Clay Helton
Opening comments and injuries (no status updates, hopefully we'll get some Sunday night) …
"We know that we're kind of in playoff, championship football and we've got to treat every game like a championship game," Helton said. "Obviously, a good night, but a night where we had some injuries and guys had to step up and be the next guy up. … I feel terrible for those kids. We had six injuries tonight, significant ones, that we'll have to see where they're at and deal with them. It's bittersweet because the kids are playing extremely hard."
On the defense ...
"We talked about getting to the quarterback, and to have 7 sacks on the night I was really, really happy with the pressure. But most importantly just containing the quarterback. We had had issues in the first half of the season. I credit Clancy, I thought he did a tremendous amount of study along with the defensive staff, Johnny Nansen, and those guys. They went out and studied NFL teams and teams that had played Deshaun Watson and [Patrick] Mahomes and some athletic quarterbacks, Baltimore Ravens, and really seeing what others are doing to defend it, and put in some of those things this week. I thought our kids thrived off of it. … They did a really nice job against one of the better athletes, I think, in the country."
On what they did specifically on defense ...
"I don't want to give game plan away, but one of the things you did see, you had the opportunity for a lot of upfield twist games. A different package came in on third down on passing situations and different personnel. [Abdul-Malik McClain] was a part of that, which is sad, and he really did a nice job of creating pressure along with Hunter Echols. Drake was inside -- he's normally not inside -- he was at the 3. Caleb [Tremblay], who is usually outside, became a 3. You really had an extremely fast group that was not only penetrating, but with the twist games really controlling the line of scrimmage. It was a nice package that was put in this week and very effective."
On Kenan Christon ...
"Some guys are ready Game 1 and some guys are really building themselves and [getting] ready, and this guy over the first six weeks prepared himself. It was fun tonight, because when he hit the first one, Mike Jinks, as soon as he hit the line of scrimmage said, 'Touchdown.' It's hard when you're a 10.3 100-meter kid and you have that type of speed and that type of hole, it was neat to watch. Credit to Kenan and coach Jinks, they prepared a kid to be ready for his team and he got his time tonight and made the most of it."
On what role Christon might have going forward ...
"We've seen that across the board with our young players. We have a talented young bunch. There's a bunch of freshmen and sophomores on this team, and I've said it multiple times, I think this is going to be a team that's a really good team for a long time and they're going to grow together. There's only eight seniors on this team, and you look at the freshmen and sophomores that are playing on this team right now. They're very talented. We don't lose many people, and there's a lot of people that are going to be here three, four years. So we're going to see where we're at with losing Vavae this week and losing two more backs this week, I would imagine Kenan's going to have a pretty big role going into Colorado as well as Quincy Jountti. We'll see who we get back."
On Kana'i Mauga stepping in at linebacker ...
"You know, he reminds me a lot of what Pitt did when he was a young person. This is kind of our special teams captain and a guy that's sitting right behind EA and getting those reps each and every day. He's played SAM backer for us in the base front vs. 12 and 21 personnel, and just a guy that we can count on day in and day out. I remember that with Pitt, he was waiting for his time and meanwhile he was just being so special on our special teams. And that's what Kana'i has been -- just a true teammate doing whatever is called upon to help the team win. And then he's called upon to be the starter tonight, and lo and behind, I mean interception, forced fumble, tackles everywhere. It was like unleashing somebody that was just waiting for his chance."
On what happened in the first half offensively ...
"I didn't think we had a great rhythm to be honest with you. We kind of found that rhythm once our running game started going, and we found a little bit more advantage coverages because of it. I thought Graham did a nice job in the second half of being able to take some deep ball shots too to kind of open them up. It's been every game, we've kind of had to diagnose what the defense is doing and what we scouted is not what we got in the first quarter. There's just a little bit of time that takes place of, 'OK, this is what we're getting and this is our adjustments. I credit coach and the offensive staff. … You look up and you end up with 450 yards, about 450, and 41 points. I thought there was some more opportunities out there. We turned the ball over in the red zone after getting a turnover. We still ended up on the plus side, which is a positive. That's two weeks in a row -- we need to continue to do that -- and third down wise I thought we got better. We were 7 of 15 on the day. So something that were good and some things we can still get better at."
More on Christon ...
"It's hard to judge his speed to be honest with you. … It's nice to have that feeling when you know the ball breaks and he's even, he's leaving. It's good to see."
KENAN CHRISTON
On the challenge of waiting his turn ...
"It's not tough at all. I'm here to help the team. I'm willing to do whatever I can, wherever they need me I'll go and I'll play. I've just been preparing the right way and staying focused."
On his first TD run ...
"I just was being patient, following my blockers and then the O-line opened up a huge hole for me and I just finished."
KANA'I MAUGA
On the defensive approach:
"Our mindset through the game was to contain the quarterback as much as we could. Our DBs did a very good job of plastering to their man, getting to the zones and our D-line did a fantastic job with staying in their rushing lanes."
On the spark his forced fumble caused ...
"I believe that our defense is all together so when one makes a play everybody makes a play, so everybody was hype on the sideline. It was just a great atmosphere."
We'll keep updating as I go through everything. Also writing stories on Christon and Mauga.
