Quotes From Football's Weekly Press Conference
Nov 2, 2010 | Football
Nov. 2, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - On last week's game against SMU
"First of all, let me say that the disappointing thing about last week's game was we knew what was at stake and we didn't finish the football game. That was really disappointing. We basically let one slip away that we thought we had. We just need to learn to play with consistency. We win a game, we lose a game, we win a game, we lose a game. We have got to be more consistent and learn how to finish football games. That, again, was disappointing. I believe we've proven that we have gotten better. You look at our football team, and you can see that we've gotten better. But you still have to go out and win football games and that's not what we're doing."
On allowing the Mustangs to rally for 28 unanswered points
"That fourth quarter was a total meltdown on our part. That was really sad to see after we played as well as we did the first three quarters. As I've told the players Monday in our meeting and I've told the coaches, it's everybody's fault. Everybody is to blame - the players and the coaches. The reason I say that is that I don't want any finger pointing. There's no reason for any coach to point to the other side of the ball. There's no reason for any offensive or defensive players to point to the other side of the ball. We all did enough damage to lose that football game."
On the Green Wave's offensive production against SMU
"You look at it offensively, we turned the ball over two times. We had a couple of costly penalties, one inside the 10-yard line that really hurt us. We only scored one touchdown offensively. We did run the ball well. We ran it extremely well as a matter of fact. We ran it better against them than Navy did against them, and Navy is a running football team. But we didn't throw the ball well. That was the disappointing thing to me and that's the thing that was concerning me during the course of the game. I knew we weren't throwing the ball. You can run for yards, but you can pass for miles, so to speak. We didn't get it in the endzone. We were 4-of-15 on third down. Passing wise, we were five yards per attempt and I always talk about having seven-or-more yards per attempt to be a good passing team."
On Tulane's performance in the redzone against SMU
"We were 1-of-4 (scoring touchdowns) in the red zone. That was demoralizing was well. We practiced a bunch of redzone last week. Statistically, offensively and defensively, we do not rank well in the red zone. We specifically practice that on Tuesday and Wednesday against our selves. That was No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense. We wanted good people on good people. And we still practiced it against the scouts on what people do in the redzone.
On Tulane's defensive effort against SMU
"Defensively, I thought we really played really well in the first half. We did a really good job. As a matter of fact, I came in at halftime and told the defensive guys that they were really performing well, they were playing well defensively and to keep it up. We couldn't have played it any better. We got three turnovers, which was really good. We scored a touchdown defensively. So from that standpoint, we played well. We gave up 358 yards passing, 10.2 per attempt - and I talked about the seven yards - so we gave up way too many yards passing. We gave up way too many big plays, and they were 4-of-5 in the redzone."
On SMU's fourth-quarter comeback
"Austen Jacks scores (on the fumble return) to make it 17-3 with 2:24 left in the third quarter. I think - and I am as guilty as anyone, so that's why I say coaches, too - when it went 17-3 when Jacks scored that touchdown, it was like I took a big deep breath and went, `whew, we're going to win this football game.' I don't want to say we let our guard down and let the chip off our shoulder, but it's kind of like you do. It was like, `Wow, we're going to get this one.' Then all of a sudden, you can't regain that intensity and can't get it back. Their intensity picked up and our's didn't. We score, it's 17-3 and we get a bad kick. We kicked off pretty well most of the day. We were holding them inside the 20 sometimes, so we were kicking off better. But on this one, they returned it to the 40. In seven plays, they go 60 yards and score a touchdown in 2:24. Then when they get it back, they go two plays, 82 yards in 18 seconds. Then they go five plays, 74 yards, 2:27. And then they go five plays, 2:55. They went long distances in a short period of time with not many plays. We take the second-half kickoff, for example, we go 17 plays, eat up eight minutes of the clock, our defense is resting, but we get a field goal out of it. That was the difference."
Closing thought on the SMU game
"That was the game. We are very disappointed in the sense that we felt it was a game that we could have won and didn't win. That kind of put us behind the eight ball. As I mentioned to team before the game, it would have given us a chance to be 2-2 at home. It would have given us a chance to be 4-4. It would have given us a chance to keep our goals alive, and not that they're still not but it makes it tougher now. A lot tougher."
