Huskers Plan to Respond Against Baylor

Nebraska Football

Weekly Press Conference

Nebraska vs. Baylor

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004

 

Nebraska Head Coach Bill Callahan

Opening Statement

“I want to recognize the players of the game from Texas Tech. First off, on offense, Mark LeFlore. He had a very good game for us. He’s beginning to emerge in a lot of different situations for us, especially on third down. On defense, the player of the game was Lornell McPherson. He really did a quality job on the field Saturday evening, and I do want to recognize his efforts. On special teams, Bo Ruud really stepped up in the coverage element and provided some big plays for us. You can see his continual progress as a special teams player and also as an outside linebacker. The scout team players of the week: on the offensive side of the ball, Lydon Murtha, our young lineman out of Minnesota. He continues to improve. And our defensive scout team player of the week was Nathan Krug. I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize Barrett Ruud for his accomplishments on Saturday evening. He’s the all-time tackling leader here at Nebraska. It just speaks volumes for his production, and again, what a great milestone for him in his career. I’m sure that he would trade that record for that victory Saturday night. I just wanted to again mention that and show my respect and appreciation for what he’s done for our team.

 

The injury status of our team right now going into Baylor ? we lost Dane Todd for two weeks. It sounds like he has a sprained foot. They did an X-ray on him yesterday, and it appears that he will be out. Hopefully less, but that’s kind of a big blow to us. He’s been a quality contributor in every respect ? special teams, offense. He’s the epitome of a role player, so it’ll be tough to lose him. Joey Robison is still questionable for the game with a hamstring injury. We’re hoping to have him back by the end of the week. He’s still questionable, and hopefully he can improve his physical status. He is a key special teams player for us.

 

Other than that, we’re anxious to get back on the practice field today and get our preparations solidified for Baylor and this weekend’s challenge. That’s where we are currently.”

 

On Offensive Lineman Jake Andersen:

“I was concerned. Jake had another stinger episode ? an injury that can occur in the neck region, and it’s something that he wears a collar for. It’s something we’re consciously looking at and trying to eliminate. But those types of things do come up when linemen hit with their shoulders and have to try to go down and cut block or do the things they do. Those types of injuries happen and unfortunately, he went down Saturday night. He did come back, and that’s something we’ll monitor. All indications are that he’ll play Saturday night.”

 

On the staff’s mental approach in the “transition year”:

“You never prepare for anything like that. I don’t. I don’t look at life like that, but I will say that our staff is a quality staff. The places these guys have come from, and how those respective teams are doing across the country ? I look at Utah, I look at Wisconsin, I look at Purdue. These guys are quality coaches. They know exactly what they’re doing. They know it’s a challenging situation based on Saturday’s performance, but we all have to step up. We have to go out and prove ourselves again. Talk is cheap. The great thing about going out again on Saturday night is the chance to redeem yourself and get yourself on cycle again. We’re still in this race, and that’s where we are. That’s the reality that we live in.”

 

On the patience of Nebraska fans:

“We continue to believe in what we’re doing wholeheartedly. The offensive and defensive systems obviously didn’t play and perform as well as we would have liked. Things got out of control there in the fourth quarter, but it’s one of those games that doesn’t define you for any length of time, especially for a week or a season. All is not lost. The great thing about this is we’re still in the hunt. We’re still in the race. I look at the schedule, and it’s encouraging to look at the challenge ahead, but I don’t want to get too far ahead because we always take that one-game approach. This week is going to be key for us as we try to get back on track against Baylor. I’m very confident that our kids will practice hard and have that resolve to get back on the field and improve themselves.”

