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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 23, 2017

Jim Mora

Stanford, California

UCLA - 34, Stanford - 58

JIM MORA: Terribly disappointed. You can take the other ones before and throw them out. It's just always about this one. And a lot of things were going right and then all of a sudden they started to go wrong and we got the pass and had the field goal blocked, we had a chance to go up seven and then all of a sudden we ended up with four turnovers, we couldn't tackle, we had, we didn't take care of the ball. We had PI's in critical situations and it just steam rolled. It's an incredibly disappointing feeling for all of us. These young men work so hard, this staff works so hard, and we were ready, we came out and we were playing well and then it just went the wrong way. So I can promise you this, that we will stay together, these guys are committed, I have always been a glass is half full guy and I'll continue to be. I believe that great things can still happen for us this season and I believe that they will. And the reason I believe that is because I get the chance to be with those guys every single day and it's rise up. I promise UCLA fans we will rise up. We will absolutely rise up. We hear them down there celebrating, it's excruciating, but I promise you this too, every man in that room, every woman that comes on this trip with us, every female, every male, we're all doing our best and we just got to find a way to be better and so we'll continue to look at everything like we always do and we'll rise up. I can promise you that. We will rise up.

Q. Early on it seemed like you guys were doing a pretty good job containing the run. It seemed like something turned. What do you think led to that?
JIM MORA: Well a lot of big plays. The missed tackles. That's what it was. We missed tackles. The guy's a good back, but when you miss tackles on a good back and he's elusive and fast in the open field, it's very difficult. So he got past a couple pressures then cut it back and so, you know, I never, I can't remember ever being around a run defense that gives up so many big plays in my career. It's something we work really hard on.

Q. Is it salvageable, the defense? It seems like you guys have been doing a lot of things.
JIM MORA: We're close. We're constantly searching for answers. We came out tonight and boy up to a certain point we were playing lights out. Then we have had -- when you're struggling on defense, it takes everybody to help and so when you go on the road and you're struggling on defense and I'm not pointing the finger at anybody except for ourselves and you have so many turnovers, that's hard. That's hard. When you're struggling on defense, it's hard no matter what, but when you're struggling on defense it makes it harder. And our offense is tremendous. Josh does some great things. Soso played well tonight Laz came up big. So I don't want to sound like I'm ever being hyper critical or pointing the finger, but when you are struggling on defense you just can't turn it over. You just can't turn it over and we have done that. So, but we still got to tackle. We got to tackle.

Q. You referenced the sequence of the dropped pass and blocked field goal. How much of a momentum shift do you think that was?
JIM MORA: Well that was a huge momentum shift but that shouldn't be an excuse, we should be able to stem the tide and we didn't.

Q. How surprised are you that the defense was expected to be such a strength coming into this season, has it really happened?
JIM MORA: No, it hasn't. It's disappointing terribly to have the ball run on us like we have, it's painful. It's very, very painful. We were playing well on defense and we were stopping the run and we were stopping the pass and then it just, it went south on us and we couldn't get stops and the guys started to try too hard and we over pursued and missed tackles and losing Pickett hurts us, obviously, he's a great player for us back there, so, but like I said, before you came in, we're going to just, I believe we'll rise up, I really, I believe in the bottom of my heart that this team is going to be really good this year.

Q. You mentioned Adarius Pickett, I know it's one player, but how big was that losing him, do you think, compared to the momentum defense?
JIM MORA: We just had some -- we have suffered some injuries on defense or guys getting removed from games because of this new emphasis on the targeting that have hurt us. But that's not an excuse for giving up 400 something yards rushing. That's just not good. But I'm struggling right now to understand the targeting. I understand the emphasis on player safety and on I'm a huge proponent of it. These are young guys that are playing as amateurs, but it's tough to understand right now how these young men are supposed to tackle because their guy got ejected and our guy got ejected and I was standing right there for both of them and they were just football plays. They were just simply football plays. So that's hard. But like I said, I do understand the emphasis on player safety and I am a proponent of it. But we have got to find the right mix and I'm sure we will.

Q. You mentioned a lot of UCLA fans right now are kind of upset about this result.
JIM MORA: Well, they're upset and we're upset too. These guys work their tails off and they're very upset.

Q. I'm sure there's going to be some talk is Mora on the hot seat, that kind of stuff. How much does that concern, that idea concern you?
JIM MORA: It doesn't. Here's my philosophy in life and in coaching, and this is it will never change. I go to work every day and I have for the last whatever 30 something years and do the very, very best that I can. Every day. I've never cheated a day and I'll never cheat a day. And I can live with that. And I'll never cheat this university, I'll never cheat this team, I'll never cheat these fans, I'll never cheat the alums, I'll never cheat the students. I'll give them my very, very best every single second that I'm here.

Q. That said, it is a results-oriented business. Are you under the assumption, though -- you say you have faith that this is going to turn around. But if it doesn't.
JIM MORA: I don't worry about that. I'm worried about right now just helping our young guys recover from this, helping them get back on track, that's my concern. My concern is not with myself. My concern is with those 120 young men that are looking for someone to teach them how to handle adversity. That's what my concern is. So like I said, I do the best I can every day and I always will and it's just the way I'm built.

Q. Do you feel you have to keep that noise out of the locker room?
JIM MORA: We don't listen to noise. We just don't. You would be surprised these guys they don't read the paper, they don't really watch TV. I'm talking about -- they really don't. And this generation, it's just a different generation, as you know. So, no, I don't worry about the noise. We don't worry about the noise. When it's going well, we try to shut the noise out and when it's going less than well we do the same thing, we try to shut the noise out. Because really what matters is the voices within the locker room, not necessarily the voices outside the locker room, to us and what we're trying to get accomplished.

Q. How did you feel about the team heading into the game and how was practices this week?
JIM MORA: Great. It was great. I mean it was great up until, like I said, we dropped the pass and missed the field goal, we were rolling. We were playing fantastic. We had energy, we had enthusiasm. We hit halftime, we felt really good about things. Felt like we were charged up and going to come back. And our energy was good, our effort was good. And then big plays just will kill you. Big plays either way. Big plays being turnovers, big plays being those breakout runs that this guy had. So it was awful. It's an awful feeling. And you asked about UCLA fans and how they feel, I don't want them to feel bad, I'm committed to this program, committed to this university, and I can promise you this, it hurts worse for those young men in there and those are the guys that I feel for the most.

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