On how he spent Saturday …
“I used that morning to do some outreach stuff with our team and then that evening got back and started studying Baylor yet again, looking at their spring game, as well as the Temple film that we have been watching throughout the duration of the summer. At six o’clock, I got an opportunity to watch kickoff and watch them take on Liberty.”
On his initial thoughts on Baylor …
“I think they’re very talented. I think they’re huge up front in their offensive line, defensive line. I think they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the future, but as that game unfolded, much like most teams in their first game maybe trying to find their identity.”
On the mindset of the team with all that happened last week …
“In yesterday’s meeting, here’s what I said to them. ‘Some people flinch and really don’t know how to react to things like sudden change.’ In our case, we adapted and we probably had our best overall back end of the week preparation that we’ve had coming out of fall camp and leading into the season. We practiced extremely well and very detailed on Friday in the Alamodome. We had several of the spirit groups and cheer units, we had music and the (video) boards were on. You have to adjust your eyes to the lighting in an arena setting and just do those things that we’ll have to do this upcoming Saturday. The guys were excited about it, they were spirited about it, and we had a very productive day on Friday. We came back yesterday and really honed in on the introduction — specific to the game plan — and will pick up on that on Tuesday, as well. I think our focus is there. I think our team has a tremendous amount of energy built up and (they) want to play against another opponent.”
On if any players who were affected by Hurricane Harvey took advantage of the Saturday off to help …
“Some of them did. Several of them did. They went home and did some goodwill at their home or in their neighborhood. Some of them went to Salvation Army and did some work there. A couple of them went down with Chance McLeod to his home and helped his family, as well.”
On what the worst situation was from the storm’s impact on one of his players …
“Probably Chance McLeod. A tree went through their home, just fell on top of the roof and caved it in, and then one in the back, as well. So, quite a bit of damage to their home. It’s not livable at this point. Several of them (players) went. They had options. We didn’t make it mandatory. No one had to go anywhere. It was certainly gratifying to see them disperse in their neighborhoods, some at their own homes, some with Chance. We had about a dozen at the Salvation Army doing work there, as well. They don’t have to do it. You present a culture. You present a way of life, and you try to exemplify that. You talk to them about doing things like that selflessly, and then they have the opportunity when no one’s watching to do it or not. So, it was good to see our kids do that.”
On what he learned from the mock game last Friday …
“That we still have work to do, the function in a game setting. The unfortunate thing collegiately is we don’t necessarily have preseason games, so we mimic them or we make them ourselves. You try to emulate that as best as possible by structuring it where our team is on one sideline, and one end of the bench is the defense and the other end of the bench is the offense, and there’s substitution issues or sudden changes here, and in the midst of the chaos you get on the field, get off the field. Then (we) put our team in certain situations, so we rehearsed that yet again. You can never get enough of it. There’s always room to improve there. In the midst of it, we had some hiccups. Better to have them against UTSA than another opponent.”
On if UTSA or Baylor has the advantage …
“They’ve seen 13 games on us. We’re not a mystery to them. They’re still the mystery because of new personnel, new coaching staff, and so they’ll do things and they did things differently in some aspects of the game than they did at Temple. I think there are two pieces to it. Experience is the best teacher. You always want to play a game to gauge where you’re at and have an understanding of your team and its identity, and then be able to correct those things as you go on into the next week, and the next week. That’s the plus and the minus of us not having that opportunity to be able to play that opponent. But we had — like every other team — guys who had bumps and bruises, and so it gave us yet another week to get healthy. We kind of changed the format from a physicality standpoint, allowing us to lick our wounds and nurse ourselves coming out of a rugged camp session going into kickoff. Hopefully that will allow us to be at our very best from a health standpoint come this Saturday.”
On if he was surprised by what Liberty did …
“I think Turner Gill is a very good football coach. I watched from afar when he was a player and he was phenomenal. His days at Buffalo, they were a dominant team and competed for conference championships, and then certainly the job he did at Kansas. It’s amazing, you know all of a sudden he’s (called) a good coach again. I’ve always thought his teams play extremely hard. They’re a good football team. Don’t for one minute think they’re not. Baylor is a good football team, a talented team. For them to unseat that team, that wasn’t a mistake. They were well prepared. They played hard. Their quarterback played lights out. They did a great job preparing for that opponent. Baylor will be fine. Matt Rhule is an outstanding football coach. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’ll get it in the right direction and they’ll be a good team.”
On what the environment will be like on Saturday …
“I don’t know. We really can’t control it. I would anticipate that they’re excited to be back at home. Their fans would want to see them play at their very best. I think that team will play at another level. I think they’ll play inspired and determined to show who they really are. Their coach will do a good job of challenging them and them responding, because that’s what good coaches do, and Matt Rhule is a good football coach. We expect the very best Baylor team to show up on Saturday. Anybody who goes 0-1 is determined to get a W in the column. They’re going to want to play at their very best.”
On his message to UTSA fans making the trip to Waco on Saturday …
“For our fans — the faithful — we’re disappointed we didn’t have the opportunity to play in the Alamodome to open the season, but we’re still in the great state of Texas. We get to go to Waco to play against a quality football team that has great tradition and heritage. Every time I think of that place I think of the Mike Singletarys of the world and how dominant that program had been and even most recently has been. (I think about) what it will mean to bring our team in there to take on that opponent. We can’t do it alone. We need our fans there with us. We need their support. We need that rally cry because it’s going to be a battle. At some point that ear will open up, and if we could hear the pierce of their voice coming through and give our team inspiration. We hope to have them all there.”
