University of Memphis Athletics
Nov 13, 2006 | Football
Nov. 13, 2006
MEMPHIS, TENN. -
Opening Remarks
I'm disappointed again that we weren't able to close the deal at the end. That's kind of been the nature of this season. At times, we have gotten it to the point where we can win games, and we don't close the door at the end to win it. Right now we seem to be a team that wants to get behind early. That's what's happening to us now. We spot teams two or three touchdowns in the first quarter, then fight our way back to try to get back in it and then fall short at the end.
On three things that make a team bad
The disappointing thing is that this is a lot of mental mistakes. I told our guys that there are three reasons they're a bad team. We're not a group of bad players. I don't believe that. We've recruited the right kind of kids. We've recruited the right kind of players; there's no doubt in my mind about that. But we are a bad team right now because we do things that make you a bad team.
Teams that have a hard time winning do three things. (The first thing is) they turn the ball over and lose. We don't do that. We have not had a turnover in the last two weeks. (The second thing is) mental errors; busts that create big plays for the opponent's offense or opponent's defense. We are that right now. That's really hurting us. (The third thing is) foolish penalties. We've not had an abundance of that. We're leading the league in fewest yards from penalties. We're a very disciplined football team, but we're not a very smart football team right now. That comes back to me. We have got to be better doing what we do. That's how we've won games is we were good at doing what we do. We didn't make errors. We let the other teams make errors.
On running the ball when you have to run it
Our biggest problem offensively is when we have to run the ball we can't do it. That's killing us. It cost us the Arkansas State game. It got to the point where we had to run the ball. If we got one first down, we'd win the game (against UCF). We couldn't do it. We ran the ball the other night on second down and two and lost a yard. Then we didn't have enough confidence, but really on third down and two, you should be able to run the ball twice and get the first down. We didn't have the confidence to run the ball, so we throw it incomplete, then get a motion penalty and then throw the ball to the wrong place; so we kind of fell apart there at the end with another chance to win a game.
On the mental errors of the defense
From a mental standpoint, it has been terrible defensively. I would fire players so fast, but I don't have players to go to because I'm not going to pull some of those linebackers from being redshirted. I don't have a lot of options right now. Our linebackers are getting a little bit better at their stuff. It's been hard for them.
On changing the defense when he did
Thank goodness I did what I did when I did it or we might be in this situation when we start next year. We've all had to suffer through this stuff, but if I hadn't done it when I did it, I don't know if I would have ever gotten it back. We'll get it back. I really believe we've got good enough people, especially when I look at why we're not winning. When I say we're a bad team, we're pretty close in a lot of games. We could easily be sitting here with four wins and needing the last two to get to six. We're not, but easily we could have. There's no doubt in my mind that we can get this thing turned around.
On running the ball and stopping the run
What kills this team right now is we can't run the ball when we have to run it, and we're not very good at stopping the run when we have to stop it. The other night we played the run probably as good as the run has been played around here in a long time. I judge it by how many yards per carry. If you can ever hold a team to under three yards per carry, you're getting after the run pretty good. We were just a shade over three yards per carry, and that's a team that absolutely ran it down our throats a year ago with all the same guys.
They couldn't run the ball until the last drive when they had to run the ball. Offensively, when we had to run it we didn't. That's the physical part of the game. There comes a time in all close games where you have to run the ball and have to stop the run. That's where we're hurting right now. Outside of the mental part, that's probably the reason why (we aren't winning).
On the senior class
This is not a big group of seniors, but this is a group that has contributed a lot here. This is kind of a group that's been through some pretty good times. Most of these seniors weren't here for the bad. Most of these guys have come in and reaped from the benefits done before they got here. But they've carried it on. They bought into this when it wasn't really good. This is a good group. There's not many of them left from the original signing class if you go through it.
On Houston
They're good. They've got a lot of seniors. Really the next two weeks we play good quarterbacks. We've got our work cut out for us. I think (Kevin) Kolb really plays well. We've said before, he's been running this system for a while. This is like his eighth year because he ran it in high school. I think it's eight years that he's been a starter in this system now. He knows it inside and out. He runs it really well.
They're playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think where they're better--they've been good on offense every year--I think they're better on defense this year. That's why all of sudden they've made a run. If you're not careful, they can get away from you in a hurry. They ran for over 400 yards against SMU, and everybody said SMU played them good. These guys can run up some numbers.
On Anthony Alridge
He's really good. He is fast. This guy can fly. The two runs he broke the other day, he ran right by everybody. They've got him hemmed up on the sideline and he ran right through them. I wish Texas would have signed him. They probably do too.
