Highlights from our postgame interviews with USC players following the loss to Washington.
Steven Mitchell
His injury
“Everything’s okay, I just kind of tweaked my ankle a little bit, but I’ll be fine.”
What happened?
“Our execution wasn’t there. Again, we had too many unnecessary penalties that would have changed the game.”
How do you explain losing twice at home?
“It just happens, you know? Our preparation and execution has to be there. I felt like we could have done way better than what we did. Two losses at home, that really does suck, but I feel like we’ll come back strong, I have no doubt.”
Were you prepared?
“We definitely felt prepared. It’s on us as players, we have to come and be on the same page. We need to be on the same page better than we were tonight.”
What is hurting this team?
“Penalties are biting us and third downs have to be much better than what they were.”
Were you surprised you guys didn’t score?
“They played a good game. You have to give it to them. They played a good game, we should have come out and we should have did better than what we did but we just have to move forward and go on to Notre Dame.”
How he encourages the team.
“When I was out, I was trying to get my team motivated and it was going good for a minute. We just couldn’t complete those last two plays.”
Soma Vainuku
What happened?
“We didn’t play Trojan ball. It showed out there. We didn’t execute things we should have and we need to come back this week, better preparation and get ready for a tough team at South Bend.”
Is there a reason why they lost two early home games
“We have to be mentally focused. We need to get our minds right and make sure that things we’re doing in practice, we’re executing them in the game and things will go better for us.”
Is there something obvious that needs to change?
“Tonight, we just shot ourselves in the foot. It doesn’t get much tougher than that and we have to come back next week.”
Why didn’t they score more?
“It just comes from mental errors and things on the offense. And that’s things we need to come back with this week. Like I said, be more focused and prepared for a good Notre Dame team.”
Isaac Whitney
His impressions of the game
“We didn’t execute first of all, I feel like we came out slow. We just weren’t playing the way we should and didn’t come out like we could.”
Why didn’t they execute
“I think it just kind of happened. We wanted to, it’s not like we didn’t, we wanted to. I don’t know what happened, we just didn’t execute.”
What did Washington do well?
“They were kind of playing off, like really far back. First of all, we couldn’t get the run game going so that didn’t open up the pass game either. So we were just struggling with that.”
His first start.
“It didn’t feel any different but it felt good to get the first start.”
Su’a Cravens
What happened?
“We didn’t come to play, we didn’t finish.”
Home losses
“It’s a self motivation thing. If we’re going to continue to play like this and expect to win games and not fully execute, then this will be the ending result every time. At this time, this point in the season, we have to make a decision. And losing is not an option.”
What needs to change?
“Everybody has their own job to do. As long as you do your job, you should be alright. Like I say every week, we’ll get back to the drawing board and see what happens next week.”
Are you guys prepared for these games?
“I think we have all the tools, it’s just, really, at this point, it’s just doing it. We have to do it.”
What he tells his team
“There’s nothing I can say that they’re not hearing already. I have to do my job along with the 21 other guys on the field, on offense and defense.”
Are the coaches doing well?
“There’s nothing wrong with the coaches, there’s nothing wrong with the coaches. It’s a player’s thing. We have to make a decision to do what we do.”
Was he expecting more from the offense?
“If they don’t score any points, they don’t win the game.”
Did it seem like they had an easier time pressuring Kessler than you guys had pressuring Browning?
“They were getting the ball out fast, they were running the ball out to the boundary. They had us on our toes and when they did drop back to pass, I think got good pressure, we got a couple sacks. But most of their throws were intermediate, two step drop, three step drop.”
Chuma Edoga
Did Kessler get hit too much?
“Of course, we don’t want our quarterback getting hit. We need people off the quarterback and we have to improve on that come Monday.”
Greg Townsend
What happened?
“I don’t know, it felt so weird on the sideline. As a defense, we felt like at first, we were getting a lot of good stops, big stops. And we let some plays get away from us on defense and we can’t let that happen at all. We have to limit our explosive plays and we have to make sure we make the plays we need to make.”
Why did you lose two at home?
“It’s college football, weird stuff happen all the time. People lose game you don’t think they’re supposed to lose. People win games they weren’t supposed to win. The game plan was good. We just have to make sure we come back and beat the Irish.”
Do you feel prepared for these games?
“Definitely. Coming out of practice, we feel like we know our opponent, we know when we go into games, we know what we’re capable of. We just have to put it all out there, just let it all go. And we just have to make sure we have no more losses this season, we can’t lose no more, period.”
What he needs to change.
“Me personally, I have to make sure I get to the quarterback. That’s what people look to me to do.”
Toa Lobendahn
Is it shocking that you didn’t build off the Arizona State win?
“It was definitely upsetting that we didn’t go out there and execute the way we should have.”
