On Saturday’s outcome against Oklahoma State …
“I wasn’t all bad. Obviously, it was bad, but not all bad. I thought our offensive line was getting better. I think they’re going to be pretty good as it goes on. They’re better than they were last year and that’s a huge improvement for us. Jarveon Williams probably had his best game since he’s been here, and a lot of it has to do to the improvement of the offensive line. We have a nice story with Dalton Miller. (Linebacker) Drew Douglas was hurt and didn’t play. Dalton stepped in and did a nice job. Bennett Okotcha and Michael Egwuagu both played well. I’ll tell you an exciting guy, too, is Kevin Strong up front. I think he’s going to be an outstanding player. There were some positives there, but again we’re behind 14-0 when the clock hasn’t warmed up, so we had no chance.”
On the upcoming matchup with Colorado State …
“Colorado State; they’re a physical team, they’re a big team, a very solid football team. Of course they’re coming in here having lost two games in overtime to Power Five teams. We know that, but they run well, they’re physical and they have good receivers. They have a good solid quarterback, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. Honestly, anybody’s going to be a challenge for us right now. We need to somehow get our ship in order.”
On team’s mindset following a tough loss …
“It’s a tough loss. It was a bad loss. The score was terrible but again, looking at the game we could have been in that game and maybe played with Oklahoma State. Is that a foolish statement to make? I don’t know, but it really is the truth. We had opportunities there, but we didn’t give ourselves the chance. It was a bad loss. We’ve got to bounce back and I think our guys will do that.”
On Oklahoma State’s ability to force turnovers …
“They did a great job putting their head on the ball. I don’t know if it’s coaching or luck or little bit of both, but they really attacked the ball (with) their head on the ball and popped the ball out. We weren’t really that sloppy with the ball, it’s just a matter of them doing a really good job. Again, we have to handle it better, obviously, but I think the thing you saw was that they did a good job. Their secondary was very athletic, very fast and they were physical. Give them credit for that.”
On the effects of having a young team …
“I think what we’re experiencing right now has been what we’ve expected in a way, if you know what I’m saying. Now we’ve lost two classes together and we’ve got the young kids coming through, so it’s something that we don’t want or coach against, but it’s something that maybe shouldn’t be a total shock. But it kind of is, to be honest with you, because I thought we’d kind of overcome all of that. Again, there are some things that we haven’t overcome. In a lot of areas we haven’t, but in a lot of ways we have taken a step back as far as where we want to be. Again, we’ve played three top-25 teams. I don’t know who has a better schedule than we have throughout the country, but from a coaching standpoint, from our standpoint, it’s not that they’re top-25 teams, particularly. It’s the fact that what can we do, the things that we’re doing, to make ourselves better and give ourselves an opportunity. That’s the thing we have to do. We have to handle our own business.”
On the quarterback situation and Dalton Sturm’s performance …
“Sturm, I really like him. Two things I like, I guess a little bit more than two. One, I think he has a really quick release, I think he’s very accurate and he’s good athlete. He can run. There are some really good things about him. I’m really excited about him and his progress, and I hope we get a chance to see him, but Bogie’s (Blake Bogenschutz) our quarterback.”
On the postgame conversation with Blake Bogenschutz …
“He’s a young player, he’s a freshman and it wasn’t a ‘chew you out’ type of thing. It’s a situation where ‘hey, we’ve got a lot of ball left, we’ve got to move forward and let’s see how good we can be.’ Maybe ‘coach speak’, I guess, but that’s what my spiel was after the game. He’s our quarterback.”
On just how hard it is to win in college football …
“Winning’s hard to do. It’s hard in football. I watched a little of the Texas game coming home and I thought they played awfully well. They played hard, they scored points and they lose in the end. That poor kicker missed the kick or got it blocked, but that’s one reason why people buy tickets and go see these games because it’s exciting every week. That’s the thing about us. Somehow we’ve got to put this thing behind us. We’ve got a new season coming up, and we’ve got to play that way this Saturday. It’s a home game and we have to make this what we can make it. There’s a lot of football left and I told these guys ‘I think we’ve got a good football team here.’ Let’s put it this way, I think we can have a good football team. I don’t know if we have a good team now, but we can have a good football team. I like the players, I think we have good coaches. We just have to get the job done. You can’t look ahead, but what a great story this would be if we could go ahead and do this thing if we somehow get our act together. That’s the key, though. We have to get our act together. It’s not about who we play. It’s about getting our act together. I think we can win (games) if we do what we do and do it well.”
On the team’s level of confidence …
“That’s hard to say. I don’t know that. I hope it’s good. We’ll learn as we go through the week. As a coach, that’s why they pay me the big money I guess, is to help instill that. Once you get rocked a little bit, it shakes you a little bit, but I think Bogie’s a very confident player and I think we have some confident players on defense and offense. I think we’re going to be okay there from that standpoint. We just have to build on that and we have to make sure to put the bad things out of our minds. That’s hard to do sometimes, but we’ve got to do that.”
