What Mario Cristobal said after Oregon beat Arizona State

EUGENE --  Oregon (7-4, 4-4 Pac-12) defeated Arizona State (6-5, 4-4 Pac-12), 31-29, at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

Below is a transcript of Oregon coach Mario Cristobal's postgame press conference.

MARIO CRISTOBAL

Opening statement:
"Really proud of that kind of an effort. When you play that hard, it's great to see that type of - the reward is that you win the football game. What' obvious to say is we had some brilliant moments and we had some other ones where we shot ourselves in the foot, but overall, our guys, they made their point and it was the message for the week that on every single down we're going to find a way to show everyone in the stadium and everyone on the field that this game was important to us than it was for them. And not taking a shot at them, because that's a really good football team, they're coached really well but the passion that our guys played with to close out Autzen for the '18 season, to play like that for our seniors, really proud of those football players in there. They earned that victory."

On level of frustration with turnovers and letting Arizona State hang around:
"No doubt. It's extremely frustrating. On one of them we had a play called that's going to be a touchdown and we turned it over. Those things are fixable but like you said, they're frustrating, a couple of them inexcusable. I think when we got rolling pretty good and when we had a couple of times we didn't get the ball rolling, I think we started pressing. I think you could see it in our players. we dropped some balls and we made some critical errors that ended up being turnovers. It was good at the end there to get the first down and to hold in there on the snap count as well. We figure we had to take a chance right there and see if we could get a first down and get the clock to wind down. Ended up on a positive but like you said, certainly some frustrating moments with turnovers."

On whether Arizona State changed its defense in the second half:
"Not much. Not much at all. We felt that we could execute and continue staying along the path of the momentum that we had going in the first half. We had some miscues. I think some of them are obvious I think you watch them on tape we had a potential touchdown go right through us, another player that we had called that I don't want to get into because we might want to save it, but we just didn't execute well enough. Some of their adjustments, when they started slanting the defensive front to the boundary it hurt our outside zone, so we started running inside zone in some of our gap schemes and we got some pretty good plays out of that. I thought bot Travis and CJ, they ran hard. I think they ran hard. When Tony got in there he ran hard as well. There was some minor adjustment stuff, but they made some plays in man coverage as well. When we tried to run some of those stop routes they'd make a play on a slant on third down as well. Then we missed on a check down on a third down Those are three third downs that we gave away an opportunity to keep the sticks moving."

On momentum shift of late score in first half after allowing ASU to score off INT:
"Huge. Our guys were determined on that drive to get the momentum back. The way that they approached - when we came over there after the kickoff return - the look in their eye, what they were verbalizing to each other, it was awesome. There was a legitimate just great look in their eye, they wanted it and they went and executed and got it. Especially that last place because you need some great perimeter blocking for that play to work and those guys, our receivers, overall did a great job on the perimeter blocking for most of the evening. Really got physical, knocked some guys back and we got a lot of plays on the edges because they do so much stuff inside that you have to."

On the fast start and "brilliant moments" he referenced:
"We got rolling and we got rolling quickly. It started with ground game. Don't know how many times we threw it on the first drive, but it seemed like we ran it almost every single play. That's the type of football that we got accustomed to playing the first half of the season. It's more the trademark and the identity that we want for our football team, particularly our offense. When we have that kind of momentum going it's hard to stop us. We just need to continue that. if we get stopped, let it be because it's a great play by the defense, not because we're committing an error or a mistake or turn the ball over. It's what we want to be and we want to keep grinding on it to keep improving."

On Gus Cumberlander:
"We have. We were kind of - he was a little bit doubtful before this game. Early in the season, in camp I would say, especially in one-on-one pass rush, he's got such long, long levers. He's all of 6-7. He gets his hands on you it's hard to contain him as a pass protector. He used those long arms, got full extension, got rid of blockers and made some enormous plays tonight. I think Gus is just scratching the surface. I think his best football is all ahead of him."

