Jedd Fisch: "It's going to be an all day sucker Saturday."

Washington head coach Jedd Fisch spoke to media Monday. He addressed a number of questions about the win over UCLA and previewed the matchup with the Ducks on Saturday.

Fisch admitted his players understand the importance of this game and the rivalry. He also talked about how he expects a very hostile environment in Seattle this weekend.

You can read some of his top comments below and the full presser at the bottom.

———————————————————–

Opening Statement:

“I’m sure that our crowd will be fired up. The energy will be elite. The passion our players will play with should be great. I’m sure same for them and really looking forward to the game. I think we’re healthy, so that’s good. So we’ll see exactly what that looks like. But I feel like we’re very healthy at this point going into this game. I feel like our guys are fired up to go into this game and looking forward to it.

Looking back at last game against UCLA, I thought we did a lot of good things. A couple things we could clean up, which we will, which we have, but for the most part, I thought that the way we played offensively was certainly good. It’s very good.

I thought defensively was on the high end of great, the way we played on defense.
I thought it was an elite performance by our guys. Coach Walters, the defensive staff, put together a great plan. I think a lot of that quarterback and a lot of some of the skilled guys they have, and I thought that Coach Walt and the whole defensive staff and our players really did a fantastic job of executing the game plan.

On the special teams side of it, Coach Petroli spent all week talking about fakes and the opportunity that that might present. I thought that Alex McLaughlin handled that opportunity exceptionally well. I think we punted twice in the game. And other than the two punts, I think every field goal, I think we kicked two field goals. Grady made all of his extra points. So really, and Ethan kicked the ball out of the end zone or into the end zone, I think, every time.

So altogether, I thought it was a really good game, especially, you know, when you hear about some of the history of Washington football going down to Southern California and playing at the Rose Bowl. It’s brought to my attention that it was only the second win since 1995. It was the largest margin of victory since the 60s against UCLA. And it was, I think, we were 1-9 going into the game. So all of that is really cool for our players, for our kids.

But now all of our focus is on to Oregon.”

On Denzel Boston and Jonah Coleman:

“Yeah, I’d expect them both to be back in a much more significant manner than they were last week.
What that means, I don’t know how many reps that is, but a substantial amount. I also believe that we put ourselves in a really good position with the amount of plays that Adam has played, seeing the way Adam can do it. Amari, Radon, I was just told is cleared to play. So I believe that, you know, all of those guys, Denzel, Raiden, Jonah, will all be good to go for Saturday, barring any setbacks.”

On Beating Oregon, Hurting Playoff Chances:

“Beating Oregon does a lot for me. Knocking them out is just another part of it. But we want to do everything we possibly can to get a win on Saturday. And that is our plan to do everything possible to get that done. We will work exceptionally hard knowing that we have a really, really good opponent coming in town. I think they’re fifth in the country right now. Rightfully so. And we have to play our very best this coming Saturday.”

On how Oregon is Different:

“Yeah, I mean, the quarterback’s different, but the quality of the quarterback’s the same. You know, they’re both NFL quarterbacks that are exceptional. I would say their defense is a year older you know it’s the same edge rushers that they had a year ago they’re just a year older. Their safety that they got from Purdue that played for Coach Walters, I think is outstanding. They have a freshman corner that is elite. I thought they had really good corners a year ago. They have a ton of depth.

Where I see that Oregon has separated themselves in a lot of ways in comparison to a lot of teams is their depth. Their roster is national. They have a ton of players from, you know, I brought it up in our meeting.
When we’re looking at their, they got two guys from Maryland, two guys from Texas, a guy from Indianapolis, a guy from L.A. You know, they’re kind of all over the place. They’re able to recruit nationally, and they’ve signed a ton of high-quality players. So it is going to be an all day sucker on Saturday.”

On Players Understanding the Rivalry:

“Yeah, of course they do. They understand how big it is for the alumni. They understand how big it is for the fan. They understand how big it is for the fan base, but I don’t think anybody wants to win more than the players. Right? And right behind the players are the coaches. And then is everybody else. And I think that for our kids, they’re going to put everything into it. They’re going to pour everything into it because for the rest of their lives, they’re going to either have won or lost the game that they played this Saturday against Oregon. And same with the coaches. And fans will have next year. And the kids, they may or may not. And they’re going to play this game as hard as they possibly can. We’re going to lay everything out there.

We’re going to see the outcome. Whenever the outcome is, the score will take care of itself. We’re not going to look at the scoreboard until the game is over, but we’re going to do everything we possibly can to play our best game on Saturday, knowing that we are young, knowing that we’re building this program the way we want to build it, knowing that we’re going to do everything we possibly can to give them everything we have.”