Mike Bloomgren Press Conference Quotes
11/26/2019 4:04:00 PM | Football
Opening Statement
"I'm going to start out by going through the players of the game. Something we do after a victory is give those people a lot of credit. Offensively, the Player of the Game is Issac Klarkowski. I know many of you might not have known his name until he started on Saturday. He is a walk-on true freshman from Green Bay, Wisconsin who joined our team three days before camp. We're sure glad he did. Looking back, I've coached a long time and I don't know if I'll ever have a week where our Offensive Player of the Game was also our scout team Player of the Week on defense and that's simply because he took now reps with the one's or the two's until Friday afternoon. He's a very unique story. He's a guy who was an all-state wrestler (and) had Big 10 wrestling offers but decided that he wanted to come to Rice and major in Mechanical Engineering. He is talking two unbelievable classes right now in Math 212 and Physics in his first semester and making an A in both. Many of the geniuses that we have walking around this campus can't do that without playing football. The fact that he's doing it and making it seem easy I think is very impressive.
Our Defensive Player of the Game, I don't think is a surprise to anyone that watched the game, is Treshawn Chamberlain. He had a tackle for loss on the first series, picked off the first play of the second series on the incredible interception and then ended the game on fourth down by making a great break on the ball and separating the receiver from said ball. So I'm really proud of Treshawn. Our Special Teams Player of the Game is the kicker version of Chris Barnes. I don't think he met his standard punting the football but certainly, those kicks were outstanding. Both of those field goals were the difference in the game, including one on the offense's first drive, which was a career-long 48-yarder for Chris.
Saturday's win was a really big deal for our team. It was just huge and as we continue to build the culture around this program, it takes wins like we had on Saturday to continue to advance it. To continue to build the confidence in these coaches and this program. So, I'm really happy that we were able to do that. We talked all week about starting fast. As we always say, start fast, stay focused and finish strong. I thought for the most part, we did that in all three phases. We didn't get the production that we wanted out of the offense in the second half. But we had a really good first half. I'm glad our defense kept playing. I'm glad that when we were in deep water, like we've been several times this year, somebody stepped up and shut the door and that was our defense in that play that we talked about with Treshawn. Then the offense comes on the field and gets two critical first downs to end the game on the field, which is always the goal for the four-minute offense. It was an incredible play by our quarterback Tom Stewart to give Bradley Rozner a chance down the field. He had a one-on-one matchup and we know Roz is going to come down with that ball. Then Nashon Ellerbe had the run to convert the next set of sticks and essentially end the game and allow us to get in, what we call Buffalo George personnel and end the game in victory formation.
I think I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Charlie Booker and how he played on Saturday. Once again a guy who had no idea how big his role would be on Saturday. As soon as Aston (Walter) could not continue, Charlie stepped in there. Charlie did what we know Charlie can do and that is break tackles. No matter how dirty the run was, he finished strong. I'm really proud of him stepping in there on Senior Day.
I thought our defense was simply amazing. I felt like we had a great week of prep. I thought we played really well on Saturday. Watching the tape, to do what our defense was able to do in keeping that offense and that quarterback in check, I thought was awesome. I'm really proud of those guys. I asked them to just keep coming. But really, I just couldn't be more proud of the way the defense is flying around and the takeaways we're getting. I think it really helps with everything we're trying to do as a team right now. They're doing a great job of keeping the sidelines juiced as well. Understanding the passion that is required to play this game, I think our team exudes that. I think you see them loving this game, loving each other and loving this team. That's a lot of fun for me as a coach.
Moving on to UTEP this week, this is a big game for our players and for our program. Make no mistake about that. We've worked extremely hard these last few weeks to win football games. I've told them to remember how much work goes into winning a college football game. This will be a big opportunity for us this Saturday. When you look at the film and read the stats on UTEP, you see a team that has dangerous tendencies. Everything starts with Kai Locksley. He is, if you will, the head of the snake this week. Everything goes through him. He had a great game throwing the ball last Saturday and all year long, when he runs the ball, he has been a problem for defenses. He's been a problem in terms of making efficient runs that keep the sticks moving and when he gets in space, he has finished against some really good defenses this year. So it's a great challenge for our defense to really corral him, box him in and get his butt on the ground.
I look at Coach (Dana) Dimel and his staff and I really think they are doing a good job. They're keeping those kids together. They're still playing hard, which I've expressed to you guys how big of a challenge it is in 2019. I think he's doing a great job. We know exactly what it takes to rebuild a program back to the great place that that program has been. We know how much work that takes. I look out there and see them doing a lot of similar things that we tried to do in the middle of the season. I know we're going to get their best on Saturday. It's going to be their Senior Day. It's going to be a big deal for them playing in front of their home crowd right after Thanksgiving. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to traveling to El Paso. Having our seniors play one more game together with this team and we want to send the seniors out the right way. These seniors, they know how important this game is to the future of our program. Everybody knows how big this game is to the future of our program. I think it's going to be a hard-fought, physical football game and I wouldn't want it any other way.
