On what he saw on film on Sunday …
“You know, postgame I came away with the impression that they physically dominated us up front, and it would lead you to believe that based on the big runs they had offensively and the lack of big runs we had in the run game offensively. But that wasn’t necessarily the case. We got out-executed at times and we’ll remedy that. So, it was more execution than physicality, or lack thereof.”
On what he took from the film study on Sunday …
“The truth was we didn’t execute well. It was revealing. There were some truths that were really good for us, that we wanted to be better from a penalty standpoint, and we were much better from that aspect. We wanted to be better and cleaner as we went to the field and came off the field in communication. We were much better there. So, we improved in a lot of ways. I thought there were times we were good on third down to continue drives and time of possession. We were 50-plus (percent) in the third-down conversion and holding them to, I believe, two of eight or two of nine for them as well. We created some turnovers from a defensive standpoint. (We) had one for us, a critical one down in there offensively. We didn’t punt the ball as well as we usually do, which is uncharacteristic of us. I feel very confident that we have one of the better punters in our conference. He’ll bounce back. We’ll bounce back with the snap and protection to give him the comfort to punt it, and he’ll do a better job of punting it, as well. The truth revealed that there were some good things, but from an execution standpoint we didn’t execute enough to deserve victory.”
On the mood of the players on Sunday …
“They’re so impressionable that they’re wait and see, and our ability to communicate effectively and disseminate a message of ‘here’s the truth of what happens, let’s watch it on film, let’s own it, let’s discuss it, now let’s go to the field and fix it.’ When you’re able to do that, it breeds confidence because they understand what went wrong. There is no panic right now. There’s no one who’s confused about what happened. It’s clear as day and we have a remedy. So, to give them the tools and the resources to fix those things is something that we have to do as a staff and something that they’ll have to do when they take the field.”
On the play of Greg Campbell Jr. on Saturday …
“It was good to see him make those plays. His number was called. He responded. He caught the ball well and then he ran with the ball well after the catch. He had been competing for an opportunity and was deserving of one. I think he took full advantage of it and played well. His attitude was much better (this year). Not that he had a bad attitude a year ago, but he has a desire now to want to in any role, in any capacity. ‘I want to contribute. I want to be a part of.’ I think that goes well for anybody when they’re trying to be a part of a team. He’s done those things from a special teams standpoint and a blocking role, and now he’s reaping the benefit in a game like (Saturday) when he was able to be on the receiving end of some passes.”
On Marquez McNair’s performance on Saturday …
“Yeah, he had been banged up a bit. It wasn’t like we targeted him many times. He just made the most of his opportunities when he received the ball. That’s (throw it to me more) what he’s saying with his actions.”
On allowing that many rushing yards to Southern Miss …
“They did something different that they haven’t done before. A couple of plays they went down in an unbalanced formation. They took their tight end and put him on the line of scrimmage. They took a lineman and put him in the backfield, which they had not shown on film. We aligned to it because the tight end was still an eligible receiver, so they showed one way and went the opposite way with it. They went down the first two plays and got chunks of yards. We made an adjustment to it, so that play was taken away. Then they went back to other things as the game went on. They had a good game plan. They did a good job. Hats off to those guys. There were plays that we had to adjust to. I thought we did that. And then there were times where we were in position and you’ve got to make the play, and we didn’t make the play when we needed to.”
On the defense …
“I thought they competed. I thought the times we did not make the plays or the explosive plays — there were 10 of them that accumulated to 300 yards, which is a lot — it was guys that were either not in position or in position that didn’t make the play, which was not like us. We’ll remedy those things. We’ll fix it and be better.”
On North Texas …
“They’ve been putting up points. You take out the Iowa game where they scored 14, and I think every other one may have been 30-plus, couple of 40- and 50-point games. So, they’re really good on offense. They’re a tough team on defense. They’ve tweaked their identity. Last year, they were an Air Raid team that threw the ball often. This year, they’re more methodical with greater thought in their approach of how they want to attack you offensively. They’ll run the ball just as much as they’ll throw it. They get in multiple formations to do so, not just true one-back, and even if they are it’s 12 personnel with two tight ends in the game, or they’ll go 20 personnel for short yardage or 22 personnel, goal line as well. They hadn’t shown that (last year), so they’ve shown some toughness. They’re not necessarily a power-run scheme. They’re more zone scheme inside. They do some zone read and their quarterback has the ability to get away. He can use his feet well and extend plays. They do have designed runs for him, but they’re more of an inside-outside zone running team. Their running back is a good player, as good as (Ito Smith). We've got two good teams back-to-back.”
On if he thinks the team is playing better on the road …
“I don’t necessarily know if we make a greater emphasis on the road or at home. You always want to defend your home well. We prepare the same with the expectation whether we’re at home or on the road to play well. So, there’s no magic to it I guess. We just try our very best to go out and play well whether we’re at home or on the road, and we’ve been successful at times on the road.”