 

On talking during the game with Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove:

“I’m very confident in Coz. This is a game that he hurts deeply for. Because he’s a prideful guy, and he comes from a conference where defense is everything in the Big Ten. So coming in here and facing the type of team we did, he faced that type of team at Purdue and has had success at different stages against Purdue. So I’m very confident in Coz’s ability to lead our defense and do the things that we did. The bottom line is that we didn’t execute. I think that’s been voiced, and that has been expressed so far since that game. I know that he’ll redirect the defensive unit, and he’ll regain their focus. I know the guys believe in him, and we’ll go back out and get to work on Baylor. We’ve got to prove ourselves.”

 

On taking a loss like the 70-10 one at Texas Tech:

“I never have, and it hurts. I’m not going to dismiss that fact, but as a leader and as a head coach, it’s something you can’t dwell on. You’ve got to get it behind you, and I told that to the team on Sunday when we visited. This is something that is not what we are about. This one game will not define us, and it doesn’t define our season. We’ll define what we do. The great thing is that we have another game to go out and do that in.

 

I just want to point out references to my own personal experiences with the Raiders. In my first year as a head coach, we started out 4-0. We were hot; we came out of the box smoking. Then we hit a snag in the road and dropped our next four, so we were 4-4 at the split going into Monday night in Denver. It was a tough, tough situation to rebound on Monday night, on the 500th game of Monday Night Football. Denver had a pretty good lead in the division, and they were ready to stick a fork in our season. Our guys bounced back, and we were really pleased with what occurred there. I’m drawing an analogy that anything can happen. Football is one of those sports nowadays where there is great parity, and teams across the country have improved. You’ve got to be ready. Just like in the National Football League, it’s the same situation in college football. You’ve got to have your A game ready for every opportunity. If you’re not just right, things like that can happen.”

 

On the offense’s faith in the system:

“Well, I can’t speak for them, but Sunday when we went through a good half of the film and looked at everything intently, closely, examined every aspect of our play, it was very honest and open. Our players, I feel, believe in what we’re doing. But more importantly, I believe in them. I think that’s where I’m coming from as a coach. I think we have to do a better job putting our players in position to do things, and that’s our responsibility. I take full accountability for that. Then, of course, we have guys who are seniors and looking at the head coach as we lost this game by a traumatic difference, and what does that say about us? Is there going to be a big movement here for youth? And Beau Davis did come into the game, and I’m sure it’s in the back of some of their minds that they’re looking at this as ?Oh my gosh, there’s a total youth movement ready to happen on this team,’ but that’s not the case. As I said this spring and this summer, I’m totally committed to our veteran players, our senior players who have put so much into this program and gone through so much. They deserve a great season, and we’re going to do everything we can to provide hopefully a championship season for them. Like I said, we’re still in this race. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, and I couldn’t be proud of that group of guys. We’re going to keep pressing on.”

 

On the team's progression:

“I’m not going to sit out there in front of America and tell you that we’re getting better after a loss like that. We didn’t get better. There are times in that game where we didn’t execute. There are individual improvements throughout the course of practice and throughout the course of a game, but collectively, we’re not where we need to be. That’s the challenge for all of us.”

 

On the loss at Texas Tech serving as a wakeup call:

“I think their urgency has stepped up in the way they came in Sunday after the game. Most teams I’ve been on, they come in, and we have a shake-out in the morning and watch our films and examine everything. But our guys were attentive, bright, and that’s tough coming in from a road game where you get in at 1 a.m., and the turnaround is pretty quick. They come in, lift, run, and sit down and evaluate film. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. They were very conscious and very aware of what needs to be done for this upcoming game, so again, that’s a credit to them and their character. This is a team of high character guys, good leadership, and we’ve just got to keep getting better.”

 

On the culture of Nebraska fans after a loss:

“I came here because I wanted to be here, and I understood that you don’t go to Nebraska for a honeymoon. I knew it was going to be a challenging situation, but to go through a loss like this at any level, in any program, it’s tough, and it hurts. We just have to go out and rectify the errors that have occurred and improve. We have to challenge ourselves as coaches and our team as players to do the best we can. I really believe this team has a lot left in it ? a lot more to give and a lot more left on that field. That wasn’t exemplary of what we did on Saturday night, but I’m convinced, and I’m encouraged by the character of our kids and what we have to get done on the field.”

