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SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL: MICHIGAN STATE VS WASHINGTON STATEDecember 28, 2017Mike LeachDavontavean MartinTyler HilinskiJalen ThompsonSan Diego, California Michigan State 42, Washington State 17 MIKE LEACH: Offensively I thought -- the first half I thought some of our youth on offense was exposed the first half but they we got in sync, but it started to get away from us and we didn't get 'em off the field the second half either. Q. Coach, you're now 3-9 in season opener and conclusions. Can you elaborate on why it's been so tough? MIKE LEACH: Well, I don't know if that's the case. You can do all your little stats and scenarios and all those goofy things, but you can also review how Washington State has done prior to our players and our staff getting here and maybe then you can find some answers there and you seem like a sharp young man. Next? Q. (No microphone.) MIKE LEACH: Luke is doing exactly what we want Luke to do and Luke has had a fine career here and also done a great deal for the program, probably more than most people will ever realize. We felt like Tyler was the ideal guy to start with our lineup today, and so he's the one we selected. So that's what happened there. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE LEACH: I thought we had pretty good effort early. I thought we had good effort early. You know, I also thought that their quarterback did a really good job of keeping us all at the same time they needed to keep players something like that. Their quarterback did a good job of converting a third down, things like that and we gave up some things explosively defensively that I thought were uncharacteristic of the season. Q. Coach, did you have a chance to talk to your seniors leading into this game about what they meant specifically to you personally or to the program? MIKE LEACH: We talked about that with our entire group of which we won't share any of that with you. Q. Coach, was Luke -- I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. MIKE LEACH: You're going to remain unclear on it. Next question. Q. You don't want to comment on that? MIKE LEACH: I don't comment on that. Are you new? Q. Been around for 30 years. MIKE LEACH: For 25 of those I haven't commented on injuries. Q. Thanks for your time, Coach. Q. Coach, you've done such a terrific job at Washington State in your time there. I know it's disappointing to end on a loss, but are you able to appreciate how far this program has come under your leadership? MIKE LEACH: The one thing that is indisputable is we had a tremendous season. We had a better season than most people expected. Probably a few games short of what we as a team expected, as coaches, as players, a few games short of what we expected, but it was a good season for us and one where we got plenty of space to improve on. Q. Coach, what did you think of Tyler's performance in the first start for him? MIKE LEACH: I thought once he got in a rhythm he did well. I thought he did well once he got in the rhythm and pushed the ball down field pretty well. The biggest thing, Michigan State kept us off the field and we squandered some opportunities on third down and Michigan State kept us off the field so we didn't get the ball as often as we would like. Q. Tonight you had a tough time getting things going through the run and then explosives and that's been a bit of a trend this season -- MIKE LEACH: I didn't hear the first part of your question. Q. Seems like you had a tough time getting the ground game going, and, generating explosive plays. Why do you think it's been a bit of a struggle this year? MIKE LEACH: I don't know that it's been a bit of a struggle and I think some of what's been identified as a struggle is explosive displays compared to what some of our teams have done in the past. I do think we're capable of more explosive plays than we've gotten but I think compared to a lot of teams we have quite a lot of explosive plays. Q. Coach, you've had 4 losses by 21 points, do you have an explanation for that? MIKE LEACH: I don't gauge 'em by points. I think you go out there and try to win the game and sometimes you have to take chances if you're going to win the game. We're not one of those guys that are going to win at the finish line and keep it as close as we can and some style point -- it's closer, could have been worse. That's pointless. The point is to win the game so we're going to take chances that could potentially put us in it. But with that there is a cost to that and you will lose by more points. I don't see that as terribly significant. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE LEACH: Yes, we missed him in the first half and any conversations I have with him on whether he's coming back or what he's doing I will share with him and probably not anybody in here. I will tell you when you guys start getting invitations to these meetings and stuff you ask me about, when we ask you to the meeting we'll probably have some hors d'oeuvres, maybe tea, coffee, might even ask you what you like. But you guys can figure about the time we start inviting you to these meetings is about the time we're going to tell you this stuff. Q. Coach, you don't think there has been an issue with having more than a week off preparationwise for you in your tenure here? MIKE LEACH: Next question. Q. Coach, the busted coverage in that play for them, 49-yarder, can you talk about that play? Did that seem to affect your team? MIKE LEACH: I think it affected our team. You know, I think collectively a lot of things affected our team. I do think that affected our team. I think, you know, the quick answer is, yeah, our eyes weren't in the right place and sometimes things are going to work out for the other guy and sometimes he's going to have a big play. But then, you know, the answer is just do your job and continue to execute the defense, but I did think we unravelled a little bit after that play. Q. Early in the season we heard