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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 2, 2015Mike BercoviciTempe, Arizona Q. Mike, I wondered if you watched the Washington State game and your impressions of them. MIKE BERCOVICI: Their game against Stanford? Yeah, I think it was obviously a very exciting game to watch. I think that they're a team that plays extremely hard. Their offense did some pretty good things. So did their defense, special teams. They're very opportunistic. They create turnovers, and unfortunately it was raining but they still got after it. Every time we play up there, the weather could be whatever it is. But they're a good team, and we're excited to go against them. Q. I just want to get your thoughts, I know the season hasn't gone as you expected, but your thoughts on keeping the emotions high, keeping the team's focus high and trying to end strong with the last four games? MIKE BERCOVICI: Absolutely. I think that's something that you don't got to worry about with this unit. Regardless of the win/loss column we have a team that is full of leadership, full of guys that have stuck around here for a purpose. They have a lot of investment in this program, and you know, going into the last four football games, obviously we're not looking past one or the other, but it's going to be an exciting run to the finish line. We've got guys who have been here for five years, so it obviously means something to us to finish out strong, and it's just going to be day by day, just kind of soaking it in, just how this is coming to an end. Q. Just a follow-up to that, how difficult is it for you personally or for the team that you're around because the expectations preseason were a lot more than just trying to become bowl eligible? MIKE BERCOVICI: Yeah, expectations obviously were not -- we're not in the same situation that we thought at the beginning of the season but that's the beautiful part about football is that you win or you lose. So I think right now what we have is that we have a team that plays for the person next to them. So it's not about whether we're 8-0 right now or whatever the case may be. It's a case that in 30 years being able to look to the person next to me and telling them I put everything out on that football field for them to win and that's what makes our unit special. We're led by Coach Graham who is an unbelievable leader in terms of being in these types of adverse situation, how we're going to respond, and that's all we're going to go do come Saturday. We're going to go fight and claw and answer the scratch. Q. You've been in this program a long time. Thursday's game there was a lot riding on it, and just with the way it ended, just from your standpoint did it take a little bit longer to kind of get past that one instead of over previous losses? MIKE BERCOVICI: I think regardless of the situation that we were in, you know, obviously it being a big game, those games like that hurt just because you're so close to -- just so close to a win. For a lot of the older guys at least who have been around this place, they know that that was a game that really could have easily went either way. And obviously credit to them; they won. But moving forward, you know, sitting here Monday, we're ready for Washington State, so our mentality is that that game is erased from our memory bank. That's the beautiful part about playing football is that there's always another game. It might hurt 30 years from now, so.... Q. On the one hand, I know you want to erase the memory of the game, but there were a lot of positives of the offense. Granted, still things to clean up but maybe less to clean up compared to previous weeks. What was the difference against Oregon from an offensive standpoint? MIKE BERCOVICI: You know, it was a fun game offensively. I think that we first and foremost prepared very well. I think that we created an identity over that bye week going back to what our basics are, and we executed that plan well. We practiced hard. We went against our defense full speed. Regardless of what our defense runs, we were going full speed, full tilt, and just kind of created that energy for come game time. Sometimes the game is even slower when you're playing against a non-ASU defense. I think that really helped, and just kind of running the football always helps, whether it be running backs, DJ, myself. It's just amazing to see how a run game can really produce on offense. Q. I want to get your thoughts on playing a game at Pullman in the daytime compared to playing at night where it can be kind of chilly and so much adverse conditions, and secondly, your thoughts of what you're seeing from Washington State on the defensive side of the ball. MIKE BERCOVICI: Yeah, I think it's going to be awful nice to play there in the daytime, but I mean, the weather doesn't really -- it really doesn't matter. We've played in snow. That's not why -- that's not part of the preparation. You can't control the weather, so if it wants to snow, that'll be fun. It's just one of those situations where you go up to a new city and you just love playing college football just because it's a new crowd, new environment. So that's just going to be fun for our football team, and this will be -- for some of the seniors it'll be our third time going up there, and it's just going to be an exciting daytime game. We practice in the mornings so we're very comfortable playing in the daytime. But as far as Washington State, just watching them on film, they're a very hard-nosed football team. They play with a chip on their shoulder. They play with an edge. We feel it's a great match-up for ourselves. But what we've got to do is go out and prepare, and it starts with tomorrow's practice, and it's going to be full speed ahead. Q. On the play where you threw for the interception, you thought they were offsides. Can you just talk about that a little bit, and do you just have to be careful to make sure that you see a penalty flag, or what do you have to do on your end to make sure that something like that doesn't happen? MIKE BERCOVICI: Yeah, I mean, I don't really have too much to say about that. I mean, this game is -- it's an incredible game, and sometimes you might have to -- obviously on my behalf I've got to make sure that there's a flag there before throwing the ball up like that. You never want to learn from mistakes but you just have to, and it's something that if the situation calls for that again in the rest of the season, then I'll be prepared. Q. Can you talk a little bit about your touchdown run in overtime? A lot of people were pretty excited about that and surprised. Just describe that run. MIKE BERCOVICI: I mean, obviously it was a draw and our offensive line did an incredible job on that play. They did an incredible job all night, basically just being patient in that situation. We needed to get in the end zone, and whatever it takes, I'm going to make sure that if the ball is in my hand, I'm going to keep the ball high and tight and do everything I can to get in the end zone. Our offensive line did a great job. Demario did a great job getting up on the backer, and the rest is what it is, but it really just starts with protection. Q. Do you feel that as far as you rushing the ball, is that something that really became more comfortable in week 8 compared to week 1? Can you just talk about the evolution, the development of that aspect? MIKE BERCOVICI: Absolutely. I think with anything, whether it be running, throwing, situational football, whether it can be spiking the ball on a screen, everything that you do later in the season, you just kind of become more comfortable with it. But obviously Coach does a great job of sending the message from spring ball in 2012 that the quarterback has to use his legs in order for this offense to succeed at the highest level, and you know, it really did -- obviously you can just see how the defense has to account for you in the run game, and you've just got to hurt them with your legs, throwing or running. That's what Coach says. It was just a good night, and obviously moving forward, whatever they ask out of me, that's what it's going to be. But obviously our running backs and offensive line did an incredible job, and the wide receivers on the perimeter did a good job in the run game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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