Rice Owls College Football Pregame Quote, 10/01/2019

I told the team after the game that we have to stick together. We’ve got to get back to work. Unfortunately, the game didn’t end the way we wanted it to. We led the entire game until the final play of overtime. Obviously, that’s always a tough pill to swallow. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been involved in a game quite like that before. We’ve had three of our games this season end when we took a team to deep water in a one-possession game and didn’t find a way to win any of them. What I’m learning is that is a learned skill as well. The players a very upset about the result. I think we probably took more than our 24-hour rule to get over that one. But, we are completely back at work right now. The guys have been great. They’ve been committed. They want to find a solution and they are doing everything they can to put ourselves in position to be in a ballgame in the fourth quarter where we have a chance to finish it, win and come out victorious. They’re doing the things that I’m asking them to right now. I’m really pleased with them. It’s really got to be what our team’s about. It’s the way we train them in the summer in terms of finishing everything. It’s something we’ve pushed for since we’ve been here as a staff and it has to become our identity. It has to become what we want. I was telling (Chief of Staff) John Simmons earlier that at Stanford in 2013, we had eight games decided by a touchdown or less and we won them all. We ended up in the Rose Bowl. So, we’ve got to become that team that wants that situation, thrives on that situation and finishes that situation. It’s what this coaching staff, these captains and what everybody is really pushing for right now.

Going back and looking at the tape, there’s obviously some bright spots in there too. I thought Aston Walter had a heck of a day. He ran for a career-high 112 yards on 20 carries. He scored our first two touchdowns and I noticed that he was the leading rusher in the conference. As I’ve talked about Aston before, he’s so good right now in his role. The things that he does without the ball are phenomenal. The leadership he is providing for our team as a sixth-year senior is great. So, I’m really pleased with how Aston’s performing.

Defensively, we’re playing at a really high level right now. That’s the bottom line. We’ve given ourselves to be in those games in the fourth quarter because of the ferocious way that our defense is playing. I think that they are really playing in a relentless manner; swarming to the ball and you know what‚Ķwe’re still going to ask them for more. We’re going to ask them (that) when we give them a lead with 2:51 on the clock, we’re going to ask them to finish the game. That’s something that they have to find a way to do. I think back to the NFL games that I was involved in. So many of those came down to a drive in the fourth quarter where you had to get off the field. I just remember those pass rush specialists were so excited about that opportunity. They were going to go get another sack. They wanted to be back on that grass and we’ve got to get to that mindset, too.

I also think back to the game, what Skip (Holtz) and his staff did, the way they prepared their kids, the belief that their kids had as that game went on. The plays that those guys made were fabulous and, again, it’s got to get to the point where we do that here. We’re going to find a way to win. I think with a team that’s been to a bowl game five years in a row like they have, that’s what you saw. You saw a team that believed they were going to win and that’s what we’re working towards. Earning the right to have that belief in crunch time to win ballgames.‚Äù

Talking about UAB as we transition. They are the defending conference champs. Bill Clark is a heck of a football coach. I’ve known him since 1997. I respect everything that he has done at every stop along the way. But, what he’s done since taking that program back from the ashes has been phenomenal. Nothing short of phenomenal. Winning the conference last year. This year they are still a very, very good football team and I just appreciate the way that he coaches. I appreciate the way he pushes his guys. I appreciate that when you watch their defense, the effort that they play with.

So, it’s going to be a heck of a game. I think that there’s so many keys to it as we start talking about it. There’s a UAB team that is the defending champion. But, we don’t have to play that team. We have to play the 2019 Blazers. All we can worry about is what we can control as we go in there. They have a great running back, the leading rusher in the history of UAB football is there. Since they brought this program back, they haven’t lost a game at home. They are 14-0. So, there’s a lot of things that if you worry about those, you could think that it’s really tough to deal with. But, all we have to worry about is our football team. Our assignment. Doing our 1/11th to the best of our ability and we’ll be just fine.

So, that’s really my message. I’m asking them for more. I showed them 16 clips in here yesterday that if any one of them goes the other way, we win the ballgame and that’s what’s so tough about losing a game in overtime, is that there really are just a multitude of clips where one play could have made a difference. Obviously, we talked about a few of them. But, we’re going to go forward. We’re going to worry about the UAB Blazers and, more specifically, the Rice Owls and our role in this game this weekend.

