Weekly Press Conference - Sept. 26
9/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 26, 2006
On taking penalties:
"We have to get them stopped. We talked to the kids Sunday. To me it has to be something that is conscious, thinking while you're playing football. If you're about to hit somebody in the back and you know you're going hit him in the back, you have to find a way to pull back. With clips and stuff like that. We have to make sure we're working hard to keep our hands inside. We haven't had a lot of holding calls. We have to tune in to the quarterbacks voice so we don't have these illegal procedures. It just has to be a conscious effort on our players' part. While they're playing, they need to think about those kinds of things. With calls, you're going to be some good ones, and you're going to get some bad ones. There's nothing we can do about that; it's just the nature of the beast. We have illegal procedures and running into someone's back and stuff like that. What we need to emphasize this week, and I know Coach Bradley's already addressed it, we are getting facemask penalties because we're tackling too high. We need to go down lower, get the legs and that eliminates the facemask. It just has to be a conscious effort on the kids' part to get it fixed."
On the players' mentalities:
"Based on the kids that I've seen, I know Sunday they were looking down, which was to be expected. The good thing was we went through the weight lifting and running to get some of it out of their systems. Some of them came over yesterday to watch game films on their own, and some came by the offices. They seem pretty upbeat. Hopefully, the problems we're having, like both coordinators have said, are just details and the penalties. The players have to want to get those things fixed and it has to become important to them or we're going to keep going down the same old road.
"Listening to some of them talk, they were talking about those very things. So, maybe this will be the week we get it fixed and cleaned up. We need to, we have to or the results are going to be the same. That's all there is to it."
On special teams' personnel:
"Without naming names, at this particular point we've fired some people. We're going to look at some different guys in there. This troubles me at times because we really emphasize special teams and try to make our players understand how important it is as a part of this game. It's not a punishment to have to play on special teams. A lot of players come in there thinking they're being punished if we ask them to be on the punt or kick off team. That's not the case. We have to find those kids who have that kind of temperament that we need to go down and throw their bodies around. You have to be about half crazy to really love special teams. It is high speed and you're running a long distance, the collisions are pretty magnified. It takes a special kid to excel at special teams. And we honor those kids when they make good plays. Every coach gets involved and we emphasize the importance of it. We've made a few personnel changes so we'll see.
"The game isn't anywhere near where we want it to be. It's that critical. We just have to get better. I think one of the strengths of
On the running game:
"We have to block people better. Being that offensive line coach, I got to get them going. We're kind of going through some growing pains. This is the first time they have ever been asked to do much run blocking from the two-point stance. It takes a little time to get them adjusted. This is no excuse; but, each week we're seeing some new wrinkles, and it's the first time we've seen them. We're not sure about adjustments and those kinds of things.
It's like with the run through at the goal line. It was just a little bit different alignment; they had never shown and it just hit us with it. Our guys just freeze for a minute, not sure what they're supposed to do to handle it. One of their guys comes through clean and blows us up in the backfield. There is a little bit of that going as well.
"We just have to continue to work out technique. The more comfortable we get with the two-point stance and the run block, I think the better our running game is going to get."
On the offensive line:
"The thing that happened to us last week was a lot of the runs were getting caught from the back side. It's a tough deal. You have the tackle; we want them to hold that guy off but also climb to the next level because the linebackers are going to make the play over the top. So as soon as our guy spends too much time here, another guy is making a tackle. If that guy goes through, we get caught from the backside. It's just kind of feel thing and until we get a little more comfortable doing that, we're going to struggle a little bit."
On still feeling confident about becoming the offensive line coach:
"Absolutely. You bet."
On his confidence in the new offense:
"On game day, when emotions are high, I think you get frustrated. But then you step back and watch how we're progressing. I'm confident that this system is going to work. We're going to get it mastered. We could have run a wishbone; we're still going to struggle since it's new. The guys are thinking still and you can see some smoke coming out of their helmets every week. We're going to have to go through some of that."
On making a bowl game:
"We've got ourselves back into a pretty good little corner, yeah. But I know our coaches are confident and I think our players still believe in what we're asking them to do. Again, we just have to stay on the kids and try to stop the penalties and little things. We can find five more wins, I think."
On the schedule:
"When I first looked at the schedule, I liked it. Obviously, with three of the first four games at home. I felt like we could win all four of those non-conference games. We had the steam going but it didn't work out that way. We just have to get regrouped, pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, go back to work, and see if we can't win this one this week.
"I'd like to have another tune-up game. I'd like to go back and play these four over to be honest with you, but we don't have that luxury. We have one this week. It's
On maintaining the first half intensity and energy through the second half:
"I don't get the sense that when we come out of the locker room at halftime that we're flat or deadhead. I don't know that I have a good explanation or good grip on it yet; but, for some reason we just haven't had the same fortune. You look at the last down of the game, everybody's still going as hard as they can go. It's not a question of conditioning or the want to get it done, it's just the circumstances are different. I can't explain it."
