BYU Cougars College Football Pregame Quote, 09/16/2019

I’m looking forward to this matchup against Washington and I’m looking forward to learning from some of the things we did against USC.

On their fourth-quarter rallies:

Our players have done an amazing job believing in each other and trusting that their energy and effort will pay off. That’s been the key for us and the players keep working at it. That’s a huge compliment to our guys and the way our players take control and the leadership that we have in this group.

On the health of the team:

We’ll see how it goes today. I know there are some guys going into the game that weren’t able to perform, and we had to tap into our depth a little bit. We had some guys get banged up, but I thought the guys that stepped up did a good job. The coaches did a great job prepping them for that opportunity and they made the most of it.

I don’t predict health. The only thing I can predict is if our depth is ready. We’ve learned a lot of tough lessons that our depth needs to get better. As much as you can preach it, sometimes going through the experience and having guys knowing that they’re close to playing in the game, that’s the best lesson of all. Our guys did an amazing job prepping for this game, trusting their preparation and it paid off. I’m glad we got the win, but more importantly, I’m glad our guys learned and improved. Our guys on the depth chart stepped up and made some plays.

On how USC compared to the other power-five teams:

Every game has been a great experience for our guys and they gave us opportunities to learn. Regardless of the outcomes, there are opportunities for us to improve every week. Just like a lot of other teams in the country that are getting better every week, we’re following that trend. As long as we can keep getting better every week and play better, it’s more opportunities for us to learn. That’s what we’re focused on right now as a group. We’re looking forward to the preparation and the excitement of the game.

On Washington:

There are a lot of returning players, but there are a lot of different pieces to their team. I have a lot of respect for Coach Chris Petersen because he can get that group ready. That’s what they do, guys graduate and get drafted, then they bring more guys in. They don’t even miss a beat. It was a great learning experience for us last year, and we’re looking to see how much we’ve learned from that and how much we learned from last week. We’ll see how we match up. I have a lot of respect for that program and what they’ve done since Coach Petersen has been there. I have a lot of connections and friends on that staff and they’ll have them ready. It’s going to be fun to have them here in Provo.