Instead of the traditional format, I'm opting for a Q&A format today because I thought you guys might like to read the answers in full context of the reporters' questions. (I personally found some of the responses to be pretty telling of what's been going on lately. Note: Aside from Su'a Cravens, who we speak with on Tuesdays because of a class conflict, we'll be able to talk to the defensive players and coaches Wednesday.)
Cody Kessler
Your numbers are really good through three games. But what do you feel like you can do better to help the team win?
CK: "Just execute. I said that after the game Saturday. There were some plays we didn’t execute. Some of it might be the run game, me just being a vocal guy some plays, getting in the offensive line’s head or getting in on the sideline, getting them pumped up, which I’ve been trying to do a lot. Making the plays when they appear, not missing opportunities. There were some plays in the Stanford game that we missed that we should have capitalized on. It’s something that we learn from, we move on from. My biggest thing is just continue to protect the football and get the ball where it needs to be."
Is there any play in particular vs. Stanford that stands out to you as a missed opportunity?
CK: "No. Just a couple. It’s not necessarily individual plays. It’s kind of individual effort on some of the guys. It’s cool because you can call them out in a meeting, or them get called out in a meeting and then them respond to it. Instead of putting their head down and being all upset, they kind of stand up and let the guys know, hey, I got you, I’ll fix it, I’ll correct it. That’s what you need after a loss, guys to come in and admit they’re wrong and learn from it and move on."
There’s a pretty large disparity in your targets to JuJu Smith-Schuster compared to the other receivers. Do you feel like that needs to change?
CK: "Nah, I didn’t notice it. I don’t think the guys notice it. You guys might notice it. I think the guys just step up whenever they’re ready and their number’s called on and they get the ball. JuJu’s a playmaker. You can’t deny that. At the same time, Darreus is making plays. Steven had the most touchdowns in the game. He might not have had the most catches. But guys are getting the ball. People are touching the football at the receiver position all over the place. But you see it at every level. There’s always a guy who’s a very good, standout receiver, and JuJu’s that guy. You look at him, just mentally, physically, everything, he’s a very good receiver. That doesn’t take away from the other guys. They’re still making plays and making catches. It’s just whoever’s open, whoever the coverage works for is going to get the ball."
Clay Helton
There’s a large disparity between how much Kessler is targeting JuJu compared to everyone else. Would you like to see more balance there?
CH: "I think one of the things he’s doing a great job, if you look at every stat sheet, it’s been 10 receivers or more. That’s a remarkable, remarkable deal, to be able to spread the ball around to different guys. Usually what happens you look up and you got four guys catching a ball. I think right now he’s doing a terrific job of spreading the ball around. And I’m really proud of the guys making their plays, not in the quantity of balls but the quality.
"For Steven Mitchell to score two touchdowns for us, that’s huge. For an Isaac Whitney in every game to produce an explosion play. He’s had an explosion play for us in every game. Those are extremely valuable and I’m really proud of Cody, for being able to say, you know what, when it’s that kid’s time, I’m not scared to pull the trigger and give it to him. That’s a huge catch Isaac made for 25 yards (vs. Stanford). For Cody to be able to say, you know what, it’s his time, he’s 1-on-1, to pull that trigger. And I think that’s why you see the numbers the way they are. Ten-plus, that’s a mark of a very good quarterback."
So you don’t think it’s a concern then that Mitchell and Rogers don’t have more receptions?
CH: "Well, I think if you looked at it and it was only three or four guys making catches, then it would be a concern. But when you got 10-plus making catches, the ball’s being spread around."
On the final drive, do you feel like you guys needed to hurry up there down 10? How did you feel about the execution?
CH: "We were going as fast as we can. Obviously we caught a little bit of an unlucky break with a ball out of bounds with about 2:02 left on the clock and the started running again. Then we get the penalty, the clock restarts and we’re having to go really fast there. Really the thing that hurt us, we get the personal foul penalty. If you remember, we checked the ball down, it’s going to be second-and-4 and then all of a sudden it’s first-and-25. That’s what I thought really hurt that drive. If its second-and-four, there was about 40 seconds left on the clock. I think we go in there, we drive and maybe we get a chance to onside kick it. But it’s our job to score. We didn’t scorer, so it wasn’t an efficient drive enough."
You guys scored 31 points. That’s not a low number. But does there need to be a mentality now to score 40-50?
CH: "Our job right now is to outscore our opponent. That’s what we told the offense. Our job was to score 42 that night and we didn’t get it done. And that’s our job."
Tee Martin
How do you feel like the offense played overall Saturday night?
TM: "I thought we started off good in terms of the first drive and mixing it up. A lot of guys got an opportunity to play and contribute. But we didn’t score enough points to win the game, that’s the bottom line."
Does there need to be a mentality to score 40-50 points a game?
TM: "No, we’ve just got to do our jobs."
JuJu’s numbers have been great, but is there a little too much reliance on him in the passing game. Would you like the other guys to be a little more involved?