 

On Joe Dailey’s concern of losing some of the coaching staff’s confidence:

“I surely hope not. I sat down and talked with Joe yesterday and had a good conversation with him. We have total confidence in Joe’s ability to step up and provide leadership at that position. We’ve just encouraged him to do the best he can and what he does everyday when he goes out on the practice field and when he goes out to play.”

 

On Baylor:

“Baylor is an interesting team. I watch them on defense, and Bill Bradley is an old NFL coach who is coordinating their defense. It’s a very aggressive package they’re using down there. It’s a lot of eight-man football, a 44 defense where you’re going to see everybody up, a lot of man coverage. They have the ability to play some zone, but they’re a very aggressive defense. We watched them against Missouri, and they pressured Missouri on every down. That was down there at Baylor, but they went after Missouri, I would say 80 percent of the time with a lot of blitz, a lot of pressure. So this game is going to come to our ability to handle the blitz question and do a great job blocking all the movement and the things they’ll challenge us with.”

 

On the importance of a quick start to the game:

“I love it. I think that’s what we do every week. We talk about starting fast and finishing strong, and the first 15 is laid out for that. We did last week; we just didn’t get on the board when we drove down the length of the field. Aside from that, we feel we’re moving the ball effectively in our opening drive.”

 

On quarterback Beau Davis:

“He’s still in our backup role, and with backups, they have to be ready at any moment to step in and take over the controls. Whether it’s Beau Davis or Ryan Goodman or whoever it may be, when you’re in that position, you’ve got to have the ability to step up. It’s never an opportune time for a backup to enter a game. Usually, if you’re winning by a large margin, you’re coming in there and handing the ball off. The case Saturday night was an opportunity for a young quarterback to get into the game and exhibit his abilities and see what he could contribute. So that’s a possibility that he could be back in at a moment’s notice should something happen to Joe, God forbid. If injury did occur, that’s the role of a backup. You have to be ready at any time.”

 

On Sandro DeAngelis and David Dyches at the kicker position:

“We’re going to look at that closely this week. We’re going to look closely at our kicking situation. We haven’t made any changes relative to that position, but I think there’s great competition between Sandro (DeAngelis) and David Dyches. Both have contributed to this team, and they’ll continue to contribute.”

 

On the differences between DeAngelis and Dyches:

“Well, I think you look at Sandro, and it’s experience and his savvy, his understanding of the game, and his confidence level is very high. We haven’t had the production there, but David Dyches is a different type of kicker where he can elevate the ball pretty quickly off the hold and off the ground. He does have a little bit more range and distance, not to take anything away from Sandro, but he does have a little deeper leg in that respect. There’s just a slight difference there. Other than that, there’s not much difference.”

 

Nebraska Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove

On the amount of pressure put on Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie last Saturday:

“Our pressure was not very good, whether it was three- or four-man pressure. It wasn’t very good.”

 

On Baylor’s offense:

“They can be dangerous. They do execute very well. They’re big up front, they have big backs and some quick receivers. Their quarterback has done a nice job.”

 

On tweaks in game preparation the coaching staff needs to make:

“We will certainly simplify some things. Of course, we can only simplify things so much. But we’ll move on and try to get better at what we’re doing.”

 

On getting the players back on track:

“What you try and do is put things behind you as quick as possible. You have to go through and show them the mistakes that were made, but it’s not something you want to keep on talking about. It’s obvious they know what was wrong. You move on, and it won’t be talked about again.”

 

On what went wrong defensively against Texas Tech:

“We didn’t execute, to be honest with you. Execution and the quarterback had a lot of time. We did have a few busts, and because of that it kind of changed our plan a little bit. I think we went to more zone coverage, with the thinking that you have more eyes on the ball in zone coverage and we needed interceptions.”

