Head coach Mike Riley
On Arizona - “Arizona was about as efficient as I’ve ever
seen them. They were sharp. They cut our lineman through the ball quick and
made some plays. They’re always going to play pretty good defense. I think
there was a lot of good football by both teams.”
On the loss - “I’m most disappointed in the third quarter.
That was not good. We took the lead on a nice drive right before the half. And
I thought we did just what we needed to do at the end of the second quarter
and just what we didn’t need to do at the beginning of the third. They
drove for a touchdown, we threw an interception, they got another touchdown,
and then we started playing some football. I think we blew the game right at
the start of the third quarter.”
On the third quarter - “There was some good football, good
plays. When you take that whole third quarter and throw that in there as part
of the game and take stats out of it for a second. That was the thing that hurt.
There was some really good football. That team is pretty good. They always play
good defense and they’re playing better offense, more efficient, sharper.
They have good runners, and the quarterback handled that game pretty well. They’re
good, but our part of it in that third quarter, that was the difference. I like
how our kids came back and made some plays and get us a chance to win the game.”
On next week against Arizona State - “I’m looking forward
to getting going again. There’s some really good signs with this team,
and we just have to play 60 minutes of football. That’s an old cliché,
but it’s really never more evident than it was in that third quarter.
We’ll take some things from that and we’ll be able to use them and
get better from it.”
On senior leadership - “I told the seniors, ‘we will
need you now more than ever.’ They’ll do great. These guys work
hard every day, I trust them totally, and I know they’ll come back and
practice well all week and we’ll give it our best shot in Tempe and what
we have to do with our best shot is execute better.”
Safety Lance Mitchell
On Arizona’s offense - “They played a great game. They
did what they had to do to win. Our defense has to take responsibility and come
out and play better. ”
On being 2-2 in the past and how to bounce back - “We have
to change something. From what I know, is if you keep doing the same thing you
get the same results. I feel like we have to come practice harder, watch film
more, and do everything a little bit harder and a little bit more. In order
to get a change you need to change what you’re doing. ”
Wide Receiver Damola Adeniji
On anticipating Ross’ route - “You can’t take anything
away from anything what Arizona did today. They came out, they played a good
game, they had a good plan for us, and as far as that play goes, I guess we’ll
just have to watch film.”
On wanting to win with 32 points - “Any time you can put up
above 30’s it’s going to be a close game, if not a win. It’s
just a tough loss period.”
On seeing his touchdown catch - “It was defiantly bobbled.
I was cutting back across the field looking for what I thought was going to
be an interception to make a tackle and it just happened to fall my way and
I caught it.”
Quarterback Sean Canfield
On the end of the game ball movement, and sacks - “We were trying
to move the ball down field and they were playing fairly soft, and (Dom) had
a corner route, and I’m pretty sure I saw him coming out. Unfortunately,
they had a good D-line and that was that.”
On his last interception - “He stepped in front and made a
good play on the ball. It’s just an unfortunate play.”
On a 2-2 start to the year - “I’m frustrated more than
anything. We’re not scared, or discouraged about the rest of our season.
We are more frustrated than anything.”
On doing something different - “Today coming out of halftime,
they answered and we didn’t. You can’t take your eyes off them.
They scored, and I threw a pick, and they came back and scored again. You’ve
got to come out every series.”
On the lack of a downfield passing game - “That was part of
our plan. Every week, you’ve got try something different.”
Cornerback James Dockery
On how the team feels right now - “Being one of those guys
that has been here before, and been 2-3, I’ve seen the guys before us,
take this and just get better each day.”
On the state of the defense - “Any time the offense gives you
30, you expect a close game, or a win. It is small things that we have to fix
up.”
On the pass interference calls - “We’ve got to have a
short memory, because that stuff happens. You have stay focused on the next
play.”
WR James Rodgers
On the 2-2 previous season comebacks, what do you sense about this team
and where you are going - “We’ve been in this position before
and were going to continue doing what we do. We’re going to reach those
goals we want to reach”
On what was so difficult for the defense today - “The defense
played great, we just need to make the plays offensively”
On the mood of the team - “We are willing to go back out there,
and we are eager to; to go back out there tomorrow and watch film, get better
and prepare for Arizona State next week.”
On losing a game the team probably should of won - “Things happen
and we have to win the close games, but things happen and we didn’t so
we have to take it, we have been in this position before, we need to continue
to work hard."
RB Jacquizz Rogers
On what was so difficult for the defense today - “They made
plays when they had the chance, offensively we ran the ball we passed, we did
everything we wanted to just and just had some small mistakes that cost us in
the end”
On the crowd support - “During the game the crowd was very loud,
but you can’t be loud if you don’t have anything to cheer for.”
On getting the downhill passing going - “We made pretty good
progress, as far as getting the ball down the field today, so I didn’t
see any problems”
On player’s frustration - “Not frustrated but it hurts,
losing a Pac 10 opener again, we just have to build off this and get ready for
next week”
DT Stephen Paea
On the lack of pressure on a guy making his first start on QB
- “It was the same thing we saw on Cincinnati with the three-step drop.
We could have done better.”