TM: "If we call a play and the coverage is whatever it is, that guy will catch the ball. That’s it. We don’t know what coverage the defense is going to be in. The quarterback goes through his progression. If it’s Darreus, if it’s JuJu, if it’s Steven … we’re calling plays. There’s no JuJu targets or JuJu plays. If they’re in cover-2 or cover-3 or whatever it is, and he just so happens to be the guy that’s open in that progression, then he’ll get the ball. That’s pretty much what’s been happening."
Was JuJu trying to fire up his teammates this morning by mixing it up with the defensive players during practice?
TM: "He’s a natural leader. He wants to win. He’s so competitive that he brings up guys around him. That’s the true mark of real leadership, not just being concerned with yourself but also bringing other guys with you. You see him starting to do that now."
Su’a Cravens
What stood out to you about the front seven after reviewing the film?
SC: "It doesn’t matter. We’re on to the next week. … We’ve corrected it. On to Arizona State."
What did you correct?
SC: "We’ve got to play harder. I’m not here to talk about last week. I’m here to talk about A-State."
What do you need to do differently against Arizona State?
SC: "Just hustle. We had them in a good position last year; we just kind of gave it up in the fourth quarter. Be disciplined in our assignments, we’ll be all right."
Is there anything in particular that’s difficult about playing at Arizona State?
SC: "They’ve got a crazy atmosphere there. It’s really hot and dry there. But it’s just like any other game. Don’t make the game bigger than what it is. Just go out and play."
Do you think that happened last week?
SC: "Like I said, I’m not here to talk about last week."
In terms of developing an attitude, Sark talked before the season of developing a bully mentality. You feel like you guys have that or are on your way to it?
SC: "We’ve always had it. It’s just deciding if we’re going to go out there and execute it every time we go out on the field. We haven’t been doing that. As the season progresses, we have to get better at it. And I think we will."
Do you believe in the concept of a must-win and is the ASU game a must-win?
SC: "Every South game is a must-win."
Mike Bercovici had a big game in last year’s meeting. What challenges does he present?
SC: "We’ve just got to keep him in the pocket. He does a lot of great things when he gets out. He tries to make plays on the run. As long as we keep him in the pocket and we cover, I think we should be fine."
Steve Sarkisian laid out to us that you guys have to do A, B and C vs. Stanford and then a lot of those things didn’t happen. Is something getting lost in translation from what the coaches’ messages are to what’s happening?
SC: "I just think when the game comes, we’ve got to execute. A lot of people say it’s the coaches, but sometimes it’s the players. When we go out, we’ve got to execute our assignments, and that’s what we’re going to do."
Do you feel like you played well vs. Stanford?
SC: "It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to get the win, so it doesn’t matter."
Cody Kessler
Your numbers are really good through three games. But what do you feel like you can do better to help the team win?
CK: "Just execute. I said that after the game Saturday. There were some plays we didn’t execute. Some of it might be the run game, me just being a vocal guy some plays, getting in the offensive line’s head or getting in on the sideline, getting them pumped up, which I’ve been trying to do a lot. Making the plays when they appear, not missing opportunities. There were some plays in the Stanford game that we missed that we should have capitalized on. It’s something that we learn from, we move on from. My biggest thing is just continue to protect the football and get the ball where it needs to be."
Is there any play in particular vs. Stanford that stands out to you as a missed opportunity?
CK: "No. Just a couple. It’s not necessarily individual plays. It’s kind of individual effort on some of the guys. It’s cool because you can call them out in a meeting, or them get called out in a meeting and then them respond to it. Instead of putting their head down and being all upset, they kind of stand up and let the guys know, hey, I got you, I’ll fix it, I’ll correct it. That’s what you need after a loss, guys to come in and admit they’re wrong and learn from it and move on."
There’s a pretty large disparity in your targets to JuJu Smith-Schuster compared to the other receivers. Do you feel like that needs to change?
CK: "Nah, I didn’t notice it. I don’t think the guys notice it. You guys might notice it. I think the guys just step up whenever they’re ready and their number’s called on and they get the ball. JuJu’s a playmaker. You can’t deny that. At the same time, Darreus is making plays. Steven had the most touchdowns in the game. He might not have had the most catches. But guys are getting the ball. People are touching the football at the receiver position all over the place. But you see it at every level. There’s always a guy who’s a very good, standout receiver, and JuJu’s that guy. You look at him, just mentally, physically, everything, he’s a very good receiver. That doesn’t take away from the other guys. They’re still making plays and making catches. It’s just whoever’s open, whoever the coverage works for is going to get the ball."
Clay Helton
There’s a large disparity between how much Kessler is targeting JuJu compared to everyone else. Would you like to see more balance there?
CH: "I think one of the things he’s doing a great job, if you look at every stat sheet, it’s been 10 receivers or more. That’s a remarkable, remarkable deal, to be able to spread the ball around to different guys. Usually what happens you look up and you got four guys catching a ball. I think right now he’s doing a terrific job of spreading the ball around. And I’m really proud of the guys making their plays, not in the quantity of balls but the quality.
