(He) played very well and did a nice job for us out there. The kickoffs were great and all of the punts were right back there against the end zone. |
(The Cougars) were making a conscious effort to strip the ball out, ... and (Lynch) was making a conscious effort to hang onto it. |
[1. The integrity of the polls comes into question. That Texas is playing in the Rose Bowl instead of Cal is not by itself an injustice. You can make plenty of arguments in favor of either 10-1 team. What is ridiculous is the way the Longhorns got in, sitting on their couch while Cal traveled across the country and won at Southern Miss -- but apparently not by enough for the tens of voters who moved Texas up and the Bears down in their final poll, knowing exactly what the ramifications were when they did it.] If you have to go in and blow people out, ... that doesn't serve the integrity of the game. |
[Running appeared to separate the speedy Ayoob from Longshore, who came to Cal rather slow of foot.] This is all a tribute to Nate's hard work, ... His foot quickness has improved by leaps and bounds. He cut his weight, worked with (strength) coach (John) Krasinski and you can see the difference. |
Absolutely, ... It's one of those events you can mark off the checklist. |
Absolutely. It's one of those events you can mark off the checklist. |
After the first week he matured big time. More than just physical things, the mental part of the game and the leadership he provides in the huddle has improved dramatically. |
After watching the tape, I thought he made the right reads. He made good decisions. He was just a little bit off on some of his throws … and it mounted on him, |
Any time a team goes 1-10, their confidence and self-esteem is low, ... You really have to get that back up and believe in one another. That was the main thing. We just tried to take care of that in-house and get our mindset a little bit better to where they felt like they had a trust level that they could play through anything. Then a little bit of success breeds more success and goes from there. |
At certain times, he's got to put his pads down and get us one or two yards. Not everything can pop outside for a touchdown. That's a fine line though, when you have a back that's special. |
But you know that there's going to be more coming, because they haven't done it all in their first two games. |
Each game has a different set of circumstances, |
Each game we learn new things. By no means did we come close to our potential tonight. |
Every day he's getting better and better with the reps he's getting. |
Every now and then you'd turn around (at practice) and see him goofing off with the guys. You don't see that anymore. |