Sunday With Guy
9/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 10, 2006
After squaring its 2006 record at 1-1, the Baylor football team hits the road for the first time this season when it travels to Seattle, Wash., for Saturday's 2 p.m. (PDT) game against Washington State at 67,000-seat Qwest Field, home of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. The Bears handed Northwestern State a 47-10 loss Sept. 9 at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco. Here are Baylor coach Guy Morriss' thoughts heading into week three of the 2006 season:
Did you gain much from watching last night's tape from the Northwestern State game?
"Well, again, it's just mostly consistency stuff, the detail stuff. We had some drops. We just got through watching a play where Carl [Sims] was running across the middle, and it went right through his hands. And there was a fourth and two to Terrance [Parks] where he ran a bad route. Things like that. There was a fade route to Trent [Shelton] down by the sideline, and we didn't complete it, obviously. But he just didn't leave himself enough room. Just little stuff like that."
Is it good that it is little things that need to be corrected?
"I think it can be. We had a couple of illegal procedures. That's just mental."
What was the deal with illegal snap calls?
"They were trying to fool us a little bit. He [Yancy Boatner] said he thought [a defensive player] was in the neutral zone and he was going to snap it. But then he thought he wasn't in the neutral zone, so there was just kind of a jerk. Either he is or he isn't. If you think he is, give it to the quarterback. And the second one was just a late snap. Everyone was moving but him. The last one, he was back on his heels. He was thinking that Shawn [Bell] was giving the snap count, and Shawn was still checking things out down field. So he was just rolling back into it... That's the kind of stuff that drives me crazy...I don't think there's any reason for us to panic. I feel good about the scheme, and that kind of stuff. The people were there."
Could you see that on tape? Were there guys open on every play?
"Yes, but it just goes back to the details really. If you're supposed to go outside the corner, go outside. We teach them that way for a reason. They have got to understand, that's the way they have to execute it."
What kind of game did Shawn Bell play?
"It was okay, not bad really. The one to Trent [Shelton] that we nearly missed was a great throw. If he's not held, that's a touchdown. It was right off the tips of his fingers anyway. It was a great throw. The first one to Trent was a rope. He split two defenders on the run. He had to throw it on time and right where it was supposed to because the safety is coming over the top... If the throw was a little bit later, the throw would have been picked. But it was just right, perfect throw. It had a lot of zip on it. Touchdown. I thought Shawn played pretty good."
With Dominique Ziegler out, was Trent Shelton sometimes the number one option anyway?
"Right. We have different plays designed for different people. When Shawn and Wes [Phillips] get together on the sideline, they talk about what he likes and what he sees. And Shawn has great confidence in Trent, especially when Ziegler is out. So we tried to call those plays more for Trent."
How do you feel about the offense not being able to put together a long drive in the first half?
"That's what Lee [Hays] was so upset about at halftime. But that was needed at that particular point in the game. We were just kind of stumbling and bumbling around. The second half was better."
Was there any hangover from the TCU game in the first half?
"I don't know how much it took out of us. The loss to TCU combined with, and this is nothing against Northwestern, but combined with preparing for a Division I-AA team, I think we were still feeling sorry for ourselves late in the week. We probably figured we could just go through the motion, and we could just groove. And that's about the way we played the first half. We were going through the motions in a lot of places. So Lee [Hays] kind of woke them up at halftime, and I thought we played a lot better in the second half."
At that point do you have to get their attention?
"The coaches might have not taken it easy on them [last week in practice], but we shortened practice down, real short. They were bumped and bruised [from the TCU game]. It was pretty physical. Let's not beat them up anymore. Get them fresh. I think that was the right approach, I really do. But I think this week it is going to be right opposite. We're going to get after it this week. We've got to get their attention starting Tuesday."
How important was it for the offense to get a rhythm in the second half?
"I think hopefully today, after they watch that film, they'll see the little mistakes. If we could just correct that, it's going to be hard to stop us. The first thought that went through my mind when we hit the skinny post to Trent, I thought this will get us going. Now they understand just how fast this whole system can strike. And maybe it did because we came out in the second half and we put a touchdown on the board pretty quick."
How do you feel the offensive line did protecting Shawn Bell?
"They only missed one and that was kind of a delay where he took a pretty good hit. We're a little slow at times seeing some of the stunts. We get kind of a tunnel vision. We've got to take those blinders off. Sometimes I think we have blinders on, and we have tunnel vision. Sometimes I think we're not seeing things quite as quick as we need to."
Why did the screen seem to work so well?
"I think that they were a little bit too deep drifting up the field. We kind of swallowed them down a little bit, and we were trying to get the ball to the receiver right as they get to the guard/center area. We kind of open up an alley in there, and that's the cylinder that they have to stay in."
