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Rice University Athletics
Mike Bloomgren Press Conference Quotes
10/22/2019 3:33:00 PM | Football
Opening Statement
"The first thing I want to do is congratulate the four individuals we just referenced. We have our Hall of Fame Induction Friday night. These are four people that have helped shape the Rice University Football program. They've helped us on and off the field and have been spectacular to me in my time here. Those four are Earl Cooper, Jeff Rose, Brett Wagner and our current Academic Advisor, Julie Griswold.
I talked to many of you after the game last Saturday and I was disappointed. I was really down about that game. Obviously, I wanted us to play better. I want these kids to get a win for all of their hard work (and) all of the things that we've talked about. I thought we had a great two weeks of prep going into it. Very simply, we didn't come out the other side like we wanted to. We took another team to deep water in this conference. Our kids are fighting and doing some great things. From a 10,000-foot level, you can't turn the ball over in conference play; in college football and win games. What's amazing is that even in spite of that, the first half really should have been a blowout without those turnovers. The defense played so well. They gave the offense a sudden change on the one-yard line. We weren't able to take advantage of it. That's a huge play in the game. Even with that and even with the pick-six to start the second half, we were in it. We ended up taking an eight-point lead in the third quarter. They tie it up. We go right down to kick a field goal and then they only had one drive in the fourth quarter. They had the ball for four minutes. Unfortunately, they were able to put the ball in the box. We had plenty of time for our offense to take a drive. (We had) five and a half minutes and one timeout and we came up short. So, right now it's a common theme. We're playing well enough to get there. We've showed a lot of progress the way these kids are fighting. The thing that we have to be able to do is our defense has to find a way to slam the door shut on our opponent when we have a lead. I tell them every time when we have a lead at halftime; it's something Coach (Bobby) Bowden used to say to the defense. If they don't score, we win. It's really simple.
Then again, the offense gets an opportunity and at some point, we're going to have to quit waiting around and just find a way to kick the door open offensively and make a play that wins the game. I really believe that once we have the confidence, once we've done it a time or two, it's going to become a way of life. I mentioned it before; we've had four games now that have been a one-score game. That's, again, great progress. We're in a zero sum business. We need to win. I remember at Stanford in 2013 we had eight one-score games. I think we won them all and ended up in the Rose Bowl. It's a mindset. It's something we stress in this program. It's something that, again, is going to take a great individual effort (and) and great collective effort to get someone into deep water and then find a way to win the game.
The good news is these kids are working. They've come back. They're resilient. They're bright kids. They realize how close we are. They've come back to it and they're attacking this thing the right way. I told them yesterday that we're doing the right things. There's no question in my mind that we're doing the things to win with the right people in the building. We've got an unbelievable coaching staff and we've just got to find a way to push through. That's kind of been our charge all week.
We've got a great football team coming in here on Saturday in Southern Miss. They have a 4-3 record. Two of their losses are to SEC teams and one is the No. 1 team in America. They are a skilled group. I look at them from a defensive perspective. They are big up front. They have some linebackers who can run around and some fast secondary guys as well. They're defensive structure is like Star Wars. They are blitzing from everywhere. Offensively, they have great skill. They've got receivers who can roll and a quarterback who's doing a good job distributing the ball and leading Conference USA right now in total offense. In their return game, they have some guys with elite speed who can really, really roll. They have three or four touchdown returns on the year. It's going to be a heck of a challenge. I've got a ton of respect for Jay Hopson as a defensive coach and as a head coach. I think the way he has those guys playing right now is really, really good. We're expecting their best. We're expecting them to come in here and have a heck of a football game at high noon on Saturday."
What's been the issue the last couple of games with penalties and turnovers?