Opening comments and injuries (no status updates, hopefully we'll get some Sunday night) …
"We know that we're kind of in playoff, championship football and we've got to treat every game like a championship game," Helton said. "Obviously, a good night, but a night where we had some injuries and guys had to step up and be the next guy up. … I feel terrible for those kids. We had six injuries tonight, significant ones, that we'll have to see where they're at and deal with them. It's bittersweet because the kids are playing extremely hard."
On the defense ...
"We talked about getting to the quarterback, and to have 7 sacks on the night I was really, really happy with the pressure. But most importantly just containing the quarterback. We had had issues in the first half of the season. I credit Clancy, I thought he did a tremendous amount of study along with the defensive staff, Johnny Nansen, and those guys. They went out and studied NFL teams and teams that had played Deshaun Watson and [Patrick] Mahomes and some athletic quarterbacks, Baltimore Ravens, and really seeing what others are doing to defend it, and put in some of those things this week. I thought our kids thrived off of it. … They did a really nice job against one of the better athletes, I think, in the country."
On what they did specifically on defense ...
"I don't want to give game plan away, but one of the things you did see, you had the opportunity for a lot of upfield twist games. A different package came in on third down on passing situations and different personnel. [Abdul-Malik McClain] was a part of that, which is sad, and he really did a nice job of creating pressure along with Hunter Echols. Drake was inside -- he's normally not inside -- he was at the 3. Caleb [Tremblay], who is usually outside, became a 3. You really had an extremely fast group that was not only penetrating, but with the twist games really controlling the line of scrimmage. It was a nice package that was put in this week and very effective."
On Kenan Christon ...
"Some guys are ready Game 1 and some guys are really building themselves and [getting] ready, and this guy over the first six weeks prepared himself. It was fun tonight, because when he hit the first one, Mike Jinks, as soon as he hit the line of scrimmage said, 'Touchdown.' It's hard when you're a 10.3 100-meter kid and you have that type of speed and that type of hole, it was neat to watch. Credit to Kenan and coach Jinks, they prepared a kid to be ready for his team and he got his time tonight and made the most of it."
On what role Christon might have going forward ...
"We've seen that across the board with our young players. We have a talented young bunch. There's a bunch of freshmen and sophomores on this team, and I've said it multiple times, I think this is going to be a team that's a really good team for a long time and they're going to grow together. There's only eight seniors on this team, and you look at the freshmen and sophomores that are playing on this team right now. They're very talented. We don't lose many people, and there's a lot of people that are going to be here three, four years. So we're going to see where we're at with losing Vavae this week and losing two more backs this week, I would imagine Kenan's going to have a pretty big role going into Colorado as well as Quincy Jountti. We'll see who we get back."
On Kana'i Mauga stepping in at linebacker ...
"You know, he reminds me a lot of what Pitt did when he was a young person. This is kind of our special teams captain and a guy that's sitting right behind EA and getting those reps each and every day. He's played SAM backer for us in the base front vs. 12 and 21 personnel, and just a guy that we can count on day in and day out. I remember that with Pitt, he was waiting for his time and meanwhile he was just being so special on our special teams. And that's what Kana'i has been -- just a true teammate doing whatever is called upon to help the team win. And then he's called upon to be the starter tonight, and lo and behind, I mean interception, forced fumble, tackles everywhere. It was like unleashing somebody that was just waiting for his chance."
On what happened in the first half offensively ...
"I didn't think we had a great rhythm to be honest with you. We kind of found that rhythm once our running game started going, and we found a little bit more advantage coverages because of it. I thought Graham did a nice job in the second half of being able to take some deep ball shots too to kind of open them up. It's been every game, we've kind of had to diagnose what the defense is doing and what we scouted is not what we got in the first quarter. There's just a little bit of time that takes place of, 'OK, this is what we're getting and this is our adjustments. I credit coach and the offensive staff. … You look up and you end up with 450 yards, about 450, and 41 points. I thought there was some more opportunities out there. We turned the ball over in the red zone after getting a turnover. We still ended up on the plus side, which is a positive. That's two weeks in a row -- we need to continue to do that -- and third down wise I thought we got better. We were 7 of 15 on the day. So something that were good and some things we can still get better at."
More on Christon ...
"It's hard to judge his speed to be honest with you. … It's nice to have that feeling when you know the ball breaks and he's even, he's leaving. It's good to see."
KENAN CHRISTON
On the challenge of waiting his turn ...
"It's not tough at all. I'm here to help the team. I'm willing to do whatever I can, wherever they need me I'll go and I'll play. I've just been preparing the right way and staying focused."
On his first TD run ...
"I just was being patient, following my blockers and then the O-line opened up a huge hole for me and I just finished."
KANA'I MAUGA
On the defensive approach:
"Our mindset through the game was to contain the quarterback as much as we could. Our DBs did a very good job of plastering to their man, getting to the zones and our D-line did a fantastic job with staying in their rushing lanes."
On the spark his forced fumble caused ...
"I believe that our defense is all together so when one makes a play everybody makes a play, so everybody was hype on the sideline. It was just a great atmosphere."
We'll keep updating as I go through everything. Also writing stories on Christon and Mauga.
