Postgame Quotes - Boise State Game
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Sept. 23, 2017
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BOISE STATE VS VIRGINIA VIRGINA POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH BRONCO MENDENHALL
On the significance of the win . . .
I just love my team and I love the progress that they’re making. None of this was about statistics, or records, or turf or anything. It’s just about continuing to learn and grow and move our program forward. None of that other stuff was mentioned. We just came to play UVA football, and all that changed was the location.
On the defensive execution . . .
Our players were assignment sound, and they played with an edge, and they covered and tackled well. That gave us a great chance to keep the points down. It was complimentary football. Our offense did a great job as well.
On how the offense has been clicking the past two games . . .
Well once the ball can be thrown downfield and the football run effectively, it’s amazing what can happen. That’s what has happened the last few weeks. It’s hard to cover our window throws. If we can run it and throw it down field, the points start going up.
On the physicality . . .
I think that’s where the game starts, and that’s where our focus is. The thing I stressed to the team early on was this game was going to be run in the trenches. It’s not all the tricks, all the gadgets, all the momentum, or the setting of the turf – it’s just going to be blocking and tackling. We were able to run the ball effectively, and they struggled to run the ball. That gave us the chances to win it.
On how big the win is . . .
It’s a great win for the program, in a setting that’s really great to be a part of, and it’s on national TV. Momentum is being generated as we speak.
On being able to beat Boise State after his previous coaching career at BYU . . .
They’re all special for me. I love this team, and I’m lucky to be with them.
SAFETY QUINN BLANDING
On how much the defense has progressed . . .
This has been what we’ve been preaching – this new standard that everyone doesn’t understand – you just saw it tonight. This is our new standard, and our defense is going to keep getting better and better
this week. That doesn’t mean nothing. We’re still going to continue to work hard and get better, that’s just our new standard.
On Coach Mendenhall being upset at the team at halftime . . .
Yeah we were all upset. We weren’t playing our game at the moment. We settled in, and you saw what happened. We just played our game.
OFFENSIVE TACKLE JACK ENGLISH
On flying across the country to play an opponent like Boise State . . .
We saw this as an opportunity. As long as I’ve been here we’ve flown out west a couple of times. We haven’t had a chance to be successful on the road since I’ve been here. We had a good plan coming into this, and we were able to translate some of those things really well.
On the running game opening up the offense . . .
I think after the Indiana game, we kind of realized as a group that we need to step up, or else this team wasn’t going to go the way it needs to go. We put in a couple of different pieces, and we’ve gotten to the point where we’re playing really well. Everyone knows their assignments and they’re playing off of each other. In terms of opening up the downfield, I think we were able to run the ball well which really opens up those play action passes.
QUARTERBACK KURT BENKERT
On whether he saw this coming . . .
I think we all saw it coming. It’s good to get out of here with a big win. We still have a lot to improve on, so this is huge for us. I think it’s a culmination of everything. We have really good receivers, really good running backs, we had our good offensive line, and our defense is dominant. If you have all of those things, it just takes a little bit of time to come together.
On capitalizing of the failed fake punt . . .
That was huge. We call it complimentary football, so when (our defense) makes a big stop, we need to come out and put points on the board. I think that really changed that phase of the game. That was a good point in the game.
Head Coach Bryan Harsin
On the game as a wholeââ’¬¦ “That was disappointing to say the least. We talked about what we have to do moving forward, and this game is not going to change. We’re going to have to go back and we’re going to have to learn. Bottom line, that one is on me. We have to be ready to go out there and play. Virginia is a good football team and we knew that. We didn’t underestimate those guys. They showed up and played well and played hard. Credit to them coming here on a short week and playing here. Those guys did a good job and we have a long ways to go and a lot to learn.”
On the lack of success in the running gameââ’¬¦ “If you can’t run the football, the defense can do whatever they want in coverage. It’s really that simple. I don’t have an answer for you right now without going back and completely reviewing the game, but the obvious is that that’s not good enough and we have to be able to run the ball. You got to be balanced and be able to create some explosive plays in the run game, and that just hasn’t happened. That obviously needs to change.”
On Virginia’s big plays on offenseââ’¬¦ “I know they created those plays. There was a couple in there where they got behind us. There was miscommunication there, or something that happened. Those are things that our defense worked all week on, but the quarterback threw the ball well and they made some great catches. But the bottom line is that you have people in place and those are the plays that you’re in position to stop.”
On what needs to be done to turn things aroundââ’¬¦ “I’ll say this as the schedule goes, I’m glad we have the bye and have the chance to spend some time on these games. The bottom line is that was a poor performance, and every guy in that locker room would say that, and that starts with me. There’s a lot of good things about this team, and we’ve done some really good things, and we have some good players and good coaches, but it’s all about doing it every day. Certainly playing at home and playing that poorly, that’s a tough one. The bottom line is that there is no accepting losing, and there is no accepting in the performance that we had today. What can we do about it – nothing at this point. All we can do is go back and learn from it. As long as guys do that and look at it and learn from it, we go back and do the work that we need to do on a day-to-day basis, and we understand that football is a developmental game, and you need to be get better each and every week and each day. We’re going to be playing tough opponents moving forward. We’ll find out what we’re made of when we have a chance to go play again.”