University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Oregon State
POSTGAME QUOTES
Oregon State 48, UCLA 31
October 5, 2019
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
opening remarks
“You can’t spot them a lead like that in the first quarter. I thought that our guys battled. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes. With the onside kick, it’s something you practice but you don’t see that very often. That’s on us. You’ve got to just fair catch that. [Down 21 points] I thought that our guys battled back. They did a good job, but we put ourselves in too big of a hole to start the game.”
on the team’s struggles on defense
“We lost a couple kids today. We lost Martin Andrus in the pregame warmups. We were depleted on the defensive line. Elijah Wade didn’t play today, and we lost Krys Barnes early, one of our captains and stalwarts on our defense. So, we are playing a lot of moving pieces. We have a lot of guys who are getting put around in a lot of places, but we still have to execute. Other teams have injuries, that’s not an excuse. We have a lot of young guys who’re getting paying time. We have to stop them, and we didn’t do a good enough job of stopping them tonight.”
on quarterback Austin Burton
“I thought that A.B., for his first start, he did a really nice job. He protected the football and did not put it in harm’s way. I thought that he made some really big throws, that throw he made to Kyle for a touchdown was a really big throw. I thought he extended some plays and drives with his feet. He made a really good read on the goaline to score the touchdown when they were ganging up on the run game. I felt like in the second half, we established the run pretty well. So for his first start, I was happy with what A.B. did today.”
on how he rallies the guys with a 1-5 record, the same start as last season
“We don’t talk about last year, where 48 to 50 of these guys weren’t here last year. We have an open date coming up. Part of it is figuring out who will be available for us. We have some key figures who have been out for us. So, we have to see who will be available to us this week. It’s a little bit shorter bye, because we play Stanford on the following Thursday. We have to find out from the trainers and doctors who will be available and then put together a game plan to get ready and go play Stanford.”
on the mood of his players in the locker room
“Any time that you lose, you’re disappointed. They have put in a good week of training and you come up on the short end. That’s part of the growing parts that you have to do. You just can’t say that you are not going to go out and compete and practice. We’ve got to just banging away and get after it. For the younger guys who are getting some opportunities to play, because of some of the injuries, they’ve got to step up. It’s not about, hey next year will be my opportunity. For a lot of these guys, their opportunity is now. It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you. We have to see how we can grow and move forward.”
on how the team can have more success
“We have just got to work on this week. There’s not a magic formula. There is no trade or a waiver wire. You don’t get to add players at this point in time. We’ve got to coach them up and put them in positions to make plays and give them an opportunity to execute. That is on us as a coaching staff.”
on the fans being disappointed
“We have to play better. We understand that. We have to execute and play better. And there is no one more disappointed than we are. That’s part of the process, and we have to work through it. When you are a young team, you’re going to make mistakes. But we don’t make excuses for those. How do we teach in those situations, and how do we grow as a group?”
on his conversations with defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro
“It’s with our whole staff. It’s not just with one guy on the defensive side of the ball. I think that we’ve got to do a better job. That’s on all of us. It’s not a one-person operation. It has never been a one-person operation. So, everybody collectively, we have to do to a better job of stopping people. We’ve faced some good teams. That was a really good quarterback and really good receiver. But we have to stop people on the defensive side of the ball. There’s no question about that.”
Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith
opening remarks
“I’m happy for our players, as they continue to work and believe, and they really responded in this game. We had a big 21-0 lead in that first quarter, and then they [UCLA] continued to battle, getting to within 10 points. We answered some scores, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. Obviously, special teams was not our best performance last week, but I thought we were solid there. Offensively, we had some key contributors. I thought on defense, that [UCLA] offense can be explosive and dangerous. But we had some huge fourth down stops. It’s a team win. I’m happy for our guys, and it’s time to move forward.”
on quarterback Jake Luton
“I did think the o-line protected him really well. And with our o-line, we could really run the ball, and that helps our quarterback. He was accurate with the ball.”
on whether he has challenged his quarterback to become a better leader
“We’ve talked about it a good amount. He has earned the leadership on this team. We have talked about elevating his level as a quarterback. I think that we might’ve had just one sack tonight. He has just grown, and he played lights out tonight.”
on how much his team has worked on the squib kick (from the first quarter)
“It has been there a few weeks. We’ve been practicing that. And we have always thought that if we’d kick off from the 50, we’d try that. Chances are, you’ll kick it out of the end zone, and the amount of yards that you’d lose won’t be much. He put a great kick on it.”
on when a team leads 21-0 early, if that changes things much for how you call plays
“We knew that 21 points was not going to win the game, so we’d have to continue to score. We knew those guys had some talent on the other side. You’d love to start that way, but we knew there would be a ton of football left.”
on what it means to see the team play this well tonight
“It’s satisfying for sure. These guys are working hard, and they’re trusting us and trusting the process, and I think that it showed tonight.”
