Houston Cougars College Football Pregame Quote, 11/11/2019

On the bye week:

It was mostly about getting healthy. We’re not going to develop a new offense at this point in the year. We get to game ten, you are who you are. I’m just hoping not to lose anymore, or loose anymore bodies. We’re not going to be able to lineup. Hopefully we’ll get some guys back, healthy, and 100 percent. We played way too many guys at UCF that were not 100 percent. We’re pretty handcuffed with the amount of people that we have. Then when you put guys out there that aren’t ready to play it’s a problem. That’s what happened against UCF, we ran out of gas. I thought we played well in the first half, I thought we should’ve been up by about ten. We were up by two and we were pretty cooked, just because they had a lot more depth than we did. Hopefully we’ll get some guys healthy, we’ll see how it goes out there today. We haven’t seen them since Thursday, they lifted Friday morning, I gave them Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday off.

I think there’s a mental fatigue aspect of what we’ve been going through as well. It’s pretty taxing when you’re competitive, when you’re handcuffed and limited, but you’re competitive and you just come up short against ranked opponents. It mentally wears you out too. So hopefully the bye week and the weekend got everybody in a good place, and we’ll be able to finish the season strong.

On injuries:

I can’t remember who’s out and who’s not. There’s so many of them, I don’t know. I hope Patrick Carr can play, he has his shoulder. He’s going to be in a green jersey today, I just got that information. Hopefully we’ll get him back.

On Clayton Tune:

He tweaked his knee just a little bit, but he said his hamstring was fine. I don’t think he is running as well as he did, and I think the bye week is going to really do him some good. He did tweak his knee and little bit, but I didn’t think he was restricted at all in the game.

On what it takes to upset Memphis:

Well we have been underdogs in almost every game we played this year. Not that I really pay attention to that too much, but we have been underdogs in almost every game, and we are underdogs again. I guess I am not doing a very good job of playing that up and explaining to the guys how much fun it would be to knock off a top-20 team. We’ve played four of them and came close. This is the fifth and we have another one on the horizon. The most ranked teams I’ve ever played is five, I think the most that have been here is six. It is what it is, the schedule did not set up very well for us this year.

Hopefully that changes next year, I can assure you that I am going to do a lot of complaining in our meetings. [Chris] Pezman has heard it from me a good bit, this schedule sucked. We need to make sure we are putting our guys in a favorable position moving forward. I am going to be complaining a lot and doing whatever I can do to make sure our schedule sets up better. There are going to be certain years where there is nothing you can do about it. This league is tough, and this league is having a good year. We are going to continue to get better and we are going to be one of those teams next year and the years to come after that are going to be these teams that’s having a good year. It just is what it is this year.

On history with Memphis:

There has been some good history between the two. They have been playing each other for quite a while but when I was here the last time, they weren’t very good. Coach Mike Norvell has done a heck of a job over the four years that he has been there. I know that have some pretty good resources, that FedEx situation there is pretty good. They have good resources and they have had pretty good continuity over the last four years, and they have been winning. They do a good job recruiting and they do a good job coaching them up. I know they spent a lot of money on facilities and it is paying off for them.

On an ideal schedule:

Well, we’ve had a lot of conversations about this administratively. My big thing is, whatever everybody else in the league is doing, that’s what you should do. I do think The American does a relatively good job of playing people that they need to play. With that said, the league is so dang good – we’re talking top-20 teams here. Memphis, SMU, Cincinnati, UCF are great, and Tulsa is knocking on the door. Obviously, Houston is not going to be kept down long. So, if your non-conference schedule is loaded up it makes it challenging.

I dealt with the same thing at the previous place I was at. Every game in the Big 12 is hard so you’ve got to be careful about who your non-conference is. I realize that the fan base wants to play some games that are pretty tough and that have name recognition and stuff, but we’re in the American and these are the teams that we play. We should get excited about a Houston-SMU matchup or a Houston-Memphis game. We’ve got our hands full in this league, and we don’t need to add top-20 teams in the four games that we have non-conference.

On season’s progression:

It’s moving forward man. just moving forward. I’ve been very happy with coaches and players, as far as putting their head down and playing. Nobody likes a losing season. We’re not alone out there, I can assure you that. College football is competitive and we’re in a situation where things are just happening for a specific reason, but we’re still competitive. We line up and we’re getting better at football. Our schemes, our coaches, and our players are going to remain relatively the same. We’ll use all these lessons as learning experiences and use it as motivation going into the offseason.

On playing freshmen:

Nobody wants to play a freshman offensive lineman ever in the history of football. Ever. I don’t care where you’re at. Nobody wants to play freshmen. The fact that we’re in that situation tells you a little bit about where we are at. We are probably going to play Patrick Paul, and we’re probably going to play Cam’ron Johnson. We have nobody else. Chayse Todd is a little underweight for a center right now, so that’s a little bit more challenging. Don’t forget that Jack Freeman is a freshman and Dixie Wooten III has never played. We’re playing guys up front that have never played. That’s the worst situation you could possibly be in. Period. On probably a more realistic level, because what I just said right there is unrealistic to be successful in football. Terrell Brown will play a lot in the next three weeks, he is physically ready to go. [Ronald] Nunnery is another young kid that is going to be able to play a little bit. We won’t get a ton of very good quality snaps out of these guys. They’re young and not quite ready to play, but that’s who we have to be able to play. Nelson Caeser is another guy. Other than that, we don’t have a lot of freshmen on our team that can play. We have to load up with some transfers to get this roster right. Those are some of the freshmen we got and will probably see a few snaps.

On senior Josh Jones:

I’ve been really impressed with him. Both how he approaches the game, how he practices. His leadership skills are great, he’s a solid team captain. He just puts his head down and plays. He’s been improving each week. These last four or five games he’s come into his own a little bit, and that doesn’t go unnoticed. I told him this stuff was coming if he just kept doing that. Hopefully we get three more good games out of him. He’s got a bright future, just because he’s very durable and reliable, he bends well, his pad level has improved, his pass blocking has improved, he is athletic and has a bright future.

On freshman Ronald Nunnery:

He hasn’t played any defense, he’s not quite ready for that. But he’ll run down on kickoff and punt a little bit. Special teams are made up of players that are 22 through 42. That’s where you get the majority of your special team’s snaps. When your second and third team guys are moving into the starting rotation on offense and defense, who are going to take those snaps. Somebody has got to take those snaps, and that’s where you get some out of Caeser and you get some out of Nunnery, and whoever else can lineup and play.