"If I'm not mistaken, we're still leading the nation in the least number of penalties. So, the discipline is still there. These guys are doing their assignment. They are where they are supposed to be and the way it is supposed to be. The turnover are a whole other issue. We've had nine turnovers in the last three games after having virtually none in the first part of the season. So, it's definitely a problem. It's something we stress every day. As a matter of fact, in my pregame speech on Saturday I told the team, I wanted the defensive guys to hear it as well, that anytime you have the ball in your hands, you have the hopes and dreams of everybody on this team in your hands. You have to take care of it. You have to protect it. Very simply, if you're not going to protect it, we can't play you. If we can't trust you to possess the ball and end the play with ball, we can't play you. That's unfortunately where we're at right now. We have some people that still need to have a little more growth. Again, with some of those cases, it's not from lack of want to. It's not from even lack of prep. It's from making a mistake."
How is he addressing the quarterback situation?
"Again, it's unfortunate. Wiley (Green) prepares so well. For whatever reason, obviously, we lost two snaps and the first play of the third quarter was just a very critical error. Quarterbacks, like head coaches, get too much credit and too much blame. Very simply, that's what's going on right now. It's not because we're not winning games. It's just the fact that the ball went to the other team three times when we had it the other night. Very simply, that's why we're making the change. Tom (Stewart) will be our starting quarterback going forward. Again, nobody is kicking Wiley to the curb. But, we believe Tom gives us our best chance to win games right now because of the way he is protecting the football."
If quarterback JoVoni Johnson could see more reps?
"I don't have a plan for either of those guys to be the quarterback of the football team. We could see a scenario where JoVoni comes into games again. Obviously, he had a great start to his college football career, breaking off that run. During the bye week, he threw it exceptionally well. He threw the deep ball exceptionally well. We have a lot of trust in JoVoni. We'll see how it plays (out). We'll likely have a role for JoVoni as we go forward while keeping an eye on the redshirt as well."
Did he make any tweaks to his overall process after the first half's rough start?
"It's hard to say it was a rough start. We take the opening drive and score for the third consecutive game. The guys were really locked in and doing some great things. What I look at is we get the ball at the one-yard line; we didn't struggle moving the ball. We fumbled it twice on a center-quarterback exchange. That doesn't happen in a Pop Warner game and it doesn't happen all week in practice. So, it's hard for us as coaches (and) it's hard for me personally to figure out how to remedy something that doesn't occur during practice. We put all the stress to try to make it as game-like as we can. But, for some reason, those things occurred. I have to find a way to put more stress on this football team and make practice more game-like so any emotions and anxieties get out in practice and not in the course of a game. I couldn't tell you what happened. But, we watched the tape. The ball gets up and then it's on the ground. That's not acceptable."
How have you seen the coaching staff respond this week?
"I talk a lot about how coaching great kids is one of the things that's great about being at a place like Rice. The fact that they will see, take the corrections, continue to work hard and continue to show up because I think it's so easy nowadays for kids to just mail it in, hit the reset button and wait until next year. These kids aren't doing that. I think that also goes back to these coaches. I think these coaches have been rock solid. They've been the same people every day. They come in here, they teach, they demand it and they've really stayed lock step with me on the process. They've been trying to control the things that we can control. Everybody who's a part of this program was down after that game on Saturday. But, there's no panic. You can change so many things. You can change your approach. You can come in here, yell and scream. There's just none of that. It's process-driven and we're not going to let that game beat us this week. We're going to move on. We're going to do the things that we know win games. There's so many players on this team that won state championships. There's so many people who are accustomed to winning. There's coaches that have won championships at every level. Nobody likes where we are but the only way to get out of it is to work hard.
What does Southern Miss quarterback Jack Abraham do different from other quarterbacks?
"He completes 71% of his balls, but he's not throwing bubble screens. When somebody has a high percentage completion rate right now, half of their passes are thrown at or near the line of scrimmage. That's really not the case (with Abraham). He has fast receivers. He'll throw the ball down field. So, I think that's really good, that he's managing that and completing those passes; explosive passes if you will. He had done a great job protecting the ball until last Saturday."
How does Rice's offensive line match up against Southern Miss's front seven?
"I love the way our offensive line is progressing, first off. I think they are doing a great job. So, I think we're going to match up fine. But, how will we handle movement as a front unit? What will we do to solve their movement patterns with violence? That's going to be what opens up holes. From a protection standpoint, they're relentless. We've got to do a great job protecting to let our receivers our and make plays down the field when we chose to throw the ball."
