Ohio Bobcats College Football Pregame Quote, 11/23/2020

On dealing with the cancelation of the Miami game:

It’s really disappointing, I think, to everybody involved actually in the game. Both teams, both coaching staffs, really both universities, because there’s a lot of competition that goes on between the two schools, academically as well as on the fields and courts. It’s something that transpired. Just like always, you’ve got to be ready to move on and move forward in this game, and in life in general. Our players are pretty good, I think, at handling adversity and moving forward. We’ve taught our program for a lot of years to expect the unexpected and be able to deal with it.

On planning to handle a situation such as the Miami game cancelation:

Obviously, bouncing back from a situation like that, even if you’re ready to play a game, does not mean that it’s just moving on and moving forward as usual as if nothing happened. You have guys that were still in quarantine getting out of quarantine. All those things kind of come into play. Guys coming back at different times out of quarantine, and, hopefully, nobody else going into quarantine or having some other issue come up that causes a problem. All those things can feed into what your week is all about. Again, our players are good at handling things. I like the way we practiced this past week. These things are difficult to prepare for. You can’t just say, ‘Well, we covered all the bases and we’re so prepared that everything went on as normal.’ Well, things don’t go on as normal, but you adjust and you find a way to make things work. I think our players have done a good job of working at that.

On if there have been any new developments since the Miami game was canceled:

Well, normally I’m not into sharing bad news, so I’ll move on from that. But we’ve gotten (redshirt junior defensive tackle) Kaieem (Caesar) back, which has been big. Other than that, I won’t go into discussing some things because things are still day-by-day and the game is not tomorrow. We’re still hoping to be able to get some guys back if things continue to work from a positive for us. But at this point in time, we’re certainly able to play the game, and we’re moving forward with that in mind.

On if he watched other games with the Miami game being canceled:

Yeah, I was able to do a little bit of that, and I think our players were able to probably do a little bit of that also. You know, you get a little frustrated watching games of your upcoming opponents and in your same conference. You want them to do well, but not too well. It just kind of plays out to where it’s not a relaxing Saturday afternoon as if you’re watching a couple of teams that you know very little about but you know they play good football and you sit back and maybe have popcorn or whatever the heck you have with your game and then enjoy it. It wasn’t quite like that, but I did get to tune the games in. Sometimes it got to where it was tough to watch the whole game, but I got most of it watched.”

On Buffalo running back Jaret Patterson’s performance against Bowling Green’s defense:

I don’t know that everybody’s just running it up and down the field on them. I turn on the film, and you watch it from the way that we watch it. Sometimes I watch a complete game in sequence and just really to try to get a feel for the game. Other times, I just watch offensive plays and defensive plays or third-and-longs or first down plays. So,you don’t necessarily just get a strong feeling about how people are moving the ball against them or how they’re moving the ball against people. So, you just see down-and-distance tendencies and some of the other things that go with it. But obviously, number one, Buffalo has an outstanding running attack. They’ve always had that. Great running back, great line. So, they’re going to move the ball on the ground. How that’ll work for us? We’ll wait and see. Every game is something new. Obviously, we’re built around trying to make the run work and building off of that, so we’ll give that a good shot. I see them with very, very quick running backs and strong, physical linemen, and they really like to run the football. It’s going to be one of those games where it’s a very, very physical football game, I think, up front. It’s going to really determine whether you are able to run the ball very well or even throw the ball very well. You start with being physical and hope that you’re able to get some things going that gives you some momentum and builds for you in the game and that you’re able to not only just score from some big plays but you’re able to put long drives together and keep your defense off the field. Those are things that we’re reaching for right now, is what can we do to make ourselves a better football team? If you do that, then usually things fall in place fairly well.

On if the extra days off between games have been a benefit to getting the team healthy:

The guys that are banged up and trying to come back aren’t necessarily where they need to be. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes on some of those guys as to where they’re at. That’s just the nature of the game. You’re going to have guys banged up. You’re going to have guys with injuries. That’s a whole part of It, but you throw in COVID, that just adds to the misery. So, you just try to do the best you can to prepare your team and prepare the backups knowing that some of those guys are going to be playing heavy duty as you go down through not only the upcoming game but the rest of the games on your schedule.

On if the game plan will call for having a lot of different players scoring like last year’s matchup:

Well, not necessarily. We’re going to play our guys that are the starters. You know we’re playing a two-quarterback system. We’ve talked about that, the pluses and the minuses of a two-quarterback system. The same can be true if you take that and put it to another position. We’ve got really good running backs, so we’re going to try to get our guys some reps. (Senior) De’Montre (Tuggle) is our starter. We’re going to make sure that he gets reps and when it comes down to it that he’s in the ballgame on crucial drives or whatever you want to call them because he’s earned that right by being the starter. That’s played like that across the board, from the quarterback position to the running back position, wide receivers, tight ends, linemen, whatever. That’s basically how we operate, and I think it’s the fair and the right thing to do. But you always want to try to get as many players involved in the game as possible without breaking the momentum of your team or the momentum of a position.

