lessons, we know we’ve got to build off of the things we did good and correct things we didn't do. I really don't get frustrated. That stuff doesn't really matter to me, I just get to the next thing. I don't really hold it in my head. I don't let any negative thoughts and like, completely itself in my mind or anything like that. I know, once the next Saturday comes up, we're gonna be ready to play. That's all I know, and I don't get frustrated. We know we got a lot to work on, and we're gonna get that stuff fixed. And we definitely don't like to lose. So we're gonna make sure we stop that.”