"The first thing I want to do is congratulate the four individuals we just referenced. We have our Hall of Fame Induction Friday night. These are four people that have helped shape the Rice University Football program. They've helped us on and off the field and have been spectacular to me in my time here. Those four are Earl Cooper, Jeff Rose, Brett Wagner and our current Academic Advisor, Julie Griswold.
I talked to many of you after the game last Saturday and I was disappointed. I was really down about that game. Obviously, I wanted us to play better. I want these kids to get a win for all of their hard work (and) all of the things that we've talked about. I thought we had a great two weeks of prep going into it. Very simply, we didn't come out the other side like we wanted to. We took another team to deep water in this conference. Our kids are fighting and doing some great things. From a 10,000-foot level, you can't turn the ball over in conference play; in college football and win games. What's amazing is that even in spite of that, the first half really should have been a blowout without those turnovers. The defense played so well. They gave the offense a sudden change on the one-yard line. We weren't able to take advantage of it. That's a huge play in the game. Even with that and even with the pick-six to start the second half, we were in it. We ended up taking an eight-point lead in the third quarter. They tie it up. We go right down to kick a field goal and then they only had one drive in the fourth quarter. They had the ball for four minutes. Unfortunately, they were able to put the ball in the box. We had plenty of time for our offense to take a drive. (We had) five and a half minutes and one timeout and we came up short. So, right now it's a common theme. We're playing well enough to get there. We've showed a lot of progress the way these kids are fighting. The thing that we have to be able to do is our defense has to find a way to slam the door shut on our opponent when we have a lead. I tell them every time when we have a lead at halftime; it's something Coach (Bobby) Bowden used to say to the defense. If they don't score, we win. It's really simple.
Then again, the offense gets an opportunity and at some point, we're going to have to quit waiting around and just find a way to kick the door open offensively and make a play that wins the game. I really believe that once we have the confidence, once we've done it a time or two, it's going to become a way of life. I mentioned it before; we've had four games now that have been a one-score game. That's, again, great progress. We're in a zero sum business. We need to win. I remember at Stanford in 2013 we had eight one-score games. I think we won them all and ended up in the Rose Bowl. It's a mindset. It's something we stress in this program. It's something that, again, is going to take a great individual effort (and) and great collective effort to get someone into deep water and then find a way to win the game.
The good news is these kids are working. They've come back. They're resilient. They're bright kids. They realize how close we are. They've come back to it and they're attacking this thing the right way. I told them yesterday that we're doing the right things. There's no question in my mind that we're doing the things to win with the right people in the building. We've got an unbelievable coaching staff and we've just got to find a way to push through. That's kind of been our charge all week.
We've got a great football team coming in here on Saturday in Southern Miss. They have a 4-3 record. Two of their losses are to SEC teams and one is the No. 1 team in America. They are a skilled group. I look at them from a defensive perspective. They are big up front. They have some linebackers who can run around and some fast secondary guys as well. They're defensive structure is like Star Wars. They are blitzing from everywhere. Offensively, they have great skill. They've got receivers who can roll and a quarterback who's doing a good job distributing the ball and leading Conference USA right now in total offense. In their return game, they have some guys with elite speed who can really, really roll. They have three or four touchdown returns on the year. It's going to be a heck of a challenge. I've got a ton of respect for Jay Hopson as a defensive coach and as a head coach. I think the way he has those guys playing right now is really, really good. We're expecting their best. We're expecting them to come in here and have a heck of a football game at high noon on Saturday."
What's been the issue the last couple of games with penalties and turnovers?
"If I'm not mistaken, we're still leading the nation in the least number of penalties. So, the discipline is still there. These guys are doing their assignment. They are where they are supposed to be and the way it is supposed to be. The turnover are a whole other issue. We've had nine turnovers in the last three games after having virtually none in the first part of the season. So, it's definitely a problem. It's something we stress every day. As a matter of fact, in my pregame speech on Saturday I told the team, I wanted the defensive guys to hear it as well, that anytime you have the ball in your hands, you have the hopes and dreams of everybody on this team in your hands. You have to take care of it. You have to protect it. Very simply, if you're not going to protect it, we can't play you. If we can't trust you to possess the ball and end the play with ball, we can't play you. That's unfortunately where we're at right now. We have some people that still need to have a little more growth. Again, with some of those cases, it's not from lack of want to. It's not from even lack of prep. It's from making a mistake."
