Mike Bellotti Quotations

Whether we're back, it's way too early to tell. It's halfway through the season. I don't buy that yet.

We have to find ways to utilize James Finley and find ways to do a better job of integrating Cameron Colvin into the offense.

We'll be as good as our offensive line allows us to be.

The one thing they could tell me they could hang their hat on was, they had never fired a coach. They had always let him finish out his contract. It's very interesting that the next coach they hired, they didn't allow that to happen.

One of the things we'll do with Cameron is look at him at that X position. I think the toughest guy to replace from last year's football team may actually be Demetrius Williams.

People were viewing him as the savior, as the guy who's going to take care of everybody. I felt the pressure as his coach. Everyone is counting on him.

My secondary should be solid. Aaron Gipson has just been a veteran of the cornerback position.

I did not feel we played very well inside (on the defensive line), and I was disappointed because they had played at a better level.

I expect Jonathan to ascend that chart very rapidly because he's a tremendous athlete and he's shown some flashes of brilliance, but it comes down to knowing what to do and being able to do it.

He is a tough, strong runner. He has to learn to run more with his eyes than his brute strength ... so he can avoid some of that contact because after you run over two or three guys, it can slow you down. He needs to use his eyes and make some people miss.

He has that inner strength, a reservoir of determination inside. He has very strong faith and sees it as just another trial he has to face.

He doesn't go down, he doesn't give up. He doesn't believe anybody can tackle him. ... You've got to gang-tackle him and you've got to hang on.

There aren't many guys in the NFL that are 350 pounds that can move like he can move, that possess both the strength and the athleticism.

He could have practiced, but we're hoping two consecutive days off might put him over the hump.

He kind of scooped up a pile of offensive linemen and just started shaking everybody until the guy with the ball fell out. It was like a cartoon.

He is the real deal. He's a very strong back with the speed to go all the way. I think what he have to do is try to contain him. Obviously, he's going to get some yards, but the key is to not let him break the big plays.

There are a lot of seniors and, as I've said before, those seniors are coming to the forefront because they are also our performers and our contributors. Their voice, their word, carries more weight because they are also doing it on the field.

Jackie, having played two years in the program, needs to step up and I think he's ready to do that.

I think it was a wakeup call. I've said for a couple of years, oftentimes I got the impression some kids that come here felt just by putting on the uniform we were going to win games.

I think that we've probably, more than any other time than I've been here, addressed specific position needs.

Last year I changed our vision of what we were going to recruit in preparation of what I knew we were going to do. That's why we didn't take a quarterback last year. The guys that we could have taken would have have fit into this mobility scheme that we have. And these guys, they fit that.

Oregon State played well. We played poorly. I felt we were capable of more.

I wish we were scoring more points, but we are averaging more yards per game. We are moving in a direction away from our traditional offense into more of a spread option look.

I think in all honesty, defense is going to win this game. It's not going to be offense.

It hasn't been a huge emphasis so far.

I thought last week (at Houston) we should have played everybody that was there, but the situation wasn't quite right or they weren't quite ready.

I think they realized it wasn't enough for them to want it, or to be giving everything they have. They wanted to be sure other people understood and felt the same sense of urgency and sense of importance about the game of football and about the team.

That wasn't by accident. That happened because that scheme worked for us.

We really loved him out of high school. He was the most complete back we saw that year.

We have answers for everything. It's a question now of getting better at the physical technique.

We are doing a little bit of old Oregon Duck football, a little bit of Utah, Bowling Green, Northwestern, a little bit of BYU, Texas Tech passing game from years past, and rolled it all into something we are calling the new Oregon offense. It is something that has been bits and pieces that has been on my desk for about 21/2 years now, and now I kick myself because I think I should have done it sooner.

Two years ago, I considered going to this offense, and I kind of kicked myself for not (doing it).

We're at the acceptable minimums to handle a game.

We rallied, responded and gave ourselves a chance to win. I believe we would have won that football game if not for a couple inches on that last pass.

We rallied and responded and gave ourselves a chance to win. I believe we would've won that football game but for a couple of inches on that last pass. Brady did a great job of bringing us back and providing a spark.

When you have three weeks to prepare, you draw some things up in the dirt. Unfortunately, in the end, they were just better than we were.

We've played on our heels for the last two and a half weeks.

Finally this is becoming the Oregon offense. We took things from a bunch of teams, but we're finally making it our own.

What they did in the second half was run more laterally, created some gaps. And some of their biggest plays came when we stuffed it inside at the point of attack and then they reversed it. We didn't quite stay alive as much as we talked about.

We do physical exercises where he can gauge a little bit their physical toughness and their leadership and their commitment to it, but (now) he gets to coach real football. That's what's exciting.

(Costa) reminds me a lot of Kellen Clemens in that he played safety and quarterback, was one of the toughest, one of the fastest and one of the best athletes on the field. And he is a great leader.

Terrence Whitehead is a bona fide, Pac-10, 1,000-yard ground gainer.

A couple of times he's made runs that brought our entire team to its feet.

Dennis is by far the better athlete. Brady has a gamesmanship, a sense of poise, that it's hard to not want to have him in there sometimes. They do a nice job, a great job, of supporting each other, providing a spark for the team, and bringing some different things to the table.

Dennis has been the starter the entire time, and he is the starter. We have just tended to play our backup more than other people are maybe comfortable with doing. I don't know that that's going to change.

As both of these men have shown, they have great resiliency. They're tough mentally and physically, and they bring something to the table when they enter the game. They don't drop their heads or hang their heads when they're substituted for.

Awesome. Simply awesome. I don't know if they are a perfect team, but they come close.

This class answered immediate needs at certain key positions for us.

There were some good collisions. I was pleased with some things the defense did, though the offense maybe got the better of it in the end. We're a little rusty, but I've got to remember it was the first day in pads.

They're arguably one of the best offensive lines, not just in the nation, but in the history of college football.

It's nice to climb back in this Pac-10 race.

The athleticism and the size and strength are an amazing package.

That's a practice order. We begin spring and fall practice based on last year. Every day and every week they will be evaluated, and that practice order might change.

I'm not saying we're not trying to get the big names, but we worry less about the name-recognition value or the number of stars behind a name. We look at films, and we look at people that can fit into what we're doing. These guys, offensively and defensively, will fit into the scheme of what we perceive we need to do in the future to be successful.

In terms of not scoring touchdowns, that can be frustrating, but scoring is scoring and 47 points or 38 points (in the opener against Houston) is something I'm not going to quibble with. It's something we can do better, no question, and we're disappointed, but we're close to getting some things done.

But I do think overall they are probably more creative in finding ways to win and supporting each other -- offense, defense and special teams. It's a balanced football team because we can look a lot of places for people who will win this game.

He's just a fairly natural athlete. I'm actually the most pleased with his hands. He's got a lot to learn on the route running, but he has some natural ability that way. I'm excited.

I didn't quite understand the Notre Dame deal. But obviously I have not been a student of the BCS.

He's a prankster, a practical joker to the max. ... He created a lot of funny stuff, stuff we still laugh about.

He's more comfortable in the shotgun, more comfortable with the run-pass option more often than not. He sees the field better, and I think overall he fits within the offense better.

The main emphasis point will be to evaluate newcomers and the second-line guys that we're looking to go in if somebody gets hurt.