On the win …
“That was a great win for us; probably our best game of the year, without question. Our offense, defense and special teams were good. Jarveon Williams has had a really good year for us. In the last two weeks, he's been fantastic and has made some great runs. Our offensive line is playing more physical. They're playing better, which is huge for us. You look on defense, Jason Neill and Marcus Davenport, our two defensive ends, they were beasts. They're a force to be reckoned with and we created a couple turnovers. We didn’t turn the ball over. Our kickoff coverage team was outstanding. We pinned them back every kickoff. Dalton [Sturm] played his best game yet. He had a good game for us, a good solid game, no turnovers. It's just a huge win for us. I'm happy for our kids and happy for our program. We're going to play really good this week against Middle [Tennessee].”
On beating Rice for the first time …
"I told the players this, 'I really think this is one of the bigger wins we've had since I've been here in this program,' in the program's history. It really was because David Bailiff does a great job. Those guys have been to a number of bowl games the last number of years. They had to beat us to go to a bowl game and of course they weren't able to do that. Just a tremendous win for us, for our program. Recruiting, Houston is a hot area for us and them obviously, so just a lot of positives for us winning the football game. It was huge because they're the only (FBS) team in Texas that we had not beaten, Texas team that we've played, that we haven't beaten."
On Jarveon Williams …
"I'll tell you, he is a real team guy. He wants to make the team better. He wants to win. He's been banged up a little bit and I asked, 'Jarveon, are you alright?' He said, 'Coach, I'll be fine, I just want to win.' He brings it to the table. Barry Sanders was that way. When your lineman know that, they're going to bust their butts to help you. It makes some good things happen. Jarveon is a really good football player, and we felt like he was coming out of high school, and he's just getting better and better. He's got a lot of confidence, he knows what he can do, and he can make something out of nothing, which he had to do for us. He has to do that."
On Dalton Sturm …
"The thing with Dalton, I didn’t know how he would be because the first half of the game before, at Charlotte, was a real bad half for him. He had the interceptions, so I didn’t know how he was going to react. He really stepped up and he's got such a presence about him. He's my Jim Kelly. He's got quick feet, he can run, he's got a quick release. He can throw a laser now. I've seen some of the passes he threw to David Morgan and it was pretty much a rocket shot to David. He's got some ability. Also, he's got some confidence, which at that position you've got to have that. Most guys, you throw three or four interceptions, you're going to just quit and go home or they'll pull you out or whatever, but I think Dalton's kind of that way. He's just going to play. That's why I told him, 'Hey, this is like Thanksgiving weekend coming up, like on Thanksgiving day, go in the backyard and have fun, enjoy the day.' That's the way college football is meant to be. We're not playing for a national championship. We don’t need to be all uptight. That's the thing, you want to see them have fun and play."
On offensive improvement …
"It has improved. That's kind of the bottom line, scoring points and are you winning games? That's the thing we've been able to do the last couple of weeks. We went and scored enough points and have won games. Offensively, too, your redzone, your turnovers, your third downs … they're all figured in as far as your offense is concerned and we're doing better there. We are what we are. I'm not saying we're some really good offense, but we're been a solid group, a solid team."
On potentially winning three games in a row …
"Even last year, of course they didn’t have a great year, but they beat North Texas the last game, Thanksgiving weekend a year ago, and I think it really helped us jump start the recruiting in the offseason, it meant a lot. I think that's the thing you can hopefully see now if we win these last three, you can talk about momentum, guys will feel good about themselves. We got a lot of guys coming back and, of course, send those seniors off with a win, we'd like to do that, so there's a lot of positives about it and I'm sure Middle [Tennessee's] the same way."
On special teams …
"We haven't punted the ball as well as we've liked to because of concern of the rush, as I would be too, but I think we've done pretty well. All in all, a thing we haven't done, we haven't returned a kickoff for a touchdown. I think we have good return men here. Getting the ball out to a decent side of the field. We haven't had a lot of penalties that set us back, so those are the things you look for that are pretty good. To me, the missed extra point last week (against Charlotte) … what shot in my head was 'okay, now a field goals ties us, a touchdown and a field goal ties us' and that was not a good sign when you have to score two touchdowns, the two touchdown margin. We had a couple of low snaps and (holder) Yannis [Routsas] did a good job. Actually, the game winner at Charlotte was low and he did a good job getting it set to win the football game."
On Middle Tennessee …
"Their quarterback [Brent Stockstill] is good. They're really good offensively, but we're going to have to put the fire out. We can't let them have the big plays and we've given up big plays. We can't do that and hope to beat these guys. That's a thing that's a tremendous concern, but they're good. We need to do our part offensively to make sure we counter, we're going to score. Let's give them credit, there's a good chance they're going to score, but we got to counter and make sure to hold it down as best as we can. It is a concern that we have, giving up so many big plays. We've created turnovers, as long as we do that we have a shot. Our last home game for our seniors and they are a good team. They're getting better toward the end of the year, which we are also."
