Postgame Quotes - USC 36, UCLA 14
POSTGAME QUOTES
USC 36, UCLA 14
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
November 19, 2016
UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
“Disappointing, obviously, night for us. I thought our week of preparation was outstanding. Our attitude was right. We were in the right place. We started out well, but after the first quarter, we struggled to stay on the field and struggled to get off the field. They had 95 plays to our 50 something. They did a heck of a job. It was just a really tough and humbling night. I told our guys afterwards that I’m proud of them and especially proud of the seniors who played their last game tonight. Regardless of how this year has gone, those young men have done some tremendous things here. They’ve been responsible for creating a culture that I think will endure. It’s obviously camouflaged by our record this year. This was the first game that we’ve kind of not been in. That’s disappointing, but I’m proud of the Fabians and the Randalls and the Elis and the Fafauls and the Conors and all those guys because they’ve raised the expectations, and it’s up to everyone else to live up to those expectations. We have not done that. We will prepare extremely hard for Cal, and we’ll try to get a win and we’ll build off that. Congratulations to Clay [Helton] and his team. They’re a great football team. Sam Darnold is a heck of a player. He gave us fits. One thing we’ve done well this year is affecting quarterbacks. We just couldn’t get him down. He’s a heck of a football player, and that’s a heck of a football team. But I’d like to reiterate, for one last time here at the Rose Bowl, what these seniors have accomplished. I’m sorry it doesn’t show because of our record this year. They deserve, rather than to be chastised and brought down because of their record, they deserve a lot of praise for what they have accomplished in their careers here.”
on what changed in this game during the first half
“That’s a great question. When they broke that third and one [11:07, second quarter]. I think that got to us a little bit. Had we got a stop there, things could’ve been different. You can talk could’ves, should’ves and would’ves. I don’t want I don’t want to go to that. We just couldn’t get it going on offense after that, and we couldn’t get them off the field on defense. I don’t have a great answer for you right now.”
on UCLA’s offense after the first quarter
“Well, they are a good defense, first of all. We’ll give them credit where credit is due. We were putting some new pieces in the puzzle on the offensive line. We just didn’t make some plays that we should’ve made. If we self-critique ourselves, we should have stuck with the run a little bit. We just could not get into a rhythm. When you can’t get them off the field on defense, it is tough to get into a rhythm. It’s frustrating. That was the story of the last three quarters of the game.”
on USC quarterback Sam Darnold
“Against mobile quarterbacks this year, we have done a nice job. But a guy as mobile as he is, as heady as he is, keeping his eyes down the field the way that he can – that’s what makes him special. He can elude the rush, keep his eyes up and find receivers down the field. I’m seen him on film and on TV, and I had a lot of respect for him coming into this game. In person, he’s a truly special one. I’ll tell you, he reminds me of a younger Tony Romo. He is bigger, but that type of ability, he’s smart and poised and confident. He’s a heck of a player.”
USC head coach Clay Helton
opening remarks
“Happy Saturday to everybody. Really good win for our football team. A win that was obviously much needed for us to continue for the Pac-12 South, and we were able to stay alive today with a Utah loss and this was a much, much-needed victory. What stood out to me was that it was a big man’s game. We have come into the last couple weeks saying, you know, run the ball, stop the run and you look up and you hold UCLA to 55 yards rushing compared to 260 yards rushing offensively, I thought that was the key to the game. And it enabled us to basically hold the ball for 43 minutes and 47 seconds in the game. You look up and you have 95 total plays, comparably, to 51. So, credit to our big men. I thought the defense, who really all of a sudden has a hit to them in that first drive, they take a deep breath and they really showed great, great poise. We had a couple early mistakes by our young quarterback, but I was really proud of him for how he reacted to making mistakes and how he came back in the second half. Obviously, Ronald [Jones] is going some really special things. Thank you to our team captain here, who is leading our defense and doing a great job. Good victory for us. We’ll take a deep breath tonight and then we’ve got another rivalry game next week in Notre Dame that we have to prepare for.”
