|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 21, 2015Todd GrahamTempe, Arizona Arizona - 37, Arizona State - 52 COACH GRAHAM: First of all, I just want to say I love sitting back here listening to these guys talk. This senior group is just really a special, special group. Really proud of how our guys played today, offense, defense, special teams. I thought we brought the fight. I thought we were the aggressor. I thought we physically dominated the game. Got after them pretty good. We always tend to make it interesting. But just really proud of these seniors and what they've meant to me personally. The six young men that are finishing their last home game today, that were in this room when I got here, they've been a part of really helping me and changing a culture here. I'm really proud of what they've been able to do. Guys like D.J. Foster, D.J. is really special to me, and I know special to this university and this valley because he's a young man that right here locally trusted us and has had an unbelievable career. I think it was his 51st game with a catch. That's a whole lot of games to start, and I loved it. They were interviewing him, and they were saying what would you tell someone here in this valley, young man, about what is it like to go to ASU? And he said, "Well, if you want to be a man, you come to ASU, because I've become a man." And that made me feel good, because I know what he's talking about. Really proud of Kareem scores and great interception. He gets a penalty. And, boy, I was searching him out and I couldn't get to him because all the other guys were letting him know we don't do that. Just really proud of Lloyd. Me and Lloyd go way back. Lloyd's been with me five years. I recruited Lloyd to Pitt from the same hometown. Grew up probably about three miles apart, something like that. I'm going to miss Lloyd. Really going to miss Lloyd. We had a couple more games left, but I was really -- my son caught the game-winning pass his senior year in high school against Lake Highlands when I was a head coach, and I almost had a tear in my eye, and I almost had a tear in my eye today when Lloyd intercepted that pass because that guy, what an incredible young man. I personally coach him. It was a whole bunch of guys, Christian, and Nick, and V, I mean, V, 41st start today. Cherry, Longino, man, you see how that guy's grown. Obviously, all the guys I'm mentioning, most of those guys have already graduated from college, and I know going to live championship lives. I'm so grateful to them because it's a great time to be a Sun Devil. We didn't hit the mark where we wanted to this year, but that one heals you up quite a bit. I liked that one. That was worth about five wins there, at least that's what all the fans say when I talk to them. But this group of seniors have really laid a great foundation, and we're going to have a brand-new stadium here in a very short period of time. A new sports complex, shows unbelievable commitment, the leadership here, Dr. Crow, and Ray Anderson, man, we've got a chance to do some really special things. I'm just grateful for these seniors because I can't tell you how fragile this has been for now going on four years. We've won a lot of close football games and these guys have busted their butt and given me everything they've got and I'm just really, really proud of them. Thanks, Tim. Tim usually puts something in it. Oh, we do that later. Questions? I love these guys though. I mean that. Q. Devin obviously had a big impact today. Can you talk about the adjustment process for him coming into this program and learning this offense? COACH GRAHAM: He would probably tell you, if he was honest, it was pretty tough. And I'll be real honest with you, I wasn't very -- it was something that I had to be sold on. I've never done that. It's hard in that short a period of time to really understand how we do things. I'm going to tell you, it was hard for him because how we work and how we do things and the discipline and the structure and the rigor, not only on the field but academically in everything that we do. You know, he has been great. What a great kid. He has really exceeded what I thought that that would be able to do in that short period of time. Not that it's right or wrong, but just very different how we operate and how we do things. For someone to come in, it usually takes them a little while to get adjusted to what we do. I'm really proud of him. I'm really proud of Berc. I think Berc had a lot to do with that. If not for Berc I wouldn't have done it because of their relationship. But he told me he would make sure it got done right, and it would be transitioned and it would be a positive deal, and he did what he said he would do. I'm really proud of him today. I loved sitting here listening to him talk. He was pretty nervous. But that's good for those kids. All those kids need to do that, communicate, and do that. But I'm really proud of Mike Bercovici and how he's led the team. I got after him today for the first time. I hadn't gotten after him very often, but I got after him good on a couple of plays, and I like how he responded. Man, I mean I thought we had 400 yards in the first half, two 100-yard rushers. I wish I could just show them the screen here of the huddle on the fourth down call. Boy, I did not want to do that. I was thinking, man, I can't wait to read Doug's article when I don't make this (laughing). I thought they were going to say that, because in the huddle I told them you better dang sure make this thing. Because at first I went, get the punt team, no, don't get the punt team. Call timeout. Get the punt team, no. And then Slocum said, "Coach, the rules say punt it. We're playing good on defense, punt it." And then V didn't say much and those guys and Nick said, "Hey, run the ball. We'll get it." I said, "You guys better make it. " It would be really neat to watch that because it wasn't a very -- I didn't look very professional, because I was really concerned about that. That was really a difficult call that we went back and forth on about seven times in 20 seconds. But I knew it was going to work the whole time (smiling). Q. Coach, Demario obviously tried to stay in the game. Had to come out after one more play. Any update on whether you might have him next week? COACH GRAHAM: I haven't heard anything yet. He's a tough kid. He should be okay. Q. You mentioned this just a little bit earlier, but given everything you've gone through this year, the ups and downs, the falling short of your goals, just how much did you -- COACH GRAHAM: Geez, Doug. We just won the Territorial Cup. Go. Golly, give me a break, will you? Go ahead, I'm sorry. What were you saying? Q. How do you guys take this as a program? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, it was pretty important. Bad, about as bad as you can need something. The former players and the former coaches and everybody. They let me know how important this game is. And it's personal to me. I mean, this game is very personal to me. It's one that we needed to win because we need to win next week. We need to win the bowl game. That is not still -- we have not reached our mark. But we're definitely headed towards it. Yeah, it does a lot to help you. This game -- I can tell you this: We won ten games last year, and we lost this game, we've won seven games or six, next week would be seven, if we win a bowl game, great. Whatever. If we won six games, I feel better right now than I did last year. Ever, I don't ever want to experience that again, because that was not good. People were not very happy, and it's pretty miserable when you lose this game. Q. What was Kareem's situation the last week and a half, and what sparked the decision to put him in there? COACH GRAHAM: Kareem? He was hurt. He had an injury. He had an upper leg injury, and he wasn't able to play. It happened in the midpart of the week, late in the week in practice, and he wasn't able to play. Really proud of Solomon Means. Solomon got to start tonight at corner. Never played free safety ever, and started there at free safety. So Kareem got well this week, so we played him in nickel, because Solomon is our starting nickel corner. To me, it was weird. I called -- I was going home, because I was going, man, I was watching the receivers going, man, those receivers are really good. Man, we've got to have some speed. Man, I was coming to work early, and I was listening to some motivational stuff on the radio. And I said, man, this is Solomon's last game. He's one of the finest young men in the program, great character. I just called him and said, hey, you're going to start at free safety this week. It's going to be the best game of your life. So I'm really proud of him. He's someone that I wanted to mention. But playing Kareem, he was ready to go. We started Solomon because Kareem wasn't able to practice the whole week. So that worked out good. Those guys, Kareem Moore is going to be special. He's got special ball skills. He's got a knack for finding the football. Really proud of Solomon though. That was maybe his first career start, and his last home game. So that's pretty cool. Played really well. Q. You mentioned Mike earlier. We know his story pretty well of sacrifice and commitment to this program. What are your emotions seeing him get this sort of payoff in this game? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, I mean, I think that was big for him. I really believe this. Every former player that I talk to and Coach Kush tells me, "Let me tell you something, how you're measured first and foremost as a Sun Devil, did you get it done in that game?" Period. Now everything else past that is big. We have our players, our former players, write messages about this game. We had one of the players that wrote the message about the '87 Rose Bowl, and how they won the championship, the conference championship, they won the Rose Bowl, but the one thing that they still have a bad taste in their mouth about is losing this game. I really appreciate them doing that, because the magnitude of this game is really, really big, not only to our players, but to our fans and everybody. So forever, Mike Bercovici got it done. So that's a big deal. We didn't win the Pac-12 Championship, but I have people tell me they'd rather win that than the Pac-12 Championship. So I'm not going to comment on that, but pretty dang important, I know that. I'd win both of them. Q. You guys in the fourth quarter you had two pick sixes. How big has forcing turnovers been in closing out games for you? COACH GRAHAM: Pretty big. I was so infuriated because we had played so well, and I mean, we get a 90-yard curl route? What was that? How does that happen? How do you go the whole game and play like that and give up that? So I think they do that to agitate me. So I was pretty agitated. But when you get them in that situation like that and you can tee off, and then you kind of back them up, and we've got guys that are really good athletes making plays, you put a little pressure on quarterbacks and they'll throw it to you. So that was big. It was fun. It was exciting. Just having faith in our guys that we're going to get it done and finish. Man, I love finishing that way. I love those pick sixes for touchdowns. I tell you what was interesting, I showed them every single turnover I think we've ever had in this game. The last thing I showed them was Damarious Randall's pick six. I said, I wonder what that feels like right there? That feels pretty good. It must make you feel like that. So we had some good -- I was really proud. Especially when Lloyd got his. Q. What did you see from Arizona's defense or your own guys that encouraged you to take those deep shots early in the game? COACH GRAHAM: Mike and the staff did a great job of I think preparing and planning, and what happens is we can run the ball. When we're physical running the football, you've got to load the box up to stop us. And we run the ball and make six, seven yards, if people have seven, eight guys in the box. So that squeezed them down there. We just found some things and he did a great job of making the call, and guys did a great job of executing. But I think it had a lot to do with us controlling the line of scrimmage, pounding, and being physical. Q. I was just wondering what it felt like going through that third quarter? Some offensive struggles. The 95-yard touchdown, and then you responded with one of your longest drives of the season on offense, and got a touchdown to put it up two scores. What was that whole feeling like on the sidelines going through that third quarter? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, it seems like -- I need to quit talking about it because I always tell them, hey, don't have a let down. Let's don't have -- I need to shut up. I think I'm making us have a letdown. It was not -- I was concerned. Even though I felt like we were under control because I didn't think they could sustain drives and score because I didn't think they could run the ball. So if we didn't give up cheap ones in the air, I thought they were going to struggle. Then we should have -- what we do is pressure and play man, and we should have. We made some bad calls, I thought, and got a little conservative and stuff. Because when we brought Heat today, it was hard for them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|