On keeping a positive message with the team despite the adversity of having a game canceled:

That message hasn’t changed since day one. If you look at how we’ve operated throughout the summer when people were getting a lot of guys, or maybe I shouldn’t say a lot, but some people were getting some guys that were contacted to COVID. We had done a great job through the summer. Some guys had gotten it and they used the term, ‘the herd approach’, where guys get it and they’re able to play for several months without the risk of getting it. That didn’t happen to us. We were really good from the very beginning on. Every now and then when we do get a couple positives or a positive and you trace, that really comes back to hurt us some in regards to where you’re at, at the moment. But overall, our guys have been tremendous. We keep preaching all the things that I believe everybody else is out there preaching. But I usually carry things to extreme. That’s always been probably a problem of mine for myself and maybe anybody else that’s around me. I just kind of carry myself to extremes on things, and that’s kind of how I work it with our players a little bit. I expect so much out of them just in terms of doing the right things. I think some of that sinks in. I’m sure every coach has their way of getting to their players and getting them to get things done at a high level, regardless of what you’re talking about. And so, I’m kind of driven in that way. So, that’s just part of me, the good or the bad, or whatever you want to call it.

On if he believed it would be possible to get through the season without any issues:

The way it was going, I thought maybe we were going to have a chance. You just never know what all transpires, not only with your own kids, but opposing players. You play a game, there can be an effect there. You get on long bus rides, that’s never a plus for you. But I thought the way we had handled it leading up to the season that we were going to have a chance to get through this thing.

On if any players will go home for Thanksgiving or if the team will remain in Athens:

We’re here. We’re playing football.

On level of comfort with personnel on offense:

Well, I’ve been comfortable from really the start in terms of the type of offense we could become. We weren’t there the first game totally. We made some progress in the second game. I think we’re a football team that will just keep getting better and better. And so, that’s how I view us. Whether you’re talking about a young quarterback getting experience like (redshirt freshman) Kurtis (Rourke) or one that’s played football before, (redshirt senior) Armani (Rogers), at the college level but is in a new system. (Senior running back) De’Montre (Tuggle) had a good year last year, so he’s got experience coming back. Some of our other players, certainly in the offensive line. You look at some of our young linebackers are getting playing time. There’s just a lot of of that that has to come together. I’ve been pleased with the way it’s coming together, and hopefully that will continue to develop as we go through the rest of the season. The idea is to keep getting better and better. That’s what we did last year. We were a really good football team at the end of the year now, coming down the stretch and getting to a bowl game and what we accomplished in the bowl game. And so, those are all good things. We need to try to get us to a point where we get some things done a little better in the early part of the season to help us have the kind of year that really everyone wants to have.

On the approach to the end of the season with it aligning differently than it normally does:

In terms of how you approach what you’re doing and your work ethic, your team’s work ethic, that’s all the same. It doesn’t matter what time of the year that you’re doing it. Once you’re into it. It’s full go. The same is true of the game itself. Once that kickoff occurs, you want people in the stands, you love to have people in the stands, that’s what college football is all about, but if you don’t, you still have to play the game at a high level and you just carry on and you don’t let any of that bother you. I don’t think it’s bothered our coaches. I think they’ve done a great job of adjusting and preparing well and taking things the way they have to be taken in order to move yourself forward. It’s different, but it’s not different in a way that it affects your job at all.

On the key to Saturday’s game against Bowling Green:

I think it’ll be important for both teams to establish the running game. I think both teams want to do that, and the team that maybe does that the best gives themselves maybe their best chance. You know, they’ve got really quick running backs. They do a lot of motion. They’ll shift. They’ll do things that’ll catch you out of position at times and take advantage of that, and then they’ll make you miss tackles. So, there’s enough variety in their offense to concern you about getting reps against those things throughout the course of the week leading up to the game. You worry about that a little bit, and then you go back to worrying about the normal things that you worry about. Taking care of the ball and getting some turnovers and all those kind of things that play huge parts in the game.

On how to make sure the team doesn’t come out flat after an extended period between games:

Well, when you have a football team that wants to play the game so badly, which ours does and most teams in the country do, you don’t have to really worry too much about coming out flat. We’ve only played a couple games as you know, and so they’re revved up to play again. There’s maybe a point in time in the season where you’re into your season and you all of a sudden find yourself maybe not practicing as well as you should or something, or you’re in finals week, or something comes up that can maybe add to the possibility of you being a little flat in a game. But you can’t afford to, let alone in a regular season, but in a season like this you can’t afford to be flat in a game. There’ no makeup room on it. You’ve just got to be ready to go right from the start, and that comes back a little bit to leadership. Making sure that everybody on the team is practicing the way they’re supposed to be practicing and that the effort is good and that they’re continuing to work on, even if you go through a bye week, that you’re continuing to work on condition. Dak is doing a great job in the weight room to continue to work on their strength and endurance. You start covering all those bases, and those things help you from becoming flat. If you show up on the practice field and you just go through the motions and don’t have good practices, you’re vulnerable as heck. Our team, I think, understands that, and I’m hoping doesn’t get caught in that type of situation.”

On if the team is frustrated after having a game canceled:

You know, I think there’s frustration, obviously, with not playing a game. All of a sudden, guys are needing to sit out for one reason or another. All that comes into play where it can get irritable to you or get bothersome to you. But again, it’s all on how you handle things that determines whether or not you’re able to go through a season and face what you would normally face in a season, whether it’s injuries or a guy coming down sick or just small things, something that’s caused disruption within a player, whether it’s a family issue or whatever issue. There’s all kinds of things that enter into you all of a sudden that have an opportunity to take yourself out of playing well for a game. You’ve just got to know that, you’ve got to understand that, you’ve got to recognize those things, and then you’ve just got to play above them. I think our guys do an excellent job of that. And so, there’s going to be more things that pop up this season, as short as it is and as little of time as there is left in this season that not only will test our team but will test other teams. We’ll handle them well. I’m convinced of that, but you’re got to handle them well enough to win games.