Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. California
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 34, California 10
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
November 15, 2020
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on the Bruins playing at a high tempo and using the read-option
"Well, we saw Cal’s defense from a year ago. The defense wasn’t a mystery to us, but the offense was what was going to be a mystery because they have a new coordinate [Bill Musgrave] and Justin is a defensive guy. What we got on the defensive side, we felt we had a good understanding. We faced them in the final game of the year last year. They did have a bowl game after us and we watched that game, also. Our biggest concern going into the game was just, what would we get offensively? You had a new coordinator that was not in college last year. So, we spent a lot of time watching the [Denver] Broncos’ tape. I think that what we did was just play our offense and our players got a little bit more settled in the second game. And that’s what we did. We ran zone option last week, and Dorian had a 65-yard run last week. So really, play-wise there really wasn’t a lot of difference."
on UCLA altering game preparation nearly 48 hours before the game
“Forty-three [hours], I think. And the one thing, and I think Justin (Wilcox) felt the same way, is we both had the same amount of time. They were preparing to play Arizona State. We were preparing to play Utah. We probably had an advantage because they had to travel and we didn’t have to travel. But we started Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. We were fortunate, I think, that both teams at least understand each other a little bit. We played each other in the last game of the season, last year. We had those games broken down. On the defensive side of the ball, our guys were working on Denver Broncos’ tape, when coach [Bill] Musgrave was the coordinator there. So really, that is what our prep was. We had a walk-through practice Friday evening. We had meetings and a walk-through practice. We went back as coaches, and tried to figure, what can we run? What shouldn’t we run? What’s in and what’s out? Just kind of putting the game-plan together, and we came back again Saturday morning and had meetings and practiced again, but really a walk-through tempo type of practice. It wasn’t a full-go practice, and then we got into our normal night routine, where we have our meetings the night before the game. You know, position, special teams, offense, defense meetings. And then we got our guys to bed. Because not only are we playing in 43 hours, but we’re also playing in a 9 o’clock kickoff and it was our first 9 o’clock kickoff. So there is that adjustment to our schedule, which really isn’t much different because we practice in the morning. I don’t think that was a huge disadvantage by any stretch of the imagination. It was just the logistics of that. We had a bunch of guys around 5:30 in the morning, passing out breakfasts in the hotel. We had a brief team meeting, and then got on the buses and came up here and played.”
on if this situation felt like a Thursday night NFL game (from a short preparation standpoint)
“I think we had a little similarities, you know, and really what I think it was, it’s what do we do, in terms of the players? What can they handle? So we did pare down our game plan and did more taking out. We didn’t add anything. We may have added something, but if we added something it wasn’t in the Utah gameplan but it was something we’ve run. I think that everybody has a volume of offense and a volume of defense in their library. And then you’ll pick and choose each week what you are going to run. You aren’t going to run your entire offense every game. So there were a couple of plays we had in for Utah, specifically, that we took out of the gameplan. There were a couple of things we added, but we did not add anything or run anything that we had not run before, both offensively and defensively.”
on the process that ensued Friday, with UCLA’s opponent changing, and when Cal came on the radar
“Friday. Justin [Wilcox] actually called. I talk to Justin a lot, and he’d asked me earlier in the week, ‘What do you hear from Utah?’ And you listen to what [Utah athletic director] Mark Harlan was saying and they kept testing negative. We go into Friday, you know, we thought it was game on and we thought we would play Utah here. We had no idea. And then we were told after practice on Friday, and I got back to the locker room and I’d missed a lot of calls. And answered them, got in touch with Martin [Jarmond] and he’d said Utah is not coming and that we could potentially play Cal but Cal may play somebody else – I think it was Washington – if Oregon State can’t go. So we were kind of on hold for about an hour to see where it was going to go. It was either going to be a Cal game, or we weren’t going to be able to play. We were going to be out. So then around 1 o’clock, we officially got that we were playing Cal, so it was OK let’s go.”
on UCLA having nine tackles for loss and an active defense on Sunday
“I think [Qwuantrezz] Q-Knight did exactly what he did last week and everything that he’s done since he’s been here. We are really happy he’s here. There is a certain energy and juice that he brings every day, not only to the meeting rooms and the practice field. But our players thrive off of it. He is a physical football player that’s really sharp, and you can put a lot on his plate. So both him and then Caleb [Johnson], I think you saw the Caleb we thought we were gonna get here in game two. He was running around and making some plays. If we can get guys at the second and third level that can help our front, I think it helps. It was good to see our defense play that way, especially after how we’d started on offense. They responded and I think that they did a really good job.”
