Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Cincinnati

POSTGAME QUOTES
Cincinnati 26, UCLA 17
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
September 1, 2018

UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on the penalty assessed to UCLA prior to Cincinnati’s final touchdown
“That’s on the coaches. We had called timeout before that. So, we called for a block and just did not communicate it right. I knew that there were 12 guys on the field, but we couldn’t call timeout again. That is just something that we have to fix.”

on the coaching staff’s decision to start Wilton Speight at quarterback
“Wilton had the most experience of all of our guys. We have a young team to begin with. Wilton has a very calming influence around everybody. He’d started in 16 games at Michigan, and he had done a really nice job for us since we’d started back in August. Our staff felt that with his experience, that was the best situation for us. We had planned to play Dorian [Thompson-Robinson] at some point in today’s game anyways, and unfortunately Wilton got hurt and was out for the rest of the game. I don’t have any updates on him. I just know that he was out for the rest of the game. But as far as the decision to go with him, really, that was an experience thing.”

on his level of disappointment with the afternoon, in general
“Just too many mistakes, to be honest with you. We knew that going in, we were young. You’ve got a freshman center, a freshman running back, freshman receivers. But we knew that going into the game we were going to be young. It’s about giving them an opportunity to play. These guys have a game underneath their belt. We can go back and teach and show them what we did well. We can continue to build from there, and then what we need to correct. That will be an ongoing process for this group. There were a lot of first for everybody. It was the first game for a lot of these guys. After losing Josh Woods [to injury] in preseason camp, we’re down to seven seniors, so it is a younger team with not a lot of experience. That’s not an excuse, but just the reality. They’ll get their experience and it is going to be a baptism under fire for them.”

on Christaphany Murray getting the start at center
“Well, we are down a couple guys there. Between him and Zach, we felt like Chris gave us the best chance to win. He competed really well. You talk about a kid who is right out of high school. He just got here in August. There were a lot of guys who just got here in August and played today. For a true freshman center, we did not have any errant snaps, and I thought he did a decent job of putting us in the right situations with a lot of the right calls.”

on quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“I think that Dorian really has a good skill set. He throws the ball extremely well. He’s versatile with his feet. He is a unqiue kid. He doesn’t have a lot of experience because he didn’t start until he was a senior in high school. He’s got all the talent of a very good quarterback. It’s just a matter of getting him more reps. And you saw him today, as he started to get a bit more comfortable, I thought that he made some more plays out there. We’ll continue to grow with him.”

on UCLA’s defense and shutting off the zone reads in the second half
“I thought they did a better job with some of the adjustments. We’ll have to look at the film and some of the fundamental part of the tackling – there were times when we could have negated some of the bigger gains. We didn’t do a good enough job of fundamentally tackling and of wrapping up. We will continue to emphasize that. We played with good effort. And that is one thing that they can control. As coaches, we’ve got to do a better job of teaching them the tackling aspect of things.”

on the spark that freshman running back Kazmeir Allen provided
“Same thing – he is another young kid who has a lot of talent. He is a tremendous speed threat at the running back spot, and you saw an example of that. He had another run earlier in the first half, where he kind of broke it outside. As he continues to grow and starts to learn what we are doing, it’s our job as coaches to put him in position to make plays. He is somebody who you look at at the running back spot and you know you have somebody there with legitimate speed and has the ability to break something.”

on planning for Cincinnati’s quarterbacks
“We knew who they had on their roster and understood that. There is a lot of uncertainty for every team. Unlike the NFL, there are not preseason games and you don’t get to scout them. So they had a little bit of a difference there at the quarterback spot. The second guy who went in there, they ran a little more option with him. But I thought we did a decent job, again, of what he could do with some of the zone read and the speed option stuff. It’s really, if I look at what we need to do better defensively, we’ve got to tackle better.”

on the growing pains with this team and playing at Oklahoma next Saturday
“How’d they do today? They were pretty good, huh? I think that it was 42-0 at the half. And then something like 63-something and Kiff was asking for prayers, so I don’t know if I can call Lane and maybe he can share some. It is what it is. That’s how you play and that’s how you grow. If you are a young kid, you grow up and you think about Oklahoma and all the great players that they’ve had and played there and you get to go play in that place. That’s something where you aren’t going ‘Oh my God,’ I mean, you get excited about playing them. If you can’t get excited about going to play Oklahoma at Oklahoma, then you are in the wrong spot. That’s why you came here. We knew coming in that you’d play a very difficult schedule. It is what it is. And most schedules are laid out 10 years in advance, so just tell us who we play and we’ll play them and compete at it.”

UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
on his initial reaction to entering the game
“I’d say that my first reaction was ‘Is Wilton OK?,’ just for his safety and stuff like that. I was excited as always to get in there, as expected. I went out there and did my best.”

on assessing his performance
“It needs work. My first college game, and it wasn’t up to par, up to my standards. So, I need to get better. Really, like I said, it’s my first college game. I now know what it’s like, and I’ll have to prepare for next week, and I’ll know what next week will be like.”

on if anything surprised him and what surprised him
“Definitely with being at practice, you don’t get hit. So to get out there and be on the pocket and you can get hit, there were some nerves flying around.”

on going for it on a fourth-down play it midway through the game
“I was all for it. They brought the house, I checked to it and recognized it, and just didn’t make the play.”

on the fumble that resulted in a safety for Cincinnati
“I tried to make a play from nothing. And it didn’t go my way. That was basically it.”

on looking ahead to next week’s game at Oklahoma
“I have no worries that Coach Kelly and his staff will get us ready. It’s about staying positive and keeping positive, even though it was a difficult day.”

on when he learned who would be starting at quarterback
“It was actually the day before our walkthrough, and Coach [Kelly] went up to all of us and said you are starting, and then you’re second string. I didn’t know if I was going to play [today]. I was somewhat prepared.”

on what he would change in his preparation
“Coach Bible says to have a plan for every play. I don’t think that I did that. We prepared for a lot of quarters, and we got a lot of man. So, I just have to prepare for the unexpected.”

UCLA running back Kazmeir Allen
on his 74-yard touchdown run in the third quarter
“I saw nobody, really. That comes from my O-line blocking and wide receivers blocking for me. I really didn’t have to make anybody miss and was just straight forward. It felt great, that first touchdown. But at the end of the day, we still didn’t come out with the victory.”

on possibly playing a punt or kick returner
“They try to give me the ball in open space. I feel like open space is a lot easier for me because of my quickness. Kick-return, punt-return, I’m taking reps, but that’s up to the coaches to put me in or not.”

on settling down after the first significant run of the day
“I kind of had butterflies, but after the first run you get over it.”

on seeing freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson coming into the game and how he led the offense
“Dorian did a good job. I felt like everybody made mistakes, so it’s not to blame Dorian for anything. Everybody made a lot of mistakes. We’ll just take this as a part of the learning curve.”

on several true freshmen playing today and growing on a week-by-week basis
“Definitely. It’s not just true freshmen, but I feel like everybody has to grow with new offense and new coaches. Like I said, it’s just a learning curve and we’ll get after it next week.”

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell
on his overall impression of the game
“I think the biggest thing we talk about is what we’ve done in the offseason, and I think it’s really shown. I don’t mean just by how we play, but the bond and the things that happen in a game like this and the things that you’re tried and tested by. Guys go down, and guys have to step up. We want to be an offensive line driven program, and I think we made a big statement tonight that that’s where we’re headed. When it comes down to it, [going for it on fourth down]
was not a tough decision. A lot of people are going to say ‘Hey, you made some really good decisions’ because you ended up getting those things, but it wasn’t a tough decision based on who we want to be and who we’re going to put our weight on.”

on why he went for it on fourth down at the UCLA 12-yard line on the final drive
“There are some things involved in that. Your defense is playing the way they are. There’s a lot of things that we want to do, that we’ve preached and talked about, and we didn’t have an opportunity to do them last year, and that’s how you lose trust. It’s what we preach every day, and we’ve talked about it. It wasn’t really a tough decision. It might have been a tougher decision if the defense wasn’t playing the way they were and what you believe that they can do. We’re going to put to put the ball in some of those guys’ hands and run behind some of those big guys, and we’re going to go down swinging.”

on why he changed his mind about kicking a field goal at the end of the game
“I kind of had it a little in my mind [originally] where we were at the two-yard line or inside, and they would still have to go the distance, and I liked the way our defense was playing. They get the penalty, and it was a no-brainer for me from there. It was just the momentum of things, and you’re looking in the eyes of guys like Mike Warren and Garrett Campbell and some of those guys and you just say ‘Hey, if something’s going to happen, we’re going to ride these horses.’ Like I said, it wasn’t a really a tough decision. The greatest thing is that you flip over to the defense and they say ‘Hey, we’ve got your back, let’s go.’ They wanted to do it as well. It’s really the look. You look out there and you see Mike Warren and you see Desmond Ridder and you see that offensive line looking at you like ‘Come on coach, what have you been preaching to us?’ And they’re darn right. We’re going to take that and ride it.”

on switching quarterbacks early in the game
“We had a plan. Hayden [Moore] was going to go two series. Desmond [Ridder] was going to go the next two series, and then we were going to bounce around from there and see how things were going. We also pressed to Desmond [Ridder], we said ‘Hey if he goes out there and has two series right off the bat, where we score twice, we’re not just going to stick to the plan. We might have to adjust the plan a little bit. So I don’t want you to think that we’re lying, or we’re not being honest. And it just happened. It wasn’t because Hayden [Moore] fumbled. It had nothing to do with that. I’m probably as proud of the way he was in the locker room, the way he was on the sideline, how he helped Desmond [Ridder] every time those guys communicated and stayed in the game. We’re going to need them. We’re going to need both of them, and we’re going to continue to work both of them.”

on what this win means for the program
“Well, you get some of those text messages that say ‘Let’s make a statement. C’mon let’s show college football.’ I told our guys before they game, ‘I’m not worried about showing college football, I’m not worried about showing people around the country. I’m worried about showing us.’ The guys in that locker room [and] the things that they fought for the things that they’ve worked for. I want them to show each other what it really means, and how they’ll pick each other up – how they’ll handle the adversity. We’ll worry about the outside sources and the other people as we continue to go through the season and get ourselves where we want to be. But we had to prove it to ourselves first.”

Recent Results

Upcoming Events

Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Cincinnati

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Cincinnati