Sept. 29, 2012

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CALIFORNIA HEAD COACH Jeff Tedford

On Cal's offense:

"We couldn't get in a rhythm and couldn't get anything going. We got physically beat up front. We didn't really have much time to throw the football. We got a little bit going in the run game, but in the pass game we got beat by a more physical team."

On QB Zach Maynard:
"There were some plays we could have hit, but he is also under a lot of duress. We have got to give him more time to throw the football. He made some plays, but some plays he missed. He didn't play his best game, obviously. He missed a couple guys who were open, but also had some dropped passes. Getting stuck in third and long all the time is not the best situation to be in."

On being 1-4 for the first time in his tenure:
"We have got to get better. We got beat by a team who played better than we did. We have to improve and keep working. Each and every week is a different week. That is a good football team. I'm not going to take anything away from ASU. They played a very physical game, did a good job. The only way we are going to get better is by working at it."

On Cal's defense:
"We didn't tackle well on defense. We didn't get guys on the ground; we just have to get better. To me, we assess this game and see how we can improve. We work our tails off to get that done. Arizona State ran the ball pretty effectively. They made some key third-down conversion with the pass, but the ball was placed perfectly and they made some good plays. They played well today, pretty much beat us in every phase of the game"

On OL Matt Summers-Gavin:
"Matt practiced this week. He got one holding call early, but then settled in. We were getting beat more outside than inside."

On Cal's penalties:
"We had a couple facemask penalties. We had a block in the back on special teams. Those are definitely things you can't have. Some of that is decision making; that has to improve too."

On DB Avery Sebastian:
"Avery Sebastian played really fast. He did a nice job blitzing. I was impressed by how he filled in for us."

CALIFORNIA PLAYERS

Avery Sebastian, S

On earning the start:
"The coaches have been telling me to be ready this entire year. Anybody can go down at any time. Every week it's a constant competition of all the safeties. This week, a lot of people were rotating in. I got the feeling that I was going to be able to play. I'm glad I got to play. My coaches have faith in me. It's really just a matter of being ready at all times."

On how the team will move forward:
"The motto this year is, `All we've got is all we need,' and we're always going to stick to that. It doesn't feel great to be 1-4, but we have a lot of talent. We have a lot of great players on this team. We've got to cut down on the mental errors and work on the little things here and there and we'll be ok. We've got some big games coming up. As long as we can execute, play fast and play hard, we can beat anyone. It doesn't feel great right now, but we can bounce back."

Isi Sofele, TB
On the game:
"We have the talent. We're just not putting all three phases together. We've just got to keep working during practice and come out and execute the plays next week."

On ASU:
"They're a great team. They played better than we did today. We've just got to come out and play football and stop messing around. We've got to attack the team in the right way and we've got to be disciplined. We had way too many penalties out there, and it's the little things that are killing us. It's not them, it's us killing ourselves. At the end of the day, it's who makes the big plays."

On his fumble:
"I broke through and thought I was going to make a big play. I didn't protect the ball the way I should have and one of the backside guys got it."

On Zach Maynard:
"We all have our off days. I felt like he had an off day today. He still came out and competed. We needed that. We just need to put it all together. He still has a lot of confidence. Zach is going to be Zach. He loves to compete."

Nick Forbes, LB
On the defense at the end of the game:
"We didn't get them off the field on third down. Third down is a big down as far as what the defense is trying to do, which is get off the field. If you let them convert on third down, things won't go your way. We've got to get off the field on third down."

On the season:
"I didn't expect the season to start off like this. It is what it is. The only thing I can do is prepare a little bit harder this week than I've done in the past and improve on the techniques that I didn't execute as well as I could have. As a team, we've got to stick together. In this circumstance, it's going to be hard with a lot of outside perspectives on what's going on. We've got to be mentally tough as a team. As an individual, you have to be mature, handle it and deal with it. I'm looking at this Sunday, coming back, chopping up the tape and seeing what we can do against UCLA."

ARIZONA STATE HEAD COACH TODD GRAHAM

General Comments:

"I'm just really, really proud of our players. This was a really, really hard Cal team. This was one of the hardest weeks of preparation. You watched the game you'd see a multitude of formations; I mean they ran a lot of formations, a lot of looks. I'm really proud of our players. I'm just really lucky to get to coach these kids. You look at the magnitude of what they learned in a short period of time and to go out there and have two penalties, a 100 percent ball security, to face the adversity that they faced and how they play, I'm really proud of them. That was a huge win for us and for our program and a great step forward to our goal of being champions."

