Postgame Quotes – UCLA 27, Nebraska 20
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 27, Nebraska 20
Lincoln, Neb. (Memorial Stadium)
Nov. 2, 2024
Head Coach DeShaun Foster
opening remarks
“The team came out and played a great first half. We kind of stalled out maybe a little bit in the second half, a couple of penalties and stuff, but I think once we clean all of that up, that's our discipline aspect. We have to clean that stuff up, because 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, and then they were able to score at the end of those drives. I think the defense did a good job. But other than that, this team was continuously showing how resilient they are as a team, they're going to continue to fight. This was a really good team, that's why they were able to come back. They weren't going to quit at all, they were going to continue to fight. That's what Coach (Matt) Rhule instills in his players, so we're just excited to be able to get a victory in a hostile environment like this.”
on Kaylin Moore’s game-ending interception
“Huge play for Kaylin. That was actually his first interception. It was good that it came in this type of situation for us. We’re fired up for him. He’s continued to make plays this whole year. That’s one of the transfers I’m really excited about.”
on combating Dylan Raiola
“We didn't want him to stay on rhythm. We wanted to make sure we could break his rhythm a little bit. He's a really good quarterback. He can make plays with his arms, he extends plays with his legs. They have a really good offensive line, running backs were running hard. We just wanted to continue to get out there and not let him stay in the rhythm or really get comfortable.”
on Ethan Garbers’ impressive three-game stretch
“Like I said, Ethan is a top-tier quarterback if we can just keep him up. That’s one thing our O-Line has been doing. They’ve been protecting him well. Running backs have been picking up protection. Tight ends have actually been doing well in pass protection too. As long as we can keep him upright, Ethan can contend with any other quarterback.”
on the decision to kick a field goal on fourth down in the second quarter
“There was no reason to give (Nebraska) momentum. That was just a situation that would have gave them momentum in the game. Three points wasn’t going to hurt us. We wanted to finish in the paint, but you still got to be smart in situations.”
on the decision to punt on 4th and 1 with 2:28 remaining in the game
“If (Nebraska) wouldn’t have saw our play, I would have went for it. But they called timeout really late and they saw what we were going to run. 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 sorts of situations, so I just wanted to keep them out of it.”
on how he impressed he was with the performance of UCLA’s offensive line
“My line did a great job. I think this was our fifth game of having the same guys in there, so the continuity is coming together. That’s basically what O-Line play is. When you can trust the man next to you, that’s how things go well. Their passing game is going really well, they’re picking up protection and just keep moving up.”
on the three unsportsmanlike penalties
“Just straight discipline. You know, guys have to be disciplined. A lot of stuff is going to happen, somebody can't hit you or grab your face mask, but you can't retaliate. The second guy always gets caught in situations. You just have to be smarter than that, those are the kind of situations you just got to sacrifice for the greater of the team.”
on if he feels like the team has some momentum after two straight road wins
“Yeah, Martin (Jarmond) hired the right guy. … The team has been playing well and doing the right thing. I’m just excited for this, and we’re going to continue to get better as this year goes on.”
on if he uses a potential Bowl Game bid as motivation for his team
“No, I just let them know we are in a one-week season. Just 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 were going through. Now, we’re in the middle piece (of the season) and that’s like the blue-collar teams we’re playing against. They’re tough. They have a certain type of style of play that they play with. And at the end of the season, we have our west coast runs. We’re just trying to get through this blue-collar part. Hopefully we can just continue to win.”
UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
on UCLA's offensive line
“They’re doing a great job. 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.”
on if he feels like he’s a “man on a mission”
“For sure. We want to win out. That’s our goal. Season didn’t start out the way we wanted, but it’s not about how you start. It’s about how you finish.”
on the rhythm he feels throwing the ball
“I feel great. The guys are in the right spots. Protection is awesome. I’m seeing the defense really well. I think it just goes back to the preparation in the week. Coach (Ted) White and Coach EB (Eric Bieniemy) do such a great job of making sure we’re going through all the cutups, all third down, all redzone. They just really get me prepared. All the credit is to them.”
on his 56-yard run
“They were in man coverage there. I mean, I stepped up in the pocket and nobody was there, so I just took off. Getting downfield, I just had to make one guy miss and (I was) off to the races. I kind of disappointed myself. I think I was running out of gas a bit at the end, but it is what it is. … It was fun. It was awesome to get to do that. The opportunity just presented itself and I took advantage of it.”
on what he’s from freshman wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer this season
“He’s phenomenal. For being 18 years old, the maturity and intelligence that that guy has on the football field is really unheard of. He’s becoming a guy that I can really trust and really have a lot of faith in. I mean, anytime the ball is up in the air, I 100 percent believe Kwazi is going to come down with it. He’s a great route runner. The best thing about him is he always plays fast and plays with speed.”