How is he addressing the quarterback situation?
"Again, it's unfortunate. Wiley (Green) prepares so well. For whatever reason, obviously, we lost two snaps and the first play of the third quarter was just a very critical error. Quarterbacks, like head coaches, get too much credit and too much blame. Very simply, that's what's going on right now. It's not because we're not winning games. It's just the fact that the ball went to the other team three times when we had it the other night. Very simply, that's why we're making the change. Tom (Stewart) will be our starting quarterback going forward. Again, nobody is kicking Wiley to the curb. But, we believe Tom gives us our best chance to win games right now because of the way he is protecting the football."
If quarterback JoVoni Johnson could see more reps?
"I don't have a plan for either of those guys to be the quarterback of the football team. We could see a scenario where JoVoni comes into games again. Obviously, he had a great start to his college football career, breaking off that run. During the bye week, he threw it exceptionally well. He threw the deep ball exceptionally well. We have a lot of trust in JoVoni. We'll see how it plays (out). We'll likely have a role for JoVoni as we go forward while keeping an eye on the redshirt as well."
Did he make any tweaks to his overall process after the first half's rough start?
"It's hard to say it was a rough start. We take the opening drive and score for the third consecutive game. The guys were really locked in and doing some great things. What I look at is we get the ball at the one-yard line; we didn't struggle moving the ball. We fumbled it twice on a center-quarterback exchange. That doesn't happen in a Pop Warner game and it doesn't happen all week in practice. So, it's hard for us as coaches (and) it's hard for me personally to figure out how to remedy something that doesn't occur during practice. We put all the stress to try to make it as game-like as we can. But, for some reason, those things occurred. I have to find a way to put more stress on this football team and make practice more game-like so any emotions and anxieties get out in practice and not in the course of a game. I couldn't tell you what happened. But, we watched the tape. The ball gets up and then it's on the ground. That's not acceptable."
How have you seen the coaching staff respond this week?
"I talk a lot about how coaching great kids is one of the things that's great about being at a place like Rice. The fact that they will see, take the corrections, continue to work hard and continue to show up because I think it's so easy nowadays for kids to just mail it in, hit the reset button and wait until next year. These kids aren't doing that. I think that also goes back to these coaches. I think these coaches have been rock solid. They've been the same people every day. They come in here, they teach, they demand it and they've really stayed lock step with me on the process. They've been trying to control the things that we can control. Everybody who's a part of this program was down after that game on Saturday. But, there's no panic. You can change so many things. You can change your approach. You can come in here, yell and scream. There's just none of that. It's process-driven and we're not going to let that game beat us this week. We're going to move on. We're going to do the things that we know win games. There's so many players on this team that won state championships. There's so many people who are accustomed to winning. There's coaches that have won championships at every level. Nobody likes where we are but the only way to get out of it is to work hard.
What does Southern Miss quarterback Jack Abraham do different from other quarterbacks?
"He completes 71% of his balls, but he's not throwing bubble screens. When somebody has a high percentage completion rate right now, half of their passes are thrown at or near the line of scrimmage. That's really not the case (with Abraham). He has fast receivers. He'll throw the ball down field. So, I think that's really good, that he's managing that and completing those passes; explosive passes if you will. He had done a great job protecting the ball until last Saturday."
How does Rice's offensive line match up against Southern Miss's front seven?
"I love the way our offensive line is progressing, first off. I think they are doing a great job. So, I think we're going to match up fine. But, how will we handle movement as a front unit? What will we do to solve their movement patterns with violence? That's going to be what opens up holes. From a protection standpoint, they're relentless. We've got to do a great job protecting to let our receivers our and make plays down the field when we chose to throw the ball."
Players Mentioned
QB
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