⚡ CFB Dashboard

UCLA head coach Bob Chesney met with the media Monday following UCLA's big win over Cal. Here is everything Chesney had to say during his press conference: Opening statement: "How's everybody? Well rested? It was a lot, right? It was a lot coming back that late, and probably only going to be worse when we go to the other side of the country. But I thought it was a good trip overall. Whatever questions you guys got, I'm here. Q: The joy that you guys show with the bouncing around and the dancing — is that all organic from the players? Is there anybody in particular who orchestrates or is behind that? And what does it mean to have that kind of vibe and energy at a game? "First, no, that's pretty organic. There was not — I don't think anybody set that up. We didn't talk about that. I think you're just watching people that love playing this game, that have a ton of joy out there and love the people they're doing it with. It's what we have to do anywhere we go. Those boos that you're hearing when you run out on the field, that's their way of cheering for you. So just know that this is still your field, ultimately. "When they play that music, that's your music. When they play their fight song, it's your fight song. That's the mentality we have to have going into it. That's maybe hostile territory for some, but it's energy that we get a chance to feed off of. I think our guys did a really good job of that the whole game, and not just the ones out on the field, but the guys on the sideline. "I went up and down that sideline all game looking for some disinterested participants, inactive bystanders. I wanted to make sure everybody was locked in and caring about what's going on on the field, because I think it's pretty case-in-point proven when you look at what happens out there. Ta'Shawn comes into this game that probably didn't expect to play the snaps he did. You have to be engaged. You have to be ready. Those mental reps have to be real. You can't put yourself in a situation where you're pouting in the corner, not paying attention, and then your number's called and now what happens next? "I said it to you guys, I think, last week: At some point, that light's going to shine on somebody. We don't know who it's going to be, and they're either going to be revealed for the work they've done up to this point, or they're going to be exposed for the work they did not do. Obviously, that's one prime example of a guy that that light shined on at that moment, and he was ready for the moment. Q: Coach, congratulations first and foremost, but Landon Ellis and Tao Johnson left with injuries. Aidan Mizell, we didn't see him. Do you have any updates on their status? "We just got everything back on Aidan. He's cleared to go. He just didn't feel 100% going into the game. Landon, we're going to see how it goes. He feels fine today. It's interesting when something like that happens out there on the field. I've been around it before where you come up from that without any symptoms at all. For him, he's just trying to work through it and see what it's like, but he feels a lot better. He felt fine after the game. He was wearing sunglasses on the sideline, but he felt good right away. We just got to make sure it's the right move to put him out there. And then Tao, just working through the same thing he had earlier when he was out there in a black jersey for a little bit. We just got to take some contact off him and see where that falls." Q: Speaking of injuries, it seemed like Nico got a little tweaked on his arm in that one throwing motion. Did that affect his play a little throughout the game? "No, I think his arm was fine — I think he was dealing with a lower-body deal where he just kind of kept getting twisted up and got stepped on early, and then kept getting twisted up a little bit. That was something he worked through, and he was good to go by the end of the game. Seeing him yesterday and then again today, everything looks really good." Q: Anthony Sacca made a big contribution. Talk a little bit about his play. "I think there's another guy we're talking about that — I don't know what he expected his role to exactly be, but he is just a very cerebral football player. He sees the big picture better than most. He's not just caught up only in his job. He understands what his job means and then what it means for the rest of the team. He actually can be pretty smart in situations. There was an outside run play that we weren't lined up correctly, and he just changed his alignment because he knew the play that was going to show up and did a really good job of almost single-handedly turning that play back inside to his help. "So I thought he's a guy that gets it, understands it, is willing to study it, and then is not afraid to go out there and pull the trigger in some major key moments. There's a couple plays that he put a lot of pressure on that quarterback, but he was stout in the run game. For a young kid, that's a really good sign." Q: Coach, can you talk about establishing the point of physicality at the offensive and defensive line, with Phifer doing what he was doing with your blocking, and then Sammy O. the other end, just being able to establish that point of contact early? "That's the name of the game. I think that, as a head coach, that's one of the things you're kind of looking for: What does the line of scrimmage feel like early? Obviously, it didn't feel great on our side on the defensive side of the ball. That kid was getting pretty square and pretty downhill early in that game, first and third quarters in particular. Ultimately, you're just trying to see what push you have. Can you do it? Can you not? Is it sustainable? Are they starting to wear down? Are they not? Those are all questions you've got to ask as the game goes on. "I thought Phifer, I thought Sweazie, I thought BJ — I thought there was a ton of guys in there just as physical as can be. Some of the receivers getting involved at the point of attack, Landon on Nico's run — those are all things that you've got to play that brand of football. We said it before, we're not preparing to play a light game. We're preparing to play the most physical possible game imaginable. That's what we've got to do on a day-to-day basis. It's why it's so important that we go against each other, and when we do, we take those reps really seriously and make sure that they're physical. I thought our guys did a good job of