Oregon-Boise State Postgame Quotes
09/20/08 | Football
Boise State 37, Oregon 32
September 20, 2008
Oregon Head Coach Mike Bellotti
On QB Jeremiah Masoli's injury:
“He got a mild concussion, suffered on the hit where he was hit late and there was a penalty called.”
On the QB situation:
“Going into Monday, we've got three quarterbacks and I assume they will all be ready to play. It will be an open competition and I think we will evaluate from there.”
On not getting Thomas into the game sooner:
“In this football game I think we were probably too stubborn offensively and we should have put Darron (Thomas) in the game sooner. We talked about it at halftime, but didn't get to it until the fourth quarter. That was a mistake. He did a great job, which I thought he could. We decided at halftime to bring him in, but we didn't do it until I said we could, and we probably should have done it earlier.”
On the Boise State passing game:
“They threw the ball up, and their receivers made some really good plays. They fooled us several times with play action. Our eyes were not in a good position on defense.”
On the halftime deficit:
“We made mistakes, and gave them a bunch of points. We didn't play very well offensively. That was my fault. We obviously weren't ready to play, and I take that all on me.”
Oregon QB Darron Thomas
On when he found out he would play:
“They told me at halftime to get ready. Injuries happen, so I've been ready since Monday's practice to get into the game.”
On losing his redshirt:
“I came here for a reason, so when I was redshirting I was just learning as much as possible and getting ready for next year. Now that I'm playing this season, even better. I was happy either way.”
On first getting into the game:
“Coach Bellotti just told me to stay calm. When I first got in, everybody was on my side. I talked to Ed Dickson, talked to Max (Unger) and everybody just told me to stay calm, do what you do in practice. If you can do it in practice, might as well do it in a game.”
On the end of the game:
“We wanted the ball back one more time. We knew what we were capable of doing. We just have to get better for next week.”
Oregon TE Ed Dickson
On the Boise State defense in the first half:
“They were stacking the box. Everybody was in the box, even when we had three receivers. They still had nobody covering the receivers, so we had to make a change, and we did in the fourth quarter.”
On the QBs:
“Darron (Thomas) has a great arm. I'm confident in Darron (Thomas) and (Chris) Harper.”
Oregon QB Chris Harper
On the offense in the first half:
“We were moving the ball, but we were just making mistakes ? penalties, fumbles, interceptions. I threw two interceptions, so that's what's killing us. We're killing ourselves.
“We knew they (Boise State) wanted be like David to our Goliath, and they wanted to take us down with the sling shot, and we let that happen. They didn't make it happen, we let it happen. We let them beat us, but there's nothing you can do about it now, just look at our mistakes on the film and learn from each and every one of them.”
On his throwing shoulder:
“It's not bothering me. It's all mental. I have to go out and just let it go and throw it as hard as I can, but that's not what I'm doing right now. When I see the ball floating on me, I know I'm not throwing the ball the way that I'm capable.”
Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount
On the offensive game plan:
“The goal was to get our ground game going to open up the pass game. We were pretty successful with it, but we just turned the ball over too many times.”
On Darron Thomas:
“He's a really good athlete, kind of like Dennis (Dixon.) He came in and did everything we needed him to do. He didn't lose his composure. He played just like he thought he would and how we all thought he would. He almost brought us back and won us the game.”
On Boise State:
“They (Boise State) were hungry for a win, but we were hungry too. We needed a win just as much as they did, to prove to everybody that we are the team we say we are. I think now people are kind of second guessing our talent, but it's still there. There were just a couple miscues today that we can't make again.”
Boise State Head Coach Chris Petersen
On the importance of the victory:
“It was only game three here and it was great to win against the team like this. But we still have to get better and fix our issues. Today, I don't think Oregon was able to play the game they wanted to play. Oregon is explosive and the crowd here gets noisy. They played hard and the coaches do an incredible job at Oregon. Their quarterback issues helped us ? but this is big.”
On what this victory means to them:
“We are anxious to watch the tape, learn from it, and get better.”
Boise State QB Kellen Moore
On their expectations:
“We knew Oregon would be aggressive and challenge us. It was a big win today for our team.”
On playing at Autzen:
“We can't worry about the crowd. We needed to play today and we were ready for it. I mean they're good ? number 17 in the country or so. We got few young guys on the team here and it's big to get a victory at Autzen.”
On the keys to the victory:
“We have got a couple really good tight ends. (Oregon) forgot about them. You have to give credit to our defense too, especially in the first half.”
Boise State RB Ian Johnson
On the victory:
“This was the game. We came out here and didn't fear Oregon. We came here to attack and show everyone what kind of team Boise State is now.”
On Oregon:
“They made the statement that they would shut us down ? but we kept running the ball.”
On the significance of the victory:
“We have been learning that if we do our job right ? good things come to us. We keep fighting on hundred percent. If we get all things together ? how good can we be?” No matter what people were saying we came out here and said ?Let's win this game.' The coach told us to enjoy the loudness. The best feeling in the world is to calm down this crowd here in Autzen.”
Boise State WR Jeremy Childs
On the victory:
“It's really big that we won here. We came out and made plays. All the coaches gave me the opportunity to go out there and compete. Coaches are doing a great job right now at Boise State.”
