It was a brief media roundtable today as the players scheduled to meet with media were unable to make it. They will be available as the week progresses so stay tuned. Here is what Coach Wilson had to say about last week and the week ahead.
Frank Wilson
Frank Wilson
- On to A&M. They are certainly a worthy opponent. Just two weeks ago they were the number four team in the country. They have the personnel and the quality of players on every side of the ball as well as special teams to justify that (ranking). We have our work cut out for us against a very good team.
- Need to reflect on the things that are important to our football team and correct the things that we did and did not do well.
- Fun to go up against A&M D-Coordinator John Chavis. Go back a long way with him. Worked side by side with him for six years. Chavis is an outstanding football coach. Kevin Sumlin will have his team prepared to play and I think we will get their very best.
- Saturday is a great opportunity for us. To go into an SEC venue and play a nationally televised game, it is an opportunity for our program to go out and compete against the very best. It will be great experience for our program.
- Will use the trip to Kyle Field (and future trip in 2019) as a tool in recruiting. You can sit in their home and present it as an awesome opportunity to play in front of 100,000. And you look at next year we're playing Houston and Baylor and all of those things show well for our university from an exposure standpoint.
- You want a balanced schedule. A lot of the scheduling was done before I got here but we were able to tweak it here and there. In the future schedules we'll be able to have more of a say-so.
- Playing non-conference game in mid-November is what it is. In ideal world you like to roll through your conference (in consecutive weeks) but the way schedule is set it allows us to get up and measure ourselves against one of the best teams in the country.
- Conference Commissioner looks at targeting calls every Monday morning. They will look at it and whether we appeal it or not it goes through them. We're constantly trying to teach our players but it is sometimes difficult (in game) with the speed of the game and a guy that starts to slither and get down. We're telling them to target at the hip area. We'll see how it turns out.
- Team will be fine. At one point being down 49-14 and scoring 21 unanswered points to get the game within two possessions. Then you do the things to try and win the game. But the onside kick bounces the wrong way and they score and then you throw an interception and they score again so the game becomes 28 point game instead of a 14 point game. We're going to play the game to win, we're not going to play the game to try to stay close to them so it will look respectable. Our team and our kids deserve an opportunity to win the game.
- Kids might have been too excited. There is a thin line that you go through with that. Sometimes they're so emotionally high that it can be draining before the start or you lose focus on what your trying to do. The intent was there. You don't want them to be flat either. You have to find that balance. What was at stake had us, including the coach, eager to go out and win the game. I thought we calmed down a bit in the second half. As long as we're fighting I'll never hold my head down or be down on the team for effort.
- Knows exactly what happened on the opening kick off return. People don't take hang time into consideration. When you talk about a 40 yard sprint down there if the guy catches it one or two yards in the end zone you want to be inside the 20 when he gets out the five. When you lack hang time and distance it is a direct correlation to the inability to get downfield and cover. The ball got kicked to the 14 or 15 with no hang time. Then when we did get down there we missed tackles. It's enough for the entire unit and myself to look at and take responsibility for.
- Early in the game Dalton did some good things. We thought we could take advantage of some matchups but we couldn't find the rhythm we were looking for. In an attempt to win the game we made a change at QB in the second half to give us a chance. Thought Jared (Johnson) went in and did some good things as well. (no QB battle) but we will look at that on a game by game basis.
- The road that Josh Stewart has been on is a great teaching tool. It shows you never say die. If there is a will there is a way. Be persistent in the things you want and then when the opportunity knocks to seize the moment. He's done that and he works his behind off in practice and it carries over to the game. It is a reflection of who he is.
