University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes
POSTGAME QUOTES
Stanford 22, UCLA 13
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
September 24, 2016
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UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
โEvery loss stings. Every loss is a loss, and it doesnโt matter who you lose to. It stings. It stings when you lose like that. You played so courageously on defense and did such a great job against a really good team, and then it comes down and they make the play. Losing is awful.โ
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on Stanfordโs success in its final offensive drive
โThey made some plays that they hadnโt been making. We didnโt change coverages or our approach or philosophy. Thatโs a good football team. They have a reputation for being able to do that and they did it.โ
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on UCLAโs physicality against Stanford
โWe played physically. I think that we are a physical football team, and we played hard and tough .Iโm proud of how we played. When you donโt run the ball, weโve got to get that fixed. But our physicality, we sure didnโt get pushed around. Thatโs for sure.โ
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on why UCLA struggled to run the ball
โWeโve got to look at the film to figure it out. We struggled to get yards on them all night. But they are a good team. We are a good team. They got us at the end.โ
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on why UCLA had trouble running ball
โThatโs a great question. I need to get that answer quickly. Itโs something that we need to come up with an answer for immediately. I donโt care who we are paying. I donโt care if we are playing the โ85 Bears, we need to run the football.โ
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on UCLAโs play call with four seconds left
That was essentially a Hail Mary and you have a guy wrap around, and Josh [Rosen] didnโt get it off before the guy got to him. Thatโs what you have to do is to get a shot. But hey, thatโs the game.โ
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on Stanfordโs Christian McCaffrey
โI donโt know what his stats are. I thought that we did a goob job, but he is a heck of a player. He just finds yards that other people donโt find. Heโs so explosive and strong. Heโs physical for his size. Heโs a great player. I think that โ and no disrespect to any other player โ but I think that heโs the best player in college football.โ
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on UCLA passing to its tight ends
โEvery pass play is designed with a progression in mind. And particularly with defenses, theyโll indicate where the ball should go. So when we drew those plays up, they gave the tight ends some space. It wasnโt anything that was done by design. It just happened that way.โ
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Stanford head coach David Shaw
opening remarks
โCoach Mora and his staff did an outstanding job. They kicked our backsides pretty well, early and often, both sides of the ball. They got us on both sides. We made too many mistakes and they made too many plays. Josh Rosen played really well. They ran the ball better than we wanted them to. They made some big plays. We ran the ball well at times, and we got stuffed at times. We gave up a couple of sacks. We turned the ball over, which is uncharacteristic of us. The bottom line is, we got down there, we trust out field goal kicker, and he made his field goals. We trust our defense. We had a fourth and one, and bad field position, and if we had been in good field position we wouldโve gone for it, but with bad field position we donโt go for it. We never go for it. Not with that much time left and with the defense that we have. Coincidentally, I had that conversation with wife this morning about that exact scenario. Midfield, to our side of the field, fourth and one, and I told her that you punt. You punt every single time. If you have the defense that we have and the belief in what we do, thatโs what you do. You punt. And you play great defense and you get the ball back, and you go out there and you execute the plays. Ryan Burns did not play a great game. Keller Chryst was slated to play the third drive of the game. [Ryan] He did not get pulled after the interception. But at the end of the game, Ryan was cool. He was calm. He ran the plays that he knew. He executed. Our receivers came through, bigtime. Trent Irwin had a big game for him. He made some big plays and got the drive started. JJ had a nice catch. The big one, we just put JJ out there one-on-one. Heโs a big receiver with a ridiculous vertical. Heโs got phenomenal range. We have a big quarterback who can give him the ball. So, thankfully we were able to score that last one. And then the defense, they finished the game.โ
ย
on Stanfordโs comeback victory
It says a lot about the character of our football team. Now, the youth of our football team showed in the first three quarters โ just the fact that we were in somebody elseโs house. And youโve got to come into somebody elseโs house and play well. We didnโt play well. We took a lot of body blows. We had a lot of guys go down โ both starting corners, our fullback. A lot of guys got hurt in this game. And everybody that we put in there stepped up and played well. And thatโs what happens when you recruit well and you recruit great kids, tough kids, smart kids, guys that donโt bat an eyelash when things get difficult. That says a lot about the character of our football team. We have to grow up a lot. We have another short week against a great conference opponent in their house, where itโs going to loud and rocking and on national TV. Itโll be a great environment. But we better play a lot better than we played today. Iโm proud of our guys, proud of Ryan Burns and JJ and our offensive line. Those last few downs with pass protection were great.
