California head coach Sonny Dykes
General comments:
“I'm proud of our players and their effort tonight. We challenged them after four tough weeks to come out and just play relaxed and have fun playing football. They did a great job of doing that tonight. There was an energy on the sideline that was really positive and it shows the perseverance of these guys and that they believe in each other. They have worked incredibly hard. It was really satisfying to go out there and really perform well tonight and get that next step in our program which is going to a bowl game. We talked about how important that was over and over again. I'm just happy for these guys. They love playing together and love being on the team with each other. The good thing is that they are going to get an extra game together. I think they're excited to win, but I know there was a lot of talk about the Big Game in that locker room and how excited we are to go play and compete against a very good Stanford football team next week. We know it will be a big challenge, but our guys are excited. We will prepare hard and I look forward to it”
On the offensive performance:
“I thought we pass protected well, kept Jared upright most of the night. Obviously, we ran the ball well, we ran it over 300 yards, and anytime you rush the ball for that many yards, it starts up front. I thought our running backs ran really hard. Tre ran hard. I thought Vic ran hard. I though Khalfani ran hard. To me, one of the big plays of the game was the screen pass Tre caught right at the end of the half. It was a heck of a run and a heck of a play. I was really proud of Maurice Harris tonight. I thought he had a great game. I thought we performed well. A little bit of a slow start, but I think once our guys settled in. It was a pretty good performance.”
On Jared's performance:
“We missed a couple of throws early. We weren't as sharp as we should have been early in the game, but once we settled in we felt like we could block him up front, and anytime he's got that time to throw he can do it. I think it just shows you how important it is to protect him and keep him upright. When we do that, we are a very good offense and when we don't, it's a bit of a struggle.”
On next week's game
“I think this victory gives us confidence. Anytime you lose football games, especially when you haven't had a lot of success recently, it creates a little bit of doubt. Anytime you go and play well, it erases some of that doubt. So for us, we needed a performance like this. We needed to come out and play really well so we could recall that we are a good football team. Some other good football teams have played better than us and beat us, so it was a total team performance. I thought our defense did a lot of good things. They played really well most of the night, but this this gives us confidence going into next week's game against a very good Stanford football team and we know we are going to need it."
Cal Players
Jared Goff, QB
On what changed after the first drive:
“I don't know. We just started off a little slow. I don't know why I missing high, just stuff I need to work on. There's always stuff I need to work on. I was just proud of the guys, the way they were able to come back. We didn't start the way we wanted to but we were able to score 52 or however many it was. It was awesome.”
On being bowl eligible:
“It's awesome. It's really cool. It's really exciting in there (locker room). The whole atmosphere is really great right now and I'm just trying to enjoy it. I said it out there, this has been a culmination of three years of hard work since Coach Dykes got here and since a lot of guys got here, just putting in that work every day. I've said it a million times when we were 1-11, and last year when we lost to BYU, that all the work we put in will pay off eventually and by no means are we done. We still have two games left against Stanford and ASU but it's awesome right now.”
On how much of a relief it was to return to form:
“It was great. Obviously, we want to do well offensively every game, but being able to run the ball like we did today was awesome. Seeing guys take screens all the way like Tre Watson take a screen that was designed to go left and to make a play and take it back right and go down the sidelines and Maurice Harris did it twice. I don't know maybe he did it three times. It's awesome to throw screens and let them run. It's fun for me and it's fun for them.”
Tre Watson, RB
On what was working:
“Honestly, everything. Our team came out and we competed. We had a chip on our shoulder and we came out and we executed.”
On the holes the offensive line were making:
“Honestly, I think the O-line blocked amazing. I loved it and they were wide open and I was just taking advantage of each hole they presented to me and just going out there playing football and enjoy doing it.”
Malik McMorris, HB
On touchdown:
“It felt great. It's week nine, it's late in the season, but we've been running that play since fall camp and it's just great to be in that situation where they can put me in the game to try and close it out with a running clock. Coach called the play and I had a feeling in my head it was going to come my way and I ran as fast as I could, which isn't very fast but I got there turned my head and saw the defense end bite, and looked into the tuck as the coaches say and touchdown 99.”
Oregon State Head Coach Gary Andersen
General Comments:
“Congrats to Cal. They've obviously have a good football team and did some great things. We had a hard time playing together as a team and putting it together as an offense, defense and special teams. When one side was playing well, the other side played poor. It just kept going back and forth.”
On Jared Goff:
“We were unable to get to him with four rushing the passer. We got some pressure early and got in his face a few times early, but that went away. They did a nice job of getting involved in the screen game with his wide receivers. He threw a couple of nice deep balls. That's going to happen when you're playing against a really good quarterback and you're playing an aggressive defense because that's the way we have to play. Those are balls we obviously don't want to happen.”
On California Scoring On Three Possessions To Open The Second Half:
“Those are tough times. We felt like going into halftime we made some plays on offense and got a score. Our inability to just stop them really for the next three drives, four drives, was not playing defense anywhere near where you need to play defense in this league. We just have to keep continuing to work to get that going.”
On Quarterback Nick Mitchell:
“I felt like the offense was helping him too. Even early there were a couple of throws that were six inches away from potentially being a couple more big plays, but he didn't let that get to him and neither did the receivers. I thought the receivers ran crisper, cleaner routes and got separation which was good to see. Nick was in the zone. There were some plays that definitely helped him, and he made some good decisions and tucked the ball and ran with his feet.”
Oregon State Players
Kyle Peko, DT
On the team's defensive play:
“Yeah. I don't know, it's tough right now. We just have to keep battling. Offense did their thing today and we didn't help too much today. I think this week we have to get better and execute next week.”
On Cal's offensive play:
“We didn't get to the quarterback, like we planned, like we practiced. I would say that the passing game got to us. Their offensive line executed and we didn't. I think that's what it came down to.”
On Jared Goff:
“He's a good quarterback. It showed today and it shows throughout the week. He's a good competitor and a good quarterback.”
Jordan Villamin, WR
On the team's offensive play:
“We struggled on offensive a little bit. We kept making the same mistakes, penalties were killing us, but we started to get on a roll and we started to execute like we had planned. It started working and we had a really good day on offense. I wish we could have had more points and less penalties towards the end when we needed it, but I thought overall we did well.”
On OSU QB, Nick Mitchell:
“Nick was playing really well. It didn't really seem like he was fazed by any of it today. So I was really excited for him to keep playing well. I'm excited for his development.”