on setting the tone on offense early
“This whole game is about setting the tone. I had a conversation with Coach Foster earlier in the week and I said, ‘Hey, (if) we get the coin toss, we want the ball first.’ And that’s exactly what we did. We went down there. We should have put seven (points) on the board, but we only got three, so we’re cool with that. It’s just great. We wanted to set the tone early, come out there and punch them in the mouth and I think we did a great job today.”
on if Nebraska changed anything defensively in the second half
“I would say they played a little more man (coverage) in the first half and a little more zone in the second. That’s the only thing I really picked up.”
on how much fun the team is having
“Just like (Kain Medrano) said, we didn’t start the way we wanted to, but we’re going to finish the way we want to, for sure. We came out here today (and) played our football. We still had a lot of mistakes (and) a lot of things to clean up, but we’re excited for the next week.”
on the team’s culture, after rallying from a 1-5 start to the season
“I would say all the credit goes to Coach Foster. He’s our light and he’s out motivation. He does such a great job day-in-and-day-out getting us motivated, getting us ready. He’s huge on sacrifice. I really think that we started to sacrifice a little bit and this really means a lot to a lot of the seniors. We’re a really senior-heavy team. We’re going to finish how we wanted the season to start.”
UCLA linebacker Kain Medrano
on his interception
“Bit on the run fake, (and I) panic dropped back where I was supposed to be. I worked on that I don’t know how many times this year (or) over the past two years, three years. I got my eyes back to the quarterback and the ball was right there. I don’t know if anybody knows, but I used to be a wide receiver (so) I got some moves up in there so, I’m not just a linebacker.
on the defense confusing Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola
“We just played our brand of football. We practice all week doing what we (did). We didn’t do anything that we haven’t practiced all week. (Raiola) had some troubles on the five-down, six-down stuff and we were able to confuse him not knowing where the protection, where to slide the protection, not know who’s coming (and) who’s not coming. We were able to affect him that way.”
on how much fun the team is having
“It’s a lot of fun, you know? I just like coming in here with these boys and working every day. It’s fun at practice. You see the juice, you see the juice out there on the field. It kind of carried over day-to-day, Monday all the way to Saturday, and you’re going to see that. It’s been a lot of fun. I love this team. I love this coaching staff. I have a lot of faith in everybody, and I just can’t wait to keep this fun going on week-to-week.”
on the team’s culture, after rallying from a 1-5 start to the season
“I think it’s going to be all up to us (with) how we finish. Like (Ethan Garbers) said, Coach Fos does an unbelievable job at just motivating guys day-in-and-day-out to keep our heads down and get better each day, and in December, we’ll look up and be right where we want to be.”
UCLA 27, Nebraska 20
Lincoln, Neb. (Memorial Stadium)
Nov. 2, 2024
Head Coach DeShaun Foster
opening remarks
“The team came out and played a great first half. We kind of stalled out maybe a little bit in the second half, a couple of penalties and stuff, but I think once we clean all of that up, that's our discipline aspect. We have to clean that stuff up, because 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, and then they were able to score at the end of those drives. I think the defense did a good job. But other than that, this team was continuously showing how resilient they are as a team, they're going to continue to fight. This was a really good team, that's why they were able to come back. They weren't going to quit at all, they were going to continue to fight. That's what Coach (Matt) Rhule instills in his players, so we're just excited to be able to get a victory in a hostile environment like this.”
on Kaylin Moore’s game-ending interception
“Huge play for Kaylin. That was actually his first interception. It was good that it came in this type of situation for us. We’re fired up for him. He’s continued to make plays this whole year. That’s one of the transfers I’m really excited about.”
on combating Dylan Raiola
“We didn't want him to stay on rhythm. We wanted to make sure we could break his rhythm a little bit. He's a really good quarterback. He can make plays with his arms, he extends plays with his legs. They have a really good offensive line, running backs were running hard. We just wanted to continue to get out there and not let him stay in the rhythm or really get comfortable.”
on Ethan Garbers’ impressive three-game stretch
“Like I said, Ethan is a top-tier quarterback if we can just keep him up. That’s one thing our O-Line has been doing. They’ve been protecting him well. Running backs have been picking up protection. Tight ends have actually been doing well in pass protection too. As long as we can keep him upright, Ethan can contend with any other quarterback.”
on the decision to kick a field goal on fourth down in the second quarter
“There was no reason to give (Nebraska) momentum. That was just a situation that would have gave them momentum in the game. Three points wasn’t going to hurt us. We wanted to finish in the paint, but you still got to be smart in situations.”
on the decision to punt on 4th and 1 with 2:28 remaining in the game
“If (Nebraska) wouldn’t have saw our play, I would have went for it. But they called timeout really late and they saw what we were going to run. 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 sorts of situations, so I just wanted to keep them out of it.”
on how he impressed he was with the performance of UCLA’s offensive line
“My line did a great job. I think this was our fifth game of having the same guys in there, so the continuity is coming together. That’s basically what O-Line play is. When you can trust the man next to you, that’s how things go well. Their passing game is going really well, they’re picking up protection and just keep moving up.”
