Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham:
On what the team can pull from a program’s culture like Oregon’s:
“I challenge our guys at halftime. Let's go in the second half, let's just win the second half. That was it. They went out there and they won the second half and that's not a win, I understand that. You know what it shows, the guys are actually trying to do what I ask, they're trying to compete. That's the big thing, right? They did that and I was proud of them, but for us that’s exactly what championship teams look like. The highest level of teams across the board. Big, strong, fast, good QB play. That's what you strive to be as a program.”
On crediting Oregon with their offensive success:
“I credit them. They're a really good football team, there's nothing to take away. Take away the run, well now you play man coverage and you have to cover three wide outs that are gonna play on Sundays, one who could be a first round pick with a quarterback who could win the Heisman. Take away the pass. Well, they lead the country in yards per carry, all right. They have three O-linemen that are going to get drafted, a running back who's going to get drafted. So what can you take away, maybe we can catch them. Well, their quarterback gets them into good plays. So they have a really, really, really good football team and that's what I told the guys in the locker room. I said we played a lot of games this year that I don't care about our situation at the O line, the guys hurt, what happened in year one that we could have won, but a lot we were in it and we could have won football games. That team right there, that team was better than us. Point blank, significantly better than us. We've got to get better in the off season. That's what I told them. I like you guys shouldn’t hang your head. We did it, we gave everything we got and that's a better football team. Point blank. Simple. What do we want to do to get better for the people coming back, work in the off season, put in the work, get better and better and better after the game.”
On the culture he’s trying to instill in the program:
“You gotta respond to adversity, like that's adversity right now, we're doing a really good job showing up, back to work and getting better. Didn't play well at Utah, responded and found a way to win at UCLA. Well, where we're not responding well is in game, we're not responding well when somebody punches us, right? We can't regather ourselves yet. I faced the same thing, to be honest, when I was at Florida State. We just couldn't figure out when it started to rain it always poured and that's part of growth. You've got to eventually learn and have enough confidence and belief that, ok, you get socked in the face, they convert a 3rd and 15 on the first drive. Relax. You get them to a 3rd and 15 and then you stop the bleeding. Right now when we get on our heels in game, that's when we really struggle and we played a lot of games where teams haven't really got us on our heels. They may have gotten a play or so, but when we get on our heels we have to respond better and that's gonna take time to just be really honest. I wish I could say that I’m just gonna snap my fingers and I'm gonna tell them that and we're gonna respond better if that happens. That's not how it works, right? Good football teams are years of culture, that's years of culture building there…But the best football teams in the country have established cultures of offensive line, defensive line, physicality and toughness, and this is another team that had that and we got to be able to match that moving forward.”
On not running the ball as much:
“They're really good. If we have our six guys try to take 45 snaps of running the ball versus those guys, one, I don't know if we could hold up and we can't afford another injury, you know? Part of the gate is to try to get our guys a break, right? You can't just play five guys, 65, 70 snaps in a college football game, but that's kind of where we're at. So part of that is literally to try to give those guys a rest and to keep our guys healthy, so we can maneuver and there's some scheme behind it and stuff like that too, but you can't just go up there and try to run the ball versus that defensive line. That's one of the best defensive lines in football. I mean, they're gigantic, they're strong.”
On getting ready for next week’s game against Arizona after tonight:
“I don't care if we win or lose, come Sunday, it's gone and you repeat. I know I say that a lot and you're like, oh, how do you do it? Like that's just what you do. If you get lost in the success of upsetting UCLA on the road or you get lost in the failure at Utah, you're gonna live like this, right? We tell our guys all the time, the only people you care about are the people that care about you, the people in the building, not social media, not random people. It's the people that are right next to you. So we're gonna show up on Monday. We're gonna do the exact same thing. I’m going to walk in. They're gonna ask me how I'm doing, I'm gonna say phenomenal, right? They're gonna ask me what's up and I'm gonna say life, right? Like I do it every single day and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat. What's going to happen is Saturdays are going to start feeling better. That's it. The only difference in the process that's gonna change is Saturdays are gonna feel better, but it takes time.”
Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning:
Opening Statement:
“It felt like Eugene South down here today. Our fans were incredible, I saw so much green in the stands. Really fired me up and I’m glad that we were able to put up a great performance for them. Great job, we talked about playing to our standard. I think the first half is the definition of standard play for our team. I think we’re 6-for-6 on touchdowns, on offense, we’re able to get stops on defense, handle a lot of stuff you’re not able to practice.”
On what made Bo Nix’s performance successful statistically:
“Bo played exactly how you’re supposed to play in this game. You talk about efficiency, you talk about getting the ball to the right people in the right time, protecting the ball. He has a big belief in trust in the people around him and Bo would be the first one to tell you that the people around him make him special. Bo Nix is special and he’s getting better and better by game.”
On Kenny Dillingham:
“We both appreciate each other. It’s not that long ago I was sitting here as a GA at Arizona State and Kenny was a high school coach in the back of that room. It’s great to be able to see what the both of us have gotten and the people around us that have gotten us there. So, I know he’s got big things to accomplish and I know the future’s bright but grateful for him, appreciate him. Hopeful that he’s able to get things going, which I know he will.”
On looking ahead to Oregon State and how last year went:
“This game is our Super Bowl. They’re a really talented team and they’re coached extremely well, I’m anxious to sit here and be able to watch some of their film. I’ll watch some crossover film on what they’ve done this season, but I always feel like Jonathan has those guys playing their best football at the end of the season. It’s a tough team, it’s a resilient team, I’m excited to see what our fans do when they go out to this game.