 

On why there were problems with tackling:

“That’s a good question, because we’ve been a good tackling team. Our angles weren’t very good. Our angles and entry into the play weren’t very good. A guy’s supposed to be inside-out, and let the ball cut back on him. That is definitely something that has to be addressed and corrected. But it is something we work on every day, and for whatever reason it didn’t happen.”

 

“With your live tackling, sometimes you build bad habits by leaving your feet. In the open field, what you have to do is sink your hips and get yourself under control. When you do live tackle, sometimes guys leave their feet and get out of control. So we’ll still continue our form tackling like we always have and try to improve on that.”

 

On whether the defense has a chip on its shoulder following the loss:

“After Saturday, I would think there’s a good possibility. We’re not very excited about it, obviously, and they believe we have something to prove. We’ve been playing pretty good defense. What happened Saturday night is not us, and it will not be us.”

 

On the progress of the team:

“We are a work in progress. There are different systems on both sides of the ball (from last year), and it will be a constant learning experience.”

 

On his own performance as defensive coordinator:

“(It was) not good, after Saturday night. I’ll take a lot of the blame.”

 

On things they would do different against Texas Tech if given the chance:

“There are some things we would do different, being familiar with their offense like I am. We would probably stay more four-man (line). “

 

On how the current personnel fits into his defensive scheme:

“It has nothing to do with that. We have good enough players.”

 

On the reason for the lack of pressure created against Texas Tech:

“They had a very good offensive line. Their tackles were very good. They did a good job protecting, that’s all they do. They protect, protect every day, and they did a nice job.”

 

On if Texas Tech seemed faster on their AstroTurf than on film:

“They seemed to be. Being on the field and watching them move compared to our guys moving. We didn’t play as fast as we’d normally play.”

 

On if the defense did not match up well with Texas Tech:

“I wouldn’t say that, because you can always do things to correct it. Obviously, next time we play them it will be a different story. What happened happened, and we can’t do anything about that now. We’ve got to push on.”

 

On if he is excited to see the defense respond this week:

“I certainly am. They’ve been positive and upbeat. Again, we’ve tried to put it behind us as fast as possible.”

 

On Baylor’s style of offense:

“They’re pretty normal. They’re a lot of “21,” two backs and one tight end, two backs with three wides, three wides, one back and a tight end. They do go some four-wides, and they will do that all down-and-distance, but it’s not something they major in.”

 

Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell

Opening Statement:

“Our players are obviously disappointed about the way we performed last weekend. It’s a difficult loss, but the best thing about that is getting back on the practice field. To get that kind of taste out of your mouth, that disappointment out of your system, the best thing is to get back to work. We’re anxious to do that today. We’ve spent some good time with our players the past couple days, talked about a lot of things, and I think we’re ready to go back to work today.”

 

On whether the players are suffering from hangover following last weekend’s loss:

“No. We have a thing we call the 24-hour rule. Whether we win or we lose, in 24 hours it has to get out of our system. We talked with our guys earlier in the year about getting things out of their system. Kids are resilient, they bounce back pretty quickly. The biggest thing is to get busy, get active, get going, get playing, get practicing, get watching film. Those are the things our guys have gotten back into, and they’re anxious. We have opportunities. We had a huge opportunity on Saturday night, and we didn’t execute. We didn’t play as well as they played. We missed an opportunity, but you know what, we have another one. So our guys will look ahead and look forward. We’ll pull together and keep improving. We did some good things Saturday night, we just didn’t do enough of them, obviously. That’s where we’re at, that’s what we have to live with and we have to continue to improve on that.”

 

On the percentage of snaps quarterback Joe Dailey will see in practice from now on:

“He’s going to keep on getting the same kind of snaps that he got (before Saturday). He’s going to keep working, he’s our No. 1 quarterback. I think that he’s learned some valuable lessons and Saturday night was another lesson. He did some very good things in the game, and he made some progress in some areas. The bottom line is, offensively, when you don’t score enough or often enough to win at a certain time, sometimes changes are made. Joe understands that as well as anybody. So that’s the nature of the beast, the nature of the position.”

