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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 21, 2015

Mike Bercovici

Tempe, Arizona

MIKE BERCOVICI: Yeah, just really excited to start off this week, heading into conference play. This is what we work for. No one needs a pregame speech for this week. We're excited. We believe in what the coaches are going to have prepared for us. We know that we have the hardest working staff in the entire country, so we're excited to go out to practice tomorrow and go out and get this first conference win.

Q. I asked Todd the same thing, but how are you feeling about the state of the offense overall?
MIKE BERCOVICI: I think we feel great. I think every week we've progressively gotten better and better and better. Just fixing little corrections, letting playmakers come -- show up progressively, and I think the biggest thing is that it's exciting to turn on the film and know that we have the capabilities of making big plays, and it's just going to be more exciting as the weeks go on to see how we develop.

I think the offensive line has been doing a great job. Obviously Demario has been outstanding, and the receivers are just going to continue to get open and make plays.

Q. Given the fact that you guys have beaten USC now two years in a row and both in pretty dramatic fashions, has it felt like these past two years and heading into this year that the rivalry has a little bit more oomph to it?
MIKE BERCOVICI: I don't think there's any more oomph to an SC rivalry than when you sign up to be a Sun Devil. I think for anybody, especially Southern California kids that commit to ASU, you know that game is automatically circled on your schedule. But it's exciting. I think we've done well against the Trojans in the past, but that doesn't matter because this is a completely different year. We're opening conference play against arguably one of the best teams in the country and we're excited about that. We're going to be self-motivated, not motivated by beating them. We're just going to be motivated by doing what we've got to do for this team to win the football game Saturday night.

Q. How have you time Tim White progress the first two weeks of the season? He made a big play against Cal Poly, had some plays against New Mexico. How have you seen him progress so far this season?
MIKE BERCOVICI: Tim has been doing great. I think he's a very high-character guy. If you have a conversation with him, you immediately know that this kid is in it for the right reasons. He understands what it means to be a team player, and the big plays that he's made have just come from within the offense, and he'll be the first to tell you that. He obviously has some pretty electric speed, but most importantly he's a very smart, dynamic football player, and that's what enables him to make those big plays Saturday night.

Q. Speaking of Tim, he arrived late over the summer. Did you know anything about him when he arrived, and just how did things unfold there just from working out with him over the summer?
MIKE BERCOVICI: Yeah, well, you know, I helped recruit him. Brady White had a previous relationship with him, so Brady was speaking extremely highly of him because they were high school teammates together. But like I said, from the second I met him, I knew that this kid, just from a simple conversation with him, you understand that he understands offense, he understands football. He has a very high football IQ, and that's what's exciting about him.

When he does get on the field, he plays with his eyes. For someone that's young out there and still being new to college football, he is very comfortable being out there underneath the lights, which is exciting for this football team.

Q. I know you're not going to make excuses for injuries, but would it be fair to say that the progression of the offense maybe hasn't been as rapid as you would have expected it to be just because players like Devin Lucien and D.J. Foster and Gump Hayes have been in and out of the lineup banged up?
MIKE BERCOVICI: I mean, you can say that obviously being the quarterback, I can always help this football team, this offense get going faster in every case, whether it be 3rd downs, 1st downs, red zone, but it's going to be exciting when we start to get healthy and have all of our weapons back, because like we've seen since spring football, it's pretty exciting when we can get all those dynamic players out there.

I think what we've got to do is focus on ourselves, and the competition is going to get greater and greater and the weeks go on, and that's when our true players, our true veterans, are going to rise to the occasion. That's what's exciting.

Q. When you ran the early part of the second half, quite a bit was made out of how that helped to open things up. How do you feel about using your running ability?
MIKE BERCOVICI: Yeah, well, that's the offense. That's something that since the second Coach Graham got here he's kind of explained that to the quarterback position of how being able to utilize your legs will help this offense in all facets, so that's something that if they wanted to give that to us, obviously as the quarterback you just take advantage of that, and big plays happen from a quarterback using their legs.

It's just exciting to know that this offense did get rolling there in the second half, and whatever the defense is going to give us, we're going to take, and that's how this offense is predicated, and that's how we really start to demoralize a defense.

Q. Would you say that you used that ability as much, that possibility as much in the first two weeks, or was it something maybe you had to grow into a little bit more in that last game?
MIKE BERCOVICI: I think it's more -- it was specifically Saturday night. I think something that if they don't account for the quarterback, you've just got to make him hurt, and that's something that we did. But going week to week, we have an identity. We don't change up every single week of how it works. But if the opportunity calls for using your legs, that's what we do. It's going to be fun to see how the weeks progress and how the game plans come together.

Q. Can you talk about USC's coverage approach?
MIKE BERCOVICI: It's as simple as this: I grew up watching USC football, and they have athletes out there. They've got some good safeties, they've got some good corners. They've got an outstanding outside linebacker, and they've got a solid defense, and something that as long as we study and prepare and focus on ourselves and do what we've got to do, we feel that we can run our offense, and that's what's going to be fun. Obviously you're playing such a great opponent that we've played -- this is going to be my fifth year playing them, and it's just you know what you're up against when you're playing USC, so we'll be ready.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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