USC vs. Colorado Postgame Quotes
October 18, 2014 | Football
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USC POSTGAME QUOTES
USC vs. Colorado
Oct. 18, 2014
Los Angeles Coliseum
USC Head Coach Steve Sarkisian
"First of all I am really proud of the way our team took the field tonight. I've been challenging this group on fighting complacency and showing maturing in that way. Regardless of the opponent or what happen a week ago, we don't have to relax and can take a step back. We can keep pressing and pushing forward and getting better. I challenged them to take the field with same intensity today as they would with UofA (University of Arizona). Obviously a couple guys set the tone for that. Su'a (Cravens) did with the interception and Cody (Kessler) set the tone with managing the offense. I talked about Buck last week and challenging the guys to improve certain aspects of their game. You'd like to think as a coach you are going to get results. We saw that with Cody. We wanted more explosive plays on offense and we did that from the beginning. They weren't all completions. They weren't all caught. It became an aspect of our game to create bigger plays. We got yards in chunks and scored more points. That is an aspect need to continue to improve. We got a little nicked up. Adoree' (Jackson) had a hip flexor, (Gerald) Bowman was battling a sprained foot, Soma (Vainuku) with a hamstring and George Farmer with a hamstring. We need to get our able bodies back and healthy. That will be a point of emphasis going forward. We enjoyed the records we set but our minds are already on Utah. "
On team identity:
"I think that we are a team that believes in running the football and I am not going to change that. When you believe this, you have to make the D pay for loading the box. You also have to have the ability to throw. When you have those two things going for you, life is good. Then it is a cat and mouse game with the defense. If you are going to play safeties deep, then you have to be able to run the football. I am just not going to waiver off that. I love the fact that we had two backs just over 100 yards and we threw seven touchdowns. To me, that's an awesome identity to have. We need to continue to stay aggressive defensively. Sometimes numbers can be skewed defensively because the game goes the way it goes. The reality of it, their average yard per play were 4.2. To me, that is a good number without our first defense out there the whole time. There are a lot of positives. I think we are moving in the right direction. "
On what Cody Kessler is doing well:
"I think he is running our offense really well. We have a lot of plays in system where he has dual reads and pass play options. He handles everything really well. He takes our coaching well. Coach Helton and I are not buddy buddies with him during the week. We coach this guy harder than any other guy on our team. He accepts it and comes to work everyday with the mindset to get better."
Cody Kessler
On awareness of number of touchdowns:
"That wasn't my focus. Someone made a joke about it on the sideline that I only needed one or two more, but I cut him off before he could say anything. It was a combination of things. The receivers were doing a great job and the offensive line was really studying film this week. They knew what the other team was going to do. It was a combination of of everything. Like Coach said, "Trust our guys more". If it's one on one, the reason they are here is that we trust them that they are going to make the paly. "
On meaning of setting the USC single game touchdown record
"It's a team thing and we are already moving onto next week. But it's awesome. I think the most meaningful thing was to watch the guy before me set the record and see Matt (Barkley) do it. He taught me so much when he was here. He was like a big brother to me. It's an honor for me to break his record. At the end of the day he set the bar so high with everything he did. But overall it is a team effort and I couldn't do it without the rest of the guys. "
On if Cody was reluctant to throw the ball before tonight:
"Something that we focus on is that I pride myself on not turning over the ball. At the end of the day, you can only do so much in that category and you have got to give your guys chances to make plays. . Coach Sark and Coach Helton called me in earlier this week and told me if is one-on-one, trust our guys and let make a play. That's why we recruit guys here. We trust that if I am going to put it up, they are going to make the play."
On feeling less pressure after throwing first interception of the season:
"Everybody made a much bigger deal about it last week then it was for me. I have thrown plenty of interceptions in my career. It is going to happen. You are going to throw an interception and guys are going to make plays. I treated as I would an incompletion or a misread. I came out this week and learned from that and made better decisions this week. "
On interception setting tone for defense:
"On our fist drive we wanted to get off the field. I didn't think their quarterback was going to throw, but their quarterback looked and pumped. Luckily I caught it and I should have scored, but I got tripped up. I saw the Colorado guy chasing me from behind and I wasn't being too patient. Their running back did a great job. He got my legs before I could even cut back."
