Opening statement…
“Obviously we did not play very well. I am really pleased with Matt Haack. Very proud of him and Zane (Gonzalez) and the way that they perform. There were a lot of individual highlights this past game, but what does that mean when you lose? That was not our best effort. We have to do better and go to work. We had great meetings today and we are focused. Homecoming means we will have our former players and alum here to support a hopeful win. We are ready to move forward.”
On running the football…
“We have not blocked very well while other teams have. I think it is controlling the line of scrimmage and we have to get better than what we’re doing. The key is to win football games and the key to winning a football game is being able to run the football and stop the run on defense. We need to be fundamentally better. We need to take what they give us on the outside, but we truly need to block better.”
On tackling issues...
“It is very frustrating. We just came off our best week tackling followed by our worst performance as far as tackling. We start off practice every day tackling. The end result was poor fundamental tracking and we did not play to the same standards as the week before. Communication, pursuit and tackling are three things we spend most of our individual times on in practice so we need to prove that on the road.”
On Christian Sam…
“I thought that he would be back by now. It is kind of a strange deal, moving at turtles pace. That has definitely hurt us. It hurts our depth. We will have to look at that and see where we can train some people.”
On troubles on the road…
“There are challenges, but you have to be twice as focused. We need to be mentally mature and mentally tough enough to play well on the road and that is something we plan to get better at. At home we have won, but there are things we have done that are not up to standards as well. The good news is we are 5-2. We have played well here. Hopefully we will get some guys healed up because that is hurting us not just in one position, but in practice. In order to perform, you have to practice to your fullest potential. So we are going to practice hard and hopefully get some guys back healthy. In this league, the key is each week improving and getting better. Consistency is key so we need to get back on track this week. We have a big challenge ahead of us at home this week with Washington State so we need to apply our fundamental tools to bring in another win.”
On Washington States defense…
“They move, attack and create havoc. You can tell that the kids play hard, but they are an attacking group.”
On Mannys health coming off last week’s game…
“He is not 100% and it limited what we could do. We are hoping he will be a bit more healthy this week.”
On Salamo Fiso…
“He is still getting in shape. We have to work on our conditioning which has not been great. We played a lot of plays since we did not make a lot of first downs. He is not in playing shape yet, but he played his best game at UCLA."
On Coach Cooper…
“I love the history and tradition of college football. Each place I have worked at, I feel it is my duty to carry the history. He is very gracious. He comes back to speak to our team after the games so he is a coach I have tremendous respect for. In both Rose Bowls we have participated in, he has been a part of in one way or another. He is a class coach so I am excited to have him back.”
On bettering our running game versus Washington State…
“We need to block better and give our running backs a chance. We can’t let them overload us in the box. We have about three backs with great heart and determination that we need to give a chance to run the ball."
“Obviously we did not play very well. I am really pleased with Matt Haack. Very proud of him and Zane (Gonzalez) and the way that they perform. There were a lot of individual highlights this past game, but what does that mean when you lose? That was not our best effort. We have to do better and go to work. We had great meetings today and we are focused. Homecoming means we will have our former players and alum here to support a hopeful win. We are ready to move forward.”
On running the football…
“We have not blocked very well while other teams have. I think it is controlling the line of scrimmage and we have to get better than what we’re doing. The key is to win football games and the key to winning a football game is being able to run the football and stop the run on defense. We need to be fundamentally better. We need to take what they give us on the outside, but we truly need to block better.”
On tackling issues...
“It is very frustrating. We just came off our best week tackling followed by our worst performance as far as tackling. We start off practice every day tackling. The end result was poor fundamental tracking and we did not play to the same standards as the week before. Communication, pursuit and tackling are three things we spend most of our individual times on in practice so we need to prove that on the road.”
On Christian Sam…
“I thought that he would be back by now. It is kind of a strange deal, moving at turtles pace. That has definitely hurt us. It hurts our depth. We will have to look at that and see where we can train some people.”
On troubles on the road…
“There are challenges, but you have to be twice as focused. We need to be mentally mature and mentally tough enough to play well on the road and that is something we plan to get better at. At home we have won, but there are things we have done that are not up to standards as well. The good news is we are 5-2. We have played well here. Hopefully we will get some guys healed up because that is hurting us not just in one position, but in practice. In order to perform, you have to practice to your fullest potential. So we are going to practice hard and hopefully get some guys back healthy. In this league, the key is each week improving and getting better. Consistency is key so we need to get back on track this week. We have a big challenge ahead of us at home this week with Washington State so we need to apply our fundamental tools to bring in another win.”
On Washington States defense…
“They move, attack and create havoc. You can tell that the kids play hard, but they are an attacking group.”
On Mannys health coming off last week’s game…
“He is not 100% and it limited what we could do. We are hoping he will be a bit more healthy this week.”
On Salamo Fiso…
“He is still getting in shape. We have to work on our conditioning which has not been great. We played a lot of plays since we did not make a lot of first downs. He is not in playing shape yet, but he played his best game at UCLA."
On Coach Cooper…
“I love the history and tradition of college football. Each place I have worked at, I feel it is my duty to carry the history. He is very gracious. He comes back to speak to our team after the games so he is a coach I have tremendous respect for. In both Rose Bowls we have participated in, he has been a part of in one way or another. He is a class coach so I am excited to have him back.”
On bettering our running game versus Washington State…
“We need to block better and give our running backs a chance. We can’t let them overload us in the box. We have about three backs with great heart and determination that we need to give a chance to run the ball."