Postgame Quotes – Indiana 42, UCLA 13
POSTGAME QUOTES
Indiana 42, UCLA 13
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
Sept. 14, 2024
UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster
opening remarks
“Indiana came out and played a great game. They came out and executed, played good. Offensively, we were not able to stay ahead of the chains like we would like to. Defensively, they played a pretty good first half, with the offense putting the defense in kind of bad situations. But it is a learning experience for both sides of the ball, and we have to continue to improve."
on how he explains this performance after a bye week
“That’s not the standard that we are looking for. Just like I said, we have to improve. We have to learn from this. You just can’t make any excuses. Guys didn’t play the way that we’d like to play. I’m just glad that we still have a few guys out there fighting at the end.”
on the Bruins’ pass defense
“It wasn’t exactly what we would like. Guys didn’t really execute. We have to got to get in there and watch the film and find a way to get guys to execute. But you can’t make any excuses. We lined up and got beat.”
on Indiana converting on third downs
“I mean, there are a few situations in there where I thought we were right in position, but just didn’t execute. Third down was pretty much the key to this game. Offensively, we couldn’t stay on this field, and defensively, they couldn’t get off the field. It was just unfortunate.”
on the Bruins’ run game and anything that may have carried over from the game in Hawai’i
“I know it’s going to get repetitive, but we are just not executing. I would want to say some other things. I’d like to tell you guys something else. But I’d be lying. We’re executing at practice, but it is not carrying over to the game so we have got to find a better way to get it done.”
on UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
“With a lot of people in his face, and getting hit, and a couple of bad snaps, it wasn’t his best performance, but under the circumstance of what happened, this is a team sport. So it’s not just Ethan out there. We have to keep our quarterback upright.”
on this loss at home, in his home coaching debut at UCLA
“This hurts. I’m a Bruin through and through, so I don’t want to get emotional up here, but it hurts. It’s unacceptable and we are going to fix it.”
on what he saw with the game’s physicality
“There were a few targeting out there, but it’s football. And the refs have to call it, and I thought that they did a pretty good job with that. But just at the end of the day, we’ve got to get out there and play our game, to play the Bruin standard. I’m just excited that we have another opportunity to keep playing. It’s early here, it’s week three, it’s our second game, so I am excited to see my guys just improve from this point.”
on how it felt to lead UCLA’s team out of that tunnel in his home debut
“It was a great feeling. Just to see all of the fans that came out to the Rose Bowl, being here for our opening home game, but we just have to put a better product out on the field for them.”
on the play-calling from Bruins’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, if there’s too much going on
“Yeah, when you play football the plays are all the same. It’s just that people call them differently. The wording is different. It’s not like it’s completely a foreign thing to them. It’s not necessarily play-calling, it’s an execution thing.”
on UCLA’s secondary
“We’ve got to improve in all facets, all positions of the game. But once we get into the film, and really evaluate it, I’ll can give you a better assessment of what people were doing.”
on any positive takeaways from tonight’s game
“Just the way that they continued to fight. Guys weren’t out there quitting or bickering at each other. There wasn’t nobody fighting. You have to learn from losses. You can’t act like things are just going to go away. Just like I told them in there, we have to learn from this loss and we have another opportunity to keep playing.”
on how he navigates this type of a loss as a first-team head coach
“You just have to get in there and look at it and assess it. You can be a 12-year coach, you can be a first-year coach, but it’s the same thing. You just have to evaluate what is going on. We’ll watch film and we are going to grade everybody and we will figure this out.”
on what he has learned about himself as UCLA’s head coach
“About myself? I mean I’m calm, regardless. It’s not really about me learning, but everybody in there can learn. But it’s just unfortunate the way that this game went. The first half, kind of didn’t go the way we wanted to. But I didn’t anticipate the second half going this way. I just want to make sure that I get my guys ready to go. We have a lot of players in there that look up to me, and I’m going to continue to be me and get these guys ready to play some ball.”
