POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 31, Oregon 14
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
October 21, 2017
UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
“I’m proud of that team and our young men – they’ve fought through a lot. As you know, it’s tough to lose. We were 3-3 after that tough loss [at Arizona], but that’s one thing these guys have shown is resilience. They’ve shown that in overcoming the injuries that we have sustained lately. We played most of the game without two of our more veteran linemen in Jacob Tuioti-Mariner and Matt Dickerson. Our guys stepped in and did a tremendous job. Keisean [Lucier-South] was at will linebacker. Greg Rogers made a big play on a fourth down. After losing Caleb Wilson, we had Austin Roberts go down and then Jordan Wilson stepped up. I’m proud of Christian Pabico, who we were all so excited about. Today, Christian made some key third-down catches. But there’s an energy that he brought and there’s faith that Josh [Rosen] has in throwing to him. A lot of our guys contributed. It takes a team banding together, facing some adversity, and you just continue to believe. It’s a real credit to those men and their character. I credit them and I’m blessed to work with them.”
on UCLA’s progress this week
“It had been a long time since we’d had a takeaway or consistent pressure on the quarterback. We got that done today. That was huge. They had 62 rushing attempts, which is almost out of this world. But, I thought that they broke a couple on us, and we contained the huge run that has been hurting us. You convert some fourth downs and you get after the quarterback. That’s a good recipe for having success.”
on whether he’d ever seen a leap or vault like that of Bolu Olorunfunmi (in the third quarter)
“I’ll just say this – I coached Mike Vick, so yes.”
on UCLA’s injury updates
“With Jacob [Tuioti-Mariner], they had to take him to the hospital at halftime, and they were having conversations about his internal organs. All preliminary reports are that he’s OK, but they are always going to err on the side of caution. Matt Dickerson’s was significant, very significant, it’s his collarbone. Austin Roberts, looks like it’s a high ankle. We will have to find someone to step in. Alex Van Dyke stepped into that role today. Jordan [Lasley] was not available to us today for disciplinary reasons. There was an action taken, that was contrary to what we need to develop and to what our school stands for. And hopefully, he’ll learn from the mistake that he made. We will have a better feel for injuries as we get going.”
on UCLA wide receiver Christian Pabico
“He made a couple of key catches. He’s a young man with a tremendous desire to be a good football player. He’s willing to do anything. He’s consistent. He’s good at meetings and good at practices. And he always does the right thing, with a good attitude, so he’s rewarded for good behavior, not bad behavior. It was just that today, our back is up against the wall, and we really needed him to come through and he did. I think that Josh [Rosen] has confidence in all of his receivers, but that confidence builds as guys like Christian make the plays that he makes.”
on the defense holding Oregon scoreless in three quarters
“I think we all were. If you have a competitive bone in your body – and these guys have a full body of competitive bones – you take it personally. When things are going on, happening, allowing to happen, there is always a sense of resolve. But at some point there’s always an investment that will pay off. But we have to build on it. We have to play one of the top teams in America up in Seattle [next Saturday]. It’s their homecoming. They’re honoring Don James with a new statue and it’ll be an electric environment. I think that our guys will be ready to go.”
on UCLA’s team building confidence
“It was huge. They’d ripped off a couple of runs. There was a good run when they’d fumbled, as well. To capitalize with points was big. To have the resolve to put that disappointment that the score was even [at 14-14], that tests these guys’ character. They came out in the second half, and we went 17-0 in the second half. That, to me, is a sign of these young men and their character and what they are all about.”
on the interception by UCLA’s Colin Samuel
“Yeah, it was a well-played play. He can be a bigtime corner. He has speed and confidence. They were calling it tonight. Sometimes, you don’t see some of those P.I. calls. But, he did a great job of looking back at the right time. We needed that play at that time. The result on the sidelines, we were all excited for him. Just like when Greg Rogers came in and made that stop, it was a huge play. Alex Rassool, a guy who had never played a snap, and he’s on punt rush and he’s doing it and it’s fun to see that. It is an awesome part of college football.”
on UCLA’s Jaelan Phillips
“He plays with a lot of confidence. He’s big, young, smart and energetic. With guys like him, everyone tries to plug into each other. Jaleel Wadood brings great energy. And with the energy that Jaelan has, you have to have that. He may be a little sore tomorrow but it’s certainly good to have him back.”
