Weekly Press Conference - Oct. 17
10/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 17, 2006
Head Coach, Guy Morriss
On
"I think this is a team that we can't overlook by any means. They are a sound, solid football team, and we have to show up ready to play. Honestly, I don't know how we could overlook anybody. If we don't take care of business, they'll beat us."
On the players' morale:
"Sunday I felt like they realized they could still accomplish the goal. The point we made to them Sunday was that, in my mind, we could win all five or we could lose all five. The bare minimum is that we have to find three more out of those five to get to a bowl."
On playing at home:
"I don't think being at home or on the road is necessarily that big of a deal anymore to these kids. It's the only one we've got this week and it's certainly one we need to win."
On adjusting to the new offense:
"I think we're improving; let's put it that way. But I'm not happy with our consistency yet. We've still got too many drives when we're three and out and it's the same bug that's been biting us all along. Somebody jumping offsides or a missed assignment. The self-destruct factor is still there and we have to get that fixed. We are improving and getting better. Production is moving in the right direction. But again, we have to be more consistent with our execution throughout the whole ballgame.
"I think the kids are really getting more comfortable in the system. There are things we are still seeing that are new and there is some thinking going on. But overall, I think it's actually a lot better. We can talk on the sideline about different things and they're understanding better. So they are getting more comfortable. That's probably the reason the production is going up."
On penalties and mistakes:
"I'm still not happy with the penalties. Penalties to me is a just a lack of discipline. You can say, `Well, we only had five this week.' Well, that's five we could have prevented. That's just unacceptable to me.
"The dropped ball numbers have come down. `The Breakfast Club' I think has helped some. They just realized that they have to really focus all week long and carry that over into the game. So we're doing a better job of catching the football.
"One thing that is still an issue to me is ball security. We just can't put the ball on the ground as much as we have and expect to beat anybody."
On Baylor's offensive turnovers:
"I used to be a pass catcher in high school; but, at this level, that's a whole different animal. If you catch the ball and it's in your possession, you're supposed to hold onto it. That's the way I see it. If you touch the football, you should catch it; if you catch it, hold onto it. Maybe that's unrealistic, I'm not sure. One of my personal best friends has played the game for 13 years and never put the ball on the ground once. So it can be done."
On Shawn Bell's turnovers, relating to the offensive line:
"We made some technical mistakes that put pressure on him. The last fumble that [Shawn] had, he was trying to roll out to his right. You know, you tell him when he's running to cover the ball up with two hands but he's trying to make the play. He had it in one and a guy runs him down from the backside. That's a technique error by the tackle that caused that. So yeah, [the offensive] line takes credit for those [turnovers]."
On Jason Smith's penalties:
"He's just not focusing enough, not disciplined enough. I think he's leading the nation in penalties. When he was up in the office yesterday, we talked about it. He just has to make a conscious, concerted effort to tune into the quarterback's voice. Most of them have been illegal procedures. He's just got to do a better job of being aware and tuning in to the quarterback's voice."
On Joe Pawelek:
"The kid has a lot of `want to' in him. I think he's been unjustly criticized as being not good enough of an athlete, `he can't do this and he can't that.' But, like Bill [Bradley] was saying, he studies a lot of film; he's a good student of the game. He's a smart kid and understands what offenses are doing and trying to do to him as a linebacker. That's something you probably don't coach. It's just a feel for getting to the football, finding the ball and getting there."
On who will be the kick returner for
"I don't know. We've talked about it a lot but we still don't know it. That will probably be a Friday afternoon decision."
On preventing Homecoming from being a distraction:
"Honestly, I don't know if this is the right way of thinking, but I am going to talk to them about trying to stay away from some of that stuff. I know there's one function that we'll probably go to as an official function; that's the pep rally Friday night. We'll take some kids over there. The rest of that stuff, they need to stay away from it and stay focused on what we have to do to make sure it is a successful Homecoming. We'll let everybody else take care of the festivities and the cheerleading. Our part of the deal is to win the football game as far as I'm concerned. I think everybody understands that."