on being concerned about a potential slow start for USC
“You know, we have really started fast in some of our other games. It really shows the maturity of this team. I did not see any panic with any of the guys. You saw on the next drive, we came right back down and you tie the score. We knew there would be a lot of emotion with this game. That’s a good football team. They’ve been in some close games against Utah and Colorado and Washington State. They’re a proud football team. They came out and hit us in the mouth early. And I really am proud of the kids for how they stepped up and reacted and didn’t panic and went on about their business, to do their job and to win the game.”
on USC’s success on third downs
“The numbers right now, I thought that was really why you have 95 plays. It kept drives alive. We were 12 of 21. So, again, that is the third week in a row of being over 50 percent. This was a really good third down defense. They were 32 percent coming in. They were the number three third down efficiency team. They got us one time with a pick on great trap two coverage by [Fabian] Moreau that kind of fooled the quarterback. He jumped a slant that gave them great field position and a touchdown. But, overall, really proud of our kids and their efficiency, and when you look up, that’s why you held it for 43 minutes.”
on monitoring the other games in the Pac-12 South
“Well, they were over before we even got on the bus. We’re in and out of meetings and walk-throughs, and you get score updates and stuff like that and peek in on it. You know, it was good for us. We needed one of those teams to lose to stay alive. Oregon came through for us. And now, there is a big game in Colorado next week between Colorado and Utah, and we still need a little help, but we have set our mark at 7-2. That was our last conference game. Now, we have to get ready to do our job and that’s to go prepare for Notre Dame.”
on having Sam Darnold being an elusive quarterback for USC
“I tell you, the creativity that Sam brings was evident. Sometimes, too, that gets us in trouble. I know that he wishes he had that launch that he threw into the end zone back. You take the good with the bad. But thank goodness for us, there is a lot more good than there is bad. We have been able to overcome the bad. But he’s a young player who is maturing by the day, and he has guys like these guys that lift him up when there is a mistake.”
USC 36, UCLA 14
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
November 19, 2016
UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
“Disappointing, obviously, night for us. I thought our week of preparation was outstanding. Our attitude was right. We were in the right place. We started out well, but after the first quarter, we struggled to stay on the field and struggled to get off the field. They had 95 plays to our 50 something. They did a heck of a job. It was just a really tough and humbling night. I told our guys afterwards that I’m proud of them and especially proud of the seniors who played their last game tonight. Regardless of how this year has gone, those young men have done some tremendous things here. They’ve been responsible for creating a culture that I think will endure. It’s obviously camouflaged by our record this year. This was the first game that we’ve kind of not been in. That’s disappointing, but I’m proud of the Fabians and the Randalls and the Elis and the Fafauls and the Conors and all those guys because they’ve raised the expectations, and it’s up to everyone else to live up to those expectations. We have not done that. We will prepare extremely hard for Cal, and we’ll try to get a win and we’ll build off that. Congratulations to Clay [Helton] and his team. They’re a great football team. Sam Darnold is a heck of a player. He gave us fits. One thing we’ve done well this year is affecting quarterbacks. We just couldn’t get him down. He’s a heck of a football player, and that’s a heck of a football team. But I’d like to reiterate, for one last time here at the Rose Bowl, what these seniors have accomplished. I’m sorry it doesn’t show because of our record this year. They deserve, rather than to be chastised and brought down because of their record, they deserve a lot of praise for what they have accomplished in their careers here.”
on what changed in this game during the first half
“That’s a great question. When they broke that third and one [11:07, second quarter]. I think that got to us a little bit. Had we got a stop there, things could’ve been different. You can talk could’ves, should’ves and would’ves. I don’t want I don’t want to go to that. We just couldn’t get it going on offense after that, and we couldn’t get them off the field on defense. I don’t have a great answer for you right now.”