on the team responding to a strange weekend and what this reveals about the team
“Yeah, that’s a great point. I think that it tells them that I think that they are focused on the process and not the outcome. We don’t control who we play and we don’t control when we play, so let’s not worry about that stuff. You give us an opportunity, I think, Justin [Wilcox] felt the same way I felt. We are just grateful that we get an opportunity to play. What’s going on in Covid in this country right now is kind of crazy. And I don’t know what the future holds, so every opportunity that you get to play football in a safe environment, and that is the one thing that we ask all the time, as long as it is going to be safe, then we’ll go play. I think our players understand that. They’re very appreciative of the fact they get an opportunity. We are lucky. We’ve got two games in so far and there are teams in our league – I feel for [head coach] Kyle Whittingham and Utah. He’s missed two games. I feel for that group. That’s tough. I felt for Justin last week and talked to him about when they were told that they couldn’t play. I don’t know what the number was. It’s hitting everybody and it’s obviously a worldwide pandemic, so we are just really grateful. For us to lament and complain about how we’ve got to go in two days and play in an early morning game, I think that Justin felt the same way, to just tell us where and when and we’ll play. I joked with Justin before the game that they should stay down here, and we’ll help them and take care of them. We can just play each other a couple of times if other games get canceled. Again, we are just grateful that we had an opportunity to play because, with this pandemic, we don’t know. And part of this thing goes back to our mindset of worrying about the process and not be concerned with the outcome.”
on running back Brittain Brown
“Brittain has done some really nice things. He’s another newcomer that came here. We lost a great one in Josh Kelley, who is running on Sundays now. Well actually, Brittain is running on Sundays now, since we played on a Sunday. But the good part is that we needed another big back. We are always going to play multiple running backs – it’s such a difficult position at the collegiate level, and you need a couple of guys there. I thought he was a great complement to Felt [Demetric Felton]. He’s got a great mindset. He’s a lot like Q-Knight, we don’t take a ton of transfers, but the guys who we have put in as transfers have been awesome. They fit in great. Obi Eboh is another kid, all three of those guys have been fantastic. Paul [Grattan] and the offensive line, the same thing. They’re serious about getting their degree in our graduate program and they’re really serious about playing football. I was excited. We didn’t get Brittain the ball enough, last week. And part of that was me as a play-caller and we got behind, so we did not run the ball as much. But, we need to be balanced and run the football. Brit was a really good complement to Felton.
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
on changing the game plan from last week to this week and incorporating tempo into the game plan
“I think Coach (Chip) Kelly and the offensive staff did a great job. The biggest thing that they preached is we only have 43 hours to prepare so just go out there and play football, man. I think that’s the biggest thing that we did was treat this like backyard football back in youth days and we can wake up early and just go play ball. Tempo helped out a lot, and again, we found out early on that that was going to be a big key to this game and we just used that to our advantage.”
on his conversations with the coaching staff about using his legs
“I think the biggest conversations me and Coach (Offensive Coordinator Dana) Bible and Coach (Chip) Kelly had, obviously it’s ‘protect yourself.’ I don’t think I got tackled until maybe the second or third quarter in terms of how much I was running the ball so that’s a positive, and really it’s just they’re putting me in a position on defense to pull the ball and get yards. When you drop seven or eight guys on defense, not everybody’s going to be open all the time so you’ve got to pull the ball down and make things happen there. But really it’s just protecting yourself, protecting the ball, and keeping the chains moving.”
on how it felt to be a dual-threat this game
“First of all, it feels great to get a win. It seems like we’ve been fighting for that for a long time, fighting for this feeling, just doing anything and everything possible to get that win.”
UCLA running back Demetric Felton
on how the fast tempo helped the offense get into a rhythm
“I think it helped out tremendously. The way it seemed is the opposing team couldn’t keep up with us. Having the tempo, they had no time to call anything or really know what we were doing, so it helped out a lot.”
on his range of emotions from the Utah matchup getting canceled to the game being confirmed with Cal for Sunday
“It was disappointing at first because all we wanted to do was play football, but as soon as we heard that our game had been changed, everybody was excited and ready to go. It is weird not having time to prepare for a team but it just more natural and I honestly felt more relaxed.”
on a career-high number of touches this game and embracing that role on offense and special teams
“This is everything I’ve been wanting to do ever since I stepped foot at UCLA, so it just feels really good to finally be able to do that and help my teammates out and get the win.”
