Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Arizona State
POSTGAME QUOTES
Arizona State 42, UCLA 23
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
October 2, 2021
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels and his ability to run the ball
“They did a good job. You’ve got to give them credit, first and foremost, and Jayden [Daniels] is obviously the most athletic kid who we’ve faced so far this season, in terms of being able to escape. We try and be conscious of our rush lanes, because if he does squirt loose, he could hurt you. Give them credit. Their line played really well. They did a really good job of protecting Jayden. When things did break down, we did a good job of getting after him, and he made some plays with his feet.”
on UCLA absorbing eight penalties, some registering for 15 yards
“No question, unacceptable. Yeah, we have to clear that up. We have talked about that, briefly, in the locker room after the game. We’ve got to learn how to play with emotion and not let emotion play with us. I think that some of them were out of frustration and you cannot do that. You can’t do that against a good football team. We gave them too many freebies tonight and that’s on us.”
on the decision to go for it on a fourth-down situation, early in the fourth quarter
“Yeah, we had the ball inside the one-yard line, or close to the one-yard line, and we thought that we could get it in. But they made a play and we didn’t it. It was a run option.”
on Arizona State averaging roughly 9.2 yards per play
“I think that the X plays on the defensive side of the ball really hurt us – those two big long passes. We had some depth issues at safety today. They did a good job of exploiting that, of taking advantage of that. So you have to give them credit.”
on UCLA’s defense giving up several long plays against ASU, and how to correct that down the road
“It’s a combination of both. You’ve got to be tighter in our coverage and you have to generate a better pass rush so that the quarterback doesn’t push the ball down the field like that. We’ve got to shore up our safety position right now.”
on not scoring any points in the second half
“It is very disappointing. But I think that there were a couple penalties on offense that really hurt a few drives. And then to get the ball in there tight and to come away with none, we have to do a better job. Obviously, we played well on offense in the first half. We did not play well on offense in the second half.”
on UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“I think Dorian, obviously, is a threat with his legs. They were doing a few things, coverage-wise, to try and take some guys away, doubling and some of those things. I think that Dorian did a good job of recognizing that. If they’re doing that, then they don’t have anybody left for him. For where he was and how he trained all week long, he’s just a tough guy and you’ve got to give him credit. He’s not 100 percent, but I thought he played well.
on Dorian Thompson-Robinson being able to read some plays and run the ball
“I think, they weren’t designed runs, they were drop-back passes. Coverage-wise dictated that nobody was on the quarterback, so I think that he exploited that. They were not designed quarterback runs. It depends upon how people play you and what they’ll try to do and take away from you. It is good that you have a quarterback who has the ability to beat you with his feet, when they’ll try and double some receivers. You’ve got to see if the guys who are single can get free, or can the quarterback hurt you with his legs? There were a few times there where I thought that Dorian made good decisions just taking off and picking up first downs with his legs.”
on UCLA’s offense scoring 23 points in the first half
“The penalties put you aack, and then all of a sudden you are playing really long down-and-distances. It is a lot eaiser to convert 1st-and-10 to 2nd-and-4, then you go to 2nd-and-24, and now you have a long and uphill battle against a team that has some good players on that side of the ball. We made it a lot more difficult on ourselves. That’s the difference between the two halves. We had some holdings, a personal foul penalty, that just set us back. When we are in first down, we like to play downhill football. We played uphill football in the second half, and that was a direct result of what we did. That’s from self-inflicted wounds and we have to clear that up. You won’t compete with really good teams when you are shooting yourselves in the foot. We have to clear that up.”
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
on the Bruins’ decision to keep the read option (fourth-and-1), at the start of the final quarter
“It all starts with the read on the defensive end. I thought he was pretty close to the box to be able to pull the ball. But again, it’s fourth and one, and we’ve got one of the best backs in the country. Just knowing the situation, I should have just handed the ball on that play.”
on UCLA’s troubles on offense in the second half
“I think just penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times. But again, I have to go back and watch film and all that stuff to give me a clear idea.”
on UCLA losing by 19 points (compared to losing by a smaller margin)
“Yeah, definitely, it sucks. I wouldn’t say the point differential means anything – a loss is a still a loss. But obviously, it sucks. It’s definitely a hit on the chin.”
on being shut out in the second half
“No, we’re going to wait until tomorrow and we’ll break down the film to hash all that stuff out.”
on an opportunity lost to improve to 2-0 in the Pac-12
“I think every game is an opportunity lost, if we lose it. They’re all important and they’re all going to be important moving forward. Again, that’s why we take it day-by-day and week-by-week and focus on Arizona now.”
