Postgame Quotes – North Dakota Arizona State
September 17, 2022
Arizona 31, NDSU 28
Arizona Head Coach Jedd Fisch
Opening statement:
“The ZonaZoo was brilliant, our fans showed up and I think they will continue to show up as we continue to build. Our players did a fantastic job, it was a very clean game of football. Four against four in the red zone, no turnovers, a Our aim is to protect and win the game, and we have done that. Hunter Echols’ sack and fumble was a huge part of the game. We were the underdogs with Lee Corso being the one to pick us and we accept that.”
On the defense having to dig on these 3rd and 4th stops…
“There’s no doubt it was a man’s game tonight, tough as nails. They put their QB in wild and our guys did a great job of getting the ball back for us…great save from our defense and then got that three-and-out.”
Everyone wondered why Laura’s Jayden didn’t rush last week and hit a career high tonight, what’s changed?
“Jayden and I have only done this for three games together and we’re just building our relationship. We’re building trust, trying to learn how to coach him every practice day, what he needs and what what I expect of him. He’s a sophomore just learning things, what a learning experience last Saturday was.”
How much does Jayden rush to open the collar?
“We ran the ball 36 times for 156 yards, that’s good football and what we need. We spoke as staff and said that with your QB rushing 40-50 yards, we can playing competitive football. He got us 58 yards this game… most runs were more of a scramble, instead of forcing the ball down the pitch, he made good decisions.
Arizona Quarterback Laura’s Jayden
By choosing to run the ball more…
“We’re just starting to feel comfortable with the flow of the game. Coach Fisch is calling plays and when I couldn’t use him I was guessing ‘I have to throw the ball in the somebody’s hands.” Looking back and watching the movie from last week and even the week before, when things weren’t going our way and I didn’t run, it’s is when our offense went down So this play I put it on myself so if it’s all covered on the pitch they still have to come and stop I give credit to our guys for running their roads, the O-Line blocking and giving me gaps.
By winning the last non-conference game of the season…
“This win is a big confidence booster for us. Everyone has counted us out and it will probably be like this all year, but we just know that we support each other. We have to play four quarters, it’s not a halftime, the game isn’t over until the clock shows 0:00 I would say that’s a good confidence booster for the Pac-12.
Arizona wide receiver Dorian Singer
On Coach Fisch’s post-game message to the team…
“Coach Fisch’s message after the game was ‘whoever counts us, just make sure we count each other. Anyone who’s not in the locker room with us, they don’t know what’s going on inside. Everyone has their own opinion of us, but we know the truth.'”
Arizona defensive line Hunter Echos
On defending the state of North Dakota…
“They’re very competitive. They wanted to compete and finish blocks, but we also want to compete, and I think we’re physical as D-Line and we pride ourselves on being physical, so it was a fun game and competitive. We got the job done.”
On the team’s preparation for NDSU…
“Thanks to our scouting team, they do a great job every week. Our coaches make sure we’re ready for every game, so it wasn’t a lack of preparation, just more to face these guys. You can be a scout team all you want but until you come and play this game on this turf you can’t really tell but thanks to our guys we are ready to play every week.
On choosing Lee Corso…
“Tell Lee Corso he can come to Tucson anytime.”
Arizona linebacker jerry robert
On Roberts’ message to the team on defense…
“When the moment came when we needed a stoppage, I said to the team: ‘These are moments that define our defence. These are important times, let’s go and stop. If we get a stoppage, our attack moves the ball very well so we can get into a good position.”
On the attitude of the team before the match…
“I like it when people doubt us. I told the team, ‘The only people who believe in us are the people in this room. We like that chip on our shoulder.’
North Dakota State Head Coach Matt Entz
Opening statement:
“Always disappointing when you get beaten. Arizona played very well and Laura’s Jayden was what we thought. He extended games and did a great job of moving the pocket and he did some things out of the “naked”. They even did some readings with him, so they took advantage of a guy who was a really good athlete.
“Otherwise it comes down to us not being very good at third down either side of football. That streak in the third quarter where we had a third down penalty and we gave up a long third down and 14 were errors (On) the fourth down (where Arizona stopped you) I felt like it was the right move with about seven minutes left in the game and we didn’t get it. I thought it was the right game calling the right body, the right people in the game.
“But I’m frustrated for our kids. We’ve played very hard, and I don’t think anyone can ever question how well our kids are playing, how well our coaches are coaching and how well our kids are looking after their kids. business there. I’ve been here long enough, and I’ve seen losses galvanize a team, and that’s what I anticipate. My most frustrating thing about tonight is the number of kids who apologized to me when they left the pitch. And that’s not acceptable and but there’s nothing wrong with that. We were beaten by a team that was better than us tonight. But ( our players) don’t have to apologize.”
On the decision to go ahead on fourth down midway through the fourth quarter:
“We are going there, there was no hesitation. Based on our week of training, it was the right decision and I don’t think there is any doubt.”
Do you feel like you made a potential win over FBS here?
“Probably. Yeah. I think we were there. We had our opportunities and that’s why I’m frustrated for our young men.”
On using the running game tonight:
“We wondered how well (Arizona) had defended him in the past. With all that tall staff in there, and when you have a guy like Hunter Luepke carrying the ball 18 times, it’s probably a bit outside of our normal way of doing things. But the situation created a need for big backs and I think those guys did a really good job offensively. Minus the last series, we did a great job throughout the game taking advantage of some of our gap patterns.
North Dakota State linebacker James Kaczor
What made their guys so hard to take down?
“The props for them was a good team, they played well. They went through the tackles and ran the feet well. We need to do a better job of wrapping up and finishing the tackles.”
North Dakota State Security Michael Tutsie
Do you feel like you’re on a slide here with an opportunity to beat an FBS team?
“I mean, I’d be lying if I said no. We came here to win. We hoped to win. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. We expected to come and do what we do. It felt like it got away, but we’re going to learn from it and we’re going to get back to work and do what we need to do. We’ll fix what we need to fix and move on, use it as fuel. Our goal, our first goal of every season, is to win the Missouri Valley and we still have that ahead of us.
North Dakota State fullback Hunter Luepke
You went to the power game quite often today, how was it there? Why was it to your advantage?
“I think the O-Line was just moving people off the ball and we were only getting three or more yards of push every play, so I think that’s exactly what we wanted to keep. Keep it ball in motion. Game, time and possession.”
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