Postgame Quotes

POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 42, UNLV 21
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl)

UCLA head coach Jim Mora
opening remarks
“It’s good to get a win. That was a hard-fought game against a really worthy opponent. [UNLV] That’s a team that has made a lot of improvement in a year, and their players are buying into their system. It was also fun to get some of our guys into the game who don’t always get to play. To be able to get the first Japanese-born player [Gyu Shojima] in there, those are great moments in those young men’s lives. Like in any game, there are some things we have to improve – penalties on offense. We didn’t have any of those last week, and we had some this week. We have to address that as a staff and as a team. And then we have to try and figure out how to start faster offensively in the third quarter. That was the second week in a row. It was good to see Mossi [Johnson] come back and make a play. So there are a lot of positives, but like always, there are a lot of things that we need to improve upon. We’ll get ready to play a good BYU team next Saturday night.”

on Josh Rosen’s block on a Soso Jamabo touchdown run
“I wanted him to use his left shoulder instead of his right shoulder. And on his ability to bounce back from last week? That’s Josh. He is resilient. In order to be a great competitor, you have to process what happened and move forward. You have to go to the next event, the next competition. Josh is really good at that.”

on Eddie Vanderdoes
“Eddie strained his knee a little bit. So we will get that evaluated tomorrow.”

on UNLV gaining some momentum in the second half
“They didn’t score in the third quarter, did they? OK, so it was 7-0 in the third quarter. I think it’s just competition. We have to go back and analyze it and look at it. It’s hard for me to say what it was. We had four possessions and four scores in the first half. It’s inevitable that you’ll have to punt at some point. You start with the plays that we’re giving them. Are we teaching them the right technique? Are we giving them a chance to do things that they do well? And maybe we have to change our halftime routine or something. We need to be better in the third quarter.”

on UCLA dropping passes
“I don’t notice them until I look at the film, quite frankly. I was excited about Jordan Lasley making three good catches, about Mossi Johnson making a great play, about Ish [Adams] getting involved, about seeing Jalen Starks and Brandon Stephens do a tremendous job. I’m sure there were some drops, but I’ll look at those tomorrow.”
on Josh Woods and Najee Toran
“We wanted to give Najee some playing time. Poasi’s [Moala] wrist has been bothering him a little bit. We wanted to give Josh Woods some time. He has really developed. We will only see that talent if we play him in a game. He hadn’t really had that opportunity. He did some things well and there are some things that he has to improve.”

on Soso Jamabo
“Soso is turning into a big-time back, I believe. We have a lot of confidence in him, and he has a lot of confidence in himself. Our players respect his work ethic. It’s good to see. He is running with a lot of confidence. He’s up to 220-something pounds. He is a good back.”

on last year’s team’s run defense and this year’s run defense
“Every year is a different year. You can talk about last year, but I’m not going to. I’m concerned about everything, every yard that they get, I’m concerned about. We’ll break it down and try to improve.”

UNLV head coach Tony Sanchez
opening remarks
“Well, tough loss. We gave ourselves some opportunities in the fourth quarter, and they pulled away at the end. So it kind of stinks.”

on UNLV’s defense in the third quarter
“It always is [adjustments at halftime]. You always talk about little details. And we have a great staff. We did well with halftime adjustments. Tackling was really bad in the first half. We were better in the third quarter, and that resulted in some three-and-outs and some opportunities to go down and make it a seven-point game.”

on UNLV’s Kenny Keys being disqualified (targeting)
“It’s one of those deals where it is what it is. That’s just one of those deals where that’s how they are going to call the game. The game has changed. I don’t know. It’s hard. You’ve got to teach your guys how to go up for the ball. You go for the ball with your hands. If you don’t, you always take that risk. I haven’t really seen it, or played it back enough to really look at it. It’s unfortunate. It’s hard to jump up and down and yell about something like that. That was a big point in the game. We’re getting the ball back, down by seven, late in the game. But then they go back down and score and you’re chasing it after that.”

on UNLV’s first play from scrimmage, a deep pass that was dropped
“I thin kthat we traded deep dropped balls in the first two series. You know, it was a good play call. We knew that we were going to do it. You’ve got to make that catch. That’s part of the game.

on quarterback Johnny Stanton
“I thought that he did some things well. I think that he’s got to do a better job with certain things. He kind of had some formations wrong, and he had a good game last week. But this was the first time playing in an environment like this against a Pac-12 team that had been ranked in the top 15 or 16 in the country one week ago. Again, I’m extremely disappointed, but I’m very proud of how our guys competed. Coach Mora does a good job, and they have a very talented squad.”

on the UNLV touchdown by Mekhi Stevenson before halftime
“It was big because we were down 21. You know, this game is about controlling your emotions and just executing. Don’t go look up at the scoreboard. You just have to continue to execute. In the first half, we had no problem moving the ball on them .We were moving the ball up and down the field. We had a couple of miscues. So, that was big, especially for a true freshman to make that catch.”

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Postgame Quotes