UCLA senior quarterback Ethan Garbers
on his play between fall camp and today
“I think it’s pretty simple, at the end of the day we just didn’t execute as well as we would have liked. We had a bunch of self-inflicted wounds, including the first play of the game. But we are excited to get back and watch this tape and really get better. It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to do it. This team is very resilient and we really needed to come and be shown that we are not there right now, there is a lot of work to be done. We are excited to do that work.”
on what worked tonight and what positives they can take into next week
“I think our running game was really good, especially in the second half, we seemed to move the ball pretty well that way. Indiana’s defense did a really good job, they schemed us well, they watched tape, they did a really good job containing us. At the end of the day it comes down to us, we did not execute out there like we need to and like we should.”
on his 20-yard scramble
“They were playing cover zero there, on that play. I was dropping back and one of the linebackers got free, I turned around and there was space in front of me so I took off.”
on what Coach Foster said to the team after the game
“He said we have to learn from this. We have to bounce back. It’s week two of a long season, and we can’t let one moment define us as a team. The message for everyone going forward is we are a resilient group, and we are going to claw our way back. I think that’s something the fans should be excited about.”
on the slow start for the offense
“I’m not really sure why it happened. They are just random acts that are happening in a football game. At the end of the day, it just comes down to our discipline. We have to be more disciplined in practice, more disciplined in walkthrough and in the game. Everyone sticking to their assignment and knowing their technique, and knowing their job on every play. At the end of the day, it just comes down to execution and we just didn’t do it tonight, an
on the first offensive play
“I was going to throw a bubble screen to the field. It might have fell out, it might have hit TJ [Harden], I’m not sure what happened – another self-inflicted wound that just can’t happen.”
on how the score impacted the way Coach Eric Bieniemy called plays
“I don’t think it impacted it much. We still tried to establish the running game and get back out there. The first drive we had was unacceptable and after that, we just had to reset and keep pushing forward. Play-calling didn’t really change, we still tried to stay on schedule, but it just came down to lack of execution.”
UCLA senior linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo
on the pass rush during the Bruins’ first two games
“I think we are getting there, just need to finish and execute and make it happen on defense.”
on the third down execution for the defense
“Obviously, it was a tough night on third down. We just have to do better as a defense – execution, get lined up and making plays that we need to make. We will learn from it.”
on the play of Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke
“We weren’t efficient on defense. I thought we were good on first and second down. Just when third down came, we weren’t able to make the plays we needed to make. We will learn from it and move on.”
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti
opening remarks
“Good win – they’re all good. First conference win on national TV – one of the new teams in the Big Ten and I know that can get a lot of people’s attention. Proud of our guys, we went in there and wanted to play physical, tough and nasty, and we did. It’s a good win. We’ll enjoy it for 24 hours, and on Monday we are humble and hungry, and our eyes are on the next game. It’s a lot better to have to deal with success during a season than with failure, they both bring their challenges. And I talked to our team about that and they’ve got 24 hours to enjoy it, and then we are back at it with our next opponent.”
on this being a good sign of where he wants his program to be
“We have made a lot of progress. When you have the right people in your organization and you put the right things in their head, you know, they’re going to respond. Was there an unknown going in? Yeah, there was an unknown. I just thought, be competitive and win games. We’re capable of winning games. It’s still one win. We’re back at it next week.”
on the offensive line getting the protection that quarterback Kurtis Rourke needed
“I thought the protection was good. That was a concern coming in. Last year, they were excellent with pass rush, now they lost a lot of guys.”
on targeting penalties and if that’s a product of playing a physical game
“I don’t want to comment about it too much. But I watched a few of those on replay, and I’m like, that’s targeting? You want your guys to play physical. So how do you make a good tackle and play physical?”
on what this type of a win says
“It’ll open some eyes, it was on national TV. And that’s it. It’s one game. We acme out here and got done what we wanted to get done. And I’m not into labels. We’ll see what our resume looks like. But there is no one in our locker room surprised. No one in our locker room surprised.”
on Indiana’s ability to respond, particularly in the fourth quarter in a two-score game
“Yeah, I thought that was really good. I really liked seeing that. They came out and kicked a field goal in the first drive of the third quarter and then we scored. I thought there were some good responses there.”
