Sunday Conversation With Guy Morriss
10/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 10, 2004
Q: Can you talk about your running game situation and in particular Paul Mosley?
Morriss: "I like Paul (Mosley) a lot. I think it was a case of a couple of things (against Missouri). Number one, he goes in the game and has 28 plays and Anthony (Krieg) had 32. Almost by coincidence, Anthony got more carries than Paul, and I think we've got to make a concerted effort to get the ball in Paul's hands a little bit more. Maybe we get wrapped up in the game plan and different things going on and don't get him, and we didn't last night, get him the ball enough. There are some things that Paul still has to correct and so forth that have limited his playing time. But, he's getting better and we are going to try and get him the ball more. From this point forward we have to get it corrected."
Q: It seems like every week you say you want to get Paul more involved, but he isn't. Why is that?
Morriss: "He's coming, he's getting better. Like I said, we are going to try to work him in more."
Q: What stood out after watching the Missouri tape?
Morriss: "It was about like I thought. The defense played well. We put them in bad field position with turnovers and they kept it close enough for us to be in the ballgame and give the offense a chance to win. I think the one drive late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter down at the south end we had some confusion on our pass defense and we let them get behind us. That was a good play on Missouri's part. Overall, I thought defensively we really flew around and were real active. I was disappointed we didn't get any turnovers and we didn't have any sacks, those are some things we can work on. A couple of plays where our defender needs to play the ball better than playing the receiver on pass coverage. But, again, overall, it was a good enough effort on their (the defense's) part I think for us to have a chance to win the football game.
Offensively, we just couldn't find any rhythm. Everyone wants to blame Dane (King) and he made some poor throws and decisions, but a lot of folks around him didn't give him a lot of help either. We have to win on some routes and we didn't get that done. We gave up too many sacks as an o-line; we didn't run the ball particularly well, so it was pretty much a team effort offensively."
Q: How disappointed are you in the Missouri game?
Morriss: "I'm disappointed in the way we played, especially offensively. We have six more games to go play and we need to find a way to regroup and go get Nebraska and get after those guys. I wish we would have played better (against Missouri). I thought last night was a good opportunity for us to go get a conference win and we didn't take advantage of that opportunity. So, we'll go to the next one and see if we can get that one. We've got to keep trying to make strides, keep coaching hard and try to get better.
Q: It seems like your team has a very small margin for error and that one or two mistakes really can put you in a hole. Is that true?
Morriss: "I wish we could limit it to one or two to be honest with you, but yes, it does. You have to understand that this is five games into our second season with a fragile bunch and with a program that has struggled for many years. It is going to take a little time to turn it around. We take one step forward, two steps back, I guess, sometimes. We just have to keep on keeping on."
Q: Did Missouri do some things defensively that they hadn't shown on film?
Morriss: "No, I don't think so. The films don't show anything really new. We knew that they were going to move a lot and that they were very active up front. It seemed like it bothered us and we didn't handle it real well. It would certainly help if we were a little more athletic up front to handle those kind of things, but that's just problem you have to fix with recruiting."
Q: Why did Dane (King) seem so confused last night?
Morriss: "That I don't know until we get him over here and see it through his eyes."
Q: Was there anything new that cropped up from the Missouri game that you have to fix this week?
Morriss: "I think we still have to go through and learn, like Dane, some of the movement bothered him. We need to create a situation in practice this week so that he can see it better and read it better because my guess is that a lot of people will start doing that to him. I expect people to start stunting more up front, blitzing us more, because it is obvious to anyone who gets our film that we are having trouble right now handling that stuff."
Q: Do you worry about Dane's confidence?
Morriss: "I think he handled it (being taken out of the game in the third quarter) ok. We'll get him in here today, talk to him and let him see the tapes and coach him through it and hear what some of his reasons for what he did are. It is kind of early to tell right now about what he thought he saw and what the problems were. We'll look at the tape with him and let him see what it was in reality. Maybe he misread or in his mind had a different look or view of what he saw was happening. We have to talk with him and see what his explanation for that was and what did he see that caused him to do whatever."