UCLA offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch
on Bolu Olorunfunmi’s touchdown run
“He got up there. I mean he got up there. You always get nervous when they expose themselves when they get that high in the air. So I gasped for a second, and when I saw him come back down, then I was excited again. That was a big play in the game for us to have that kind of run with that tempo. Any time our players leave their feet I have that gasp. It’s one of those things you think about, because when guys leave their feet they are the most vulnerable for big hits. I was really proud of how hard he ran.”
on the Bruins’ balanced offensive attack
“We’ve talked about this each week. We would like that balance every week, but there has just been a couple of games where the score has dictated the balance be different. We’re not looking to throw the ball 50 times and run it 15. That’s not who we want to be. When you can run the ball on second down and get first downs, when you can run the ball on third down and get first downs, that changes the game. It changes our ability for our play-action game because it will have more opportunities or the pass rush has to hesitate because it might be a run. It’s great to have that balance.”
on UCLA’s Christian Pabico
“He really has done everything that we have asked of him this whole year. It started against Texas A&M as he was our starting receiver. Then we made some changes and he has some nice plays against Hawaii and didn’t have much for a couple of weeks. It was great to see him get out there and start in the slot for us. He does everything we ask. That’s all you can ask. I made the comment on the headset when he caught the touchdown you saw the energy, the smile and the passion. I said that’s why you coach college football so you can see those kinds of reaction from kids that balance academics and give everything they can on the field.”
UCLA defensive coordinator Tom Bradley
on the Bruins’ overall defensive effort
“We feel pretty good. We made some plays. I thought we played really well in the first half and got some dumb penalties on third down. Some undisciplined holding penalties, face mask calls and all types of things because we got off the field on those third and longs but those cost us an extra 12 plays. I was disappointed in that because at that point in the game we were up 14-0 and could have given the ball back to the offense up two scores and created some different field position.”
on run defense
“That helps us a lot. They are a good running football team with good personnel. There’s some situations where we have to be more disciplined on the jet sweeps with the proper assignments and alignments and understanding the situation. There’s all those little things that if you’re going to be good on defense you have to do all the little things right. People think it’s about the big things, it’s not. It’s about taking care of the little things. That’s when you get to be really good on defense.”
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen
on UCLA’s offense and defense both contributing today
“It goes both ways, a lot of the times one sparks the other and our defense played really well in the second half. Once we started rolling, and our defense kept coming, we started to pull away.”
on Christian Pabico contributing
“He has a great feel for the game. He feels out windows really well. One deep ball I over threw a little bit, he did a really good job at slowing down and boxing out the DB and making the play. I look forward to seeing more of that.”
on what contributed to no turnovers
“Our running game went really well, eliminated a little bit of their pass rush, O-line played their butts off. For the most part, we played really well. I didn’t have to do much today, we just had a really good team win. Ran the ball really well and guys were open.”
on the resilience of this team with injuries and the second half of the schedule coming up
“We have a team we believe in. We’ve done some incredible things this year and not-so incredible things this year – you try to pull more from the positive side. I think we have a lot of guys that really enjoy this sport and enjoy each other, that’s all you can really ask for.”
on the balanced offensive play calling
“It’s really nice when the defense has to worry about anything and everything. When you’re running the ball, it sets up your play-action game, it tires out defensive linemen, and you also stay away from tough third downs when defensive coordinators dig deep into their call sheet with crazy blitzes. So, staying away of the chains, staying ahead of first downs, it’s always really helpful when we can run the ball successfully.”
