Cincinnati Bearcats College Football Pregame Quote, 10/31/2023

Going back to the game Saturday night, obviously disappointed in particularly the second half and how the outcome in the second half. The first half, I thought our guys played really well. They were right there in the game. The negative, we missed the field goal and essentially it would have been 10-10 at the half if you would have knocked that down. We were holding their running back in good shape in the first half and really playing hard. I was disappointed in the way the second half went last week. I thought that we just couldn’t get any momentum in the second half. We went three and out in the first series, they go down and score, we come back and throw an interception and they score again. We never regained any of that momentum. They had grabbed it and kept just hitting the ball to #0 (Ollie Gordon II) and we couldn’t get him down. Obviously, the outcome was not what we intended for it to be, but at the end of the day, we have to do a better job coaching and we have to do a better job executing. Obviously when we’re executing, our guys are doing that, we can compete with anybody out there. We’ve shown that this year, but we have not sustained that throughout the games. We have to do a better job as coaches, as players and everybody in our organization. We’re going to do everything we can to come out here and win this game this weekend. We’ve got a great opportunity in our stadium, in Nippert in front of our fans that are unbelievable, to come out, put on a very good product on that field and go out and get a win. These two teams right here are in very similar situations. You think about two programs over the years who have done a great job of winning a lot of football games. We’re sitting here in very similar positions here toward the end of the season and are both in their first season in the Big 12. It’s been difficult obviously, for both programs. I watched them [UCF] last week and they’ve played some outstanding football at times. I mean, their offense is unbelievable. Their defense can really run and somehow have not won games. Same for us with turnovers. It has been a big factor for both teams. It’s very similar. When you look at it, both teams can run the football. I think we’re sixth in the country in rushing yards but we’re number three in the Big 12 and they’re number one. So, there’s only six-yard difference there. They can run the football very well. It really does come down to turnovers for them in some of their games. We’re excited about going out and playing them. We’re putting in everything we can to win this football game. We’re going play the players that we think can give us the best chance to win this football game and play the best we have all year. It is Military Appreciation Day. We’re excited to be able to honor our military, which is important to me and important to all of us. We are wearing a special decal; you guys can see that on the helmet here. Which is a US naval ship, USS Cincinnati, based out of San Diego, which is awesome and to be able to wear that this weekend and honor those guys. I appreciate everything that they do. Talking about some injuries, we did get banged up a little bit in the last game, particularly at running back. Myles [Montgomery] had another great run, explosiveness two games in a row which we love. Corey [Kiner] ran extremely hard. Both of those guys I think will be out there in practice today. Potentially a little limited but they will be out there practicing, and I think they’ll be good to go. We’re hoping to get Ryan Montgomery healthy so he can help him a little bit in kickoff return / game punt as well as at running back. Ethan Wright, I can’t remember if I mentioned, but he’s not going play the rest of the year. He’s out just trying to heal up his back. [Jack] Dingle’s another guy who got banged up a little bit, but he practiced Sunday, so he’ll be ready to go. This time of the year where you have a lot of guys beat up, banged up, but that’s just the way it is. We talked about this earlier where you have to play some more guys. We played a lot of guys during the week. Dorian Jones will be back this week, he missed last week’s game due to the passing of his grandmother. It’ll be good to have him back as well. But listen, like I said, we’re doing everything we can to go out and play the very best game of the season and go out and try to get this win.

On Brady Lichtenberg’s performance and if he will play this week:

I think, Brady played well. He got a touchdown, which was awesome. A good play by AT [Aaron Turner] in the endzone. There are some really good things for us. He certainly made the case to play. So, we will continue to battle this week in practice and see where we’re at with that. But certainly, could foresee him getting some time in the game. Again, we’re trying to do everything we can to win so, if he can get out there and give us the best play to win, we’ll certainly go that route. But we’ll see how this week’s practice goes.

On any younger guys receiving playing time:

Well, I’ll reiterate the fact that we’re still trying to compete to win this football game. You get 12 opportunities to do this. We’re going to do the best we can to try to win these games. I’ve mentioned this earlier that Barry [Jackson] is a guy that we want to play, no matter what our record. We want to play him, and we’ve really been gearing him up the last few weeks so when he gets an opportunity to play, he’ll know what to do out there. He could certainly be a guy that maybe gets some time out there in at least three out of these last four games. He certainly was a guy that we could get in there, as well as some others. We’re going to try to win the football game. So, we’re going to try to play the best guys we can play to win the game. It’s not a scenario where we’re just going to play freshmen just to play them. If there is an opportunity to play some freshmen and get them in the games we will because we’ve had that plan all along anyway, and we’ll continue to do that.

On the decision to call back-to-back run plays instead of taking a knee:

Well, I think at the end of the game or in half, there’s a pocket possibility they’re all thinking maybe we’ll pop one. I’ve been in games before, against Virginia Tech one year we go 90 yards for a touchdown right before half on just a running play. So, you still have time on the clock.

On preparation for UCF and being familiar with them:

Well, they have a different defensive coordinator this year but still have the same head coach [Gus] Malzahn. I think it helps to know their offense a little bit and how fast they are as a team. Both of their running backs can really run, and they have some wide receivers that can run and finally their quarterbacks can really run as well. It helps to have an idea of how they play but you still have to go out there and execute. We have not done a good job on our defense stopping the explosive plays, and they have done a good job of explosive plays on offense. So that’s not a good matchup for us this week but we have to do all we can to keep them contained and not give up the big plays. I think defensively there are some similarities to what they have done in the past. Overall, we are familiar with them because we have played them in the past.

