Arizona State Postgame Quotes
10/16/11 | Football
On the win...
"It was and that's a good football team. I was proud of our guys and we talked about playing a full 60 minutes, and that's what we did."
On Ducks maintaining composure throughout the game...
"We have been in these situations before. We win because of our preparation. We practice very, very hard and we know that it's going to take 60 minutes. Going into half time, we were in the situation to be fortunate enough to be up by those couple of points. I thought we finished really well in the beginning of the first half and we come back with points in that situation was big for us and carry that as we went into the second half."
On UO defense holding Arizona State...
"Our defense has done a nice job of understanding what the concept is, what our coaches want to do and make people drive the distance, go the distance, and force them into mistakes as they continue to go. If we don't give up big plays, we will be good on defense."
On taking advantage of the first half passing game...
"Against a real good defense like they are, you have to mix it up. You are not going to be able to pound it all day long; I think we loosened them up a little bit with some of the throws. We got (Josh) Huff over the top once I think and that kind of backed them up a little bit. Those are things we need to do and then eventually we ended up running for three something again. Once we wore them down, we can start to control the clock a little bit and that's what we did in the second half."
On offensive line controlling the game the second half...
"They did a nice job in the second half. That's a real good front line, a real good front seven that really can control the line of scrimmage. I thought our guys as the game went along you know started to move the ball the way we expect to move the ball. Again, their (Arizona State) defense I give them credit, that's a good football team."
On Bryan Bennett's performance...
"You see it in practice with Bryan. We talk to him about this all the time, it's not a cliché you are a play away from getting in the game and he did do a nice job. He is very athletic, he can run, threw some nice balls. The one thing I liked about Bryan is in his first extended playing time and in a significant situation, there was no panic. I think he knows what we ask our quarterback to do - You don't have to make things happen, just let it happen. You don't have to force the issue, we got a lot of play makers out there, just distribute the ball and I thought he did a really nice job."
On team adjusting to new players...
"I think they did a real good job with it. They have to understand that people getting banged up is part of the game. There are six or seven players for Arizona State that aren't here right now. Omar Bolden, which I think is one of the top corners in the country, is not there. So everybody at this point in time has weathered some type of injuries. It's the nature of college football right now. It's the mindset. One of the things we don't talk about, we don't talk about injuries. We talk about it as an opportunity for someone else to go in and there is something to be said to that."
On De'Anthony Thomas' performance...
"Am I surprised? No. Not one bit, because we see it in practice. And that's what it is, its confidence and demonstrated ability. You guys see it when you watch games on Saturdays, but Bryan Bennett going out there and playing like he did, that wasn't a surprise to me. I've seen Bryan do that. I think we have confidence in those guys and we instill confidence in each other. I know not having LaMichael (James) tonight, in other teams could be a devastating situation, but our guys have seen Kenjon (Barner) in practice and seen De'Anthony in practice and know what they can do and it didn't surprise me what he did tonight."
ASU Head Coach Dennis Erickson
Opening Remarks
"Well, you can't make the mistakes that we made, penalty wise, the turnover there just before the half, and do stupid things like that and expect to beat a football team like this on the road. You can't do it. We had numerous penalties in the second half, offensive pass interference, and different things that hurt us. We get a touchdown and we get called for holding by our tight end on the field. You could go on and on. We didn't play disciplined in the first half. I thought the second half we were better. The bottom line, with Oregon you're talking about one of the better teams in the country. You get ahead of them, but you let them get the football and get that rhythm, you've got some issues."
On the receiver slipping on the interception just before the half...
"He ran the wrong route. He was supposed to run a streak and he ran a post. He threw the streak and he ran a post and the corner was sitting there catching it."
On Oregon's touchdowns in the first half...
"You just can't let them have [touchdowns] and we haven't had them. Maybe its venue, maybe it's the game itself and who we are playing."
On what he tells the players after the game...
"First of all, they gave great effort. That's the number one thing that they did. We talked about the mistakes. They know. The bottom line for us is: we got beat by a good football team. We've got five football games left. We have a lot to play for. We got to get back and correct some of those things next week. Then, get ready to play our last five football games."
On Oregon playing without LaMichael James and Darron Thomas...
"When they lost Darron (Thomas) they were in pretty good shape. LaMichael (James) is a great player, there's no question. He's one of the best in the country. We all knew those other guys were pretty darn good. And they got the tempo of the game going after they went ahead of us the second time. Our offense came out two or three times in a row. When you play a team like that you better not go three out very often because you'll be on the bad end of it."
