Sunday Conversation With Guy Morriss
10/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 3, 2004
The 2-2 Baylor football team returns home to host 3-1 Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 9, in a 9 p.m. game that will be televised by Fox Sports Net. Here are comments from Baylor coach Guy Morriss' Sunday conversation with reporters:
Q: Did the weather have anything to do with Baylor's receivers dropping so many passes against Texas?
Morriss: "No. I think we had nine or 10 (drops) and I don't think any of them were circus-type catches. They weren't that hard to make. I guess it was just the receivers' day in the barrel. Two of the nine (drops) could have resulted in touchdowns."
Q: Were you pleased with the protection your offensive line provided against Texas?
Morriss: "The protection was pretty good. We held up pretty well. We moved the pocket a little bit against these guys and that seemed help us a little more and kept them off-stride. They came out and handled the blitz well. I think that is a positive for our protectors. We just have to keep building off that."
Q: What has Dane (King) continued to show you as the season progresses?
Morriss: "I liked his demeanor yesterday, I don't think he was awed by the big stadium, the big crowd or the fact that we were playing a ranked opponent. I don't think those things bothered him that much. I thought he really threw the ball pretty well. He operated in the huddle fine and all that stuff. He made the checks when we needed to make them. I think he is getting more and more comfortable in this system. He just has to keep growing."
Q: What do you need to do to get the running game going?
Morriss: "We weren't getting a lot of push (against Texas) consistently enough to really get the kind of running game going that we would really have liked to see yesterday. I think we ran it well and maybe kept them off stride a little bit when we did get that push."
Q: Did it give you some confidence with the way your offensive line protected against Texas? If you hadn't all the dropped balls, you might have moved the ball and scored some more points. Does that give you something to build on going forward?
Morriss: "Yes, I think it does. That's a pretty good defensive front we pass protected pretty well against and handled the blitz against. If that doesn't give them confidence, I don't what will."
Q: What will you do with the receivers to get them to focus more?
Morriss: "We are going to talk to them about. To me, like everything else, you have to work your way out of that slump. I think they need to spend some more time on the Juggs machine. I'd like to see them get together with the quarterback and start doing a little extra on their own between the receivers and the quarterbacks."
Q: Is there anything else that stood out for you from the Texas game?
Morriss: "I was pleased to see that our effort was good. I don't question anyone's effort. We've got kids running to the ball in the fourth quarter and no one is hanging their head. We just have to get some mistakes corrected and that kind of stuff. We have to eliminate unforced errors. We had too many penalties again. Six penalties is too many, we are going to have to work on tackling better. Obviously, we can't drop the ball. All of those type things we have to try and clean up."
Q: Talk about the breakdown on the punt team that led to two blocked punts by Texas.
Morriss: "The first one came from our left wing and we just didn't get enough jam on the guy and he tipped it. The second one involved the right wing again. The guy that lined up over our gunner started moving back inside.The thing you'd like to see is the gunner come back inside and block. But, he didn't and I guess there was some confusion as to whether we were going to get him the football or not. So, he didn't move and then the right wing sees the guy coming and he jumps outside and blocks him, but the man over him was unblocked and came in and knocked the ball down. It was a young guy out there and he just made a mental mistake."
Q: Did it look like Daniel (Sepulveda) had any problems?
Morriss: "He wasn't rushing, we were trying to speed him up. I just think like everyone else he kind of had an off day."
Q: It looked like at times your defense was in position, but just didn't make the play against Texas. Was that the case?
Morriss: "We didn't make make plays, we missed tackles. In several instances we just got mashed. We were where we were supposed to be, but we got blocked and pushed around."
Q: Was it frustrating that the Texas game could have been a lot closer than it was?
Morriss: "The frustrating part was that we never gave ourselves a chance. We dropped some balls that if we complete, the sticks keep moving and who knows. We just have to find a way to make those plays. That's the frustrating part, trying to figure out why we do what we do when we play a big opponent on the road like that. After last week, I thought we'd go down there like gang-busters, I really did. It wasn't an effort deal, when we needed to make a play we just didn't have our play-makers making them enough. The penalties, interceptions, drops, the fumbles, missed tackles, and a couple of big plays, we aren't good enough to overcome that kind of stuff. That's basically what it was."
Q: It didn't look you were able to bring much pressure against Texas. Did you see that on the film?
Morriss: "Yes, that was basically it. We just couldn't get to him (QB Vince Young). We blitzed him some, but they picked it up and handled it. We tried to drop people and cover, we just didn't cover them. I don't know that we ever flushed him (out of the pocket)."
Q: Did you think your team was flying around at Texas like it did against North Texas?
Morriss: "I think they were trying to. Texas had a lot to do with us not making the kind of big plays we made against North Texas. You look at the film and our kids are running to the ball until the last tick of the clock."
Q: What did you see from Paul Howard in his first game action of the season?
Morriss: "He played pretty well. As a matter of fact, I was watching the film with the defensive coaches and pointed that it was late in the game, they complete a pass down field and he's rushing and rushing, turns and takes off and is passing up some of his teammates. Now, they've played more snaps than he has, but he's hauling it, which is good to see."
Baylor Notebook: The Bears will alter their routine this week, working out Sunday through Thursday before taking Friday off ... Kick-off for Saturday's game at Missouri has been set for 9 p.m. and the game will be televised by Fox Sports Net ... Senior wide receiver Marques Roberts became the first Bear since Reggie Newhouse in a 2001 game at Missouri to catch two touchdown passes in the same contest ... Roberts, who snagged a career-best six passes for 81 yards against the Longhorns, now has nine career touchdown receptions which ranks in a three-way tie for ninth all-time at Baylor ... Sophomore Daniel Sepulveda continues to lead the Big 12 and rank second nationally in punting with his 47.1 yard average ... He has had at least one 50-yard punt in every game (16) of his collegiate career and had a career-long 66-yard effort at Texas, which ranks as longest punt in the Big 12 this season ... Sepulveda's 66-yard punt at Texas rates as the longest for a Bear since Kyle Atteberry's 73-yarder at Oklahoma State in the 1998 season finale ... Junior outside safety Willie Andrews is the only player in the Big 12 to rank among the national leaders in both kick-off (23.8, 30th) and punt (10.4, 48th) returns ... Andrews also stands 67th nationally in all-purpose yardage with his 111.8 yard per game average ... Sophomore wide receiver Trent Shelton has caught at least one pass in 15 straight games, the longest string for a Bear since Reggie Newhouse closed his four-year career with a 34-game streak that spanned the entire 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons ... As a team, the Bears rank second in the Big 12 and 23rd nationally in pass defense (166.8 ypg) ... Baylor's 11 turnovers have led to 42 opponent points through four games, while the Bears have scored just seven points off five opponent miscues on the season ... Baylor had a season-low tying six penalties for a season-low 33 yards at Texas ... The 33 penalty yards vs. the Longhorns were the fewest for the Bears since they recorded 21 a year ago against Texas Tech.
