USC vs. Oregon State Quotes
November 02, 2013 | Football
OREGON STATE QUOTES
USC 31, Oregon State 14
November 1, 2013
Reser Stadium
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Mike Riley
On the tough loss to USC…
“It was disappointing for sure; it will be hard to stomach this one for a while. They played a good game and we really didn't. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. We did some things that were kind of uncharacteristic of how we have been playing.”
On OSU's missed opportunities…
“I think that kind of sums it up, and not dissimilar from a week ago but different circumstances. Some of the things that we thought were crucial in winning this game, protection on offense, tackling and big plays on defense, we failed in. Those were probably the big difference-makers in the game.”
On the next two weeks off…
“It's a bad time to lose… it's a long time until we get to get back out there and play. For this team right now this will be good physically, this will be a good thing. We're going to give them a couple days to just let them have a break from the football part of it. They'll still have opportunities to lift, which will be good for them, but they'll have a couple days just to kind of be away. We'll work this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then have a couple more days off. This group will come back very strong to get ready for Arizona State. There is no doubt about it. This is a quality group of young men; the same men that we were winning six in a row with. They work really hard and they're not going to be controlled by their circumstances; they're just going to keep fighting. And so are the coaches so everything is going to be alright.”
Quarterback Sean Mannion
On not playing up to his potential...
"I thought I obviously made a few mistakes. I felt fine, it was just a matter of forcing a couple balls that I should have thrown away. The two in the red zone especially upset me. On first and 10, I think that's one to just throw away."
On forcing passes...
“When you play quarterback, you are the one with the ball in your hands and ultimately the one who makes decisions on where to go with it. I think I just need to see that and throw it away."
On the impact of USC's defensive pressure...
“I thought our offensive line held up really nicely tonight. We put together some nice drives and we just left some points out there. That's the reason I'm so upset about the two (interceptions) in the red zone. That's points that were taken off the scoreboard, so it's something I'll correct.”
On looking forward...
"To be honest, I'm just anxious to get back to practice and get back out on the field. I need to practice better than I played tonight. I think that will be good for me to get back to practice and playing football, moving on to a new opponent."
Wide Receiver Brandin Cooks
On whether he thought he was in the right place at the right time…
“There were times I found myself in the wrong spot. They rolled a lot of coverage, and you can only keep battling.”
On turning the ball over in the red zone…
“Anytime you turn the ball over in the red zone, you're coming with no points. You can't beat a good team like that, and we saw that tonight.”
Cornerback Rashaad Reynolds
On giving up plays due to fatigue…
“Fatigue is part of the game we just didn't play to our potential. We train for this.”
On what went wrong today...
“We didn't play with heart and that's what got us, but we have a bye-week coming up, so we should be ready for the next game.”
On the effects of the loss against Stanford…
“That didn't affect us at all. We just didn't play to our highest potential tonight.”
On the bye-week
“We need this bye-week to get back into the flow of things and for a few of the guys on the team to get healthy. When we play in two week we will be ready.”
Safety Ryan Murphy
On the Joel Skotte injury impacting the team...
“I believe it's just the focus of the unit, no matter who goes down, everyone should be prepared to play. We are only as strong as our weakest link, and you cannot have our weakest link not ready to play.”
On the defensive performance...
“I can't really tell you why our defense didn't play like last week. Guys missing gaps and tackles really hurt us. For me, I had a hard time seeing from the top of the field.”
On interception for a touchdown...
“I felt the momentum come back. Right after, our offense went down the field and scored, then we just slipped. We can't just let them score 17 unanswered points at the end of the game and expect to win.”
USC QUOTES
USC 31, Oregon State 14
November 1, 2013
Reser Stadium
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Ed Orgeron
Opening Comment…
“I'm just happy for our football family. I'm really happy for our young men. It was an outstanding team effort for a short week. I thought it was an outstanding job the way our coaches prepared our guys. It was a great job of coming to a hostile environment and really not letting it affect us as much as it has done in the past. There was a belief in the locker room before the game, at halftime, during the game. We threw the interception for the touchdown but came back and scored. There was like a sense of tightening the strings a little bit, but our guys fought, came back and I thought that was a very good learning moment for our team. It was about the team effort.”
On whether this was USC's best win of the season…
“It seemed like it; it seemed like it right now. We work very hard to play better on the road than we did the last outing and fix some of the mistakes that we made. So there was some improvement. I think you see our guys getting closer each week -- playing with enthusiasm, playing with a style. I thought it was an outstanding job by (USC defensive coordinator) Clancy Pendergast. That was a very good offense; a very good offense. I thought we did a very good job of running the ball. It was great to have Marqise Lee back. This was our best overall effort.”
On why he had his team turn around and look at the stands after the game…
“We heard a lot about coming here and not being successful. We had some team meetings about what are you going to do when you get out there in order to be familiar with their surroundings. Our whole goal was to win the game and see the stands empty. We wanted to do that. I just wanted them to learn that you can overcome any obstacle. We overcame an obstacle tonight. For some reason or another we haven't played well here. I thought we put our best game together tonight.”
On shutting down Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion…
“He's a very good player. I don't know how many sacks we got tonight. I really don't care. I thought we did an overall great game plan of creating an atmosphere that they are not going to throw the ball deep on us. We knew if they didn't throw the ball deep on us we had a chance.”
Runningback Silas Redd
On the sideline attitude and talk after the pick six…
“We said 'there's a lot of time left in the game, a lot of things happen during the course of the game.' Like Josh [Shaw] said we rose to the occasion out there, and when those triple zeros hit the clock we came out on top.”
On the running game clicking on all cylinders…
“It was a lot of fun. It's fun to be out there playing with these guys. We really feed off the defense when they're on the sideline, and in the midst of the game you could hear them cheering us on. There is just such passion involved out there and that makes it ten times better.”
Runningback Javorius Allen
On his running performance today…
“I just want to give a thanks to my o-line men, and my coaching staff for believing in me and trusting me. Like Coach Orgeron said, when you're having fun with the game then everything else will flow. I just want to thank my o-line men and fullbacks for doing a great job.”
On his fifty-two yard touchdown run…
“I saw (the defensive player) coming up and I figured I had to make a move. I just used my instincts and trusted them. They were right, the move worked.”
