Postgame Quotes – Oregon 34, UCLA 13
POSTGAME QUOTES
Oregon 34, UCLA 13
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
Sept. 28, 2024
UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster
opening remarks
“The game didn’t go the way that we wanted it to go. But there were a couple bright spots. We were able to run the ball a little bit better in the second half. I think my defense played pretty well tonight, going against a high-powered offense like we did. We just didn’t really execute the way that we wanted to, offensively, to try to help our defense out. We kept putting them out there and if you keep putting them out on the field they’ll wear down a little bit. But other than that, just glad that my players kept fighting and we didn’t have guys out there quitting.”
on quarterback Ethan Garbers staying in the game despite some quarterback pressure
“Well if you know Ethan, you know he was fighting to stay out there. So when you have a player who is begging to stay out there and he wanted to keep playing, you’ll let him play.”
on a few of the positives that he can take as UCLA prepares for Penn State next week
“Look at you with a positive question. We just need to go to Penn State and just continue to build on this. That’s all that we’ve got to do. Like I said, we will learn from these losses. I know I see it. I know that you all see it, but some of you choose not to. But they’re improving, and we are just going to continue to improve and keep working hard. And eventually, it’s going to turn around.”
on quarterback Ethan Garbers having thrown six interceptions and three touchdowns this season
“The guys up front have to protect him and keep him from getting hit, and keep him from falling on the ground. It’s hard to play quarterback when you are not upright. He’s a tough kid. He’s trying to find ways to make plays. It’s just unfortunate with what’s happening but I am riding with Ethan no matter what.”
on the team’s defense against Oregon
“The defense played well. But we did not do enough offensively to help them out. And like I’ve said, with a high-powered offense like that, they’re going to be able to make some plays. I am just glad that my guys on defense keep fighting. They are some resilient dudes.”
on the Bruins’ defense not having any sacks in the past three games
“We had a few pressures in there. Cherif [Seye] came in there and tipped a ball. But you know, coming off last season when you have a first rounder, there’s going to be a glaring difference. He’s [Laiatu Latu] still doing the exact same thing for the Colts. It’s a tough thing to replace a player of his caliber. As long as we can make efforts, you will eventually see it change.”
on linebacker Carson Schwesinger finishing as the team’s leading tackler
“He just plays with a certain type of mentality. He’s an ex-walk-on, so those types of players are usually real blue-collar. You probably haven’t noticed this, but he was injured for most of this season so far. And he is still out there making plays. He plays hard no matter what. I’m just glad that he’s on our side.”
on the mindset of his team right now
“I mean, they should be down. Nobody should be excited about what happened. The fact they are still out there playing, it’s a little bit lop-sided with the score, and they are still out there playing hard, that just shows their character. We’ve got some good dudes. Eventually this is going to turn around.”
UCLA redshirt senior offensive lineman Josh Carlin
on quarterback Ethan Garbers’ health
“He’s all good. I just saw him in the locker room. I was talking to him, and I told him that as a leader of the offensive line, we need to figure this out. We need to keep him up, and we failed at that. Miserably. And we have to start taking pride and not let him get hurt, not let him get touched so that he can operate this offense.”
on UCLA’s pregame emphasis with assistant coach Juan Castillo
“Technique, Coach Castillo is a huge technique guy. At the end of the day, in my opinion, people need to take more pride in keeping the QB up. As the leader, I need to continue to get on my guys and continue to hold myself to a high standard of not allowing Garbs to get hit so much. That’s the biggest nightmare of an offensive lineman. I think Coach Castillo is doing the best with the guys that he has and the technique that he has been giving us. But like I said, we just need to continue to get better and figure out as soon as possible what we need to do to protect Garbs.”
on what drives him
“I’ve been at UCLA for quite a long time, and every time I step out on the football field I always tell myself that this is the last time I could be playing football at the Rose Bowl, and that just drives me every day. God drives me every day. The fact that I need to be able to have a great year to go out there and make it to the next level.”
