Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Oregon
POSTGAME QUOTES
Oregon 38, UCLA 35
Eugene, Ore. (Autzen Stadium)
November 21, 2020
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on progression of week and status of players who were unavailable
“Ben, you get one question. You can’t throw four to start this off, ya know what I mean? How did Chase Griffin play? I’ll answer that one first. I thought he was outstanding today. He’s a competitor. As I said earlier to Wayne, everybody wants an opportunity, and when you have your opportunity, are you ready? I thought Chase did a heck of a job today. I’m really proud of how he played. When it was final, I think sometime late Wednesday or Thursday, we kinda knew we weren’t going to have those guys. So they’re unavailable, they’re available. We do have a ‘next man up’ mindset here and I’m really proud of the guys that stepped up and played today.”
on how much game plan changed with switch at quarterback
“We really didn’t. Chase is a real student of the game and has always been prepared when his opportunity comes, he can step in so we didn’t. He may have liked one route combination higher on his list of likes than where Dorian was but we really didn’t have to change much with Chase. You saw him run the ball today and I thought he did some really good things with his legs. Obviously, you saw him throw the ball so we didn’t really have to change very much. We try to recruit in that mode of our quarterbacks are similar. The big difference is Chase had never played so no one really knew what you were going to get but I was really proud of what he did today.”
on Demetric Felton
“I thought Felton was awesome. We knew we wanted to run the ball coming in here. That’s the part that hurts. I think we tripled their output in the rushing game. If you told me we were going to triple them in rushing and we’d lose, I’d be surprised at that…or close to it. I know we doubled it. I don’t know Felt’s final…what did Felt end up with today? [room answers 167 on 34 carries, about five yards a carry] We were down some other guys. It was just him and Britt toting that for us. You saw Kyle playing a little bit of running back and Ethan Fernea playing a little running back in there. Our depth got hit a little bit but I couldn’t be more proud of Felton in terms of how he played and what he did and his production.”
on using more option run than usual with Griffin
“Nah, that was our game plan going in. That’s what we felt what we were going to do. That was our plan so Dorian was executing it. Don’t forget Dorian ran one of 65 against Colorado so I wouldn’t classify Dorian as not a runner himself but we felt like we could exploit the quarterback run and I thought Chase did a good job on it. But that was our plan going in so the plays we ran today were plays we ran on Monday and Tuesday that as a staff, we put in in terms of attacking this defense.”
on if any players were made unavailable due to discipline
“No. I think a lot of things get blown out. Dorian’s contact tracing or anybody’s contact tracing had nothing to do with any party. The fact that his mom comes to celebrate his birthday—his mom is also a professor in public health so I think they understand. If there’s one family that I’ve been around that understands COVID, it’s Dorian’s family. His mom is awesome. She’s been a rock star through this whole thing in terms of helping other people and parents understand what it is. She has a really good grasp on it and would never put her son in harm’s way.”
on effectiveness and attacking style of his defense
“They, and that was part of our plan to let those guys pin their ears back and let them play, and capitalize on their athleticism. I was really proud of them. To come up short the way we did, it’s hard. If they continue to play hard, we’re going to have a shot. We just have to get the head coach to stop making bad calls at the end of the first half.”
on how much confidence a quarterback has to have to make Hail Mary pass
“Chase has got a great feel, and I think he was trying to throw it to Kyle (Philips). Everybody knows what type of clutch receive Kyle Philips is for us. They’ve got a good rapport. Dorian and Kyle have a good rapport. It was literally a game of inches. It was close. Felt didn’t feel like he was down on the play before. He thought that he bounced up and never hit the ground. It came down to one play one way or another. As I told the players, when you play a good team, you can’t do that. When all of us have to own this. I own it with a bad call at the end of the first half. But we’re close. But if they continue to play with this effort and this kind of mindset, it’s a really, really good group to be around. They’re special, and they play hard and they’ll continue to play hard.”
UCLA quarterback Chase Griffin
on learning he’d be starting the game
“Every week we prepare to play, no matter the position. When I found out I was going to be the starter this week, it was no different. Preparation was no different.”
on the offense’s performance
“I think it was less about Oregon’s defense and more about how our offense was operating. [Demetric] Felton did a great job, all the running backs did a great job, up front we were phenomenal, and as far as our playmakers on the outside, I can’t ask for any better effort as a quarterback.”
on if he had nerves in his first career start
“Just the normal energy. I recognized it as a blessing. Everyone on this team works hard, including myself, and anytime you can get into the game and show what you can do, you take it as an opportunity. It’s God-given, so be grateful.”
on help he received from Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“Dorian’s been great all week. He prepares hard every week. Earlier in the week, we were preparing as if he would be the starter, and when we found out that he wasn’t, he sent me a couple messages keeping my spirit right, keeping my mind right, and giving some helpful advice. I’m very grateful for the entire quarterback room, I think we showed up today. I can of course be better, and we’ll go from there.”
UCLA running back Demetric Felton
on the last drive of the game
“We were just trying to do our job – just execute, finish every run, every catch that we could. We were just trying to as hard as we could.”
on the halftime message
“Just keep fighting. We had them right where we wanted them and we just had to keep on fighting, keep making good plays on defense and offense, that’s pretty much it.”
on the performance of his offensive line
“My O-line played their butts off today and I was super proud of them. They made it easy for me to get five yards a carry, so I’m just really proud of them and what they do. We’re just excited to keep working.”
on the team’s trajectory
“I’m really proud of our guys and how we keep on fighting. We just gotta fix a few things, I think we got it. We’re just excited to keep going to work every day.”
on Chase Griffin’s performance
“Chase is a gamer. He’s really cool, calm, and collected. Nothing really changed for me, I trusted him and I knew he was going to do his best. I’m extremely proud of him, and I’m ready to see what’s next for him.”
UCLA defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa
on the defense’s performance
“I feel like [we have] a lot of guys who can make plays. As you see, there’s guys making plays all over the ball on defense. So that’s helping out a lot, helping us stay in the game. Just doing everything we can, we fight hard, we run through the wall. It’s guys I can go to war with, guys that play hard.”
on the run defense
“We know it starts up front. Everyone is fitting in their holes. We’re just operating in a way where everyone plays off each other and everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing, so that makes it a lot easier to play defense.”
on the defense’s aggression
“We’re running the same defense we’ve been running all season. I feel like we’re just keeping our DNA the same, and our DNA is that ‘UCLA Bruins play hard until the clock runs out.’ As long as we’re doing that, we keep the mental errors down to a minimum, it’s gonna make it hard for a team to score on us and run the ball on us.”