"We're going to get over it. I'm going to will them to get over it if I have to. Some kind of way we're going to keep beating them over the head with it until they get it. I really believe all of our kids believe in what we're doing. We don't see those kinds of problems at all.
On
"They're very active; they're good athletes. I'm sure they'll throw a lot of the same things we've been seeing. It's the same old stuff we have been seeing - sit deep and stay deep. Hopefully, we'll screw them up. We've got to try to have a little more effective run game and we have to make the underneath stuff work to make
On Morriss going 1-19 when scoring less than 20 points:
"We better try to get about 25 or so then."
Offensive Coordinator, Lee Hays
On Army:
"The play calling was basically the same. If I go through 10 plays and they work, I'll go through them again. Really, if you look at the first play of the first drive and the then the second drive, there were some mistakes that we didn't overcome. We were able to make a play and get six or seven yards on the run, and the next time we wouldn't get it because a guy didn't cut back. Little things like that.
"I'm just frustrated in the back that I think the defense has played so well and I haven't been in a position like I'm in now where I'm the one trailing the lead dog. When our defensive kids do such a great job, I just have to find a way. I wish I could put my finger on one spot or position. I almost sometimes look back and think about when we first installed the offense at
On
"They have played lights-out ball. The [defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris] came from
Defensive Coordinator, Bill Bradley
On the Army game:
"It's pretty painful to talk about it but I'm going to talk about it anyway. First of all I'd like to give credit from that game to Stan Brock; he's their offensive line coach. They really executed extremely well with their offensive line. They move well and sustain blocks well. They also cut well. That's pretty much what they did. They kind of whipped our rear ends up front. We had young guys getting reached, cut off, and some guys leaving their gaps. That's basically what happened in the game, and that's how they matched us on a couple of those drives running the football. They did a tremendous job doing it.
"One good positive thing we went into the game with the goal of holding them to 14 points or less and we did do that in regulation. We gave them defensively 13 points and then they got a good drive on us in overtime and scored the ball. And in that situation we had a third and eight. We tackled the guy well but didn't get him backwards so he reached the ball out and made it a fourth and one. And they went for it in overtime, got it, and then went on down and scored.
"Our guys learned some valuable lessons in this game as far as gap control and where they're supposed to be, the linebackers and the young ones.
"They beat us up front and they beat us running the ball. They did a good job.
"We're still not discouraged. I think our guys played with a good effort; they played hard during the game even in overtime."
On
"I think we have got to make that quarterback [Dylan Meier] beat us throwing. He has good velocity and spins the ball well. In every tape it looks like their protection scheme is lacking and he's always getting hit. He's not a scrambler so you know where he's going to be in the pocket, but we won't know where he's going to be unless we stop the run. The run starts with the play action. We have a rule for our defensive linemen, if your guy leaves you leave with him."
Wide Receiver, Trent Shelton
On pressure to score more points:
"There is definitely pressure to put more points on the board. I think if we come out this week and put a lot of points on the board it will shut a lot of people up. "
On fan support starting conference play:
"I really do not know. I hope they come out here and support us. Fans, we need you all to come out here and make this a hard place for
On waiting for this offense to really take off:
"I think there will be a point sometime, hopefully this week. I think the more important thing is for us to play better as a team. By that, I mean we need to do a better job of getting the offense and the defense to play well at the same time. We really have not been able to do that this year so far. Once we play good at the same time, then I think you will see a whole new team."
Outside Safety, Maurice Linguist
On showing his emotion during and after the game:
"I am an emotional guy. You might see me jumping on C.J.'s back or something after they make a big play. That is the way I play, I play with my heart. I leave it all out there. If you see tears, they might be tears of joy, they might be tears of sadness, it does not really matter."
On playing through the three loses:
"We just have to keep going. We are in a hole right now, but we are going to take each game one at a time, this week it is
Quarterback, Shawn Bell
On the start of conference play:
"It is a new season. We are 1-3 and we need to get five wins in conference to reach our goals. That is something that has not been done here in a long time, so it is a challenge for us and we are looking forward to it. It all starts with
On the fact that he has thrown for 200 yards in six straight games:
"Numbers are great; but, it all comes down to wins. Not a lot of people have done it here at Baylor; but, they also have not thrown the ball as much as I have. I would definitely take a win over a two hundred yard game any day."
On the tradition at
"They have a great tradition up there. The game there my red-shirt freshman year was really crowded and cold; but, they have a great tradition up there. They have a new coach in there this year so tradition might have changed a little; but, I am looking forward to Saturday.
