(Why doesn't Connor Halliday get more recognition for Heisman?) "I think he really ought to. I think the Heisman shifted a little bit with what it means. The used to try to give it out to the best player in college football, kind of back, say when Paul Hornung won the Heisman at Notre Dame. They didn't have a winning team but they felt like he was the best player, in other words, the most important player to his team. Nowadays, it appears to me, they try to give it to … I mean, it's a funny catch twenty-two, whoever they speculate is the most MVP on the team that wins the national championship. The trouble with it is, they do the Heisman voting before the national championship - that's literally trying to speculate that is what it's evolved to. It's tough to do the Heisman voting before the national championship is played. That's kind of what it's developed to, so that's what I think."
(What do you guys do throughout the season to limit the number of penalties?) "Well, you work as hard as you can to not have any. I've always felt like the gauge on penalties was … the way I have tried to gauge it was what's your opponent's penalties, what's your penalties. We're actually, the last time I looked, about a yard ahead. Spread teams are going to get penalized more technically, but their opponents are, too. I think it's because there's more individual matchups."
(Are spread offenses the reason that 7 of the top 20 most penalized teams in the country are Pac-12 teams?) "That may have something to do with the guys calling the games for the Pac-12."
(Early in the season, it appeared the front seven would help carry the secondary. It hasn't worked out that way. Why do you think that is?) "I think they can only do it to a point. We played three guys last week that, between them, they'd played about 60 snaps. I think they can only do it to a point. There's also a point were they're going to dump it off really quick where the secondary is going to have to be able to handle themselves."
(You've talked about guys not playing on to the next play. What tells you that that's what's going on?) "I think that, basically, our side - and it's not everybody across the board and there's times that we get on a roll - I think that some of it is our maturity. You go our there and if you're focused on the last one, positive or negative, it's hard to focus on the next one. You have to constantly do the next one. The other thing is, you can't be so ambivalent about the last one that you don't learn from it. I think that guys can't start moping around if something good doesn't happen and I think they can't spend their time celebrating if something good does happens. They have to try to get the most out of each play and the experience that provides."
(Do you see, sometimes, both of those reactions?) "Well, I see both of those reactions on every team in the country. The teams that are steadier with that and more focused on the next play are the ones that play the best."
This post was edited on 10/28 5:59 PM by Britton Ransford
(What do you guys do throughout the season to limit the number of penalties?) "Well, you work as hard as you can to not have any. I've always felt like the gauge on penalties was … the way I have tried to gauge it was what's your opponent's penalties, what's your penalties. We're actually, the last time I looked, about a yard ahead. Spread teams are going to get penalized more technically, but their opponents are, too. I think it's because there's more individual matchups."
(Are spread offenses the reason that 7 of the top 20 most penalized teams in the country are Pac-12 teams?) "That may have something to do with the guys calling the games for the Pac-12."
(Early in the season, it appeared the front seven would help carry the secondary. It hasn't worked out that way. Why do you think that is?) "I think they can only do it to a point. We played three guys last week that, between them, they'd played about 60 snaps. I think they can only do it to a point. There's also a point were they're going to dump it off really quick where the secondary is going to have to be able to handle themselves."
(You've talked about guys not playing on to the next play. What tells you that that's what's going on?) "I think that, basically, our side - and it's not everybody across the board and there's times that we get on a roll - I think that some of it is our maturity. You go our there and if you're focused on the last one, positive or negative, it's hard to focus on the next one. You have to constantly do the next one. The other thing is, you can't be so ambivalent about the last one that you don't learn from it. I think that guys can't start moping around if something good doesn't happen and I think they can't spend their time celebrating if something good does happens. They have to try to get the most out of each play and the experience that provides."
(Do you see, sometimes, both of those reactions?) "Well, I see both of those reactions on every team in the country. The teams that are steadier with that and more focused on the next play are the ones that play the best."
This post was edited on 10/28 5:59 PM by Britton Ransford