“I wasn’t all bad. Obviously, it was bad, but not all bad. I thought our offensive line was getting better. I think they’re going to be pretty good as it goes on. They’re better than they were last year and that’s a huge improvement for us. Jarveon Williams probably had his best game since he’s been here, and a lot of it has to do to the improvement of the offensive line. We have a nice story with Dalton Miller. (Linebacker) Drew Douglas was hurt and didn’t play. Dalton stepped in and did a nice job. Bennett Okotcha and Michael Egwuagu both played well. I’ll tell you an exciting guy, too, is Kevin Strong up front. I think he’s going to be an outstanding player. There were some positives there, but again we’re behind 14-0 when the clock hasn’t warmed up, so we had no chance.”
On the upcoming matchup with Colorado State …
“Colorado State; they’re a physical team, they’re a big team, a very solid football team. Of course they’re coming in here having lost two games in overtime to Power Five teams. We know that, but they run well, they’re physical and they have good receivers. They have a good solid quarterback, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. Honestly, anybody’s going to be a challenge for us right now. We need to somehow get our ship in order.”
On team’s mindset following a tough loss …
“It’s a tough loss. It was a bad loss. The score was terrible but again, looking at the game we could have been in that game and maybe played with Oklahoma State. Is that a foolish statement to make? I don’t know, but it really is the truth. We had opportunities there, but we didn’t give ourselves the chance. It was a bad loss. We’ve got to bounce back and I think our guys will do that.”
On Oklahoma State’s ability to force turnovers …
“They did a great job putting their head on the ball. I don’t know if it’s coaching or luck or little bit of both, but they really attacked the ball (with) their head on the ball and popped the ball out. We weren’t really that sloppy with the ball, it’s just a matter of them doing a really good job. Again, we have to handle it better, obviously, but I think the thing you saw was that they did a good job. Their secondary was very athletic, very fast and they were physical. Give them credit for that.”
On the effects of having a young team …
“I think what we’re experiencing right now has been what we’ve expected in a way, if you know what I’m saying. Now we’ve lost two classes together and we’ve got the young kids coming through, so it’s something that we don’t want or coach against, but it’s something that maybe shouldn’t be a total shock. But it kind of is, to be honest with you, because I thought we’d kind of overcome all of that. Again, there are some things that we haven’t overcome. In a lot of areas we haven’t, but in a lot of ways we have taken a step back as far as where we want to be. Again, we’ve played three top-25 teams. I don’t know who has a better schedule than we have throughout the country, but from a coaching standpoint, from our standpoint, it’s not that they’re top-25 teams, particularly. It’s the fact that what can we do, the things that we’re doing, to make ourselves better and give ourselves an opportunity. That’s the thing we have to do. We have to handle our own business.”
On the quarterback situation and Dalton Sturm’s performance …
“Sturm, I really like him. Two things I like, I guess a little bit more than two. One, I think he has a really quick release, I think he’s very accurate and he’s good athlete. He can run. There are some really good things about him. I’m really excited about him and his progress, and I hope we get a chance to see him, but Bogie’s (Blake Bogenschutz) our quarterback.”
On the postgame conversation with Blake Bogenschutz …
“He’s a young player, he’s a freshman and it wasn’t a ‘chew you out’ type of thing. It’s a situation where ‘hey, we’ve got a lot of ball left, we’ve got to move forward and let’s see how good we can be.’ Maybe ‘coach speak’, I guess, but that’s what my spiel was after the game. He’s our quarterback.”
On just how hard it is to win in college football …
“Winning’s hard to do. It’s hard in football. I watched a little of the Texas game coming home and I thought they played awfully well. They played hard, they scored points and they lose in the end. That poor kicker missed the kick or got it blocked, but that’s one reason why people buy tickets and go see these games because it’s exciting every week. That’s the thing about us. Somehow we’ve got to put this thing behind us. We’ve got a new season coming up, and we’ve got to play that way this Saturday. It’s a home game and we have to make this what we can make it. There’s a lot of football left and I told these guys ‘I think we’ve got a good football team here.’ Let’s put it this way, I think we can have a good football team. I don’t know if we have a good team now, but we can have a good football team. I like the players, I think we have good coaches. We just have to get the job done. You can’t look ahead, but what a great story this would be if we could go ahead and do this thing if we somehow get our act together. That’s the key, though. We have to get our act together. It’s not about who we play. It’s about getting our act together. I think we can win (games) if we do what we do and do it well.”
On the team’s level of confidence …
“That’s hard to say. I don’t know that. I hope it’s good. We’ll learn as we go through the week. As a coach, that’s why they pay me the big money I guess, is to help instill that. Once you get rocked a little bit, it shakes you a little bit, but I think Bogie’s a very confident player and I think we have some confident players on defense and offense. I think we’re going to be okay there from that standpoint. We just have to build on that and we have to make sure to put the bad things out of our minds. That’s hard to do sometimes, but we’ve got to do that.”