On how a win against UTEP would impact the future of the program:
"The last thing we looked at when we challenged them in the bye week to win the last three (games) and get some momentum going. For the seniors to leave their mark and end with a winning streak, something that hasn't happened here since 2014. To leave this place better than they found it for the seniors. For the people who are coming back, it sets the tone for the offseason. It's going to be a grind. It's going to be a grind every day with Hans Straub. Why not go into it with a three-game winning streak and all of the optimism in the world for the 2020 season. Not to look ahead at all but the reality is that anytime you win your last game, everything feels better. You have momentum in recruiting. There's some great graduate transfer targets that we're after right now. Every little bit helps. So that's what we can control. We can control going 1-0 this week by preparing like crazy."
On the plan for quarterback this week:
"Good news from an injury standpoint; everybody who played in the last game is still available in this one. Nobody has been ruled out and JoVoni (Johnson) and Juma (Otoviano) have not been ruled out either so we could have both of them available as well. But Tom Stewart will be the starting quarterback."
On if he has seen Tom Stewart's confidence increase the last couple of weeks:
"It's been an up-and-down year for Tom in terms of the standard that he wants to play to. I think what he's done the last two weeks is more of what we expected from him. There were times where, if you look back at the Texas game, he was a wild horse rider. He looked like Brett Favre out there running around and making throws down field. Then he had some games where he didn't throw it as well. Again, we go back to the film at Harvard when we fell in love with him when he gave receivers a chance down the field. That's what we wanted to see and I think that's exactly what we got these last games. Do I think there's a confidence swing right now? Yea. I think all of our confidence is on an upward trajectory. The fact that, not only do we believe in ourselves a little bit more, but we believe in the people next to us. That trust is such a big deal in trying to win football games."
On the chance that Issac Klarkowski plays on Saturday:
"Right now, he is still going with the ones. At the very least, he's going to be a backup in our program. He has earned our trust. I don't see any time where we would ever say that we don't trust Issac. The news came at 11:30 Friday morning that we may not have Shea Baker available. It would be a game-time decision. Because of an injury to Brian Chaffin who couldn't snap, we were really low on options. We got to a point where we all thought that (Issac) was our best one because of how smart he is, how well he's done in the crossover work in the scrimmages in the bye week. By the end of practice on Friday, I looked at Coach (Jerry) Mack and said that I'll be able to sleep tonight. I know he's going to do fine. That's one of those unintended consequences. We never intended for Juma (Otoviano) to start against Old Dominion (last year). Then he has a great game and the hope is eternal. It's just like that with Issac. We had no intentions of playing him this season. We got backed against a wall and he played great. Now, forever more, we'll have that knowledge that he can go into a conference game and have a winning performance. So at the very least, whether he's a starter or a true backup, it's real. He's someone that we're going to count on."
On how it feels to have a player like Klarkowski in the program:
"I think it's a testament to Coach (Joe) Ashfield and Coach Sanders Davis and the way they've done a great job in that room really making sure that no child is left behind, for lack of a better term. As we went through camp to make sure that everybody has the knowledge. Friday, they had great meetings with him. He goes out there on the field and then we put him in the room with Brian Chaffin who has a lot of knowledge in our system. I think Brian spent all Friday night quizzing him. But again, he's a whole lot smarter than me. I like dealing with people who are a lot smarter than me. Gosh, he is."
On how valuable these last two weeks have been:
"Before the season, someone said to me, 'You win or you learn.' We've learned a lot this year. We're winning some now. But those lessons have been great. I think we'll be able to carry them into how we prepare. It showed in how serious we took the road trip to Middle Tennessee. We are in a much better place than we were in last Tuesday. I know we're not alone. You get to this time of year. Last week, I think the Dallas Cowboys had nine players and coaches down with the flu. We're not going to be able to stay away from all of the sickness but we are training the right way."
On keeping the guys on an even keel:
"Number one, I told them early in the season, don't believe anything you hear outside of these walls. Trust your coaches. I told them It's the one time in your life I'm going to tell them not to listen to your parents because they don't know as much about football as these coaches. Right now, I'm telling them the same thing. Don't you believe anything you read. We're not that good. We are not going to have a margin of error where we can just roll out the ball and win the football game. We're going to have play like our hair is on fire. We're going to have to play Rice football. We're going to have to embody Intellectual Brutality. We're going to have to do all of those things to win a football game. The other thing I did was I put up a slide that said 'Victory and Defeat.' Treat them both as the imposters that they are and go to work. If anybody in this program is feeling themselves after two wins, then I'm not doing my job well enough."
