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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 16, 2017

Todd Graham

Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech - 52, Arizona State - 45

COACH GRAHAM: Just first off, proud of our guys, proud of the character they showed. Locker room, tough locker room in there, because I like how our guys don't like to lose and that was a incredible effort.

And it was 21-3 and we're snapping the ball on the ground. We turn the ball over. Feel like the brakes are coming off. And when you train them and you teach them and you don't cut corners, then that character comes out and then that character came out in a big way.

And we had the breakout game we wanted to have offensively. We just obviously at the end of the day gotta give them credit; they took the ball 90 yards to score, almost 90 yards there on that last drive.

But we thought our guys really felt like we were going to win that football game. And come back I think two different times down 18 and really proud of the effort, even though we're not about that stuff, we're about winning football games.

But just proud of the locker room. Proud of how the guys responded. It's the first time since I've been here that I talked to the team after the game and then we had our other players talk.

And so this team's definitely a together team. And at the end of the day we came up a little bit short.

Q. The punt before halftime, what were you guys trying to do there?
COACH GRAHAM: We were running a spread punt to -- we run it all the time. And they lined up like they do all the time, except we didn't block the guy. So it was a mental error.

And we missed a 23-yard field goal, I believe. But I'll tell you this, Brandon Ruiz, wow, that dude kicked the heck out of the football tonight.

I think he missed that first field goal because he was so gunned up. I said you've got to relax a little bit. That would have been big because we would have been three points up instead of even. But the blocked punt was a touchdown.

I mean, that was seven points. And so but I was really proud offensively how Manny has taken care of the ball. He took care of the football, didn't throw an interception. We had a bad snap, the only way we turned the football over. And we can't have that.

But I thought offensively we had the game we wanted to have. I thought N'Keal Harry did great things, Kyle. We looked like a read zone offense, man. We were coming out there on the triple and throwing it for a touchdown down the sidelines. I just thought our guys, man, they kept their head down.

They scored to make it 42. There was no -- nothing other than just eyes set and jaws set and going to work. And our guys -- they were determined to win the game.

At the end of the day, we just didn't play good enough. We couldn't stop them.

Q. Over 40 carries tonight. Obviously not a high yardage per carry for the two main backs. But the dedication to the run was there throughout. Was that really the game plan coming in, was to pound it?
COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, ours was to establish the rush. I thought we did that. Rushed for 168, 170 yards, threw for 326, 500 yards total offense, that's a pretty good outing. I thought our guys played well. I thought Coach Napier did a phenomenal job of calling the offense.

I felt like we were really close offensively. But the timing just wasn't down on it. And it was -- I thought he did a great job. And I thought we rushed the ball well. They did some nice things to try to counteract that, but we made good adjustments and I thought we moved -- I thought we established the run game, and that was big for us.

Q. You obviously put yourself behind the eight ball in the first half, but you rebounded defensively, had some stops and were getting it going. What was working there and what did you see about --
COACH GRAHAM: I mean, that's one of the reasons why, you know, in the last drive -- I've been pretty bold on fourth down most of the night. Because we just felt like we had to be. Went for it on our own end, fourth and one.

If we would have got anywhere close, these third and six, I believe, fourth and six, we felt like because we had stopped them, let's punt them pin them inside the 10 make them go 90 to score.

So that was -- we did -- I think our guys battled and it hurt losing Crump, I mean. But we just got behind so far in the first half that it made it tough. But we came back and tied the thing up and we were playing to win. But had to do it over again, I probably would have went for it.

But I think you have to do that right there because we felt like we can stop them. We had stopped them a couple times. And we were real close to making one or two plays.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH GRAHAM: I don't know. I just walked right in here and talked to the team and came in here with you guys. I hope not.

Q. You said you let the players talk the first time --
COACH GRAHAM: No, they wanted to.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH GRAHAM: Just because they care that much. I think our team is really close. It's because they're leaders. Man, I think that it's -- very few people ever want to talk in front of the whole team, except for me.

No, I just think the guys, it means a lot to them, man. It means a lot to be a Sun Devil. And I think they're bonding.

You go through hard times, tough times, it bonds you together. At the end of the day we've gone and played three nonconference games. Conference starts next week.

And I think even though we came up short, I think we stepped forward tonight as far as getting some things going in a positive direction.

Q. Dylan Cantrell was having a big game. You end up making a switch and Chase Lucas comes in. How do you feel he did tonight?
COACH GRAHAM: Chase did a good job. Demonte King did a good job. Evan Fields played some special teams. Get those guys playing more snaps. That's the first time Demonte and Evan have been available. And I thought Chase did a nice job when he came in there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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