You guys have flipped it here, winning the last two, how do you feel like you've been able to make that change to finish these games off the right way?
Well, I think first the team has just hung in there. I mean really, and the team deserves a lot of credit for that. That's not easy. And just emotionally to stay in it, to keep battling. I think the team's kept their confidence. I think the team has kept great perspective on all that's happened this year, the good, the bad, everything in between. And they've stayed steady and they've stayed motivated. And so we really looked at this last three game stretch. We said it's a three game season and it's going to happen quickly. It's three great opportunities against three other very good programs, three important games here for us. And so we've done a great job getting the first two that the guys have played well. We've done what we've needed to do to play well in these games and to put ourselves in position. And we said it a lot throughout the year, we are battle tested. We don't get in one of those games and it's like we don't panic. We know what it feels like. We know what it takes and it's a matter of just going and doing it. And so we've done it two games in a row now and two different type situations. One on the road, a rivalry game. And to be able to close that out, especially with how we played defensively and how we played on special teams. I mean because really what won the football game, I mean to be completely honest, I mean those two sides of the ball really played well, gave us some huge advantages, made clutch plays, and obviously were kind of the spearhead to the victory.
Coach. I know you didn't talk about it a bunch, maybe going into the game, but you had a team that was down a lot of guys during the week and some sickness was a part of it, and just the time of the year, it's guys are not feeling a hundred percent. What was it like trying to get the team going when especially everything's not feeling that great this week and you're just trying to battle through the week to get the guys to the game?
Yeah, I think I said something after it. It really was there was some covid, deja vus of going through a covid season and that you weren't real sure day to day. I mean we were masked up in meetings. I mean you were getting about five different injury reports a day. Not sure exactly who you were going to have even up to five or 10 minutes before practice, but we just said from the beginning, we're going to manage it. We're going to prepare the best that we can with what we have, but we're not carrying excuses into this week as far as preparation and certainly not into this game. And so it is what it is and we've got to deal with it. And that was just the mentality the whole week. And I give credit to our trainers and doctors. I mean they worked overtime this week, nutritionist, the players. I mean it was definitely a group effort to get this team ready, but they were very motivated and very determined to go play well no matter what was stacked up.
Coach some highs and lows in this game for Jayden Maiava, I thought he did a better job protecting the football, which was important in this game. When your defense is playing so well, how would you evaluate his performance? Not only in this game but over the last couple of weeks?
He played good. He played good the other night. I thought he was steady. I thought he stayed patient even when we didn't make some plays around him that we should make. And I thought he never really got rattled. I thought he saw things well. I thought he was a lot steadier and more consistent than he was in the first start, which is I don't think a surprise. I mean we felt like that there would be an element to just settling in a little bit and we felt that he threw some great balls down the field. He gave our guys some chances to make plays that, like I said, that we need to make. He was patient, I thought when he needed to be patient, there was a number of really good check downs that were really efficient plays for us and he played a good game. He's going to keep getting better. But it was fun to see him really feel more settled in and in control than he did the first week.
What are you seeing from your guys up (defensively) front here late in the season?
It was an impactful game. It was the big thing is we were able to affect the quarterback and that was huge. And it didn't just take us blitzing to affect the quarterback. We were able to do it in multiple ways. We were able to do it with different types of rushes, getting it from different players and even obviously we got him on the ground some, but even at times when we didn't get him on the ground, we were moving the quarterback off of his spots. You're making him have to move. You're making him have to scramble. Yeah, and I think some of the new guys that we're playing with in that lineup, you can feel the confidence growing in that group. They're starting to get more in sync. They're starting to play better and better. And so it was an important part of the game. They'd been on a pretty good string offensively. The quarterback had been playing some good ball for 'em. They had been scoring some points and so we knew it was going to be a key to the game. To step up was awesome. And yeah, like you said, I mean stopping the quarterback sneak was probably my favorite play of the game. I mean just the surge that we had in that critical of a moment when a team's going to be aggressive like that and try to go for it deep in their own territory to be able to flip that was huge. And we had a number of obviously big third and fourth down stops for the game that were certainly the difference.
