Post-Game Quotes: Oregon

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith

Opening statement…
Let me start with credit to Oregon, Coach Lanning, that staff, they do a nice job. They've got a good team, and they came and played well tonight, way better than we did, forced some issues on us, and we've got to find a way to respond and get better. You know, you look at the game, a couple early turnovers that we got in the end zone were huge. Obviously, we turned it over early that was not ideal, and then I think it really separated into half of them scoring a touchdown, making 21-0. Challenged the guys at halftime, like 'hey, we need to play four quarters.' I thought we did that, but we just did not play well enough against a really good team that, you know, they found ways to separate. So, look, game six, halfway point of the regular season, and we come on the bye, and we've got to regroup, we've got to find ways to improve, starting with us as coaches, finding, you know, best ways positionally, where we're putting them in, scheme, where we're at flaws, and find a way to improve on it, and move forward because we've got a lot of football left in front of us.

On challenges facing the Oregon defense…
Well, I think the line of scrimmage was not to our advantage. I mean, looking at the run game and protection…we've got to find a way to get better. They're good up front schematically and did a nice job on a couple of things that we needed to respond to sooner, and we didn't get that done.

On issues in the red zone…
We talked about the call, first and 10, taking a shot at it, if it's not there, yeah, ideally we're throwing the thing away. Aidan (Chiles) is a competitive player, he's going to go put his shoulders in there, and all of that, well, you've got to keep the ball locked up.

On Oregon's success in the running game…
Yeah, it was similar to last week. I mean, picking and choosing, they've got some perimeter play. That quarterback's a good player, so you give them a bunch of one-on-ones to stop the run, can he get exposed that way, but if they did, they had great balance on both sides. They were throwing it, running it…we needed to find a way to get them one-dimensional. Didn't do it tonight.

On monitoring Aidan Chiles' confidence…
Tommy (Schuster) works hard as well, and got to a situation where we wanted to give him some time. Aidan (Chiles) just finished on a scoring drive. The game was three or four scores at that point, so all of that. We weren't thinking much about his psyche putting Tommy in. It just felt like the right time to do it.

On team confidence…
Not just Aidan (Chiles). I mean, you look at this offense, and everyone involved, not just the players, the coaches, right, but we're going to stick together and find ways to do it better. I'm confident these guys keep working, we'll improve, and we need to.

On emotions returning to Oregon…
I was focused on the task, and this is a hostile place. It was nice to see some familiar faces all yesterday at the hotel, even in today. That part was nice.

On taking Aidan Chiles out of the game…
Again, we had just got a score, and so where the game, the score was at, it felt like Tommy (Schuster) and some others in the game was the move.

On timeliness of the upcoming bye week…
Yeah, we need it. I mean, we've got to find a way to improve. These guys have been working. We went six straight games, but also, you think about the five weeks of camp, that's 11 straight weeks of going. Take a step back, slow it down a little bit, look at what we've put on tape, as coaches deeply digest that, and find ways that we can play better.

On the Michigan State running game…
"So we started with a negative play. We've got to take that out of it. We've got to find a couple runs that, you know, pop explosion-wise so that your average isn't… again, we want to be efficient in the run game, and we're not there right now.

On changes to the run defense after the first half…
You know, I don't know about specific. I do know those guys got some pride and want to play, you know. Wholesale changes schematically at halftime, that didn't happen. I think we probably just executed better.

On playing Ohio State and Oregon the past two weeks…
When you play really good teams, the small errors are going to get exposed. Execution's going to be tougher, and we're not there yet.

On recovery before next game…
We're going to get back early, or even late morning now, and so we want these guys' mindset of recovering. It's just been a day or two, coaches evaluate the thing, come back, we're going to practice Wednesday with some areas that we need to fix.

On balancing both sides of the ball…
It's difficult, and really, you want to seize on some momentum, get a stop, or get a turnover defensively, get some momentum going both ways, and we didn't do it tonight.

On any consolation of playing top-ranked teams in consecutive weeks…
I don't know, again it's year one and everything, but I do think this team, we're going to bounce back, we're going to keep working. We're going to stay together. I think we've got some good leadership player-led guys that understand this is a team game, and we're going to keep working together as a team.

