TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: COLORADO v OREGON

January 1, 2002

Justin Bannan

Gary Barnett

Roman Hollowell

ROMAN HOLLOWELL: I don't think we really went into the game underestimating them. We knew what they were capable of. They were 10-1; so they had to be a good team if they went 10-1. We just didn't execute, didn't make enough plays to win the ballgame and they made more plays.

ROMAN HOLLOWELL: I mean, I guess you really can't say. The National Championship game is Miami and Nebraska. I mean, I don't know.

ROMAN HOLLOWELL: They just stepped up to the challenge. We've been running the ball well all year. They stopped our run. The receivers, we didn't -- we didn't make enough plays on the receiving end. We just stepped up to the challenge. They just stopped the run, stopped our whole offense entirely. You have to give credit to their defensive staff and defensive players. They just rose up to the occasion.

JUSTIN BANNAN: At this point, it's a tough pill to swallow. There's no doubt about it. We came out with great intentions. I felt every practice we had leading up to this Bowl game was our best practice. It just seemed like everything was clicking in the right direction. To come out and have a day like this, it was just one of those days where the ball didn't bounce our way. We had some tough penalties. You know, things just did not fall our way and that happens sometimes in this game.

ROMAN HOLLOWELL: I really can't say. I really can't say. We just didn't make plays. We just didn't step up to the challenge today. Just like Justin said, I felt like we prepared well. We prepared day-in and day-out. I guess today just was not our day.

JUSTIN BANNAN: I'm not going to let this take away from what we accomplished this season. To go 3-8 a year ago and turn it around like we did, to set a standard for the rest of the classes coming through, I would not change it for the world. Today what happened happened. But as far as being Big 12 Champs, and beating the No. 1 and 3 teams in the BCS, you really can't have it any other way. I can't say enough good things about this team that we have. Even though today didn't turn out the way that we wanted it, I have no regrets.

JUSTIN BANNAN: I don't think so. I think we practiced great. I know you guys try to make us think about the Rose Bowl a lot, but we did not let that happen. Like I said, today was one of those days, the ball just didn't bounce our way.

COACH BARNETT: Well, obviously, Oregon did not get our best shot tonight. It's disappointing. I'm disappointed for our fan, all of the fans that came down, disappointed for the Fiesta Bowl that we did not give them a better game. And I don't have an explanation. Just like Roman and Justin said, we prepared well. Oregon certainly played well. They are a very good football team. You don't get to this game unless you are a really good football team. They ran the ball well. I think critical plays for us were the two 3rd down conversions that we did not convert on 3rd and 1. And offensively, we didn't run the ball as effectively as we have through the course of the year. For us to get into those two situations and not convert, probably took the wind out of our sails. It was pretty much indicative of the night. I don't think we executed very well early. And then the two things I was most concerned about going into this game is tackling; and, certainly, did not tackle well. I would say if there's one thing on our defense that really hurt us, one thing I could point out right away, was our tackling. So, overall, fundamentally, we did not play as a very good football team. We turned the ball over three times -- or at least three times -- and interceptions. Just overall tackling -- we had double coverage on the first two touchdown passes and they were great throws, but we did not execute our double coverage very well. You know, we just didn't -- we were not able to bounce back from that. I think the opening drive in the second half was just a critical drive for Oregon and we were not just not able to come back. I don't know if I would call it a meltdown, but we did not execute well. It's certainly disappointing because our guys have really practiced well and done well, and I think this one was a bit of a surprise for all of us.

COACH BARNETT: They are a three-step passing team, and it doesn't do you a whole lot of good to bring pressure on three-step passing teams. The one time we brought it, they hurt us with it. So, we were trying to defend them more than necessarily trying to put pressure on them. In the end, Oregon did not do anything different. They just executed their offense and broke a lot of tackles. The one run was a heck of a run by the young man; it was a great play. We just missed so many tackles and gave up easy first-down drives for conversions -- we had been a combination of where our defense has played off of our offense all year, and we have been able to possess the football and move the football and move our defense down the field; we didn't play off each other very well today.

COACH BARNETT: Yeah, I think so, but I don't have a vote. I went into the game and said whoever won this game, I felt if Nebraska won, deserved to be a co-champion, and I certainly feel that way. Oregon played very, very well, with a lot of heart, a lot of speed. If I could vote for them, I would vote for them.

COACH BARNETT: Probably was. And when I watched it, I knew it was close. The replay sort of -- I could not tell from the replay -- you guys have to tell me. I knew it was going to be a close call when he threw it. But, yeah, that was, obviously, a big play that hurt us. We knew we dropped a key third down pass there. We just didn't execute very well. In a game like this, if you don't execute, you end up like we did.

COACH BARNETT: I think sometimes your hometown media has a tendency to think the other team is not as good as the team that's going in to play them. As I said, told everybody the first of the year, I picked Oregon to be the No. 1 team in the country, based on who they had coming back and what I saw them do a year ago, and so I voted them No. 1 for six straight weeks, I think. Yeah, I knew he was good, and I knew that we would have to play our best game in order to beat them.

COACH BARNETT: Well, I tell what you, we never -- they never let us get on track. They blitzed us a lot at the point of attack. We had trouble with the speed at their linebacker position. It's hard to replicate that in practice a little bit, and I think that hurt us, not playing against that kind of speed in practice.

COACH BARNETT: No.

COACH BARNETT: I think that always does. We tried to practice just like we had all year, but you don't do a lot of live tackling off the secondary. We did more tackling on the inside. We did a pretty good job on the run, except the one play. Our inside seven I thought did a good job stopping the run, but we had trouble with the secondary, and that's the area you really don't do as much tackling in. It showed up tonight, and they were able to take advantage of the three steps and get the ball to the receivers and we missed a lot of tackles.

COACH BARNETT: I'll be able to -- there will be a little bit of a hangover from this, for me, and then we'll get back and start recruiting. It's hard -- in a game like, this you want to look at it as a reward for your players, a reward for the season. But the magnitude of it, the opportunity that was here for us and to let it slip -- not even slip by, just let it run right by us, you know, that concerns me for next year. It concerns me for our team, and, you know, why it was that we didn't play better. I'll look at that. That will probably consume me more than thinking about how good that 10-2 season was prior to this game.