that." Q: Coach, on Nico's interception, you said after the game it was miscommunication. I tried to look at it myself, and it looked like they're in match coverage and Jet ran a go to clear Rowe out. Was he supposed to go out or was he supposed to sit? "Ultimately, for him, it's supposed to be decided on a little bit sooner. The depth of that defensive back could have had him sit. The option that he could have gone is out, obviously, at that point in time, but I think Nico was thinking he was going to stay. He's got to get off that. "If it's taken that long, if he's taken that, you've got to move on to the next route. And even if he might pop open, you can't spend — it's going to happen. You're going to watch it on film because he was open. The timing and the landmark and the location wasn't exactly correct, and Nico has to move on. He should have moved on from that one, admittedly. "So he knows that he's got to clean that up, and he will." Q: How pleased were you with the run game and what went into all the success? I know you alluded to some of it earlier. "Very pleased with that. We got three guys in there that are tough as can be at that running back position. There's another fourth and fifth that are as well. But those three guys really showed up. I thought we just put on some effort plays in the clips on Sunday just to see where the effort stood. Landon's block again on Nico's run, some of the receivers getting involved in blocking, but A. Woods — that was all bottled up in there and he just kept his pads down, he kept running his feet, and he turned nothing into something really big. "Then found another one later in the game. There's just a physicality about the push that's happening up front in that game in particular. Every game takes on a new life of its own, and you can't really think a whole lot about the last one. Ultimately, I thought our double teams were good. I thought we moved people well. We kept our eyes up. Our pad level was great, and we were able to just get a little bit of knockback and push. Then when you get to that second level with the backs that we've got, they're going to make people miss. I think you saw that from them." Q: Yeah, once the dust settles, all the excitement from the win and everything disappears. Maybe when you do get a win like that, it might cloud some of the mistakes or things that you didn't notice during the game. "Ultimately, I think the penalties are one thing that's going to certainly stand out. You give up 110 yards — that's a field and a little more to a team that usually you don't come out of that with a victory. Putting the ball on the ground, the one time that we did — luckily we recovered it. But if we didn't, if that kid's not 6-foot-6 with the wingspan that he has, that's probably going the other way for six, right? "Those are things that could turn a game and cost you a loss. I think that's the way you've got to look at it: In victory, what would it look like if it wasn't that way? Take the result out of it. What's the standard? What's our expectations? Are we living up to them or not? Those are the things to me that, as I watch our guys, they understand what they are, but they've got a little bit more to clean up. "Now, let's just say this, though: It's Game 1, right? And Game 1 with a whole lot of new faces. Game 1 with a whole different coaching staff for a lot of these guys. You wondered — like I wondered going in — what are we going to be? What's going to happen when pressure hits? Just think about it. There was not more of a pressure moment than after the third quarter, when it didn't really go our way, a tie ball game, and some song comes over the loudspeakers and you're like, 'All right, I think we're going to be just fine.' "That's the way I ultimately felt about it. That was a moment when there was nobody doubting. There was nobody hanging their head. There was nobody concerned about what we just gave up. That game could have been very, very, very different at that moment in time if we punched one in right before half, got the ball back and did something with it. We didn't. So you can't really talk about that, but it had the potential to be something very different than it was a lot earlier, and we just didn't handle it right. "Ultimately, I love the fact that there was never a moment where they didn't believe they were going to win that game. I don't know what's gone on around here before, but I've heard it a lot about, 'Here we go again' type of mentality. That's not in these guys whatsoever. And that's — I'm really proud of that." Q: Coach, Scooter played a big role. How nice was it to have him back? "Yeah, you could finally stop asking about him." (laughing) Q: What does he provide that maybe without him you don't have. "Well, let's just go to the one play in particular, right? There's a third-and-three earlier in the game. It's the shift to a tighter formation. They motion in the outside receiver to the number two spot, and Scooter — the nickel gets blocked initially, and then the kid releases, and the kid goes and hits a quick over on Scooter. DJ falls off the block because he thinks he's being blocked. Scooter steps up to the run. It's a giant play, right? "We get to this almost same exact spot on the field on the next third-and-three. They condense the set. They motion two in a little bit more, and you watch Scooter go, 'I know exactly what's happening here.' "So that, to me, to learn from that and to carry that over and get to that moment, that was probably the biggest play of the game in my mind. They were moving the ball and they had some momentum, and on third-and-three I thought they were going to run it there. They end up throwing it with the same look, same formation, same motion. Scooter recognizes it, makes it, gets a PBU. The next play, they fumble the ball off that snap. "We don't get the result we're looking for from that next drive, but it sets up the field position for the next drive. I think those are the things to me — that play was a major pivotal play in that game. He saw it before, and he didn't unintentionally watch that. He was very intentional in what he was doing out there. And it's not just him. It's his other teammates as well. Very good game for him. He showed up in the run game, did a lot of things that we needed him to do. They were trying to set it up with the unbalanced set and try to put some pads on Rod out there into the boundary, and I thought he