On if it’s a matter of just getting the first win:

It has to be. We were on the cusp multiple times. You can’t get any closer than that. We had so many opportunities to win the game. Then you get to overtime. We’ve got to find a way and I really believe that when we break through, it will be habit forming. We’ll have the confidence. I wish there was a way I could manufacture it for them because as bad as I want to win, I want to win for them more. I want them to see the rewards of the hard work that they have put into this program. I want them to feel a victorious locker room. Again, yes, it is belief in self and us to find a way to do it and break through.

On what the staff is doing to get the team closer to a victory.

Most of it has been our training in the offseason as we talk about finishing. Right now, that’s pushed us to the brink to the point where we’re in games. We’re in the deep water we want to be in. Now we have to find out how to swim to the other side. I don’t know if there’s anything tangible that we’re doing. That’s why I wanted to have the meeting yesterday where I could show them 16 clips. If any one is different, the ballgame never even makes it to overtime. That’s our reality. We have to understand the importance and urgency of every play. Every four to six minute burst that we get in the course of a football game is so critical and important. You never know where that play is going to come. The pluses are the way that we’re getting there. The fact that our defense is playing so well. There’s a lot of positives (but) we need to win a game.

On if the guys have taken it upon themselves to say ‚ÄòIt’s on us’:

That’s a better question to ask these guys because I’m not in some of their private conversations. I hear them saying the right things on the field. I hear them saying the right things in the meetings. When I read some of the things they say to you guys, it sounds like the voice of our coaches, what our program is built around (and) the foundation of our program. So, I think they know what we want as a program. I think they want the same things. I think they know how to express it. We just have to do. But, again, it’s not from lack of want to. Any of us didn’t want that game to go any other way than for the Rice Owls. We just have to find a way to close them out.

On if he could feel the direction the game was taking before overtime:

It is intense as you’re making that transition, whether it’s to kick that field goal where Chris (Barnes) stepped on and knocked it through the pipes to give us the lead, or as La Tech is going down the field or going to overtime. Those are times where the emotion is really high. It was a really interesting football game because several times you felt momentum completely swing from one sideline or the other. Obviously, later in the game, we could not keep it on our side. Sometimes, again, that’s earned. Momentum is not going to just come hang out with you because it likes you. We’ve got to make that thing happen. Again, there’s drives you can point to. The end of the second quarter, we had a 14-play, 70-yard drive and at the very least we’re going to come away with three points. The only thing that couldn’t happen did and we turned the ball over. We start the third quarter and have a great drive. We go down and miss the field goal. I think we were at a point where La Tech wanted a reason not to keep fighting and we would just not give it to them. We wouldn’t give it to them. They have a great culture at their place, too. They have great coaches, they saw a little sliver to get back in that game, and they took it. They kept fighting and they made more plays at the very end.

What’s the situation at quarterback and kicker?

So, I’ll start by talking about the quarterback. Wiley (Green) is going to be the guy. Tom (Stewart) will have a role but he’s not going to have a ‚Äògoing to be inserted at X series anymore.’ I think Wiley played better than Tom did last game and that’s how we’re going to go right now. It’s not because we don’t have confidence in Tom. That’s not the case. As for field goals, Chris Barnes is going to be our field goal kicker.

Defensively, the last two games have seen drives at the end of halves where the offense has scored very quickly. Is there anything you’re doing to address that?

Those plays were on that tape that I mentioned. There were a couple of examples where we made it too easy. The quarterback and receiver hit a corner route for 22 yards. On the very next play, we brought pressure so it ended up being man coverage. They hit a very similar route for 22 yards. It wasn’t bad coverage when we were in man on the second one. It was a very good throw and an unbelievable catch where the guy got his foot tapped in. He made a play. That’s what we keep saying. ‚ÄòHey, let’s make a play.’ You’re in the right place, you know what to do. You know what technique to use. Let’s make sure we fall back on our technique and don’t be scared to make a play. I was really trying to keep our team loose as we got to the end of the game because I know what Las Vegas said. I know we were an 8.5-point underdog. I know people say that La Tech’s the number one team in Conference USA. But, our team feels like that was an upset because we knew we could play with them. We knew that we could win that game and we really wanted to. I lost the question as I went on my soapbox. We knew it was a very winnable game. We knew we put ourselves in position to do it and we know we shot ourselves in the foot and they made plays when it mattered.

On Chris Barnes’ path since he’s been at Rice:

Chris is an interesting guy. I love hearing him talk about his path. I’ve made him tell me the story a couple of times about coming in here and playing tight end. By the way, I can punt. I’d still like to be a part of the team. Now it’s like, what else can you do? He’s just a dude. He doesn’t really have a lot of fear. He just kind of makes things happen. We appreciate that about him and we appreciate his leadership.