“I used that morning to do some outreach stuff with our team and then that evening got back and started studying Baylor yet again, looking at their spring game, as well as the Temple film that we have been watching throughout the duration of the summer. At six o’clock, I got an opportunity to watch kickoff and watch them take on Liberty.”
On his initial thoughts on Baylor …
“I think they’re very talented. I think they’re huge up front in their offensive line, defensive line. I think they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the future, but as that game unfolded, much like most teams in their first game maybe trying to find their identity.”
On the mindset of the team with all that happened last week …
“In yesterday’s meeting, here’s what I said to them. ‘Some people flinch and really don’t know how to react to things like sudden change.’ In our case, we adapted and we probably had our best overall back end of the week preparation that we’ve had coming out of fall camp and leading into the season. We practiced extremely well and very detailed on Friday in the Alamodome. We had several of the spirit groups and cheer units, we had music and the (video) boards were on. You have to adjust your eyes to the lighting in an arena setting and just do those things that we’ll have to do this upcoming Saturday. The guys were excited about it, they were spirited about it, and we had a very productive day on Friday. We came back yesterday and really honed in on the introduction — specific to the game plan — and will pick up on that on Tuesday, as well. I think our focus is there. I think our team has a tremendous amount of energy built up and (they) want to play against another opponent.”
On if any players who were affected by Hurricane Harvey took advantage of the Saturday off to help …
“Some of them did. Several of them did. They went home and did some goodwill at their home or in their neighborhood. Some of them went to Salvation Army and did some work there. A couple of them went down with Chance McLeod to his home and helped his family, as well.”
On what the worst situation was from the storm’s impact on one of his players …
“Probably Chance McLeod. A tree went through their home, just fell on top of the roof and caved it in, and then one in the back, as well. So, quite a bit of damage to their home. It’s not livable at this point. Several of them (players) went. They had options. We didn’t make it mandatory. No one had to go anywhere. It was certainly gratifying to see them disperse in their neighborhoods, some at their own homes, some with Chance. We had about a dozen at the Salvation Army doing work there, as well. They don’t have to do it. You present a culture. You present a way of life, and you try to exemplify that. You talk to them about doing things like that selflessly, and then they have the opportunity when no one’s watching to do it or not. So, it was good to see our kids do that.”
On what he learned from the mock game last Friday …
“That we still have work to do, the function in a game setting. The unfortunate thing collegiately is we don’t necessarily have preseason games, so we mimic them or we make them ourselves. You try to emulate that as best as possible by structuring it where our team is on one sideline, and one end of the bench is the defense and the other end of the bench is the offense, and there’s substitution issues or sudden changes here, and in the midst of the chaos you get on the field, get off the field. Then (we) put our team in certain situations, so we rehearsed that yet again. You can never get enough of it. There’s always room to improve there. In the midst of it, we had some hiccups. Better to have them against UTSA than another opponent.”
On if UTSA or Baylor has the advantage …
“They’ve seen 13 games on us. We’re not a mystery to them. They’re still the mystery because of new personnel, new coaching staff, and so they’ll do things and they did things differently in some aspects of the game than they did at Temple. I think there are two pieces to it. Experience is the best teacher. You always want to play a game to gauge where you’re at and have an understanding of your team and its identity, and then be able to correct those things as you go on into the next week, and the next week. That’s the plus and the minus of us not having that opportunity to be able to play that opponent. But we had — like every other team — guys who had bumps and bruises, and so it gave us yet another week to get healthy. We kind of changed the format from a physicality standpoint, allowing us to lick our wounds and nurse ourselves coming out of a rugged camp session going into kickoff. Hopefully that will allow us to be at our very best from a health standpoint come this Saturday.”
On if he was surprised by what Liberty did …
“I think Turner Gill is a very good football coach. I watched from afar when he was a player and he was phenomenal. His days at Buffalo, they were a dominant team and competed for conference championships, and then certainly the job he did at Kansas. It’s amazing, you know all of a sudden he’s (called) a good coach again. I’ve always thought his teams play extremely hard. They’re a good football team. Don’t for one minute think they’re not. Baylor is a good football team, a talented team. For them to unseat that team, that wasn’t a mistake. They were well prepared. They played hard. Their quarterback played lights out. They did a great job preparing for that opponent. Baylor will be fine. Matt Rhule is an outstanding football coach. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’ll get it in the right direction and they’ll be a good team.”
On what the environment will be like on Saturday …
“I don’t know. We really can’t control it. I would anticipate that they’re excited to be back at home. Their fans would want to see them play at their very best. I think that team will play at another level. I think they’ll play inspired and determined to show who they really are. Their coach will do a good job of challenging them and them responding, because that’s what good coaches do, and Matt Rhule is a good football coach. We expect the very best Baylor team to show up on Saturday. Anybody who goes 0-1 is determined to get a W in the column. They’re going to want to play at their very best.”
On his message to UTSA fans making the trip to Waco on Saturday …
“For our fans — the faithful — we’re disappointed we didn’t have the opportunity to play in the Alamodome to open the season, but we’re still in the great state of Texas. We get to go to Waco to play against a quality football team that has great tradition and heritage. Every time I think of that place I think of the Mike Singletarys of the world and how dominant that program had been and even most recently has been. (I think about) what it will mean to bring our team in there to take on that opponent. We can’t do it alone. We need our fans there with us. We need their support. We need that rally cry because it’s going to be a battle. At some point that ear will open up, and if we could hear the pierce of their voice coming through and give our team inspiration. We hope to have them all there.”
