Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State-USC Postgame Quotes
Nov. 24, 2018
Fresno, Calif.
Jeff Tedford, Fresno State Head Coach
On his overall feeling after the loss…
“Not very good. We came here to win a football game and we didn’t get that done. I am proud of the team for the way that they competed and fought until the very end, but at the end of the day, it is all about winning the game and we didn’t get that done. There was a lot of great learning experiences for us in that game. We had a lot of new players against a really good USC football team. We give them credit, they did a really nice job. We will go back, look at this and learn from it. We look to improve off of it.”
On the turning point…
“The kickoff return was a big play. We had a bit of momentum there and we let them get loose. They made a big play and we didn’t execute very well. Any time you get a kickoff return for a touchdown, that’s a big play of the game.”
On Jorge Reyna learning from this start…
“No question. He will definitely build off of this. He had his first start against a very aggressive and good team. We missed some balls but next time out, he will know what to do with it. He missed a couple of big ones tonight, but again, he is under duress. I thought he competed really well. At the end, he put the ball right on him. That happens sometimes, when you see a guy so wide open, you have to give the safety some credit, he made a lot of ground and made a great play on the ball. It was a great learning experience for his first time out, but I thought Jorge competed really well and really hard. He ran the ball and made some key plays for us with his legs. I think it is a great step for him to be under fire against a really good football team like USC.”
On the interception in the end zone…
“It is a learning opportunity. Sometimes you have guys so wide open that you just want to get them the ball. You have to give their safety a lot of credit, he covered a lot of ground to get there and made a great play on the ball.”
On USC’s speed…
“They are a talented team. Their running backs run really hard and they have great vision. I thought early on in the game that we didn’t tackle well, then I thought that we settled in and tackled a little bit better. USC is a talented group. They have a great receiving corp, a really talented running back and they are a really good football team.”
On Jalen Cropper…
“I thought he did a nice job. It wasn’t too big for him by any means. We played quite a few freshmen tonight, but it wasn’t too big for them at all. He stuck his foot down and got down the field a few times. He made some guys miss. He is elusive with the ball in his hands and I thought he competed really well.”
On Chris Coleman…
“Chris made a couple of big plays for us with the touchdown and the catch at the end. You go down the roster and see the guys who played their first game tonight, we had three guys on the line, some receivers and a couple of tight ends. Like I said, I thought they competed well. There is going to be a lot from this tape that we can look at and improve on, like in any game. I told the team to hold their heads high. They competed well against a great football team. We will go back to the drawing board and we will learn. I have a lot of confidence in this group. We will go back to work and we will fix some things and compete next week.”
On what he learned about the team tonight…
“We were down by three scores. We kept fighting back and made a big fourth down stop. That is what I anticipate from our guys. They work hard and they take a lot of pride in what they do. Individually, we have to identify what we are doing and who is doing it, as you do in any game. This is no different than any other game.”
Jorge Reyna, QB, Sr.
On his first start…
“Being out there felt good, especially being out there with my family an keep attacking. We’re going to look back at the film. I had a lot of mistakes. We had a lot of opportunities. I just need to watch the tape and evaluate everything.”
On the speed of USC…
“At this level, everyone is the same speed. We have fast guys, and they have fast guys. We just couldn’t pull it off today.”
On plays that he wants to replay…
“Yeah, there are a few plays. The fumble in the red zone, the interception and a subpar throw that I made to Ronnie (Rivers).”
On his performance…
“There are a lot of mistakes that I personally made and some that we made as a team. So we’ll have to watch the film, and start game planning for Minnesota tomorrow. “
On the final throw…
“That was a designed play. We got the look that we wanted. I didn’t drill the pass like I normally do; I put some air on it. Unfortunately, the safety made a great play and intercepted it.”
On what he learned about himself tonight…
“I’ve always had a tough journey. It’s never been easy for me with family life, football and academics. I just wanted to show the Red Wave that I can fight, no matter what happens and lead.”
On what he took from Chris Coleman’s catch…
“Belief. Chris Coleman has always been capable of making those kinds of catches. He went out there and proved himself. Unfortunately I didn’t attack him more, and get him more touches.”
Mykal Walker, LB, Sr.
On what he’ll take from this game…
“Just use it as a learning experience. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue my football career after this year. It’s so important to prepare, you use these games as preparation tools. You look back on the plays you could have had and the mistakes you made. Everyone dreams about playing USC, it’s a game I’ll always remember. “
On the game overall…
“We had great opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize. Coach Tedford called great plays, we just didn’t execute. “
“Even with a tough loss like this, we got down and we were able to fight back. That gives me a lot of hope and promise, because I know this team won’t quit. That is one thing that I appreciate about my teammates, they will fight until the very end. There’s no quit.”
On winning the turnover battle…
“These guys were ball hawks. That’s what we do every day, we’re taught to go get the ball back. At the end of the day, winning the turnover battle is going to be huge for us. As long as we keep winning that, I see good things coming in the future.”
On what the defense needs to clean up before the next game…
“Tackling. Execution and tackling. We’re going to go back and watch this film, first quarter through fourth quarter and get ready for the next week.”
On the defense adjusting…
“We just started playing our game. Some guys came out with jitters, including me, just first game stuff. We just came together and said this isn’t how we play football, this isn’t Bulldog football. We need to step it up. We should have had that from the first quarter, so we are going to look at that tomorrow and get it right for next week.”
On the fourth-and-1 stop…
“It felt great, but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough. Ricky McCoy did a great job pulling the center away from me and I was able to shoot the gap. Without him, I wouldn’t have made that play.”
Justin Rice, LB, Jr.
On starting his first game as a Bulldog…
“It was a great experience for me. I waited my turn, and I got to go out there and help my teammates the best that I could.