Well, I think first the team has just hung in there. I mean really, and the team deserves a lot of credit for that. That's not easy. And just emotionally to stay in it, to keep battling. I think the team's kept their confidence. I think the team has kept great perspective on all that's happened this year, the good, the bad, everything in between. And they've stayed steady and they've stayed motivated. And so we really looked at this last three game stretch. We said it's a three game season and it's going to happen quickly. It's three great opportunities against three other very good programs, three important games here for us. And so we've done a great job getting the first two that the guys have played well. We've done what we've needed to do to play well in these games and to put ourselves in position. And we said it a lot throughout the year, we are battle tested. We don't get in one of those games and it's like we don't panic. We know what it feels like. We know what it takes and it's a matter of just going and doing it. And so we've done it two games in a row now and two different type situations. One on the road, a rivalry game. And to be able to close that out, especially with how we played defensively and how we played on special teams. I mean because really what won the football game, I mean to be completely honest, I mean those two sides of the ball really played well, gave us some huge advantages, made clutch plays, and obviously were kind of the spearhead to the victory.
Coach. I know you didn't talk about it a bunch, maybe going into the game, but you had a team that was down a lot of guys during the week and some sickness was a part of it, and just the time of the year, it's guys are not feeling a hundred percent. What was it like trying to get the team going when especially everything's not feeling that great this week and you're just trying to battle through the week to get the guys to the game?
Yeah, I think I said something after it. It really was there was some covid, deja vus of going through a covid season and that you weren't real sure day to day. I mean we were masked up in meetings. I mean you were getting about five different injury reports a day. Not sure exactly who you were going to have even up to five or 10 minutes before practice, but we just said from the beginning, we're going to manage it. We're going to prepare the best that we can with what we have, but we're not carrying excuses into this week as far as preparation and certainly not into this game. And so it is what it is and we've got to deal with it. And that was just the mentality the whole week. And I give credit to our trainers and doctors. I mean they worked overtime this week, nutritionist, the players. I mean it was definitely a group effort to get this team ready, but they were very motivated and very determined to go play well no matter what was stacked up.
Coach some highs and lows in this game for Jayden Maiava, I thought he did a better job protecting the football, which was important in this game. When your defense is playing so well, how would you evaluate his performance? Not only in this game but over the last couple of weeks?
He played good. He played good the other night. I thought he was steady. I thought he stayed patient even when we didn't make some plays around him that we should make. And I thought he never really got rattled. I thought he saw things well. I thought he was a lot steadier and more consistent than he was in the first start, which is I don't think a surprise. I mean we felt like that there would be an element to just settling in a little bit and we felt that he threw some great balls down the field. He gave our guys some chances to make plays that, like I said, that we need to make. He was patient, I thought when he needed to be patient, there was a number of really good check downs that were really efficient plays for us and he played a good game. He's going to keep getting better. But it was fun to see him really feel more settled in and in control than he did the first week.
What are you seeing from your guys up (defensively) front here late in the season?
It was an impactful game. It was the big thing is we were able to affect the quarterback and that was huge. And it didn't just take us blitzing to affect the quarterback. We were able to do it in multiple ways. We were able to do it with different types of rushes, getting it from different players and even obviously we got him on the ground some, but even at times when we didn't get him on the ground, we were moving the quarterback off of his spots. You're making him have to move. You're making him have to scramble. Yeah, and I think some of the new guys that we're playing with in that lineup, you can feel the confidence growing in that group. They're starting to get more in sync. They're starting to play better and better. And so it was an important part of the game. They'd been on a pretty good string offensively. The quarterback had been playing some good ball for 'em. They had been scoring some points and so we knew it was going to be a key to the game. To step up was awesome. And yeah, like you said, I mean stopping the quarterback sneak was probably my favorite play of the game. I mean just the surge that we had in that critical of a moment when a team's going to be aggressive like that and try to go for it deep in their own territory to be able to flip that was huge. And we had a number of obviously big third and fourth down stops for the game that were certainly the difference.
