USC vs. Washington Postgame Quotes
October 08, 2015 | Football
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POSTGAME QUOTES | USC
USC vs. Washington
LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, Calif.
Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015
HEAD COACH Steve Sarkisian
Opening Statement
"At the end of the day, we didn't coach well enough and we didn't play well enough to deserve to win the game. I give a lot of credit to Washington and coach Peterson for getting the guys ready to play; at the end of the game, this one is on me. We didn't execute enough and didn't mange the game well enough at the critical moments to deserve to win. There's nights like this that you don't play well. On all three phases we did things that are uncharacteristic of us. My job to get guys ready to play all four quarters at the highest levels and we didn't do that. We didn't convert on the 2-point conversion and the missed field goal, it was just a microcosm of the overall picture. Now is a critical moment for our program to be tight, be together and hang together. We need to be able to hang together and focus on the task at hand. We're going to continue to have games like this and we gotta get used to it. It's the way college football is right now and how our conference is right now. We have to understand how critical execution is, and we didn't get it done."
On opting for the field goal attempt late in the fourth...
"If we kick it, we make it and we're down two and we get a stop, defense was playing well, we get a stop. It was anatural decision especially after the sack."
On Cody Kessler looking out of sync tonight...
"It wasn't about practice. I thought Cody practiced well. I think Cody was a little off, but I'd say our team was a little off. That's what I have to dissect and figure out. He was a little off, maybe it was the first interception on the first screen pass, but that's football. That's like any sport, there's games you don't play your best. Cody will be the first to tell you. You have to find a way to win and we didn't do that."
On if he feels they should have run it on third-and 6...
"I felt good about the call and hindsight's 20-20. We'd probably run it now that we got sacked on it. After every gamewe look at ourselves first as coaches and why we did what we did and then we get into fundamentals and techniques. You can second-guess lots of things about tonight, but we made the call and it didn't work out the way we wanted it to."
On not bringing players to the press conference...
"This game starts with me. When we don't perform as a team, the head coach has the responsibility to own up. Ourteam needs to be in that locker room and I need to be in front of you and answer these questions for our football team."
On the layoff...
"I don't think it was about practice. I thought we practiced really well. It was productive and high intensity and we got better throughout the week. But from the outset tonight we seemed a little off and we started to press and then you start to do things that are out of character. We have to try to reel them back in and calm them down and get back to playing the style of football we're accustomed to. We had guys doing things that were out of character. Offensively we'd been very productive, but tonight that didn't happen. We had to lean on the defense but when you lose the turnover battle and it's hard to generate 1st downs, the game got hard. Execution is paramount and that was our inability tonight."
On if he is confused by this outcome...
"I hate to admit to confusion. I'm frustrated, that's a better word, but I'm frustrated because I believe in this team. We're so tight and we practiced so well. We want to pay well. When you have an opportunity to seize a moment and gain momentum and when you don't do it that's frustrating to me. That's the puzzle I have to put together to make sure we can do that moving forward.
"We'll be ok, we'll get back on the horse and play good football. There's a lot of football left to be played, but we have to hang together and stay together and learn together. There's no magic potion to sprinkle. It's going to take hard work and I don't doubt that our staff and players are going to do that."
Chris Petersen, Washington Head Coach
"I'm proud of our guys. I'm really proud of how hard they competed. I usually always am. That's kind of been our mission. To play hard, with great toughness and with great effort and that's what I saw. I thought our defense was spectacular against a really explosive offense.
"We were able to contain Cody a little bit. I have a lot of respect for him and I have a lot of respect for how good he really is and the weapons he hasaround him. Our secondary played really well and I thought we got some pressure on him and hats off to our defense for setting the tone. On the other side of the ball, I thought our o-line stepped up and made plays when we needed to. Myles did a good job of hiding and weaving behind that o-line and getting done what we needed to get done. We missed a few things in the first half that I know Jake won't miss down the road and he'll learn from that.
Did he expect his defense to be this good through 5 games
"You never really know. But I think we've got some really good coaches over there and really good kids that have bought into their coaching and compete really hard and that's all we can really ask."
On improved run game
"We were a little more stubborn with it. We stuck with it. I thought it was a good decision. We had to give it a chance and make a decision to run the ball. We did that, you can see that, against a really stout front. We did some good things in tight quarters with a lot of safeties down there.
On progress of team
"I know we are making progress. I know we are pointed in the right direction. If we can just keep working hard, and I know they will, if we can stay healthy enough to practice as hard as we have been ... we made some strides in practicing really, really hard this week. If we continue to do that we'll grow and get better. We have so many young guys. We have to have a certain style of practice."
JAKE BROWNING, Washington Quarterback
On taking the final knee
"I didn't realize we could take a knee after that last first down. But we did and it felt pretty good. The biggest thing is for some of our seniors and for our guys from L.A., (getting) a win in L.A. Everyone from here looks at USC and to beat them on their own turf feels good to them. And it feels good for me if it's good for them.
On the game-clinching first down throw
"We had the option on both sides. It was a great player making a great play. It was one on one and he made a great play."
On UW's defense
"That's a talented offense. We had some miscues on offense here and there, but the defense battled and played hard ... They've been playing well all year. They were primed and ready by the coaches for this and it was a huge part of why we won."
On if it was hard not to get frustrated after the first few possessions without a score.
"That's one of the biggest things. You talk about getting game experience, it's frustrating, but you have to move on. We had two touchdowns missed on one drive and that's on me."
KEISHAWN BIERRIA, Washington LB
On why this win is so important
"We came off a hard loss. And I'd say half the team was recruited by (Sarkisian), including by me, and it was a phenomenal win. We've been working for this and thinking about this since he left. We had to show up and beat SC. That's always big, but definitely it was personal to a lot of people.
"I saw Sark pre-game. I've got a lot of respect for him. He gave me a chance to be at Washington. I didn't get that offer until the last week and he did that for me. I've got a lot of respect for him. I love him, he gave me that opportunity, but it's business.
"I can't ask any more from my brothers. They came here and showed up. They said we were underdogs but we didn't see it like that."
TRAVIS FEENEY, Washington "BUCK"
"A win like this for us, it puts us in the right step forward. We can only go forward from here. We can't get too high after this, got the 24-hour rule. But it's definitely a stepping stone for confidence. Everybody practiced hard this week and played hard today.
On shutting down USC's offense
"It was something we take pride in as a defense. We came out with confidence. We had a great game plan. Everyone watched a lot of film and we just played the game."