On this weekend's opponent, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles
"Southern Miss is 5-3, 2-2 in the league. They lost to UAB last week, 50-49 in double overtime. It was a heck of a football game to watch. They are a big, strong, physical, athletic football team. I think they have nine guys back on defense and it shows. They are really good. They're in the top one-third of most of the conference statistics. They're really good and their stats bear it out. They lost a couple of real close football games. They've got a really good kicker. As a matter of fact, the kid's from Louisiana. He's the best in Conference USA. He kicked a 54-yarder last week, so he's a heck of a field-goal kicker."
On what Tulane has to do over the final month of the regular season
"We've got four games to play. We need to practice good and we have to play like we're capable of playing. We still have a chance to win some games down the stretch here, so we just have to put it together and move on. The attitude of our football team is very good. I've talked to a lot of our seniors and they feel like there is still hope and they want to finish strong. Now, the younger guys have to jump on board with them."
On Tulane's game captain for the Southern Miss contest
"Our game captain this week will be Tyler Helm. He's from Louisiana and is doing a nice job at tight end."
On Tulane's injury status
"Injury wise, not counting what we had in the past, Trent Mackey sprained his knee a little bit but I think he's going to be okay. He didn't practice yesterday and won't do much today but will do a little. He'll practice, hopefully, a little more tomorrow. Kendrick Washington has turf toe. I believe he's going to be okay. Eric Jones has a high ankle sprain on his other ankle, so now he's got two sprained ankles. I'd say he's very questionable. If you look at our depth chart, we moved Harris Howard from left guard to right tackle. Now Emmanuel Aluko will move up to right guard and Zach Morgan will move over to left guard."
On if Tulane's bowl chances are diminishing with three games left to play at home
"No, that's not it. We're just inconsistent. I don't know if it's at home or what. We played three pretty good quarters at home. I don't want to blame it on being at home. I tell my guys it doesn't matter. We can go play in the street. Let's go play. It's 11 guys against 11 guys and let's not worry about anything. I've stopped worrying about that stuff to be honest with you. I'd hate to use that as an excuse. That's all I can tell you at this point."
On the injury to Eric Jones making the offensive line a little smaller in size
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. (Laughing) What we're trying to do is we're trying to play the best five guys available right now and still have a couple of back-ups for depth. But we feel these five guys give us the best opportunity in this game."
On the play calling after having the ball first-and-goal from the nine in the fourth quarter
"At halftime, we had only thrown the ball like six times, and I told (offensive coordinator) Dan (Dodd) that we needed to throw the ball more. He agreed with that, yet he felt we were running the ball very well which we were. To answer that, maybe we should have run it three times in a row or four times in a row. The last time we were down there, I told Dan, `We've got four downs to do it,' and that's one of the reasons he probably did what he did. I seconded what he did. Again, that's why I say the coaches are as much to blame as the players."
On if Austen Jacks' fumble return for a touchdown woke SMU up on Saturday
"We were doing a great job defensively against them. When we scored that touchdown, it was like a little wind came out of our sail. Instead of us getting more emotional and more intense, it was like we became more relaxed. Look back over our period here. How many times have we been ahead by 14 points with a little over a quarter go? Not many times that I can recall. The point I'm trying to make is I think we lost a little edge. We didn't play very well defensively in the fourth quarter. We were aligned improperly at times. We took bad angles on the pass at times. We blew one coverage completely where we lucked out and they dropped the ball. We need to be more sound back there. We need to do a better job. When you're dealing with a sophomore safety who has played eight football games (at that position) now and you're dealing with a freshman corner - and a back-up freshman corner - (SMU head coach) June (Jones) knew where to go with the football. They picked on those guys a little bit. They didn't pick on Phillip (Davis) too much because he's a senior. They picked on some guys and the thing that happened is they ran the ball effectively and efficiently so we had to respect that, too. They just did a good job. Padron, in the first half, didn't throw the ball very well. They put No. 15 in and they put Padron back in. He threw the ball well in the end there."
On the imbalance between the passing game and the running game against SMU
"I think it had a lot to do with our philosophy going into the game. We felt that we could run the ball on them. We added three different run plays that they hadn't seen against the 3-4 defense which were very effective. (Orleans) Darkwa really got off on them. He did a nice job. We felt we could do some things running-game wise against them, but like I said - you run for yards and pass for miles. You can't just run the football and win games. You have to be so perfect. We had long drives. We ran the ball well. We ate up clock and kept the ball away from them. But ultimately, when you get inside the redzone you have to score. That's where we did a poor job. We didn't do a good job of scoring in the redzone. Maybe if we kept running, we would have won the game. I told Dan in the second half that we had to open up and throw the ball more. We have to throw it on early downs. But we threw incompletes, we got behind schedule and then we lost our plan. In this game, maybe it hurt us."
