Mike Bloomgren Press Conference Quotes
11/15/2022 3:07:00 PM | Football
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Mike Bloomgren Press Conference Quotes
Opening Statement:
Obviously, we talked about it already, but it wasn't the performance we wanted against a very good, very solid Western Kentucky team. The turnovers were a factor in the game, and not being able to get off the grass on third down was a factor in the game. Both of those things became critical as the game went on. I think Tyson's just done a fabulous job assembling a great football team. They've got great schemes and they play incredibly hard. With that, your margin for error is going to be very small and we made too many of those critical errors on Saturday to win a game. My message is to the guys has been very simple: Do your job, do your 1/11th. Let's make sure we're locked in. Let's make sure we're putting our best foot forward against the defending conference champions as they roll in here this weekend. It's our final home game of the season, which means it's the final home game of a lot of these guys' careers here at Rice. I'm excited for these guys to get a chance to go out there to be honored in pregame and then get a chance to perform at Rice Stadium one more time. We're going to play a great football team. I don't think it's any secret what Jeff Traylor's done there. You talk about how he's built the thing at UTSA with their transfers. You talk about how he's grown players within their program and developed them. I have so much respect for their football team (and) the talent that they have. I have that much respect for Jeff as a coach (and) as a person. It's going to be a great matchup. I think this game, like all of them, will be about us and I think it's a really cool thing for our seniors. We'll have them talk to the team about what this for them, being their last game here. I'm so glad we get to celebrate all the things that they have done since coming into this program and leaving it in better shape than they found it. All the work they have put in, from helping us as a coaching staff, helping the young guys develop, I am really proud of this group. It will be a little bit emotional during pregame, but then we will put that aside and get to the game once the ball is kicked off.
(about reaching a bowl game)
You know, some people say it's already secured, but I don't want to think like that. I want to say that we've got to go earn this thing. We've got to win these next two games and put ourselves in the position we want to be in. You know me, I always talk process and progress, but I wanted it to be a little more than incremental progress, right? I wanted to take a bigger jump. I wanted to earn that bowl game and I want to play for a conference title. I thought those were things that if we played well on 12 Saturdays, we would have a chance to do, and we played well on some Saturdays, but we didn't on others, so we don't have that opportunity anymore.
(about his team's trend over the last several years to have a signature win)
I certainly would love the opportunity to do what we've done in the past years and maybe that's upset the apple cart in this conference as we go down the stretch here. The other thing we've been pretty good at is win in on Senior Day. It's understanding how much it means to these guys, making sure everybody's locked in and focused going into the week in every practice we have, and then performing well on game day and our guys have done that, so that's what makes me very optimistic. The way we practice yesterday makes me very optimistic. We're doing things the right way. We're attacking the process. We've got to go have a great Tuesday practice. We always talk about great Wednesdays, continue on throughout the week and then go out and perform on Saturday.
(about the continuing rivalry with UTSA moving forward)
What a great team to have on our schedule with only being three hours apart. They have been the class of conferences, certainly last year they elevated their team, they beat a Big Ten team. They scare everybody they play and they haven't lost a conference game this year. This is a really, really good football team and I think we all can acknowledge that. But I also think it's really cool anytime you play a team in Texas where a lot of our guys went to high school together and played against each other and have those backstories that make rivalries what they are. I'm glad this one will continue, and like I said, aside from the days we play each other, I think the world of Jeff Traylor and consider him a friend.
(on the quarterback situation)
I don't know that I can give you a straight answer on that right now. What I can tell you is Shawqi (Itraish) came in and finished out the (WKU) game and he took a lot of reps with the ones yesterday and did a really nice job. TJ (McMahon) was at practice and did all the things in drill work which is probably more than I expected. He's still hurting and I have no idea exactly what the future looks like in that position. We're taking it day by day. I heard Sean McDermott when asked about Josh Allen said it was hour by hour. We're not quite there yet, but we're day by day and whomever the trainers say is in a position where they're clear and ready to perform, they're going to go out there and do it.
