Donte Williams
"The guys fought till the end, but that's not good enough at all -- especially for USC."
"There was a moment there that the quarterback looked like he just couldn't miss, whether it was over the top or underneath coverages we weren't doing enough."
"We've got to make sure we come into the bye week and focus on us. We've got a lot of things we need to clean up as a team and we're going to focus on those things and make sure we clean them up."
"You've got to put this game behind you, so it's a high level of concern if people can't put the game behind you. But I know this team, I know the guys in that locker room, I know we won't have a problem with doing that. There will be guys in there tomorrow making sure they're watching film to make sure they do what they've got to do to make sure we get ourselves prepared."
On the focus entering the bye week: "Us. Making sure that we're playing the right guys, making sure that we're calling the right plays, making sure we're doing things the right way. This was the first half of the regular season so we've got a whole second half to go, so we've got to make sure we've got the right combination of guys and plays going on that field."
On Michael Trigg's status: "I don't know, to be honest. They said it's a lower leg injury. Until the MRI and stuff like that comes back I don't know."
On whether he sees guys playing hard until the end: "Shoot, you see at the end of the [game], you see Kedon still rolls out and throws the ball deep and the guys up still catches the pass. At the same time, you see the defense still fighting, trying to get stops. They're selling out to stop the run and the last play they throw a pass over our heads. So I see guys still fighting, I don't see guys giving up, but the fight is not good enough. You've also got to execute in the fight."
On the struggles at home: "On the road, it's only us. It's a business trip. So you're trying to make everything at home the same way -- a business trip. It's us. At the same time it's a rollercoaster, it's been up and down, which usually it's the other way for teams when they play great at home and bad on the road. We're going to continue to make sure that things are tweaked the way it needs tweaked to where we can perform either way it goes."
On what he hopes to accomplish over the bye: "Making sure that we're playing the right guys, making sure that we're calling the right plays, making sure we're doing things the right way," he said of the focus heading into the bye week. "This was the first half of the regular season so we've got a whole second half to go, so we've got to make sure we've got the right combination of guys and plays going on that field. ...
On whether he gave thought to playing some younger guys late in the game: "Later in the game? I'm thinking about playing some of the younger guys early in the game. Like, it's competition always so the better guys need to play to succeed. Just because you're a senior or a junior doesn't mean that you just play. The better player needs to play."
On whether he expects personnel changes after the bye: "I mean it's going to be competition so I definitely do. We have some young guys that are really good players that are banged up right now so I mean it's a little mixture of both, but it's always going to be open competition here. That's why people come to 'SC to play with the best, to play against the best. So we've got to make sure us as coaches we're evaluating the right way to make sure we get those guys on the field."
"It's the whole team right now, it's a little bit of a rollercoaster, so I need to make sure that it's not a rollercoaster and everybody's on the same train tracks."
On whether the emphasis on accountability is showing any results: "You know what, it's a process. So Saturday is all about the work that you put in. You go put the work in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, throughout the week and it's a process on Saturday. It sucks that at home you can't see the finished product of that process. So that's where it's a disconnect. You look at the accountability in the locker room, yes, I do like the way that we're going accountability-wise. A lot of things that we changed and the players have stepped up and done it, but at the same time it's a process. So the finished product on Saturday it hasn't shown the reward in which it should."
OC Graham Harrell
On the offense: "I thought we moved the ball pretty well to be honest with you, early on. We had to settle for two field goals in the red zone again and missed one of them, and then we got in a hole late and like always if you do that you're going to have to start throwing the football, now you're one dimensional. But I thought early on, running backs were running the ball well, we ran the ball pretty efficiently, didn't finish a couple drives that hurt, and if you do the score is different and maybe you can get them in a more uncomfortable position. But it's something that we talk about a lot, but kind of the middle 8-10 minutes right there, you look at all three games, it's a big swing. Four or five minutes going tin to halftime, four or five minutes coming out of halftime. You get stretched to a three-score lead and that puts you in a hole. So we've got to be better in that situation. We've got to be better in that kind of middle section because I think you win or lose games in that area, and unfortunately in all three of our losses they've gone the wrong way. If you look at the Washington State game, we won those middle minutes 14-0 and you win a football game. So that's something we've got to be better at, and if we are you can stay a little more balanced and it looks differently."
On the impact of Trigg's injury: "That was an unfortunate deal. It was a pretty good throw right there and the guy kind of took a low shot on him and hit him right on the knee and got the ball out. We were already in a spot where we needed to make some plays at that point, so I don't think it affected the situation too much. I was glad to see Epps come in and make some plays down the stretch. That's big for us. He's a guy that has a lot of ability that we need to make plays for us, so it's good to see him do that."
DE Nick Figueroa
"Definitely a lot more we could have done out there to stop them. Any time you give up 450 yards and 42-odd points, it's just not a good performance. We've just got to play better."
