WATCH: Dorian Thompson-Robinson on UCLA's Goals After Loss to Oregon
UCLA football quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson spoke to reporters following Monday morning's practice session at Wasserman Football Center. Thompson-Robinson talked about what he saw from the film of the Bruins' loss to Oregon, what felt off about the locker room in the days leading up to the game, facing defeat for the first time in nearly a full year, how he plans to turn the page, what Jake Bobo can do to help on third down and what the team's goals are considering the postseason possibilities left on the table.
What did you see when you looked at the film against Oregon?
Offensively, I think we did some really good things. Obviously, there's some things we gotta clean up – penalties, especially stuff in the red zone, and that's gonna be a big point of emphasis this week. And so just trying to go back to the little things, back to fundamentals. I felt like, at times, we just got out of our own fundamentals and our own techniques on individual plays that could have hurt us a little bit at certain positions. So, you know, just trying to get back to the fundamentals of the game and starting that way, so.
Reference to practice when you said "Monday through Friday" after the game?
Nah, it's just your – like I said, I've been big on habits this whole time coming back and I think this team has been really big on their habits. And so if you just look back at the week, it doesn't really even have to do with anything football-wise. It could be just picking up the locker room on Monday or stuff like that, just making sure you're always doing the little thing you possibly can right, you give yourself the best shot on Saturday and I don't think we did that throughout the week last week for sure.
Anything specific you can point to?
No, no. It's never nothing specific, it's always a culmination of things and things adding up that you don't really notice until it gets you. So I think that's what we've gotta go back to, is just making sure we're doing every little thing right, and if it still doesn't work, then we'll go from there. But, you know, those six games that we won, everything that we've done before those six games really, really showed up on Saturday for us. So, like I said, just getting back to fundamentals and things will really help us.
Things that Oregon did to make things difficult on you?
Uh yeah, yeah for sure at times. You know, we didn't take any sacks, but they were still able to create pressure sending guys from different ways that we hadn't expected or seen on film and putting in some new packages we obviously hadn't seen on film. So I think they were – like I said on Saturday – they were a really well-coached team and it showed for sure.
Forgotten what it felt like to lose, been 357 days since you guys lost?
Yeah, um, I don't think you can ever forget the feeling of losing once you've kinda gone through it, but, you know, that loss on Saturday definitely had some deja vu of some stuff earlier in previous years. But I think right now, we're focused on Stanford, the team's energy and juice on Monday was really good and guys are locked in and focused and I think that was more of a reset than anything and for sure a wake up call.
Huge motivating factor not to want to lose when it had been so long?
Exactly, for sure. I mean, I hate losing, I know a lot of guys on this team hate losing, I know coach Kelly hates losing, so we don't wanna feel like that ever. It's never the goal, so we're always trying to go out there and put on the best show for our fans, for sure.
Situations where Bobo's fast-twitch movements have come into play?
Third down. You just watch him on third down, his third down on tape is probably the best out there for a receiver. He's not the fastest guy out there, he knows that, he knows his strengths and he knows how to create space within a defender and knowing the timing of things and he does that really well.
Difference in having a 6-foot-5 target with that kind of catch radius on third down?
Yeah, for sure. It definitely helps out me a lot, I wasn't the most accurate on Saturday, and so for him to be able to go down and get a ball low or reach up high and go get one for me and then guys like Kaz and everybody else putting in the work, batting the balls down so they don't get intercepted, things like that, they don't go unnoticed. But those are really big plays for me and things that I really look for, especially for a receiver, so I know that they have my back and I have theirs, 100%.
How does the team culture you've built help you in weeks like these when you're trying to bounce back?
Yeah, for sure. Like I said, the juice and energy out here was amazing, and that starts with the leaders and guys getting in the locker room early and making sure guys are ready to go this morning. And again, that goes back to the credit of the coaching staff, coach Kelly and coach KB and everybody involved for making sure that we're always locked in. And so I think from the top down, we've done a really good job of handling success and also handling adversity. It's just another stepping stone we just gotta learn from.
Having an older roster help you turn the page?
Yeah, for sure. And we know that, we talked about that on Sunday at our pool workout. If there's a time to fix things, it's now. We know that, we're a mature enough group, we're grown men, to be able to go in there, look at ourselves in the mirror and say what we did wrong and come out here and fix it on Monday. So I think that's where we're at.
Are you superstitious? Any routines?
I was about to say, I definitely do, I definitely do. I'm obviously a very religious person and so I always have a quote or something in terms of the bible or anything like that that I read. I have a prayer book that I always bring to the game. Obviously music's a big part of it, and being able to relax and do my breathing techniques that I always do.
One loss but competing for a Pac-12 championship – is that a motivating factor with you and with this team?
Uh, I mean, like I said, we have way bigger goals than that, and I personally think we can still accomplish those if we just do our jobs on a weekly basis. But I think, right now, our main focus is trying to go 1-0 against Stanford and beating them.
Bigger goals meaning CFP?
Uh, I won't get into the goals, that's more of a team, personal matter, but yeah, it's definitely way bigger than that, I can tell you that for sure.
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