 

On why the coaching staff left Beau Davis in at quarterback:

“There are a lot of things we could have done. We wanted to get Beau an opportunity to play, and he got that opportunity. It’s a tough position for a young guy to go into. As far as his mindset for a backup quarterback, he has to be ready to go in the game at any time, good or bad. How tough it is, whether it’s home or on the road, we’re ahead or behind, that’s the nature of being a backup quarterback. He’s had to learn that quickly in his career. He was put in a tough situation, and we were trying to win the game. We were trying to do some things that would spark the team to win the football game. We always want our players to realize that and we always want them to feel that from the coaching staff. Things didn’t turn out, and he didn’t play as well as he’s capable. And quite frankly, a lot of the other guys around him didn’t play very well the last quarter. That didn’t help his performance either. All of our people, the coaches, and I’ll be the number-one guy to say I’m accountable as well. We’ll just keep on plugging, keep on pounding the rock, and we’ll keep on striving.”

 

On why they quit running the ball in the second and third quarter:

“I don’t think we did go away from it. We just felt we had to do some things to score points. We were playing against an offense that was playing very well, we needed to keep the ball away from them and move the chains. We did a great job in the first half of ball control, but it goes back to that old stat. The most important thing is to put points on the board. We had the ball for 20 minutes in the first half, but we only scored three points. It wasn’t enough, because they did a good job offensively. We had to do some things to push the ball down the field to get the ball in the end zone, we felt, to have a chance to beat that team on Saturday night. So you make some decisions to do what you think is the best for your team to give them a chance to win. That’s why we work. We made some mistakes, and things kind of got away from us, but we made decisions in the second half for what we thought we had to do to score enough points to win the game. Obviously we didn’t execute it well enough.”

 

On if he’s discouraged:

“I’m not discouraged at all. I know it was one game, and we didn’t play well at all. We had a chance to reach all of our goals. I’m disappointed about how we played, and I think all of our players are. But that’s not going to affect me today, how we played on Saturday night, and it can’t affect our players. We have work to do, and we have to go about the business of doing that work and we start doing that today.”

 

On whether there is a mounting frustration among the offensive players:

“I don’t think so. I think our guys see that there’s progress being made. Sometimes that doesn’t always show up in the box scores. It’s the kind of thing when you execute, you play faster, with more confidence, more speed and tempo. As you start to string those types of plays together is when you start to see the type of execution take place. They’re disappointed because we didn’t win, but I don’t think they’re frustrated or discouraged at all.”

 

“We’ve embraced this team since we’ve been here. I think we’ve given people roles, and I think they’ve taken those roles and tried to build on them. If you talk to our offensive kids, I think they’d express that same thing. I have confidence in that. I think our guys see their roles, understand what they need to do, and I think they can feel themselves improving, I really do. That’s hard for anybody to hear that, after our Saturday night performance, but I believe that. Sometimes in certain failures, you’re closer to where you want to be than people realize. In my mind, that’s where things are going. We knew we were going to have some rough spots along the way, we didn’t think it was going to be all wine and roses. Transition is tough, and the thing about it is we have coaches that have all been through it before. This isn’t our first rodeo, so we’ll keep on working. The only constant you have is to work, so that’s what we’ll lean on.”

 

On trying to build back Beau Davis’ confidence:

“I don’t know where all of this talk comes from. He played bad and he’s disappointed in the way he played. Anybody would be. And he’s ready to go back to work. He’s better today than he was last Friday, because he had a chance to play in a Big 12 football game, and he’s learned some valuable lessons. He’s better today than he was then, so I don’t look at it as a negative. I look at it as a positive, and we obviously wish we could have won the game, but we weren’t able to. He’s disappointed because he knows he can play better, and he has to work to improve his game. I don’t know where all of that confidence talk goes to. He’s fine. He’s a young guy, he came here to play football and he got a chance to play Saturday night. He didn’t play as well as he wanted to, but now he has to go back to work to prepare himself so when he gets his opportunity, he’s ready to roll. As a backup quarterback, he understands how vital that is now, much better than last week.”