UCLA redshirt junior linebacker Carson Schwesinger
on UCLA’s third quarter defense
“I think we just came out in that third quarter and we were doing what we wanted to do. I think our goal every quarter is to come out and play with discipline, respect and enthusiasm and, you know— know what we ran that week, communicate, assign the line, and we were able to do it for one quarter, but we’ve got to string it together for all four.
on what’s driving him
“You never know when it’s going to be over, so, every play you have you want to play it like it’s your last. And every day you have, you want to work like you may not have another day. You’ve got your brothers next to you, and, in that way, you just want to play for them, too.”
on UCLA’s third consecutive game without a quarterback sack
“We’ve got to figure out how to go get pressure on the quarterback. We’ll get in the film room, and we’ll figure it out.”
on Bryan Addison’s pick-six before halftime
“It gives us a lot of momentum going into half, you’ve got to be able to keep it as a defense for the rest of that second half and be able to get stops. But, yeah, going into half, definitely a lot of momentum.”
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning
opening remarks
“The turnover at the end of the half was not a good look, but outside of that our team played really well. A big difference in third downs between our team and their team in total yardage and a lot of categories. Really proud of the guys performance, and excited about our growth. It’s going to be a quick turnaround this week so we will put this one to bed quick and move on fast.”
on his team’s defense
“I thought after the first series we kind of figured out the rhythm and figured out what we are going to be doing, and guys did a good job of tackling. Obviously, being able to control the run game early on there in the first half was really, really big. They [UCLA] had more successful runs in the second half and came out and said we had to establish it, and we were playing more for don’t give up a free play. I thought the defense played their best game yet.”
on Oregon’s offense in the second half
“A couple of those, we punch ourselves in the foot. Also, start with a really long field at the beginning of one of those, starting backed up. Ultimately, I thought the offense had some really shining moments. We just have to be able to handle coming out of the half and starting fast.”
on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s performance
“I think Dillon had a really positive performance, excluding one play. I think he has continued to prove to be a really savvy quarterback. I thought one of the things that was impressive with Dillon tonight was the way he utilized his feet when the first answer wasn’t there. He did a really good job of that and moving on to the next look.”
on Oregon’s run game against UCLA
“Offensively, it keeps people honest. When you are running the ball well, you get some one-on-ones out there. We have to block better on the perimeter. I think that’s one thing that is really clear for us. But when you have dynamic playmakers, you want to get the ball in their hands and see if they can make one-on-one tackles. I thought they did a pretty good job tackling on the perimeter tonight. We have to do a better job blocking.”
on Oregon inside linebacker Jeffrey Bassa’s performance
“I think this is the first week that Jeff really felt healthy. He had a great week of practice and because of that, I think his performance really showed up. It's hard to be able to go out there and play on game day when you're not able to practice. He was he was able to practice this week. He is certainly a leader for us, dynamic, went in understanding what opponents are trying to do, and did a good job of that tonight.
on what he is most happy about
“The win, yeah, I mean the win. Aside from that, I see all the things that we can get better at. You know, again, we won in a lot of categories tonight, but I know what we're capable of too.”
on taking UCLA’s defense out of the game
“Yeah, I just think ultimately our offensive staff does a great job of understanding what their strengths are and how do we not play to their strengths. We wanted to make some other guys tackle in this game and you know, for the most part, they did they did a decent job tackling them. At some point, we're going to break some of these runs open even more and some of these passes open even more.”
on getting more out of senior defensive end Jordan Burch
“I feel like he is playing like a Big Ten player. Again, I have to go watch the film but he’s a hard person to block. I think he has proven that.”
Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson
on a collision across the middle and Dillon’s reaction
“I just saw the hit, and we all know Dillon is just passionate and careful about his teammates. So, you had some words for him, and I was just telling Dillon to get out of there because I know Dillon, and I know he’s got our backs.”
on Dillon Gabriel’s ability to play
“I see confidence, poise, trusting his teammates, and we got a quarterback like that back there is always comfortable as a receiver to go out there and run each play for him. As a receiver, you love that because you don't have to really think of too much. His job is already hard as it is, so we try to make it easy for him. Just get open, and he’ll throw it to you.”
Oregon defensive end Jordan Burch
on what was working for Oregon this evening
“Yeah, we had a few games called that would like to stop the run, so that was the first one, and then we had a little game set up for the second one, too. It just happened to fall into place.”
on his team’s defense as a whole
“Yeah, we really plan well, so at the beginning of the week, we already knew what to do when we came out today, and it was firing on all cylinders. Then, I think we had them dialed. If they tried anything, we were there. Then just a game plan. We had the game plan, and then we knew what we were going to do when we came out.”
on his team’s the defensive line
“Yeah, I feel like we're doing pretty good so far. I noticed a lot that we can work on going forward, but I think every week, we are just trying to get better. I know watching film will have a lot of mistakes, and every week, just trying to fix those mistakes and not do them again.”