UCLA defensive back Qwuantrezz Knight
on how bizarre this week was
“I’d say just studying for Utah the whole week, it was quite a situation just to change over on Friday and get ready to start playing Cal. But I tell the guys as long as we’ll be able to control that adversity we’ll be alright. I just try to keep the energy up, just focus on what we do best. That was the main thing. With such a short time to prepare, just focus on what we do best and we’ll be alright.”
on watching Denver Broncos film before the game and if the Cal offense showed similar plays and schemes
“Yeah, actually watching the Bronco film was very useful in that they have a new coordinator on offense. We weren’t able to get as much film as we needed from Cal but watching film on the Broncos, there were definitely situations that we were put in and that we saw actually the Broncos running the same plays so yeah, that was a big help.”
on if the lack of prep time may have actually helped the team
“Yeah, actually I think it did. We were just able to just play what we do best, you know what I mean? And what we do best is very good. So with them having the same time to prepare as us, I feel like we were in a good situation to go out there and get the job done.”
UCLA linebacker Caleb Johnson
on the role that getting into the pocket and behind the line of scrimmage plays into the defense’s game plan
“Last week we weren’t getting vertical as much, so we really wanted to try to get penetration, set the seam, even if we don’t get the tackle, safety’s going to come in and get the tackle. We did a good job of stopping the run early so they didn’t think about doing it no more most of the game.”
on how the defense was able to improve week-to-week on short notice
“We knew what we needed to do compared to last week. We knew what we needed to do but we weren’t necessarily going. I feel like we’re getting more comfortable knowing our job and trusting our teammates, trusting that everyone else is going to do their job as a defense.”
on how important it was to get stops on fourth down
“It was very important. I feel like that completely kills their momentum and gives our offense a lot of momentum to go and score the ball easier.”
California head coach Justin Wilcox
opening statement
“I’m going to focus on the game today. We are disappointed we didn’t perform better. We felt like there were some opportunities to make some plays in there that we didn’t quite make. I have to do a better job helping these guys prepare, so we’ll look at everything that we could have done better as coaches first and foremost. Then watch the video and learn from it as a team.”
on things that stood out defensively and things to improve on
“On defense, the tackling. We had some opportunities to get guys on the ground to create some longer distances, which the advantage starts to shift to the defense and we didn’t do that very well. We missed a significant amount of tackles, had a couple of missed opportunities there, and then the run game was just going the wrong direction most of the day. I know our guys can play better and we can coach better, so we look forward to improving next week.”
on prepping scouting on short notice
“We found out I guess noon or 1 p.m. when everyone found out. We went in with a very vanilla game plan, but they were in the same boat. Again, I’m just going to leave all that to you guys, I’m really here to talk about the game. I believe in our team and I know we’re going to get better. I think all of our guys are disappointed. I know I am. We didn’t perform as well as I thought we could, and you’ve got to give UCLA credit. They did a nice job, and we’ve got to look forward to getting better this week.”
on early kickoff
“Just an earlier wake-up. We woke up early yesterday to get our body clocks as close as we could and came down earlier than we normally would. They kicked off at 9 as well. We had an early morning wake up, ate breakfast, and came over to the stadium.”
on takeaways and things to improve moving forward
“I just think we can improve in a lot of ways. The tape will show it best. But like I mentioned before, defensively the tackling. Getting off the field on third downs. Offensively, our rhythm wasn’t quite there early. We got something going in the second quarter and had a good drive that we put together. But I think just finding a little more rhythm on offense and I know that we’re capable of doing that and our players are capable of making those plays. I think we’ll look at the video and it’ll tell the tale and we’ll get ready for next week.”
on UCLA’s defense and tackling the blitz
“I think the tables really tell the story there, so I don’t really want to get ahead of myself. We had some chances in the pass game and the run game where we were just a little bit off. I would expect just to continue fixing those things and get better moving forward. But for me to sit here and go through every play, that would be hard to do. We have to watch the video. As I mentioned before, all of us starting with me, just got to do a better job. I think everybody understands that and look forward to getting back to work.”
