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Rice University Athletics
Monday Press Conference Transcript
11/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 5, 2007
David Bailiff met the media on Monday to talk over the win against UTEP and look ahead to Saturday's road game at SMU.
Opening Statement
"It was an incredible weekend. It started with the 1957 team having their reunion. Buddy Dial was in the stands and Froggy Williams, so it was nice to have a win with those people here. About the game, I thought it was an amazing football game. The thing that actually set it apart was when we made mistakes. Instead of guys worrying about the mistakes they'd made, they strengthened their resolve to keep swinging and come out fighting. I think Chase was a prime example of that. He wasn't worried about the mistake he had just made, it just made his determination grow that he was going to do something about it. I think that's what great players do. Chase absolutely had a great football game; a lot of the guys did on offense. "Defensively, for the first time we had seven three-and-outs. That's big. At half time they had -1 yard rushing and 49 on the night. The ability to stop the run finally is what set us apart in that football game. The fourth quarter really both sides of the football, offense, defense, and special teams all had big plays to produce 28 points. It was a crazy game though. I tell you, it was so fun in that dressing room after that game to be with those young men because they had worked so hard. I know they'll come over today ready to go to work again. Just to have that type of offensive production with that many turnovers is a story in itself."
On the start of the second half
"We were up 21 to 20 at that point. You want to get it started fast in that second half. You want to draw a line in the sand right then. The amazing thing we did was start fast. We hit Dillard on that third and short, and he uncharacteristically had a turnover way down at the other end of the field. He had both hands on the football. That was a great play by the guy from UTEP. He had that ball as secure as he could get it. You watch that video and you can't figure out how that guy got that ball out. But he got his hand in there and somehow stripped it from Jarett. We started the third quarter how we wanted but it didn't play out that way. You look at what JD did after that point, instead of getting down it angered him and the true competitor came out in him."
On offensive weapons
"A lot of what happened when we started this season when Joel Armstrong got hurt and Q was no longer here we had two really offensive weapons that were known with Chase and JD. As you've seen James Casey improve they can't roll coverage over just JD anymore. You see Joel Armstrong getting better every week, making plays. I think that's the difference is they have to worry about other people in the offense now. They didn't have to worry about that early. I think that's helping us a lot. I think the offensive line continues to improve each week to give Chase time to find receivers. At the same time, obviously when they give him that type of time and they spread the field when he pulls the ball there's room for him to run. So I think it's been a combination of things."
On the offensive plays
"Offensively we get into rhythms. We know what we can do now. We know what we shouldn't be doing. We do quality control each week to see what's working and what is not working and what we need to spend more time at and what isn't going to work. I think it's us learning the kids, the kids learning us, and players getting better."
On the scoring drives
"It's been a pretty quick strike offense when it's happened. When we do score there haven't been too many times when we have the 10, 11, 12 play drives. There's usually an explosion that gets us down there and gets us going. I know the other night for the first time you see UTEP what we call "solo" where there's three receivers and they're taking that safety and rolling over to James Casey and that's leaving Dillard one-on-one. Those are the match ups when we see Chase knows he can take those anytime he sees that because Dillard is going to make that play 9 out of 10 times."
On what stands out about SMU
"SMU is a good football team. Their quarterback is really amazing. They've got a lot of seniors on offense. And just the athleticism. Those kids are still playing hard they aren't going to quit."
On playing at SMU
"I think this is going to be one of the weeks where these guys come over here and they know what we're capable of. Even the young players on defense now, they're not young players anymore. Even the two freshmen defensive ends played 80 snaps a piece last game. The week before they played 72 snaps. Those guys have turned into hardened defensive players. I think they're finally seeing that when we do things together anything is possible. I think we've played hard every week, but sometimes when we've made mistakes you see guys worrying about the next play and they're still down. I think we have the ability now and the maturity to get past that."