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel
on his team’s performance against UCLA
“I just felt like at times, I didn't help us, and I feel like our run game was doing well in perimeter. When we got the ball in our playmaker’s hands, we were doing well. But when we didn't, it just put us in bad situations. Things that we can learn and improve on and it starts with myself for sure.”
on the deep touchdown
“Just something we practiced all week and felt good about. I hit him in practice once, and then it was kind of different the second time, which is good.”
on his growing relationship with wide receiver Traeshon Holden
“I just think he's a physical body, a guy that's not afraid of contact, and I think that's different from Evan Stewart, Tez, Justice Lowe, and Kyler. I think they all bring their different skillsets. Trey does a good job of what he's good at and he's elite. Not a lot of people give credit for speed, but at his size and trustworthy guy that we go to, so I think the world of him, and of course, when you get the ball in the ball playmakers hands and make plays.”
on being able to play in the Rose Bowl
“It was cool, it was different. As you keep playing games in different environments, each of them has their unique parts of it – also, just playing another game with our guys, and I think that's something that I'll never take for granted as well, and just having a bunch of fun. Winning is fun, losing isn't, in simplest terms. I'm glad we do with our boys.”
on what was working well tonight offensively
“Just trust in the guys, and I’m sorry, I'm not trying to be a broken record, but when you get the ball and the playmaker's hands, they make plays and the trust is there. The belief is there, but more importantly guys are elite at what they do so, continue to try and do that and be efficient as possible, so we can continue to do it as much as possible.”
on Oregon’s game plan
“I thought we had a good game plan going in. I think that when we play aggressively, naturally, it helps us stay ahead of the chains. I think the run game was hitting. I think the guys in front played their butt off. Defense put us in a lot of great positions and really only gave up six points, two field goals. That goes to say how talented they are, but also the trust in them and even when we have something before the half, just having that continued belief in them getting the stop and then trying to get us going. I think the combination of the o-line up front, helping us in the run game, and the defense putting us in a good position helped us flourish.”
Oregon 34, UCLA 13
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
Sept. 28, 2024
UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster
opening remarks
“The game didn’t go the way that we wanted it to go. But there were a couple bright spots. We were able to run the ball a little bit better in the second half. I think my defense played pretty well tonight, going against a high-powered offense like we did. We just didn’t really execute the way that we wanted to, offensively, to try to help our defense out. We kept putting them out there and if you keep putting them out on the field they’ll wear down a little bit. But other than that, just glad that my players kept fighting and we didn’t have guys out there quitting.”
on quarterback Ethan Garbers staying in the game despite some quarterback pressure
“Well if you know Ethan, you know he was fighting to stay out there. So when you have a player who is begging to stay out there and he wanted to keep playing, you’ll let him play.”
on a few of the positives that he can take as UCLA prepares for Penn State next week
“Look at you with a positive question. We just need to go to Penn State and just continue to build on this. That’s all that we’ve got to do. Like I said, we will learn from these losses. I know I see it. I know that you all see it, but some of you choose not to. But they’re improving, and we are just going to continue to improve and keep working hard. And eventually, it’s going to turn around.”
on quarterback Ethan Garbers having thrown six interceptions and three touchdowns this season
“The guys up front have to protect him and keep him from getting hit, and keep him from falling on the ground. It’s hard to play quarterback when you are not upright. He’s a tough kid. He’s trying to find ways to make plays. It’s just unfortunate with what’s happening but I am riding with Ethan no matter what.”
on the team’s defense against Oregon
“The defense played well. But we did not do enough offensively to help them out. And like I’ve said, with a high-powered offense like that, they’re going to be able to make some plays. I am just glad that my guys on defense keep fighting. They are some resilient dudes.”
on the Bruins’ defense not having any sacks in the past three games
“We had a few pressures in there. Cherif [Seye] came in there and tipped a ball. But you know, coming off last season when you have a first rounder, there’s going to be a glaring difference. He’s [Laiatu Latu] still doing the exact same thing for the Colts. It’s a tough thing to replace a player of his caliber. As long as we can make efforts, you will eventually see it change.”
on linebacker Carson Schwesinger finishing as the team’s leading tackler
“He just plays with a certain type of mentality. He’s an ex-walk-on, so those types of players are usually real blue-collar. You probably haven’t noticed this, but he was injured for most of this season so far. And he is still out there making plays. He plays hard no matter what. I’m just glad that he’s on our side.”
on the mindset of his team right now
“I mean, they should be down. Nobody should be excited about what happened. The fact they are still out there playing, it’s a little bit lop-sided with the score, and they are still out there playing hard, that just shows their character. We’ve got some good dudes. Eventually this is going to turn around.”
