Erickson's Thursday Post-Practice Quotes

ASU Head Coach Dennis Erickson addressed the media following his team’s last practice before their home game against Washington.

On what in his opinion was the game that the team has impressed him the most with their resiliency this season

“I believe the Oregon State game, when we were down 19 (points) at home. That’s one you can point at. That’s a pretty good margin to be behind, then come back and win the game.”

On how that resiliency process with the team has come along this season.

“They believe in what they do, they believe in each other, they believe in what we’re trying to teach them…the biggest thing is that they’re believing in themselves. When you start getting that stuff going, you become very resilient. All the good teams have been through it and you have to do it every week of course.”

On whether having that first hand knowledge of a comeback is better than any pep talk by the coaches, etc.

“Pep talks go in one ear and out the other. Your resilience and winning stays right there (points to his heart)…talk is cheap. Doing it is a whole other thing.”

On how he felt the offensive line and the team’s ability to pick up the blitz preformed this week in practices.

“We picked it (the blitz) good. It wasn’t much about picking it up and assignments – we missed some protections and missed some technique stuff. We did well…if they blitz you 70 times a game, they’ll probably get you a few times. That’s just the nature of people that blitz you…you play the University of New Mexico – they blitz you every down. They’ll sack every team they play eight, nine times. But they’ll also give up big plays. That’s the pluses and minuses of doing those types of things.”

”Against Washington State – they blitzed us every down. Pretty close (to every down)…these guys (Washington) may do the same thing. We got to protect it, no question about it, but we also have to make people pay that blitz us. We have to get the big play…and then all of a sudden when you get the big play, they start backing off. Is it worth getting a six-yard loss as opposed to a seven-yard touchdown? That’s what the other side of the ball deals with. But until we start doing that…we had opportunities against Washington State that we missed that would have been touchdowns, and they probably would have gotten out of it.”

On the status of Brent Miller

“Brent will get scoped tomorrow to look and see what he’s got with that cartilage in his MCL. They think it’s OK, but it’s safer for us to go in and see. It’s the same knee he had the ACL (tear) on three years ago.”