Art Briles Day-After Quotes
9/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 21, 2008
Following four straight weeks of non-conference action, Art Briles and the Baylor football team take a week off before hosting the University of Oklahoma, Saturday, Oct. 4.
Here are head coach Art Briles' thoughts on Baylor's 31-28 loss against the University of Connecticut:
On the atmosphere and crown at Connecticut...
"I give them credit for knowing how to get ready for a football game. For their fans, they know how to get ready for a football game. What we can't let happen here is to show up on October 4th against Oklahoma and have more people out in that parking lot that have OU on their car than we do Baylor people. We have to show up and we have to be ready before the game starts. (When the Connecticut fans showed up at 3pm) that is how you do it; that is college football. They make it a big time event."
On the timing of the bye week...
"It is a real good time. I think it is good because the inconsistency of the schedule to start our season. With the Thursday, Saturday, Friday and Friday, the bye allows us to get on a consistent basis and look at what we have--and what we have is eight Saturdays ahead of us."
On the significance of having Saturday games...
"I think consistency is the key to success. That is in everyday life and not just football. Whatever you do, you have to form good habits. That is what we are in the process of still doing here. We are excited about playing on Saturday (for the rest of the season). We don't know what our game time is (against Oklahoma), but I would like the sun to be out for this one--to me, that is college football."
On the team effort against Connecticut...
"Nothing has changed since Friday night. What I am proud of is the effort and attitude that our players played with. We are not going to be a team that is intimidated by anything, anywhere or anyplace. Our guys rose up and put themselves in a position to win the football game. That is what we have to do; now we just have to cross the bridge and win it."
On the importance of answering scoring drives on the road...
"You have to if you are going to have a chance to win a game. We let a couple of scoring opportunities to get away from us at the beginning of the game.... Every snap to me is an answer. Every play is a play of the game because you never know when it is going to come back and become that play of the game."
On the defensive pressure that Robert Griffin faced...
"I have got to do a better job of taking some of the load off of him. That will help us as a team.... That will be one of the things that we will assess in our open date. The open date comes at a great time for us, both mentally and physically."
On the offensive production against Connecticut...
"I don't want to assess our performance by running or passing. It is all about production and points. From that standpoint, we moved the ball effectively. But when you get in a game like that, with an atmosphere like that, every time that you touch the ball you need to put points on the board. That is what we will continue to try and do."
On what experience a tough road game gives to a team...
"I think it certainly allows us to understand how important each play is, whether it is special teams, offense or defense. How critical that change of field position might be, converting or not converting, stopping a drive or maintaining a drive. I think those things are glorified more in a close game because you certainly understand what could or could have been. I think we saw that when we play hard and fight hard for each other, we are going to have a good opportunity to win each game that we are in. We are going to continue to do that. If it is an intangible, we are going to control it."