On the losses in the Coli: "It's tough. A lot of us really love this team, love this program, respect this program. I hate to see us having these historic losses in such a great venue where so many legends have been made. It's a lot bigger than us and I know it hits us in the heart. But you can't just walk out here and expect to win. You have to beat these teams. It's why you play the game."
Center Brett Neilon
"It kind of just feels like deja vu from our previous losses, just not getting those points."
On the mood in the locker room: "It was tough. It definitely hurts, three losses in the Coli, it's not a good feeling. But still half a season to go and lots to look forward to. ... They all just kind of feel like deja vu -- kind of similar scores, similar in the loss, so it hurts."
On the impact of the flea flicker before half: "That was huge momentum, fourth-and-1, and they run a great trick play. Hat's off to them. But it hurts because I feel like the O-line, I feel like that was our one bad drive before the half and then they got the ball back. So it's partially on us too and that one stung a bit. It just gave them a lot of momentum through that period."
On the young offensive tackles: "I mean, obviously we've got two young tackles and they've just got to get comfortable and settle down. When you get down kind of in a hole, everyone knows we're going to probably throw the ball so you've got to really hunker down and settle in. I think just as an O-line we can help each other out a bit more and take some pressure off those tackles and get a little extra help. But I thought they did a great job tonight."
RB Keaontay Ingram:
On Trigg's injury: "I care about my teammates. When I see like cheap ... I wouldn't necessarily call it a cheap shot, but when I see one of my players, especially a younger guy go down like that, I'm just upset."
Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao
On the secondary struggles vs. Rising: "Like coach said, it's like he couldn't miss. He just made great plays and credit to them, they had a good game plan and we just have to win our one-on-one battles."
On the impact of the flea flicker on momentum: "They for sure had some energy shift, but we tried to keep it on our side, but at the end of the day they made plays and we didn't."
On the state of the locker room: "I think we just have to lean on each other, not really separate and not have people going down on the other end of the field, just being by themselves. I think we all need to lean on each other."
On the frustration level: "I mean, yeah, losses suck. Of course it's frustrating, but it's already behind us honestly. I'm ready to go in, look at this film and just start moving on."
QB Kedon Slovis
On resetting the goals for the rest of the season: "Our goal is to win every game on that schedule. We're good enough to, we have the guys to do it, and it doesn't change just because we lose a game here or there. So again, nothing changes."
"The guys fought till the end, but that's not good enough at all -- especially for USC."
"There was a moment there that the quarterback looked like he just couldn't miss, whether it was over the top or underneath coverages we weren't doing enough."
"We've got to make sure we come into the bye week and focus on us. We've got a lot of things we need to clean up as a team and we're going to focus on those things and make sure we clean them up."
"You've got to put this game behind you, so it's a high level of concern if people can't put the game behind you. But I know this team, I know the guys in that locker room, I know we won't have a problem with doing that. There will be guys in there tomorrow making sure they're watching film to make sure they do what they've got to do to make sure we get ourselves prepared."
On the focus entering the bye week: "Us. Making sure that we're playing the right guys, making sure that we're calling the right plays, making sure we're doing things the right way. This was the first half of the regular season so we've got a whole second half to go, so we've got to make sure we've got the right combination of guys and plays going on that field."
On Michael Trigg's status: "I don't know, to be honest. They said it's a lower leg injury. Until the MRI and stuff like that comes back I don't know."
On whether he sees guys playing hard until the end: "Shoot, you see at the end of the [game], you see Kedon still rolls out and throws the ball deep and the guys up still catches the pass. At the same time, you see the defense still fighting, trying to get stops. They're selling out to stop the run and the last play they throw a pass over our heads. So I see guys still fighting, I don't see guys giving up, but the fight is not good enough. You've also got to execute in the fight."
On the struggles at home: "On the road, it's only us. It's a business trip. So you're trying to make everything at home the same way -- a business trip. It's us. At the same time it's a rollercoaster, it's been up and down, which usually it's the other way for teams when they play great at home and bad on the road. We're going to continue to make sure that things are tweaked the way it needs tweaked to where we can perform either way it goes."
On what he hopes to accomplish over the bye: "Making sure that we're playing the right guys, making sure that we're calling the right plays, making sure we're doing things the right way," he said of the focus heading into the bye week. "This was the first half of the regular season so we've got a whole second half to go, so we've got to make sure we've got the right combination of guys and plays going on that field. ...
On whether he gave thought to playing some younger guys late in the game: "Later in the game? I'm thinking about playing some of the younger guys early in the game. Like, it's competition always so the better guys need to play to succeed. Just because you're a senior or a junior doesn't mean that you just play. The better player needs to play."
