UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel on…

On giving players a day off while Oregon practiced today:
“Players are not involved today. The hour of last evening and the emotional cost of last evening, better in my mind to get away from it for a day, and get ready for a great practice tomorrow.”

On outside criticism:
“I don’t care what people think. As far as I know, they’re sending a plane to pick us up and we’re gonna get on it.”

On his pitch for retaining his job:
“I was told that we needed to move the needle. If the needle moved then we would be fine and I’d get to continue along my five-year contract. We have won five conference games and we won three last year. We’ve certainly had some unfortunate evenings where things haven’t gone our way, but I think our program is headed in right direction, despite the naysayers. But that’s me, I tend to look at think differently than others.”

On what they learned about Oregon last time in Eugene:
“We learned that they were really good. We were playing with a quarterback who hadn’t played very much, Richard Brehaut, in his second start. First one on the road. Went right down on the field and unfortunately threw an interception on opening drive, and they got on a roll, which they can do. It will be a tall order.”