UCLA linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath
on how tough it was to take down Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels
“Obviously, every time you play anyone that’s a dual threat like in this case you have to plan a different way every single week. There’s always that opportunity where he will take off and run for 20 yards. I know every single defense feels the same way when they play us with Dorian. Just part of the scheme. We’ve just got to execute better and take on next week.”
on troubles putting pressure on Daniels
“I think with how much we pressure a lot of teams are seven-man protecting which makes it harder for us to get there. But at the end of the day, we have to win our one-on-one’s and we have to execute our jobs on all aspects of the ball. And especially when you gamble in a sense or you pressure that much, we believe in our guys, the pressure has to get home because that’s the whole point of it.”
on giving up big plays
“Like we just talked about. We have to be responsible on each level of the ball. When we pressure and send seven instead of eight, we have to get home. We put our DB’s in compromised positions. As you know, it’s hard to cover especially good receivers like that when they get in the open field. We just have to do our jobs in all facets.”
on shortages at the safety position this week
“They’re great players. We have to make sure they come back healthy next week. We saw Quentin Lake out there for a bit which was good. Kenny Churchwell III tried to tough it out, but if it hurts it hurts. But we’re confident in those guys that played and prepared their butts off all week. At the end of the day, we’ll live and die with the guys we’ve got on our team.”
on penalties
“Every time you go out there and you have these personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conducts, it gives them momentum and gives them 15 yards. There are times where they’re out of field goal range and now they’re in field goal range, and it gives them that momentum. We’re a truly disciplined team. In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to say looking back at it, ‘Oh, we should have done this or this.’ It kind of goes both ways. Sometimes, it’s just unfortunate we get called on or they get called on. Looking back on it, we’ve just got to take care of the little details and play until the whistle is blown. We’ll learn from this loss and those mistakes and I’m confident we’re going to go out next week and beat Arizona.”
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards
on Eric Gentry’s play on fourth down
“His athleticism, he’s a freshman. He’s a unique player, he really is. You look at him and you think he’s a basketball player. He’s a tough guy. I know that because he’s from Philadelphia. He’s a unique player – smart, very athletic. He’s just going to get better as time goes on. Need to get some weight on him though.”
on being in the driver’s seat in the Pac-12
“It’s a week-to week situation in the Pac-12. We all know that, and that’s how it works it on our conference. I’ve told you guys this since I first got here. You never know what’s going to happen. You just see it. I just think every week, and that’s how we approach it getting into conference games. Players can enjoy it. It’s basically a relief for coaches that we won another conference game. We’ve won another [game] on the road, which is important. Now, we have a bigger one coming at home against a good team in Stanford.”
on his team’s ability to respond to mistakes
“We know how to put ourselves at a deficit, at times. We know how to do all that. [The mistakes] were big ones. The three points before the half, because we misplay a ball. A young player wanted to make a play. Those are the teaching moments you need to teach guys about. It didn’t come back to get us, but I thought our team was resilient. We just didn’t flinch. Things like that happen and we just played through them. They had a mindset of, ‘There’s going to be some things happening’. It’s not going to be pretty. There are going to be some negative plays, and how we handle those negative plays is very important. I thought, for the most part, I felt energy on our sideline the whole time. It never varied.”
Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels
on the importance of winning this game
“It was a huge team win. I know a lot of guys are from southern California. It means a lot to me personally. There were a lot of implications on this game. The job is not finished, one week, one game.”
on passing to Ricky Pearsall
“It feels great. Coach Hill was out there dialing up. We knew all week we had mismatches. We just took advantage of what they were giving us.”
on ASU’s strong start
“I would just say executing the game plan, we limited the penalties offensively and we just executed. We were able to get penetration, really carry around the ball, and me and the receivers were on the same page airing it out. We just played a clean football game. We were just taking advantage of all their miscues that they tried to do on defense. Really, the game plan was to get the ball in my hand and take shots and we did them.”
on Arizona State’s offense
“I say we’re on the right track. I don't want to say we’re completely there yet. but we’re going in the right direction.”
on achieving Coach Herm Edwards’ goals
“I feel like we did a good job of doing that. [With] all three phases, we could have played better, and at the end of the day it's a win. We are going to take it and move onto the next.”
on family from the SoCal region attending the game
“I did. I don’t know how many came out, but being so close to here, it felt good coming back home, and being a win for them. Getting a win for my grandpa who passed, yesterday was his birthday, so it felt good playing back home.”
Arizona State running back DeaMonte Trayanum
on playing in his first game since the season opener
“There was definitely some rust to knock off. Even in the flow of practice throughout the week, getting back into the groove of things. As a running back, it’s all about vision and patience. It was good to get back out there once I got a few plays in I was rolling.”
on ASU trying to establish the running game
“It shows that our offense is very dynamic – just to see how all the offensive players are so dependable and we really help out each other’s game. When we look back at the film, we will really see it. We messed up a few plays out there, but we didn’t play down to their ability, we played ASU football.”