UCLA running back Bolu Olorunfunmi
on if he is finding his groove
“You just never give up, keep working. The offense has been working hard, the defense has been working hard. We’re just trying to play together as a team. As we do that, we all find our groove. It’s more than just me. Christian today had a great game. It all comes from the work we do every day in practice and on the practice field.”
on UCLA’s offensive line
“The O-Line has done a tremendous job. They’ve been doing such a great job, working so hard. Last year was a down year for them. This year, they’ve made it a point of emphasis to make sure the run game gets better and work hard. This whole season they’ve been doing a great job, and they’re not done yet. They’re just going to get better and fix the things we need to fix.”
UCLA wide receiver Christian Pabico
on Bolu Olorunfunmi’s third quarter touchdown
“Honestly, I had no idea he was jumping because I was trying to block, and I felt a body, then I looked, and he was on top of my head. Thank God he went into the end zone.”
Oregon head coach Willie Taggart
on Braxton Burmeister’s performance
“I thought he played better than the previous games. He’s getting better and competing. He’s still learning. We’re going to continue to try and get him better, but also better around him.”
on the offense trying to take longer shots down the field
“Yeah, we did a couple times, but one was the interception and the one that was recalled. But freshman mistakes were made, and have to learn not to make them.”
on balancing Braxton Burmeister and keeping him healthy
“That’s not something we’re too concerned about. You saw how many guys went down today. You can’t do that in this sport. We’re out there to play ball, but be smart. Learning when to throw the ball away, or when to get down when he should, and not taking unnecessary hits. We don’t want him taking unnecessary hits. That’s part of him. He’s a competitor, but as a young guy he’s got to learn that he can’t take a lot of those hits, mostly the unnecessary ones.”
on developing the passing game and then establishing the ground game with Royce Freeman
“Well, we want to of course complete passes, but it’s important to run the football. We just need to play better and not make some mental mistakes like we did. We just can’t do that.”
on Oregon rallying from a 14-0 deficit to tie the game by halftime
“We fought, and we never felt like we can’t do it. I understand where our team is, and we can’t feel bad for ourselves or feel sorry – we can’t do it. We can’t make a lot of mistakes. We’re not loaded right now. We can’t kill ourselves like in the second half. We have to drive the ball really well.”
UCLA 31, Oregon 14
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
October 21, 2017
UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
“I’m proud of that team and our young men – they’ve fought through a lot. As you know, it’s tough to lose. We were 3-3 after that tough loss [at Arizona], but that’s one thing these guys have shown is resilience. They’ve shown that in overcoming the injuries that we have sustained lately. We played most of the game without two of our more veteran linemen in Jacob Tuioti-Mariner and Matt Dickerson. Our guys stepped in and did a tremendous job. Keisean [Lucier-South] was at will linebacker. Greg Rogers made a big play on a fourth down. After losing Caleb Wilson, we had Austin Roberts go down and then Jordan Wilson stepped up. I’m proud of Christian Pabico, who we were all so excited about. Today, Christian made some key third-down catches. But there’s an energy that he brought and there’s faith that Josh [Rosen] has in throwing to him. A lot of our guys contributed. It takes a team banding together, facing some adversity, and you just continue to believe. It’s a real credit to those men and their character. I credit them and I’m blessed to work with them.”
on UCLA’s progress this week
“It had been a long time since we’d had a takeaway or consistent pressure on the quarterback. We got that done today. That was huge. They had 62 rushing attempts, which is almost out of this world. But, I thought that they broke a couple on us, and we contained the huge run that has been hurting us. You convert some fourth downs and you get after the quarterback. That’s a good recipe for having success.”
on whether he’d ever seen a leap or vault like that of Bolu Olorunfunmi (in the third quarter)
“I’ll just say this – I coached Mike Vick, so yes.”
on UCLA’s injury updates
“With Jacob [Tuioti-Mariner], they had to take him to the hospital at halftime, and they were having conversations about his internal organs. All preliminary reports are that he’s OK, but they are always going to err on the side of caution. Matt Dickerson’s was significant, very significant, it’s his collarbone. Austin Roberts, looks like it’s a high ankle. We will have to find someone to step in. Alex Van Dyke stepped into that role today. Jordan [Lasley] was not available to us today for disciplinary reasons. There was an action taken, that was contrary to what we need to develop and to what our school stands for. And hopefully, he’ll learn from the mistake that he made. We will have a better feel for injuries as we get going.”
