Rice University Athletics
Monday Press Conference Transcript
10/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 29, 2007
(Opening Remarks) "All I know is to keep working hard and expect wind and sooner or later we're going to do what's expected. We're going to approach today when these young men come over here and coach them extremely hard like we have since we've gotten here. They've worked extremely hard since we've gotten here. And try to make the improvements we need to make to win football games. The only way to do it is to keep working hard to get some people confident and get to where they can make plays.
"On the game, I thought really defensively we had done a better job at half time when we had only given up 17 points than we had done in a long time. The second quarter was the bad quarter for the defense where they had drives of 15, 14, 11 play drives. We had third downs in the second quarter eight different times and they were seven of eight on third down. Third down has been our nemesis. We've got to get off the field when we can because when our offense only has the ball for two minutes in the second quarter, that's not good for us. We've got to get the ball in our hands more. The defense did play solid. In the second half they only gave up 120 yards of total offense until the last drive. We're going to continue to make improvement over there. We had way too many missed tackles and missed opportunities. When you get a point of attack you've got to make those plays.
"Offensively we just flipped it where we had been starting extremely fast and then not scoring in the fourth. This time we started slow and then had a big rally starting with about a minute left in the third quarter. Once again over there though we've got to get our third down ratios up. We had some uncharacteristic dropped balls by some receivers, but we've got to get our third down numbers up.
"Special teams, I though Luke with his punting for him to be able to get that punt off with the bad snap was a big play. I thought defining moments in the game when we didn't make it on fourth down in the fourth quarter, where we didn't get the onside kick where we had the opportunity, where the ball was there. If we get that onside kick I really believe we go down and win that football game."
(On tackling) "To make tackles in college football you can't stop and gather. We have a tendency to stop and gather instead of throwing. When they're behind the line of scrimmage you should throw and not gather. That's something that we've got to continue to work on, out tackling, and make plays. At times we had six sack opportunities, we had five guys missing. One play it looked like we had him absolutely surrounded. We've got to make those plays when opportunities present themselves. We have to make them, and we didn't make them. We're going to continue to work them in drills and get them in those situations where there are opportunities."
(On the defense's third down problems) "The amazing thing is it was really just the second quarter where they were seven of eight. The third down ratios in the other three quarters were good. When it's third and ten we've got to get stops."
(On Andrew Sendejo) "The thing is Andrew Sendejo can tackle. We've got to get everybody to tackle. Andrew Sendejo played a fabulous game, he had 18 tackles on the day. He keeps getting better every week. We've got to have guys like that that continue to improve. One of the problems that we did have was the first time we had a second string defensive end go in he got a stinger. Now we're forced to use Cheta and Scott for 72 snaps in that football game. We've got to have a rotation going. We've got to be able to rest some of those guys to try to keep them fresh down the stretch and keep them tackling."
(On the defensive line) "We've got a chance right now to get Kramer Lucio back, Will Shoppa back, Cameron Thompson back in the defensive line, and that helps your rotation. Those kids played hard for 72 snaps. You just need to be able to rest them to keep them fresh."
(On time of possession) "For us to only have the ball two minutes, that's hard to do. It's hard to sit here and imagine that Marshall could have a 15 play drive and a 14 play drive and an 11 play drive. That's like when you play an option team and they just keep the ball out of your hands offensively. We need the ball in our hands offensively. They had a three and out and a five and out. Offense is so much about rhythm and getting into a rhythm. You can't really get into a rhythm when you don't have the ball in your hands."
(On UTEP) "They're averaging 35 points per game. Coach Price has done an amazing job there. I've watched UTEP for as long as I can remember, and played them every year when we were at the University of New Mexico. He's done a fabulous job of attracting top quality talent. They've got great skill players, they've got a big offensive line. They're getting a lot of Texas kids now. They used to not get a lot of Texas kids. He's done a good job of finding Texas kids in junior colleges who played really good football. That was quite the shootout we just watched against Houston."
(On keys to the UTEP game) "It's just like this week. We had no takeaways. You look at the games we've been in we've created takeaways when we've had balls thrown to us. We had none. We've got to start creating takeaways. We had a couple opportunities to pick the ball off. They'd have been hard catches, but we've got to make those. You create those by hard hits. We've got to start hitting people where we're knocking the ball out. To beat UTEP it'll be like Southern Miss. We had seven in that game and thats why we won that football game. Defensively, we've got to create those to get off the field."
(On injuries) "It comes and goes, but we'll have a chance to get some of those guys back. In the mean time We've got to do a better job as coaches getting kids lined up where they need to be."
