Quotes: Brock Osweiler on returning to Oregon as a Sun Devil

ON RETURNING TO OREGON, THE SITE OF HIS FIRST COLLEGIATE START:
“A lot has happened since then. I was a young kid making my first start. Now, I’ve played in a few games since then and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity. My first trip up to Autzen [Stadium] didn’t go how anybody would hope for it to but, like I said, we’re a different football team now; I’m a different football player and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”

ON WHAT HE REMEMBERS FROM THAT GAME:

“It was kind of cold that night, their stadium was everything that it gets hyped up to be; it’s loud, it’s noisy, their fans are on top of you. But, like I said, it didn’t go how I had hoped for it to. I was a different football player, but more importantly we were a different football team and this time will be prepared. We’re going to have a great week of practice and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.” 

ON HAVING FAMILY AT THE UTAH GAME:

“It was good. I have a very supportive family and a great set of friends, so I’ve had quite a few people at all of the games this year. It’s definitely comforting and it’s good to know that those people are there to support you. Anytime you can go on the road, especially in a loud, hostile environment like Utah was, it’s special and it feels good.” 

ON WHAT HE LEARNED IN BEATING UTAH:

“We can win on the road and that was the biggest question going into the week, flat out: can this football team win on the road? And I think that we showed that we can. We finally put together four quarters of football, obviously we can still improve in many areas and we will, but it was a good time for us.”

ON Garth Gerhart:

“Garth Gerhart was a warrior. He hadn’t practiced all week and fought through the pain to be there for his teammates and that just shows the character that Garth has. He’s a tremendous teammate, a great football player and I thought he played a very good game Saturday.” 

ON OREGON’S OFFENSE:

“I really don’t pay attention to Oregon’s offense. I’ve watched them a few times this year but I’m a football fan and I enjoy watching other football teams seeing what they’re doing, how their quarterbacks are playing, but I’m not too concerned with Oregon’s offense, to be honest.” 

ON OREGON’S DEFENSE:

“Their defense is good. Flat out, they are good. They have great athletes. We have great speed but so do they, and they like to blitz a lot. They showed us that last year when we played them, but more importantly, especially at home they play very hard and very disciplined football and I expect a great game out of their defense.” 

ON PREPARING FOR OREGON:

“As a football player, you prepare for every football game the same way. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing week-in and week-out, whether you’re playing the worst team in the country or the best team in the country, you’re still going to prepare the same way. Obviously, there are a lot of things added to this game as far as Gameday, ESPN, going on the road at Oregon and playing a tremendous football team, but we’re going to prepare the same way and go into this football game playing the way we do every week. This game is pretty simple, whoever scores the most points wins and that’s the way we’re going up there. It’s just another football game to us. We’re going to be prepared and we’re excited about it.” 

ON THE EXPERIENCE GAINED IN FACING QUALITY OPPONENTS:

“Anytime you’re getting experience playing in a football game, it’s going to help. We played a lot of quality opponents last year, but we have this year, as well, and we are prepared for this football game. Can I exactly say how I know we are? No, but we are prepared for this football game. This is something that we’ve been working towards, not only this offseason but since I’ve been here. We’ve been working to position ourselves in a national televised game against a team who was in the national championship last year. We’re ready and we look forward to the opportunity.” 

ON ASU’S DEFENSE CREATING TURNOVERS:

“It’s tremendous. I can’t even really explain how much it helps us out as an offense. When you have a defense going out there and not only keeping a team from scoring points, but flat out taking the football away from them and giving it to us in great field position, I really can’t explain it. It helps us more than you know. Anytime you have to go and score from your opponents territory or have a short field, it’s a huge help; rather than them punting and you have to drive the length of the field. Our defense has done a tremendous job and I look forward to seeing what they can do Saturday.”

ON CASHING IN ON THOSE TURNOVERS:

“That’s why football is such a special sport, it’s a team sport. The defense, we need them and they need us. Them going out there and forcing all of those turnovers, it’s then our responsibility to hold up our end of the agreement and go and turn those into points. Fortunately for us, Saturday we did.”

ON Tyler Sulka:

“I just tried to remind Tyler Sulka that nothing changes from practice. Obviously, it might be a little bit louder out there and stuff like that, but other than that the game is exactly how you practice it. I just reminded him of that and tried to calm some of those nerves. I thought Tyler, for making his first start on the road, did a great job Saturday.”

ON THE TEAM’S SUCCESS DESPITE INJURIES:

“This team has no quit. We have a lot of fire and drive in us. In the offseason, we set very high goals for this football team and I think that is pretty obvious to everybody: Rose Bowl. No matter what has happened to this football team, we haven’t taken our eyes off of that and we have just worked at a one-week-at-a-time pace and that’s what we're doing. Were just keeping our eye on the goal that we set for ourselves back in January. “ 

ON WHAT ASU CAN LEARN FROM LAST YEAR’S GAME VERSUS OREGON:

“We need to learn what killed us last year and that was turnovers. We talked about that a lot over the offseason and I think this week, having that game tape from last season’s game is going to be vital for this football team. I know personally that I’m going to look at it a lot, I know the rest of the guys on the squad will do the same and if we can learn from the mistakes we made last year, clean those up and go in with a good game plan, it’s going to be a good game.” 

ON CONFIDENCE IN THE OFFENSE:

“Each opponent has brought us things that we hadn’t seen on tape or things we weren’t expecting them to do and we’ve had to adjust on the fly in every game this year. We’ve seen a lot of different schemes by defenses and we are prepared for different situations. We’ve seen zone blitzes, man blitzes, man straight across the board and max coverages, so I think we are well prepared for whatever their defense is going to do to us.”

ON WHAT UNIFORMS THEY WILL BE WEARING THIS WEEK:

“I would love to tell you guys but I don’t even know. They keep that secret from us. I’m sure they’ll come up with a combination that looks pretty good though.” 

ON IF THE UNIFORMS BRING A LITTLE FUN:

“It is a lot of fun with the four different helmets and all the different combos that we have, it’s exiting. You walk into the locker room and you have no idea what you’re wearing. It’s kind of like Christmas every Saturday.” 

ON THE UNIFORM CHANGES THROUGHOUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

“It’s a fun part of college football. I think I saw Maryland the other day in some pretty crazy uniforms so it’s getting pretty cool watching what each team is coming up with and it’s fun. It’s a cool part of college football.” 

ON WHAT HIS FAVORITE UNIFORM COMBINATION IS:

“The all-black was pretty cool, I think that is pretty standard. I also enjoyed the all-white. I thought the all-white was pretty cool and what we did against Oregon State. I don’t think we have had a bad combo yet, to be honest. As far as this Saturday goes, I don’t really care I’m just looking forward to the football game and the opportunity at hand.”

ON IF THE UNIFORMS MATTER TO THE TEAM:

“You might get a little bit energy and excitement from it, like the blackout. I know the players were doing some pretty cool things like blacking out their shoes and this and that so that definitely brings energy and excitement. But does it win a football game? No. “

ON HOW HE KEEPS ALL OF THE WIDE RECIEVERS HAPPY:

“My job is easy concerning that. You would really be surprised with the attitudes of our wide receivers and the brotherhood that they have. Like Mike Willie said after the game, they don’t care who gets the most catches, who has the most yards, who’s scoring the most touchdowns. As long as the team is winning, that is all they care about, which is petty special. It’s a cool thing to see because I know that a lot of football players aren’t like that. A lot of guys want that football, they want their touches, but our wide receivers, like I said, they are all brothers out there, they all love each other and all they care about is this football team winning. “