Mike Bloomgren Press Conference Quotes
9/27/2022 1:43:00 PM | Football
Opening Statement
"I loved the way our team prepared last week. I loved our mindset. I loved our approach and I loved how we attacked the game. We were fearless. We went in there and did so many of the things that I thought we were capable of. We came up just short. The best parts to me are the growth year over year, and the fight that we showed. You break down Rice Fight, Never Dies, I thought we exemplified that. Certainly, at the end of the fourth quarter when a lot of things did not go our way, our defense stood up. Our defense stood up one more time, got them to a fourth-and-one, and made them punt. We get the ball back with 24 seconds on the clock on our six-yard line and four plays later, we're first-and-goal at the nine with a second on the clock. Everybody on our sideline still believed. Everyone believed that we were going to go and score right there and win the game. That's really cool. That's something that we've been pushing this program's mindset to for a long time.
There's a lot of small things to celebrate but we'll never be happy when we don't find a way to win a game. We'll keep building, keep working, and I really do like the way our team is growing right now. We're growing at a good time because I think we've got a heck of an opponent coming in here this weekend in UAB who's been the standard in this conference. They've won 45 games since they've come back to the conference in 2017. They are a really solid team in every phase of the game. They present a lot of challenges and it is going to be a great opportunity for us to open our conference slate against them in historic Rice Stadium."
With a new head coach, is anything different about UAB?
"I think it looks like their football team. It's big, physical (and) sound in every phase. From what I understand, Brian Vincent is still calling the offense. That hasn't seemed like it's changed much. I think it's the same defensive coordinator. Coach Reeves, I think, is calling and planning it. It looks really similar right now. The players on that side of the ball look really similar too. The edge rushers, the run, and hit linebackers. It seems like Noah Wilder, their leading tackler has been there for 10 years. There's a lot of great players. The running backs that they have; I love our running back room, but the production that they've had from their running backs is out of sight. A lot of it stems from the fact that they've brought back everybody on the offensive line. It's a really good football team that presents really good challenges in every phase."
On UAB's running game:
"It's exceptional. That running back, they call him Deebo, but Dwayne McBride is like 'Wow' watching him run. They run a zone scheme incredibly well. He puts his foot in the ground, he's decisive, and he runs through tackles."
On if the work and effort has been standing out on game film:
"It does. I'm just so fired up about these guys. When you look at year-over-year, the growth in all three phases. Nothing catastrophic is impacting the game. We did an unbelievable job in the kicking game against (Nathaniel) Dell, who I believe is as explosive as they come. We made all of our kicks. Offensively, we moved the ball (and) did some good things. We have over 400 yards of total offense (and) scored some points. I wish we could have protected the passer a little bit better at times. I wish we could have presented more options for our running backs at times. But, that was good growth to be able to move the ball the way we did. Defensively, I thought we played really good. I thought we did a good job stopping the run. As a whole, we can do better. But, you look at how we grew during the game, I'm really pleased. We let them get behind us once. That's really it. Again, those asterisks that I threw in there are what we have to eliminate to beat a great team like that. That's what we're working for."
"I loved the way our team prepared last week. I loved our mindset. I loved our approach and I loved how we attacked the game. We were fearless. We went in there and did so many of the things that I thought we were capable of. We came up just short. The best parts to me are the growth year over year, and the fight that we showed. You break down Rice Fight, Never Dies, I thought we exemplified that. Certainly, at the end of the fourth quarter when a lot of things did not go our way, our defense stood up. Our defense stood up one more time, got them to a fourth-and-one, and made them punt. We get the ball back with 24 seconds on the clock on our six-yard line and four plays later, we're first-and-goal at the nine with a second on the clock. Everybody on our sideline still believed. Everyone believed that we were going to go and score right there and win the game. That's really cool. That's something that we've been pushing this program's mindset to for a long time.
There's a lot of small things to celebrate but we'll never be happy when we don't find a way to win a game. We'll keep building, keep working, and I really do like the way our team is growing right now. We're growing at a good time because I think we've got a heck of an opponent coming in here this weekend in UAB who's been the standard in this conference. They've won 45 games since they've come back to the conference in 2017. They are a really solid team in every phase of the game. They present a lot of challenges and it is going to be a great opportunity for us to open our conference slate against them in historic Rice Stadium."
With a new head coach, is anything different about UAB?
"I think it looks like their football team. It's big, physical (and) sound in every phase. From what I understand, Brian Vincent is still calling the offense. That hasn't seemed like it's changed much. I think it's the same defensive coordinator. Coach Reeves, I think, is calling and planning it. It looks really similar right now. The players on that side of the ball look really similar too. The edge rushers, the run, and hit linebackers. It seems like Noah Wilder, their leading tackler has been there for 10 years. There's a lot of great players. The running backs that they have; I love our running back room, but the production that they've had from their running backs is out of sight. A lot of it stems from the fact that they've brought back everybody on the offensive line. It's a really good football team that presents really good challenges in every phase."
On UAB's running game:
"It's exceptional. That running back, they call him Deebo, but Dwayne McBride is like 'Wow' watching him run. They run a zone scheme incredibly well. He puts his foot in the ground, he's decisive, and he runs through tackles."
On if the work and effort has been standing out on game film:
"It does. I'm just so fired up about these guys. When you look at year-over-year, the growth in all three phases. Nothing catastrophic is impacting the game. We did an unbelievable job in the kicking game against (Nathaniel) Dell, who I believe is as explosive as they come. We made all of our kicks. Offensively, we moved the ball (and) did some good things. We have over 400 yards of total offense (and) scored some points. I wish we could have protected the passer a little bit better at times. I wish we could have presented more options for our running backs at times. But, that was good growth to be able to move the ball the way we did. Defensively, I thought we played really good. I thought we did a good job stopping the run. As a whole, we can do better. But, you look at how we grew during the game, I'm really pleased. We let them get behind us once. That's really it. Again, those asterisks that I threw in there are what we have to eliminate to beat a great team like that. That's what we're working for."
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