Quotes from quarterback Rudy Carpenter's Monday press conference

October 08, 2007

On what the win on Saturday does for the team: "Any win in the Pac 10 is hard to come by, especially up there in Pullman. It's a hard place to play. I think everyone saw this week that anyone can beat anyone, with Stanford beating USC. Like I've said a few times, I think those wins that we had at home early in the year against Colorado and Oregon State when we were down is a huge advantage to us coming into the later part of the season, especially with Washington State. It was a big win for us and we're just happy to be 6-0."<separator></separator>On how he feels about being banged around the past two weeks: "I feel pretty good. After the Oregon State game is when I felt not wasn't feeling so good, but I feel 100 percent."<separator></separator>On how the mentality in the locker room is after being 6-0 and climbing up in the rankings for the Pac 10: "I think it just makes the guys on our team hungrier to keep working hard and keep practicing hard because we know we have a legitimate chance to accomplish the goals we set earlier in the year. Whereas in prior years, by this time, we were kind of already out of the goals we had set for ourselves at the end of the year. So, I think it makes the locker room a more positive place and guys are wanting to go after the goals we set at the beginning of the year."<separator></separator>On seeing the polls each week after a game: "To be honest with you, we're so busy and we don't get back from away games until really late at night and by the time we wake up, the polls have already come out and we're already in watching film and getting ready. If it wasn't for my friends who are into it, I wouldn't even know that we were ranked."<separator></separator>On his thoughts about the team's resilience and where it is coming from: "I think it's two places. I think the leadership of our team because we have a lot of seniors on our team who have been here a lot and played a lot of games. They know that games are four quarters long and you just have to play the whole 60 minutes and give yourself a chance to win it at the end. I think the coaching staff is probably the biggest difference maker right now. They bring a little bit of a different attitude to the team and I think they keep the confidence level up in the players. With our coaches we have now, I think the players believe we have a chance to win all the time."<separator></separator>On what the coaches have brought to the team: "I think it's a confidence level and a calmness level during the game. I don't think there's really any panic at any given time. They just keep trying to execute the game plan and it's going to work eventually."<separator></separator>On how prepared the team is for this week's game: "Today is really the first day that we are going to start preparing for them. I know a little bit about their defense because they gave us a hard time last year. They're a pretty good defense. They played against some good competition this year like Boise State, Ohio State, and USC, so we have to be ready to play against these guys; our preparation will start today."<separator></separator>On <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/torain_ryan00.html">Ry… Torain</a>: "Ryan is a great runner for us and he is so strong physically and so well conditioned that towards the end of the game when the team starts to get tired and people start to ware down, Ryan is still going at it 100 percent. We need that from Ryan because he's a bruising back and he runs very hard and we need him to take over games like that at the end, especially when we come to this part of the schedule when we play some really good teams. Hopefully, we can just continue to get that out of Ryan and he's been healthy for the past couple of weeks, whereas against other teams, he wasn't as healthy."<separator></separator>On <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/conrad_brady00.html">B… Conrad's</a> first career touchdown: "That was huge for us. Brady did a good job blocking in the run game and he also made some plays in the passing game. I think he had four receptions and the touchdown. Whenever you have guys get hurt and can't play, you need to have guys step in and play to that same level that the starter would. That is exactly what Brady did, so props to him for staying ready and preparing himself like he is going to start every week."<separator></separator>On Kyle Williams' one-handed catch: "That wasn't a very good decision on my part, but I have a lot of confidence in my receivers that they can make a lot of plays. Sometimes it hurts us because I don't throw the ball away, but I think more often than not this year we have made some big plays and that was one of the best catches I've ever seen."<separator></separator>