"I'm going to start out by going through the players of the game. Something we do after a victory is give those people a lot of credit. Offensively, the Player of the Game is Issac Klarkowski. I know many of you might not have known his name until he started on Saturday. He is a walk-on true freshman from Green Bay, Wisconsin who joined our team three days before camp. We're sure glad he did. Looking back, I've coached a long time and I don't know if I'll ever have a week where our Offensive Player of the Game was also our scout team Player of the Week on defense and that's simply because he took now reps with the one's or the two's until Friday afternoon. He's a very unique story. He's a guy who was an all-state wrestler (and) had Big 10 wrestling offers but decided that he wanted to come to Rice and major in Mechanical Engineering. He is talking two unbelievable classes right now in Math 212 and Physics in his first semester and making an A in both. Many of the geniuses that we have walking around this campus can't do that without playing football. The fact that he's doing it and making it seem easy I think is very impressive.
Our Defensive Player of the Game, I don't think is a surprise to anyone that watched the game, is Treshawn Chamberlain. He had a tackle for loss on the first series, picked off the first play of the second series on the incredible interception and then ended the game on fourth down by making a great break on the ball and separating the receiver from said ball. So I'm really proud of Treshawn. Our Special Teams Player of the Game is the kicker version of Chris Barnes. I don't think he met his standard punting the football but certainly, those kicks were outstanding. Both of those field goals were the difference in the game, including one on the offense's first drive, which was a career-long 48-yarder for Chris.
Saturday's win was a really big deal for our team. It was just huge and as we continue to build the culture around this program, it takes wins like we had on Saturday to continue to advance it. To continue to build the confidence in these coaches and this program. So, I'm really happy that we were able to do that. We talked all week about starting fast. As we always say, start fast, stay focused and finish strong. I thought for the most part, we did that in all three phases. We didn't get the production that we wanted out of the offense in the second half. But we had a really good first half. I'm glad our defense kept playing. I'm glad that when we were in deep water, like we've been several times this year, somebody stepped up and shut the door and that was our defense in that play that we talked about with Treshawn. Then the offense comes on the field and gets two critical first downs to end the game on the field, which is always the goal for the four-minute offense. It was an incredible play by our quarterback Tom Stewart to give Bradley Rozner a chance down the field. He had a one-on-one matchup and we know Roz is going to come down with that ball. Then Nashon Ellerbe had the run to convert the next set of sticks and essentially end the game and allow us to get in, what we call Buffalo George personnel and end the game in victory formation.
I think I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Charlie Booker and how he played on Saturday. Once again a guy who had no idea how big his role would be on Saturday. As soon as Aston (Walter) could not continue, Charlie stepped in there. Charlie did what we know Charlie can do and that is break tackles. No matter how dirty the run was, he finished strong. I'm really proud of him stepping in there on Senior Day.
I thought our defense was simply amazing. I felt like we had a great week of prep. I thought we played really well on Saturday. Watching the tape, to do what our defense was able to do in keeping that offense and that quarterback in check, I thought was awesome. I'm really proud of those guys. I asked them to just keep coming. But really, I just couldn't be more proud of the way the defense is flying around and the takeaways we're getting. I think it really helps with everything we're trying to do as a team right now. They're doing a great job of keeping the sidelines juiced as well. Understanding the passion that is required to play this game, I think our team exudes that. I think you see them loving this game, loving each other and loving this team. That's a lot of fun for me as a coach.
Moving on to UTEP this week, this is a big game for our players and for our program. Make no mistake about that. We've worked extremely hard these last few weeks to win football games. I've told them to remember how much work goes into winning a college football game. This will be a big opportunity for us this Saturday. When you look at the film and read the stats on UTEP, you see a team that has dangerous tendencies. Everything starts with Kai Locksley. He is, if you will, the head of the snake this week. Everything goes through him. He had a great game throwing the ball last Saturday and all year long, when he runs the ball, he has been a problem for defenses. He's been a problem in terms of making efficient runs that keep the sticks moving and when he gets in space, he has finished against some really good defenses this year. So it's a great challenge for our defense to really corral him, box him in and get his butt on the ground.
I look at Coach (Dana) Dimel and his staff and I really think they are doing a good job. They're keeping those kids together. They're still playing hard, which I've expressed to you guys how big of a challenge it is in 2019. I think he's doing a great job. We know exactly what it takes to rebuild a program back to the great place that that program has been. We know how much work that takes. I look out there and see them doing a lot of similar things that we tried to do in the middle of the season. I know we're going to get their best on Saturday. It's going to be their Senior Day. It's going to be a big deal for them playing in front of their home crowd right after Thanksgiving. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to traveling to El Paso. Having our seniors play one more game together with this team and we want to send the seniors out the right way. These seniors, they know how important this game is to the future of our program. Everybody knows how big this game is to the future of our program. I think it's going to be a hard-fought, physical football game and I wouldn't want it any other way.