On How He Likes His Team's First Five Games:
"I'd like it better if we could've made a foot against Missouri. Really proud of our guys. I was worried about that part of the season because you get so much new schematically and there's such a fine line between doing so much and not doing enough. I've been so impressed with how smart these guys have been, and we needed that success. We needed that success for these guys to believe in this crazy stuff we're doing and get them to believe in what we're doing. Things have been such a radical change for them just in their day-to-day lives that we needed this success. We needed to be sitting where we're at. We haven't accomplished anything yet, but I know that we're going to get better and better and better.

On How His Team Responded When Cal Cut the Deficit to Three Points:
"The drive that they had that they scored on, we had two critical errors. We had miscommunication, and it was our fault. We tried to do too much, and they broke one on us. Those things happen sometimes. Our guys didn't panic. I liked that they did things with class and character. There was a point there when there was some extracurricular stuff after the play that we had to say, `Hey, hey, hey now. We don't do that. We don't look at the other team. That's what we do.' So we had to reel them in for the first time. But I'm proud of how they responded because it wasn't us reeling them back in. It was them reeling each other back in. We're getting better"

On QB Taylor Kelly's First Pac-12 Road Game as a Starter:
"I have total belief and trust in him. If you're on the sideline and could look him in the face when things are tough, boy that's what give me confidence. He's poised, man. He's a person who you have no doubt that you can depend on. Is he the best physical person in the world? Probably not. But he makes all the right throws, all the right decisions. He executes the system, the system was designed for him and it's working for him."

On His Receivers:
"I thought our receiving corps, they met the challenge and they've gotten better each week. Rashad [Ross] was someone who stuck out to me. Kevin [Ozier] is someone who was a walk on, we gave a scholarship to, who sacrificed a lot to be a part of our program and is quietly having a great year."

On His Defense:
"I thought we played really good. We probably didn't have our best game. Coach [Tedford] does a lot of stuff. He's a hard guy to defend. This is the hardest schematic team that we've gone against. There were more big plays due to alignment errors. You've got to give them a lot of credit. There were things that are difficult. They run like 67 different formations. They're got some really, really good players and some good receivers."

ARIZONA STATE PLAYERS

Taylor Kelly, QB

On the team's thought process during their scoring drives:
"We just needed to execute on third down, play smart and everyone do their job. We had to go down and get a score because it was a crucial part of the game. So everybody kind of clicked and stepped up."

On the TD connection with WR Kevin Ozier:
"I read the backside safety, he stayed and I came up and stepped up into the pocket and drew the Mike [linebacker]. I saw Kevin running wide open and I just dumped it on him and he took it in."

On the team's mind set after five games into the season:
"We've got great momentum going into this bye week and preparing for Colorado. We need to stay on focus; remain humble with everything. We've got to go to work this next week."

Brandon Magee, LB
On the defense's emotions throughout the game:
"I was very confident. I knew that our offense would put up some points and I knew that the defense would go out there and get a stop. When times like this happen, we need a stop - we stop them. Our defense is way different. We're always positive and we're looking to make plays when the time is needed, and that's exactly what happened. The offense made plays, we made some stops and we're fine."

On the team's demeanor this year when they're trailing:
"The difference is that nobody hangs their heads. In close games, we always encourage the offense, they encourage us. They tell us to make a play, we tell them to make a play. Our heads are always up making plays just ready to go. We always feel that we're going to win no matter what happens."

On the team's mind set after five games into the season:
"I think that it's outstanding to start off like that, especially going into a bye week. It keeps us positive and wanting more. It keeps us hungry and ready to go out there against Colorado on a Thursday game. So we've just got to maintain the focus and, like Taylor said, stay humble and always look to improve yourself. If we do that, we can be a scary team out there."

Kevin Ozier, WR:
On the last scoring drive:
"On that last scoring drive we just had to finish. A lot of times we come up short, and we just have to change that - turn it around. We can't come up short. We have to finish the game in all four quarters. We needed to score so that the defense could make a stop and we could win the game."

Keelan Johnson, FS
On ASU's first win at Cal since 1997:
"It's a great win coming here and beating that team. It was a difficult team to prepare for. Their record may indicate 1-4, but they play as if they're 4-1 when they're at home. To come in here and dominate them like we did is a great feeling and it's going to carry over to our bye week, so I think that a lot of guys are going to build their confidence from there.