On whether he expects personnel changes after the bye: "I mean it's going to be competition so I definitely do. We have some young guys that are really good players that are banged up right now so I mean it's a little mixture of both, but it's always going to be open competition here. That's why people come to 'SC to play with the best, to play against the best. So we've got to make sure us as coaches we're evaluating the right way to make sure we get those guys on the field."
"It's the whole team right now, it's a little bit of a rollercoaster, so I need to make sure that it's not a rollercoaster and everybody's on the same train tracks."
On whether the emphasis on accountability is showing any results: "You know what, it's a process. So Saturday is all about the work that you put in. You go put the work in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, throughout the week and it's a process on Saturday. It sucks that at home you can't see the finished product of that process. So that's where it's a disconnect. You look at the accountability in the locker room, yes, I do like the way that we're going accountability-wise. A lot of things that we changed and the players have stepped up and done it, but at the same time it's a process. So the finished product on Saturday it hasn't shown the reward in which it should."
OC Graham Harrell
On the offense: "I thought we moved the ball pretty well to be honest with you, early on. We had to settle for two field goals in the red zone again and missed one of them, and then we got in a hole late and like always if you do that you're going to have to start throwing the football, now you're one dimensional. But I thought early on, running backs were running the ball well, we ran the ball pretty efficiently, didn't finish a couple drives that hurt, and if you do the score is different and maybe you can get them in a more uncomfortable position. But it's something that we talk about a lot, but kind of the middle 8-10 minutes right there, you look at all three games, it's a big swing. Four or five minutes going tin to halftime, four or five minutes coming out of halftime. You get stretched to a three-score lead and that puts you in a hole. So we've got to be better in that situation. We've got to be better in that kind of middle section because I think you win or lose games in that area, and unfortunately in all three of our losses they've gone the wrong way. If you look at the Washington State game, we won those middle minutes 14-0 and you win a football game. So that's something we've got to be better at, and if we are you can stay a little more balanced and it looks differently."
On the impact of Trigg's injury: "That was an unfortunate deal. It was a pretty good throw right there and the guy kind of took a low shot on him and hit him right on the knee and got the ball out. We were already in a spot where we needed to make some plays at that point, so I don't think it affected the situation too much. I was glad to see Epps come in and make some plays down the stretch. That's big for us. He's a guy that has a lot of ability that we need to make plays for us, so it's good to see him do that."
DE Nick Figueroa
"Definitely a lot more we could have done out there to stop them. Any time you give up 450 yards and 42-odd points, it's just not a good performance. We've just got to play better."
On the losses in the Coli: "It's tough. A lot of us really love this team, love this program, respect this program. I hate to see us having these historic losses in such a great venue where so many legends have been made. It's a lot bigger than us and I know it hits us in the heart. But you can't just walk out here and expect to win. You have to beat these teams. It's why you play the game."
Center Brett Neilon
"It kind of just feels like deja vu from our previous losses, just not getting those points."
On the mood in the locker room: "It was tough. It definitely hurts, three losses in the Coli, it's not a good feeling. But still half a season to go and lots to look forward to. ... They all just kind of feel like deja vu -- kind of similar scores, similar in the loss, so it hurts."
On the impact of the flea flicker before half: "That was huge momentum, fourth-and-1, and they run a great trick play. Hat's off to them. But it hurts because I feel like the O-line, I feel like that was our one bad drive before the half and then they got the ball back. So it's partially on us too and that one stung a bit. It just gave them a lot of momentum through that period."
On the young offensive tackles: "I mean, obviously we've got two young tackles and they've just got to get comfortable and settle down. When you get down kind of in a hole, everyone knows we're going to probably throw the ball so you've got to really hunker down and settle in. I think just as an O-line we can help each other out a bit more and take some pressure off those tackles and get a little extra help. But I thought they did a great job tonight."
RB Keaontay Ingram:
On Trigg's injury: "I care about my teammates. When I see like cheap ... I wouldn't necessarily call it a cheap shot, but when I see one of my players, especially a younger guy go down like that, I'm just upset."
Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao
On the secondary struggles vs. Rising: "Like coach said, it's like he couldn't miss. He just made great plays and credit to them, they had a good game plan and we just have to win our one-on-one battles."
On the impact of the flea flicker on momentum: "They for sure had some energy shift, but we tried to keep it on our side, but at the end of the day they made plays and we didn't."
On the state of the locker room: "I think we just have to lean on each other, not really separate and not have people going down on the other end of the field, just being by themselves. I think we all need to lean on each other."
On the frustration level: "I mean, yeah, losses suck. Of course it's frustrating, but it's already behind us honestly. I'm ready to go in, look at this film and just start moving on."
QB Kedon Slovis
On resetting the goals for the rest of the season: "Our goal is to win every game on that schedule. We're good enough to, we have the guys to do it, and it doesn't change just because we lose a game here or there. So again, nothing changes."
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