you talk about how you thought the Pac-12 could be one of the more competitive conferences in the country. After a couple of match-ups between Pac 12 teams and facing off against other conferences and your game today, is that something you think you would still argue for and validate? MIKE LEACH: We're going to have a tough time sorting that until conferences play the same schedules, the same amount of conference games and until we have a more expanded playoff format, I think. I do think, though, that in our conference we're tested in a unique way that we're not -- that other teams in other conferences aren't because I do think from top to bottom that we have a very tough conference and of course you get body punched throughout the year. I do think that potentially has a cumulative affect. THE MODERATOR: Last question for Coach, then for the players. Q. Luke came out and was warming up. Was that a game time decision or did you know today that he wasn't going to play? MIKE LEACH: I guess we had a sense of it, yeah. We had a sense of it that he wasn't going to play. Which is unfortunate because of what he's done here but we have to look out for what's in his best interest of him and the other players. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players? Q. Did Coach tell you that this might be his last hurrah with these guys? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Next question. Q. What happened on that 49 yard touchdown? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Guys had their eyes in the wrong place and we didn't executed the coverage. Q. Gentleman, I would like to ask you about the physicality of the game. Talk about that from your perspectives, please? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Michigan State was a physical team. They dominated us in all three aspects of the game. I thought they were a really well coached team and physical throughout all four quarts. Q. Just wondering what was the difference these last two games, mostly because Utah and Stanford were fairly similar when you looked at the film and you guys had great performances against them, but against Washington and Michigan State this happened. JALEN THOMPSON: Just didn't go our way, there is no real answer for it. We just didn't come out and do our jobs. Q. Tyler, the previous two games coming off the bench you have been able to throw the ball down field what was giving you trouble the first half? TYLER HILINSKI: We weren't executing. We missed a couple of third downs. We had a drop, an out-of-bounds. We weren't able to do what we wanted and a lot of that was me missing reads and stuff. We weren't able to get it down field. Q. Jalen, their quarterback seemed to keep you guys off balance was it tough defending against a good scrambler? JALEN THOMPSON: Yeah, it was tough guarding him. Him rolling out like that at bottom time waiting for our receivers to get open. So he made our job today kind of hard but like I said we didn't do our jobs and didn't execute. Q. Tyler, it appeared that Luke was fairly emotional. Did you get a sense of how difficult it was for him not to play tonight? TYLER HILINSKI: Not being able to go out with the seniors that came in and really change the culture of this program, it's done. Luke is a great guy and he's done a lot of great things through this program and not being able to go out one last time with his team was frustrating. Q. How did you feel like your play was not tonight? TYLER HILINSKI: We didn't win so it wasn't good. Q. (No microphone.) TYLER HILINSKI: We just weren't executing really is what it came down to and the three and outs killed us. They had the ball for a long time and kept us off the field and we couldn't get in a rhythm. Q. Tyler, from week 1 to today, can you describe to us the transformation that the team and obviously you're here starting the final game, how different the team looks now in the final weeks? TYLER HILINSKI: Yeah, we have been plagued with injuries all year. I mean, that's football, though. You've got to play next man up, play the next play, just gotta get better at doing our jobs. Q. Tay, was there anything that changes for you when you guys got on a roll there? DAVONTAVEAN MARTIN: Nothing changed. I just played harder. We executed a little better when we got into our rhythm. Q. (No microphone.) JALEN THOMPSON: I'm not sure. I think when they came back they were getting plays off on us and they were driving it down the field, so overall as a defense we didn't do our jobs. Q. Tay, what do you think Michigan State did that caused you guys some problems the first quarters? DAVONTAVEAN MARTIN: Kept us off the field, offense was running out of time and stuff, couldn't get our rhythm in, we wasn't executing. They didn't do much and we didn't execute, so couldn't get our rhythm. Q. Jalen, when you finish like this, going back to Washington after having a blowout, how does that affect the season? JALEN THOMPSON: I think we had a good season, the seniors stepped up and this was their last game and they played hard and I still think we had a good season even though we lost the last two games. Q. Jalen, can you speak to how the rumors of the coaching changes and perhaps Coach Grinch leaving might have -- has it registered for you guys how you have been interpreting these things that have been coming across your radar? JALEN THOMPSON: No, we try not to worry about any of that. We just try to go out there and do our jobs and play. Q. Tay, how did you feel out there coming along, and down the stretch as far as the season goes? DAVONTAVEAN MARTIN: I felt good, getting comfortable with my teammates. It feels good, you know? Q. Tyler, what have you seen from Tay? TYLER HILINSKI: He's getting more comfortable. Tay came in a little bit raw. He's gotten really precise at his routes and he goes 110% on his routes and I can trust him when I throw him the ball. THE MODERATOR: Thanks guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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