on UCLA wide receiver Christian Pabico
“He made a couple of key catches. He’s a young man with a tremendous desire to be a good football player. He’s willing to do anything. He’s consistent. He’s good at meetings and good at practices. And he always does the right thing, with a good attitude, so he’s rewarded for good behavior, not bad behavior. It was just that today, our back is up against the wall, and we really needed him to come through and he did. I think that Josh [Rosen] has confidence in all of his receivers, but that confidence builds as guys like Christian make the plays that he makes.”
on the defense holding Oregon scoreless in three quarters
“I think we all were. If you have a competitive bone in your body – and these guys have a full body of competitive bones – you take it personally. When things are going on, happening, allowing to happen, there is always a sense of resolve. But at some point there’s always an investment that will pay off. But we have to build on it. We have to play one of the top teams in America up in Seattle [next Saturday]. It’s their homecoming. They’re honoring Don James with a new statue and it’ll be an electric environment. I think that our guys will be ready to go.”
on UCLA’s team building confidence
“It was huge. They’d ripped off a couple of runs. There was a good run when they’d fumbled, as well. To capitalize with points was big. To have the resolve to put that disappointment that the score was even [at 14-14], that tests these guys’ character. They came out in the second half, and we went 17-0 in the second half. That, to me, is a sign of these young men and their character and what they are all about.”
on the interception by UCLA’s Colin Samuel
“Yeah, it was a well-played play. He can be a bigtime corner. He has speed and confidence. They were calling it tonight. Sometimes, you don’t see some of those P.I. calls. But, he did a great job of looking back at the right time. We needed that play at that time. The result on the sidelines, we were all excited for him. Just like when Greg Rogers came in and made that stop, it was a huge play. Alex Rassool, a guy who had never played a snap, and he’s on punt rush and he’s doing it and it’s fun to see that. It is an awesome part of college football.”
on UCLA’s Jaelan Phillips
“He plays with a lot of confidence. He’s big, young, smart and energetic. With guys like him, everyone tries to plug into each other. Jaleel Wadood brings great energy. And with the energy that Jaelan has, you have to have that. He may be a little sore tomorrow but it’s certainly good to have him back.”
UCLA offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch
on Bolu Olorunfunmi’s touchdown run
“He got up there. I mean he got up there. You always get nervous when they expose themselves when they get that high in the air. So I gasped for a second, and when I saw him come back down, then I was excited again. That was a big play in the game for us to have that kind of run with that tempo. Any time our players leave their feet I have that gasp. It’s one of those things you think about, because when guys leave their feet they are the most vulnerable for big hits. I was really proud of how hard he ran.”
on the Bruins’ balanced offensive attack
“We’ve talked about this each week. We would like that balance every week, but there has just been a couple of games where the score has dictated the balance be different. We’re not looking to throw the ball 50 times and run it 15. That’s not who we want to be. When you can run the ball on second down and get first downs, when you can run the ball on third down and get first downs, that changes the game. It changes our ability for our play-action game because it will have more opportunities or the pass rush has to hesitate because it might be a run. It’s great to have that balance.”
on UCLA’s Christian Pabico
“He really has done everything that we have asked of him this whole year. It started against Texas A&M as he was our starting receiver. Then we made some changes and he has some nice plays against Hawaii and didn’t have much for a couple of weeks. It was great to see him get out there and start in the slot for us. He does everything we ask. That’s all you can ask. I made the comment on the headset when he caught the touchdown you saw the energy, the smile and the passion. I said that’s why you coach college football so you can see those kinds of reaction from kids that balance academics and give everything they can on the field.”