showed up well. And then when it was Scooter's time, that secondary did a great job in the run support." Q: Coach, it seems like you said, the old adage of staying ready and not having a depth track — Ta'Shawn being that example. Can you speak on both how he was able to stay ready and be ready for the game that he had, and then how do you coach players after a week of success and not allow a team to get complacent after you feel good and feel like you've checked a lot of boxes? "You might feel good, there's enough film stuff on film to say that you shouldn't, ultimately. And I think our guys understand that. But for Ta'Shawn, that's just — I think it's everybody. We all have to do that. We all have to be able to understand: I don't like my role maybe at this exact moment, but you all have a choice in life. We all do, right? If I don't like my role, I could complain about it, and like I said after the game, I'm probably going to find myself being demoted somewhere in there. "Or I could attack whatever job that is that I got with everything I got and dominate it to the best of my ability, and I might find myself with a promotion. As far as that, we pulled up some things because we had a situation a while back when we were at JMU and we had beaten North Carolina 70-50, and we're about to play a Ball State team. That weekend was interesting in college sports or football because Memphis ended up beating Florida State and went on the next week and lost. NIU beat Notre Dame, I think, then went on and lost. Then somebody else — can't remember who it was — beat somebody and then went on and lost. "And then I put this — this was the example — I put up us at JMU beating UNCC 70-50, and I had a question mark next to it: 'How are we going to handle that little bit of success that we just had?' "We ended up winning the next game 64-7 or whatever it might have been. They responded to it. Our thing here was that same mentality. This is a win against a team that was a really good football team. This team might be better in some ways. And I think our guys understand that they've got to clean up a whole bunch of stuff before they get to this Saturday. It's in their hands to just hold each other to the standard. I know our coaches will not relent. I know our captains will not relent. And I really know the players won't relent. They know that they left a lot out there, and there's a whole lot more that they've got to do to play their best football." Q: Watching the film, what were some of the things that you saw from the film that you didn't necessarily take away from the game? You were talking about cleanup, what did you see from the film? "I think our run game, our defensive run game — just our aiming points as a defensive line and then some of the gap issues that showed up to let him get his shoulder downhill so quickly. That's a big running back that's putting shots on the third-level defenders. I think this kid's just as good this week and as dangerous this week, so we have to do a much better job of just our aiming points, our gap-sound mentality. Then I think on offense we just missed a couple little protection checks. We missed a couple little things in there. Nothing that's glaring, but at the same point in time, we've got to clean that up. "I go back to the penalties. I don't mind Riley's penalty of defending his quarterback who's on the ground, getting twisted up and stuff happening down there, but you can't do it. It's a 15-yard penalty. They're not going to call the first guy. They're going to call the second guy. I think it's important that he understands that, and we'll be better at it. "You've got 12 drives in a game, let's just say, right? The first one's pretty scripted in the half. The second one, if you didn't get through all of them, still might be scripted. It's that third and fourth drive that really separates teams from other teams, because the fifth or sixth sometimes puts you in a two-minute scenario before halftime. So you probably have two or three drives in the middle of that game that you really got to be buttoned up on and use the information you had from the previous drives. "You can't pollute them. To have a 15-yard penalty in the middle of, you only have 12 opportunities, right, possibly, and to put in a 15-yard penalty — to have an illegal substitution out of the huddle — that's on us as coaches. It's on me as the head coach, right? Those are the things that you can't do if you want to win meaningful football games. I think we got lucky in some ways from this one this weekend, and it won't be enough going into this Saturday if we play the same exact way we just played. Q: We asked you a lot leading up to this first game about continuity with not just your coaching staff but with the JMU players. Watching the game, were there times you said, "Damn, I'm glad that guy was there. He knew what he was doing"? "It's funny, but I don't think I look at any of them as like, "Wow, that kid came from JMU," right? I think for A Woods' touchdown, it felt like, man, that is — it's our team doing it, right? "From Sammy's performance to Phifer's big block to Harry Lodge's big block coming across, to BJ climbing to the second level, oh, there's Sweazie now. You don't go like, "Oh, the JMU guy." That doesn't even cross your mind, I don't think, in the heat of the moment. You just really want them to be playing their best and feel like, regardless of the circumstance they're in, that they believe in themselves and they know that we believe in them as well. "So I don't ever really — it never crossed my mind until you just asked it right now. Ultimately, for me, we're on this team right now and we're doing this together. I'm really proud of their effort, their excitement, their energy." Closing statement: "I will say this in closing: The fans that showed up there were absolutely phenomenal. The band to be there was phenomenal. That was a great setting. There was a lot of the right color blue in the stands up there that I was really impressed by and proud of, and they stayed the course and were there the whole way through. "We need that this weekend as well, right? This is a big one, and obviously our students aren't back yet. That is what it is, but we just need this community to come out and support at a level that they've never done in the past bunch of years. "I told you it would be different on our side. We need to be different on their side as well. Thank you."