Arizona State 42, UCLA 23
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
October 2, 2021
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
on Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels and his ability to run the ball
“They did a good job. You’ve got to give them credit, first and foremost, and Jayden [Daniels] is obviously the most athletic kid who we’ve faced so far this season, in terms of being able to escape. We try and be conscious of our rush lanes, because if he does squirt loose, he could hurt you. Give them credit. Their line played really well. They did a really good job of protecting Jayden. When things did break down, we did a good job of getting after him, and he made some plays with his feet.”
on UCLA absorbing eight penalties, some registering for 15 yards
“No question, unacceptable. Yeah, we have to clear that up. We have talked about that, briefly, in the locker room after the game. We’ve got to learn how to play with emotion and not let emotion play with us. I think that some of them were out of frustration and you cannot do that. You can’t do that against a good football team. We gave them too many freebies tonight and that’s on us.”
on the decision to go for it on a fourth-down situation, early in the fourth quarter
“Yeah, we had the ball inside the one-yard line, or close to the one-yard line, and we thought that we could get it in. But they made a play and we didn’t it. It was a run option.”
on Arizona State averaging roughly 9.2 yards per play
“I think that the X plays on the defensive side of the ball really hurt us – those two big long passes. We had some depth issues at safety today. They did a good job of exploiting that, of taking advantage of that. So you have to give them credit.”
on UCLA’s defense giving up several long plays against ASU, and how to correct that down the road
“It’s a combination of both. You’ve got to be tighter in our coverage and you have to generate a better pass rush so that the quarterback doesn’t push the ball down the field like that. We’ve got to shore up our safety position right now.”
on not scoring any points in the second half
“It is very disappointing. But I think that there were a couple penalties on offense that really hurt a few drives. And then to get the ball in there tight and to come away with none, we have to do a better job. Obviously, we played well on offense in the first half. We did not play well on offense in the second half.”
on UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
“I think Dorian, obviously, is a threat with his legs. They were doing a few things, coverage-wise, to try and take some guys away, doubling and some of those things. I think that Dorian did a good job of recognizing that. If they’re doing that, then they don’t have anybody left for him. For where he was and how he trained all week long, he’s just a tough guy and you’ve got to give him credit. He’s not 100 percent, but I thought he played well.
on Dorian Thompson-Robinson being able to read some plays and run the ball
“I think, they weren’t designed runs, they were drop-back passes. Coverage-wise dictated that nobody was on the quarterback, so I think that he exploited that. They were not designed quarterback runs. It depends upon how people play you and what they’ll try to do and take away from you. It is good that you have a quarterback who has the ability to beat you with his feet, when they’ll try and double some receivers. You’ve got to see if the guys who are single can get free, or can the quarterback hurt you with his legs? There were a few times there where I thought that Dorian made good decisions just taking off and picking up first downs with his legs.”
on UCLA’s offense scoring 23 points in the first half
“The penalties put you aack, and then all of a sudden you are playing really long down-and-distances. It is a lot eaiser to convert 1st-and-10 to 2nd-and-4, then you go to 2nd-and-24, and now you have a long and uphill battle against a team that has some good players on that side of the ball. We made it a lot more difficult on ourselves. That’s the difference between the two halves. We had some holdings, a personal foul penalty, that just set us back. When we are in first down, we like to play downhill football. We played uphill football in the second half, and that was a direct result of what we did. That’s from self-inflicted wounds and we have to clear that up. You won’t compete with really good teams when you are shooting yourselves in the foot. We have to clear that up.”
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson
on the Bruins’ decision to keep the read option (fourth-and-1), at the start of the final quarter
“It all starts with the read on the defensive end. I thought he was pretty close to the box to be able to pull the ball. But again, it’s fourth and one, and we’ve got one of the best backs in the country. Just knowing the situation, I should have just handed the ball on that play.”
on UCLA’s troubles on offense in the second half
“I think just penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times. But again, I have to go back and watch film and all that stuff to give me a clear idea.”
on UCLA losing by 19 points (compared to losing by a smaller margin)
“Yeah, definitely, it sucks. I wouldn’t say the point differential means anything – a loss is a still a loss. But obviously, it sucks. It’s definitely a hit on the chin.”
on being shut out in the second half
“No, we’re going to wait until tomorrow and we’ll break down the film to hash all that stuff out.”
on an opportunity lost to improve to 2-0 in the Pac-12
“I think every game is an opportunity lost, if we lose it. They’re all important and they’re all going to be important moving forward. Again, that’s why we take it day-by-day and week-by-week and focus on Arizona now.”