ย
on the fourth and one situation in the fourth quarter
โWe had a brief conversation [about going for it] before we made the decision. I knew that we wanted to punt it, but I wanted to hear from everybody. The time was fine. We had enough time. That was the decision was to punt it. But we had a conversation at that key point.โ
ย
Stanford 22, UCLA 13
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
September 24, 2016
ย
UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
โEvery loss stings. Every loss is a loss, and it doesnโt matter who you lose to. It stings. It stings when you lose like that. You played so courageously on defense and did such a great job against a really good team, and then it comes down and they make the play. Losing is awful.โ
ย
on Stanfordโs success in its final offensive drive
โThey made some plays that they hadnโt been making. We didnโt change coverages or our approach or philosophy. Thatโs a good football team. They have a reputation for being able to do that and they did it.โ
ย
on UCLAโs physicality against Stanford
โWe played physically. I think that we are a physical football team, and we played hard and tough .Iโm proud of how we played. When you donโt run the ball, weโve got to get that fixed. But our physicality, we sure didnโt get pushed around. Thatโs for sure.โ
ย
on why UCLA struggled to run the ball
โWeโve got to look at the film to figure it out. We struggled to get yards on them all night. But they are a good team. We are a good team. They got us at the end.โ
ย
on why UCLA had trouble running ball
โThatโs a great question. I need to get that answer quickly. Itโs something that we need to come up with an answer for immediately. I donโt care who we are paying. I donโt care if we are playing the โ85 Bears, we need to run the football.โ
ย
on UCLAโs play call with four seconds left
That was essentially a Hail Mary and you have a guy wrap around, and Josh [Rosen] didnโt get it off before the guy got to him. Thatโs what you have to do is to get a shot. But hey, thatโs the game.โ
ย
on Stanfordโs Christian McCaffrey
โI donโt know what his stats are. I thought that we did a goob job, but he is a heck of a player. He just finds yards that other people donโt find. Heโs so explosive and strong. Heโs physical for his size. Heโs a great player. I think that โ and no disrespect to any other player โ but I think that heโs the best player in college football.โ
ย
on UCLA passing to its tight ends
โEvery pass play is designed with a progression in mind. And particularly with defenses, theyโll indicate where the ball should go. So when we drew those plays up, they gave the tight ends some space. It wasnโt anything that was done by design. It just happened that way.โ
ย
Stanford head coach David Shaw
opening remarks
โCoach Mora and his staff did an outstanding job. They kicked our backsides pretty well, early and often, both sides of the ball. They got us on both sides. We made too many mistakes and they made too many plays. Josh Rosen played really well. They ran the ball better than we wanted them to. They made some big plays. We ran the ball well at times, and we got stuffed at times. We gave up a couple of sacks. We turned the ball over, which is uncharacteristic of us. The bottom line is, we got down there, we trust out field goal kicker, and he made his field goals. We trust our defense. We had a fourth and one, and bad field position, and if we had been in good field position we wouldโve gone for it, but with bad field position we donโt go for it. We never go for it. Not with that much time left and with the defense that we have. Coincidentally, I had that conversation with wife this morning about that exact scenario. Midfield, to our side of the field, fourth and one, and I told her that you punt. You punt every single time. If you have the defense that we have and the belief in what we do, thatโs what you do. You punt. And you play great defense and you get the ball back, and you go out there and you execute the plays. Ryan Burns did not play a great game. Keller Chryst was slated to play the third drive of the game. [Ryan] He did not get pulled after the interception. But at the end of the game, Ryan was cool. He was calm. He ran the plays that he knew. He executed. Our receivers came through, bigtime. Trent Irwin had a big game for him. He made some big plays and got the drive started. JJ had a nice catch. The big one, we just put JJ out there one-on-one. Heโs a big receiver with a ridiculous vertical. Heโs got phenomenal range. We have a big quarterback who can give him the ball. So, thankfully we were able to score that last one. And then the defense, they finished the game.โ
ย
on Stanfordโs comeback victory
It says a lot about the character of our football team. Now, the youth of our football team showed in the first three quarters โ just the fact that we were in somebody elseโs house. And youโve got to come into somebody elseโs house and play well. We didnโt play well. We took a lot of body blows. We had a lot of guys go down โ both starting corners, our fullback. A lot of guys got hurt in this game. And everybody that we put in there stepped up and played well. And thatโs what happens when you recruit well and you recruit great kids, tough kids, smart kids, guys that donโt bat an eyelash when things get difficult. That says a lot about the character of our football team. We have to grow up a lot. We have another short week against a great conference opponent in their house, where itโs going to loud and rocking and on national TV. Itโll be a great environment. But we better play a lot better than we played today. Iโm proud of our guys, proud of Ryan Burns and JJ and our offensive line. Those last few downs with pass protection were great.
ย
on the fourth and one situation in the fourth quarter
โWe had a brief conversation [about going for it] before we made the decision. I knew that we wanted to punt it, but I wanted to hear from everybody. The time was fine. We had enough time. That was the decision was to punt it. But we had a conversation at that key point.โ
ย