On if Tulane receivers were having a hard time getting open
"I don't think Ryan (Griffin) played his best game and he'll tell you that. There were some guys open. Because of his injury, maybe he's not practicing as much. He's lost a little bit fundamentally on some things. He's not hanging in the pocket and throwing the ball like he has to. We had some guys open sometimes and he's taking too many steps. His fundamentals are deteriorating because on Monday he doesn't practice because he's beat up and hurt with his shoulder. As a young guy, we expect him to do these things. But he needs reps like anyone else. I don't think he performed as well as he is capable of performing. I think SMU did a nice job of defending. I think we got in a couple of formations that we don't run the ball out of, they dropped eight guys off. They were rushing three - we call it max defend, where they rush three and drop eight - and they had all the zones covered. We couldn't get open. They played very deep with the deep guys so we couldn't run past them. We couldn't past them and we didn't have much. We ran a couple of screens. We ran some draws, but that can't win you the football game."
On the performance of Austen Jacks
"I think he really played well. He really is a blue-collar guy if you look at him. He's not flashy, but he doesn't do anything wrong. He does everything correctly. He plays hard. I teased him last week and said, `You're the only one that doesn't have a sack.' So he got a half one, and said, `It should have been mine completely.' He caused two fumbles. He recovered a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown. He's just a good presence on that side. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He's a very sound football player who plays very hard."
On if Tulane is still trying to learn how to win
"We're inconsistent, like I said. We show signs of brilliance sometimes, and then we show signs where it's like, `What are you doing?' I was asked, `Are you frustrated?' I'm past that. I'm just disappointed right now, and I'm disappointed with our consistency. Obviously you get frustrated. Obviously you get angry. But I'm past that. Let's just be consistent. We are a better football team and we show signs of it, but we're not showing signs of consistency. That's the thing we need to do a better job of. We need to be more consistent play in, play out, game in and game out."
On what he has to do to get that consistency
"I've done a bunch of it. I've screamed. I've yelled. I've patted them on the back. I've loved them up. Friday night, to be perfectly honest with you, came in the meeting. I had a mask on with tattoos. They were laughing their fannies off. I went up to the board, I wrote `Beat SMU' with a big smiley face and I walked out of the room. They were roaring. They loved it. I've tried everything is what I'm saying. You try everything. You try to make them laugh a little. You try and keep them loose. You hell at them. You beat on them. You love them up. There are all kinds of things. I don't think you do the same thing all the time because it doesn't have the same affect. If you yell at your kids all the time, they don't listen. But when you yell sometimes, then they listen."
On if it helps that Tulane still has a chance to make a bowl game
"Yes it does. I was talking to Pete Hendrickson the other day, for example. He says, `Coach, we've still got a chance at a bowl.' And I said, `I don't want to hear about any bowl. I want to hear about one game.' That's what we talked about last night. Don't mention any bowls to the media or anybody. Let's just talk about winning this football game. That's what we need to do. They still believe there's a bullseye out there and we have to try and hit it."
On if SMU's success passing late in the game was a case of superior athleticism
"I don't think it was athleticism. I think it was experience. We took a couple of bad angles on coverages. If we take the correct angle, maybe the guy doesn't catch the ball. If nothing else, at least we tackle the guy. Again, without being specific, it's specific."
On if he's satisfied with the talent level his team has at this point
"If you look back to everything that I've said, I've said we're a better football team than we've ever been. We're bigger, we're stronger, we're faster and we're more athletic. I've also said to a lot of people, that doesn't guarantee more wins because we're still missing some pieces of the puzzle in my opinion. You see our football team. You know what those pieces are as well as I do. But I'm not going to sit here and berate our players. We've got to do a little bit better of a job of recruiting some more guys. The program was farther down than I envisioned it. It's been a tough haul. We're getting better. That's all that I can say. We are getting better and I think - as I've said in my comments earlier - we have proven that we are better. If you watch us play, we are better. We're not the finished product yet. There are still a few missing pieces to the puzzle."