On a difference in the locker room from last week to this week…
Not a ton. I mean, these guys took the losses tough. It's pretty quiet in there, it's similar.

On next week's Oregon-Ohio State game after playing both teams…
That'll be a good football game, a lot of talent on the field. Yeah, I do think both those teams are pretty good.

On not being able to get the execute the play-action bootleg throughout the game…
Schematically, a couple times they did a nice job. The pressure on one side where they're rocking the defensive line, the other way, where we're rolling to, and that's why we've got a couple guys cut free on that.

On fourth-and-2 conversion in the first quarter…
We did think, we're going to need a couple of explosive plays. It's not saying we're going to get it on fourth-and-2 or whatever, but that's what the coverage was. (Nick) Marsh runs a good route, (Aidan) threw a good ball, and yeah, ideally we'd love to finish the drive.

On Jordan Hall returning…
He was close because he was warming up. But we went with other guys. He's not long term.

On goal line turnover in the first quarter…
What we specifically talked about after he put it on the ground, there's a long game in front of us.
We've got to be able to learn from it and move forward. That's what we talked about.

On trying to stop the Oregon running game…
Yeah, and they leaked out on it a couple of times, and again, schematically, they challenge it, right? We've got stuff on tape, and so they, what they've seen on tape, they tried to attack. They ran it different ways, different formations with the motion, with the athletes, with the ability of the quarterback to pull it or run it himself. There's a lot to cover with that offense.

On play of the Michigan State secondary…
Oregon's offense does give you a lot of balls on the perimeter, and so we've got to be able to tackle, and those guys have been battling. (Angelo), you know, not 100%, so other guys get some reps, and that secondary continues to compete.

On getting rest for the secondary during the bye week…
I think everybody, but yeah, there's a lot of tred on the tires with recovery guys like that, and so as a group, especially the way they work, those guys in practice and things, yeah, a couple days off would be good for them.

On realistic progress at the line of scrimmage…
Oh, I think we can (improve). Yeah, definitely, you know, week to week, but yeah, more or less half time on the season, regrouping, more reps, more experiences, keep on plugging away. We can get better.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning

Opening statement:
Our fans were absolutely awesome tonight. I think anytime that you can play a physical game like that and control the rushing attack on both sides of the ball, it's going to create success. Clean relatively on special teams play and really good on third down. There are still some moments for growth in the red zone, we have to come away with points. We have to score. That didn't show up a couple of times tonight and it could hurt you later on in the season. Definitely something we will attack moving forward this year, but overall proud of our guy's performance and growth.

On the run game tonight…
I think our offensive staff had a really great plan of understanding where we wanted to be able to attack in the run game. I thought our offensive line blocked well and then we were able to block at the second level as well and not go down on first contact. I think you saw that multiple times from Jordan (James) where he got hit and continued to push for extra yards.

On the defensive performance the past two weeks…
Ultimately, that's our standard. We want to be able to perform week in and week out regardless of our opponent. There's a way that you want to go out there and play defense. We knew that they had an attack that was tough to be able to stop and once we were able to secure the run game, it made them play a little bit left handed.

On Dillon (Gabriel's) two interceptions and moving forward…
We had a conversation, but that's a moment to reset. The guy has played a lot of snaps. Again, it's not easy to play college football, but timing is so important. Understanding where we're on the field is so important. I think those will be great growth moments for Dillon.

On Jordan Burch…
He's playing with great violence and he's the kind of person that shouldn't be blocked one on one and we're doing a good job defensively of creating one-on-one opportunities for him, and he's doing a good job of taking advantage of those. He'd be the first one to tell you that. Great rushes start with great coverage. It starts with other guys on the front that do a great job rushing that makes him have a one on one. He's been able to take advantage of those and that's what we expect from Jordan.

On the way Tez Johnson plays that makes him so dependable…
One, our offensive staff does an unbelievable job of moving him around, so it's hard to get a beat on where Tez is going to be on any given play with the movements and motions that we use and he's just an elusive player. He's hard to cover. He's got great bursts. He's very consistent. He's become a safety net in a lot of ways for our offense and the way he's able to get open.