UCLA redshirt senior offensive lineman Josh Carlin
on quarterback Ethan Garbers’ health
“He’s all good. I just saw him in the locker room. I was talking to him, and I told him that as a leader of the offensive line, we need to figure this out. We need to keep him up, and we failed at that. Miserably. And we have to start taking pride and not let him get hurt, not let him get touched so that he can operate this offense.”
on UCLA’s pregame emphasis with assistant coach Juan Castillo
“Technique, Coach Castillo is a huge technique guy. At the end of the day, in my opinion, people need to take more pride in keeping the QB up. As the leader, I need to continue to get on my guys and continue to hold myself to a high standard of not allowing Garbs to get hit so much. That’s the biggest nightmare of an offensive lineman. I think Coach Castillo is doing the best with the guys that he has and the technique that he has been giving us. But like I said, we just need to continue to get better and figure out as soon as possible what we need to do to protect Garbs.”
on what drives him
“I’ve been at UCLA for quite a long time, and every time I step out on the football field I always tell myself that this is the last time I could be playing football at the Rose Bowl, and that just drives me every day. God drives me every day. The fact that I need to be able to have a great year to go out there and make it to the next level.”
UCLA redshirt junior linebacker Carson Schwesinger
on UCLA’s third quarter defense
“I think we just came out in that third quarter and we were doing what we wanted to do. I think our goal every quarter is to come out and play with discipline, respect and enthusiasm and, you know— know what we ran that week, communicate, assign the line, and we were able to do it for one quarter, but we’ve got to string it together for all four.
on what’s driving him
“You never know when it’s going to be over, so, every play you have you want to play it like it’s your last. And every day you have, you want to work like you may not have another day. You’ve got your brothers next to you, and, in that way, you just want to play for them, too.”
on UCLA’s third consecutive game without a quarterback sack
“We’ve got to figure out how to go get pressure on the quarterback. We’ll get in the film room, and we’ll figure it out.”
on Bryan Addison’s pick-six before halftime
“It gives us a lot of momentum going into half, you’ve got to be able to keep it as a defense for the rest of that second half and be able to get stops. But, yeah, going into half, definitely a lot of momentum.”
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning
opening remarks
“The turnover at the end of the half was not a good look, but outside of that our team played really well. A big difference in third downs between our team and their team in total yardage and a lot of categories. Really proud of the guys performance, and excited about our growth. It’s going to be a quick turnaround this week so we will put this one to bed quick and move on fast.”
on his team’s defense
“I thought after the first series we kind of figured out the rhythm and figured out what we are going to be doing, and guys did a good job of tackling. Obviously, being able to control the run game early on there in the first half was really, really big. They [UCLA] had more successful runs in the second half and came out and said we had to establish it, and we were playing more for don’t give up a free play. I thought the defense played their best game yet.”
on Oregon’s offense in the second half
“A couple of those, we punch ourselves in the foot. Also, start with a really long field at the beginning of one of those, starting backed up. Ultimately, I thought the offense had some really shining moments. We just have to be able to handle coming out of the half and starting fast.”
on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s performance
“I think Dillon had a really positive performance, excluding one play. I think he has continued to prove to be a really savvy quarterback. I thought one of the things that was impressive with Dillon tonight was the way he utilized his feet when the first answer wasn’t there. He did a really good job of that and moving on to the next look.”
on Oregon’s run game against UCLA
“Offensively, it keeps people honest. When you are running the ball well, you get some one-on-ones out there. We have to block better on the perimeter. I think that’s one thing that is really clear for us. But when you have dynamic playmakers, you want to get the ball in their hands and see if they can make one-on-one tackles. I thought they did a pretty good job tackling on the perimeter tonight. We have to do a better job blocking.”
