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PAC-12 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: WASHINGTON vs UTAH

November 30, 2018

Santa Clara, California

Washington - 10, Utah - 3

CHRIS PETERSEN: That\'s what defense is doing. So he took it in his own hands tonight. I\'m proud of Jake. Those guys were good the first time we played them, and they were better the second time. And we kind of knew that going in.

I think we controlled. We did some good things. We just couldn\'t get things done in the red zone. We converted some third downs. We had some long drives. But, again, it\'s a good red zone defense, and hat\'s off to those guys. But I\'m happy for our fans. I\'m happy for these guys, and I\'m happy for everybody in Seattle.

Q. You went for it on fourth down a couple times, and sometimes in not so great field position. Will you just talk us through. Was that confidence in your offense or defense or?
CHRIS PETERSEN: Well, it\'s a little bit of everything. I do think, first and foremost, that Peyton\'s got a good leg. He can make field goals. He\'s proved it all season long. We also want to put him in a position where he can succeed. And we have confidence in our offensive line, whether we need to run it or not.

And I think you\'re just trying to play, get a feel for the game and what is best. It was probably going to go for it on that last fourth down, and then you look at the score and you\'re thinking, okay, one more field goal. That really separates us. It\'s certainly in Peyton\'s wheelhouse to hit that. Just kind of mis-hit it a little bit.

Q. You see the ball bouncing around, and what are you thinking with that?
BYRON MURPHY: Once Coach called the defense, I just knew everyone had an assignment, and the ball came short, and the receiver slipped and the ball came in the air, and I knew I had to make that play. As soon as the ball came in, I knew I had to get my hands on it and get the pick six.

CHRIS PETERSEN: I think it\'s one of those plays that how does that happen? But if there are eleven guys out there (Indiscernible).

Q. It\'s really been easy this year, and to finally get that moment to go to Pasadena, what\'s that feel like?
JAKE BROWNING: It\'s a special feeling. I don\'t think it\'s totally set in yet, just because we beat a really good Utah team, and still excited about that. But, yeah, I think once it sets in, I grew up in California, and watched a lot of Rose Bowls and to be able to play in one now, it\'s a special game, and this is a special team, and definitely excited.

Q. Chris, how have you seen the pass rush these past couple weeks?
CHRIS PETERSEN: You know, I think we have taken a step forward. I think Coach Lake, Coach Kwiat, those guys do a great job of mixing blitzes and sending different guys to the quarterback, and we\'re getting there. Even if we don\'t get them on the ground, we\'re getting them off the spot and on the pocket, and it\'s been pretty effective.

Q. Coach, you certainly won your fair share of conference championships here in the Mountain West. But I feel like every season has had its own tone. Mentioned earlier, nothing\'s been easy to get that title. How would you compare this to other years?
CHRIS PETERSEN: Yeah, they are all different. I think they\'re always really hard. That\'s the one thing that I think people just take certain things for granted sometimes because we have players coming back, and we have experience. You know, it\'s just a hard process when you get anointed before you earn anything.

I think it can be really hard on the guys, and because we play really good teams. Not only in our conference, but outside of it. And there is a lot of parity and everybody knows everybody really well, and we see it every year. Like how does that team beat that team? How do you go down there? That\'s just college football.

So for these guys to keep reloading and keep fighting you know is really, really impressive. I mean, it might be more impressive than a lot of the other ones certainly in my career because it has not been easy. But that\'s what we talk about from day one when we get these kids in our program.

You know, life isn\'t easy. A Pac-12 championship, is not going to be easy. It\'s not reality. If it happens, go buy lottery tickets because it\'s not going to be like that. That\'s just luck. It is a grind, it\'s hard. It\'s year-round. All those things. You know, figure out a way to get it done.

Q. Playing four seasons now, comparing programs with two conference championships in three years, from when you came in as a freshman, what do you think has been key in terms of the evolution of the program to reach this point?
JAKE BROWNING: It\'s kind of hard to take four years and put it into one sentence on what this program is now. But I think there is definitely more of an expectation to win. And like Coach P said, Pac-12 championships are hard, but that\'s kind of the standard we\'ve set around here.

I think people have come to work every day, trying to get better for four years, and we\'re reaping the benefits of it now. I don\'t think it\'s that this coach has been here this long or these guys are getting older. You see teams all the time that people come back year after year, and they\'re that close to getting it done.

Then I think being that close and getting it done takes a lot of hard work. That\'s the main thing is how hard everybody has worked for four years to get to this point.

Q. How instrumental has this class been, this group of seniors, in terms of establishing the standard of the program?
CHRIS PETERSEN: Yeah, it seems like it was yesterday when they came in in some ways, but they\'ve been here a long time. And we thought we had some really good players when we got them. We really did. You don\'t know until you put them through the grind. But we knew they were good players and we felt the type of people they were, but you don\'t know until they go through all these hard things.

So you start with that, and couple them with these other guys that are difference makers, and we\'ve just been able to do that. But I think a lot of it goes back to those guys that came back way back when.

Q. Chris, it seems like low-scoring games, these low-scoring games are increasingly rare in college football. Can you describe what it\'s like to get into a game like this, how it may differ?
CHRIS PETERSEN: It\'s really hard to describe, because we\'re so excited about our defense out there, and in some ways to frustrated on the other side. Now, we will some nice long drives against a really, really good defense. We held the ball, we ran the ball, we made some plays. We just couldn\'t get things done like we needed to. One or two more plays in the red zone, had we been able to get another field goal or another touchdown, we kind of feared it would be that type of game.

So I think you\'re really proud of them for moving the ball. At times it looked really good. We ate up a lot of clock, and kept our defense off the field. So that was really positive. But for us to score three points on offense, we\'re kind of going, ha? But I\'ve said this before. We won a game back in the day. It was the highest scoring game in college football at the time. It was 69-67, and I think that year or a year later, we won a game 7-6, and our defense scored a touchdown. So that\'s the beauty of college football. And that\'s the beauty of a team fighting together.

Q. Can you describe the pick, the bounce, in your words, how it happened so fast? At any point on that 66 yards that you thought it might be the only touchdown in the game?
BYRON MURPHY: I just knew after that play, the ball came up and I knew I had to make the play. The opportunity was there, and I made sure I took it. Going in, we knew as a defense we had to come to play. This whole week of practice, the defense has been going hard on practice, knowing they were going to come to play, and the defense had to play better throughout this whole game.

CHRIS PETERSEN: I\'m just glad he didn\'t get caught. When I saw him come back, I\'m like, please, keep going.

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PAC-12 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: WASHINGTON vs UTAH

November 30, 2018

Jake Browning

Byron Murphy

Chris Petersen