Mike Bloomgren Press Conference Quotes
10/18/2022 2:23:00 PM | Football
Opening Statement
"Unfortunately, the game didn't go as we wanted it to. We didn't get the results that we wanted against (Florida Atlantic). Watching the film, it certainly was not effort related. We played incredibly hard. We tried to make everything physical. I told our defense in the locker room that I thought they gave us chances to win. There's no doubt about it. In the modern era of college football, if you hold an opponent to 17 points; if you get the ball back twice for our offense in a four-minute situation and give them a chance to go win the game, you're doing your job. There's no question about that.
The thing is, we win and lose as a team. The job for everybody on this team is to make sure we score one more point than the opponent. Whatever that looks like. I think our defense is very, very good. I think they are going to give us a chance in every ballgame we play. But we also have a chance to take this defense to the stage of being elite. That's really what we're challenging them to do right now. It's to get a shutout this year. I expect our defense to take another step this week, just like I expect everybody on this team to take a step forward.
The special teams was solid. We didn't punt the ball quite as well as we had in previous games. But we did a couple of good things in terms of making ourselves part of the boundary. Even though we didn't return a kick, our average starting field position after a kick was the 30-yard line.
Offensively, we were on the team to start fast. We wanted to start fast and come out of the gate, and we did that. We had one poor drive where a penalty kind of put us behind the sticks. Then on the second and third drives, we scored. The defense was doing a great job and we were up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. And then we were not able to keep that going offensively. The reasons, I would tell you, is that we took turns making mistakes. Everyone wants to point to the guy playing the toughest position in sports, and talk about being 10-of-30, and the ball security issues. There's no doubt that that was not the game that we expected from TJ (McMahon). There's no doubt that that's not how he wanted to play. But, there were so many opportunities for guys on our offense to do their job and do it exceptionally well and help him out. That's what you do as a team. When somebody's not having their best day, that happens in sports. That happens in life. But, we pick each other up. Whether it's a running back finding a way to step out of something and making a Superman play. Whether its Bradley Rozner going up on their sideline in the fourth quarter and catching a ball at the highest point instead of letting it come down so the (defensive back) can make a play on it. Whether its Luke (McCaffrey) catching the ball in the end zone. There's so many opportunities for our team to help the quarterback position and help each other to get to the point where we want to be successful.
With all of that said, I credit Coach (Willie) Taggart and the FAU Owls for finding a way to win. You have to because they kept fighting and they found a way. The thing that I'm left with after watching the film is knowing that we are still a really good football team.
Going out to practice yesterday and watching these guys fly around, I would again remind them that we are a very good football team. I've said before that I think the only team that can beat the Rice Owls is the Rice Owls. We've got to take the steps to be better and better in every phase this week. We've got to go win a road game. That's what we have to do. It's the next game on the schedule. That has to be our mindset. We have to have the best week of prep so that we can go get a road win against Louisiana Tech and that's where our focus is."
On Louisiana Tech:
"Sonny (CumbieO is doing a great job up there with the scheme offensively. He's got talented weapons. I jokingly call the two receivers the Harris brothers. Smoke Harris feels like he's been at La Tech since I've been coaching. He's got a lot of time played against us and he's an explosive player. I think Parker (McNeil) is doing a great job at the quarterback position. He's doing a great job dealing the ball around. Defensively, they hired a really good defensive coordinator. A guy who's had success, most recently at (Stephen F. Austin). He created a dominant defense there. So, it's really going to be a great challenge for us. But, the challenge is in our Tuesday practice. The challenge is in our Wednesday practice. The challenge is in this room when the team meets together because it's all about us and how much better we can get between now and our next opportunity on Saturday."
What do you do to try to settle down TJ McMahon?
"I think he'd tell you he got sped up. We've got to get him to be able to go through his progressions. I thought Coach Tuiasosopo did an unbelievable job yesterday. He pulled up practice video of Wednesday of the same call against the same defense and we executed. We read it properly, we made our blocks, we ran the ball. He showed a clip, literally, one clip for everybody on our offense. So, we do it right on Wednesday and we do it well on Wednesday, and then we do something completely different on Saturday. While we're all searching for answers, we have to be able to take what we do on that Tuesday and Wednesday practice, and do it that way on Saturday or these things don't work. We've got to have the discipline to grow and to say 'If there's something we don't feel good about, we have to say that to our coaches on Thursday and Friday.' It is players over plays. It is players being able to play fast, know their assignment and play. We've recruited a really good football team. We need them to play fast and with confidence right now."