Opening Statement:
Obviously, we talked about it already, but it wasn't the performance we wanted against a very good, very solid Western Kentucky team. The turnovers were a factor in the game, and not being able to get off the grass on third down was a factor in the game. Both of those things became critical as the game went on. I think Tyson's just done a fabulous job assembling a great football team. They've got great schemes and they play incredibly hard. With that, your margin for error is going to be very small and we made too many of those critical errors on Saturday to win a game. My message is to the guys has been very simple: Do your job, do your 1/11th. Let's make sure we're locked in. Let's make sure we're putting our best foot forward against the defending conference champions as they roll in here this weekend. It's our final home game of the season, which means it's the final home game of a lot of these guys' careers here at Rice. I'm excited for these guys to get a chance to go out there to be honored in pregame and then get a chance to perform at Rice Stadium one more time. We're going to play a great football team. I don't think it's any secret what Jeff Traylor's done there. You talk about how he's built the thing at UTSA with their transfers. You talk about how he's grown players within their program and developed them. I have so much respect for their football team (and) the talent that they have. I have that much respect for Jeff as a coach (and) as a person. It's going to be a great matchup. I think this game, like all of them, will be about us and I think it's a really cool thing for our seniors. We'll have them talk to the team about what this for them, being their last game here. I'm so glad we get to celebrate all the things that they have done since coming into this program and leaving it in better shape than they found it. All the work they have put in, from helping us as a coaching staff, helping the young guys develop, I am really proud of this group. It will be a little bit emotional during pregame, but then we will put that aside and get to the game once the ball is kicked off.
(about reaching a bowl game)
You know, some people say it's already secured, but I don't want to think like that. I want to say that we've got to go earn this thing. We've got to win these next two games and put ourselves in the position we want to be in. You know me, I always talk process and progress, but I wanted it to be a little more than incremental progress, right? I wanted to take a bigger jump. I wanted to earn that bowl game and I want to play for a conference title. I thought those were things that if we played well on 12 Saturdays, we would have a chance to do, and we played well on some Saturdays, but we didn't on others, so we don't have that opportunity anymore.
(about his team's trend over the last several years to have a signature win)
I certainly would love the opportunity to do what we've done in the past years and maybe that's upset the apple cart in this conference as we go down the stretch here. The other thing we've been pretty good at is win in on Senior Day. It's understanding how much it means to these guys, making sure everybody's locked in and focused going into the week in every practice we have, and then performing well on game day and our guys have done that, so that's what makes me very optimistic. The way we practice yesterday makes me very optimistic. We're doing things the right way. We're attacking the process. We've got to go have a great Tuesday practice. We always talk about great Wednesdays, continue on throughout the week and then go out and perform on Saturday.
(about the continuing rivalry with UTSA moving forward)
What a great team to have on our schedule with only being three hours apart. They have been the class of conferences, certainly last year they elevated their team, they beat a Big Ten team. They scare everybody they play and they haven't lost a conference game this year. This is a really, really good football team and I think we all can acknowledge that. But I also think it's really cool anytime you play a team in Texas where a lot of our guys went to high school together and played against each other and have those backstories that make rivalries what they are. I'm glad this one will continue, and like I said, aside from the days we play each other, I think the world of Jeff Traylor and consider him a friend.
(on the quarterback situation)
I don't know that I can give you a straight answer on that right now. What I can tell you is Shawqi (Itraish) came in and finished out the (WKU) game and he took a lot of reps with the ones yesterday and did a really nice job. TJ (McMahon) was at practice and did all the things in drill work which is probably more than I expected. He's still hurting and I have no idea exactly what the future looks like in that position. We're taking it day by day. I heard Sean McDermott when asked about Josh Allen said it was hour by hour. We're not quite there yet, but we're day by day and whomever the trainers say is in a position where they're clear and ready to perform, they're going to go out there and do it.
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