What was the thinking on starting Mario Price?
"Mario [Price] just executes the offense. He knows it. He knows what everybody does. He's reliable and steady."
Why did you run only six running plays?
"There were some opportunities with five in the box. But we just kept throwing."
Does that surprise you that there were only six running plays?
"No. Not in this offense. All of the short passes are kind of like an extended hand-off."
How did the defense perform?
"The opening drive they drove it and we got them stopped, and got off the field. But the special teams put us in a bind and we came back on the field. So, they went ahead and scored."
Did Northwestern State's rushing yards concern you?
"Overall it wasn't that bad. If you take away that first touchdown, they would have only had three points."
Are you glad to get through a game like this?
"Yes, definitely. The thing that always scares you is getting beat by a team like this. This reminded me of the night we played Louisville, and they were ranked, but we beat them up pretty good. But we played UTEP the next week and I was scared to death of losing. This was a pretty good Division I-AA program coming in here, and you always worry about your guys playing down. And to me, our players kind of do that. We play to whatever competition we play against. We'll get fired up to A&M, but we didn't get to fired up at the beginning of this one. It always scares you."
What did you think of all the penalties?
"If you take the four illegal procedures out, then that's only seven. I can live with six or seven a week."
What do you know about Washington State thus far?
"Well I talked to Lee [Hays] who was up here last night watching their stuff. Out offense is going to have to play this week. We're going to have to help our defense out like they've helped us out in the last two. They have a very good offense. Hopefully, we can move the ball and take advantage of opportunities so we can put some points up."
How serious are the injuries to Paul Mosley and Dominique Ziegler?
"Last week we just told them to do whatever they could. And we knew we weren't going to try and play them anyway, so we didn't try and beat them up on the practice field. They could have both played."
How important was it for the second string to score late in the game?
"I think it helps their confidence and that kind of stuff. I wish it would have been a 10 or 12 play drive, so they could get some more reps. But, they went out and did what they were supposed to do. I think they did a good job on the last screen."
What has been the difference for Thomas White?
"I think he was a little tentative last year, and he was hurt some. He's pretty fast, one of our fastest guys. I think last night kind of pushed him over the edge. We'll be playing him a lot more."
Is it good to win by 37 even though you struggled a little bit?
"It's good that we played a lot better in the second half. I think we will gain so much from watching [tape of] the two halves... There are a lot of correctable and teachable things to get through to them."
Sunday Notes: Baylor's average scoring drive through two games is 3.8 plays, 31.1 yards in 1:05, compared to 7.3-44.7-2:45 last season ... Five of Baylor's nine 2006 scoring drives have been less than 1 minute in duration (thee of the nine have been less than 40 seconds) ... After registering 11 players longer than 40 yards in 11 games a year ago, the Bears already have registered six such plays through two games in 2006 ... Baylor and Washington State meet for the first time since the 1994 Alamo Bowl at San Antonio, a 10-3 Cougar victory ... Washington State is 3-1 all-time at Qwest Field after last year's 48-7 win over Grambling State ... Baylor senior wide receiver Trent Shelton had 9 receptions for a career-high 158 yards and one touchdown vs. Northwestern State ... Shelton has now caught at least one pass in a BU record 35 consecutive games ... Shelton's 158 receiving yards vs. the Demons were the most for a Bear since Reggie Newhouse's 173 vs. Kansas State in 2002 ... Shelton now has 1,395 career receiving yards, which ranks seventh on Baylor's all-time list ... For the third consecutive game, Baylor senior quarterback Shawn Bell established a career-high in passing yards after recording 272 in the 2005 finale vs. Oklahoma State, 286 vs. TCU and 288 vs. Northwestern State ... Bell's four touchdown passes vs. Northwestern State tied the Baylor single-game record, matched his career-high and were most in a regulation game for a Bear since Terry Southall had four vs. Syracuse in 1966 ... Bell has completed 60.42 percent of his passes during his career, which ranks No. 10 among active I-A signal callers ... Senior cornerback C.J. Wilson picked off two passes against Northwestern State, the first of which he returned 52 yards for his first-ever touchdown as a Baylor Bear ... Wilson became the first Bear since Samir AL-AMIN in 2001 to record a multi-interception game ... Wilson ranks T-No. 2 in interceptions with 1.50 per game, but is one of three players with three picks after two games ... Baylor was without the services of three starters vs. Northwestern State--WR Dominique Zeigler (shoulder), RB Paul Mosley (turf toe) and DT M.T. Robinson (foot), but all are expected to be available for the Washington State game.
