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Rice University Athletics
Ken Hatfield's Monday Quotes
9/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 19, 2005
Opening Statement -- "One of our goals with the first three games is to prepare to win Conference USA. With so many young players, we probably bit off as tough a challenge as we could, playing UCLA and Texas at their place. This probably the most talented Texas team in the last 40 years, and the same thing with UCLA. Now we're coming back to the third game of our preconference schedule, playing Navy.
"We did make some improvement (against Texas), even though it did look like David vs. Goliath. Among the things we took out of it (was) our kicking game, especially the extra point and that one 37-yard field goal (by Brennan Landry). Luke Juist kicked off well. He had been hurt a while, but he kicked two deep in the end zone. Our punt team played extremely well. Jared Scruggs kicked the ball well. Brandon King killed that one punt on the one-yard line. Drew Clardy snapped the ball well.
"We've only had four turnovers in the two games, and usually you'd say that was pretty good. Unfortunately, all four have led to 28 points.
"Navy has lost two games by three points each. They've had to replace pretty much everybody (from last year), but at the academies, you usually don't replace people with freshmen. You have enough depth that you have some older, experienced players, which is what Navy is playing with now. They have a senior quarterback who has been around, just didn't play as much last year.
"They are a good solid team who has played two BCS schools. They've had an extra week to get ready for us, as UAB will have next week.You have to prepapre for a little bit more trickery that they will do. Paul (Johnson) is an excellent coach who has done a great job at Navy. We know they will be a good, solid team."
On Rice's receivers -- "A couple of our receivers made some big catches for us (against Texas). Jarett Dillard beat their corners three or four times. If he had come down with the touchdown pass that they ruled incomplete... He was five yards behind his man, and he beat him off the line of scrimmage a couple of times.
"Nick Aranda made one great catch, almost made another. We had another great run by Nick: he catches a short ball and makes about 20 yards, and they call illegal use of the hands on Tommy Henderson.
"Our receivers gained something playing against the speed of those defensive backs. That was a plus in itself."
On Rice's progress -- "We have to play good enough to make the improvements that we can. We'll have more chances the rest of the season to be in competitive situations. The good thing I like about this team is that it hasn't been beating itself with penalties. Second, we haven't been turning the ball over. We've had four; that's not a lot, but it's still too many because they came at bad times and in situations where the other team scored.
"In trying to build a championship team, you play the heck out of the kicking game, and I think our kicking game is much improved over last year. The only area that's not done a real good job yet is our kickoff returns, and we've had too much practice in that. Coverage is good, our punt coverage is good, and we have to do a better job in punt returns in handling the ball.
"The other thing is to not let the long runs kill you. The one that hurt the other day was Vincent Young's 51-yard run. We had them back on the one-yard-line, and we couldn't keep them pinned down."
On Navy's new players -- "It's the same team and the same philosophy, because it's all Paul Johnson's coaching. Paul will do the same thing because he'll make the adjustments as the game goes along. We wants to make sure he has all his weapons and they're capable of doing the same things. The quarterback is really tough and has done a great job this year."
On the similarities of the offensive styles -- "It's one thing to know what you want to do, and it's another to get your players to execute what you want to do. The option offense is still an explosive offense, as evidenced by Air Force starting off with a couple of great games and Navy having the years they've had the last couple of years. There are so many things you can do. If you over-commit to the run, you can still get burned with the pass. Everybody has to be in the right place at the right time.
"Everybody has a little different personality and a little different system. Their quarterback has to be extremely tough because they don't mind running him every down."
On the lack of turnovers in the first two games -- "It makes a big difference to get a turnover, especially when you get good field position with it. We've got to be around the football more, and you've got a better chance of getting turnovers when you're playing someone other than Texas or UCLA."