Offensive Coordinator, Lee Hays
On
"It kind of depends on what we're seeing. I stay on script mostly the first half and into the third quarter. We were going to be aggressive; it wasn't anything [
On the offense' progress:
"We've got to get a lot better from what we've seen. The biggest thing is that I thought they played hard. They played physical and we have to get more physical down the road. But it was a step in the right direction.
"The biggest thing for me is that I just want to see us play physical football. I don't care what kind of offense we run. The game is still about hitting. I think that Saturday we did a better job than we have in the past. We still have to get better there.
"In basic fundamental assignments, we're going pretty well. There is still a step here or a step there. It's discouraging. And I think a lot of that has to do with inexperience. You can practice it all day but once you get under the lights in front of 89,000, you forget the tiny things. And obviously better ball security. Without that, it doesn't matter what kind of offense you are running because you leave your defense in a hole. So we have to eliminate that."
On Thomas White:
"In the
Defensive Coordinator, Bill Bradley
On
"The best thing that we really did in that football game, which was a pretty good superlative for us, was stopping the run game. They had 37 attempts with a net of 162 yards which gave them an average of 4.4. Our goal was to hold them to less than 175 yards at 4.4 an attempt. So we really emphasized that last week and I think our players did a really great job.
"Coach Kinne came up with a pretty good idea for the defensive line and Coach Wnek agreed with it. The kids really worked hard this week on the technique that we used, and I think it was really affective against
"Passing is where we really fell short, in particular on third downs. They had 32 attempts and netted 275 yards at 8.6 a catch. Going into the game we thought we could hold them down below 180 yards. We were going to try to hold them to 175 yards because we thought they would try to run the ball, and they did.
"But when we got into the game, I think
On Joe Pawelek:
"Like we've always said about Joe, he's a quick key and diagnose guy. He studies so he's a smart player. His key and diagnose makes him a lot quicker than he may be in most people's minds. He's a sure tackler, a very physical player. He plays hard ever play and practices hard every down. He has a bright future."
On Queito Teasley playing defense this year:
"I don't know about this year. Hopefully he'll come along fast. Wes [McGriff] is working him and he's enjoying it. He has a new set of energy. He's a tremendous athlete with potential. He's going to end up playing. Pretty much [more in the future] unless he really just jumps out now, which you never know."
Wide Receiver, Trent Shelton
On how the offense has struggled so far this year:
"As a player you want to come in, and in the first game throw for 300 yards and expect all these huge numbers. We just realized that we had to take it slow, but I think that now is the most important time of the year for the offense. We have five more games to get three wins so we really need to get clicking."
On quarterback Shawn Bell:
"Shawn played a great game. He put the balls exactly where they needed to be. It just showed people that if he can do it against
On scoring a touchdown in four straight games:
"Hopefully, it will continue until the end of the season. On this team any receiver can do that, it just happens to be me right now. Shawn is doing a great job finding me right now. This is a streak I would not mind continuing."
Quarterback, Shawn Bell
On Baylor's offense:
"Some things are clicking, but we still need to eliminate the mistakes. We need to be more consistent on every drive. If 31 points are not enough to win then we are not satisfied. We have definitely improved, but it is still a process and we are not there yet. We have to just keep working hard."
On the
"We knew going into the game that we could not make stupid little mistakes, and we did and it came back to hurt us. When you do what we did we are going to get beat. That is not just the
On the
"We have five games to get three wins to be bowl eligible and that starts this Saturday against
Linebacker, Nick Moore
On the
"Before the game we really believed that we could go in and win that game, and after the game we were upset. But, it is not like losing to a team that we know we should beat. And that is just how it is, there are some games in which you feel like you can win; and, then there are games in which you feel like you should win."
On the
"We really want to show our fans that we are the team that we keep saying we are. We just need to keep working hard and eventually we will get respect."
