clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Texas-UCLA: Quotables

What the players and coaches had to say after the UCLA game:

-- Manny Diaz on the Texas defense: "We felt like we made the quarterback hurry some throws, and the one thing we do have is DBs who if the ball is close, they are going to catch it. A couple of those plays they could have dropped, and they didn't. They owned the ball. Part of our design is to make big plays for our football team because we believe turning over the other team wins football games, and they got to see that first-hand today."

-- Diaz on what he liked and didn't like about his unit's performance: "I loved the way we got after it. I loved our attitude going into the game. The team had a great energy, a great spirit. And we jumped on this team. Now what happened today for the first time is today we were up, we finally had someone on the ropes. And I felt like we let them punch us off the ropes a couple times.

"There were two instances where I felt, one more stop, get the ball back to the offense, and it might have been curtains. And credit to UCLA. They continued to fight. They have a really good offensive football team, good players at all positions. But you would like to see that killer instinct, and this team hadn’t been in that position. That is a learned skill. And we’ll come back and we’ll watch those drives and move on from there."

-- Mack Brown on Case McCoy: "He scared me a little bit on that play at the goal line, but he scrambled out of it and made the play time and time again. I thought he played well for his first start. He's played better in games than he has in practices. I didn't know how much time each quarterback would earn, but Case had a great day today."

-- McCoy on starting the game better: ""The last two games we hadn’t gotten off to a fast start, and that’s what we wanted to do and put two halves together and carry over to the next couple weeks. Get better in our bye week next week. We’re going to be great."

-- Mack Brown on Malcolm Brown: "I didn't know after the Rice game if he was for real or not, but after today and the BYU game we know."

-- Mason Walters on Brown: "Malcolm played today the same as he's been playing since he started with the team in August. He knows his assignments, he runs hard and he runs downhill. He's the real deal."

-- Brown on his first 100-yard game at Texas: "The more I carried the ball the better I felt. I was comfortable in the plan we had for the game, and when I got the ball on handoffs or on a pitch, I was able to build up a little steam before I got to the line."

-- Bryan Harsin on the tight end position: "Those guys have done such a nice job in the run game, and we hadn’t gotten the ball to them a ton yet. And today was their opportunity. If you look at what we are trying to do pass-game wise. There’s always an opportunity for those guys, whether they are the first read or the second read. And today they happened to be the first read on some of these plays. They got their opportunity and took advantage of it."

-- Harsin on DJ Grant: "He has the ability to be the total package. He's got big tools and is very, very smart."

-- Mack Brown on Grant: "He looked great. They obviously didn't have a game plan for him."

-- Grant on his first touchdown catch: "I couldn't believe I was that open. I saw the safety break down and I decided to go over the top of him. I just hoped I wouldn't trip and fall."

-- Grant on whether he will get to throw a pass this season: "Hopefully."

-- Harsin on his quarterbacks: They are both capable of doing everything. Case is capable of doing what David runs, and David came in and had a series and led them down there and scored. That’s something we had planned out - for David to come in that fifth series - and he led the team down the field for a scoring drive.

"Both those guys have done a great job in practice, handling the situation very, very well. And I think the rest of the team is handling it very well. We’re able to put two guys in there with Case and David, and those guys don’t flinch. And that’s what we need to continue to do."

-- Blake Gideon on the tipped pass that resulted in an Adrian Phillips interception: "I want an assist on that one."

-- The Machete on responding to UCLA trash talk from last year: "They were calling us weak last year, and so we wanted to show everyone we are physical. Last year, UCLA was saying how they were all from California and that California football is better than Texas football. We wanted to be Texas tough today and show the world Texas has the best football players."