Colorado-Michigan Quotes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
What was your message to the team in the locker room after the game?
“The message to our team was that we got a good football team. We have to correct a few things. When you are playing another good football team, you have to do some of those things better so we will go back and correct them and move forward to the next game.”
You still have all of Pac-12 play ahead of you, what do you take out of this game moving forward?
“Our goal is to win the Pac-12 championship, win the south and get into the Pac-12 Championship game. We definitely have all of that still in front of us for sure. It is definitely something we think we can do.”
What is Sefo Liufau’s health status, is it a sprained ankle?
“Yes, that is what it is. We’ll know how severe it is, he couldn’t go anymore, so we’ll know how severe it is after we get through tonight and take a look at it tomorrow.”
When he throws the touchdown pass to Shay Fields (to open the second half) and then he gets hurt, how much did that change the momentum?
“It hurt a little bit and you know we gave them a couple of plays that we should not have. That big third-down play on the curl route, there was a big play and we gave up a punt return, so they made some plays too. That kind of got their momentum going so to speak, but those are things that we can fix, correct and we’ll move on.”
When Sefo was in there you moved the ball pretty well. Were you pleased to see that?
“Yes, we got a good offense and can move the football. We need to put all three phases together in the game and I think we would have kept moving the football.”
Can you talk about the issues you had on the punt team?
“Yeah we had some issues. I’ll go see it on film, we’ll fix it and move on.”
How disastrous was it with everything that happened on the punt team today?
“I think it hurt the game for sure, there is no doubt about it. It was a big part of the game for us not coming out on top.”
You had a hard time running the ball today, what were they doing?
“They were stacking up, playing man coverage and putting everyone in the box blitzing. You got some chances to make some plays and we made some, could have made a few more which would have been big for us.”
Would you have liked to see some more pressure from your defensive line?
“You always want to see their quarterback on his back some more. We got after him some and he made some good plays. They were doing some play-action type of plays too, which is hard to get to the passer on some of that stuff. I thought our defense did some good things and the momentum got away from us there a little bit.”
Colorado Players
Outside linebacker Derek McCartney
What was it like pregame seeing your grandfather Bill McCartney honored in Michigan Stadium as an honorary captain?
“Honestly it was really cool seeing a bunch of people that aren’t cheering for Colorado, cheering for my grandpa. It was just cool to kind of see the legacy he left.”
Take us through the fumble recovery you scored on?
“Coach made a really good call, it opened up and (Chidobe Awuzie) just came in and knocked the ball out and it was just there. It was a really big play for the defense.”
What did it feel like getting in the end zone?
“It was a really big play at the time, exciting. At the time I was just like we got to keep pushing and keep moving. We have a lot to work on as a defense and hopefully we just keep getting better.”
Quarterback Sefo Liufau
On How he is feeling“It all happened fast and there was a big pile. When you play college football everything happens really fast. I just couldn’t play and throw with as much velocity as possible, so it was a better option to come out of the game. I don’t have a full diagnostic yet; we will find that out tomorrow. I haven’t been told anything we just came back to the locker room to look at it a little bit but we can’t get a full diagnostic until we get back to Boulder.”
“Devastating, it’s a little over dramatic but I can’t find the word right now. It just hurts to work really hard in the off season and then to have something hold you back when you want to get really competitive with your teammates. So, I guess frustrating is a better word. It’s frustrating wasn’t able to be out there with my teammates.”
On Him Trying to play through
“It was 50/50 I think. I tried obviously, I threw a touchdown to Shay [Fields] but I got back out there again and I couldn’t have any give so ultimately that just hurts us so I had make the decision with my coach and say [Steven] Montez was the better option.”
On Starting the Game Strong
“I don’t fear anyone, this team doesn’t fear anyone but we respect them all and that’s how we felt coming into this game. We had a great game plan going in and felt like we could beat these guys. We just came up a little bit short today because we weren’t consistent throughout the whole game.”
On Touchdown to Shay Fields
“It was all arm. I couldn’t push off of it. I was supposed to get out of the pocket a little bit more, I didn’t do that either, but I tried to give him a chance and he made a great play reading the defense.”
On Jabrill Peppers
“He’s just a player that makes plays. We respect a player like that because he can play so many different positions and he can do a lot of great things for them. But I mean we still had plays against him. There are great players everywhere and he’s just one of them. We have some great players on offense too and we will continue to showcase that this upcoming year.”
Wide Receiver Shay Fields
On Starting the Game Strong“It felt great, coming out and starting fast. It’s just one of those things where you practice how you play. We practice great and started great and we just went from there.”
On How the Sideline Felt After His Touchdown
“I mean we never fell down even when we were down by three. We just thought we had a little bit of momentum going and we just didn’t capitalize.”
On Sefo
“I mean I am always impressed with Sefo. That’s why he is one of our leaders. If he can’t go, he can’t go but he is still going to try regardless. That’s just him being a heart of a lion, so I respect him 100 percent.”
On Proving Anything to Themselves
“I mean we leave with our dream of being Pac-12 champions. Non-conference play is always good to do but we are more concerned with what’s ahead, which is Pac-12 games. We will come back Monday, correct things and get ready for Oregon.
Linebacker Kenneth Olugbode
On His Thoughts as a Team Captain“Of course we are frustrated, no one likes to lose. I think as a team we went out there and fought hard but I still think we have more fight in us obviously and we are going to see when we get to Pac-12 games.”
On Covering #88 Jake Butt
“I mean we knew he was good, All-American. They are going to get the ball to their play maker we just need to wrap up and tackle.”
Linebacker Rick Gamboa
On Difference in Second Quarter“We sensed the momentum shift. It came off of special teams everyone knows that. But as a defense, we just have to stick to what we can handle, what we can control and defensively we just had to come out better and tackle better. We just need to communicate better.”
On Special Team Breakdowns
“It’s a bit demoralizing but again as a defensive we don’t really try and think about what happens on special teams or offense. We try and stick to our one-third and focus on what we can control.”