What did you tell your team after this one?
"We all just need to expect more from ourselves -- coaches, players, our program, support staff, everybody and be just a little bit better in everything that we do," Wilcox said. "We have adjustments we need to make as a football team, and I think everybody who surrounds the football team, all of us can improve and be better. I love the guys on the team. They give us great effort. We have to play a little bit better -- a little bit better more often and give ourselves a chance to win the game.
"We've had unfortunately a handful of those this year and last year. I know it can get done. I believe in the guys in the locker room, and we're going to continue to push them and set very, very high expectations for how we do things. And we're going to continue to recruit and develop the roster in a competitive environment. I know we can do it. I know they know we can do it. But we have to evolve and have higher standards for everything that we do as a football program."
What did you think the difference was today?
"Well, I mean, defensively we need one more stop -- whether it's the end of the first half, there's a fourth down in there, some third-and-longs -- one more stop. And then offensively, I think the big thing was third-down conversions. We knew how we were going to play this game for us to be successful, we felt, and some of that really stayed true, but I think offensively it was a couple third down opportunities that we didn't convert. And if we had converted, we keep those drives alive, we run more plays and a chance to score more points. So everybody could have done something a little bit better."
The turnover battle was the difference today, what happened there?
"Yeah, I don't know that there's one thing. Guys practice hard, we talk about ball security and taking the ball away. We didn't get it done. Again, I think we talk about this all the time -- if there's a drill that you can employ to guarantee yourself takeaways and ball security than everybody would do it. It's a combination of things. We put the ball on the ground on the punt return unfortunately, and then the last one, but we didn't get one on the other side. Yeah, I don't know if there's a specific reason. We've done a good job of that. Their offense, they've got some really good players and they don't turn it over, they've scored on people. We could have done some things on defense to make it harder on them, but you also have to give those guys their due. They're pretty talented. But the turnovers, we just didn't get it done today."
Your offensive players did a good job today -- it's a new era where you not only have to recruit but re-recruit guys you have on the roster. Does going out in this way where you battled a good team so hard say something to these guys about what you have going here?
"I can't speak for anybody else. I have the utmost confidence in those guys, and I know we can be successful here. I know we can score a lot of points, but I can't speak for somebody else. I think they all care about each other, they're awesome teammates to not only the guys on offense but the entire team. That's a good group right there."
How would you characterize this season?
"The record was not near what we thought it could have and should have been, so that's very disappointing. Can't get used to that, never will, so it's disappointing. The results of the games were disappointing as a whole. I believe in our players. I know what they're capable of. We have to continue to build competition in certain areas. It's a competitive league. There's some really, really good football teams in our league. We have a lot to offer not only high schoolers but guys that are in the transfer portal here at Cal and we're going to be working aggressively toward that December and January to continue to build and bolster our roster. So yeah, the record's not acceptable for the players or the program, but I know and have conviction of what we're capable of doing and it's going to, as I mentioned, there's going to be additions and there's going to be changes as we move forward. But I'm very, very optimistic about what we can accomplish here and doing it the right way."
What challenges did UCLA's other backs aside from Zach Charbonnet present to you?
"They're very talented, and yeah, the QB, he's a very gifted runner as well. They do a great job with their run game, their O-line doesn't get talked about enough, and obviously Charbonnet and Harden are really good players. Yeah, we had a tough time getting any negative plays on them. Very, very difficult for us to get negative plays today, and then we had a hard time getting to the quarterback."
"We all just need to expect more from ourselves -- coaches, players, our program, support staff, everybody and be just a little bit better in everything that we do," Wilcox said. "We have adjustments we need to make as a football team, and I think everybody who surrounds the football team, all of us can improve and be better. I love the guys on the team. They give us great effort. We have to play a little bit better -- a little bit better more often and give ourselves a chance to win the game.
"We've had unfortunately a handful of those this year and last year. I know it can get done. I believe in the guys in the locker room, and we're going to continue to push them and set very, very high expectations for how we do things. And we're going to continue to recruit and develop the roster in a competitive environment. I know we can do it. I know they know we can do it. But we have to evolve and have higher standards for everything that we do as a football program."
What did you think the difference was today?
"Well, I mean, defensively we need one more stop -- whether it's the end of the first half, there's a fourth down in there, some third-and-longs -- one more stop. And then offensively, I think the big thing was third-down conversions. We knew how we were going to play this game for us to be successful, we felt, and some of that really stayed true, but I think offensively it was a couple third down opportunities that we didn't convert. And if we had converted, we keep those drives alive, we run more plays and a chance to score more points. So everybody could have done something a little bit better."
The turnover battle was the difference today, what happened there?
"Yeah, I don't know that there's one thing. Guys practice hard, we talk about ball security and taking the ball away. We didn't get it done. Again, I think we talk about this all the time -- if there's a drill that you can employ to guarantee yourself takeaways and ball security than everybody would do it. It's a combination of things. We put the ball on the ground on the punt return unfortunately, and then the last one, but we didn't get one on the other side. Yeah, I don't know if there's a specific reason. We've done a good job of that. Their offense, they've got some really good players and they don't turn it over, they've scored on people. We could have done some things on defense to make it harder on them, but you also have to give those guys their due. They're pretty talented. But the turnovers, we just didn't get it done today."
Your offensive players did a good job today -- it's a new era where you not only have to recruit but re-recruit guys you have on the roster. Does going out in this way where you battled a good team so hard say something to these guys about what you have going here?
"I can't speak for anybody else. I have the utmost confidence in those guys, and I know we can be successful here. I know we can score a lot of points, but I can't speak for somebody else. I think they all care about each other, they're awesome teammates to not only the guys on offense but the entire team. That's a good group right there."
How would you characterize this season?
"The record was not near what we thought it could have and should have been, so that's very disappointing. Can't get used to that, never will, so it's disappointing. The results of the games were disappointing as a whole. I believe in our players. I know what they're capable of. We have to continue to build competition in certain areas. It's a competitive league. There's some really, really good football teams in our league. We have a lot to offer not only high schoolers but guys that are in the transfer portal here at Cal and we're going to be working aggressively toward that December and January to continue to build and bolster our roster. So yeah, the record's not acceptable for the players or the program, but I know and have conviction of what we're capable of doing and it's going to, as I mentioned, there's going to be additions and there's going to be changes as we move forward. But I'm very, very optimistic about what we can accomplish here and doing it the right way."
What challenges did UCLA's other backs aside from Zach Charbonnet present to you?
"They're very talented, and yeah, the QB, he's a very gifted runner as well. They do a great job with their run game, their O-line doesn't get talked about enough, and obviously Charbonnet and Harden are really good players. Yeah, we had a tough time getting any negative plays on them. Very, very difficult for us to get negative plays today, and then we had a hard time getting to the quarterback."
