UCLA head coach Jim Mora met with the media on his weekly conference call Sunday night. Here's the transcript:
On the improved pass rush lately:
I think we're just getting better at what we've been doing. Just becoming more efficient and more consistent.
On players growing into roles:
We've had pretty good consistency up front. We lost Eddie early and guys have kind of filled their roles and come to understand exactly what their role is. And then in the secondary, overcoming Fabian and getting guys familiar with their roles I think more consistent up front, and then in the back end, it has helped us. A lot of movement at linebacker, but a little bit more consistency of late in the front and the back, I think that's helped us.
On Luke Falk:
Well, you don't want him to, but no one has really stopped him on a consistent basis. The guy leads the Pac-12 in passing, he leads the Pac-12 in touchdown passes, he leads the Pac-12 in total offense. They've got three of the top six receivers in the Pac-12 in terms of catches and yards, so just like every quarterback, you do your best to put pressure on him and make him feel uncomfortable.
On finishing sacks:
There's a million variables really. It's tight coverage that makes him hold it longer, even pressure that doesn't allow a quarterback to step up or escape. The longer you make him hold it and the more confined his area to escape from, the better chance you have of getting him down. Our pressure has been good for the last few weeks, as you guys have said, our sack numbers have come up, but good pressure is what you're looking for. If you can get the sacks, that's certainly big time too, but you just really are trying to put consistent pressure on the quarterback so he doesn't feel comfortable back there.
On Cal vs. Washington State's offenses:
They go fast. They're like Cal, they're like Arizona, they're like us. They go fast. They make you defend a whole lot of field. They get it out of the quarterback's hand quickly. They've got tremendous players, good athletes. They believe in what they're doing. And they've got a lot of confidence now with the way they've played.
On not having played Washington State since 2012:
No. Schematically, it's Mike Leach's scheme. They're like every team, they're going to change things up on occasion. But Mike Leach has been very successful playing very productive offense for a long time. So just like every coach, he's going to mix it up, he's going to change things up, he's going to show you some new looks, but essentially it's doing the same things over and over again. It's that repetition and that consistency you build through doing it, especially when you've got good concepts and efficient concepts and that's what they do.
On Luke Falk being a possible NFL player:
I haven't watched him enough to really be able to tell you. I've watched a little. Sunday is typically when you clean up your last game. You grade the film, you evaluate it, see what you did well, and what you need to improve on, and how you're going to move forward with personnel and things like that. And then later in the afternoon you really start to dig in to your next opponent. But I've watched enough to know that he's a really good player. He's only a sophomore, so I don't know if you can start talking about NFL at that point in time. I just know he's leading the Pac-12 in passing, leading the Pac-12 in total offense and leading the Pac-12 in touchdown passes, passing efficiency. He's a heck of a player.
On the improved pass rush lately:
I think we're just getting better at what we've been doing. Just becoming more efficient and more consistent.
On players growing into roles:
We've had pretty good consistency up front. We lost Eddie early and guys have kind of filled their roles and come to understand exactly what their role is. And then in the secondary, overcoming Fabian and getting guys familiar with their roles I think more consistent up front, and then in the back end, it has helped us. A lot of movement at linebacker, but a little bit more consistency of late in the front and the back, I think that's helped us.
On Luke Falk:
Well, you don't want him to, but no one has really stopped him on a consistent basis. The guy leads the Pac-12 in passing, he leads the Pac-12 in touchdown passes, he leads the Pac-12 in total offense. They've got three of the top six receivers in the Pac-12 in terms of catches and yards, so just like every quarterback, you do your best to put pressure on him and make him feel uncomfortable.
On finishing sacks:
There's a million variables really. It's tight coverage that makes him hold it longer, even pressure that doesn't allow a quarterback to step up or escape. The longer you make him hold it and the more confined his area to escape from, the better chance you have of getting him down. Our pressure has been good for the last few weeks, as you guys have said, our sack numbers have come up, but good pressure is what you're looking for. If you can get the sacks, that's certainly big time too, but you just really are trying to put consistent pressure on the quarterback so he doesn't feel comfortable back there.
On Cal vs. Washington State's offenses:
They go fast. They're like Cal, they're like Arizona, they're like us. They go fast. They make you defend a whole lot of field. They get it out of the quarterback's hand quickly. They've got tremendous players, good athletes. They believe in what they're doing. And they've got a lot of confidence now with the way they've played.
On not having played Washington State since 2012:
No. Schematically, it's Mike Leach's scheme. They're like every team, they're going to change things up on occasion. But Mike Leach has been very successful playing very productive offense for a long time. So just like every coach, he's going to mix it up, he's going to change things up, he's going to show you some new looks, but essentially it's doing the same things over and over again. It's that repetition and that consistency you build through doing it, especially when you've got good concepts and efficient concepts and that's what they do.
On Luke Falk being a possible NFL player:
I haven't watched him enough to really be able to tell you. I've watched a little. Sunday is typically when you clean up your last game. You grade the film, you evaluate it, see what you did well, and what you need to improve on, and how you're going to move forward with personnel and things like that. And then later in the afternoon you really start to dig in to your next opponent. But I've watched enough to know that he's a really good player. He's only a sophomore, so I don't know if you can start talking about NFL at that point in time. I just know he's leading the Pac-12 in passing, leading the Pac-12 in total offense and leading the Pac-12 in touchdown passes, passing efficiency. He's a heck of a player.