California quarterback Chase Garbers
on finding out opponent on short notice
“Yeah, so we found out in the morning that we weren’t going to play ASU. Then coach Wilcox texted us as a team saying we’re going to try and figure things out to see if we can play this week. Then a couple of hours later that day, we were told we were playing UCLA on Sunday, so that’s how it went. We didn’t really have time to put a full game plan together. We watched their Colorado game. Obviously one and half two days to prepare for a team is pretty difficult at any level. So we just had to roll with what we were game planning for Arizona State since we had multiple reps with that at practice. We cut some things out that were ASU-specific and just kind of rolled with that into today. ”
on delays this season and how it affected the team’s performance
“We haven’t played a football game in about a year. We haven’t played anyone but ourselves in a real-live game scenario, live-tempo, tacking, in about a year. So there were obviously going to be some hurdles there. Flat out offensively, and just both sides of the ball, we didn’t play to what we had expected to. First game in a COVID season, some of those hurdles are expected. But we’re going to watch the film tomorrow and then flip the switch onto Oregon State. ”
on UCLA’s pressure and how they slowed down the run game
“I wasn’t surprised. After breaking down the Colorado game, we knew the type of pressures that they were known to bring. Coach (Jerry Azzinaro) was here about three years ago, so kind of familiar with his play call style how he’s really aggressive. So it’s something you see from UCLA year in and year out. Obviously, we had two days to prep for them. So with limited time we did what we could do.”
California offensive lineman Michael Saffell
on finding out opponent on short notice
“I think I told the guys today that it’s so easy to drop every excuse in the book right now. They have a game under their belt, we don’t, new offense. But I’ve always been proud of this group coming back, blocking out the noise, and getting back for another week and we got another tough opponent in Oregon State coming up. Of course, 2020 is a weird year but it was no excuse for how we played today. The energy was a little low, and maybe we got taken by surprise about how the speed went. We typically don’t do that as a team. Our team’s motto is basically the harder it gets, the better we’re going to play. Today was as hard as it gets, and we didn’t show up like we usually do. It being my first game as a captain, that’s not how I wanted it to go. That’s not how a captain leads the day, and I have to do a better job, so I think I’ll let the offense play and put it upon myself and we’ll get in the film room and figure it out.”
on evaluating the line
“Yeah, so 5:45 was wake up. This week was strange trying to get a new offense and into a game plan. Obviously, the way 2020 has gone, we haven’t had a lot of scrimmage time in and things like that. I had butterflies. I get butterflies before games because I want to be great and I want to play well. It kind of goes away after the first half, everyone knows that. It didn’t feel any different today. I’ve had a ton of injuries in my career here, and to go out there and play another game with these boys and just go fight, was awesome.”
on how disappointing it was to have limited carries and five sacks
“It was disappointing. That’s now the way we wanted to play. We’ll see stuff on tape but the guys really played hard and we did some good things. We just could never really get in rhythm and I think by the time we felt out the offense and got it under our belt, we were in the third quarter and we were down a little bit, and we started taking shots then. It was just not a good combination.”
California defensive end Zeandae Johnson
on tackling
“Coach made sure to stress that. We had a lot of missed tackles. He stressed tackling, so we went over drills. We have a tackling drill during the first period of most practices. We just have to be better at tackling because we fell victim to it, so it’s something to clean up.”
on DTR’s performance and how the defense handled it
“I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a problem. The onus really falls on us – to be able to handle guys because I mean we’re going to see quarterbacks that scramble and be able to pull it and use their feet and their legs – that’s all throughout football. So we have to adjust to ourselves and be able to get that guy on the ground, keep the pocket contained, and keep our leverage, stuff like that. We have to clean it up.”
on how to bounce back from the loss
“You just watch it. We’re going to go in and we’re going to watch the film. Then after we watch the film we’re going to put that to bed and get working on Oregon State.”
California inside linebacker Kuony Deng
on early preparation and how uncertainty played a factor in performance
“We got up early this morning. Excited to get the opportunity to play. Obviously, there has been a lot of uncertainty in times, but we don’t really use any of that as an excuse. We don’t want to make excuses. We just need to play better”
on evaluation of poor performance
“They did a good job of establishing the run. (Dorian-Thompson Robinson) holding the ball. We just have to minimize those long gains that they had. We just have to be better overall.”
on challenges of not having defensive linemen during practice
“It was certainly unique. It was different, but as I said, we don’t want any excuses. We don’t want any cop-outs. We’re just moving forward. We’re excited to have these guys back and we’re excited for another week of preparation for our next game.”
