Part two of our regularly series, They Said It.
Khaliel Rodgers
On playing a significant role against Utah
“Well originally, after Sark was gone, Coach Helton sat down and talked with me. He always believed in me and he said you keep having these great practices, you’re going to get in. I had two solid weeks of great practice and, originally today, I was going to rotate in at guard every two series and Toa (Lobendahn) went down, so I automatically took over at center the rest of the game.”
On what he proved
“I just showed that I definitely can do the position well and execute it.”
Ronald Jones
On his impressions of the game
“I think the defense really did their job, when you get four turnovers like that against a team like this in the physical run game, you know, the game comes down to turnovers. It’s a small game of inches and when things like that happen, it’s great. It feels great to get the win.”
Iman Marshall
On how USC performed so well
“We’re the same thing we’ve always been, just today, we had stuff that we cleaned up on. We felt disrespected by them telling us that we weren’t physical enough and we came out and showed the world that we are ‘SC.”
On what made them more physical
“The disrespect from everybody telling us we weren’t physical enough. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t ever disrespect the ‘SC brand, that’s what I say, it’s simple. So we came and showed everybody in the nation that ‘SC is back.”
On if the disrespect helped motivate them
“We were motivated off top but that put the extra icing on the cake, do to the fact that you don’t ever disrespect the man by saying he’s soft. That’s what we all felt like that, that people disrespected us and said that.”
On what he sees going forward
“I feel like, the games, if you look at it, the games we did lose was tough battles, tough fought battles. And today, we came out and showed everybody that, don’t lose faith on us. We feel like a lot of people try to lose faith on us. But we came out here and showed everybody, this is who we are, we’re brothers, we’re all we got. It’s simple, we’re all we need at the end of the day. We’re here to play for the Trojan family and play for each other and that’s what we came out here to do today.”
Porter Gustin
On what changed in this game
“I think everybody is just tired of losing, tired of not finishing late in the game. We had a great week of practice, more physical, everybody is just starting to come together.”
On where USC goes from here
“We’re still in pretty decent position to win the Pac-12 South if we win out. I think we can absolutely do that for sure. So just keep fighting on.”
Viane Talamaivao
On what changed for USC
“Just cleaned up assignments and executed. It was a team effort and it was just a mentality, going through so much adversity as a team, you have to figure out what you’re actually playing for and championships or whatever, all that aside, at the end of the day, tonight was a family effort and it was about playing for the man next to you. It’s about playing for your brother and that’s what Coach Helton has been emphasizing, all about family and it showed tonight I think. It was a team effort.”
On what was different on the field in this game
“It was just executing, just cleaning up assignments and executing. Obviously, every game you’re going to have, you’re going to do some things right and do some thing wrong and at the end of the day, this week was about, I think it was really about fighting on. It could have been very easy for us to come out here with a million excuses of why we couldn’t have won this game and we didn’t do any of that. We came out and we just played hard for each other.”
On if the talk surrounding this team hurt them
“It was a direct challenge to us, as a unit, as a offense. In football, when people call you soft, that is the most disrespectful thing. And Utah was a very tough team, very physical team. We just knew coming in, everyone expected us to get out physical-ed and out played. We had a chip on our shoulder and it definitely did motivate us coming in but like I said, we have a great deal of respect for this team, it was a dog fight in the trenches tonight. They’re a tough group and they’re a good team, a good front seven, a good defense. I feel like we can hang our hat on how we performed and how we stood up to the challenge.”
On how the offensive line performed despite all the injuries
“Things happen man, unfortunately, Toa went down tonight, we’ll be praying for him and there’s a plan in store for him. But Khaliel came in and it was just the next man up. I think we mentally made a decision not to let this one slide. Like I said, times like this, you’re either going to stand up or fall by the wayside. I think we as a unit decided to stand up. I’m very proud of this win and this effort. We’re going to enjoy this one for a little bit but now we have to get ready for a good Cal team.”
