Colorado Buffaloes College Football Pregame Quote, 11/26/2019

Thanks for making it out here in the snow, I’m glad to see you guys made it safe and sound. Saturday night was really good to see. It was great to see our players have success against a very strong opponent and well-coached football team. Just cementing our culture, you could see that on Saturday with the way our guys played. Washington is very well-coached and our guys play relentless football, very physical, that’s a brand of football that is a winning brand in my opinion. I’ve really got to take my hat off to our fans, they’ve supported us all season and continue to support us. It makes Folsom a very tough place to play and it made our senior night a very memorable night. It was very gratifying to see our fans show up and support our players and see success on the field. It just really displays what kind of football atmosphere we have here in Boulder. It’s great for our players and for our recruits and future Buffs to see that.

We’ve carried that momentum from the game into practice this week. It’s been great so far and we’re going to continue to emphasize toughness, relentless effort, complementary football. I told our guys today that we need to take pride in the way that we practice, that’s our edge. How we prepare, how we meet, everything that goes into preparing for an opportunity. This week we’re playing a great Utah team that’s very well-coached and highly ranked. They’re a physical football team and we’re excited for this opportunity. It’s our goal to finish strong and we don’t feel like we’re done yet.

On Playing A Top 10 Team In Primetime:

This is a great opportunity for our program because we get a chance to play football. You don’t get many opportunities to play games, there’s a lot of preparation in the offseason for very few opportunities. To play on a national stage in front of a great opponent is something that we have to take advantage of and we’re going to finish strong.

On The Potential For A Huge Upset:

It’s going to be about how we prepare this week and then how we play in the game. That’s what it comes down to. Our relentless effort, playing for each other, complementary football start to finish, that’s what it’s going to be about. And that’s how it is each and every week, this just happens to be the last week of our regular season against a very good opponent who’s trying to get in the playoffs. It’s a great opportunity.

On Arizona State Upsetting Oregon:

Our conference is very competitive. Throughout college football and pro football you have to show up and you have to play. Any team can beat any team on any given day. We’ve played those teams and know what those guys can do so it’s not a surprise to anyone, especially in this conference, that a team like ASU could do something like that. They’re a talented team and they have very good players and they’re very well coached.

On The Team’s Confidence Level:

I believe you gain confidence by having success and having some measure of success and then you have to build on that and learn on it to understand why we had success and what goes into that. We’re gaining confidence and cementing our culture and we’re starting to see it on the field on a more consistent basis. That’s part of the process and that’s what’s expected.

On The Recent Performance of ILB Akil Jones:

Akil has worked very hard and coach Els has done a great job with him. He’s a guy who has really good potential and upside, he’s got great athleticism and he’s strong, he’s got great balance and body control. His instincts are starting to show up and he’s starting to play fast. He has a better grasp on what to do, why he’s doing it and why it’s important to be done that way. When players know what to do they play fast and when you play fast you have a chance to be physical, and I think that’s what you’re seeing with Akil.

On Utah Limiting Their Opponents Offensive Possessions:

We have to make sure we take care of the football. We want to end every series with a kick, whether that’s an extra point, a field goal or a punt. We have to move the ball efficiently on offense and have a balance in how we distribute the ball. We have to play penalty free football and when we get in the red zone we have to get points. Most importantly, we need to finish with touchdowns. We’re going to make the most on the possessions we get and we have to do a really good job on defense of getting the ball back to our offense. It’s going to be a team effort of complementary football. Utah doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and they don’t beat themselves so we’re going to have to be at our very best, and that’s why preparation is very critical to our success.

On The Respect He Has For A Physical Team Like Utah:

Tough, physical, hard-nosed football is how I believe the game was meant to be played. That’s the essence and purity of the game is the physicality of it all. I have a tremendous amount of respect when I turn on the film and I see a physical line of scrimmage, running the ball, stopping the run. I think you can measure the toughness of a team by how your receivers block and how your corners tackle. When you turn on the film with Utah, that’s what you see. So I have a high level of respect for them and for the brand of football they play.

On The Strength Of The Pac-12:

The Pac-12 has a tremendous amount of parity. There’s a lot of great coaches. When you look at the head coaches in this league, it’s really a who’s-who of coaches. The guys have had a lot of success, college and pro. There’s really good players on both sides of the ball week in and week out, every team has a good quarterback and skill guys, athletic linemen, good running backs. Defenses have good pass rushers, good corners that can cover, linebackers that can run. Every team has good specialists. It’s a very competitive conference and every week you have to be at your best against really good coaches and great football players.