on Oregon inside linebacker Jeffrey Bassa’s performance
“I think this is the first week that Jeff really felt healthy. He had a great week of practice and because of that, I think his performance really showed up. It's hard to be able to go out there and play on game day when you're not able to practice. He was he was able to practice this week. He is certainly a leader for us, dynamic, went in understanding what opponents are trying to do, and did a good job of that tonight.
on what he is most happy about
“The win, yeah, I mean the win. Aside from that, I see all the things that we can get better at. You know, again, we won in a lot of categories tonight, but I know what we're capable of too.”
on taking UCLA’s defense out of the game
“Yeah, I just think ultimately our offensive staff does a great job of understanding what their strengths are and how do we not play to their strengths. We wanted to make some other guys tackle in this game and you know, for the most part, they did they did a decent job tackling them. At some point, we're going to break some of these runs open even more and some of these passes open even more.”
on getting more out of senior defensive end Jordan Burch
“I feel like he is playing like a Big Ten player. Again, I have to go watch the film but he’s a hard person to block. I think he has proven that.”
Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson
on a collision across the middle and Dillon’s reaction
“I just saw the hit, and we all know Dillon is just passionate and careful about his teammates. So, you had some words for him, and I was just telling Dillon to get out of there because I know Dillon, and I know he’s got our backs.”
on Dillon Gabriel’s ability to play
“I see confidence, poise, trusting his teammates, and we got a quarterback like that back there is always comfortable as a receiver to go out there and run each play for him. As a receiver, you love that because you don't have to really think of too much. His job is already hard as it is, so we try to make it easy for him. Just get open, and he’ll throw it to you.”
Oregon defensive end Jordan Burch
on what was working for Oregon this evening
“Yeah, we had a few games called that would like to stop the run, so that was the first one, and then we had a little game set up for the second one, too. It just happened to fall into place.”
on his team’s defense as a whole
“Yeah, we really plan well, so at the beginning of the week, we already knew what to do when we came out today, and it was firing on all cylinders. Then, I think we had them dialed. If they tried anything, we were there. Then just a game plan. We had the game plan, and then we knew what we were going to do when we came out.”
on his team’s the defensive line
“Yeah, I feel like we're doing pretty good so far. I noticed a lot that we can work on going forward, but I think every week, we are just trying to get better. I know watching film will have a lot of mistakes, and every week, just trying to fix those mistakes and not do them again.”
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel
on his team’s performance against UCLA
“I just felt like at times, I didn't help us, and I feel like our run game was doing well in perimeter. When we got the ball in our playmaker’s hands, we were doing well. But when we didn't, it just put us in bad situations. Things that we can learn and improve on and it starts with myself for sure.”
on the deep touchdown
“Just something we practiced all week and felt good about. I hit him in practice once, and then it was kind of different the second time, which is good.”
on his growing relationship with wide receiver Traeshon Holden
“I just think he's a physical body, a guy that's not afraid of contact, and I think that's different from Evan Stewart, Tez, Justice Lowe, and Kyler. I think they all bring their different skillsets. Trey does a good job of what he's good at and he's elite. Not a lot of people give credit for speed, but at his size and trustworthy guy that we go to, so I think the world of him, and of course, when you get the ball in the ball playmakers hands and make plays.”
on being able to play in the Rose Bowl
“It was cool, it was different. As you keep playing games in different environments, each of them has their unique parts of it – also, just playing another game with our guys, and I think that's something that I'll never take for granted as well, and just having a bunch of fun. Winning is fun, losing isn't, in simplest terms. I'm glad we do with our boys.”
on what was working well tonight offensively
“Just trust in the guys, and I’m sorry, I'm not trying to be a broken record, but when you get the ball and the playmaker's hands, they make plays and the trust is there. The belief is there, but more importantly guys are elite at what they do so, continue to try and do that and be efficient as possible, so we can continue to do it as much as possible.”
on Oregon’s game plan
“I thought we had a good game plan going in. I think that when we play aggressively, naturally, it helps us stay ahead of the chains. I think the run game was hitting. I think the guys in front played their butt off. Defense put us in a lot of great positions and really only gave up six points, two field goals. That goes to say how talented they are, but also the trust in them and even when we have something before the half, just having that continued belief in them getting the stop and then trying to get us going. I think the combination of the o-line up front, helping us in the run game, and the defense putting us in a good position helped us flourish.”