Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. USC

POSTGAME QUOTES
USC 43, UCLA 38
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
Dec. 12, 2020

UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on the decision to have Keegan Jones in the backfield on a late fourth down
“Yeah, he was the back that was in the game at that time. I thought we needed a yard. Keegan is a good, solid back for us and he just came up a little bit short."

on one-on-one coverage against USC’s receivers
“I mean, it was a back and forth deal. Our kids on defense played really well. We knew going into the game, the talented receiver corps that they had and that it was going to be a difficult matchup. I thought that our kids competed. But they just made one more play than we did.”

on a pair of special teams mistakes for UCLA
“Yeah, in a close game like this, we knew going into it that [special] teams would be a big factor. I thought that RJ [Lopez] did a great job on kickoffs all day long. He didn’t even allow them to get a return. He was really smashing the ball, but we have to be able to cover a kick, and we didn’t – especially in that situation because it was a field goal game. You’ve got to prevent them from getting over midfield, because it was inside of three. We have got to get that fixed.”

on what adjustments he saw that USC’s offense had made in the second half
“I think that Kedon Slovis is one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. I don’t think anybody thought that we’d come in here and shut them out. But, it was kind of a heavyweight fight and you are just trading blows. They hit one and we hit one, and then we hit one and then they hit one. We had a shot at the end. We had the ball at the end.”

on the performance of Mo Osling III
“Yeah, I’d have to watch the film, specifically. But I love Mo because Mo competes. I thought he was really competitive tonight, made some plays, had a big sack. I can’t be very specific.”

on the performance of Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“I thought Dorian played really well. He came back last week at Arizona State and really just practiced starting Wednesday and missed Monday, Tuesday. So he had a full week of training this week. I thought it really showed. I thought he threw the ball with command and did some really, really nice things out there. He was 30 of 36 with four touchdowns.”

on how disappointing it feels to have given up leads in a back-and-forth game
“Anytime you lose, it’s hard, especially when you lose a close game. So I don’t think that you quantify it, that you lost this way or that way. I think that it’s difficult and it hurts. It hurts because they put so much into it. That’s what we’d talked about in the locker room, that it really hurts. If you don’t work very hard and it’s not that important to you, if you go out and lose, then it wasn’t that big a deal. But this group, they’ve got an unbelievable work ethic and camaraderie and commitment to each other. When you lose as a group like we lost tonight, it hurts.”

on USC’s pass protection picking up some pressure from UCLA and if that was true
“I thought they obviously have a system that they run and they have been very successful against everybody they’ve played. In their game against Washington State, they threw four touchdowns in the first quarter. You have someone as talented as Kedon and that group of receivers, they did a good job with their offensive line and you talk to Clay, they finally got everybody back and had a chance to practice this week. I thought they did a nice job. Otito [Ogbonnia] did a nice job and split them once for a sack, and then I thought Mo [Osling] had one. I don’t have the numbers in front of me for the other ones, but we knew going into it like I said earlier that we knew we wouldn’t shut them out. They’d get theirs, in terms of what they do. We just had to match them.”

UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
on how hard it is to take this loss
“This isn’t a normal game and this isn’t a normal loss so this one hurts, but the good thing is we get to go back on Monday and we’ve got one more game, so we can put this one to rest after watching film and move onto next week.”

on the run game sputtering and tight end Greg Dulcich coming up huge in big moments
“For the run game, I’d have to go back and look at film. I thought it was good for the most part. At some points we were off a little bit with the signals and stuff like that and trying to get guys lined up. We were going with a lot of tempo and stuff like that, but at the end of the day I’ve got to go back up and watch the film and see for the full analysis and stuff like that. As for Greg, you guys know that he’s my roommate and stuff so we have a wonderful connection. He’s worked his tail off this whole offseason and continues to, and it shows on the field, and he’s producing really well, and I’m really proud of him and really happy for him right now.”

on the scene in the locker room
“Today was the quietest it’s ever been but at the end of the day, Coach does a great job rallying the guys. We know it’s going to hurt obviously, but we’re excited to get back there on Monday and get ready to work the next week.”

UCLA defensive back Quentin Lake
on what he will take away from this game going forward
“There were a lot of good things, especially in the first half. I think the defense played really well. But to answer your question, I think the biggest thing we’ve got to do is just keep the look ahead and not get complacent. We were making a lot of plays in the first half and I think sometimes that can get to your head and you think you’ve got the game in the palm of your hand but obviously that wasn’t the case. It’s unfortunate the outcome, but there was a lot of good things that came out of it. But I think the main thing is just don’t get complacent. We’ve got to finish. That game should have been ours, point-blank, period. It’s tough but we’ve got to prepare for the next one.”

on whether the USC offense changed things in the second half or if the UCLA defense just did not make the plays that they needed to do
“At the end of the day, we’re the players out there, so we’ve got to make the plays. There wasn’t really anything in terms of their scheme. They thought their athletes were better than ours and that was it. I didn’t see any scheme change in terms of what they were doing.”

on how he bounces back after a disappointing loss
“It all comes down to film. Watch the film either tonight or tomorrow, correct the things we need to correct. We played one hell of a game, no matter the outcome, I’m very proud of the team, but we’ve just got to finish, make the plays that need to be made, just be clutch in clutch times. We’re going to look at the film, correct the mistakes we need to correct, and then come out ready to win next week.”