UCLA defensive coordinator Tom Bradley
on the Bruins’ overall defensive effort
“We feel pretty good. We made some plays. I thought we played really well in the first half and got some dumb penalties on third down. Some undisciplined holding penalties, face mask calls and all types of things because we got off the field on those third and longs but those cost us an extra 12 plays. I was disappointed in that because at that point in the game we were up 14-0 and could have given the ball back to the offense up two scores and created some different field position.”
on run defense
“That helps us a lot. They are a good running football team with good personnel. There’s some situations where we have to be more disciplined on the jet sweeps with the proper assignments and alignments and understanding the situation. There’s all those little things that if you’re going to be good on defense you have to do all the little things right. People think it’s about the big things, it’s not. It’s about taking care of the little things. That’s when you get to be really good on defense.”
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen
on UCLA’s offense and defense both contributing today
“It goes both ways, a lot of the times one sparks the other and our defense played really well in the second half. Once we started rolling, and our defense kept coming, we started to pull away.”
on Christian Pabico contributing
“He has a great feel for the game. He feels out windows really well. One deep ball I over threw a little bit, he did a really good job at slowing down and boxing out the DB and making the play. I look forward to seeing more of that.”
on what contributed to no turnovers
“Our running game went really well, eliminated a little bit of their pass rush, O-line played their butts off. For the most part, we played really well. I didn’t have to do much today, we just had a really good team win. Ran the ball really well and guys were open.”
on the resilience of this team with injuries and the second half of the schedule coming up
“We have a team we believe in. We’ve done some incredible things this year and not-so incredible things this year – you try to pull more from the positive side. I think we have a lot of guys that really enjoy this sport and enjoy each other, that’s all you can really ask for.”
on the balanced offensive play calling
“It’s really nice when the defense has to worry about anything and everything. When you’re running the ball, it sets up your play-action game, it tires out defensive linemen, and you also stay away from tough third downs when defensive coordinators dig deep into their call sheet with crazy blitzes. So, staying away of the chains, staying ahead of first downs, it’s always really helpful when we can run the ball successfully.”
UCLA running back Bolu Olorunfunmi
on if he is finding his groove
“You just never give up, keep working. The offense has been working hard, the defense has been working hard. We’re just trying to play together as a team. As we do that, we all find our groove. It’s more than just me. Christian today had a great game. It all comes from the work we do every day in practice and on the practice field.”
on UCLA’s offensive line
“The O-Line has done a tremendous job. They’ve been doing such a great job, working so hard. Last year was a down year for them. This year, they’ve made it a point of emphasis to make sure the run game gets better and work hard. This whole season they’ve been doing a great job, and they’re not done yet. They’re just going to get better and fix the things we need to fix.”
UCLA wide receiver Christian Pabico
on Bolu Olorunfunmi’s third quarter touchdown
“Honestly, I had no idea he was jumping because I was trying to block, and I felt a body, then I looked, and he was on top of my head. Thank God he went into the end zone.”
Oregon head coach Willie Taggart
on Braxton Burmeister’s performance
“I thought he played better than the previous games. He’s getting better and competing. He’s still learning. We’re going to continue to try and get him better, but also better around him.”
on the offense trying to take longer shots down the field
“Yeah, we did a couple times, but one was the interception and the one that was recalled. But freshman mistakes were made, and have to learn not to make them.”
on balancing Braxton Burmeister and keeping him healthy
“That’s not something we’re too concerned about. You saw how many guys went down today. You can’t do that in this sport. We’re out there to play ball, but be smart. Learning when to throw the ball away, or when to get down when he should, and not taking unnecessary hits. We don’t want him taking unnecessary hits. That’s part of him. He’s a competitor, but as a young guy he’s got to learn that he can’t take a lot of those hits, mostly the unnecessary ones.”
on developing the passing game and then establishing the ground game with Royce Freeman
“Well, we want to of course complete passes, but it’s important to run the football. We just need to play better and not make some mental mistakes like we did. We just can’t do that.”
on Oregon rallying from a 14-0 deficit to tie the game by halftime
“We fought, and we never felt like we can’t do it. I understand where our team is, and we can’t feel bad for ourselves or feel sorry – we can’t do it. We can’t make a lot of mistakes. We’re not loaded right now. We can’t kill ourselves like in the second half. We have to drive the ball really well.”