Playing center for Tuerk
“I felt pretty good, it’s definitely good that I got some work in the bye week and during the week in at center so I felt comfortable. I wasn’t just jumping in not getting reps at it all week. So I got those reps for a reason, it was good and it felt comfortable.”
The performance of the OL
“I thought we did alright but we didn’t execute the way we should have in the pass. I thought we were running the ball pretty good but we didn’t execute the way we should have.”
Losing Tuerk at center
“I thought we responded well, it probably could have gone a lot worse, we could have just snapped everywhere and gotten sacked. But I thought we did pretty good, my guys around me helped communicate. I’m excited. If that’s the case and he goes down, and I’m praying that he’s not, I think we’re ready to go still.”
What happened?
“We didn’t execute. We definitely, I felt even going through the game, we should be handling these guys at a good pace, but we didn’t get it done.”
Viane Talamaivao
Why did you guys go away from the run?
“I don’t know, I’m not sure… The run was there and I felt like we did a good job running the ball. I can’t answer that.”
What happened?
“We just kind of shot ourselves in the foot. I felt like we just made our jobs a lot harder than it could have been. We just made mistakes that cost us the game. The defense played their hearts out and offensively, we just didn’t execute.”
What needs to change
“I feel like we just need to settle down as an offensive unit, especially in tight games like this, games that come down to the wire. I feel like we need to have some type of composure about ourselves and really just tighten up on our assignment and execution. At the end of the day, we just didn’t execute and most of it was predicated off us shooting ourselves in the foot and us making uncharacteristic mistakes as far as assignment and execution.”
Do the coaches take blame in this?
“It’s a team, it’s not just the coaches, it’s not just us. It’s all of us. If we win, if our team wins, our coaches win and our players win. And if we lose, our coaches lost and we lost. So I feel like it’s a team effort at the end of the day. It is unfair to put the blame on any particular person or particular group, or any coach or anything like that. We just didn’t execute as a coaching staff, a team and as an individual player.”
Kevon Seymour
How much did you play?
“I don’t know, probably like three series.”
Thoughts on the game
“UDub is a great team, a great second half team, we knew it was going to be a fight. I can’t really say much, we have to go back to the film, check it out and really see what the problem was.”
Does something need to change?
“We just have to come together and play with that fire. We went up to Arizona, we don’t like harping on the past, but we went up there with a chip on our shoulder, playing with fire and I mean, I don’t know what the problem was tonight. We just have to come together and win our one-on-ones. And of course stop the run, limit the yards in the passing game and just all the above.”
Steven Mitchell
His injury
“Everything’s okay, I just kind of tweaked my ankle a little bit, but I’ll be fine.”
What happened?
“Our execution wasn’t there. Again, we had too many unnecessary penalties that would have changed the game.”
How do you explain losing twice at home?
“It just happens, you know? Our preparation and execution has to be there. I felt like we could have done way better than what we did. Two losses at home, that really does suck, but I feel like we’ll come back strong, I have no doubt.”
Were you prepared?
“We definitely felt prepared. It’s on us as players, we have to come and be on the same page. We need to be on the same page better than we were tonight.”
What is hurting this team?
“Penalties are biting us and third downs have to be much better than what they were.”
Were you surprised you guys didn’t score?
“They played a good game. You have to give it to them. They played a good game, we should have come out and we should have did better than what we did but we just have to move forward and go on to Notre Dame.”
How he encourages the team.
“When I was out, I was trying to get my team motivated and it was going good for a minute. We just couldn’t complete those last two plays.”
Soma Vainuku
What happened?
“We didn’t play Trojan ball. It showed out there. We didn’t execute things we should have and we need to come back this week, better preparation and get ready for a tough team at South Bend.”
Is there a reason why they lost two early home games
“We have to be mentally focused. We need to get our minds right and make sure that things we’re doing in practice, we’re executing them in the game and things will go better for us.”
Is there something obvious that needs to change?
“Tonight, we just shot ourselves in the foot. It doesn’t get much tougher than that and we have to come back next week.”
Why didn’t they score more?
“It just comes from mental errors and things on the offense. And that’s things we need to come back with this week. Like I said, be more focused and prepared for a good Notre Dame team.”
Isaac Whitney
His impressions of the game
“We didn’t execute first of all, I feel like we came out slow. We just weren’t playing the way we should and didn’t come out like we could.”
Why didn’t they execute
“I think it just kind of happened. We wanted to, it’s not like we didn’t, we wanted to. I don’t know what happened, we just didn’t execute.”
What did Washington do well?
“They were kind of playing off, like really far back. First of all, we couldn’t get the run game going so that didn’t open up the pass game either. So we were just struggling with that.”
His first start.
“It didn’t feel any different but it felt good to get the first start.”
Su’a Cravens
What happened?
“We didn’t come to play, we didn’t finish.”
