MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews UCF at Weekly News Conference

NEW ORLEANS - Listed below is the complete transcript from Green Wave football head coach Willie Fritz's weekly press conference leading up to Tulane's matchup vs. UCF on Saturday.

Opening Statement
"Today we had a good practice. We were off yesterday, the NCAA had it where you couldn't practice because of election day. So we took yesterday off and came out today, so the guys are pretty fresh. That's a little bit of a different schedule for us. I thought we had a good, spirited practice, and we're just working on UCF. They've really played good defense, particularly in the last couple weeks, and offensively they're a much better running team than they get credit for. They do a good job running the football. They have two backs that have contrasting styles. One of them is a quick, fast guy and the other is a big dude who's got power. We're going to have to do a good job against the run as well."

Are they a lot different offensively than they were at the beginning of the year?
"Yeah, they're totally different. They're also a little different with (Dillon) Gabriel, their lefty quarterback, getting hurt early in the year. They've had to change it, they have a lot of the same plays but there's some things they aren't doing quite as much. So they are totally different. Under (Josh) Heupel they had really wide splits, they were running that Baylor offense from Art Briles so it's totally different now. Coach (Gus) Malzahn does a great job running the offense and he's got a lot of window dressing. He's got motion and shifts and adjustments."

Did you feel like you made any progress last week?
"You hate to say that after a loss, but I feel like we did. I felt like we tackled better. I thought they were the No. 2 team in the country, but I guess they're the No. 6 team in the country, but it's a good ball club and I thought we did a good job defensively and offensively we ran the ball effectively, particularly in the first half. We did have a couple minus plays and got behind so we had to start throwing the ball a little bit there at the end. The score was a little skewed but I thought we made some real progress against a real quality opponent. They're probably one of the top three defenses in the nation. They'll probably have four or five guys drafted and playing in the NFL, so they have a good defense. Offensively they run it. We had a couple missed assignments but otherwise we really played well. We almost had a pick in the end zone. There were some things to build on and we need to keep improving."

How did you react to Cincinnati's ranking?
"I was disappointed. I think they are definitely one of the top four teams in the country, they've proven it on the field, and I think there is some big time bias. I don't know why they aren't in the top four."

Has Pratt been cleared yet?
"We're still waiting. There's a protocol that we have to follow and that'll lead all the way up to Friday."

If he isn't cleared will he not make the trip?
"I'll bring him for sure. He's from down that way and unless they tell us it would be bad for him to be on the sideline he'll go. I didn't have him on the sideline last Saturday, I didn't think it would be good for him and neither did the doctors."

On Ryan Wright's performance…
"He's just doing a good job. We call it a 1.0 punt, we create it on location, hangtime and distance. A 55-yard punt with a 3.0 hangtime doesn't help you a bit. A guy's going to have 30 yards of turf in front of him when he catches the ball. Ryan (Wright) is just doing a better job of location and hangtime, and getting a good distance."

Big picture, what do you think you'll feel about this season when you look back on it?
"You look at all sorts of things in a season. I spend Sunday reflecting back on the previous game and then you have to look forward to the next upcoming opponent. There's a lot of things that you'd like to do differently and wish you'd done differently, but you can't change what happened 8 weeks ago. There were some good things we did at the beginning of the season. And we've got to keep recruiting at a high level, we have to keep coaching and doing what's good for our personnel. We've got to match our strategy with our personnel and sometimes you do have to change things on the fly with injuries, but we can play better than this and we know that. All of our attention is on finishing the 2021 season well. We're not going to plan or look back totally until the season is over."

How important will it be to bring in some wide receivers for next year?
"It's always important to bring in good players, but we have to bring in good fits athletically but also academically. We need to bring in guys who are going to fit our values on the field, off the field and in the classroom. That's important. If you bring in a grad transfer or a regular transfer you want him to be a guy who can come in and play for you. If he doesn't you screwed up. You can develop the high school kids, but with the transfers you're looking for guys who can contribute right away."

How many will you sign in the early period?
"Somewhere around 20. That's the tough thing right now. You've got to figure out at the end of the year exactly where you're at."

MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews UCF at Weekly News Conference

Players Mentioned

Ryan Wright

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