"For Steven Mitchell to score two touchdowns for us, that’s huge. For an Isaac Whitney in every game to produce an explosion play. He’s had an explosion play for us in every game. Those are extremely valuable and I’m really proud of Cody, for being able to say, you know what, when it’s that kid’s time, I’m not scared to pull the trigger and give it to him. That’s a huge catch Isaac made for 25 yards (vs. Stanford). For Cody to be able to say, you know what, it’s his time, he’s 1-on-1, to pull that trigger. And I think that’s why you see the numbers the way they are. Ten-plus, that’s a mark of a very good quarterback."
So you don’t think it’s a concern then that Mitchell and Rogers don’t have more receptions?
CH: "Well, I think if you looked at it and it was only three or four guys making catches, then it would be a concern. But when you got 10-plus making catches, the ball’s being spread around."
On the final drive, do you feel like you guys needed to hurry up there down 10? How did you feel about the execution?
CH: "We were going as fast as we can. Obviously we caught a little bit of an unlucky break with a ball out of bounds with about 2:02 left on the clock and the started running again. Then we get the penalty, the clock restarts and we’re having to go really fast there. Really the thing that hurt us, we get the personal foul penalty. If you remember, we checked the ball down, it’s going to be second-and-4 and then all of a sudden it’s first-and-25. That’s what I thought really hurt that drive. If its second-and-four, there was about 40 seconds left on the clock. I think we go in there, we drive and maybe we get a chance to onside kick it. But it’s our job to score. We didn’t scorer, so it wasn’t an efficient drive enough."
You guys scored 31 points. That’s not a low number. But does there need to be a mentality now to score 40-50?
CH: "Our job right now is to outscore our opponent. That’s what we told the offense. Our job was to score 42 that night and we didn’t get it done. And that’s our job."
Tee Martin
How do you feel like the offense played overall Saturday night?
TM: "I thought we started off good in terms of the first drive and mixing it up. A lot of guys got an opportunity to play and contribute. But we didn’t score enough points to win the game, that’s the bottom line."
Does there need to be a mentality to score 40-50 points a game?
TM: "No, we’ve just got to do our jobs."
JuJu’s numbers have been great, but is there a little too much reliance on him in the passing game. Would you like the other guys to be a little more involved?
TM: "If we call a play and the coverage is whatever it is, that guy will catch the ball. That’s it. We don’t know what coverage the defense is going to be in. The quarterback goes through his progression. If it’s Darreus, if it’s JuJu, if it’s Steven … we’re calling plays. There’s no JuJu targets or JuJu plays. If they’re in cover-2 or cover-3 or whatever it is, and he just so happens to be the guy that’s open in that progression, then he’ll get the ball. That’s pretty much what’s been happening."
Was JuJu trying to fire up his teammates this morning by mixing it up with the defensive players during practice?
TM: "He’s a natural leader. He wants to win. He’s so competitive that he brings up guys around him. That’s the true mark of real leadership, not just being concerned with yourself but also bringing other guys with you. You see him starting to do that now."
Su’a Cravens
What stood out to you about the front seven after reviewing the film?
SC: "It doesn’t matter. We’re on to the next week. … We’ve corrected it. On to Arizona State."
What did you correct?
SC: "We’ve got to play harder. I’m not here to talk about last week. I’m here to talk about A-State."
What do you need to do differently against Arizona State?
SC: "Just hustle. We had them in a good position last year; we just kind of gave it up in the fourth quarter. Be disciplined in our assignments, we’ll be all right."
Is there anything in particular that’s difficult about playing at Arizona State?
SC: "They’ve got a crazy atmosphere there. It’s really hot and dry there. But it’s just like any other game. Don’t make the game bigger than what it is. Just go out and play."
Do you think that happened last week?
SC: "Like I said, I’m not here to talk about last week."
In terms of developing an attitude, Sark talked before the season of developing a bully mentality. You feel like you guys have that or are on your way to it?
SC: "We’ve always had it. It’s just deciding if we’re going to go out there and execute it every time we go out on the field. We haven’t been doing that. As the season progresses, we have to get better at it. And I think we will."
Do you believe in the concept of a must-win and is the ASU game a must-win?
SC: "Every South game is a must-win."
Mike Bercovici had a big game in last year’s meeting. What challenges does he present?
SC: "We’ve just got to keep him in the pocket. He does a lot of great things when he gets out. He tries to make plays on the run. As long as we keep him in the pocket and we cover, I think we should be fine."
Steve Sarkisian laid out to us that you guys have to do A, B and C vs. Stanford and then a lot of those things didn’t happen. Is something getting lost in translation from what the coaches’ messages are to what’s happening?
SC: "I just think when the game comes, we’ve got to execute. A lot of people say it’s the coaches, but sometimes it’s the players. When we go out, we’ve got to execute our assignments, and that’s what we’re going to do."
Do you feel like you played well vs. Stanford?
SC: "It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to get the win, so it doesn’t matter."