UCLA 34, California 10
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
November 15, 2020
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on the Bruins playing at a high tempo and using the read-option
"Well, we saw Cal’s defense from a year ago. The defense wasn’t a mystery to us, but the offense was what was going to be a mystery because they have a new coordinate [Bill Musgrave] and Justin is a defensive guy. What we got on the defensive side, we felt we had a good understanding. We faced them in the final game of the year last year. They did have a bowl game after us and we watched that game, also. Our biggest concern going into the game was just, what would we get offensively? You had a new coordinator that was not in college last year. So, we spent a lot of time watching the [Denver] Broncos’ tape. I think that what we did was just play our offense and our players got a little bit more settled in the second game. And that’s what we did. We ran zone option last week, and Dorian had a 65-yard run last week. So really, play-wise there really wasn’t a lot of difference."
on UCLA altering game preparation nearly 48 hours before the game
“Forty-three [hours], I think. And the one thing, and I think Justin (Wilcox) felt the same way, is we both had the same amount of time. They were preparing to play Arizona State. We were preparing to play Utah. We probably had an advantage because they had to travel and we didn’t have to travel. But we started Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. We were fortunate, I think, that both teams at least understand each other a little bit. We played each other in the last game of the season, last year. We had those games broken down. On the defensive side of the ball, our guys were working on Denver Broncos’ tape, when coach [Bill] Musgrave was the coordinator there. So really, that is what our prep was. We had a walk-through practice Friday evening. We had meetings and a walk-through practice. We went back as coaches, and tried to figure, what can we run? What shouldn’t we run? What’s in and what’s out? Just kind of putting the game-plan together, and we came back again Saturday morning and had meetings and practiced again, but really a walk-through tempo type of practice. It wasn’t a full-go practice, and then we got into our normal night routine, where we have our meetings the night before the game. You know, position, special teams, offense, defense meetings. And then we got our guys to bed. Because not only are we playing in 43 hours, but we’re also playing in a 9 o’clock kickoff and it was our first 9 o’clock kickoff. So there is that adjustment to our schedule, which really isn’t much different because we practice in the morning. I don’t think that was a huge disadvantage by any stretch of the imagination. It was just the logistics of that. We had a bunch of guys around 5:30 in the morning, passing out breakfasts in the hotel. We had a brief team meeting, and then got on the buses and came up here and played.”
on if this situation felt like a Thursday night NFL game (from a short preparation standpoint)
“I think we had a little similarities, you know, and really what I think it was, it’s what do we do, in terms of the players? What can they handle? So we did pare down our game plan and did more taking out. We didn’t add anything. We may have added something, but if we added something it wasn’t in the Utah gameplan but it was something we’ve run. I think that everybody has a volume of offense and a volume of defense in their library. And then you’ll pick and choose each week what you are going to run. You aren’t going to run your entire offense every game. So there were a couple of plays we had in for Utah, specifically, that we took out of the gameplan. There were a couple of things we added, but we did not add anything or run anything that we had not run before, both offensively and defensively.”
on the process that ensued Friday, with UCLA’s opponent changing, and when Cal came on the radar
“Friday. Justin [Wilcox] actually called. I talk to Justin a lot, and he’d asked me earlier in the week, ‘What do you hear from Utah?’ And you listen to what [Utah athletic director] Mark Harlan was saying and they kept testing negative. We go into Friday, you know, we thought it was game on and we thought we would play Utah here. We had no idea. And then we were told after practice on Friday, and I got back to the locker room and I’d missed a lot of calls. And answered them, got in touch with Martin [Jarmond] and he’d said Utah is not coming and that we could potentially play Cal but Cal may play somebody else – I think it was Washington – if Oregon State can’t go. So we were kind of on hold for about an hour to see where it was going to go. It was either going to be a Cal game, or we weren’t going to be able to play. We were going to be out. So then around 1 o’clock, we officially got that we were playing Cal, so it was OK let’s go.”
on UCLA having nine tackles for loss and an active defense on Sunday
“I think [Qwuantrezz] Q-Knight did exactly what he did last week and everything that he’s done since he’s been here. We are really happy he’s here. There is a certain energy and juice that he brings every day, not only to the meeting rooms and the practice field. But our players thrive off of it. He is a physical football player that’s really sharp, and you can put a lot on his plate. So both him and then Caleb [Johnson], I think you saw the Caleb we thought we were gonna get here in game two. He was running around and making some plays. If we can get guys at the second and third level that can help our front, I think it helps. It was good to see our defense play that way, especially after how we’d started on offense. They responded and I think that they did a really good job.”