On what the team can pull from a program’s culture like Oregon’s:
“I challenge our guys at halftime. Let's go in the second half, let's just win the second half. That was it. They went out there and they won the second half and that's not a win, I understand that. You know what it shows, the guys are actually trying to do what I ask, they're trying to compete. That's the big thing, right? They did that and I was proud of them, but for us that’s exactly what championship teams look like. The highest level of teams across the board. Big, strong, fast, good QB play. That's what you strive to be as a program.”
On crediting Oregon with their offensive success:
“I credit them. They're a really good football team, there's nothing to take away. Take away the run, well now you play man coverage and you have to cover three wide outs that are gonna play on Sundays, one who could be a first round pick with a quarterback who could win the Heisman. Take away the pass. Well, they lead the country in yards per carry, all right. They have three O-linemen that are going to get drafted, a running back who's going to get drafted. So what can you take away, maybe we can catch them. Well, their quarterback gets them into good plays. So they have a really, really, really good football team and that's what I told the guys in the locker room. I said we played a lot of games this year that I don't care about our situation at the O line, the guys hurt, what happened in year one that we could have won, but a lot we were in it and we could have won football games. That team right there, that team was better than us. Point blank, significantly better than us. We've got to get better in the off season. That's what I told them. I like you guys shouldn’t hang your head. We did it, we gave everything we got and that's a better football team. Point blank. Simple. What do we want to do to get better for the people coming back, work in the off season, put in the work, get better and better and better after the game.”
On the culture he’s trying to instill in the program:
“You gotta respond to adversity, like that's adversity right now, we're doing a really good job showing up, back to work and getting better. Didn't play well at Utah, responded and found a way to win at UCLA. Well, where we're not responding well is in game, we're not responding well when somebody punches us, right? We can't regather ourselves yet. I faced the same thing, to be honest, when I was at Florida State. We just couldn't figure out when it started to rain it always poured and that's part of growth. You've got to eventually learn and have enough confidence and belief that, ok, you get socked in the face, they convert a 3rd and 15 on the first drive. Relax. You get them to a 3rd and 15 and then you stop the bleeding. Right now when we get on our heels in game, that's when we really struggle and we played a lot of games where teams haven't really got us on our heels. They may have gotten a play or so, but when we get on our heels we have to respond better and that's gonna take time to just be really honest. I wish I could say that I’m just gonna snap my fingers and I'm gonna tell them that and we're gonna respond better if that happens. That's not how it works, right? Good football teams are years of culture, that's years of culture building there…But the best football teams in the country have established cultures of offensive line, defensive line, physicality and toughness, and this is another team that had that and we got to be able to match that moving forward.”
On not running the ball as much:
“They're really good. If we have our six guys try to take 45 snaps of running the ball versus those guys, one, I don't know if we could hold up and we can't afford another injury, you know? Part of the gate is to try to get our guys a break, right? You can't just play five guys, 65, 70 snaps in a college football game, but that's kind of where we're at. So part of that is literally to try to give those guys a rest and to keep our guys healthy, so we can maneuver and there's some scheme behind it and stuff like that too, but you can't just go up there and try to run the ball versus that defensive line. That's one of the best defensive lines in football. I mean, they're gigantic, they're strong.”
On getting ready for next week’s game against Arizona after tonight:
“I don't care if we win or lose, come Sunday, it's gone and you repeat. I know I say that a lot and you're like, oh, how do you do it? Like that's just what you do. If you get lost in the success of upsetting UCLA on the road or you get lost in the failure at Utah, you're gonna live like this, right? We tell our guys all the time, the only people you care about are the people that care about you, the people in the building, not social media, not random people. It's the people that are right next to you. So we're gonna show up on Monday. We're gonna do the exact same thing. I’m going to walk in. They're gonna ask me how I'm doing, I'm gonna say phenomenal, right? They're gonna ask me what's up and I'm gonna say life, right? Like I do it every single day and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat and we're gonna repeat. What's going to happen is Saturdays are going to start feeling better. That's it. The only difference in the process that's gonna change is Saturdays are gonna feel better, but it takes time.”
Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning:
Opening Statement:
“It felt like Eugene South down here today. Our fans were incredible, I saw so much green in the stands. Really fired me up and I’m glad that we were able to put up a great performance for them. Great job, we talked about playing to our standard. I think the first half is the definition of standard play for our team. I think we’re 6-for-6 on touchdowns, on offense, we’re able to get stops on defense, handle a lot of stuff you’re not able to practice.”
On what made Bo Nix’s performance successful statistically:
“Bo played exactly how you’re supposed to play in this game. You talk about efficiency, you talk about getting the ball to the right people in the right time, protecting the ball. He has a big belief in trust in the people around him and Bo would be the first one to tell you that the people around him make him special. Bo Nix is special and he’s getting better and better by game.”
On Kenny Dillingham:
“We both appreciate each other. It’s not that long ago I was sitting here as a GA at Arizona State and Kenny was a high school coach in the back of that room. It’s great to be able to see what the both of us have gotten and the people around us that have gotten us there. So, I know he’s got big things to accomplish and I know the future’s bright but grateful for him, appreciate him. Hopeful that he’s able to get things going, which I know he will.”
On looking ahead to Oregon State and how last year went:
“This game is our Super Bowl. They’re a really talented team and they’re coached extremely well, I’m anxious to sit here and be able to watch some of their film. I’ll watch some crossover film on what they’ve done this season, but I always feel like Jonathan has those guys playing their best football at the end of the season. It’s a tough team, it’s a resilient team, I’m excited to see what our fans do when they go out to this game.