On the point spread of tonight's game:
"I think we did a great job tonight in the first half and second half. We did a great job containing them in the fourth quarter. They got a late touchdown, but that's football. They are all great players and they are going to get their points. But we have great athletes too, and I am really proud of our team overall. "
On balance of pass vs. run that he wants to see against Utah:
"I think every game is different. We know it is going to be a hostile environment: 8:00pm kick off, black out and all that. We are going to run our offense. Part of our offense depends on what they decide to give us. That's the critical decision making on Cody's part. Throwing the ball to the right guys at the right time based on what they are giving us. Watching Utah play Oregon State the other night, they are an aggressive group and have a really great front. They play aggressive in the back end and we are going to have our work cut out for us and that work starts as soon as we are done here. "
On JuJu's catch being a spark:
"I think helped. JuJu (Smith) is battling a bad thumb and for him to make a one handed catch on a bad hand. He was actually wearing a soft cast under the glove on the hand of the catch. I think team appreciates guys who are fighting through stuff. Everyone's fighting through something. We've got a team appreciating guys giving it their all to make those plays. "
On offensive line improvement:
"If someone asked me what group of our guys has improved the most since the beginning of the season, it is our offensive line. They are improving and playing really well together. Coach Drevno has done a phenomenal job with that group. They've got a lot of pride. At the end of the day they allow us to do the multitude of things that we do. We are not a simple offense and we are able to do it because of those guys. "
Colorado Coach Mike McIntyre
"USC played a good game to say the least and we gave them too many opportunities in the first half on some holding calls and roughing the punter and things like that that were things we worked on. And we need to do a better job coaching them and they need to do a better job listening on what they're supposed to do. Those were huge plays in the game. We weren't even rushing the kicker. We were just insuring it. We got to do a better job on getting that across to our young men.
"They made some plays. Cody Kessler made some plays on busted coverage. He made some good throws. We didn't get much pressure on him and so his play action hurt us."
(How does getting down so fast take you out of your game plan)
"You kind of get out of balance and you have to go for it on a lot of fourth downs and that's the only thing you can do. You can kick a field goal or punt, but you're just saying you're not trying to win, just to keep the score respectable so to speak. So you try to get hot there and make something happen. In the second half we come back and they stuffed us on the first drive.
(regarding USC's first second half drive)
"We worked on that stack stuff a bunch that they do and our safety kind of took his eyes off for a second and he was wide open. That's what happens when you play good athletes with good speed."
"They kicked us good but I also think that three or four plays that were bonehead mistakes by us as coaches and players not getting it done really got them out front quicker."
"You can't say it was the whole team. It was like three individuals on those plays. One was a freshman, one was a sophomore. The kid comes right up and apologizes after. He's hurt. We need to do a better job. I thought the effort was there. But they get rolling and get the momentum. It was ugly at times. But I think they kept trying. But it was definitely an ugly first half.
(On USC QB Cody Kessler)
"He was too good today. He did some really good things but we helped him out. His offensive line protected him better than they had been. I was disappointed with us on that. They were able to do the play action and get him out of the pocket and they hit them on us."
Colorado WR Nelson Spruce
"We made too many mistakes. Obviously they're a good team and they capitalized on them. We can't put ourselves in this position or what happened today will happen every time.
"We thought we were taking all the right steps in the last two games but maybe the bye week hurt us and we got too relaxed and made too many mistakes.
"We did a good job of fighting back. We put some drives together but when you spot a team a big lead it's tough."
Colorado QB Sefo Liufau
"It goes back to the little things. I put a lot on my shoulders. You can't have two picks and expect to win and to have turnovers and win. It's the little things execution-wise. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times today.
"The guys are resilient and we'll learn from this. We have to have a short memory and learn from our mistakes."
(On the interceptions)
"The first was a bad read by me. Point blank. I have to be better protecting the football."
"(The second) That's my fault too. I feel bad. You don't want to leave a guy out like that. I shouldn't have thrown it. I put that on my shoulders. I don't want to get any of our receivers hurt."