on the team responding to a strange weekend and what this reveals about the team
“Yeah, that’s a great point. I think that it tells them that I think that they are focused on the process and not the outcome. We don’t control who we play and we don’t control when we play, so let’s not worry about that stuff. You give us an opportunity, I think, Justin [Wilcox] felt the same way I felt. We are just grateful that we get an opportunity to play. What’s going on in Covid in this country right now is kind of crazy. And I don’t know what the future holds, so every opportunity that you get to play football in a safe environment, and that is the one thing that we ask all the time, as long as it is going to be safe, then we’ll go play. I think our players understand that. They’re very appreciative of the fact they get an opportunity. We are lucky. We’ve got two games in so far and there are teams in our league – I feel for [head coach] Kyle Whittingham and Utah. He’s missed two games. I feel for that group. That’s tough. I felt for Justin last week and talked to him about when they were told that they couldn’t play. I don’t know what the number was. It’s hitting everybody and it’s obviously a worldwide pandemic, so we are just really grateful. For us to lament and complain about how we’ve got to go in two days and play in an early morning game, I think that Justin felt the same way, to just tell us where and when and we’ll play. I joked with Justin before the game that they should stay down here, and we’ll help them and take care of them. We can just play each other a couple of times if other games get canceled. Again, we are just grateful that we had an opportunity to play because, with this pandemic, we don’t know. And part of this thing goes back to our mindset of worrying about the process and not be concerned with the outcome.”
on running back Brittain Brown
“Brittain has done some really nice things. He’s another newcomer that came here. We lost a great one in Josh Kelley, who is running on Sundays now. Well actually, Brittain is running on Sundays now, since we played on a Sunday. But the good part is that we needed another big back. We are always going to play multiple running backs – it’s such a difficult position at the collegiate level, and you need a couple of guys there. I thought he was a great complement to Felt [Demetric Felton]. He’s got a great mindset. He’s a lot like Q-Knight, we don’t take a ton of transfers, but the guys who we have put in as transfers have been awesome. They fit in great. Obi Eboh is another kid, all three of those guys have been fantastic. Paul [Grattan] and the offensive line, the same thing. They’re serious about getting their degree in our graduate program and they’re really serious about playing football. I was excited. We didn’t get Brittain the ball enough, last week. And part of that was me as a play-caller and we got behind, so we did not run the ball as much. But, we need to be balanced and run the football. Brit was a really good complement to Felton.
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
on changing the game plan from last week to this week and incorporating tempo into the game plan
“I think Coach (Chip) Kelly and the offensive staff did a great job. The biggest thing that they preached is we only have 43 hours to prepare so just go out there and play football, man. I think that’s the biggest thing that we did was treat this like backyard football back in youth days and we can wake up early and just go play ball. Tempo helped out a lot, and again, we found out early on that that was going to be a big key to this game and we just used that to our advantage.”
on his conversations with the coaching staff about using his legs
“I think the biggest conversations me and Coach (Offensive Coordinator Dana) Bible and Coach (Chip) Kelly had, obviously it’s ‘protect yourself.’ I don’t think I got tackled until maybe the second or third quarter in terms of how much I was running the ball so that’s a positive, and really it’s just they’re putting me in a position on defense to pull the ball and get yards. When you drop seven or eight guys on defense, not everybody’s going to be open all the time so you’ve got to pull the ball down and make things happen there. But really it’s just protecting yourself, protecting the ball, and keeping the chains moving.”
on how it felt to be a dual-threat this game
“First of all, it feels great to get a win. It seems like we’ve been fighting for that for a long time, fighting for this feeling, just doing anything and everything possible to get that win.”
UCLA running back Demetric Felton
on how the fast tempo helped the offense get into a rhythm
“I think it helped out tremendously. The way it seemed is the opposing team couldn’t keep up with us. Having the tempo, they had no time to call anything or really know what we were doing, so it helped out a lot.”
on his range of emotions from the Utah matchup getting canceled to the game being confirmed with Cal for Sunday
“It was disappointing at first because all we wanted to do was play football, but as soon as we heard that our game had been changed, everybody was excited and ready to go. It is weird not having time to prepare for a team but it just more natural and I honestly felt more relaxed.”
on a career-high number of touches this game and embracing that role on offense and special teams
“This is everything I’ve been wanting to do ever since I stepped foot at UCLA, so it just feels really good to finally be able to do that and help my teammates out and get the win.”