On running backs for UCF and challenges UC faces:

It is very challenging and there are a couple of things. They run no huddle a lot and move fast and try to have you not lined up. We need to do a good job of getting lined up and recognizing formations and what they may run. They try to create space and have their speed guys facing a one-on-one opportunity because they feel like their guys can beat that with their speed. RJ Harvey is starting for them but there isn’t a lot of drop-offs when their secondary back comes in because they are both very fast. They are able to rotate their guys and still feel good about their running game.

On John Rhys Plumlee and his dual threat ability:

He is as talented as anybody we have played. He was one of the fastest players at Ole Miss and he is probably one of the fastest players at UCF. He did go out a couple of weeks ago with an injury, but he had come back wearing a knee brace and was still just as fast. He is very confident in throwing the football as well and he keeps you worried about the run game, but he is a true dual threat quarterback and one of the best in the country. When he throws the ball, [John Rhys] Plumlee has a lot of confidence and that is what makes him tough as well. UCF has one of the better offenses in the country because of this.

On the consistency of the running game and inconsistency of the passing game:

It’s just as consistent. Anytime you can run a football, it opens up the field and helps the passing game. For whatever reason, we have been inconsistent whether it be errant throws, drops, or both. Then it just knocks us off track, but I think it is frustrating that we can run the football as well as we do. Coming into this season if had you told me at this point the season after eight games, Cincinnati is sixth in the country and rushing, I’d be surprised, and good about that. I think our record would be a lot better too. Running the ball opens up so much more in the passing game. You also feel like you can control the clock running the ball well, which helps your defense. We have all new starters back on offense and to be able to sit in in this position, I am really excited about our offensive line and backs and how they’ve been able to block and run the football as well as we are this year. That has been a true bright spot for us, as well as something that we certainly should build off for the next four games. As well as heading into next year, just knowing that you got a lot of those guys coming back to help our offense.

On the lack of pass attempts for Emory Jones in the first half at Oklahoma State:

It was a little bit of both, the weather wasn’t great, and it was misting and raining. We tried to throw the football, but they were errant throws. Then when calling plays, you realize we’re running the ball well, so let’s throw more passes on the run. Let’s try to control the game and keep their offense off the field. Let’s run the ball more as that was what is working. We were not feeling great about throwing the football at that point. When we called passing plays, we were pressured, and we got to holding penalties. We hit the end route, hit we hit Braden Smith for big plays for a lot of yards. I think all those factors are why we didn’t try to throw it as much early in that second quarter because of that. When we have the opportunity, we need to take advantage of them. We didn’t and therefore, we played closer to the vest, but it was a 10-7 game at halftime. We were feeling good at halftime when coming back out we did nothing and couldn’t regain that momentum.

On having a leader like Dontay Corelone:

It’s awesome, Donte [Corleone] has been awesome. He’s been great all year, and all summer, leadership-wise. Particularly, he is a younger player but has the kind of leadership skills he has. He goes out every day and tries to get better, which is what you want, a leader by example, but also, vocalizes it as well. He’s one of our better players, so anytime you have your best player leading like that, it says a lot about your team. We have to continue to have that leadership, the remainder of this season he’s certainly a guy that we’re going lean on to be able to help lead our team and get our team into the win column.

On if it’s more complicated to do QB sneaks than one might think:

We’ve utilized it to some this year. I think the (Philadelphia) Eagles have made it very popular. You look in the NFL, a lot of teams have tried but most teams have not done it like the Eagles. I think there is a lot more to it. What we’ve also seen is defenses now is when you go to do the sneak, they’re loading everybody up in the box. All of their D-line is getting really tight to the center and then having two linebackers right in those A gaps as well. It makes it a lot more challenging. We’ve had some success with it, but it is a lot. If it was easy, everybody would do it every time, so it’s not as easy as everybody thinks it is. The Eagles do a phenomenal job with it, they have confidence in it. I think [Jalen] Hurts really believes in it as well. It is something that people have utilized, and we’ve utilized it. We might continue to utilize it some, but I don’t think you can go to that every time. I think you have to be able to do some other things as well. [Jason] Kelce is a little bit underrated when it comes to that because he’s the center that they keep running it all behind every time. They’ve gotten a lot of first downs and they certainly have the market on how to run it, that’s for sure.

On why Chamon Meteyar didn’t play as much as previous games:

Like I mentioned in the first half, with the cold and rain, Emory [Jones] wasn’t feeling good about throwing it. He had a couple of errant throws, and we were running the football pretty good so you continue to want to do that. Obviously, in the second half, it kind of got away from us a little bit and so now, you want to try some different things. Payton [Singletary] played a little bit more in this game as well. But I think the combination of it all was probably the reason why he didn’t get his touches this week.

On what the team needs to do differently defensively to limit explosive plays:

If you go back and look at some of those explosive plays, it’s guys not getting to their gaps. Some linebackers were not getting to where they needed to need to, both guys need to be flowing over and we got guys split in like this. Now, it creates gaps in the middle of the field. It really came down to that. Then in the fourth quarter, we’re playing some of our younger guys when he hits a couple of those long ones in the fourth quarter explosive. I think that’s really what it boiled down to. As you think about the first half, we did a much better job of fitting where we needed to be. They hit the tight end on a touchdown. Our linebacker fell down on that one and that was a one-on-one coverage for an explosive. Other than that, we did a great job of hitting him up. I mean, that’s the type of ball we want to play is we want to fit right and be physical at the point of attack like we did in the first half. In the second half, he got away from us a little bit. Again, the fourth quarter, you’re playing some other guys that hadn’t played as much, trying to get them some time and they ended up hitting a few more at that point.‚Äù