South Florida Bulls College Football Pregame Quote, 11/02/2021

For the last four games of the season, obviously you’ve got some big-time opponents on the schedule left but you know our goal is to find a way to go out and be consistent with our execution for four quarters because that’s ultimately what it’s going to take against the teams that we have left on the schedule.

This week is homecoming week. We’re excited about that.

It’s always a lot of good things going on during homecoming. I was able to go out to an event last night with a lot of the students and be able to speak and be there with them something was not able to do last year obviously during the pandemic.

I know there’s a lot of things planned around our campus for students and alumni and homecoming is also always an important week; but i think this year it’s even a little bit more special because it’s coming during our 25th year of our football program, so I know there’s a lot of throwback stuff that we’re doing for that and i know we’re looking forward excited about that excited about having many of our alumni and students at the game.

This Saturday night versus Houston. They’re No. 4 in the country in total defense.  They’re No. 1 in the country in third-down defense, only giving up 25 conversions on the season. They’re 10th in the country in rush defense and they’re 18th in the country in pass defense.

And so they’re an outstanding defense, very fast, aggressive. They have two defensive linemen that will probably be top NFL draft picks that have created issues for everybody that played this year.

Their offense is very explosive, some of the best team speed that I think that we’ll have played up to this point. 

They’re going to be able to try to create some match-ups that we’re going to have to have a plan for and then obviously the thing everybody knows about is they got one of the best kickoff returner and punt returners in the country. This young man has either eight or nine
touchdowns in his career and returns counting playing it at Troy, what he did at Troy and then what he’s done now at Houston.

So, they’re a really good team coming in and really the message that I’ve had to our players is, hey, we got four games left of the season and we have made progress through the first eight games. Obviously, we haven’t been able to to turn that into the the number of wins that we all wanted or expected, but really you know this season is going to be based off how we finish, right? Everybody remembers November and, man we got a big time, all three of the schools that are leaving to go to the Big 12 on our schedule here in the last four games and then the next two teams we play at home or are obviously the top two teams in our league right now.

So, you know many people may look at that and you know see a lot of challenges and adversity, but I choose to see it as opportunity I think that that was the big message for us on Sunday when we came back is, listen, everybody’s got to take ownership in this. 
I feel like we went from a year ago where we probably didn’t belong on the field with them, we didn’t belong on the field with Tulsa, to now a year later like we belong, but it’s not enough just to belong now; it comes down to playing well.

I mean, our guys, they’re believing and they’re playing hard we’re just not playing well enough and that starts with us as coaches. We’ve got to do a better job with them get them to be able to execute in some of those situations and then, you know, they’ve got to be able to go out and execute for four quarters and that’s ultimately kind of where we are now at this part of the season.

Sunday, I put up our remaining four games right, No. 19 Houston, No. 2 Cincinnati, at Tulane and at Central Florida. You know my challenge to the guys is, what do you see when you see this schedule, right? What do you see people on the outside they may see a lot more of the same a lot more struggle. But what do you see? Me personally, I see opportunity.

I see opportunity for this team to be able to go get some of those big wins that we’ve been building for. And that’s really where it starts; it’s the mindset and that’s honestly part of part of my optimism for where we are right now is being around our players every day and
seeing the way that they have changed their mindset and the way that they show up every day and it matters to them.

I’m not sure sometimes last year if it really mattered. It matters to them and they’ve got a lot of pride and they want to see this thing get turned around. They want to see it turned around this year in the last four games and not just, you know, the next year.

So, I think for me, you know, it’s about pointing out being real and pointing out, ‘Hey here are the mistakes, this is why we lost the game,’ but also continue in that that positive mindset of what we’re doing because that that’s really the only way to get to where we want to go.

I mean, it’s hard for me and our staff being here two years and looking at the the record there’s a lot of guys in that room that were here the year before. I mean you think about what those guys have been through and for them to keep showing up each and every week
and go out and play. 

We’ve all seen teams that just kind of lay down and just kind of woe is me and transfer portal and I’m leaving. We’ve all seen that but in this group they’ve responded in an uncommon way and that’s why that’s why I believe we’re going to have success here in the last four games and that’s why I believe that we’re going to turn the page and turn the corner as a program, because of of the the daily decisions that this group has made and continues to make. And it’s not easy. I mean, it’s it’s hard, right? It’s hard for everybody, but you know it’s what is the other choice right to have the negative mindset. What is that going to accomplish, right? So, that’s kind of where I am, but ultimately I would say I grew a lot in that I learned a lot from Coach Swinney. I mean, he and my guys will tell you in my meetings behind closed doors, we get after it and we cover the mistakes and things that need to get improved, but overall leading with an attitude and the power of a positive mindset is truly more powerful than ever and I think you’ve seen that.