on UCLA’s offense after the first quarter
“Well, they are a good defense, first of all. We’ll give them credit where credit is due. We were putting some new pieces in the puzzle on the offensive line. We just didn’t make some plays that we should’ve made. If we self-critique ourselves, we should have stuck with the run a little bit. We just could not get into a rhythm. When you can’t get them off the field on defense, it is tough to get into a rhythm. It’s frustrating. That was the story of the last three quarters of the game.”
on USC quarterback Sam Darnold
“Against mobile quarterbacks this year, we have done a nice job. But a guy as mobile as he is, as heady as he is, keeping his eyes down the field the way that he can – that’s what makes him special. He can elude the rush, keep his eyes up and find receivers down the field. I’m seen him on film and on TV, and I had a lot of respect for him coming into this game. In person, he’s a truly special one. I’ll tell you, he reminds me of a younger Tony Romo. He is bigger, but that type of ability, he’s smart and poised and confident. He’s a heck of a player.”
USC head coach Clay Helton
opening remarks
“Happy Saturday to everybody. Really good win for our football team. A win that was obviously much needed for us to continue for the Pac-12 South, and we were able to stay alive today with a Utah loss and this was a much, much-needed victory. What stood out to me was that it was a big man’s game. We have come into the last couple weeks saying, you know, run the ball, stop the run and you look up and you hold UCLA to 55 yards rushing compared to 260 yards rushing offensively, I thought that was the key to the game. And it enabled us to basically hold the ball for 43 minutes and 47 seconds in the game. You look up and you have 95 total plays, comparably, to 51. So, credit to our big men. I thought the defense, who really all of a sudden has a hit to them in that first drive, they take a deep breath and they really showed great, great poise. We had a couple early mistakes by our young quarterback, but I was really proud of him for how he reacted to making mistakes and how he came back in the second half. Obviously, Ronald [Jones] is going some really special things. Thank you to our team captain here, who is leading our defense and doing a great job. Good victory for us. We’ll take a deep breath tonight and then we’ve got another rivalry game next week in Notre Dame that we have to prepare for.”
on being concerned about a potential slow start for USC
“You know, we have really started fast in some of our other games. It really shows the maturity of this team. I did not see any panic with any of the guys. You saw on the next drive, we came right back down and you tie the score. We knew there would be a lot of emotion with this game. That’s a good football team. They’ve been in some close games against Utah and Colorado and Washington State. They’re a proud football team. They came out and hit us in the mouth early. And I really am proud of the kids for how they stepped up and reacted and didn’t panic and went on about their business, to do their job and to win the game.”
on USC’s success on third downs
“The numbers right now, I thought that was really why you have 95 plays. It kept drives alive. We were 12 of 21. So, again, that is the third week in a row of being over 50 percent. This was a really good third down defense. They were 32 percent coming in. They were the number three third down efficiency team. They got us one time with a pick on great trap two coverage by [Fabian] Moreau that kind of fooled the quarterback. He jumped a slant that gave them great field position and a touchdown. But, overall, really proud of our kids and their efficiency, and when you look up, that’s why you held it for 43 minutes.”
on monitoring the other games in the Pac-12 South
“Well, they were over before we even got on the bus. We’re in and out of meetings and walk-throughs, and you get score updates and stuff like that and peek in on it. You know, it was good for us. We needed one of those teams to lose to stay alive. Oregon came through for us. And now, there is a big game in Colorado next week between Colorado and Utah, and we still need a little help, but we have set our mark at 7-2. That was our last conference game. Now, we have to get ready to do our job and that’s to go prepare for Notre Dame.”
on having Sam Darnold being an elusive quarterback for USC
“I tell you, the creativity that Sam brings was evident. Sometimes, too, that gets us in trouble. I know that he wishes he had that launch that he threw into the end zone back. You take the good with the bad. But thank goodness for us, there is a lot more good than there is bad. We have been able to overcome the bad. But he’s a young player who is maturing by the day, and he has guys like these guys that lift him up when there is a mistake.”