“That was a great win for us; probably our best game of the year, without question. Our offense, defense and special teams were good. Jarveon Williams has had a really good year for us. In the last two weeks, he's been fantastic and has made some great runs. Our offensive line is playing more physical. They're playing better, which is huge for us. You look on defense, Jason Neill and Marcus Davenport, our two defensive ends, they were beasts. They're a force to be reckoned with and we created a couple turnovers. We didn’t turn the ball over. Our kickoff coverage team was outstanding. We pinned them back every kickoff. Dalton [Sturm] played his best game yet. He had a good game for us, a good solid game, no turnovers. It's just a huge win for us. I'm happy for our kids and happy for our program. We're going to play really good this week against Middle [Tennessee].”
On beating Rice for the first time …
"I told the players this, 'I really think this is one of the bigger wins we've had since I've been here in this program,' in the program's history. It really was because David Bailiff does a great job. Those guys have been to a number of bowl games the last number of years. They had to beat us to go to a bowl game and of course they weren't able to do that. Just a tremendous win for us, for our program. Recruiting, Houston is a hot area for us and them obviously, so just a lot of positives for us winning the football game. It was huge because they're the only (FBS) team in Texas that we had not beaten, Texas team that we've played, that we haven't beaten."
On Jarveon Williams …
"I'll tell you, he is a real team guy. He wants to make the team better. He wants to win. He's been banged up a little bit and I asked, 'Jarveon, are you alright?' He said, 'Coach, I'll be fine, I just want to win.' He brings it to the table. Barry Sanders was that way. When your lineman know that, they're going to bust their butts to help you. It makes some good things happen. Jarveon is a really good football player, and we felt like he was coming out of high school, and he's just getting better and better. He's got a lot of confidence, he knows what he can do, and he can make something out of nothing, which he had to do for us. He has to do that."
On Dalton Sturm …
"The thing with Dalton, I didn’t know how he would be because the first half of the game before, at Charlotte, was a real bad half for him. He had the interceptions, so I didn’t know how he was going to react. He really stepped up and he's got such a presence about him. He's my Jim Kelly. He's got quick feet, he can run, he's got a quick release. He can throw a laser now. I've seen some of the passes he threw to David Morgan and it was pretty much a rocket shot to David. He's got some ability. Also, he's got some confidence, which at that position you've got to have that. Most guys, you throw three or four interceptions, you're going to just quit and go home or they'll pull you out or whatever, but I think Dalton's kind of that way. He's just going to play. That's why I told him, 'Hey, this is like Thanksgiving weekend coming up, like on Thanksgiving day, go in the backyard and have fun, enjoy the day.' That's the way college football is meant to be. We're not playing for a national championship. We don’t need to be all uptight. That's the thing, you want to see them have fun and play."
On offensive improvement …
"It has improved. That's kind of the bottom line, scoring points and are you winning games? That's the thing we've been able to do the last couple of weeks. We went and scored enough points and have won games. Offensively, too, your redzone, your turnovers, your third downs … they're all figured in as far as your offense is concerned and we're doing better there. We are what we are. I'm not saying we're some really good offense, but we're been a solid group, a solid team."
On potentially winning three games in a row …
"Even last year, of course they didn’t have a great year, but they beat North Texas the last game, Thanksgiving weekend a year ago, and I think it really helped us jump start the recruiting in the offseason, it meant a lot. I think that's the thing you can hopefully see now if we win these last three, you can talk about momentum, guys will feel good about themselves. We got a lot of guys coming back and, of course, send those seniors off with a win, we'd like to do that, so there's a lot of positives about it and I'm sure Middle [Tennessee's] the same way."
On special teams …
"We haven't punted the ball as well as we've liked to because of concern of the rush, as I would be too, but I think we've done pretty well. All in all, a thing we haven't done, we haven't returned a kickoff for a touchdown. I think we have good return men here. Getting the ball out to a decent side of the field. We haven't had a lot of penalties that set us back, so those are the things you look for that are pretty good. To me, the missed extra point last week (against Charlotte) … what shot in my head was 'okay, now a field goals ties us, a touchdown and a field goal ties us' and that was not a good sign when you have to score two touchdowns, the two touchdown margin. We had a couple of low snaps and (holder) Yannis [Routsas] did a good job. Actually, the game winner at Charlotte was low and he did a good job getting it set to win the football game."
On Middle Tennessee …
"Their quarterback [Brent Stockstill] is good. They're really good offensively, but we're going to have to put the fire out. We can't let them have the big plays and we've given up big plays. We can't do that and hope to beat these guys. That's a thing that's a tremendous concern, but they're good. We need to do our part offensively to make sure we counter, we're going to score. Let's give them credit, there's a good chance they're going to score, but we got to counter and make sure to hold it down as best as we can. It is a concern that we have, giving up so many big plays. We've created turnovers, as long as we do that we have a shot. Our last home game for our seniors and they are a good team. They're getting better toward the end of the year, which we are also."