UCLA defensive back Qwuantrezz Knight
on how bizarre this week was
“I’d say just studying for Utah the whole week, it was quite a situation just to change over on Friday and get ready to start playing Cal. But I tell the guys as long as we’ll be able to control that adversity we’ll be alright. I just try to keep the energy up, just focus on what we do best. That was the main thing. With such a short time to prepare, just focus on what we do best and we’ll be alright.”
on watching Denver Broncos film before the game and if the Cal offense showed similar plays and schemes
“Yeah, actually watching the Bronco film was very useful in that they have a new coordinator on offense. We weren’t able to get as much film as we needed from Cal but watching film on the Broncos, there were definitely situations that we were put in and that we saw actually the Broncos running the same plays so yeah, that was a big help.”
on if the lack of prep time may have actually helped the team
“Yeah, actually I think it did. We were just able to just play what we do best, you know what I mean? And what we do best is very good. So with them having the same time to prepare as us, I feel like we were in a good situation to go out there and get the job done.”
UCLA linebacker Caleb Johnson
on the role that getting into the pocket and behind the line of scrimmage plays into the defense’s game plan
“Last week we weren’t getting vertical as much, so we really wanted to try to get penetration, set the seam, even if we don’t get the tackle, safety’s going to come in and get the tackle. We did a good job of stopping the run early so they didn’t think about doing it no more most of the game.”
on how the defense was able to improve week-to-week on short notice
“We knew what we needed to do compared to last week. We knew what we needed to do but we weren’t necessarily going. I feel like we’re getting more comfortable knowing our job and trusting our teammates, trusting that everyone else is going to do their job as a defense.”
on how important it was to get stops on fourth down
“It was very important. I feel like that completely kills their momentum and gives our offense a lot of momentum to go and score the ball easier.”
California head coach Justin Wilcox
opening statement
“I’m going to focus on the game today. We are disappointed we didn’t perform better. We felt like there were some opportunities to make some plays in there that we didn’t quite make. I have to do a better job helping these guys prepare, so we’ll look at everything that we could have done better as coaches first and foremost. Then watch the video and learn from it as a team.”
on things that stood out defensively and things to improve on
“On defense, the tackling. We had some opportunities to get guys on the ground to create some longer distances, which the advantage starts to shift to the defense and we didn’t do that very well. We missed a significant amount of tackles, had a couple of missed opportunities there, and then the run game was just going the wrong direction most of the day. I know our guys can play better and we can coach better, so we look forward to improving next week.”
on prepping scouting on short notice
“We found out I guess noon or 1 p.m. when everyone found out. We went in with a very vanilla game plan, but they were in the same boat. Again, I’m just going to leave all that to you guys, I’m really here to talk about the game. I believe in our team and I know we’re going to get better. I think all of our guys are disappointed. I know I am. We didn’t perform as well as I thought we could, and you’ve got to give UCLA credit. They did a nice job, and we’ve got to look forward to getting better this week.”
on early kickoff
“Just an earlier wake-up. We woke up early yesterday to get our body clocks as close as we could and came down earlier than we normally would. They kicked off at 9 as well. We had an early morning wake up, ate breakfast, and came over to the stadium.”
on takeaways and things to improve moving forward
“I just think we can improve in a lot of ways. The tape will show it best. But like I mentioned before, defensively the tackling. Getting off the field on third downs. Offensively, our rhythm wasn’t quite there early. We got something going in the second quarter and had a good drive that we put together. But I think just finding a little more rhythm on offense and I know that we’re capable of doing that and our players are capable of making those plays. I think we’ll look at the video and it’ll tell the tale and we’ll get ready for next week.”
on UCLA’s defense and tackling the blitz
“I think the tables really tell the story there, so I don’t really want to get ahead of myself. We had some chances in the pass game and the run game where we were just a little bit off. I would expect just to continue fixing those things and get better moving forward. But for me to sit here and go through every play, that would be hard to do. We have to watch the video. As I mentioned before, all of us starting with me, just got to do a better job. I think everybody understands that and look forward to getting back to work.”