Home losses
“It’s a self motivation thing. If we’re going to continue to play like this and expect to win games and not fully execute, then this will be the ending result every time. At this time, this point in the season, we have to make a decision. And losing is not an option.”
What needs to change?
“Everybody has their own job to do. As long as you do your job, you should be alright. Like I say every week, we’ll get back to the drawing board and see what happens next week.”
Are you guys prepared for these games?
“I think we have all the tools, it’s just, really, at this point, it’s just doing it. We have to do it.”
What he tells his team
“There’s nothing I can say that they’re not hearing already. I have to do my job along with the 21 other guys on the field, on offense and defense.”
Are the coaches doing well?
“There’s nothing wrong with the coaches, there’s nothing wrong with the coaches. It’s a player’s thing. We have to make a decision to do what we do.”
Was he expecting more from the offense?
“If they don’t score any points, they don’t win the game.”
Did it seem like they had an easier time pressuring Kessler than you guys had pressuring Browning?
“They were getting the ball out fast, they were running the ball out to the boundary. They had us on our toes and when they did drop back to pass, I think got good pressure, we got a couple sacks. But most of their throws were intermediate, two step drop, three step drop.”
Chuma Edoga
Did Kessler get hit too much?
“Of course, we don’t want our quarterback getting hit. We need people off the quarterback and we have to improve on that come Monday.”
Greg Townsend
What happened?
“I don’t know, it felt so weird on the sideline. As a defense, we felt like at first, we were getting a lot of good stops, big stops. And we let some plays get away from us on defense and we can’t let that happen at all. We have to limit our explosive plays and we have to make sure we make the plays we need to make.”
Why did you lose two at home?
“It’s college football, weird stuff happen all the time. People lose game you don’t think they’re supposed to lose. People win games they weren’t supposed to win. The game plan was good. We just have to make sure we come back and beat the Irish.”
Do you feel prepared for these games?
“Definitely. Coming out of practice, we feel like we know our opponent, we know when we go into games, we know what we’re capable of. We just have to put it all out there, just let it all go. And we just have to make sure we have no more losses this season, we can’t lose no more, period.”
What he needs to change.
“Me personally, I have to make sure I get to the quarterback. That’s what people look to me to do.”
Toa Lobendahn
Is it shocking that you didn’t build off the Arizona State win?
“It was definitely upsetting that we didn’t go out there and execute the way we should have.”
Playing center for Tuerk
“I felt pretty good, it’s definitely good that I got some work in the bye week and during the week in at center so I felt comfortable. I wasn’t just jumping in not getting reps at it all week. So I got those reps for a reason, it was good and it felt comfortable.”
The performance of the OL
“I thought we did alright but we didn’t execute the way we should have in the pass. I thought we were running the ball pretty good but we didn’t execute the way we should have.”
Losing Tuerk at center
“I thought we responded well, it probably could have gone a lot worse, we could have just snapped everywhere and gotten sacked. But I thought we did pretty good, my guys around me helped communicate. I’m excited. If that’s the case and he goes down, and I’m praying that he’s not, I think we’re ready to go still.”
What happened?
“We didn’t execute. We definitely, I felt even going through the game, we should be handling these guys at a good pace, but we didn’t get it done.”
Viane Talamaivao
Why did you guys go away from the run?
“I don’t know, I’m not sure… The run was there and I felt like we did a good job running the ball. I can’t answer that.”
What happened?
“We just kind of shot ourselves in the foot. I felt like we just made our jobs a lot harder than it could have been. We just made mistakes that cost us the game. The defense played their hearts out and offensively, we just didn’t execute.”
What needs to change
“I feel like we just need to settle down as an offensive unit, especially in tight games like this, games that come down to the wire. I feel like we need to have some type of composure about ourselves and really just tighten up on our assignment and execution. At the end of the day, we just didn’t execute and most of it was predicated off us shooting ourselves in the foot and us making uncharacteristic mistakes as far as assignment and execution.”
Do the coaches take blame in this?
“It’s a team, it’s not just the coaches, it’s not just us. It’s all of us. If we win, if our team wins, our coaches win and our players win. And if we lose, our coaches lost and we lost. So I feel like it’s a team effort at the end of the day. It is unfair to put the blame on any particular person or particular group, or any coach or anything like that. We just didn’t execute as a coaching staff, a team and as an individual player.”
Kevon Seymour
How much did you play?
“I don’t know, probably like three series.”
Thoughts on the game
“UDub is a great team, a great second half team, we knew it was going to be a fight. I can’t really say much, we have to go back to the film, check it out and really see what the problem was.”
Does something need to change?
“We just have to come together and play with that fire. We went up to Arizona, we don’t like harping on the past, but we went up there with a chip on our shoulder, playing with fire and I mean, I don’t know what the problem was tonight. We just have to come together and win our one-on-ones. And of course stop the run, limit the yards in the passing game and just all the above.”
