Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham
On how to fix an offense with problems that are difficult to explain:
“I think we have to be more consistent with where the ball needs to go. I think there needs to be a more direct plan on ‘If you get this look, this is where the ball goes’ and we should be able to see from the sideline exactly what's going to happen before it even happens. We got to do some work making sure everybody's on the same page. The reality is that everything that we saw they had shown on tape multiple times and was exactly, sadly enough, what we prepared for. So, we got to be able to coach that better and make sure that our guys are not just taking the film room to the game, but taking practice to the game and applying it on game day at a higher rate. And that falls on me as the head coach.”
On the defense’s football character and IQ to hold Fresno State to mainly field goals:
“Yeah, I mean, they put in the work, they're passionate, they care and we have great leadership. So those guys play because they love the game and they play for each other and it shows up at a high level and I'm proud of how they're playing. I'm proud of their leadership and we just got to get offense rolling a little bit and I'm going to do everything in my power this week to help that and to fix that.”
On what he saw schematically from the defense in short-field situations:
“Coach Ward is very aggressive and Coach Ward is going to constantly try to create pressure on the quarterback. I think we did that tonight, especially when we got them into long-yard scenarios at the end of the half. We took a penalty so that we could play third down again instead of making it fourth down because I knew that fits into our defensive style. It forced them to make an intentional grounding and we saved three points off the board. That happened multiple times, our defense just playing aggressive and playing with confidence. That got them off the field.”
On what the message was to rally the team after the fourth-string QB came in:
“We didn't have the result we wanted; we didn't end up scoring, which would have been nice, but we didn't quit. Our kids didn't quit, right. Our kids kept playing and that's what we're trying to achieve here. We're trying to get guys to play hard, play with passion and care. Like I told them in the locker room, how we played is unacceptable on one side of the ball. It's the worst I've ever been around in my entire career. But the effort and the intent was in the direction that we're trying to go and the situation we're in is not ideal, but once again, who cares? We got to find a way. And like I said, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep our team motivated, to keep working, to keep building and to get Arizona State where I know it's going to get to."
Arizona State Safety Chris Edmonds
On what it’s like to go through a game where the offense has eight turnovers:
“We’re a team. We win and lose together. No matter what the offense is doing, we’re going to keep going out there and fighting, keep going out there and battling for those boys. I know that they were out there battling so, not putting the blame on anybody we have to play better collectively.”
On Coach Dillingham’s message to the team at the half:
“Win the second half. That’s all we can do, keep going out there and fighting, and win the second half. Play hard, play with effort, go make plays.”
On keeping offense focused after turnovers:
“That’s what we’re here for. Like I said we’re a team so if they’re not playing good, we have to pick it up ourselves. Just how we were playing good, we expect them to do the same, you know we’re a team. We win or lose together.”
Arizona State Nickel Jordan Clark
On team morale around injuries:
“It’s just football, that’s a risk. You know that’s a risk whenever you put your helmet on and strap your pads up. The mood around the team is, next man up. You got to play football. If anybody’s mood isn’t that, that will get corrected and we’ll fix that internally but we’re just ready to play ball.”
On tactics used to keep offense motivated:
“A whole bunch. For me, even in times of adversity and when stuff is tough, I just want them to know that we’re still here for them. Whatever people in the stands are saying or however they may feel about themselves, we believe in them. So we're going to keep uplifting them, keep playing ball, try to give them the spark. Those guys will get it fixed, they’re good football players.”
On a potential leader on offense tonight:
“I think Joey Ramos plays his tail off every week. There's not a week that he doesn't prepare to exhaustion. Regardless of how he’s feeling, how his body feels, he goes out there and puts it on the line every game and I have an immense amount of respect for him. Every game Joey stands up.”
On cornerback Ro Torrence’s corner blitzes:
“He’s just playing hard, playing good football. He’s showing the disguises we need to. Ultimately Coach Ward is a mastermind, so whatever he calls, we run.”
