[Upchurch]

It’s a hard game to put in words. What are your impressions of what happened tonight?

“Too many turnovers. We got momentum going, then we turned it over. You can’t expect to win when you turn it over five times.”

Replacing Nolan [Ulizio] with Juwann [Bushell-Beatty]: what went into that and how long were you guys planning on leaving Nolan in there before switching him out at that right tackle spot?

“It wasn’t a plan. Coaches decided to make the switch.”

How far along was it?

“At what point? I can’t remember exactly what point it was in the game.”

There was a stretch there with the three interceptions and you guys throwing the ball around. Did you consider running the ball more and what went into the playcalling during that stretch?

“Yeah, I mean, you can criticize that. We were trying to run the ball. We were trying to piece drives together. We really were. That was—we needed to score points and we needed to piece drives together and that’s what we were trying to do.”

There was a lot that went wrong on offense tonight but what can you hang your hat on the most in this game? What made you most proud of the offense even through all the faults tonight?

“Just not enough good things. There were good things. Opening drive was good; sixteen plays. We get the ball back, we started to do it again then three plays then we had a fumble. That two-minute drive before the half, that was materializing and looked like we would get points and we stopped ourselves there.

“Then we had the interception. It was hard to tell from where I was standing whether John was throwing the crossing route. Think he was expecting the receiver, Kekoa, to keep coming on the move. It was one of those things, weren’t on the same page there. I think the one ball, to your points, didn’t have a good grip on it. Overthrew the receiver. But yeah, there was good things. Not enough good things. Stopped ourselves. In the course of piecing drives together we turned the ball over. That’s what I saw.”

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After a game like this with the way the offense struggled, do you take a hard look and reevaluate some things on offense or do you look at it as a bizarre game, a rain game, and you don’t think you need many changes?

“We’ll evaluate, like we always do after every game. Always take a hard look after every single game.”

You’re 1-4 against the two biggest rivals. What should be the reaction midway through year three?

“I don’t know, Dennis. We’re bowing our heads getting ready for the next game. That’s our reaction.”

Can you talk about the defense in the second half especially and what they did to keep you in it?

“Yeah, they were getting stops and even with the five turnovers they did well. The one we fumbled at midfield, they did score a touchdown on that but I think that’s the only points that came off of those turnovers. That was outstanding. Kept us in the ballgame.”

Offensively, has it been a situation where it’s not one thing in particular? Seems like it’s a bunch of little things. Is it just a case of you’re not getting 11-man football out there or is there something underlying as to why it’s not consistent?

“Best I can tell you right now is what I’ve already said. Turned the ball over too many times offensively.”

Despite the turnovers, do you feel like there’s maybe one or two plays or anything that you left out there that could change the outcome of the game despite the rain?

“Yeah, yeah. We had our opportunities.”