Apologies in advance; Dorrell spoke with Brian Howell on-site for about five minutes but that's all we got from him. Apparently there was some issue in regards to the media room Cal usually uses for opposing coaches/players so Dorrell did not do any Q+A with the vast majority of the media which was on the call.
Everything he said after the game I typed out and is below. Again, I know it's not much.
Opening statement: “That wasn’t the type of game I was expecting at all. I think we struggled in the first half on both sides of the ball. We had a tough time stopping them and then offensively, we couldn't get any continuity of really bringing some drives together. We got three points on one drive and that’s really about it — and that was off a kickoff return. It's unfortunate that we didn’t play to our capabilities today. It’s unfortunate for that. We had a really good week of practice, felt we were going to play our best football and it didn’t happen today. We’ve tot a lot of work to do and the players know that. Obviously, what we’re doing is, we’ve got to change things up to be more productive, efficient and effective...it was not a very good performance today.”
On struggles at the line of scrimmage: “The first half, we couldn’t quite figure them out in what they were doing against us and our defense and then we couldn’t get quite much continuity going on the offensive side to sustain some drives and make some plays. We’ve got a lot of work (to do). I get it...We have to play better and it was unfortunate that we didn’t do that today.”
On Chase Garbers: “You can definitely tell the difference between our quarterback, who’s a freshman, and a senior who’s been playing awhile. He played a marvelous game — he was pretty good with the football, he knew where everybody was, he made plays with his legs — he did what an experienced quarterback should do. With us, we couldn’t quite get Brendon on rhythm. He did some good things early, but it’s unfortunate that we're still working through the process with our offense in general. It’s not necessarily Brendon himself — we didn’t protect him as well as we’ve done like the week prior. We didn’t run the ball as well as we’ve done. Sometimes it looks like it’s bad quarterback play but it really isn’t. He made one bad play today in my opinion, which was the interception he threw where he stared it down. That was one thing I told him, I said, ‘You can’t stare it down with a good, experienced secondary. They’ll read your eyes, take a great angle and try to make plays. And (Cal) did that.”
2nd half adjustments on defense the Buffs made: “We started to minimize the packers a little bit more. We got locked in with what they were trying to do and got rid of a heavy package that we were dealing with their 13-personnel, so we settled our guys down and played a little bit more man coverage. I think those were the things that really helped us on the defensive side in the second half of the game but we just didn’t get that kind of production on the other side.”
On OL struggles: “Can’t quite put a finger on it. I’m trying to figure that out and we’re going to have to really look at that to see what's going on there. We have had some issues upfront and I figured that at this point in time, we should have some of those things cleared up but apparently we’re still struggling with doing some things. We’ve got to go back, really analyze what our issues are and try to get those fixed in a hurry.”
On Jarek Broussard's absence in the second half: “We wanted to make sure that Alex got some carries and Deion — both of those guys have garnered some attention to get some reps, so we just wanted to get those guys some reps, as well.”
On Dimitri Stanley's status: “He’s got a lower leg soft tissue injury that’s been nagging him the last few weeks. He just got to a point where he didn’t feel he’d be effective enough and we didn't want to risk him getting inured further than he is.”
On his fear of potentially losing the locker room: “No, I don’t because they see what we’re doing. I’m always truthful to them. I could see if I was deceitful and lying and didn’t trust their coach but I don’t think we have that type of relationship. We just have young players and a mixture of returning players that are trying to find a way. Part of it is they have to take ownership on their side just like the coaches do. We’re very transparent with each other and hopefully we can learn from this experience that we’re dealing with right now.”
Everything he said after the game I typed out and is below. Again, I know it's not much.
Opening statement: “That wasn’t the type of game I was expecting at all. I think we struggled in the first half on both sides of the ball. We had a tough time stopping them and then offensively, we couldn't get any continuity of really bringing some drives together. We got three points on one drive and that’s really about it — and that was off a kickoff return. It's unfortunate that we didn’t play to our capabilities today. It’s unfortunate for that. We had a really good week of practice, felt we were going to play our best football and it didn’t happen today. We’ve tot a lot of work to do and the players know that. Obviously, what we’re doing is, we’ve got to change things up to be more productive, efficient and effective...it was not a very good performance today.”
On struggles at the line of scrimmage: “The first half, we couldn’t quite figure them out in what they were doing against us and our defense and then we couldn’t get quite much continuity going on the offensive side to sustain some drives and make some plays. We’ve got a lot of work (to do). I get it...We have to play better and it was unfortunate that we didn’t do that today.”
On Chase Garbers: “You can definitely tell the difference between our quarterback, who’s a freshman, and a senior who’s been playing awhile. He played a marvelous game — he was pretty good with the football, he knew where everybody was, he made plays with his legs — he did what an experienced quarterback should do. With us, we couldn’t quite get Brendon on rhythm. He did some good things early, but it’s unfortunate that we're still working through the process with our offense in general. It’s not necessarily Brendon himself — we didn’t protect him as well as we’ve done like the week prior. We didn’t run the ball as well as we’ve done. Sometimes it looks like it’s bad quarterback play but it really isn’t. He made one bad play today in my opinion, which was the interception he threw where he stared it down. That was one thing I told him, I said, ‘You can’t stare it down with a good, experienced secondary. They’ll read your eyes, take a great angle and try to make plays. And (Cal) did that.”
2nd half adjustments on defense the Buffs made: “We started to minimize the packers a little bit more. We got locked in with what they were trying to do and got rid of a heavy package that we were dealing with their 13-personnel, so we settled our guys down and played a little bit more man coverage. I think those were the things that really helped us on the defensive side in the second half of the game but we just didn’t get that kind of production on the other side.”
On OL struggles: “Can’t quite put a finger on it. I’m trying to figure that out and we’re going to have to really look at that to see what's going on there. We have had some issues upfront and I figured that at this point in time, we should have some of those things cleared up but apparently we’re still struggling with doing some things. We’ve got to go back, really analyze what our issues are and try to get those fixed in a hurry.”
On Jarek Broussard's absence in the second half: “We wanted to make sure that Alex got some carries and Deion — both of those guys have garnered some attention to get some reps, so we just wanted to get those guys some reps, as well.”
On Dimitri Stanley's status: “He’s got a lower leg soft tissue injury that’s been nagging him the last few weeks. He just got to a point where he didn’t feel he’d be effective enough and we didn't want to risk him getting inured further than he is.”
On his fear of potentially losing the locker room: “No, I don’t because they see what we’re doing. I’m always truthful to them. I could see if I was deceitful and lying and didn’t trust their coach but I don’t think we have that type of relationship. We just have young players and a mixture of returning players that are trying to find a way. Part of it is they have to take ownership on their side just like the coaches do. We’re very transparent with each other and hopefully we can learn from this experience that we’re dealing with right now.”