California quarterback Chase Garbers
on finding out opponent on short notice
“Yeah, so we found out in the morning that we weren’t going to play ASU. Then coach Wilcox texted us as a team saying we’re going to try and figure things out to see if we can play this week. Then a couple of hours later that day, we were told we were playing UCLA on Sunday, so that’s how it went. We didn’t really have time to put a full game plan together. We watched their Colorado game. Obviously one and half two days to prepare for a team is pretty difficult at any level. So we just had to roll with what we were game planning for Arizona State since we had multiple reps with that at practice. We cut some things out that were ASU-specific and just kind of rolled with that into today. ”
on delays this season and how it affected the team’s performance
“We haven’t played a football game in about a year. We haven’t played anyone but ourselves in a real-live game scenario, live-tempo, tacking, in about a year. So there were obviously going to be some hurdles there. Flat out offensively, and just both sides of the ball, we didn’t play to what we had expected to. First game in a COVID season, some of those hurdles are expected. But we’re going to watch the film tomorrow and then flip the switch onto Oregon State. ”
on UCLA’s pressure and how they slowed down the run game
“I wasn’t surprised. After breaking down the Colorado game, we knew the type of pressures that they were known to bring. Coach (Jerry Azzinaro) was here about three years ago, so kind of familiar with his play call style how he’s really aggressive. So it’s something you see from UCLA year in and year out. Obviously, we had two days to prep for them. So with limited time we did what we could do.”
California offensive lineman Michael Saffell
on finding out opponent on short notice
“I think I told the guys today that it’s so easy to drop every excuse in the book right now. They have a game under their belt, we don’t, new offense. But I’ve always been proud of this group coming back, blocking out the noise, and getting back for another week and we got another tough opponent in Oregon State coming up. Of course, 2020 is a weird year but it was no excuse for how we played today. The energy was a little low, and maybe we got taken by surprise about how the speed went. We typically don’t do that as a team. Our team’s motto is basically the harder it gets, the better we’re going to play. Today was as hard as it gets, and we didn’t show up like we usually do. It being my first game as a captain, that’s not how I wanted it to go. That’s not how a captain leads the day, and I have to do a better job, so I think I’ll let the offense play and put it upon myself and we’ll get in the film room and figure it out.”
on evaluating the line
“Yeah, so 5:45 was wake up. This week was strange trying to get a new offense and into a game plan. Obviously, the way 2020 has gone, we haven’t had a lot of scrimmage time in and things like that. I had butterflies. I get butterflies before games because I want to be great and I want to play well. It kind of goes away after the first half, everyone knows that. It didn’t feel any different today. I’ve had a ton of injuries in my career here, and to go out there and play another game with these boys and just go fight, was awesome.”
on how disappointing it was to have limited carries and five sacks
“It was disappointing. That’s now the way we wanted to play. We’ll see stuff on tape but the guys really played hard and we did some good things. We just could never really get in rhythm and I think by the time we felt out the offense and got it under our belt, we were in the third quarter and we were down a little bit, and we started taking shots then. It was just not a good combination.”
California defensive end Zeandae Johnson
on tackling
“Coach made sure to stress that. We had a lot of missed tackles. He stressed tackling, so we went over drills. We have a tackling drill during the first period of most practices. We just have to be better at tackling because we fell victim to it, so it’s something to clean up.”
on DTR’s performance and how the defense handled it
“I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a problem. The onus really falls on us – to be able to handle guys because I mean we’re going to see quarterbacks that scramble and be able to pull it and use their feet and their legs – that’s all throughout football. So we have to adjust to ourselves and be able to get that guy on the ground, keep the pocket contained, and keep our leverage, stuff like that. We have to clean it up.”
on how to bounce back from the loss
“You just watch it. We’re going to go in and we’re going to watch the film. Then after we watch the film we’re going to put that to bed and get working on Oregon State.”
California inside linebacker Kuony Deng
on early preparation and how uncertainty played a factor in performance
“We got up early this morning. Excited to get the opportunity to play. Obviously, there has been a lot of uncertainty in times, but we don’t really use any of that as an excuse. We don’t want to make excuses. We just need to play better”
on evaluation of poor performance
“They did a good job of establishing the run. (Dorian-Thompson Robinson) holding the ball. We just have to minimize those long gains that they had. We just have to be better overall.”
on challenges of not having defensive linemen during practice
“It was certainly unique. It was different, but as I said, we don’t want any excuses. We don’t want any cop-outs. We’re just moving forward. We’re excited to have these guys back and we’re excited for another week of preparation for our next game.”