On the first win as a Head Coach:
“It's really surreal. It's something you dream about. Something you want, you work so hard for, but at the end of the day the team won this game. I told these guys, their love and their support and their effort and their energy is more than I could ever give them. What a great team win, I’m just so happy for our players. They've been through a lot. It'll sink in for me at some point, but I'm just so happy for our guys and our team and what it means for them.”
On the tackling improvement from last week:
“I thought for the most part, we went into the game knowing we had to be better on first downs and being better tacklers. It felt like our fits were better, we were flying around. We were excited to play this game. You could see that on offense, defense, and special teams just in how hard we played and the tackling was way better and that will always lead to success. Just a great job by our coaching staff, good job by our players. It’s been an emphasis all week and they went out and executed.”
On the energy level on the sideline:
“I just think we challenged everybody to be their best today in whatever their role might be. That might be cheering on the sidelines, that might be playing 100 snaps and just being the most excited team to be on the field. It just really felt that we were. I think we won this game because we played harder. That's an immensely talented team. That's a very talented Arizona State team that our guys were just really excited to play and compete and be out there together and just prove who we can be and I just think that shows… You don't work football, you play football. And our guys played it. It's fun, and they enjoy it, love being around each other and I just thought that showed for 60 minutes.”
On Justus Rogers:
Justus Rogers is one of those guys that just stay the course, and it hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been perfect but he gives this team everything he has. He gives me, as a position coach and a defensive coordinator, everything he has. I love Justus. He means a lot to me, and his work ethic has come a long way. I've challenged him since the day I've been here, and I'm just proud to see him get some of these results.”
On the key to containing Jayden Daniels:
“He's an elite level player. He’s an NFL player. I thought our guys had an awareness there were times we needed to spy him and there were times we needed to be aggressive towards him. We needed (to force) him to make some bad decisions on the run, and I felt like we did that. We got some pressure on him, and it's not always about the hits, it's about forcing some bad throws and then taking advantage of those types of situations. You can't just stop a guy like that. You have to try to limit the situations and just always change up the pictures, and I thought we did a good job. Our rush lanes were really good and had some opportunities to make plays and some of our guys went out and did it.
On forcing five turnovers:
“We stress it every week. Our guys really understand, and we start off fall camp by talking about the value of the ball… and how you can affect the ball. There are so many different ways as a defender that you can do that, and they take it to heart. It doesn't just show up on saturday. These guys practice it during the week, our coaches drill it during the week, and it's just fun to see those guys create momentum and make those plays. It comes from playing hard and caring about each other. When the ball’s on the ground, we’re there because we care more and that's just the mindset that these guys have taken the whole season and I'm just so proud of them.”
On making a statement as underdogs:
“Not one time did we talk about being an underdog in this football game. We went into this game confident. We had a plan. We knew we would have to execute, and we'd have to play well against a good football team. By no means did we play the underdog card. We're confident in our ability, and confident in what we can do, and we’re playing good football and playing good football at the right time in the season. That's what good teams do, and we just keep progressing and getting better and learning. I think our “want to” is high and our care and love for each other is very high and I think that was really evident today.
On keeping momentum from turning after the half:
“I thought the third quarter was the moment in the game where things could have slipped either way. We did a good job getting off the field on third downs on defense. They kept us off balance pretty much all day, especially in the first half. We looked at those moments either as a sack, or getting a penalty, or getting the offense behind the chains to get our offense on the field to create some field position. I think that third quarter was huge, and it was just getting off of the field on third down and everyone doing their job. That’s when we really proved that we could finish this game.”
“It's really surreal. It's something you dream about. Something you want, you work so hard for, but at the end of the day the team won this game. I told these guys, their love and their support and their effort and their energy is more than I could ever give them. What a great team win, I’m just so happy for our players. They've been through a lot. It'll sink in for me at some point, but I'm just so happy for our guys and our team and what it means for them.”
On the tackling improvement from last week:
“I thought for the most part, we went into the game knowing we had to be better on first downs and being better tacklers. It felt like our fits were better, we were flying around. We were excited to play this game. You could see that on offense, defense, and special teams just in how hard we played and the tackling was way better and that will always lead to success. Just a great job by our coaching staff, good job by our players. It’s been an emphasis all week and they went out and executed.”
On the energy level on the sideline:
“I just think we challenged everybody to be their best today in whatever their role might be. That might be cheering on the sidelines, that might be playing 100 snaps and just being the most excited team to be on the field. It just really felt that we were. I think we won this game because we played harder. That's an immensely talented team. That's a very talented Arizona State team that our guys were just really excited to play and compete and be out there together and just prove who we can be and I just think that shows… You don't work football, you play football. And our guys played it. It's fun, and they enjoy it, love being around each other and I just thought that showed for 60 minutes.”
On Justus Rogers:
Justus Rogers is one of those guys that just stay the course, and it hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been perfect but he gives this team everything he has. He gives me, as a position coach and a defensive coordinator, everything he has. I love Justus. He means a lot to me, and his work ethic has come a long way. I've challenged him since the day I've been here, and I'm just proud to see him get some of these results.”
On the key to containing Jayden Daniels:
“He's an elite level player. He’s an NFL player. I thought our guys had an awareness there were times we needed to spy him and there were times we needed to be aggressive towards him. We needed (to force) him to make some bad decisions on the run, and I felt like we did that. We got some pressure on him, and it's not always about the hits, it's about forcing some bad throws and then taking advantage of those types of situations. You can't just stop a guy like that. You have to try to limit the situations and just always change up the pictures, and I thought we did a good job. Our rush lanes were really good and had some opportunities to make plays and some of our guys went out and did it.
On forcing five turnovers:
“We stress it every week. Our guys really understand, and we start off fall camp by talking about the value of the ball… and how you can affect the ball. There are so many different ways as a defender that you can do that, and they take it to heart. It doesn't just show up on saturday. These guys practice it during the week, our coaches drill it during the week, and it's just fun to see those guys create momentum and make those plays. It comes from playing hard and caring about each other. When the ball’s on the ground, we’re there because we care more and that's just the mindset that these guys have taken the whole season and I'm just so proud of them.”
On making a statement as underdogs:
“Not one time did we talk about being an underdog in this football game. We went into this game confident. We had a plan. We knew we would have to execute, and we'd have to play well against a good football team. By no means did we play the underdog card. We're confident in our ability, and confident in what we can do, and we’re playing good football and playing good football at the right time in the season. That's what good teams do, and we just keep progressing and getting better and learning. I think our “want to” is high and our care and love for each other is very high and I think that was really evident today.
On keeping momentum from turning after the half:
“I thought the third quarter was the moment in the game where things could have slipped either way. We did a good job getting off the field on third downs on defense. They kept us off balance pretty much all day, especially in the first half. We looked at those moments either as a sack, or getting a penalty, or getting the offense behind the chains to get our offense on the field to create some field position. I think that third quarter was huge, and it was just getting off of the field on third down and everyone doing their job. That’s when we really proved that we could finish this game.”