UCLA quarterback Austin Burton
on UCLA trailing by three touchdowns early in the game
“I mean, it was just the situation we were put in and didn’t get the outcome we wanted. We made some plays, but it wasn’t enough. You could say it was an uphill battle, but we had enough opportunities to get the job done, and we didn’t do it.”
on his assessment of his first collegiate start
“Did OK. I think I left some plays on the field, moved the ball, and I know we had some long drives. But at the end of the day, it comes down to winning and losing as a quarterback. Especially as the quarterback, you have to be the leader of the team, and I personally don’t think I got the job done.”
on what went through his mind as UCLA trailed, 21-0
“I just thought about the next play, to be honest with you. I didn’t focus on being down 21, more of the focus was on what look we were going to get from the defensive and how we were going to adapt.”
Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton
on the victory against UCLA
“It was huge. I think we’ve played really good ball all year, and we’ve been really close to come put it together. It’s something we harp on every day. To come out here against a quality team like UCLA and put a complete four quarters together and get a win, it was huge.”
on whether this game was the most satisfying performance of his career
“It was good. It was really good. It was a lot of fun and anytime you get a win, it’s as good as it gets. I think we’re capable of playing good football, and we’re going to keep rolling.”
on the importance of scoring after his team’s defense stopped UCLA on fourth down in the first quarter
“Yeah, it was huge. I think we had 21 in the first five and a half minutes. It was awesome. Defense and special teams did a fantastic job. They stepped up, and on offense you get the ball inside the 25 or 30-yard line, that’s a pretty good opportunity.”
Oregon State 48, UCLA 31
October 5, 2019
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
opening remarks
“You can’t spot them a lead like that in the first quarter. I thought that our guys battled. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes. With the onside kick, it’s something you practice but you don’t see that very often. That’s on us. You’ve got to just fair catch that. [Down 21 points] I thought that our guys battled back. They did a good job, but we put ourselves in too big of a hole to start the game.”
on the team’s struggles on defense
“We lost a couple kids today. We lost Martin Andrus in the pregame warmups. We were depleted on the defensive line. Elijah Wade didn’t play today, and we lost Krys Barnes early, one of our captains and stalwarts on our defense. So, we are playing a lot of moving pieces. We have a lot of guys who are getting put around in a lot of places, but we still have to execute. Other teams have injuries, that’s not an excuse. We have a lot of young guys who’re getting paying time. We have to stop them, and we didn’t do a good enough job of stopping them tonight.”
on quarterback Austin Burton
“I thought that A.B., for his first start, he did a really nice job. He protected the football and did not put it in harm’s way. I thought that he made some really big throws, that throw he made to Kyle for a touchdown was a really big throw. I thought he extended some plays and drives with his feet. He made a really good read on the goaline to score the touchdown when they were ganging up on the run game. I felt like in the second half, we established the run pretty well. So for his first start, I was happy with what A.B. did today.”
on how he rallies the guys with a 1-5 record, the same start as last season
“We don’t talk about last year, where 48 to 50 of these guys weren’t here last year. We have an open date coming up. Part of it is figuring out who will be available for us. We have some key figures who have been out for us. So, we have to see who will be available to us this week. It’s a little bit shorter bye, because we play Stanford on the following Thursday. We have to find out from the trainers and doctors who will be available and then put together a game plan to get ready and go play Stanford.”
on the mood of his players in the locker room
“Any time that you lose, you’re disappointed. They have put in a good week of training and you come up on the short end. That’s part of the growing parts that you have to do. You just can’t say that you are not going to go out and compete and practice. We’ve got to just banging away and get after it. For the younger guys who are getting some opportunities to play, because of some of the injuries, they’ve got to step up. It’s not about, hey next year will be my opportunity. For a lot of these guys, their opportunity is now. It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you. We have to see how we can grow and move forward.”