Fresno State Head Coach Jeff Tedford
On first road shutout since 1988:
“I don’t know about the history but am proud of them for keeping them out of the end zone. All of the turnovers that we forced, I thought the defense played excellent, put some pressure on the passer ball.”
On win streak for program now at 12 games dating back to last season:
“Our program has a 12-0 record, but we’re 3-0. This is a new team, it’s a different team. We have to blaze our own trail, we’re responsible for that. I thought the guys responded really well this week in practice and came out ready to play tonight.”
On environment being similar to previous experiences as a Pac-10/Pac-12 coach:
“I think they have a really raucous student section here and that was evident early in the game, but thankfully we were able to take them out of that scoring early.”
On kicker Dylan Lynch’s field goals this evening:
“I wish we were scoring touchdowns but thankfully he was making his field goals. He missed the real long one at the end of the half, but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times tonight with penalties getting behind the sticks and they had a couple of nice blitz that got after Mikey (Keene) put us in long yard situations. But again, we’re going to go back and we’re going to have to improve on a lot of things and that’s what early in the season is all about. But thankfully we won that game and am really, really proud of our team for coming on the road and focusing on what needed to get done and then executing.”
On what defense did specifically to have performance they had:
“We gave him some different looks. We put some pressure on the passer, the guys did a nice job getting after the passer and anytime you can pressure the passer you have a better chance of causing turnovers.”
On presence quarterback Mikey Keane has brought to offense early in the year:
“He brings stability. Mikey works hard, there are some things tonight that he will improve on. Mikey’s still young, he has the ability to fit into our offense and try to figure out what we’re doing and I thought he did a nice job of dealing with all of the different looks in their secondary. I think he’s going to improve each and every week.”
On fan turnout as the visiting team:
“That’s really cool for our fans who traveled to be here for us. We usually travel real well and just really happy they got to see a good game and they were rewarded for being here”
Fresno State Quarterback Mikey Keene
On getting the win in his home state:
“Super surreal moment, being able to come home and have a lot of people who haven't had watch me in a long time since I was in high school, just being on the East coast in Florida, not a lot of people got to travel and see me play, so that was special for me, but just going into preparation I knew I had to stay level headed, cool, calm, and collected. Couldn't let that stuff get to me in the overall game plan and throughout the game couldn't let that stuff get to me either, but we did a great job tonight. Obviously my mind goes straight to the insists where we didnt finish in the red zone, left a lot of points out on the board, should have been an even bigger win tonight, but ultimately the defense did a great job tonight, all those turnovers. Offense got to be better when we get those turnovers in the red zone we gotta finish for them, but that's tough to lose when your defense gets five plus turnovers or however many we had tonight. SO they came up huge and got the donut on them so that was an awesome performance by them.”
On eight turnovers and red zone offense:
“Just overall execution and finishing on third down, granted ASU does a great job on third downs in the red zone they send some unique pressures, we knew that coming into this week and they got us on a couple of those but ultimately just finishing in all aspects of the game whether we’re trying, we just have too many self inflicted wounds especially in the red zone we got behind the sticks to start and then couldn't convert on third downs and things like that and it starts with me upfront so I gotta be better and command a better red zone offense forsure.”
On personal goal for this week:
“Personally every single game that I play I just need to do my job to the fullest potential to help us get a win, how many yards that's throwing for doesn't matter to me, touchdowns does not matter to me, as long as we get that W and I'm doing my job that's the biggest thing on my end that I’m focusing on each week. Yeah we had an ugly game last week but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, I always tell myself that too. It's great being able to 3-0 at this stage of the season and we have a lot more season to be played. We’ll get the film, make the correction and get ready for a big win against Kent State next week.”
Fresno State Defensive Back Carlton Johnson
On three interception night:
“It feels really good. Just knowing the preparation paid off. We have a great coaching staff up here, they put together a great game plan and all we dit was just come out and execute it.”
On seeing his family at the end of the game:
“My daughter was out there, so it was pretty fun seeing her smile and stuff with my dad. I was just happy to celebrate with the “Red Wave” and they always show out, they’re a blessing.”
