UAB Blazers College Football Pregame Quote, 12/02/2019

Starting off, we’ll go back to the last game. Obviously, we knew it was going to be a tough challenge to go to North Texas and play those guys for their Senior Day, last game and bowl game. We knew what kind of player Mason Fine was. Obviously, he didn’t disappoint. Just their whole team ‚Äì I knew they were going to battle and fight us. They did. It was a heck of a game, back and forth. I’m really just proud of our guys. We had some mental mistakes. We had some things not go exactly as we always planned, but I think one thing you can say about our guys is they played really hard. I always tell our coaches, ‚ÄòThe biggest testament to me as a coach is how hard your guys play for you. I think you saw that with our players and with just the will to win. It was a great atmosphere to be in, especially in those timeouts where guys are talking about playing for each other and playing for our family. That’s what this thing is supposed to be about. It’s just really cool to be a part of that. Any time you go on the road to get a win, I think our league especially, is tough. It made it even that much more special. You love to get these things at home, but to get it on the road is always tough and always fun.

I know you’ll ask me a question about that game, but just moving forward, this was our goal all year. This is what we broke it down on. I think it’s really cool to see, obviously with where we were picked and the loss of all the seniors, it was something we knew and talked about. Then to have some injuries and all the things this group has overcome this year to get to be in this spot ‚Äì no doubt FAU is a very good team. I think they’re very balanced. I think they’re very good offensively. They have weapons across the board. Obviously, Coach Kiffin has done a great job. He’s a great play caller. Defensively, I think that’s one of the things they’ve really done a great job. The defense has gotten a lot better. Going to their place at home ‚Äì it’s going to be good to get in some good weather though, so we’re excited about that. Give them a lot of credit. They’ve done a terrific job. I guess this is their second time in three years to be back, so we’re excited.

On whether these results were envisioned at the time of the shutdown:

No, I don’t think at that moment in time that was what we were thinking about, but it probably makes all that much more sweet to have gone through what we’ve gone through. As I’ve told that story so many times, just all the people that fought for us and believed in us. I want to give the guys that were in this building and a part of that a lot of credit because they’re the ones that had to live it every day. I think last year was so special, but this year is a different special to lose all those guys that we had for a while and for this group to buy into what we were doing. That’s a bad memory that turned into a good memory. As we say a lot of times, I don’t know if we’d be here today if we hadn’t have had to go through that. Even though we wouldn’t really want to wish that on anyone else, a lot of great things have happened since then.

On Pat Sullivan:

Pat was a really good friend of mine. He used to come to practice a lot. We got to go play against him when I was at Jacksonville State and he was at Samford. I knew him all the way back when he was here recruiting my players at Prattville. What a good man – truly one of the best people you’ll ever meet. I’ve talked to a lot of people who had gotten the same cancer he had that he called and lifted them up. Things that nobody would even know about ‚Äì he would come on Thursdays a lot and just hang out and watch practice. He’s really been doing that the last couple of years. We’d sit up in my office. He just loved football. He was a great player and a great coach, but a better person. I know he’s in a better place. It’s tough on us that are still left here, but I’m praying for his family and thought the world of him.

On Florida Atlantic’s biggest threats:

They’ve got an All-American tight end. They don’t just have him. They get the ball to him every way you can get it to him. They have really good running backs. I think I say their quarterback throw about a 70-yard ball through the air, so he has a big arm, is athletic and very well-schooled. I think when the head coach deals with the quarterbacks and is the play caller ‚Äì I always say, ‚ÄòWhere that head coach leans to, they’re usually going to be very good on that side of the ball.’ There’s no doubt he’s a good play caller, very innovative. Defensively, I think they’re very good. Probably like us, from the early games to the end, they’ve gotten a lot better. They’ve kind of figured out who their personnel is. I know they’ve got a running back returning who was hurt the first game. He’s really good. I think they’re just very dynamic on offense. Then they’ve got really good special teams. They’re just a good football team.

On his relationship with Lane Kiffin:

Yeah, we just know each other from when he was at Alabama. I was at South and different places, and he would call me about coaches or things. Of course, being in the conference together, I have a good relationship with all those guys. He’s done a great job. Like I said, two of the last three years in the championship game.

On the turning point in the season:

That’s a good question. I think we were really trending in the right direction. I go to Tennessee. I think we caught them playing better. You look back on that game and say, ‚ÄòOk, what if we would’ve really went close to the vest and seen if we could win it with the defense?’ That was a hard decision. We were really throwing the ball well. Then you lose your quarterback. We were so blessed last year to have Tyler (Johnston III), who was older and more experienced, and we had such a good running game at the time. I think that’s one thing people forget. We were so good defensively and had the really good running game that we could ease him into it. He could run the ball and throw play action. I think the Southern Miss game was a game that if we had a game to go back and say, ‚ÄòIf I had anything to do over, I’d change my thought on that game and go close to the vest, run the football and play defense. We’re not going to turn it over.’ We were still throwing it well. What you see in practice out of a guy is not what you see in a game. Obviously, they were open the week before us. It was a huge game for them, and we didn’t play well. We didn’t play well offensively. We turned it over, so two weeks in a row we were kind of reeling. I think we really did a good job of coming in saying, ‚ÄòWe’re not going to turn it over. We’re going to run the ball.’ We put the pads back on the offense and scout guys on Monday. I think I told you guys that. I said, ‚ÄòWe’re going to get back to who we were before.’ I went to the defense that day and said, ‚ÄòWe’re not going to turn the ball over, and y’all are going to have to win it for us.’ It doesn’t mean we aren’t going to find ways to score, so I told the same thing to the offense. We made that change to protect Dylan and get our running game back. We had El Paso, then the big game with LA Tech where we did it again. We said we’d keep the same formula and practice the same way. Then this week, as Tyler is getting better, do we change? We said we wouldn’t. We were going to keep the same formula and find a way to win it the same way and continue to play great defense. The defense has been outstanding. We can win with special teams and move the ball that way. I think we found a way to do that. Dylan is continuing to get better. We lose Jermaine Brown Jr., somebody steps up. We’ve had a ton of injuries this year. I’m just proud of the group for believing in each other, fighting and sticking with the plan.