 

Player Quotes 

Quarterback Joe Dailey:

On recovering from the loss to Texas Tech:

"It's been difficult, but it hasn’t been too tough. We have to rebound. I guess that’s the theme this week. We don’t have to rebuild anything, we just have to regroup and refocus our mindset.  I think we’ve done a really good job of refocusing so far. We came in on Sunday and ran and lifted and got the film out of our system. Coach (Jay) Norvell always talks about the 24-hour rule and how after 24 hours you have to eliminate all thoughts about the game and get on with your business. It’s not very difficult, to be honest with you. There’s nothing you can do about it, except eliminate those mistakes."

 

On if he expected to come back into the game after Beau Davis entered:

"No, not at all. I know from past experiences that once you get pulled and they pull a guy out of his redshirt season to come in, you have to let the guy play and get him some experience. They didn’t pull him out of his redshirt for two series. You have to let him finish the game and get that out of his system."

 

On being taken out of the game:

"Initially, I was surprised. But at the same time, I watched the first series and understood what was going on. You have to prepare multiple people. You can’t just throw all your coins in one bucket and expect to come out on top. You have to prepare everybody and spread the wealth."

 

On what he can take from watching the offense from the sideline:

"It’s never good to sit on the sideline and watch your team get demolished. It didn’t feel good at all. But at the same time, I pick up something from that as well."

 

On the offense’s mindset after the loss:

"I can’t say we’re frustrated. I have to say we’re impatient right now. We don’t like the fact that when we have the plays we don’t make them. A lot of the times on Saturday, the plays were there and we were just one play away from getting a new series of downs and going on about our business. Right now, the guys on offense are thinking we have to strap it on now. We have six games left and it’s time to get with it. People have been giving excuses, but there are no excuses only reasons. We have to go about our business now."

 

On the pressure for this weekend’s Baylor game:

"I feel like there’s no pressure at all, to be honest with you. What everyone has to understand is that it’s a new system we’re implementing. That’s great and that’s a great excuse, but the truth is a lot of people are young here and this is the first time they’ve been through all of this. We’ve never been put in this type of situation and running this type of offense before. The offense is great and there’s nothing wrong with the offense and there’s nothing wrong with the players running the offense. We’ve been saying it for the last three weeks, but we’re just a few plays away. Once we fix them, we’ll be good to go again."

 

On the team’s focus after the loss:

"It’s one game. I’m embarrassed to say that we got beat that bad, but that’s the truth and everyone saw it. The attitude in the locker room now is that it can’t get any worse than that. We’re going to go down in history as the team that lost by the biggest deficit. There’s nothing we can do now but go out and beat a team by the biggest margin. "

 

On the keys for this weekend:

"Win the football game is the key. Most importantly, we have to put points on the board. I think our defense did a good job (against Texas Tech), even though the score didn’t reflect it. It’s hard to keep a team like that to minimal points. Our focus this week is on being able to put points on the board. My job as a quarterback is to put points on the board and that’s my plan this week."

 

On his mindset:

"I’m still confident, and I still love this game. Nothing is going to change with me. I love playing this game, whether I sit the bench or play the whole game. I came here to play football, and I’ve always played football with this mindset that when you’re in the game, you have to make things happen. Playmakers want the ball in their hands, and I love having the ball in my hands and making things happen. When we lose a game on account of me, I’m distraught, but at the same time I know the following week I have to come back and play the biggest game of my life."

