Still waiting on the full thoughts from the players, but UCLA communications passed along a few from QB Ethan Garbers and LB Kain Medrano below.
Head Coach DeShaun Foster
OPENING STATEMENT:
"Team came out, played a great first half. We kind of stalled out maybe a little bit in the second half, a couple penalties and stuff. But I think once we clean all of that up, you know -- that's our discipline aspect, we have to clean that stuff up 'cause that's what was keeping them in the game. Every time we got a penalty, they were able to get a big play after that. Then, they were able to score at the end of those drives. So, you know, I think the defense did a good job. But other than that, you know, this team is continually showing how resilient they are as a team. They're gonna continue to fight. This was a really good team, that's why they were able to come back. Then, they weren't gonna quit -- at all. They're just gonna continue to fight and, you know, that's what coach (Matt) Rhule, that's what he instills in his players. So, we're just excited to be able to get a victory in a hostile environment like this and, you know, we're gonna move on to next week."
THE DEFENSE MADE THE BIG PLAY TO SEAL IT. KAYLIN'S AWARENESS, THE BALL GOES UP AFTER IT HITS THE GUY'S KNEE.
"Huge play for Kaylin. That was actually his first interception. You know, it was just great that it came in this type of situation for us, so we're fired up for him. He's continued to make plays this whole year and, you know, that's one of the portal transfers I'm really excited about."
THE JOB YOU WERE ABLE TO DO AGAINST RAIOLA, IT SEEMED LIKE KEEPING HIM IN A STATE OF CONFUSION WITH PRE-SNAP MOVEMENT. HOW MUCH OF THAT WAS DOING IT AGAINST A TRUE FRESHMAN YOU CAN KIND OF CONFUSE A LITTLE BIT?
"It was just more of we just didn't want him to stay on rhythm. You know, we wanted to make sure that we could break his rhythm a little bit. He's a really good quarterback, he can make plays with his arm. You know, he extends plays with his legs, and they had a really good O-line. Running backs were running hard. But, you know, we just wanted to continue to get out there and not let him stay in a rhythm and get comfortable."
TWO STRAIGHT GAMES FOR ETHAN WHERE HE'S PLAYED MORE OR LESS A FLAWLESS GAME. WHAT KIND OF RHYTHM IS HE IN RIGHT NOW?
"Like I said, Ethan's a top-tier quarterback if we can just keep him up. And, you know, that's one thing that our O-line has been doing. They've been protecting him well, running backs have been picking up protection, tight ends actually blocking and doing well, too, in pass protection. So, as long as we can keep him upright, you know, Ethan can contend with any other quarterback that's out there."
DECISION TO SETTLE FOR FIELD GOAL INSTEAD OF GOING FOR IT?
“There was no reason to give them momentum, you know, so that was just a situation that would have gave them some momentum in the game and three points wasn’t going to hurt us, you know, we wanted to finish in the paint but you’ve still got to be smart in situations.”
LATE FOURTH AND ONE WHERE YOU PUNTED, ANY THOUGHT TO GO FOR IT?
“Yeah, if they wouldn’t have saw our play I would have went for it, but they kind of called timeout really late and they saw what we were going to run and then just like the field-goal situation, I didn’t want to give them some sort of momentum. The fans were getting into the game, the crowd was getting into the game in those situations, so I just wanted to kind of keep them out of it.”
HOW IMPRESSED WITH YOUR OFFENSIVE LINE?
“My line did a great job. This is, what, I think our fifth game of having the same guys in there, so our continuity is coming together and that’s basically what O-line play is, you know, when you can trust the man next to you, that’s how things can go well, so they were passing off games really well, picking up protection and just keeping Ethan up.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE ON UNSPORTSMANLIKES?
“It’s straight discipline. Guys have to be disciplined. A lot of stuff is going to happen and somebody can’t hit you or grab your facemask, but you can’t retaliate–the second guy always gets caught in situations, so you’ve just got to be smarter than that and those are the kind situations that you’ve got to sacrifice for the greater of the team, and I think once we officially get that instilled and they really understand that, this team will really take off.”
TWO WINS IN A ROW, GOT SOME MOMENTUM?
“Yeah, Martin hired the right guy, you know, so that’s just what’s going on right now. The team has been playing well and doing the right thing and I’m just excited for this and we’re going to continue to get better as this year goes.”
START TALKING ABOUT BOWL AS MOTIVATOR?
“No, I just let them know that we’re in a one-week season, you know, this is going to continue to be one week. We’re not going to focus on that outcome. This season is the first year but we had that gauntlet that we’re going through, now we’re in like the middle piece and that’s the blue-collar teams that we’re playing against–they are tough, they have a certain style of play that they play with–and then at the end of the season we have our West Coast run, so we’re just trying to get through this blue-collar part and hopefully we can just continue to win.”
UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
on UCLA's offensive line
“Not enough credit goes to Coach (Juan) Castillo. He does such a great job throughout the week, just giving us the right looks, making sure we’re all on the same page. At the end of the day, it just comes down to us communicating out there and us figuring it out ourselves. The whole offensive line; Sam Yoon, Josh Carlin, Spencer Holstege, Niki Prongos, Garrett DiGiorgio, those guys really took it upon themselves to get better and to improve every single day. Love all those guys.”
UCLA linebacker Kain Medrano
on his interception
“Bit of a run fake, we’ve been drilling that I don’t know how many times this year, over the past three years. I don’t know if anybody knows, but I used to be a wide receiver so I got some moves, I’m not just a linebacker. We just played our brand of football, we didn’t do anything that we haven’t practiced all week.”
