TRANSCRIPT: Chip Kelly, UCLA Players Talk Ups and Downs in Win Over Arizona
After UCLA football's (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) 34-16 win over Arizona (0-5, 0-2) late Saturday night, coach Chip Kelly, quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, running back Brittain Brown and defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia all met with the media to answer questions on how it all went down.
CHIP KELLY
Running game came through?
They did, they did a really nice job. They did some different things coverage-wise, they do a lot of things on the back end coverage-wise, bracket coverage, doubling guys, trying to take guys out, cutting routes, doing all those things, but we felt if they were going to be devoting that much to that, then when we needed to run the football, and I didn’t see the final numbers, but that’s a pretty good day, both Brittain and Zach really did a nice job, you know, Dorian had a couple in there that helped, we got Kaz around the corner once, you know, and we did what we had to do, we finished them off and we knew going in, I know they hadn’t won a game yet but two weeks ago they went to Oregon and had 31 first downs and it was a 24-19 game into the fourth quarter, so we knew that they were going to be a handful offensively but I thought our guys responded and whenever you can go on the road in this league and get a win, that’s a positive, and you build on it and jump on the buses and get out of here as quick as possible and start our work for Washington next week.
Dorian out of rhythm in first half?
I think some of it was coverage-wise and some of it was their blitz scheme, they bring a lot of different guys and we missed a couple of protections, so Dorian was forced to throw hot and we shouldn’t have been throwing hot, so we were just getting the quarterback and the O-line on the same page from a protection standpoint first and foremost and then getting settled down a little bit. You know, I thought Greg had a big play for us in the deep over route when we had a chance to get him in coverage where we felt like we could exploit it, so we exploited using Greg a little bit there, so we got a couple of pass interferences, but sometimes the game expresses itself in different ways, you know what I mean, and we knew today as the game started to unfold we were really going to have to run the football and we did, so we responded that way.
Dorian not 100%? Thoughts of taking him out?
No. He’s our starting quarterback. It’s going to take a lot of things to get Dorian off the field, he’s just such a tough warrior, so no.
Holding Arizona to field goals?
That’s big, you know, as they do move the ball down the field and a lot of those were self-inflicted, we extended some drives there, you know, we had a couple of hands on facemasks, you know, they weren’t trying to tackle but when you wrap up and get a hand on it, it’s a penalty, but to kind of bow up in the red zone to hold them to field goals I think was a really big thing because we got up to 14, we had two touchdowns, so I thought our defense gave up a little bit, but to come back and hold those guys to field goals was big for us.
Defense do anything different in second half?
We always make adjustments at half time, so I'm sure they tweaked a couple things in there. I think our pass rush finally started to get home. Otito had a big sack and a fumbled caused, we finally got to their quarterback a little bit. I think maybe a little bit more twist up front. But I thought those guys did a good job, kind of where we started, and to hold them just to a field goal in the second half is a big deal for us.
What will you do about the penalties?
Can't cut mental penalties. Sometimes you grab a guy's facemask, that happens. Sometimes I can't – I don't have an answer for some of them.
But made it a priority to cut down on them after last week?
It was, but I mean, some of it is – I can't talk about it.
Saying some of those penalties weren't penalties?
I did not say a word. [SCOTT: BEN, HE ANSWERED THE QUESTION]
Over 12 yards a carry for Brittain?
I thought Brit did a nice job, especially that last run. I know he's so hard on himself, when he fumbled after getting the first down going into the fourth quarter, but then to come back and pop a 48-yarder for a touchdown, I think that kinda iced the game for us. Just proud of him, he's such a tough, hard-nosed, physical back, takes a lot of pride in it and I think we have two guys back there that I think anybody in the country would wanna have one of them. We're fortunate that we have two of them, so the fact that we can run Zach and then bring Brittain in, and then run Brittain and then bring Zach in I think is a real difficult thing for a defense to handle.
DORIAN THOMPSON-ROBINSON, BRITTAIN BROWN
Halftime adjustments?
DTR: The adjustments, just getting back to the running game with the passing game being slow. The guys up front did a great job. Brittain and Zach and Keegan ran hard, so it ended up working out for us for sure.
BB: You never know how the game is going to go, we talked about it all week – just with the ups and downs and everything. I mean, we were winning that half, so we weren’t feeling any type of way. We knew we had to keep doing what we were doing. Our offense was still rolling, just had a few bad plays here and there.
Having two RBS with 100 yards?
BB: That was the plan all week. Offensive line, all them boys up there, they are doing the best they ever did. I’m just glad (inaudible). Across the board, the tight ends as well. The tight ends have been doing their thing. We just keep this thing rolling. We got the momentum. Me and Zach, we feed off of each other. It’s good competition, we love competing against eachother while going against the other team.
Arizona doing something to keep you out of rhythm?
DTR: A lot of what we were basing our passing game off of was whatever package or personnel they were in. Going off their keys, they run a little different stuff. They key on certain guys and they would run coverages based on that. Yeah, it was kind of hard to get into a rhythm, but at the end of the day I still have to execute and all that stuff.
Banged up a little? That a factor?
DTR: No.
Thoughts on OL and TEs?
DTR: Coach Sage and coach Frye do a great job with those guys, making sure they are prepared. So proud of those guys from the way they work during the week and it pays off on Saturdays and you saw that tonight.
The long run to put the game away in the fourth?
BB: Coming off of the bad play I had, I was just feeling some type of way about that, so I knew as soon as I got the ball I was just going to punch it. Whatever it was, whatever play that coach called, it happened to be just inside zone. Duke and John gave me a little crease in there so I hit that thing as hard as I could. I got my footing messed up a little bit, put that arm down like coach Foss always tells us.
Talk after Brittain's fumble?
DTR: It’s just, “You got it, it’s nothing new.” Just like we always talk about it’s the ebbs and flows of the game, the highs and lows, so we knew he would bounce back from that and we just had to keep the game going
OTITO OGBONNIA
Crucial fumble recovery?
It was really good for our team, especially in a game like this, where we were playing penalty-wise, they had a couple turnovers before so it was really a, in my opinion, big turning point, big momentum shift.
Halftime adjustments?
The biggest thing was trying to get off the field on third down. Not extending drives by penalty, I think that was one of the biggest emphasizes coming out of the half.
Feel down when you can't get off the field, chunk plays keep happening?
That’s the time we really need to calm down and understand that it’s kind of like a roller coaster, there’s gonna be ups and downs but as soon as you start losing yourself that’s when things start going bad. So if you find a way to calm down and stay cool – and that’s kind of what we did out there in my opinion.
Frustration surrounding penalties?
Of course it’s frustrating, but the way we’ve been trained is to take things as they are. Obviously trying limiting things like that, but when they happen you just have to keep playing. It’s all about who can (inaudible) and play for the longest, you know what I’m saying. So yeah the penalties, we were kind of shooting ourselves in the foot, but we weren’t so worried about the penalties as they were happening, it was more just trying to eliminate them and onto the next play mentality.
Looking to bounce back after no sacks or TFL last week?
Of course, trying to dominate the line of scrimmage, it’s one of the most important things for the front seven to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage. A lot of times you can win games just based off of that so that was a big thing we were trying to do coming into the game, and we did OK at it.
Cooking special meals to celebrate win?
No I’m a little tired I’m tryna rest up and stuff, so no not really.
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