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Colorado at Arizona Arizona Stadium | Sat., Nov. 8, 2014 Postgame Quotes Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez Opening statement: "We're happy to get that one and proud of our guys. That is a well‐coached football team that played hard. After the first play, our defense settled down and got some turnovers. Anu Solomon really competed and ran well. His running was probably the difference for us offensively. It was a good win and I told the team the more you win, the more is at stake. There is a lot at stake the next few weeks and I think regardless, our senior class gets to go out as winners and that's a nice accomplishment for them." On quarterback Anu Solomon being healthy: "His ankle has been bothering him. I told him to walk around campus with one of those boots on. I told him ‘you are going to get people talking about it’ and he said he needed a disguise. He is a tough guy and he may not burst for 40 yards, but he made some big runs tonight and that made a difference for us." On running back Nick Wilson: "Nick is a physical guy. He runs hard and he runs downhill. I have to watch the film to see how we blocked the run. I think at times we did OK, but I don't think we pushed the pile as well as we could have. For a guy that weighs 225 pounds, when Nick gets going, he runs low to the ground and he brings it." On the crowd and the first play: "We had a nice crowd, and they were silent and our sideline was quiet. I always yell to our defense before the first play of the game to play action deep ball. Whether they are going to throw it or not, I always say that because I think they are going to do it. It wasn't even playing action, it was just a dig route to the post behind him, and it was well executed. However, there was so much football to be played. I thought the key after that was not only getting the turnovers, but getting good field position from them. I think it was the difference in the game, because we still sputtered around offensively at times and we didn't execute as well as we needed to. We have to give them credit, too. We made a few big plays when we had to. You want to be able to run the ball when everyone knows you are going to run it. When we ran it in the fourth quarter, it was key. The third‐and‐long at the end when we ran it and got a first down was big as well." On receiver Samajie Grant: "We were talking about that earlier in camp. Samajie played as a freshman last year and he learned all four receiver positions. What I thought after reviewing the film from last year coming into this season is that he is one of our best football players. He is a very competitive guy and he can play inside and outside. He is overlooked sometimes, and literally because he isn't very tall. He is a really good football player and he made some great plays tonight." On playing close games: "Our guys love to play and love to compete. They don't panic and there is adversity that will strike in every game. We are not good enough to play poorly and win. We can play well and lose. Our guys know that we are just going to keep at it. Even at halftime, we knew we had to play 30 more minutes and fight until the end. It didn't go down to the last couple of minutes, but I think our guys mindsets is that they are prepared to compete until the end." Arizona senior free safety Jourdon Grandon On responding to big plays: "If something doesn’t go our way, we just have to stay calm. We can't dwell on it and we have to just play the next snap." On the defense’s performance: "We really stepped up when we needed to defensively. We have really good pass rushers and they really know what they're doing so that helps us a lot." Arizona freshman running back Nick Wilson On getting back into the groove: "It feels good to be back on the ground running, especially since I was struggling these last few games." Arizona sophomore receiver Samajie Grant On the receiving group: "It's great to succeed as an offense or as a defense but it's not really a competition thing. We just have to help the team as much as we can, that's what the coaches teach us. It's not a selfish thing, it's about helping your brother." On the team’s rushing attack: "Being able to run the ball is always the big thing for the offense. Every time we kept making runs with Nick (Wilson) and (Terris Jones‐Grigsby), the linebackers would come in closer and closer." Arizona senior safety Tra’Mayne Bondurant On dealing with his injuries: "Physically, right now I'm okay, I guarantee everyone on the team has some bumps and bruises but I'm doing very well." On the fumble recovery for a touchdown: "When I made that touchdown, I just saw the ball bounce and I knew I had to get it. It's a great feeling." Looking ahead: "Winning is always fun for us but these next few weeks are going to be huge and we understand that. We need to make sure we take the right approach and execute everything properly in practice. At the same time, we are just trying to have fun, but we definitely need to finish out the year like we want to.” On battling back after a loss: "Taking those losses was hard for us especially since we had such big expectations for ourselves. We knew this week would be big for us and it was great being able to come home and play, that definitely helped us a lot. It's always good to come home, it's a much better feeling. With it being Homecoming, the crowd was loud which helps our defense. Homecoming is a big game for the seniors and the alumni. It's awesome seeing guys come back that you used to play with." Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre Opening statement: “I thought our kids played extremely hard again; they always will. They’ve got a never‐give‐up attitude. We can’t turn the ball over in the Pac‐12 and expect to win. We did have three fourth‐down stops that I consider like turnovers. We’ve got to find a way to quit shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s very difficult to beat a good football team if we do that. But I thought we played extremely hard. I thought we played hard enough and well enough at times to have a chance to win the football game, but the turnovers hurt us again. We’ve got to find a way to fix that.” On the defense: “They played well. We gave up a couple touchdowns at the end that hurt us. (Our defense) played hard, but they didn’t play well enough at the end there to win it, but I thought they played hard and battled very hard. They made quite a few plays, too.” On the first touchdown pass: “We had it set up and we made the call and they played it exactly how we thought they would.” On the status of quarterback Sefo Liufau: “He’s a little bit woozy or dizzy right now. I don’t know exactly the state of it, if it’s a concussion right now, but it’s something to do with his head. He’s going to be okay but I don’t know how serious it is at this point.” On life with a young quarterback: “You kind of roll with it, and he’s got to keep learning from it and we’ve got to find a way not to have it happen.” On if an older quarterback will make a difference on their state of play: "It's just little things all over the place. Receivers run the correct route. A defensive back playing the leverage correctly on one. An end containing the quarterback on another one. There's just so many little things that end up being big things, and that's all we've been talking about is keep correcting those little things. As the kids play more, they'll correct more and more. We've improved from last year, we've improved from earlier in the year and we've just got to keep eliminating a few of those. That's just a process of keep practicing, keep working, keep eating, keep fighting. Our kids just keep fighting extremely hard, and we'll just keep trying to improve." Colorado junior wide receiver Nelson Spruce On the touchdown pass he threw: "It was just a play we put in for this first time this week. We knew if we got down there near the goal line it'd be something that we can definitely do and pull off." On the offense: "I think we had great momentum in the first half, and then just let go and they got 21 points solely off of turnovers." On what the coaches said after the loss: "Not too much, it is the same thing over and over. The theme is we're just making those penalties and turnovers that continually cost us the game. I think physically we are standing toe‐to‐toe with these teams but we're just making mistakes." Colorado freshman wide receiver Shay Fields On the turnovers in the game: "It kind of took from the momentum drastically, especially while we were already starting to move the ball, it definitely took the edge off." On the team’s resiliency: "No matter if our record is 0‐8 or 8‐0, we always look to come out and fight, and focus on winning each game we're playing." On how to respond from the loss: "Go into this bye week, try and get healthy and execute too. Just to be ready for what’s ahead in two weeks and work on the plays that we didn't do well on." On Colorado’s defense: "The first half, we held them to 21, but we just couldn't answer on offense." On not being able to capitalize on the good start: "We need to execute. Our protection kind of broke down a little bit, too, we lost some focus but just execute." On the 75‐yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage: "It was great, but we just couldn't keep it going."