Regarding the day of college football on Saturday, which saw many upsets and the level of excitement for the final two, huge, contests vs. Wazzu and Utah.
Sefo Liufau: I don't know who lost but the most important thing is that we came out here and we won today. It was a bit of ups and downs and we would have liked to be more consistent as a team, but to be able to come out here and get a win in a place where we haven't won in a while is great for the team.
On being outscored by Arizona, the feeling offensively, the pace of the game after two sloppy wins vs. Stanford and UCLA.
Sefo Liufau: I think the biggest thing to that effect is the field position and where we were starting. There's a lot of short kicks by them from kickoff, punt returns and punts. That's kind of why we got shorter field position. It was important for us as an offense to get back on track and go out there and put up points on the board because we've really been leaving our defense out to dry in these last couple weeks.For the most part, we did very well in terms of scoring points. There's a couple things we could have done better and that all falls back on me so I'll go look back at those mistakes and make sure we're better for Washington State next week.
On performing better after two semi-off weeks s. Stanford and UCLA
Sefo Liufau: I think I kind of let loose and decided to have fun, go with the flow. I was joking with all the guys in between drives...I just went out there and had fun this week.
On his 3rd down sack on Dawkins
Jimmie Gilbert: For that one I gotta give all credit to Afolabi Laguda. When he stepped up into that B gap, the tackle went down and it allowed me to be that free runner. One thing coach Leavitt always says is "don't miss a layup" and so I couldn't leave him out to dry because he ate up the blocker so I have to capitalize on that opportunity.
On Dawkins running well and the Arizona run game
Jimmie Gilbert: Dawkins broke me off twice. My ankles are still on the field. Just the fact that they have a QB who has the ability to run like he did, you have to be very tight and very fundamental with your pass rush. Can't really let him out of the pocket...we still have some things defensively that we need to fix...we missed too many open tackles today and we need to improve our pass rush drastically. Dawkins and Solomon had too much time in the pocket.
Gilbert continued: We missed tackles.Dawkins did a great job of extending plays and converting yards. We weren't filling our gaps properly and these mental mistakes are something that we have to correct and can't allow to happen next week.
How good did it feel to get on track tonight and to get back to making some big plays?
Shay Fields, Jr.: It felt great. Especially with the last two games; the passing game has not been there. We just came out and did what we [needed] to do.
How much did you guys need this [type of win]?
Shay Fields, Jr.: We needed it a lot. We had two bad games, it felt great getting back on track. [Sefo] had a great performance.
On big plays to he and JayMac
That was great to get the space we needed to go into halftime. Coming back out, we just stressed that we needed to score as many times as we can to put this game away.
Coach Mac key quotes:
On Sefo's performance after a few off games
"I think it was a very big confidence boost [for Sefo], he's playing lights out [early in the year] then he got hurt [at Mich], came back against ASU and played good, not great, not as good as he was playing earlier, then we played some good defenses, had some funky things kind of happen in the game, and then tonight he played like he played against CSu and Idaho State. That's really good to see. He got his mojo back. This week he was throwing it better and had a better feel.
Mac: Don't go home for Thanksgiving. Ya'll need to be there this Saturday and next Saturday. This is a special time in Colorado football. Our young men have taken us to good, to really good and we can move to great next weekend. We need everybody there. Out of state kids need to change their flights...be there Saturday...it's gonna be a special time to be a CU Buff.
On this game's meaning...last time CU was in Tucson in 2014, the two team's roles were reversed...CU was witness in conf. play was was looking to play spoiler to the bowl-bound Wildcats.
Mac: [All of these wins] are just building on each other. Every one of them is kind of the next step and everybody's going "wow, this is awesome, are they really doing this?" Our kids are doing it. It is a good statement to come on the road and win any time, which we didn't do for years. We've won more games now in the Pac-12 than we did in the previous five years combined."
Sefo Liufau: I don't know who lost but the most important thing is that we came out here and we won today. It was a bit of ups and downs and we would have liked to be more consistent as a team, but to be able to come out here and get a win in a place where we haven't won in a while is great for the team.
On being outscored by Arizona, the feeling offensively, the pace of the game after two sloppy wins vs. Stanford and UCLA.
Sefo Liufau: I think the biggest thing to that effect is the field position and where we were starting. There's a lot of short kicks by them from kickoff, punt returns and punts. That's kind of why we got shorter field position. It was important for us as an offense to get back on track and go out there and put up points on the board because we've really been leaving our defense out to dry in these last couple weeks.For the most part, we did very well in terms of scoring points. There's a couple things we could have done better and that all falls back on me so I'll go look back at those mistakes and make sure we're better for Washington State next week.
On performing better after two semi-off weeks s. Stanford and UCLA
Sefo Liufau: I think I kind of let loose and decided to have fun, go with the flow. I was joking with all the guys in between drives...I just went out there and had fun this week.
On his 3rd down sack on Dawkins
Jimmie Gilbert: For that one I gotta give all credit to Afolabi Laguda. When he stepped up into that B gap, the tackle went down and it allowed me to be that free runner. One thing coach Leavitt always says is "don't miss a layup" and so I couldn't leave him out to dry because he ate up the blocker so I have to capitalize on that opportunity.
On Dawkins running well and the Arizona run game
Jimmie Gilbert: Dawkins broke me off twice. My ankles are still on the field. Just the fact that they have a QB who has the ability to run like he did, you have to be very tight and very fundamental with your pass rush. Can't really let him out of the pocket...we still have some things defensively that we need to fix...we missed too many open tackles today and we need to improve our pass rush drastically. Dawkins and Solomon had too much time in the pocket.
Gilbert continued: We missed tackles.Dawkins did a great job of extending plays and converting yards. We weren't filling our gaps properly and these mental mistakes are something that we have to correct and can't allow to happen next week.
How good did it feel to get on track tonight and to get back to making some big plays?
Shay Fields, Jr.: It felt great. Especially with the last two games; the passing game has not been there. We just came out and did what we [needed] to do.
How much did you guys need this [type of win]?
Shay Fields, Jr.: We needed it a lot. We had two bad games, it felt great getting back on track. [Sefo] had a great performance.
On big plays to he and JayMac
That was great to get the space we needed to go into halftime. Coming back out, we just stressed that we needed to score as many times as we can to put this game away.
Coach Mac key quotes:
On Sefo's performance after a few off games
"I think it was a very big confidence boost [for Sefo], he's playing lights out [early in the year] then he got hurt [at Mich], came back against ASU and played good, not great, not as good as he was playing earlier, then we played some good defenses, had some funky things kind of happen in the game, and then tonight he played like he played against CSu and Idaho State. That's really good to see. He got his mojo back. This week he was throwing it better and had a better feel.
Mac: Don't go home for Thanksgiving. Ya'll need to be there this Saturday and next Saturday. This is a special time in Colorado football. Our young men have taken us to good, to really good and we can move to great next weekend. We need everybody there. Out of state kids need to change their flights...be there Saturday...it's gonna be a special time to be a CU Buff.
On this game's meaning...last time CU was in Tucson in 2014, the two team's roles were reversed...CU was witness in conf. play was was looking to play spoiler to the bowl-bound Wildcats.
Mac: [All of these wins] are just building on each other. Every one of them is kind of the next step and everybody's going "wow, this is awesome, are they really doing this?" Our kids are doing it. It is a good statement to come on the road and win any time, which we didn't do for years. We've won more games now in the Pac-12 than we did in the previous five years combined."