“You know, postgame I came away with the impression that they physically dominated us up front, and it would lead you to believe that based on the big runs they had offensively and the lack of big runs we had in the run game offensively. But that wasn’t necessarily the case. We got out-executed at times and we’ll remedy that. So, it was more execution than physicality, or lack thereof.”
On what he took from the film study on Sunday …
“The truth was we didn’t execute well. It was revealing. There were some truths that were really good for us, that we wanted to be better from a penalty standpoint, and we were much better from that aspect. We wanted to be better and cleaner as we went to the field and came off the field in communication. We were much better there. So, we improved in a lot of ways. I thought there were times we were good on third down to continue drives and time of possession. We were 50-plus (percent) in the third-down conversion and holding them to, I believe, two of eight or two of nine for them as well. We created some turnovers from a defensive standpoint. (We) had one for us, a critical one down in there offensively. We didn’t punt the ball as well as we usually do, which is uncharacteristic of us. I feel very confident that we have one of the better punters in our conference. He’ll bounce back. We’ll bounce back with the snap and protection to give him the comfort to punt it, and he’ll do a better job of punting it, as well. The truth revealed that there were some good things, but from an execution standpoint we didn’t execute enough to deserve victory.”
On the mood of the players on Sunday …
“They’re so impressionable that they’re wait and see, and our ability to communicate effectively and disseminate a message of ‘here’s the truth of what happens, let’s watch it on film, let’s own it, let’s discuss it, now let’s go to the field and fix it.’ When you’re able to do that, it breeds confidence because they understand what went wrong. There is no panic right now. There’s no one who’s confused about what happened. It’s clear as day and we have a remedy. So, to give them the tools and the resources to fix those things is something that we have to do as a staff and something that they’ll have to do when they take the field.”
On the play of Greg Campbell Jr. on Saturday …
“It was good to see him make those plays. His number was called. He responded. He caught the ball well and then he ran with the ball well after the catch. He had been competing for an opportunity and was deserving of one. I think he took full advantage of it and played well. His attitude was much better (this year). Not that he had a bad attitude a year ago, but he has a desire now to want to in any role, in any capacity. ‘I want to contribute. I want to be a part of.’ I think that goes well for anybody when they’re trying to be a part of a team. He’s done those things from a special teams standpoint and a blocking role, and now he’s reaping the benefit in a game like (Saturday) when he was able to be on the receiving end of some passes.”
On Marquez McNair’s performance on Saturday …
“Yeah, he had been banged up a bit. It wasn’t like we targeted him many times. He just made the most of his opportunities when he received the ball. That’s (throw it to me more) what he’s saying with his actions.”
On allowing that many rushing yards to Southern Miss …
“They did something different that they haven’t done before. A couple of plays they went down in an unbalanced formation. They took their tight end and put him on the line of scrimmage. They took a lineman and put him in the backfield, which they had not shown on film. We aligned to it because the tight end was still an eligible receiver, so they showed one way and went the opposite way with it. They went down the first two plays and got chunks of yards. We made an adjustment to it, so that play was taken away. Then they went back to other things as the game went on. They had a good game plan. They did a good job. Hats off to those guys. There were plays that we had to adjust to. I thought we did that. And then there were times where we were in position and you’ve got to make the play, and we didn’t make the play when we needed to.”
On the defense …
“I thought they competed. I thought the times we did not make the plays or the explosive plays — there were 10 of them that accumulated to 300 yards, which is a lot — it was guys that were either not in position or in position that didn’t make the play, which was not like us. We’ll remedy those things. We’ll fix it and be better.”
On North Texas …
“They’ve been putting up points. You take out the Iowa game where they scored 14, and I think every other one may have been 30-plus, couple of 40- and 50-point games. So, they’re really good on offense. They’re a tough team on defense. They’ve tweaked their identity. Last year, they were an Air Raid team that threw the ball often. This year, they’re more methodical with greater thought in their approach of how they want to attack you offensively. They’ll run the ball just as much as they’ll throw it. They get in multiple formations to do so, not just true one-back, and even if they are it’s 12 personnel with two tight ends in the game, or they’ll go 20 personnel for short yardage or 22 personnel, goal line as well. They hadn’t shown that (last year), so they’ve shown some toughness. They’re not necessarily a power-run scheme. They’re more zone scheme inside. They do some zone read and their quarterback has the ability to get away. He can use his feet well and extend plays. They do have designed runs for him, but they’re more of an inside-outside zone running team. Their running back is a good player, as good as (Ito Smith). We've got two good teams back-to-back.”
On if he thinks the team is playing better on the road …
“I don’t necessarily know if we make a greater emphasis on the road or at home. You always want to defend your home well. We prepare the same with the expectation whether we’re at home or on the road to play well. So, there’s no magic to it I guess. We just try our very best to go out and play well whether we’re at home or on the road, and we’ve been successful at times on the road.”