On how a win against UTEP would impact the future of the program:
"The last thing we looked at when we challenged them in the bye week to win the last three (games) and get some momentum going. For the seniors to leave their mark and end with a winning streak, something that hasn't happened here since 2014. To leave this place better than they found it for the seniors. For the people who are coming back, it sets the tone for the offseason. It's going to be a grind. It's going to be a grind every day with Hans Straub. Why not go into it with a three-game winning streak and all of the optimism in the world for the 2020 season. Not to look ahead at all but the reality is that anytime you win your last game, everything feels better. You have momentum in recruiting. There's some great graduate transfer targets that we're after right now. Every little bit helps. So that's what we can control. We can control going 1-0 this week by preparing like crazy."
On the plan for quarterback this week:
"Good news from an injury standpoint; everybody who played in the last game is still available in this one. Nobody has been ruled out and JoVoni (Johnson) and Juma (Otoviano) have not been ruled out either so we could have both of them available as well. But Tom Stewart will be the starting quarterback."
On if he has seen Tom Stewart's confidence increase the last couple of weeks:
"It's been an up-and-down year for Tom in terms of the standard that he wants to play to. I think what he's done the last two weeks is more of what we expected from him. There were times where, if you look back at the Texas game, he was a wild horse rider. He looked like Brett Favre out there running around and making throws down field. Then he had some games where he didn't throw it as well. Again, we go back to the film at Harvard when we fell in love with him when he gave receivers a chance down the field. That's what we wanted to see and I think that's exactly what we got these last games. Do I think there's a confidence swing right now? Yea. I think all of our confidence is on an upward trajectory. The fact that, not only do we believe in ourselves a little bit more, but we believe in the people next to us. That trust is such a big deal in trying to win football games."
On the chance that Issac Klarkowski plays on Saturday:
"Right now, he is still going with the ones. At the very least, he's going to be a backup in our program. He has earned our trust. I don't see any time where we would ever say that we don't trust Issac. The news came at 11:30 Friday morning that we may not have Shea Baker available. It would be a game-time decision. Because of an injury to Brian Chaffin who couldn't snap, we were really low on options. We got to a point where we all thought that (Issac) was our best one because of how smart he is, how well he's done in the crossover work in the scrimmages in the bye week. By the end of practice on Friday, I looked at Coach (Jerry) Mack and said that I'll be able to sleep tonight. I know he's going to do fine. That's one of those unintended consequences. We never intended for Juma (Otoviano) to start against Old Dominion (last year). Then he has a great game and the hope is eternal. It's just like that with Issac. We had no intentions of playing him this season. We got backed against a wall and he played great. Now, forever more, we'll have that knowledge that he can go into a conference game and have a winning performance. So at the very least, whether he's a starter or a true backup, it's real. He's someone that we're going to count on."
On how it feels to have a player like Klarkowski in the program:
"I think it's a testament to Coach (Joe) Ashfield and Coach Sanders Davis and the way they've done a great job in that room really making sure that no child is left behind, for lack of a better term. As we went through camp to make sure that everybody has the knowledge. Friday, they had great meetings with him. He goes out there on the field and then we put him in the room with Brian Chaffin who has a lot of knowledge in our system. I think Brian spent all Friday night quizzing him. But again, he's a whole lot smarter than me. I like dealing with people who are a lot smarter than me. Gosh, he is."
On how valuable these last two weeks have been:
"Before the season, someone said to me, 'You win or you learn.' We've learned a lot this year. We're winning some now. But those lessons have been great. I think we'll be able to carry them into how we prepare. It showed in how serious we took the road trip to Middle Tennessee. We are in a much better place than we were in last Tuesday. I know we're not alone. You get to this time of year. Last week, I think the Dallas Cowboys had nine players and coaches down with the flu. We're not going to be able to stay away from all of the sickness but we are training the right way."
On keeping the guys on an even keel:
"Number one, I told them early in the season, don't believe anything you hear outside of these walls. Trust your coaches. I told them It's the one time in your life I'm going to tell them not to listen to your parents because they don't know as much about football as these coaches. Right now, I'm telling them the same thing. Don't you believe anything you read. We're not that good. We are not going to have a margin of error where we can just roll out the ball and win the football game. We're going to have play like our hair is on fire. We're going to have to play Rice football. We're going to have to embody Intellectual Brutality. We're going to have to do all of those things to win a football game. The other thing I did was I put up a slide that said 'Victory and Defeat.' Treat them both as the imposters that they are and go to work. If anybody in this program is feeling themselves after two wins, then I'm not doing my job well enough."
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