On the difficulty of changing schemes:

It’s tough. First, just having a guy that hasn’t been in the wars. I think for a quarterback to have not seen what a quarterback has to go through, until you’ve done it, you haven’t done it. It was tough because our three receivers had been playing great. Now you have to bring in these receivers and say, ‚ÄòLook, this is what’s good for the team.’ We’re going to go from throwing it and you guys being in the top of the country in all these categories to having to block. Give those guys credit. They’ve handled it. They’ve blocked their tails off. Our coaches have done a good job with that. I think that’s sometimes easier to say and harder to do. As receivers, we talk all the time about being unselfish, but they want to catch the ball, especially when it’s been going well for them. For those guys to understand, for the O-line to buy into it and the defense to not blink and say, ‚ÄòCoach, we’ve got you, just don’t turn it over.’ I think it was a team wide effort to do that and make that change.

On the benefit of playing in the Boca Raton Bowl in the same stadium last year:

The best thing is we’ve been down there and won in that stadium. We’ve done it recently. The locker room ‚Äì all those things are important to me. Just the feel of it having played in that environment. It’s not a bowl game. You don’t have that extended amount of time there. This is their home. This isn’t us and another team both coming in similar with it new to both of us. It is their home, so that’s obviously and advantage. I think it helps us. I don’t think there’s any way around it. I think it helps us from a familiarity standpoint.

On keeping the routine:

Knowing the place, feeling good about it and feeling confident ‚Äì it’s a grass stadium. We don’t play on grass a lot. I think having that feel for it. Once again, it’s not our home, but we’ve at least been and played well there.

On the Florida Atlantic defense:

I think you just go to very fast, athletic and physical. That’s what you’re looking for in a defense. I think that’s who they are. We know what kind of football players are down in that area. It’s kind of one of those deals where you walk out your door, and they’re there. I think that’s one of those things for coaches in the area that if they can just keep the guys home. How many of those guys from that area are going all across the country to play? Defensively, that’s what they love. They’re long, they’re athletic and they’re physical. I think you can build a pretty good defense from those guys in that area, and we have a few of them.

On bouncing back:

I think over a course of a season, a lot of things happen. That’s why you’ve just got to keep your head down and keep working. As coaches, we talk about adversity. We have to take our own advice. I don’t care who you are. It’s easy to get down. That was one of those moments. How do you react when you get punched? I think that’s what we needed. You want to be good and lucky. I think that’s part of it, but also these other teams are having to go play with injuries and guys having an open date before them. Maybe they get a guy banged up or two. It happens to all of us. I think I’ve been in some other cases where we weren’t lucky, but it is good to be good and lucky. I’ll take both.

On the last three weeks:

I’ve been blessed. I’ve been a part of a lot of great games and championships with great players, but this is one of those that’s right up there. I knew this year was coming. We had to go build it the way we did. We had no choice, but I hear what is said. Some guys can’t help themselves and talk about how many people we lost and see what we’ll do like we had some advantage by shutting our program down. To myself, I’m thinking, ‚ÄòLet’s go shut your program down and see how well you do.’ I did hear that talk and saw where we were picked. I’ve always been motivated by those types of things, so pick against us. There’s that competitor side in me coming out. It’s beyond rewarding to see a young group ‚Äì we’ve basically got them all back next year ‚Äì but this small group of seniors. We talk about Dufour and Vogel and those guys who really believed in our program and believed in us who came back. This other group still believed in us when we were showing things that we were going to do with building buildings and all those things, so you want to do it for them. You want to do it for this program. It’s really beyond rewarding just to be here. Of course, I got to enjoy that until we landed, then here’s this next really good opponent. It’s just what we do, but it’s very rewarding.

On the defense controlling the game:

That’s a good question. I think we knew in that game. If you looked at how we played, we were in two man, then we were in drop-eight zone, then we were in five and six man pressures. We were changing it every single play. You have a four-year starter at quarterback, once again, it’s kind of that same boat this year of a guy who you look back two years ago and say, ‚ÄòWhat hurt him in this formation?’ That’s what we’re going against in somebody that understands that. This reverse hurt them. This screen play hurt them. We have to go back and study ourselves and see what hurt us. That’s the cat and mouse game of football. We’ve got to know what our weaknesses are on both sides of the ball because they’re going to try to exploit them just like we’re trying to exploit theirs.

On what makes Lane Kiffin a successful play caller:

I say there are offensive coaches, defensive coaches and mixtures of both. I think there are mad scientist guys that you can’t put your finger on who they are. Those are guys that are hard to deal with. Some of those abstract guys really are some of the better offensive play callers. You really can’t put your hands on who they are. Are they a run team? Are they a throw team? Are they a trick team? They’re a little bit of everything.

On the game’s recruiting impact:

I think any time you’re the game or one of the only games around. What are there, nine or 10 championships? We’re one of them, so I think that’s huge. It was evident as we were getting on the plane and our guys that we have committed and recruits are texting us, ‚ÄòCongratulations.’ That’s what a program looks like. That’s what we’ve been talking about. This is what a real program looks like, not just a good team. Now, this is what a great program looks like. That’s who we wanted to be the whole time. I said that was my goal from day one ‚Äì for us to be a national program. Now, I think we’re starting to see that and the best is ahead.