On how to fix an offense with problems that are difficult to explain:
“I think we have to be more consistent with where the ball needs to go. I think there needs to be a more direct plan on ‘If you get this look, this is where the ball goes’ and we should be able to see from the sideline exactly what's going to happen before it even happens. We got to do some work making sure everybody's on the same page. The reality is that everything that we saw they had shown on tape multiple times and was exactly, sadly enough, what we prepared for. So, we got to be able to coach that better and make sure that our guys are not just taking the film room to the game, but taking practice to the game and applying it on game day at a higher rate. And that falls on me as the head coach.”
On the defense’s football character and IQ to hold Fresno State to mainly field goals:
“Yeah, I mean, they put in the work, they're passionate, they care and we have great leadership. So those guys play because they love the game and they play for each other and it shows up at a high level and I'm proud of how they're playing. I'm proud of their leadership and we just got to get offense rolling a little bit and I'm going to do everything in my power this week to help that and to fix that.”
On what he saw schematically from the defense in short-field situations:
“Coach Ward is very aggressive and Coach Ward is going to constantly try to create pressure on the quarterback. I think we did that tonight, especially when we got them into long-yard scenarios at the end of the half. We took a penalty so that we could play third down again instead of making it fourth down because I knew that fits into our defensive style. It forced them to make an intentional grounding and we saved three points off the board. That happened multiple times, our defense just playing aggressive and playing with confidence. That got them off the field.”
On what the message was to rally the team after the fourth-string QB came in:
“We didn't have the result we wanted; we didn't end up scoring, which would have been nice, but we didn't quit. Our kids didn't quit, right. Our kids kept playing and that's what we're trying to achieve here. We're trying to get guys to play hard, play with passion and care. Like I told them in the locker room, how we played is unacceptable on one side of the ball. It's the worst I've ever been around in my entire career. But the effort and the intent was in the direction that we're trying to go and the situation we're in is not ideal, but once again, who cares? We got to find a way. And like I said, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep our team motivated, to keep working, to keep building and to get Arizona State where I know it's going to get to."
Arizona State Safety Chris Edmonds
On what it’s like to go through a game where the offense has eight turnovers:
“We’re a team. We win and lose together. No matter what the offense is doing, we’re going to keep going out there and fighting, keep going out there and battling for those boys. I know that they were out there battling so, not putting the blame on anybody we have to play better collectively.”
On Coach Dillingham’s message to the team at the half:
“Win the second half. That’s all we can do, keep going out there and fighting, and win the second half. Play hard, play with effort, go make plays.”
On keeping offense focused after turnovers:
“That’s what we’re here for. Like I said we’re a team so if they’re not playing good, we have to pick it up ourselves. Just how we were playing good, we expect them to do the same, you know we’re a team. We win or lose together.”
Arizona State Nickel Jordan Clark
On team morale around injuries:
“It’s just football, that’s a risk. You know that’s a risk whenever you put your helmet on and strap your pads up. The mood around the team is, next man up. You got to play football. If anybody’s mood isn’t that, that will get corrected and we’ll fix that internally but we’re just ready to play ball.”
On tactics used to keep offense motivated:
“A whole bunch. For me, even in times of adversity and when stuff is tough, I just want them to know that we’re still here for them. Whatever people in the stands are saying or however they may feel about themselves, we believe in them. So we're going to keep uplifting them, keep playing ball, try to give them the spark. Those guys will get it fixed, they’re good football players.”
On a potential leader on offense tonight:
“I think Joey Ramos plays his tail off every week. There's not a week that he doesn't prepare to exhaustion. Regardless of how he’s feeling, how his body feels, he goes out there and puts it on the line every game and I have an immense amount of respect for him. Every game Joey stands up.”
On cornerback Ro Torrence’s corner blitzes:
“He’s just playing hard, playing good football. He’s showing the disguises we need to. Ultimately Coach Ward is a mastermind, so whatever he calls, we run.”
