MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews Morgan State at Weekly News Conference

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Listed below is the complete transcript from Green Wave head coach Willie Fritz's weekly press conference leading up to Tulane's matchup vs. Morgan State on Saturday.

Opening Statement
"We went out and got into Legion field today, we weren't able to get out there yesterday because of Labor Day so we just lifted. The people of Mountain Brook High School have just been awesome, that's where Chip Long played high school football. They are allowing us to use their fine weight room facility. As a matter of fact, yesterday they gave us 40 maybe 50 cases of water, Powerade, snacks and all sorts of stuff and they were giving us some more even today. We really appreciate the people in the city of Birmingham they have been just tremendous."

We went out and practiced today - it was a good workout and I told our guys that this is our field this weekend, Legion Field. The first day we were out there I talked about all the big-time games that have been played there, I made the mistake of saying that I used to listen to Keith Jackson broadcast games there and they didn't know who the heck I was talking about. It has been very nice of Legion field to allow us to practice there. We get access to their locker room and it's just a neat situation for us."

When viewing the tape from the Oklahoma game were there any different takeaways from what you had after the game?
"No, I thought we were really aggressive, and I thought the kids really brought the fight to them, we hit well, we just made too many mistakes. We talk about our plan to win at Tulane, I have had the same plan to win at every place I've been, and the number one part of the plan is the turnover to takeaway margin, and we were a minus one. When you play a team the caliber of Oklahoma you've got to be plus one, plus two, plus three, we weren't. We just had a bad spurt in that second quarter, the thing that was good about it was the defense held them to field goals instead of touchdowns. When they were put into adverse situations where they had a short field to go, the final part of our plan is finishing, and we felt like we dominated the game in the fourth quarter we outscored them 14-0."

"There were some good things to takeaway, but we would rather learn lessons from a "W" than an "L". Like I told them, we have a 24-hour pout rule and a 24-hour gloat rule after we win, we got to move onto the next thing. Sometimes guys they sit around and revel in past successes and they're not as good as the next time they go out or they're still worried about the last game where they didn't play very well. We've turned the page, we're on to Morgan State and we just want to play better. Good ball clubs make their biggest improvements between week one and week two, so we certainly want to do that."

Morgan State is at the opposite end of the spectrum of Oklahoma, and you've always been good at treating every game the same. Is that what you're telling the guys?
"We want to go out and play great and play better than we did last week. It's an opportunity for us to get out there and make a big-time improvement. So, we're attacking.

What are your thoughts on the reported schools leaving the American Athletic Conference for the Big 12?
"I saw something about it the other day, it's really none of my business. I want to do the best job I can for Tulane."

This seems like a dream offense for the tight ends. Can you explain what you are expecting from them?
"We line them up all over the place, they'll line up as the number one receiver, they'll line up as the widest guy, the number two guy and the number three guy. They'll have their hands in the dirt as an attached tight end, be in the back field kind of as a fullback. So, if a guy is smart and they do all those different things there are opportunities to catch balls because you're going to be open. I think they caught seven balls, and I could be wrong on that, but I think they caught seven balls for a little over 100 yards. There is four or five of them and they were wide open, nobody around them."

The big part of what Chip Long has got us doing offensively is, which I think is good, is a divert first offense which has a lot of things going on, lots of moving parts and if you play all the time you can take advantage of it if you're a smart guy because you can be all over the place. If you're a rep guy it's a difficult offense for you because somebody has got to hold you by the hand to get you lined up. Those guys are all smart kids though, Tyrick (James), Will (Wallace), Reggie Brown are going to start playing some more and same thing goes with Keitha Jones Jr. We didn't play Keitha last week - he was banged up a little bit but he's healthy now."

Do you think that that playing two tight ends gives you a little more run/pass balance?
"I think you're right because it's good matchups where you've got a big guy and a little guy out on the perimeter. You can stay in that block a little bit longer and Tyrick is probably 240, 245 and Will is about 235, 240, so it's a little bit bigger guy out there on the perimeter. Most of those safeties and a lot of guys are playing nickels and cover guys and getting them matched up on that nickel he might be blocking a 180 or 190 guy."

You've gotten a lot of praise this week. Does praise after a loss bother you at all?
"It does a little bit... I'm proud of the kids, proud of the effort as we fought through some adversity. It's an unusual story what we're doing right now. We're in a hotel and I don't know how long were going to be here. We're well taken care of, and I think I've mentioned it the other day in our team meeting, I told the guys that I haven't been in a hotel this nice until I was over 40 years old, I mean this is a nice place here this Sheraton. We're getting feed well and everything else, but we are a bit disconnected from what normal is right now. We just want to get better and its easy for me to do that, but I must convince a bunch of 18–22-year old's that every day we got to get out there and focus, concentrate, and get better."

"We're not taking classes right now, so there's plenty of time and I told these guys, 'hey grab these coaches at night,' we're all here at the hotel we're not hard to find."

Does being in Birmingham help in the short term?
"We're still under the 20 hour a week rule, the problem we get into is that going to the weight room is a drive and coming back is a drive and going to the meeting rooms, I am trying hard not to walk through other people's meetings because we just don't have as many meeting rooms as we normally have. That part of it is different, guys come down every morning and try to find their loop."

The fact that you have a lot of experience on this team, does that help in this current situation?
"I think it does, but I think the big part is we got pretty mature young men. When we go out and recruit, I always tell the coaches to go out and find a guy that's had a good 18 years. If he had a bad 18 years, we are going to have a hard time changing him to do things the way we want him to do. We got good young men and I've got very few problems. I stay on top of these guys and a big part of my job is helping them through this transition of 18 to 22 years of age. Thank goodness I don't have to rail on them constantly, 99 percent of these guys know the difference between right and wrong 24/7."

Any word on if you will be back next week?
"I know we would like that, but we can't go back until everything is fixed and it's safe for us to go back. So, I am putting that in the experts' hands."

MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews Morgan State at Weekly News Conference

Players Mentioned

Reggie Brown

Keitha Jones Jr.

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