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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 26, 2015

Mike Bercovici

Tempe, Arizona

MIKE BERCOVICI: This is a big week for us, not just because it's Oregon week and we're playing on Thursday night. This is a game that we're honoring the ideal Sun Devil in Pat Tillman, and what we're wearing on our jerseys and the tribute to the military is going to be a special night Thursday night.

We're excited to be back into a live situation where we're playing this week. The bye week was great to rest and get extra film done, but we're really excited about our match-up Thursday night, and just a special congratulations to my roommate Jordan Simone for being one of the finalists for the Jim Thorpe watch list, something that he idolized what every single Sun Devil is, and that's just a hard worker, and it shows on the field.

Q. I just want to get your thoughts on the offensive capabilities of both teams and how both teams are susceptible to giving up some points. Does this game Thursday night have the ability to be a shootout?
MIKE BERCOVICI: Well, I mean, this is an incredible conference where anything can happen on any day, but what we have to focus on is Thursday night, going out there and playing our game. Oregon has some talent on both sides of the football, but specifically the mission is simple: To win the turnover ratio, not turn the ball over, get turnovers on defense, and play hard special teams like we have all year. So if it's a shootout, it's a shootout, as long as we just want to be one step ahead.

Q. What are you seeing from them defensively?
MIKE BERCOVICI: Like I just said, they're a very talented football team. They're very opportunistic in their secondary. They've got athletes everywhere. They've got a good -- they've just been playing hard. Watching them on film, they make plays simple as that. We'll be ready. We'll be excited. Our offensive line is excited for the match-up. Our wide outs, running backs, tight ends, we're going to be geared up. We've gotten a lot of rest, and it's time to go.

Q. It seems like if there's one player on the offense that kind of flies under the radar all the time, it's Vi. You just don't hear a lot about him. What does he bring to that unit?
MIKE BERCOVICI: What Vi brings is experience. I think he's got the longest tenure of anybody on this offensive football unit. He's just been there before. That's how you can explain Vi. He's an extremely smart football player. He prepares the best of any O-lineman you can say. He knows how to prepare, whether it be mentally, physically, film study, and he's just a leader for the offensive line and he's just someone as a quarterback, it just gives you confidence with him on the offensive line.

Q. Coach Graham keeps saying the offense is still operating too slow. How do you solve that problem?
MIKE BERCOVICI: Well, I think it can never be fast enough. I think when you start going fast and go faster. That's just the fun part about being a tempo. We've got guys getting lined up. It all starts with setting your feet and just having a sense of urgency. It's a self-disciplined sense of urgency. You can't have people yelling at you to line up. It's got to be within yourself, and I think we got that accomplished this bye week and heading into this week.

Q. Has there been any talk about the last time Oregon came here or these two teams played at Sun Devil Stadium?
MIKE BERCOVICI: You know, it's funny because it feels like light years away. We've got some pretty young guys who might be playing, but they're still fresh to being a Sun Devil, so they might not even remember that type of game. But for the few that are still here, we do remember that game. We have a little bitterness in our mouth the last time that they came here and they took care of business against us. But it's just exciting to know that we're playing against such a quality opponent who has achieved some of the goals that we want to achieve, and it's just going to be a fun night.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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