Khaliel Rodgers
On playing a significant role against Utah
“Well originally, after Sark was gone, Coach Helton sat down and talked with me. He always believed in me and he said you keep having these great practices, you’re going to get in. I had two solid weeks of great practice and, originally today, I was going to rotate in at guard every two series and Toa (Lobendahn) went down, so I automatically took over at center the rest of the game.”
On what he proved
“I just showed that I definitely can do the position well and execute it.”
Ronald Jones
On his impressions of the game
“I think the defense really did their job, when you get four turnovers like that against a team like this in the physical run game, you know, the game comes down to turnovers. It’s a small game of inches and when things like that happen, it’s great. It feels great to get the win.”
Iman Marshall
On how USC performed so well
“We’re the same thing we’ve always been, just today, we had stuff that we cleaned up on. We felt disrespected by them telling us that we weren’t physical enough and we came out and showed the world that we are ‘SC.”
On what made them more physical
“The disrespect from everybody telling us we weren’t physical enough. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t ever disrespect the ‘SC brand, that’s what I say, it’s simple. So we came and showed everybody in the nation that ‘SC is back.”
On if the disrespect helped motivate them
“We were motivated off top but that put the extra icing on the cake, do to the fact that you don’t ever disrespect the man by saying he’s soft. That’s what we all felt like that, that people disrespected us and said that.”
On what he sees going forward
“I feel like, the games, if you look at it, the games we did lose was tough battles, tough fought battles. And today, we came out and showed everybody that, don’t lose faith on us. We feel like a lot of people try to lose faith on us. But we came out here and showed everybody, this is who we are, we’re brothers, we’re all we got. It’s simple, we’re all we need at the end of the day. We’re here to play for the Trojan family and play for each other and that’s what we came out here to do today.”
Porter Gustin
On what changed in this game
“I think everybody is just tired of losing, tired of not finishing late in the game. We had a great week of practice, more physical, everybody is just starting to come together.”
On where USC goes from here
“We’re still in pretty decent position to win the Pac-12 South if we win out. I think we can absolutely do that for sure. So just keep fighting on.”
Viane Talamaivao
On what changed for USC
“Just cleaned up assignments and executed. It was a team effort and it was just a mentality, going through so much adversity as a team, you have to figure out what you’re actually playing for and championships or whatever, all that aside, at the end of the day, tonight was a family effort and it was about playing for the man next to you. It’s about playing for your brother and that’s what Coach Helton has been emphasizing, all about family and it showed tonight I think. It was a team effort.”
On what was different on the field in this game
“It was just executing, just cleaning up assignments and executing. Obviously, every game you’re going to have, you’re going to do some things right and do some thing wrong and at the end of the day, this week was about, I think it was really about fighting on. It could have been very easy for us to come out here with a million excuses of why we couldn’t have won this game and we didn’t do any of that. We came out and we just played hard for each other.”
On if the talk surrounding this team hurt them
“It was a direct challenge to us, as a unit, as a offense. In football, when people call you soft, that is the most disrespectful thing. And Utah was a very tough team, very physical team. We just knew coming in, everyone expected us to get out physical-ed and out played. We had a chip on our shoulder and it definitely did motivate us coming in but like I said, we have a great deal of respect for this team, it was a dog fight in the trenches tonight. They’re a tough group and they’re a good team, a good front seven, a good defense. I feel like we can hang our hat on how we performed and how we stood up to the challenge.”
On how the offensive line performed despite all the injuries
“Things happen man, unfortunately, Toa went down tonight, we’ll be praying for him and there’s a plan in store for him. But Khaliel came in and it was just the next man up. I think we mentally made a decision not to let this one slide. Like I said, times like this, you’re either going to stand up or fall by the wayside. I think we as a unit decided to stand up. I’m very proud of this win and this effort. We’re going to enjoy this one for a little bit but now we have to get ready for a good Cal team.”