On the ups and downs of the game…
“It was a rollercoaster ride of emotion. Sometimes we were hyped and sometimes it really hit us. We have to be able to bounce back. It took us awhile to get started in this game; we need to settle in faster. We’ll look back at the film and fix those things.”
On his interception…
“Coach Wick had been harping all week for us to stay on the hash, that they’ll throw it to us. So I found the hash and he threw it right to me.”
On their game plan…
“We game planned for both offenses all week. We got some North Texas and some USC stuff from last year. We had to game plan for two teams essentially.”
On if there is pressure to carry on the defensive excellence that Fresno State has had for the past two seasons…
“There’s not so much pressure as much as we know what we need to do to be successful. That’s the Bulldog way and that’s how we need to play.
Chris Coleman, WR, So.
On if he knew he scored when he hit the ground…
“Definitely, I saw the ball go over the line. I just couldn’t get up and celebrate with my teammates because I got the wind knocked out of me.”
On what he will remember most about this game…
“The atmosphere. Not a lot of people get to play in the Coliseum, not to mention score in the Coliseum. The atmosphere and getting to do it with this group of guys was amazing. I will never forget anything that happened in the game tonight.”
On the game overall…
“We had turnovers and a lot of things go against us, but we fought back and we fought through. Throughout the rest of the season, no matter what hardships we go through or what team we face, we can fight through. It was great to go up against USC, we were able to test our athleticism and test our brains. I think facing this team, set us up for the rest of the season. It was a loss, but it was a win in other categories. We can take so much away from this game.”
On earning a spot in the two-deep…
“It felt good. The coaches made that decision and I told them that I would have their back. I told them I would do my best and try to bring home whatever I could bring home. They put me in this position and I tried to do my best with that.”
On Jorge Reyna…
“He has a lot of velocity on the ball. When he throws the ball, they come fast. He’s a play maker. It was cool to catch the ball from Jorge tonight. That’s my guy and I’m going to ride for him.”
Derrion Grim, WR, Sr.
On his touchdown catch…
“It was a really good feeling. I caught it and when I hit the ground, I looked down to see red and yellow. I got up to celebrate with my teammates, and I’m about to go see my dad to celebrate with him.”
On getting to play in the Coliseum…
“I told my teammates before the game that not everyone gets the chance to play in the Coliseum. This is where a lot of legends have played. You just have to take it in, every play and realize you’re playing in the Coliseum. We are grateful for this and we have a lot to learn from the game. “
On Jorge Reyna…
“Jorge made a lot of good throws. There a lot of things as a receiving corp that we need to clean up. We all made a few mistakes. We are going to comeback tomorrow, watch the film and figure what we did wrong.
On this year’s receivers…
“We are not the same receiving corp. I’m not going to say we are better or worse. We are just a completely different receiving corp from last year. We have guys that can make plays and go up and grab the ball. We have four guys that can jump for the ball and that’s going to make a big difference this season.”
On getting another shot at Minnesota…
“I can’t wait to play Minnesota. We are going to have a chip on our shoulder from the last time we played them and from the game tonight. We are going to make sure it’s a fun game.”
USC HEAD COACH CLAY HELTON Opening Statement “Good win for our football team against a good Fresno State team. I commend coach Tedford for how they competed with honor. There’s a lot to clean up for us. We left some opportunities out there. Thank goodness for a stout defense at the end there. Great play by Isaiah Pola-Mao. A really good running game by both running backs. Both Vavae (Malepeai) and I thought Stephen (Carr) were exceptional tonight, and then this guy (Velus Jones) hit a home run. [To Velus] Thank you for being here. As special a play as we’ve seen. We’ve got a lot to do, a lot to fix before the next game, but we’re 1-0 and we’ll get it corrected and keep going. “
On Fresno State quarterback Reyna: “We had seen some snaps on tape. The one thing that it didn’t show, which I thought he did a phenomenal job of was create as a runner. At the end of the day he had 88 yards and kept plays alive for them. We missed some tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Credit to him, what a competitor, he put his team in a position to go tie it in the end.”
On deciding to go for it 4th and 1: “Looking at where we were, averaging 5.8 (Malepeai) and 9.3 (Carr), I felt their defense tiring a little bit and I thought our team had a nice job at the line of scrimmage. I’m always going to bet on our guys. I believe in them.”
On seeing QB JT Daniels get hurt: “Gut-wrenching. When you see a guy who’s poured so much into the game and into this team and into his becoming better physically and mentally as a quarterback. I said a prayer as soon as I saw it and I hope we’ll get the best results tomorrow and see where it lies.”
On Kedon Slovis stepping in as backup QB: “I always judge their eyes, and there was no fear. For him to walk out there and execute the offense. He had one interception on a deep ball, but he had another deep ball that put us in scoring position. He did things in a tough posiiton to win. It’s about him getting better next week and getting better for the next game. I appreciate him.”
VELUS JONES, TB On what he was talking to coaches about before his TD kickoff return: “We were saying look for the open hole. When you get a chance to hit a home run, you hit a home run, so that’s what I did. I couldn’t have done it without my brothers blocking for me. That’s where it all started. We just visualize it before you actually do it, and we were discussing that on the sideline before.”
On his TD kickoff return after JT Daniels went out with injury: “As a player you have to give hope. I felt like I gave my team hope and energy to make sure we were successful at the end of the day.”
VAVAE MALEPEAI, TB On the opportunity he has in this offense: “I’m not sure about other opportunities in other offenses but I know it’s fun in this offense. I’ve said it many times, even when we didn’t get in the end zone, I said ‘This is fun’. It’s the best feeling in the world when you have a coach who’s going to bet on you.”