USC head coach Clay Helton
opening statement
“I wanted to start off by thanking a bunch of great kids for being the definition of fight on. The entire second half, I never saw one kid quit the fight, and just down the stretch just make play after play after play. Great college football game. A lot of appreciation to coach (Chip) Kelly and the job that he’s doing with his team. That’s a very well-coached team, and they played their hearts out tonight.”

on improved run game
“Yeah, (Vavae) Malepeai, I thought stepped up huge with 19 carries and 110 yards, averaging 5.8 against a really good defense – a defense that we thought was extremely much improved from last year. I thought he made the tough yards, especially in the red zone. I thought he did, and the offensive line did a terrific job. Offensive line wise also I have to say did a nice job of holding up. We threw the ball a lot tonight, 47 times, and I thought they gave the time Kedon (Slovis) needed to be successful.”

on what he learned about the fight in this team
“I knew that if we just had one more opportunity, that they would make something happen. It’s who this team is. As soon as we called timeout after that third down of UCLA and there were 52 seconds left, I thought to myself it doesn’t matter if they make this or not, there’s an opportunity there for our guys. And it started with Gary Bryant, to be honest with you. We finally got it going in the kickoff return game, and what a big play that was to get it across the 50 yard line. What an unbelievable check by Kedon on the next play to (Tyler Vaughns). It made me nervous, but he’s got the courage. It was fun to watch. That’s how we played. What a terrific job by the guys to get our third game this year that was won on the last drive.”

on Gary Bryant’s return
“Yeah. It was the first time the ball didn’t go over his head. I mean as soon as he kicked it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to have a shot here.’ We were in a situation where we needed to take every shot we could, so Gary was bringing it out, and did a fabulous job. Our kick off returns, our special teams have just been phenomenal this year. That return really set up that drive and made it a lot easier to call plays. If you start at the 25 yard line with 52 seconds, that’s a lot different than already being past 50. So we were able to get aggressive and dial up some man coverage because of that. For the last 25 yards, you’re seeing a ton of zone, but after getting across 50, they went ahead and played man, and so Kedon and TV were able to connect.”

on sloppy defense in first half and adjustments made in the second half
“I thought we calmed down a little bit. One of the things I really admire about coach Kelly is his creativity. Every game, you’re going to get some sort of option. You just don’t know what sort of formation it’s going to be out of and how he’s going to run it. The first four or five series of the game, he kind of had us on our heels. I credit Todd Orlando. He came in very calmly at halftime and said to the guys, ‘This is what we have to do and these are our adjustments.’ We missed some tackles against some talented players. In the second half, there were some huge plays, a huge momentum play on the pick that allowed us to set up another score. I thought we came in at halftime knowing we’re not playing great ball right now, let’s flip the switch, let’s play our brand of football, and fight for another 30 minutes and see what happens. And it took all 30 to get it done.”

USC quarterback Kedon Slovis
on mindset during the final drive
“We started out with great field position. Obviously, with no timeouts, you have to just be wary of the clock. But coach said on the sidelines that if you see man, chuck it. So, we chucked a shot to Tyler first. Obviously, I overthrew him earlier in the game, so I just wanted to give him the chance to make a spectacular catch. And then on the goal line, we saw man again, we had a wrong call but I chucked it over to (Amon-Ra St. Brown). It probably gave coach Helton a bit of a tough time. Sorry about that coach, but it worked out for us.”

on Drake London’s touchdown and how it gave the team life
“I felt like offensively, we weren’t playing terribly, but we just didn’t have any juice to us. So, at that point, I thought at halftime too, after we gave up a score, I think that was the turning point for us offensively. Even though we got a score against us afterward, the pressure kind of got us going a little bit.”

on experiences from Arizona and Arizona State games helping tonight
“I feel like at this point, we’ve gone through situations like these so many times, I feel like everyone kind of has their cool, and so the experience from those other games, it really helps. This was probably one of the most difficult situations we’ve had time-wise, but none of the guys seemed fazed of that, so it definitely helps when you’ve been in that type of pressure and situation.”

USC safety Talanoa Hufanga
on experiences from Arizona and Arizona State games helping tonight
“Definitely just got to stay patient. Time’s running out and you have to understand that you have to have confidence. We had confidence in our offense. We just had to get a stop and force a field goal in that last series. At the end of the day, we just have to make things happen, and so as a defense, we came together, we had to make adjustments. But at the end of the day, great offense made plays in the very last series to get the win. So just wanted to do our best out there and get the W.”

on playing this rivalry game without fans
“I think the energy from the sidelines really helped us. Even I haven’t played here in a stadium full of fans. I’ve been here but wasn’t able to contribute at the time. This time, we just had to stay focused. We knew what our task was at hand. We needed to make our plays and make sure we get the win at the end of the day.”

on defense in the first half and when switch flipped
“We just had to come in and make adjustments. Our coaches preach, ‘No excuses, just adjustments, come out here and make plays.’ We had a rough first half and we have to give credit to a great UCLA offense that comes out here and does a lot of different things. We kind of call it an exotic thing because they line up with all of these different formations. I give a lot of credit to them because they had a great first half, but we had to come out in the second half to make adjustments and make these key simple fixes so that it could help us win this game, and ultimately just give our offense a chance. When you put the ball in the hands of guys like number 9 and 2 and 8, great things will happen.”

Recent Results

Upcoming Events

Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. USC

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. USC