Indiana senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke
on this victory against UCLA being a statement
"It was awesome. We knew it was going to be a tough game because UCLA has some great players and a great coach. We knew we had to go out and execute, and we did just that."
on his team’s success with third down conversions
"I don't know if anything made it that way, but one of the key emphasis we have is to be good on third downs – and the higher the chance of winning the game, if you are good on the third down. It is a big emphasis that we put on throughout the week, so I am glad we came out nine for 12.”
on his calmness on third down
"I have been in the situation a lot, and we practice these downs all the time. The atmosphere rises, but you have to be able to stay calm and be able to go through your reads just like normal, because I have practiced it a bunch."
on studying film
"You want to replace pressure with pressure and be able to throw the ball to the vacated area, but hats off to our offensive line, running backs, and tight ends for being able to have such good perfection throughout the entire game and keep it clean."
on when he saw his team clicking
"There's definitely a lot of flashes of since January and spring ball that we could be a good team. We had a lot of really good pieces in order to compete this year, and it’s great to see that come out and show it and be able to let everybody know that we are to be taken seriously."
on what helped the team along
"It's a little bit of everything. Definitely, Coach Cignetti and the culture that he's brought and built. We also have such a great talent of guys and it makes my job a lot easier. And then everybody just wants to win, that's the one common goal that we have. A lot of transfers, a lot of older guys and we all have the same common goal of winning, and that comes out to play everyday."
on playing in the historic Rose Bowl
"I mean, it's awesome. Being able to play in this historic stadium means a ton. Not only to play well, but also get the win, definitely be memorable."
on the performance of his team’s offensive line
"Fantastic. I love the guys. They work as hard as they can to get the run game going and to keep me safe. I owe it to the guys that I didn't get sacked again this week, so I am very, very happy about it."
on the running backs' performance on blitzes
"Yeah, huge, they came up and stepped up and made some really big collisions in order to help me get the ball out. They blitzed a lot, so they were needed a lot in pass protection. The running backs are tough guys, and I really appreciate them stepping up to that role and not being afraid of contact."
Indiana 42, UCLA 13
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)
Sept. 14, 2024
UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster
opening remarks
“Indiana came out and played a great game. They came out and executed, played good. Offensively, we were not able to stay ahead of the chains like we would like to. Defensively, they played a pretty good first half, with the offense putting the defense in kind of bad situations. But it is a learning experience for both sides of the ball, and we have to continue to improve."
on how he explains this performance after a bye week
“That’s not the standard that we are looking for. Just like I said, we have to improve. We have to learn from this. You just can’t make any excuses. Guys didn’t play the way that we’d like to play. I’m just glad that we still have a few guys out there fighting at the end.”
on the Bruins’ pass defense
“It wasn’t exactly what we would like. Guys didn’t really execute. We have to got to get in there and watch the film and find a way to get guys to execute. But you can’t make any excuses. We lined up and got beat.”
on Indiana converting on third downs
“I mean, there are a few situations in there where I thought we were right in position, but just didn’t execute. Third down was pretty much the key to this game. Offensively, we couldn’t stay on this field, and defensively, they couldn’t get off the field. It was just unfortunate.”
on the Bruins’ run game and anything that may have carried over from the game in Hawai’i
“I know it’s going to get repetitive, but we are just not executing. I would want to say some other things. I’d like to tell you guys something else. But I’d be lying. We’re executing at practice, but it is not carrying over to the game so we have got to find a better way to get it done.”
on UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers
“With a lot of people in his face, and getting hit, and a couple of bad snaps, it wasn’t his best performance, but under the circumstance of what happened, this is a team sport. So it’s not just Ethan out there. We have to keep our quarterback upright.”
on this loss at home, in his home coaching debut at UCLA
“This hurts. I’m a Bruin through and through, so I don’t want to get emotional up here, but it hurts. It’s unacceptable and we are going to fix it.”
