Oregon vs. Oregon State Quotes
11/28/15 | Football
Mark Helfrich, Head Coach
On the game…
“Word is we won that game. They played really well, particularly the first half, that first drive. That is my fault, we for whatever reason did not get off to a great start, but at halftime we relaxed. That can't happen against anyone. But there was a ton of great stuff to build upon. We have a chance at redemption. “
On when Oregon State came back…
“Two big drives that we finished there offensively, two big touchdowns. We could have ended the game a lot earlier in every phase. Everybody won the game together and there are a lot of things to look at going forward.”
On Vernon Adams…
“He did a great job again making plays with his eyes down the field. He also had a couple things earlier, like on the fourth down play, that we will go back and look at tomorrow. There were too many turnovers. (We) played well at times, played spectacularly at times, and played okay at times. It was one of those days.”
On offense…
“Charles Nelson had the big return and the big run in the fourth quarter. We can't kick the ball down the middle of the field to that guy and put it in that kind of position.”
On the season…
“I think our guys worked their tails off and that what was so disappointing about finishing today, but they shouldn't feel bad about that. We worked hard to put ourselves in the situation to where we are 9-3 and living to our standard, playing to our standard, preparing to our standard.”
On the seniors…
“This was just another awesome representation by our fans and certainly a bunch of guys that brought out a lot of tears at our senior ceremony. That says a lot about the type of guys that are in our program and it was neat to see that and sending them out on the right note was huge.”
On Royce Freeman…
“He's really battled. People don't realize how much banging up he takes. There are up to seven guys on him every time he gets tackled. That adds up. Proud of his effort and the offensive line.”
Vernon Adams – Quarterback, Senior
On the game...
"It was fun out there. It was a little chippy at first. We wanted to finish better. It was a great game on both sides of the ball."
On the close second half...
"We knew we had to score every time we got the ball again because they were getting closer and closer."
"We were slow at first starting the second half, but that's just going back to executing right away."
Royce Freeman - Running Back, Sophomore
On the win...
"As far as the record, I don't really pay much attention to things like that, but it's an honor to be part of this group. I just have to thank the offensive line, last year's and this year's as well. Without those guys it wouldn't have been possible."
On his own season and consistency...
"Yeah, that's what I've worked on off-season, seeing a lot of backs in the NFL and college football, I try to work on my consistency as well as getting better every week."
Bralon Addison – Wide Receiver, Junior
On Freeman's performance…
“Royce is just a great guy, great player. We are all happy for him. For a guy like him to have those accomplishments and accolades you cant do anything but be proud, as a teammate, as a friend, on and off the field. He's just that guy that you want to see have success.”
On his future with the Ducks…
“I haven't even thought about that. All season I have just tried to stay focused, help get back on track and things like that. I haven't even thought about that, just looking forward to getting healthy, having the next couple days off and getting ready for the bowl game.”
On the game…
“We got the win. That's the most important thing, but there's obviously some things we could have done better. We watch the film and our coaches will get us corrected.”
On OSU's rally…
“Coming in we knew it would be a heavyweight fight…An intense rivalry game like this both teams are going to bring their best shot. Both teams might as well have been 0-0 tonight as far as record goes because we knew they were going to bring their best shot. We just had to stay focused when they started swinging back, when they started to get on a roll, we just had to stay focused and couldn't lose our composure.”
Gary Andersen - Oregon State Head Coach
Opening Statement…
“First of all, I'm really proud of the 57 kids that came down here and battled on the field. It was an impressive game. They worked their butts off. It turned into an offensive shoot-out and I'm proud of the fight in our kids. Hopefully a few that weren't with us here today will learn their lesson and realize that they can be a part of the special moments that are coming out way.”
On the OSU offense…
“When you get playmakers, football becomes much easier. We were able to get that done in the second half. Seth (Collins) a whole different feel at times. Ryan (Nall) had, by far, his best game. The offensive line gave us confidence. It was a good offensive output today, especially in the second half.”
What the difference was in the second half for the offense…
“I know we have good coaches and we have kids that never quit. It doesn't matter who were playing. We just got into a position where we were in the opportunity to make plays. We knew that we were going against a very talented offensive team and we went score-for-score there for a long time.”
On the rivalry…
“I think when you talk about a rivalry game kids are naturally going have a little bit more energy. I think you prepare your guys for that prior to this week. It's not just all of a sudden this week becomes important because it's an in-state rivalry game. It builds all year long and we have people come back and talk to the team all year long and they talk about this game and the memories from this game.”
On the play of Seth Collins…
“Seth is going to be a huge part of this offense moving forward. You can see how dynamic he is. I think he needs to continually working on his abilities and he is going to be a vital part of this offense moving forward.”
Ryan Nall – Tight End, Redshirt Freshman
On the difference in the second half…
I think that we really just came out and came together. We figured it was the last game of the season and we had nothing to lose. We wanted to lay it all out on the line for our seniors, and I think that we did. We didn't get the outcome or score we wanted, but everyone can walk away saying that they left everything on the field.”
On if he knew the team could come back…
“There was never a doubt in my mind that we would be able to come back and potentially win it. It was just a momentum thing. One thing kept going for us, another thing kept going for us, and unfortunately we didn't get that fourth down conversion. We can't look back on it. We've got to move on.”
On what the team learned this season…
“I think the main thing would be consistency on both sides of the ball. We lacked consistency on offense, we lacked consistency on defense. I think that we showed more consistency. There were times where we broke down a little bit and had a few missed assignments, but I think that's one thing I'm going to take away from this season… We need to become more consistent as a team, as a whole.”
Lavonte Barnett – Defensive End, Senior
On the second-half comeback…
“I think we finally started getting a couple of those plays that have been going against us the entire season. The momentum started to swing…How do you want to end this season? Do you want to go out like that, or do you want to fight?”
On if the team realized how big of underdogs they were going into the game…
“I think we're aware of it, but that's never a focus. The focus is to do our job and do whatever we can to get a win. Like I said, we're aware of it, but we just want to go out and play our best.”
Victor Bolden – Wide Receiver, Junior
On if being such big underdogs gave the team more motivation…
“Yeah, just playing against Oregon gave us more motivation. We just had to come out here and play for our seniors. We had nothing to lose. We just wanted to go out there and try to get the win.”
On what this game means to the team moving forward to next season…
“It definitely fuels the fire for next year. We demand that we have a successful season for the seniors that put it all on the line this year. We're going to go into the offseason, work hard and get ready for next year.”