UCLA linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath
on how tough it was to take down Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels
“Obviously, every time you play anyone that’s a dual threat like in this case you have to plan a different way every single week. There’s always that opportunity where he will take off and run for 20 yards. I know every single defense feels the same way when they play us with Dorian. Just part of the scheme. We’ve just got to execute better and take on next week.”
on troubles putting pressure on Daniels
“I think with how much we pressure a lot of teams are seven-man protecting which makes it harder for us to get there. But at the end of the day, we have to win our one-on-one’s and we have to execute our jobs on all aspects of the ball. And especially when you gamble in a sense or you pressure that much, we believe in our guys, the pressure has to get home because that’s the whole point of it.”
on giving up big plays
“Like we just talked about. We have to be responsible on each level of the ball. When we pressure and send seven instead of eight, we have to get home. We put our DB’s in compromised positions. As you know, it’s hard to cover especially good receivers like that when they get in the open field. We just have to do our jobs in all facets.”
on shortages at the safety position this week
“They’re great players. We have to make sure they come back healthy next week. We saw Quentin Lake out there for a bit which was good. Kenny Churchwell III tried to tough it out, but if it hurts it hurts. But we’re confident in those guys that played and prepared their butts off all week. At the end of the day, we’ll live and die with the guys we’ve got on our team.”
on penalties
“Every time you go out there and you have these personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conducts, it gives them momentum and gives them 15 yards. There are times where they’re out of field goal range and now they’re in field goal range, and it gives them that momentum. We’re a truly disciplined team. In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to say looking back at it, ‘Oh, we should have done this or this.’ It kind of goes both ways. Sometimes, it’s just unfortunate we get called on or they get called on. Looking back on it, we’ve just got to take care of the little details and play until the whistle is blown. We’ll learn from this loss and those mistakes and I’m confident we’re going to go out next week and beat Arizona.”
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards
on Eric Gentry’s play on fourth down
“His athleticism, he’s a freshman. He’s a unique player, he really is. You look at him and you think he’s a basketball player. He’s a tough guy. I know that because he’s from Philadelphia. He’s a unique player – smart, very athletic. He’s just going to get better as time goes on. Need to get some weight on him though.”
on being in the driver’s seat in the Pac-12
“It’s a week-to week situation in the Pac-12. We all know that, and that’s how it works it on our conference. I’ve told you guys this since I first got here. You never know what’s going to happen. You just see it. I just think every week, and that’s how we approach it getting into conference games. Players can enjoy it. It’s basically a relief for coaches that we won another conference game. We’ve won another [game] on the road, which is important. Now, we have a bigger one coming at home against a good team in Stanford.”
on his team’s ability to respond to mistakes
“We know how to put ourselves at a deficit, at times. We know how to do all that. [The mistakes] were big ones. The three points before the half, because we misplay a ball. A young player wanted to make a play. Those are the teaching moments you need to teach guys about. It didn’t come back to get us, but I thought our team was resilient. We just didn’t flinch. Things like that happen and we just played through them. They had a mindset of, ‘There’s going to be some things happening’. It’s not going to be pretty. There are going to be some negative plays, and how we handle those negative plays is very important. I thought, for the most part, I felt energy on our sideline the whole time. It never varied.”
Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels
on the importance of winning this game
“It was a huge team win. I know a lot of guys are from southern California. It means a lot to me personally. There were a lot of implications on this game. The job is not finished, one week, one game.”
on passing to Ricky Pearsall
“It feels great. Coach Hill was out there dialing up. We knew all week we had mismatches. We just took advantage of what they were giving us.”
on ASU’s strong start
“I would just say executing the game plan, we limited the penalties offensively and we just executed. We were able to get penetration, really carry around the ball, and me and the receivers were on the same page airing it out. We just played a clean football game. We were just taking advantage of all their miscues that they tried to do on defense. Really, the game plan was to get the ball in my hand and take shots and we did them.”
on Arizona State’s offense
“I say we’re on the right track. I don't want to say we’re completely there yet. but we’re going in the right direction.”
on achieving Coach Herm Edwards’ goals
“I feel like we did a good job of doing that. [With] all three phases, we could have played better, and at the end of the day it's a win. We are going to take it and move onto the next.”
on family from the SoCal region attending the game
“I did. I don’t know how many came out, but being so close to here, it felt good coming back home, and being a win for them. Getting a win for my grandpa who passed, yesterday was his birthday, so it felt good playing back home.”
Arizona State running back DeaMonte Trayanum
on playing in his first game since the season opener
“There was definitely some rust to knock off. Even in the flow of practice throughout the week, getting back into the groove of things. As a running back, it’s all about vision and patience. It was good to get back out there once I got a few plays in I was rolling.”
on ASU trying to establish the running game
“It shows that our offense is very dynamic – just to see how all the offensive players are so dependable and we really help out each other’s game. When we look back at the film, we will really see it. We messed up a few plays out there, but we didn’t play down to their ability, we played ASU football.”