North Texas Mean Green College Football Pregame Quote, 09/03/2019

First off, as I said Saturday night, I’m extremely proud of our fan base and our students. The amount of energy and enthusiasm they had in the stands was really great. It was one of the best since I’ve been here. And we need all those fans to travel down to Dallas next weekend and get ready to, again, bring that same energy so our team can feed off it. I was pleased with our overall preparation. Actually, the past two weeks, I thought our focus has been great. Our travel was unbelievable, which sometimes you don’t know early in the season, how, you know, they’re going to react to some of those distractions. I thought our team handled it very well. And I think, early on, along with the crowd and feeding off that and the way we prepared and focused, I thought our energy was great early.

You know, we came out and we were really good on special teams early and had a huge kickoff return to start the game, which gave us momentum. We had that touchdown on the first play the first drive with really good execution, and our defense came out, I think their first six possessions, and forced punts. Again, I was I was really proud of the way that we came out. We started fast, which is something we’ve really stressed and worked on through fall camp. We’ve just got to clean up a couple mistakes, but I loved the energy. I liked how hard we played, we just didn’t play smart for four quarters. I think as the game went on, a couple guys lost some focus, especially defensively. You know, there’s just a couple guys out of their gaps and miscommunications early on, just making sure you’re getting the right call and the right check.‚Äù

I didn’t think we played very smart, especially as the game went on, and you get fatigued – it’s not 70 and sunny, and you’re not fresh. And so you’ve got to make sure you do a great job of communicating and making sure you focus in on doing your job. And I just don’t feel like we did that over the course of four quarters, but I did love their enthusiasm, and I love their effort.

We definitely understand the challenge of this week’s game. Like I said, SMU has a very good football team. We have one win in Dallas since 1933. So for our seniors, they want to leave a great legacy. You know, that’s something that needs to be really important to them. And it’s going to all start again with our preparation, our excitement, and making sure we get a week better with that, and making sure we go on and execute the game plan that we have in store for this week. You know, this game is a rivalry again, North Texas has played this team more than any other team since 1922. You look at all the different guys in our team that have played with those guys at SMU and have competed against those men. We recruit against them on the recruiting trail. And so, again, we understand the importance of this game and what it means for our program. And again, we’re going to have to be on top of our game in order to have success.

On SMU adding a lot of transfers and getting contributions from them in Week 1:

They’re a much different team than they were a year ago, which you knew that would be the case because Sonny [Dykes] does a heck of a job. He’s a great coach. They’ve got a great staff. We caught him game one last year. So last year’s game has no bearing on this year, that’s for sure. But, you know, I think they went on the road against a very good opponent in Arkansas State, a team I have a lot of respect for, with a really good defense. So offensively, they’re clicking. They scored 37 points on the road, and the quarterback managed the game very well. They have weapons at running back and receivers that are explosive. So I think they were obviously clicking offensively. Defensively, you know, they’ve mixed up their scheme very well. Kevin Kane, their defensive coordinator, does a great job. I’m familiar with him. I was at Kansas when he was a player. Again, they’re playing with confidence. You know, they’re big up front, they’re deep on the defensive line, and they’ve got more length at corner than they’ve had in the past. So again, we understand the challenges. But we’ve got to make sure we focus in on doing our job through the week on our preparation and in our game plan, go out there, and I know both teams are going to go out there excited to play. If you can’t get ready to play this game, there’s issues, so it’ll be a lot of excitement.

On SMU and any revenge factor from last year:

This year, we’re not sneaking up on anybody, and neither are they, you know. They’ve got a very, very good team. I know they’ll be really excited to come out, get to their first home game in front of their fans. I know they’ll be ready to compete. And of course, you know there’s no doubt that both sides are going to want to want to win that football game. It’s a rivalry.

On QB Shane Buechele:

I thought he managed the offense really well. You know, he was smart with the football. You can really tell he understands defenses and coverages and is just a really smart player, but he also has a great arm and great ability to throw the football

On coaching against one of his best friends in Sonny Dykes:

He’s family to me, I mean, our families are really close. He and his wife, and my wife, were extremely tight. When it’s all said and done, you know, in this profession, you’re going to end up having to play against family and/or really good friends or ex-teammates or family members. So you know, at the end of the day, definitely have a lot of respect for him what he does within his program at SMU. But when you get to the game, and the whistle blows, and you kick the ball off, It’s like any other game and always has been. You’re not really looking over on the sideline across and wondering who you’re going against. You’re more focused in on their scheme, the flow of the game and how your players are reacting and doing with your game plan. So once it’s kicked off, it is what it is, it’s a football game.

On the big game from TE Jason Pirtle:

Yeah, I thought he did a great job the other night. The biggest thing is that he’s always been great in the slot, and he has great hands and is very reliable. He’s smart. He understands schematically what he’s supposed to do. So as a lot of you know, the biggest thing for him has been making the transition from, you know, kind of the bigger slot receiver to an H-back/hybrid tight end. It’s been a thing that he’s really had to focus some work on in offseason with Coach Womack. And with Coach Mays, I think he’s handled the transition really well. I thought he played great the other night.

On what has been the key to becoming a good road team:

Well, I guess like any game, you have to feed off each other, especially on the road. You’ve got to feed off each other’s energy. You’ve got to make sure that you stick together in all three phases. I think some of that has to be done within your culture, but you also have to enjoy playing with each other and you don’t really focus in on the outside noise, especially on the road.