Quotes from Danny Sullivan's weekly press conference

September 28, 2009

<a href="http://vimeo.com/6804313">Video of Sullivan's Press Conference</a> <separator></separator>On where he is at after three games: "I would say I am fine. After the first two games, I felt pretty good. I played terrible on Saturday. First half was horrendous, and second half I played better. It's just a learning experience right now, and I take a lot of positives out of Saturday. It is tough to swallow. I feel terrible that our defense played so well and we didn't make any plays in the end, but I'd say it's a learning experience going into the Pac-10 and our number one goal is a Pac-10 championship. It is a non-conference game, and if anything, you learn from it and you get ready for the Pac-10 and ready for Oregon State."<separator></separator>On the positives he can take out of the Georgia game: "If anything, I struggled in the first half and found ways to get better in the second half. We did not execute the way we needed to in the second half to let ourselves win. There were a couple throws here and there that I threw away on purpose, avoiding the bad plays and controlling field position, and I take that as a positive for sure, because it is a game of field position in that case, when it's a close game. Making sure you don't set yourself up with a turnover; interceptions are terrible at that time, and I was careful with the ball."<separator></separator>On the team's competitiveness against Georgia: "You have to be proud of the way these guys compete. I know going everyday with these guys the rest of the way is going to be fun. It is one game. That is all it is; one game. We will learn from it and get ready for Oregon State."<separator></separator>On how he feels the offense can improve early in games: "Controlling what we can control and making the plays we need to make. That first quarter, going through it, there were one or two throws that I should have had. I have to do a better job of making plays early and helping my confidence grow. Halftime adjustments have always been a big key with us. Ever since Coach [Erickson] got here, we have always been good in the second half. If we can just clean up some stuff in the first half, then I think we are going to be more than alright."<separator></separator>On the feeling that the Pac-10 is wide open this season: "It is going to set up for an exciting nine weeks here. Usually you have about three teams that have a really legit chance, but you are looking at it now and any team is a player. Any team can go out and win the Pac-10 right now, and I think that is good. It is going to set up for some tough competition in the next couple of weeks. We have to be ready to go."<separator></separator>On how he feels he is managing the game: "That is what I have been told to do; manage the game. The first half was tough. The conditions were tough, but that is not an excuse. The ball felt like it was 20 pounds and my hand was wet, but you have to deal with conditions. That is the one thing that jumps out in my mind, fighting the adversity and just kept gutting it out in that second half. I told myself at halftime, `just pick it up and we will be all right,' and we got ourselves in a situation where we were able to win."<separator></separator>On having just one turnover in three games: "Dimitri [Nance] is doing a great job of holding on to the ball. Our offensive line is doing a great job of giving him running lanes. I think that is the big key right there. There are not guys in the hole causing things to bottle up. The one thing that I am doing is, if a guy is not there and I do not have anything there, then I am not throwing it away. I am not trying to force anything. That is why I only have the one interception. I am happy with where I am at right now because of that deal. I could have gone in and thrown a bunch of interceptions in the first three games and put our team in the hole, but there have been cases where I have thrown the ball away, and we have continued drives because of that. I am happy with that, and one turnover through three games is pretty good."<separator></separator>On Oregon State's defense: "Well they have a lot of new guys that I have not seen there before. They have Keaton Kristick, who is a very good outside linebacker. He is very fast and very determined. Tim Clark, at corner, he is a senior and is very experienced, but besides that they are very young and inexperienced. It is going to be interesting to see how they come out and play this game. They are very hungry, and they don't want to go 2-3. I think Coach [Mike] Riley is going to do a great job of getting those guys ready, because this is a huge game for them, and a huge game for us to start off the Pac-10."<separator></separator>On what the defense forcing turnovers does for the offense: "It is huge. It gives us a lot more confidence, especially in the game Saturday. They got the fumble, which was recovered by Jarrell [Holman], and we got in and scored. It gave us a lot of confidence and it put them back out there ready to play. The confidence in our offense is very high, but it is even higher when the defense makes us a play. It is our job to get the ball in the end zone, or at least get points, and I think we have done a great job of that so far."<separator></separator>