on how the team can have more success
“We have just got to work on this week. There’s not a magic formula. There is no trade or a waiver wire. You don’t get to add players at this point in time. We’ve got to coach them up and put them in positions to make plays and give them an opportunity to execute. That is on us as a coaching staff.”
on the fans being disappointed
“We have to play better. We understand that. We have to execute and play better. And there is no one more disappointed than we are. That’s part of the process, and we have to work through it. When you are a young team, you’re going to make mistakes. But we don’t make excuses for those. How do we teach in those situations, and how do we grow as a group?”
on his conversations with defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro
“It’s with our whole staff. It’s not just with one guy on the defensive side of the ball. I think that we’ve got to do a better job. That’s on all of us. It’s not a one-person operation. It has never been a one-person operation. So, everybody collectively, we have to do to a better job of stopping people. We’ve faced some good teams. That was a really good quarterback and really good receiver. But we have to stop people on the defensive side of the ball. There’s no question about that.”
Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith
opening remarks
“I’m happy for our players, as they continue to work and believe, and they really responded in this game. We had a big 21-0 lead in that first quarter, and then they [UCLA] continued to battle, getting to within 10 points. We answered some scores, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. Obviously, special teams was not our best performance last week, but I thought we were solid there. Offensively, we had some key contributors. I thought on defense, that [UCLA] offense can be explosive and dangerous. But we had some huge fourth down stops. It’s a team win. I’m happy for our guys, and it’s time to move forward.”
on quarterback Jake Luton
“I did think the o-line protected him really well. And with our o-line, we could really run the ball, and that helps our quarterback. He was accurate with the ball.”
on whether he has challenged his quarterback to become a better leader
“We’ve talked about it a good amount. He has earned the leadership on this team. We have talked about elevating his level as a quarterback. I think that we might’ve had just one sack tonight. He has just grown, and he played lights out tonight.”
on how much his team has worked on the squib kick (from the first quarter)
“It has been there a few weeks. We’ve been practicing that. And we have always thought that if we’d kick off from the 50, we’d try that. Chances are, you’ll kick it out of the end zone, and the amount of yards that you’d lose won’t be much. He put a great kick on it.”
on when a team leads 21-0 early, if that changes things much for how you call plays
“We knew that 21 points was not going to win the game, so we’d have to continue to score. We knew those guys had some talent on the other side. You’d love to start that way, but we knew there would be a ton of football left.”
on what it means to see the team play this well tonight
“It’s satisfying for sure. These guys are working hard, and they’re trusting us and trusting the process, and I think that it showed tonight.”
UCLA quarterback Austin Burton
on UCLA trailing by three touchdowns early in the game
“I mean, it was just the situation we were put in and didn’t get the outcome we wanted. We made some plays, but it wasn’t enough. You could say it was an uphill battle, but we had enough opportunities to get the job done, and we didn’t do it.”
on his assessment of his first collegiate start
“Did OK. I think I left some plays on the field, moved the ball, and I know we had some long drives. But at the end of the day, it comes down to winning and losing as a quarterback. Especially as the quarterback, you have to be the leader of the team, and I personally don’t think I got the job done.”
on what went through his mind as UCLA trailed, 21-0
“I just thought about the next play, to be honest with you. I didn’t focus on being down 21, more of the focus was on what look we were going to get from the defensive and how we were going to adapt.”
Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton
on the victory against UCLA
“It was huge. I think we’ve played really good ball all year, and we’ve been really close to come put it together. It’s something we harp on every day. To come out here against a quality team like UCLA and put a complete four quarters together and get a win, it was huge.”
on whether this game was the most satisfying performance of his career
“It was good. It was really good. It was a lot of fun and anytime you get a win, it’s as good as it gets. I think we’re capable of playing good football, and we’re going to keep rolling.”
on the importance of scoring after his team’s defense stopped UCLA on fourth down in the first quarter
“Yeah, it was huge. I think we had 21 in the first five and a half minutes. It was awesome. Defense and special teams did a fantastic job. They stepped up, and on offense you get the ball inside the 25 or 30-yard line, that’s a pretty good opportunity.”