"Unfortunately, the game didn't go as we wanted it to. We didn't get the results that we wanted against (Florida Atlantic). Watching the film, it certainly was not effort related. We played incredibly hard. We tried to make everything physical. I told our defense in the locker room that I thought they gave us chances to win. There's no doubt about it. In the modern era of college football, if you hold an opponent to 17 points; if you get the ball back twice for our offense in a four-minute situation and give them a chance to go win the game, you're doing your job. There's no question about that.
The thing is, we win and lose as a team. The job for everybody on this team is to make sure we score one more point than the opponent. Whatever that looks like. I think our defense is very, very good. I think they are going to give us a chance in every ballgame we play. But we also have a chance to take this defense to the stage of being elite. That's really what we're challenging them to do right now. It's to get a shutout this year. I expect our defense to take another step this week, just like I expect everybody on this team to take a step forward.
The special teams was solid. We didn't punt the ball quite as well as we had in previous games. But we did a couple of good things in terms of making ourselves part of the boundary. Even though we didn't return a kick, our average starting field position after a kick was the 30-yard line.
Offensively, we were on the team to start fast. We wanted to start fast and come out of the gate, and we did that. We had one poor drive where a penalty kind of put us behind the sticks. Then on the second and third drives, we scored. The defense was doing a great job and we were up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. And then we were not able to keep that going offensively. The reasons, I would tell you, is that we took turns making mistakes. Everyone wants to point to the guy playing the toughest position in sports, and talk about being 10-of-30, and the ball security issues. There's no doubt that that was not the game that we expected from TJ (McMahon). There's no doubt that that's not how he wanted to play. But, there were so many opportunities for guys on our offense to do their job and do it exceptionally well and help him out. That's what you do as a team. When somebody's not having their best day, that happens in sports. That happens in life. But, we pick each other up. Whether it's a running back finding a way to step out of something and making a Superman play. Whether its Bradley Rozner going up on their sideline in the fourth quarter and catching a ball at the highest point instead of letting it come down so the (defensive back) can make a play on it. Whether its Luke (McCaffrey) catching the ball in the end zone. There's so many opportunities for our team to help the quarterback position and help each other to get to the point where we want to be successful.
With all of that said, I credit Coach (Willie) Taggart and the FAU Owls for finding a way to win. You have to because they kept fighting and they found a way. The thing that I'm left with after watching the film is knowing that we are still a really good football team.
Going out to practice yesterday and watching these guys fly around, I would again remind them that we are a very good football team. I've said before that I think the only team that can beat the Rice Owls is the Rice Owls. We've got to take the steps to be better and better in every phase this week. We've got to go win a road game. That's what we have to do. It's the next game on the schedule. That has to be our mindset. We have to have the best week of prep so that we can go get a road win against Louisiana Tech and that's where our focus is."
On Louisiana Tech:
"Sonny (CumbieO is doing a great job up there with the scheme offensively. He's got talented weapons. I jokingly call the two receivers the Harris brothers. Smoke Harris feels like he's been at La Tech since I've been coaching. He's got a lot of time played against us and he's an explosive player. I think Parker (McNeil) is doing a great job at the quarterback position. He's doing a great job dealing the ball around. Defensively, they hired a really good defensive coordinator. A guy who's had success, most recently at (Stephen F. Austin). He created a dominant defense there. So, it's really going to be a great challenge for us. But, the challenge is in our Tuesday practice. The challenge is in our Wednesday practice. The challenge is in this room when the team meets together because it's all about us and how much better we can get between now and our next opportunity on Saturday."
What do you do to try to settle down TJ McMahon?
"I think he'd tell you he got sped up. We've got to get him to be able to go through his progressions. I thought Coach Tuiasosopo did an unbelievable job yesterday. He pulled up practice video of Wednesday of the same call against the same defense and we executed. We read it properly, we made our blocks, we ran the ball. He showed a clip, literally, one clip for everybody on our offense. So, we do it right on Wednesday and we do it well on Wednesday, and then we do something completely different on Saturday. While we're all searching for answers, we have to be able to take what we do on that Tuesday and Wednesday practice, and do it that way on Saturday or these things don't work. We've got to have the discipline to grow and to say 'If there's something we don't feel good about, we have to say that to our coaches on Thursday and Friday.' It is players over plays. It is players being able to play fast, know their assignment and play. We've recruited a really good football team. We need them to play fast and with confidence right now."
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