Fresno State Head Coach Jeff Tedford
On first road shutout since 1988:
“I don’t know about the history but am proud of them for keeping them out of the end zone. All of the turnovers that we forced, I thought the defense played excellent, put some pressure on the passer ball.”
On win streak for program now at 12 games dating back to last season:
“Our program has a 12-0 record, but we’re 3-0. This is a new team, it’s a different team. We have to blaze our own trail, we’re responsible for that. I thought the guys responded really well this week in practice and came out ready to play tonight.”
On environment being similar to previous experiences as a Pac-10/Pac-12 coach:
“I think they have a really raucous student section here and that was evident early in the game, but thankfully we were able to take them out of that scoring early.”
On kicker Dylan Lynch’s field goals this evening:
“I wish we were scoring touchdowns but thankfully he was making his field goals. He missed the real long one at the end of the half, but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times tonight with penalties getting behind the sticks and they had a couple of nice blitz that got after Mikey (Keene) put us in long yard situations. But again, we’re going to go back and we’re going to have to improve on a lot of things and that’s what early in the season is all about. But thankfully we won that game and am really, really proud of our team for coming on the road and focusing on what needed to get done and then executing.”
On what defense did specifically to have performance they had:
“We gave him some different looks. We put some pressure on the passer, the guys did a nice job getting after the passer and anytime you can pressure the passer you have a better chance of causing turnovers.”
On presence quarterback Mikey Keane has brought to offense early in the year:
“He brings stability. Mikey works hard, there are some things tonight that he will improve on. Mikey’s still young, he has the ability to fit into our offense and try to figure out what we’re doing and I thought he did a nice job of dealing with all of the different looks in their secondary. I think he’s going to improve each and every week.”
On fan turnout as the visiting team:
“That’s really cool for our fans who traveled to be here for us. We usually travel real well and just really happy they got to see a good game and they were rewarded for being here”
Fresno State Quarterback Mikey Keene
On getting the win in his home state:
“Super surreal moment, being able to come home and have a lot of people who haven't had watch me in a long time since I was in high school, just being on the East coast in Florida, not a lot of people got to travel and see me play, so that was special for me, but just going into preparation I knew I had to stay level headed, cool, calm, and collected. Couldn't let that stuff get to me in the overall game plan and throughout the game couldn't let that stuff get to me either, but we did a great job tonight. Obviously my mind goes straight to the insists where we didnt finish in the red zone, left a lot of points out on the board, should have been an even bigger win tonight, but ultimately the defense did a great job tonight, all those turnovers. Offense got to be better when we get those turnovers in the red zone we gotta finish for them, but that's tough to lose when your defense gets five plus turnovers or however many we had tonight. SO they came up huge and got the donut on them so that was an awesome performance by them.”
On eight turnovers and red zone offense:
“Just overall execution and finishing on third down, granted ASU does a great job on third downs in the red zone they send some unique pressures, we knew that coming into this week and they got us on a couple of those but ultimately just finishing in all aspects of the game whether we’re trying, we just have too many self inflicted wounds especially in the red zone we got behind the sticks to start and then couldn't convert on third downs and things like that and it starts with me upfront so I gotta be better and command a better red zone offense forsure.”
On personal goal for this week:
“Personally every single game that I play I just need to do my job to the fullest potential to help us get a win, how many yards that's throwing for doesn't matter to me, touchdowns does not matter to me, as long as we get that W and I'm doing my job that's the biggest thing on my end that I’m focusing on each week. Yeah we had an ugly game last week but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, I always tell myself that too. It's great being able to 3-0 at this stage of the season and we have a lot more season to be played. We’ll get the film, make the correction and get ready for a big win against Kent State next week.”
Fresno State Defensive Back Carlton Johnson
On three interception night:
“It feels really good. Just knowing the preparation paid off. We have a great coaching staff up here, they put together a great game plan and all we dit was just come out and execute it.”
On seeing his family at the end of the game:
“My daughter was out there, so it was pretty fun seeing her smile and stuff with my dad. I was just happy to celebrate with the “Red Wave” and they always show out, they’re a blessing.”