On Thomas Graham Jr.'s play vs. N'Keal Harry:
"I can't speak enough about Thomas, about Deommodore, Ugo, I saw McGraw go back there and make some plays as well. Nick Pickett. Those guys, you watch last year, they literally went right at him, consecutive downs as a matter of fact and so many times they were challenged tonight and whether it was a pass breakup or forcing a tough throw, Harry's a big guy, he's all of 6-4-plus. I thought those guys played outstanding and they were one of the biggest keys to the game."

On Thomas Graham Jr. and Deommodore Lenoir's improved play during the season:
"I think the first thing to keep in mind, these guys are true sophomore. So in most programs they'd be redshirt-freshmen and just kind of working their way into the lineup. Well they've got a lot of experience. As 18, 19-year-old guys they're kind of seasoned a little bit now. Throughout spring football and the entire season I think what you've seen is a couple of guys work at their craft. Both coach Donte Williams and coach Heyward, they do an exceptional job with that position group. Technique is at a premium every time they step out on the practice field and it's starting to show."

On Jaylon Redd's play in the first half:
"Jaylon Redd, he's new school but I mess with him, I call him old school because he reminds me of the guys I used to be in the locker room with. H's is hard-nosed, tough guy, wants the ball, wants to make plays, is unselfish. I don't know what he weighs a buck-28 or whatever he weighs - he weighs more than that - but he will throw his body around with reckless abandon to make a great block for his teammates. Unselfish guy, motivated guy. Ever since the spring he's been on fire in terms of his work ethic and dedication and commitment to the team and his betterment. Extremely excited about the different ways you can get him the ball to. In high school he was a nickel, he was a corner, he played running back, he did it all. I think today he showed a lot of things that he's capable of."

On satisfaction when setting up longer pass plays works to plan:
"One of them was straight - I think they were playing (cover) zero, (Mitchell) ran by them. The other one, you're talking about the screen pass we set up? It's a big deal because you have to beat that coverage with something of that nature. To see those guys continue to be on the same page and be able to connect like they do, it's a great feeling. Those are two other guys that, and I know they've had a lot of production this year, but their best football is ahead of them too. Those guys are doing a real good job."

On defense against Eno Benjamin:
"I thought in the first half, did a great job containing him. They made him bounce a ball, strung it out, chase him down. In the second half, they started implementing some of their fullback lead runs. I don't know if you saw that versus the odd front they started fanning the guard and the tackle and putting that big ole heavy fullback on our Will a couple of times. They made a little bit some good gains in that particular scheme. Then I thought we started tightening up a little bit as well. Super proud of the way they played against the run. That team has run the ball extremely effectively against everybody they played. They came here with a lot of momentum as well. I thought the defense - I know they made their moment, they made their big plays on offense, but I thought our defense for the most part did a really good job against the run."

On game preparation with a short week before Civil War:
"It has to because of the nature of the amount of guys that are banged up. then it's almost a two-day type of shorted week for us because we played late and we play early on Friday. There's not much time. Our whole goal was to walk in the locker room tonight at 11:30 and be 1-0. Ironically it was 11:30 by the time we finished talking to the team. We also knew that we were going to have immediately get our rest tonight, see our families, go get a big stack of pancakes and an omelet and wake up bright and early and get ready to go to work for the most important game of the year, which is the Civil War. It's at their place and we understand, we all fully understand the importance of this football game, the intensity behind it and I think our guys, as they leave the locker room, that's all they were talking about that part get some excited. What we all know, we have to play on the road more like we play at home. That's got to be the next step for the program. We found it one time out there at Cal. We showed glimpses of it against Utah. We showed it in the second half a little bit against Washington State. But we haven't put it together on the road and that's a challenge and that's what we're looking forward to."

On third down defense:
"They got after them. They got from across the board, the defensive secondary just played tremendously tight coverage, really effective coverage. The guys up front causing pressures, forcing a fumble. I thought we had a fumble in the first half, broke my headset but that's for another day I'm sure I'll answer some questions on that. Hats off to the defense, they did a great job."

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