 

On if he’s ever been associated with a loss like last Saturday:

"No. In high school I lost a lot of big games in my senior year because we weren’t as talented as other teams and the score reflected that at times. But now, we were just as talented as Texas Tech on Saturday, but you have to perform. Performance is the biggest thing."

 

On the importance of the Baylor game:

"Every game is big, but I don’t know what the biggest game of my life will be. I approach this game as if it could be my last. You never know what can happen, and anything can happen."

 

Linebacker Stewart Bradley:

On moving on after the loss to Texas Tech:

"It’s tough, but it’s something we have to do. It was definitely a tough one last Saturday, but we have to put it behind us, improve and move on. Sunday we came in and looked at the film and tried to put it behind us. As far as looking at the game and trying to take positives away from the game, we try to do that in the first 24 hours. The game is still on a lot of people’s minds around town, and it should be because it was a bad loss, but we have to move on from that."

 

On the defensive fundamentals in the Texas Tech game:

"I think that was definitely an issue. They’re definitely a quick team and we had problems with over-pursuing. Generally, we haven’t had teams cut back on us in any other games, and that created a lot of big plays that we should have made a tackle on. Fundamentals were a big issue, and that’s something we’ll definitely be working on this week. Sometimes when you get down, you try to make big plays and force things, when you should just let the scheme work and just do your job and your assignment. That’s when you can create bigger plays. When you do more than what’s expected of you in the scheme, that’s when holes open up and big plays happen. We had a good, sound scheme going into the game and we just didn’t execute that to the best of our ability or as well as we should have."

 

On how the team will respond:

"I think we’ll respond well. No matter how ugly it was, it’s still just one loss and we have a whole lot of football to play. We’re strong as a defensive unit and as a whole team, and I think we’ll definitely bounce back and come back and play hard the next game."

 

On responding after the turnovers against Texas Tech:

"You definitely don’t want turnovers to happen, but it’s football and things happen. As we develop a new system, there are going to be things that happen on the field that aren’t expected and we have to adjust to that. I felt like up to that game we’d done a good job with sudden changes. Obviously, we were sub-par in sudden changes last week, but we’re going to work hard at that and get better this week."

 

Fullback Steve Kriewald

On the loss to Texas Tech:

"The game was tough on everybody. Things just kept getting worse and worse. It’s something that we just have to bounce back from as a team and just come back and play a good game this week."

 

On his faith in the West Coast Offense:

"I still have faith in this system, especially in practice. There are a lot of great things going on in practice. At times in games, it really looks good. We have to continue to work as a team to bring it all together and put together a whole game instead of just series of drives here and there."

 

On the frustration level after the game:

"It was really high. We came in for workouts yesterday. We looked at film and looked at what we need to do and what we need to fix. There is a lot of frustration and guys really searching for answers on what we need to fix. We just have to come together as a team and stay close. We just have to pull together and be concerned with what’s going on in our team meetings and practices and try to put aside everything else this week and come out and have a good week."

 

On quarterback Joe Dailey:

"Joe is doing a great job. He works hard, and he’s in studying a lot of game film and studying the game plan and doing what he needs to do. He had a lot of good plays in the game too. You just stay positive with him and know that he’s going to keep working hard and getting better."

 

On when the fullback will get a carry:

"I don’t know. I wouldn’t hold my breath. It’s something we don’t work on, so it’s something that probably isn’t going to happen."

 

On the importance of the Baylor game:

"Right now, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the biggest game of the year. I think it will be that way with every game from here on out. We have to be ready to play and be ready to have a great game and not just an average game. We really have to be ready to come out and pull together and have a great game this week."

 

On his reaction to quarterback Beau Davis entering the game:

"The coaches were just trying to look for a spark. Joe had been doing okay, but we hadn’t really had any big plays. We just needed to score some points and they were willing to mix things up to try and see if something could happen."

 

On quarterback Beau Davis:

"Beau’s been good. He can really throw the ball. He has a good arm and he can get receivers well and can really throw the ball down field, so that’s what we were hoping for."