Tulane Green Wave College Football Pregame Quote, 12/29/2022

COACH SVOBODA: Excited to be here. Trip’s gone really well so far. Had great amenities and great hospitality at the hotel. And kids have been pretty focused on what we’re trying to accomplish here, not getting too caught up in all the festivities. So we’ve had good practices, and everything’s gone very well so far.

Your first year with the program, what you thought of [Tyjae] Spears and your quarterback (Michael Pratt)? Just those two guys that have been through a lot there, and what they’ve done, and what you’ve seen development wise?

COACH SVOBODA: Just continue to grow. And we’re really fortunate on offense because our best players are our best leaders. And, of course, those are two of them.

In Tyjae, has progressively improved as the season’s gone along. Started off a little rusty, I think. Had kind of a slow spring. Was a little bit banged up. And the run game was a little slow to develop to start with. But, obviously, in the last half of the season, he’s been spectacular and really gotten the feel. And we’ve played him more. We’re rotating a little bit less at that position. I think that helps in terms of staying in the rhythm of the game.

Michael’s [Pratt] been kind of the same way. He’s progressively gotten better as the season’s gone along. And really, all year has been really efficient in terms of taking care of the football and completion percentage and spreading the ball around like we like to do. So, obviously, we have a lot of outstanding players on offense, but in terms of the run game, it’s Tyjae. In terms of running the ball and distributing the ball around, it starts with Pratt.

You’ve mentioned about staying with the hot hand Tyjae [Spears] a couple times the last couple of weeks. That really hadn’t been the philosophy before you got here. It was kind of a rotational system. He was coming off hamstring injuries and other issues. Did it Just take a while for him to get into full effectiveness? Has your philosophy always been, if you have a guy like that, use him as much as you can?

COACH SVOBODA: We like to play a lot of players. We like to keep players fresh. And that’s the ideal scenario. But sometimes, in terms of staying in the rhythm of the game and so forth, I guess where we’ve changed instead of having a standard, sort of, Okay, you’re going this series and this series. And the next guy comes in. It’s kind of see how it goes a little bit more in terms of keeping guys in the game. Particularly at a running back spot.

So doesn’t really have anything to do with the guys that are behind Tyjae. He’s just been playing really well. And he’s been healthy. After each game, he seems like he’s gotten a little bit stronger. So we’d be sort of silly not to give him the rock, you know?

Receiver it’s different. You got a reputation, a lot of guys touch the ball at Central Missouri. And this year, as many guys caught passes as any team did in the country. How much has that helped when you have that type of diversity?

COACH SVOBODA: I think it helps out a lot. Plus, those guys, each one of them have kind of a unique skill set that we like to utilize too. So we’ll go through our game plan on a weekly basis. We’ll look at who we want in on particular plays. So that’s nice. I mean, we have guys that are, two or three guys that are a little better blockers. You want to make sure that they’re in on certain play calls. And we got some guys that are better at running speed sweeps and reverses, those kinds of things.

So some of it is by design, and some of it is just ‚Ķ in terms of the rotation, those are guys that, because they’re running so much, you got to be careful with the receivers. You want them fresh down the line, especially with as many close games as we get into in our league.

And so I think what we’ve done is we’ve done a good job of selling our skill guys in general that, you just never know. You’ve got to keep playing. It might be your day. And it might be a day where you’re contributing away from the ball a little bit more.

So we’re fortunate in that regard that we have a lot of unselfish players. And I think it really starts with our leadership on the offensive side of the ball. I don’t think we have too many guys that are overly concerned about their statistics. They just want to play well and be great contributors overall to the team and winning the football game.

Obviously, Tyjae is going to be going to the senior bowl, and he’s going to get the chance to go to the next level. I guess my first question: Any surprise that he actually stayed and played in this game in the era that we’re in where guys are opting out and moving on to the next level?

