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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 10, 2015

Todd Graham

Tempe, Arizona

Colorado - 23
Arizona State - 48

TODD GRAHAM: We have a lot of respect for Coach MacIntyre. Their kids played hard. Really the story tonight was controlling the line of scrimmages and really pleased with our special teams play. I thought Daz blocked a punt, he's phenomenal. He's really just a special teams demon, man, he does a great job on special teams for us. I think our special teams have steadily gotten better and better and better and it needs to be, because we're fixing to face the best in the league this week on special teams. Tony Longino was phenomenal. I think we had over 10 TFL's and eight sacks, something like that. So we got after the quarterback pretty good. Got a little sloppy with the three score lead and made some mistakes. He's coming off the edge most of the time, so it's something he does pretty well and we have adapted what we're doing to what he does well. So, I think he's played really well. He played really well last week and I thought tonight was his best game of his career since he's been here. So a lot of productivity and a lot of production. So any time you can have that kind of production then he's in the right spot.

Q. You guys reached the mid point of the season at 4-2. 2-1 in the PAC-12 you may not have taken the route everyone thought. But how would you assess your first half?
TODD GRAHAM: We're right where we need to be. It's like anything. You got to win a lot of close football games. We're six games into this thing and we have six left. If we can win all six of them, then that's exactly where you want to be. We control our own destiny and nothing matters except -- I like our sign over there, 1-0. That's basically the deal. I'm proud of our guys and where we're at and we got a whole bunch of winners out there that we have gotten better every week. And this week is just like every big game in the PAC-12, man, we get to go on the road and play a Top-5 team in the country. So, we're excited about that and we're exactly where we need to be. I don't know, if I could change it, I would add two wins to it, but you don't get to do that. I think the challenges that you go through make you stronger and I think we got a really strong team.

Hopefully, we have got, I'm not sure, I haven't got any idea where we are, hopefully we have all of our guys, we don't lose anybody to injury. I think we're okay, from what the preliminary told me. We held Laiu out, he could have went. We held him out. So hopefully he'll be okay. I don't know what Demario's status is. We basically held him out, so we're hoping that that will be a good prognosis. But, no, I'm proud of where we are right now and doesn't matter where you start, don't matter where you are the in middle, it matters where you finish. So this is the grind, man, this is the time of year that you got to grind, you got it fight to stay relevant. So every week it's kind of like a single elimination tournament. Right now, we're in control of our own destiny and we got to go figure out a way to beat one of the best teams in the country next week.

Q. Kody Kohl had the pick up and run touchdown. Tim White had the tipped play, took it for a touchdown. How big was it, especially after how you guys started the first four games to really have those bounces go your way?
TODD GRAHAM: Well, that fourth and one was an interesting play. I, we had a little conversation with Coach Norvell and he said, "I guarantee you this play's going to work." And then when I seen that, I thought, well, man, I was just about getting a little upset. But it worked out. No, one of the things we talk about is you play to the end of the whistle. That's one of the things we talked to our guys about. There was some plays early in the game where we quit on the play. Where we stopped on the play. I don't know if you guys noticed that, like on some balls thrown deep and stuff like that. So really that was a real emphasis in the second half. So, obviously, that was a big -- that was a big play in the game, the fourth and one or two whatever it was and he tipped that ball and then the first drive, that was huge. And what it is, it's not, you know, it's guys hustling. We talk about covering the ball. So our guys are hustling and making things happen there. So you work hard and you play every play and max out every play, good things happen to you. Sometimes it bounces your way.

Q. Where do you think Tim White has made the biggest stride so far this season?
TODD GRAHAM: Wow, there's lots of things I like about Tim White. Such a great young man. Tremendous young man. A guy that exemplifies what our program's about. I think he's improved every week as a returner, I think he's getting better with his route running, he's a guy that I love getting him the ball quickly where he can have time to do things with it. So, he's just gotten better. Probably one of the big things is just understanding and comprehending the fundamentals it takes to execute and play and then moving around and playing him in a lot of different spots. He's really a smart kid, he's done a good job, so I think he's no doubt one of our go-to guys.

Q. The first four games you had seven points in the first quarter combined. Last two, 26 points the last two weeks. How important is that early offense to get your team going, how much do you stress those quick starts leading up to a game?
TODD GRAHAM: Yeah, man, I tell you, I don't know. I tell you, I'm big into, obviously it's about four quarters, but if we can get a rhythm in a game and what I mean is get a lead, when we're leading at halftime, we got a pretty good record. Because by the time you get to halftime, it's kind of, they have kind of done their deal, we have kind of done our deal, we have kind of gone back, all the little things have kind of done, and then you got to go play.

So, then I think our conditioning kicks in. So, it's really important that we start fast and obviously I think that we're a team that plays well from ahead. Obviously you can look at our, I don't know what our record is when we're ahead at halftime. 27-1. That's pretty good. So I would like to be ahead at halftime. That would be a pretty good deal. But, no, you know, that's been huge, big. But what you see today, blocking a punt, getting take a ways, that's something that, in the early games, we didn't get a lot of those. One, we were playing triple option teams and you don't get a lot of opportunities like that. So setting up scores and things like that is big for us. There's a reason why we attack and we do the things, because we have to generate those type of short fields and things like that for our offense so, that is critical for us, is to get a fast start.

Q. I know you just are focused on what's ahead of you, but what's it been like this first half of the season? It's been kind of a roller coaster.
TODD GRAHAM: Oh, I don't know, what I spend most of my time thinking about is these seniors, these guys like V and Christian and Berc and DJ and Demetrius Cherry and Antonio Longino and I'm just trying -- I don't think much about all that. And also, I realize that people are going to love you when you win and they're not going to love you and they should not love you when you lose, period. And we have got them where they expect us to play well and win every game here and that's exactly what the plan's been. So that puts a little pressure on you and but that's what we signed up for. I like it. That's the way I think that to move our program where it needs to move, that's what it's all about.

So, this has been a great year. I've had a lot of fun. To get kicked in the gut and knocked down and that and then, man, go over to L.A. and win like that that's pretty cool. I kind of like that. But I would rather just win them all and make it easy, you know. But we're not quite there yet. But we're going to get there. But I can tell you, this has been, this group of guys are incredibly enjoyable to work with. They would probably say that, that I'm sometimes enjoyable to work with. My staff might not say it very often at all. Coach Cassidy says it. I pay him really good to say it.

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