Oregon Players
On Darron Thomas...
"My first hope was that he was okay. I never like to see a teammate go down. He wasn't too quick to get back up so I had to respond and keep the team and the game going."
On the game...
"It was fun to get out there and play some valuable minutes of the game. I tried to keep myself calm and do what I had to do."
LB Boseko Lokombo
On the game...
"I think we played well together. We started off slow, adjusted and finished the job. Coach made the adjustments and sent more pressure and we got to them."
On the team...
"We could play better. We are progressing. We have a few injuries, but we are happy where we are."
RB De'Anthony Thomas
On the game...
"I feel that we responded well. Congratulations to the line for blocking for our offense. In practice, I play a lot of positions and I prepare for any position that they put me in. Wherever they put me, that's where I will play."
On Darron Thomas...
"Darron is a big brother to me. Bryan Bennett came in and stepped up. He is a great QB. He has a lot to learn, but I thought he did well."
WR Josh Huff
On Darron Thomas...
"DT told me to take the team and lead them. Every time I went to the sideline I would ask him what I could do better and he told me. He kept telling me to keep my head up, lift the team, and stay calm."
On the game...
"Anytime I don't catch the ball, I feel that I let my team down so anytime it's in the air I feel that it has to be mine."
OL Carson York
On Darron Thomas...
"DT is one of the toughest guys on the line and that was seen when he got up and ran off of the field. Bryan Bennett stepped up and is one of the faster guys on the team."
On the game...
"Kenjon (Barner) and Bryan (Bennett) are really good players. We are lucky to have such depth on the team. A lot of things didn't go right or well, but we still continued to play our game."
On the game...
"Our offensive line played great along with Darron Thomas and Bryan Bennett. I felt good. I had to settle down, relax and play football. I came in too amped up. I was too jittery and I let my nerves get to me, but I was fine once I slowed down."
On Bryan Bennett stepping in...
"He came in calm, cool and collected and led us to a touchdown."
On the team's depth...
"We have tremendous depth, a quality that most teams don't have. When one player goes down, we always have someone who will step up and not miss a beat."
On his fumble in the first quarter...
"LaMike (LaMichael James) and I laughed about it because we stressed ball security all week long. Darron (Thomas), LaMike and Coach Campbell (Gary Campbell) helped me settle down and I was fine."
On getting the starting job tonight...
"I was grateful and blessed to get the opportunity, I was happy to do that for my team. It was a good feeling to be the number one running back tonight."
RB LaMichael James
On Bryan Bennett...
"Bryan did a really good job tonight. He came in at a difficult time and showed what he could do, I was really proud of him."
On Kenjon Barner...
"He had a phenomenal game tonight, he ran really hard."
On if he thinks he will play next week...
"I'm just taking it one day at a time. If I had to play, I could definitely play. I'm not wearing a brace anymore; I'm just getting my range of motion back."
QB Darron Thomas
On his knee injury...
"My knee got landed on the wrong day. I started getting treatment tonight; I'm going to be alright."
On Bryan Bennett's play...
"He had to go in and win the game for us. He did a great job managing the game and playing hard."
On how he felt the team was doing before he got hurt...
"I think we were moving the ball great and executing our game plan. Before I went out, we were starting to establish our run game."
DE Dion Jordan
On the game tonight...
"We did a really good job. We shut them down against the run, we needed to do a better job against the pass, but I think we played well. We did all we could to try and get after the quarterback and slow him down."
On being a second half team...
"If you want to be a good team you have to find a way to win and we've been doing that for awhile now."
Arizona State Players
WR Gerell RobinsonOn penalties...
"We didn't do what we were supposed to do, plain and simple. All our penalties cost us big time."
On second half...
"They attacked our swing routes better, which slowed us down again. Overall it was mostly mental errors that cost us this game in the end."
LB Shelly Lyons
On upcoming bye week...
"We have to make sure that we really utilize this week off. We are going to study tonight's film, fix our mistakes and be ready for the next game. We also have to make sure that we get healthy, we have a lot of guys banged up and we need the full team to finish the final 5 games."
On playing Oregon...
"It's nothing we haven't seen before, but in order to beat Oregon you have to play perfect and we obviously didn't do that tonight."
QB Brock Osweiler
On overall game...
"We battled from the beginning to the end, we never quit playing, but in the end it didn't go our way."
On second half...
"Oregon did a really good job matching our routes and that was what the major difference was between the first half and the second. They just came out of the locker room and finished the game with a near flawless second half."