COACH SVOBODA: I would say not surprised. Knowing him. I’m sure that he was getting hit from different sources, different people about whether he should play in the game. I don’t know. I didn’t really sit down and talk to him in depth because he had his mind made up pretty early. So I don’t know that he really flinched in that regard. And, again, that’s another sign of the unity and the love that the guys have for each other on offense. But just our team in general, I think everybody is just real excited to play in this game. Look at it as an opportunity to play against, one of the blue bloods in college football.

So if they did think about it, I don’t think they thought about it very long.

What aspects of his game do you think are going to translate well that will give him the opportunity at the next level? And what has he worked on the most that you’ve seen this year that will help for that?

COACH SVOBODA: Well, I think part of his frustration early was, he was just thinking too much. And I think when you get into a rotation with those guys, that’s some of the downside too. When a guy gets in there and thinks, oh man, I’ve got to make a play now because I’m only getting a handful of plays.

So I think he just stopped forcing the issue and allowing himself just to play and utilize his great instincts running the football. But he’s just about as well rounded as a guy that I’ve coached at the running back position in that he’s got great hands. He caught a game winning touchdown this year. He’s not afraid to block. You know, usually the running backs, in terms of pass protection, they’re going to be outweighed by 20, 30 pounds most of the time. But he sticks his nose in there, and it’s a very important part of what we do in terms of the passing game.

I think his game translates well to the next level because he’ll be required to do all those things, not just a one dimensional kind of guy.

How important is it to finish it off right?

COACH SVOBODA: Well, I think it’s really been the 1 0 mentality all season long. Coach [Willie] Fritz has done a good job of keeping the guys focused on the task at hand. I think that’s part of the reason why it’s been somewhat of a nameless, faceless opponent week in, week out, and just focusing on what we do best and executing at a high level and so forth.

But having said that, not every game is the same either. So I think they understand that, recognize it as an opportunity. They’re excited about it. But having said that, I think their approach has been exactly the same in terms of their focus in practice and understanding that all the hype and the fact that we’re in this game doesn’t really make any difference unless you play well.

This is the second highest scoring offense in school history in your first year

COACH SVOBODA: I just read that the other day.

What are you happiest about in terms of the way the offense has developed this year?

COACH SVOBODA: I think the fact that we haven’t been doing it that long and it’s been that efficient really. We’ve been ‚Ķ we’ve had a number of ‚Ķ and we’ve played good team football. I think that we’re an outstanding defensive club. I think that helps out a lot, to be honest with you. I think that allows you to ‚Ķ you’re always in the game, and it allows you to run your offense at its best. And for us, that means the ability to mix it up.

So we haven’t really gotten so much into a game where we’ve had to be one dimensional throwing the football. We’ve been able to mix it up most of the season. And, yet, when we’ve been in those scenarios, we’ve been pretty efficient. Two or three times in the two minute offense scenario.

But just the fact that we came in, and this is the first time for these players running this offense. The fact that they’ve done it with the level of efficiency and taking care of the football. We’re not heavily personalized. We don’t hurt ourselves very much. We’ve been productive in the red zone. And as you mentioned, we’ve been there’s been a few games where we’ve taken our foot off the gas a little bit, too, in terms of points this year.

So we feel like with kind of defense that we play, if we can get to 30, we’re gonna win a lot of games. And that’s been true this year for sure.

You mentioned taking care of the ball. USC thrives off forcing turnovers. It’s a focus every week. But is it extra emphasis this week since they’ve been so good?

COACH SVOBODA: Well, yeah, with the kids, it’s a matter of making them aware of the type of team that we’re playing. And for sure, what we don’t want to do is give their offense anymore opportunities than they would normally get.

So you’re right, it is a theme week in and week out. And we’ve been fortunate at being good at taking care of the football. But they have a tremendous turnover margin. And almost anybody you talk to relative to the most important statistic football wise, they would tell you turnover margin is the most important.

So we have to be conscious of not forcing the ball in the passing game and making sure that we’re securing the ball. Because if a team is trying to strip the ball, sometimes that can make them less effective as tacklers. So there’s give and take with some of those kinds of things too. But they are excellent at that aspect of the game. And we’re definitely aware of it.