on what he saw with the game’s physicality
“There were a few targeting out there, but it’s football. And the refs have to call it, and I thought that they did a pretty good job with that. But just at the end of the day, we’ve got to get out there and play our game, to play the Bruin standard. I’m just excited that we have another opportunity to keep playing. It’s early here, it’s week three, it’s our second game, so I am excited to see my guys just improve from this point.”
on how it felt to lead UCLA’s team out of that tunnel in his home debut
“It was a great feeling. Just to see all of the fans that came out to the Rose Bowl, being here for our opening home game, but we just have to put a better product out on the field for them.”
on the play-calling from Bruins’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, if there’s too much going on
“Yeah, when you play football the plays are all the same. It’s just that people call them differently. The wording is different. It’s not like it’s completely a foreign thing to them. It’s not necessarily play-calling, it’s an execution thing.”
on UCLA’s secondary
“We’ve got to improve in all facets, all positions of the game. But once we get into the film, and really evaluate it, I’ll can give you a better assessment of what people were doing.”
on any positive takeaways from tonight’s game
“Just the way that they continued to fight. Guys weren’t out there quitting or bickering at each other. There wasn’t nobody fighting. You have to learn from losses. You can’t act like things are just going to go away. Just like I told them in there, we have to learn from this loss and we have another opportunity to keep playing.”
on how he navigates this type of a loss as a first-team head coach
“You just have to get in there and look at it and assess it. You can be a 12-year coach, you can be a first-year coach, but it’s the same thing. You just have to evaluate what is going on. We’ll watch film and we are going to grade everybody and we will figure this out.”
on what he has learned about himself as UCLA’s head coach
“About myself? I mean I’m calm, regardless. It’s not really about me learning, but everybody in there can learn. But it’s just unfortunate the way that this game went. The first half, kind of didn’t go the way we wanted to. But I didn’t anticipate the second half going this way. I just want to make sure that I get my guys ready to go. We have a lot of players in there that look up to me, and I’m going to continue to be me and get these guys ready to play some ball.”
UCLA senior quarterback Ethan Garbers
on his play between fall camp and today
“I think it’s pretty simple, at the end of the day we just didn’t execute as well as we would have liked. We had a bunch of self-inflicted wounds, including the first play of the game. But we are excited to get back and watch this tape and really get better. It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to do it. This team is very resilient and we really needed to come and be shown that we are not there right now, there is a lot of work to be done. We are excited to do that work.”
on what worked tonight and what positives they can take into next week
“I think our running game was really good, especially in the second half, we seemed to move the ball pretty well that way. Indiana’s defense did a really good job, they schemed us well, they watched tape, they did a really good job containing us. At the end of the day it comes down to us, we did not execute out there like we need to and like we should.”
on his 20-yard scramble
“They were playing cover zero there, on that play. I was dropping back and one of the linebackers got free, I turned around and there was space in front of me so I took off.”
on what Coach Foster said to the team after the game
“He said we have to learn from this. We have to bounce back. It’s week two of a long season, and we can’t let one moment define us as a team. The message for everyone going forward is we are a resilient group, and we are going to claw our way back. I think that’s something the fans should be excited about.”
on the slow start for the offense
“I’m not really sure why it happened. They are just random acts that are happening in a football game. At the end of the day, it just comes down to our discipline. We have to be more disciplined in practice, more disciplined in walkthrough and in the game. Everyone sticking to their assignment and knowing their technique, and knowing their job on every play. At the end of the day, it just comes down to execution and we just didn’t do it tonight, an
on the first offensive play
“I was going to throw a bubble screen to the field. It might have fell out, it might have hit TJ [Harden], I’m not sure what happened – another self-inflicted wound that just can’t happen.”
on how the score impacted the way Coach Eric Bieniemy called plays
“I don’t think it impacted it much. We still tried to establish the running game and get back out there. The first drive we had was unacceptable and after that, we just had to reset and keep pushing forward. Play-calling didn’t really change, we still tried to stay on schedule, but it just came down to lack of execution.”
