Nov. 21, 2011

ON GETTING BACK ON TRACK FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
“I know we can get back on track because I know personally the players and the coaches in this building. I know their personalities. I know their work ethics. I know the drive that they have within themselves. And that’s why I have the confidence that we can get back on track and finish this season the way we should. In saying that, we have a lot of work to do this week, but we are very capable of doing it. We look forward to the challenge and we will see what happens." 

ON OUR CURRENT RANK IN THE PAC-12:
“It’s definitely a little surprising. To be honest, I definitely did not see us sitting in the position that we are in right now; but, that’s just life for you. Sometimes, things don’t go the way you had planned them to and life throws you a curveball. I am a little bit surprised. But all you can do is keep your head down, keep working and try to make the best out of the situation that you’re in.”

ON ELIGIBILITY FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
“I didn’t think we had a great chance of still winning the championship after we had lost. I don’t think it was until, maybe, Sunday morning or afternoon when I got a text explaining the situation. To be real, I was very surprised. It was great news, surprising news. That’s the beautiful thing about the situation we’re in – we can still reach our goals that we had set for this football team at the beginning of the year. Did we do it in the fashion that we had hoped for? No, but there’s still a chance for it.”

ON ERICKSON’S JOB SECURITY:
“That’s a situation that I don’t pay much attention to. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I was taught since Coach Mazzone has been here – we have kind of related it to on the field stuff – don’t worry about the things you can’t control. That’s one of the things that I can’t control. This week, I’m just focused on Cal - finding a game plan on a way to beat their defense and taking care of business at home.”

ON LESSONS FROM THE TERRITORIAL CUP GAME FILM:
“We killed ourselves with a couple of penalties. We’d get ourselves into first and fifteens, second and twenty, stuff like that. We were put into some very difficult situations because of penalties. Obviously, the turnovers came at very crucial time and not in a good position. As far as not scoring, that’s really what it was. We would get ourselves down in the red zone and we just couldn’t quite find a way to get it in the end zone for some points. That’s something that I’m going to study a little bit more, even into today. Looking at Cal, we’re just trying to figure out a way to put some points up on that board.”

ON THE RUMORS OF THE TEAM REGRESSING:
“I don’t know if we think that we’ve regressed. We haven’t played to our capabilities. Fortunately for us, we have another opportunity Friday night to go out there and play to our capabilities and what we’re capable of doing. I don’t know if we’ve regressed. We just haven’t played as well as we could. That’s something that we need to focus on this week and get back to playing this to our potential.”

ON ISSUES IN THE RED ZONE:
“I don’t know. That’s kind of the big thing that I’m studying when I watch these tapes right now is trying to figure out why this is happening. What’s something that has maybe gone on the past three weeks that is kind of looking like the same thing? I just can’t put my hand on it right now. I’m going to continue to work at that today and try to figure it out. But, this is something that needs to get cleaned up and it should be for Friday night.” 

ON SENIOR NIGHT:
“Senior night is huge. Seniors put so much time and effort into a football program, that the proper thing to do as an underclassman is to send them out on the right note. Give it your all in that football game to make sure that you win it so that seniors leave with the legacy that they should. The senior class that we have, I can’t say enough about them. Some of those guys are some of my best friends in the world. The things that they’ve done for this football program really are unbelievable, whether the wins and losses show it or not. As an underclassman, I can honestly tell you that I’m going to give everything that I have this week. I know the rest of the guys will, to make sure those seniors leave on the right note.”

ON Gerell Robinson:
“G-Rob has done a tremendous job of getting better all year. He has had his ears open to the coaches, really soaked in everything that they have been encouraging him to do. He just has a lot of hunger to get the football right now. He’s a determined wide receiver. He’s always out there trying to make big plays and do what’s best for the football team. He’s really stepped up his game in the past couple of weeks and made my job easy by getting open for me.”

ON CAL’S DEFENSE:
“They’re extremely athletic, especially their defensive line. Those guys really impress me up front. Overall, I would say their entire defense has a lot of teams to beat. In saying that, this is one of the better defenses that we have played all season. We really have our work cut out for us offensively this week. We need to have a great week of preparation so we’re ready for the looks that they’re going to throw at us Friday night.”

ON Dan Knapp:
“Dan is a Sun Devil for life. He’s been through more adverse situations in his football career here. He’s been bounced around from this position to that position. He’s never complained about it once. He’s always had a positive outlook and works extremely hard. I think that showed when he won a weight room award this off-season. He’s the hard had champion. That’s just Dan Knapp. He’s one of our hardest working guys, one of our toughest guys. He’s a Sun Devil for life and he’s the role model that you want for a football player." 

ON LAST YEAR’S CAL GAME AS MOTIVATION FOR FRIDAY NIGHT:
“As a competitor, you never want to go out and lose in the fashion that we did last year at Cal. It was embarrassing, to be real. We do have a lot of motivation in turning that loss around this football season and making things right with Cal." 

ON THOUGHTS TO EXPLAIN OUR POSITION IN THE PAC-12 THIS YEAR:
“I honestly haven’t sensed anything different. It’s just, come game day, the results haven’t been very good the past couple of weeks. I really don’t know what has been going on. I haven’t noticed a regression or how people are practicing different during the week or anything. It’s just, come game day, we’re just not ending up with the win. In saying that, we just have to go out this week and we have to continue to work and practice harder than we have practiced all year.  Hopefully, things will work out for us Friday night.”