Q: Is Dane King still going to be your starting quarterback? Any thought to opening it up?
Morriss: "No, I think he'll be our starting quarterback again this week."
Q: How discouraging was it not to get anything going on offense against Missouri?
Morriss: "It is disappointing and discouraging. We don't have a lot of room for error, you know. We just couldn't get a rhythm going and make any good things happen for ourselves. It seems like it is discouraging right now, but once they come in and look at the films, we'll try and flush it out of their system, work them out and move along and go back to work."
Q: Is it good or bad for you that Nebraska got its ego bruised so bad last night in Lubbock?
Morriss: "Good or bad, I don't know. I'm sure that Nebraska will be ready to play, you know. We have to get our kids ready to go up there and play hard, too. They'll be home next week (for the Baylor game) and they'll have what, how many people in that stadium behind them. It'll be a sea of red up there and they'll be ready to play. So, we have to get our kids ready."
Q: What did you think of Shawn Bell's performance against Missouri?
Morriss: "He made a nice throw on the touchdown, obviously. That was a good throw and catch. A couple of times I thought he took off and maybe he should have stepped up and tried to push the ball down the field. We couldn't really get a rhythm with him in there either."
Baylor Notebook: Kickoff for Saturday's game at Nebraska is set for 1:05 p.m. in historic Memorial Stadium, where the Huskers own a 103-7-0 (.936) record since 1988 ... Nebraska leads the all-time series with Baylor 7-1, however in seven of those games the Bears faced a nationally-ranked (Associated Press) Husker squad (the lone exception came in 1956 when Baylor recorded its only series win, a 26-7 decision over Nebraska in Lincoln, Nov. 17, 1956) ... In each of Baylor's last six meetings with Nebraska, the Huskers have been ranked in the AP's top 14, including top 10 ratings in each of the past five games against the Bears ... Sophomore Daniel Sepulveda continues to lead the Big 12 and rank second nationally in punting with his 48.0 yard average ... The 2004 Ray Guy Award candidate has had at least one 50-yard punt in every game (17) of his collegiate career and had a career-long 69-yard effort against Missouri, which ranks as longest punt in the Big 12 this season ... Sepulveda owns the two longest punts in the Big 12 this year with his kicks of 69 (vs. Missouri) and 66 (at Texas) yards ... Sepulveda averaged 50.6 yards on seven punts against Missouri and placed a career-high five punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line ... Baylor had a season-low five penalties for 37 yards against Missouri ... The Bears also recorded season offensive lows for first downs (10), pass completions (15), passing yards (88), plays (60), total yards (173), third-down conversions (2-of-15) and time of possession (23:22) ... The Bears' 173 total-offense yards and 88 passing yards vs. Missouri ranked as their fewest in a game since being held to 127 total yards, which included 86 passing yards, at Texas, Nov. 9, 2002 .... Baylor has thrown at least one touchdown pass in six consecutive games (its 2003 season-finale vs. Oklahoma State and every game in 2004) for the first time since a six-game string that spanned the final five games of the 1992 campaign and the 1993 season opener ... Sophomore wide receiver Trent Shelton has caught at least one pass in 16 consecutive games and at least two in nine straight outings, the longest streak for a Baylor performer since Reggie Newhouse closed his career with a 34-game streak in 2002 ... Shelton had a team-high tying four receptions for 45 yards against Missouri ... Baylor's 15 turnovers this season have led to 52 points for the opponent. Meanwhile, the Bears have scored just seven points off five opponent turnovers, all of which came on senior linebacker Justin Crooks' 9-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Texas State ... The Baylor defense has gone 10 consecutive quarters without forcing a turnover since interception a North Texas pass on the final play of the first half ... Junior defensive tackle Michael Gary broke his left hand during the Missouri game and is questionable for Saturday's game at Nebraska ... Sophomore defensive end Marcus Foreman made his first career start vs. Missouri and responded with a career-high seven tackles against the Tigers.