UCLA senior linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo
on the pass rush during the Bruins’ first two games
“I think we are getting there, just need to finish and execute and make it happen on defense.”
on the third down execution for the defense
“Obviously, it was a tough night on third down. We just have to do better as a defense – execution, get lined up and making plays that we need to make. We will learn from it.”
on the play of Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke
“We weren’t efficient on defense. I thought we were good on first and second down. Just when third down came, we weren’t able to make the plays we needed to make. We will learn from it and move on.”
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti
opening remarks
“Good win – they’re all good. First conference win on national TV – one of the new teams in the Big Ten and I know that can get a lot of people’s attention. Proud of our guys, we went in there and wanted to play physical, tough and nasty, and we did. It’s a good win. We’ll enjoy it for 24 hours, and on Monday we are humble and hungry, and our eyes are on the next game. It’s a lot better to have to deal with success during a season than with failure, they both bring their challenges. And I talked to our team about that and they’ve got 24 hours to enjoy it, and then we are back at it with our next opponent.”
on this being a good sign of where he wants his program to be
“We have made a lot of progress. When you have the right people in your organization and you put the right things in their head, you know, they’re going to respond. Was there an unknown going in? Yeah, there was an unknown. I just thought, be competitive and win games. We’re capable of winning games. It’s still one win. We’re back at it next week.”
on the offensive line getting the protection that quarterback Kurtis Rourke needed
“I thought the protection was good. That was a concern coming in. Last year, they were excellent with pass rush, now they lost a lot of guys.”
on targeting penalties and if that’s a product of playing a physical game
“I don’t want to comment about it too much. But I watched a few of those on replay, and I’m like, that’s targeting? You want your guys to play physical. So how do you make a good tackle and play physical?”
on what this type of a win says
“It’ll open some eyes, it was on national TV. And that’s it. It’s one game. We acme out here and got done what we wanted to get done. And I’m not into labels. We’ll see what our resume looks like. But there is no one in our locker room surprised. No one in our locker room surprised.”
on Indiana’s ability to respond, particularly in the fourth quarter in a two-score game
“Yeah, I thought that was really good. I really liked seeing that. They came out and kicked a field goal in the first drive of the third quarter and then we scored. I thought there were some good responses there.”
Indiana senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke
on this victory against UCLA being a statement
"It was awesome. We knew it was going to be a tough game because UCLA has some great players and a great coach. We knew we had to go out and execute, and we did just that."
on his team’s success with third down conversions
"I don't know if anything made it that way, but one of the key emphasis we have is to be good on third downs – and the higher the chance of winning the game, if you are good on the third down. It is a big emphasis that we put on throughout the week, so I am glad we came out nine for 12.”
on his calmness on third down
"I have been in the situation a lot, and we practice these downs all the time. The atmosphere rises, but you have to be able to stay calm and be able to go through your reads just like normal, because I have practiced it a bunch."
on studying film
"You want to replace pressure with pressure and be able to throw the ball to the vacated area, but hats off to our offensive line, running backs, and tight ends for being able to have such good perfection throughout the entire game and keep it clean."
on when he saw his team clicking
"There's definitely a lot of flashes of since January and spring ball that we could be a good team. We had a lot of really good pieces in order to compete this year, and it’s great to see that come out and show it and be able to let everybody know that we are to be taken seriously."
on what helped the team along
"It's a little bit of everything. Definitely, Coach Cignetti and the culture that he's brought and built. We also have such a great talent of guys and it makes my job a lot easier. And then everybody just wants to win, that's the one common goal that we have. A lot of transfers, a lot of older guys and we all have the same common goal of winning, and that comes out to play everyday."
on playing in the historic Rose Bowl
"I mean, it's awesome. Being able to play in this historic stadium means a ton. Not only to play well, but also get the win, definitely be memorable."
on the performance of his team’s offensive line
"Fantastic. I love the guys. They work as hard as they can to get the run game going and to keep me safe. I owe it to the guys that I didn't get sacked again this week, so I am very, very happy about it."
on the running backs' performance on blitzes
"Yeah, huge, they came up and stepped up and made some really big collisions in order to help me get the ball out. They blitzed a lot, so they were needed a lot in pass protection. The running backs are tough guys, and I really appreciate them stepping up to that role and not being afraid of contact."