on the three unsportsmanlike penalties
“Just straight discipline. You know, guys have to be disciplined. A lot of stuff is going to happen, somebody can't hit you or grab your face mask, but you can't retaliate. The second guy always gets caught in situations. You just have to be smarter than that, those are the kind of situations you just got to sacrifice for the greater of the team.”
on if he feels like the team has some momentum after two straight road wins
“Yeah, Martin (Jarmond) hired the right guy. … The team has been playing well and doing the right thing. I’m just excited for this, and we’re going to continue to get better as this year goes on.”
on if he uses a potential Bowl Game bid as motivation for his team
“No, I just let them know we are in a one-week season. Just 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 were going through. Now, we’re in the middle piece (of the season) and that’s like the blue-collar teams we’re playing against. They’re tough. They have a certain type of style of play that they play with. And at the end of the season, we have our west coast runs. We’re just trying to get through this blue-collar part. Hopefully we can just continue to win.”
UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
on UCLA's offensive line
“They’re doing a great job. 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.”
on if he feels like he’s a “man on a mission”
“For sure. We want to win out. That’s our goal. Season didn’t start out the way we wanted, but it’s not about how you start. It’s about how you finish.”
on the rhythm he feels throwing the ball
“I feel great. The guys are in the right spots. Protection is awesome. I’m seeing the defense really well. I think it just goes back to the preparation in the week. Coach (Ted) White and Coach EB (Eric Bieniemy) do such a great job of making sure we’re going through all the cutups, all third down, all redzone. They just really get me prepared. All the credit is to them.”
on his 56-yard run
“They were in man coverage there. I mean, I stepped up in the pocket and nobody was there, so I just took off. Getting downfield, I just had to make one guy miss and (I was) off to the races. I kind of disappointed myself. I think I was running out of gas a bit at the end, but it is what it is. … It was fun. It was awesome to get to do that. The opportunity just presented itself and I took advantage of it.”
on what he’s from freshman wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer this season
“He’s phenomenal. For being 18 years old, the maturity and intelligence that that guy has on the football field is really unheard of. He’s becoming a guy that I can really trust and really have a lot of faith in. I mean, anytime the ball is up in the air, I 100 percent believe Kwazi is going to come down with it. He’s a great route runner. The best thing about him is he always plays fast and plays with speed.”
on setting the tone on offense early
“This whole game is about setting the tone. I had a conversation with Coach Foster earlier in the week and I said, ‘Hey, (if) we get the coin toss, we want the ball first.’ And that’s exactly what we did. We went down there. We should have put seven (points) on the board, but we only got three, so we’re cool with that. It’s just great. We wanted to set the tone early, come out there and punch them in the mouth and I think we did a great job today.”
on if Nebraska changed anything defensively in the second half
“I would say they played a little more man (coverage) in the first half and a little more zone in the second. That’s the only thing I really picked up.”
on how much fun the team is having
“Just like (Kain Medrano) said, we didn’t start the way we wanted to, but we’re going to finish the way we want to, for sure. We came out here today (and) played our football. We still had a lot of mistakes (and) a lot of things to clean up, but we’re excited for the next week.”
on the team’s culture, after rallying from a 1-5 start to the season
“I would say all the credit goes to Coach Foster. He’s our light and he’s out motivation. He does such a great job day-in-and-day-out getting us motivated, getting us ready. He’s huge on sacrifice. I really think that we started to sacrifice a little bit and this really means a lot to a lot of the seniors. We’re a really senior-heavy team. We’re going to finish how we wanted the season to start.”
UCLA linebacker Kain Medrano
on his interception
“Bit on the run fake, (and I) panic dropped back where I was supposed to be. I worked on that I don’t know how many times this year (or) over the past two years, three years. I got my eyes back to the quarterback and the ball was right there. I don’t know if anybody knows, but I used to be a wide receiver (so) I got some moves up in there so, I’m not just a linebacker.
on the defense confusing Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola
“We just played our brand of football. We practice all week doing what we (did). We didn’t do anything that we haven’t practiced all week. (Raiola) had some troubles on the five-down, six-down stuff and we were able to confuse him not knowing where the protection, where to slide the protection, not know who’s coming (and) who’s not coming. We were able to affect him that way.”
on how much fun the team is having
“It’s a lot of fun, you know? I just like coming in here with these boys and working every day. It’s fun at practice. You see the juice, you see the juice out there on the field. It kind of carried over day-to-day, Monday all the way to Saturday, and you’re going to see that. It’s been a lot of fun. I love this team. I love this coaching staff. I have a lot of faith in everybody, and I just can’t wait to keep this fun going on week-to-week.”
on the team’s culture, after rallying from a 1-5 start to the season
“I think it’s going to be all up to us (with) how we finish. Like (Ethan Garbers) said, Coach Fos does an unbelievable job at just motivating guys day-in-and-day-out to keep our heads down and get better each day, and in December, we’ll look up and be right where we want to be.”