On this being the most complete game so far…
Yeah probably in a lot of ways it was. Like I said, there's certainly some moments for growth and some opportunities that you can't let slip away, that we have to be able to take advantage of, but overall as a team I thought we played well.

On the meaning of tonight's game and if he took a moment to reflect…
I'd be lying if I said I didn't. This game was definitely special for a lot of people. Anybody that's been affected by cancer, I couldn't help but notice the people ringing the bell out there on the field and I remember that moment, what it felt like. So, it was certainly special for our family, certainly special for a lot of people out there tonight.

On Jamaree Caldwell's presence up front…
If anyone's watching the film, they know Jamaree is affecting the game. He's an impact player. He requires two hats on him almost at all times. He's playing with great effort, so I'm really proud of Jamaree's performance and his growth so far this year.

On the 50-yard field goal and seeing Andrew Boyle kicking…
I told him after the play, I didn't want to tell him before, but this is exactly what we did in this period we call red zone lockout and almost created the exact same kick earlier in practice this week and he nailed it. So for him to have the opportunity to be able to attack that, he's got a big leg. I thought that was really a big positive for him and when he's healthy, he can definitely be a guy that helps our team.

On message after high emotion turnovers and plays…
Next play. The next play is the most important play. Your ability to go from one play to the next is really important. I thought our guys did that tonight.

On how long he'll enjoy the win before preparing for Ohio State…
Right around until midnight. We'll focus on putting this game to bed, evaluating and grading it early tomorrow morning and then move on to our next opponent.

On Traeshon Holden's catch in the first half…
I'm glad he caught it. It was impressive. I would have loved if he had caught it standing up so he could have kept running. Big time players make big time plays.

On blitzes and protection on offensive line…
After that play was over, I loved hearing that communication from the offensive line. When you start getting those exotic pressures, the ability to recognize that he is free and overlap in that situation is a big time play by Pancho Laloulu. For us to play great football, we have to stay out of negative plays. That was a great situation there where he was able to do that.

On momentum after touchdown before halftime…
I think it was really critical in a lot of ways. Knowing that they are going to come back with the ball out of the half changes the level of the game, where we're at in that moment to create the extra score.

On Emar'rion Winston's performance…
That is something he has been able to do for us consistently throughout the year. We were able to do it on some second and long opportunities this game. He is a guy who consistently does his job, executes at a high level, and makes the players around him play better. He is one of our better interior rushers with his athleticism at times.

On Teitum Tuioti's defensive performance…
I wish you could come watch him in practice on a Tuesday or Wednesday. This guy plays with unbelievable effort all the time. He is quiet out there on the field, but he executes at a really high level. I think that really showed up tonight.

On defensive identity of team…
I think there is going to be moments this season where both sides are going to have to lift each other up. You want to be able to play complimentary football. At times we played great defense and at times we played great offense. We have to be able to do that across the board, special teams, offense and defense. We always talk about how some moment you might have to put each other on each other's back. That showed up a couple times this game. It will be something that is going to continue throughout the season if we're going to be a great team.

On defensive adjustment to Big Ten teams…
Obviously the Big Ten is an elite conference and a special one that we get to be a part of. Winning football is winning football, regardless of conference. If you're able to control the run game on both sides of the ball, that is going to equate to wins a lot of times.

On younger players performance…
Dante Moore shows on the game field the same thing we are able to see in practice. He was able to operate cleanly tonight. I want to go watch the tape and see what I will be able to pick from that.

On emotions leading up to Ohio State…
They've done a really good job of not listening to you guys, but finally you can talk about it. We're finally there. They are a great team, obviously they're going to do a lot of things. There is a reason they are one of the best teams in the country. It is going to be a great challenge for us, and our fans are going to have to show up and be phenomenal in that one.

On Gabriel's recovery after hard hit in first quarter…
He's a tough kid, you saw it tonight. He had the wind knocked out of him a little on that play. He was ready to run off the field, but I said hang tight, give us a little time to get our next play call ready to go. He probably could've run off the field a lor earlier, but we had a Rod Tidwell moment, from Jerry McGuire. I said hang tight, let's get our next play call figured out. Dillon is a tough kid, he did a great job.

Players Mentioned

Aidan Chiles

Jordan Hall

Related Videos