HOUSTON FOOTBALL WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE Prior to the Navy Game Carl Lewis Auditorium Houston, Texas Monday, Nov. 23, 2015 HOUSTON HEAD COACH TOM HERMAN Opening statement I am disappointed in the way that we coached and played against UConn. We ran into a team that is playing really well, especially defensively. They were fresh coming off of a bye week. We didn t play really well. I would be concerned had we not played hard, but we played really hard, and that is one thing that this team does is play really hard. The thing we didn t do is play well. The things that we know that determine whether you win or lose, we didn t any of them. One of them, obviously, I have never won a football game in all my years as a coach, and I polled our entire staff, and not one of us has ever won a game where you lost the turnover battle by four, and we lost four to nothing in the turnover battle. One of our keys to success in any game is to run the football effectively and efficiently, and then stop the run, but we didn t do either one of those on offense or defense. Again, we are playing to win the turnover battle, and obviously we were terrible there. Score touchdowns and prevent touchdowns in the red zone, we gave up a touchdown, and in our only trip to the red zone we kicked a field goal, and that was the difference in the point total there. I was proud of the way guys played in terms of their effort, but I m very disappointed in the execution. A lot of that falls on us as a staff as well. We ve got to be better. We ve got to get our guys able to execute better and put them into positions where they can be successful. The good thing is that it is not a funeral. We lost a football game. Our goals that we set out at the beginning of the season to accomplish, which really was plain and simple, were to compete for and win, our conference championship in the months of November and December, and we are certainly right on track to do that. It is a little bump in the road. We have a short week and don t have time to mope. The guys certainly mourned the loss on Saturday night, as they should, and it hurt really bad especially considering where we were at this point in our season. But, nowhere in on our goals did it say we wanted to go 12-0. It just says compete for and win our conference championship, and we have an opportunity to take another step towards doing that this week against Navy. On the quarterback situation It s ok, not great. Greg is getting better. Kyle has a bit of a bone bruise on his knee. Structurally everything checked out fine on the MRI and x-rays, so now it is a matter of pain tolerance. He (Postma) will go out and practice today and we ll see what he can do. Greg is closer to 100 percent, not quite there yet, but we have to put somebody out there. It will be one of those two guys. On other team injuries Kenneth Farrow has an ankle sprain. He is day-to-day and will not go through practice today, but we will
hopefully have him back tomorrow. Kameron Eloph didn t play due to a concussion. He has cleared the protocol up to this point, so today he will be out there doing football activities with no contact. What that means for an offensive lineman is pretty limited. Assuming he gets through today with no setbacks, then he will be cleared tomorrow. Then we have Colton Freeman going to make another run at it this week to try to get back and help us up front. On practicing for Navy s triple-option offense Once the schedule came out we knew that this was going to be a very challenging week. We even had a few Navy periods during spring practice, but more so during training camp. We would designate every other day, or every third day, the defense would get about 15-20 minutes to kind of introduce Navy to the defensive players. Starting about 6-8 weeks ago, on Sundays, we would go out in no pads. It is a little bit of a lighter practice. Each Sunday the defense will spend 10-15 minutes introducing and focusing on just one formation, and the different plays that Navy runs out of that formation. The unique thing about them this year is that through 10 weeks they have shown 32 different formations. Normally these triple-option teams have one or two formations, and you have to defend the multiple plays out of those formations. Our guys have been introduced slowly to it. I don t know if I would choose to play a triple-option team on a short week again I can promise you that. On the similarities of Navy s triple-option offense to others They re of the same family, all of the flex-bone teams that originated with the wishbone with three backs in the backfield. It kind of evolved into the double slot option where there are two wing backs, or two slot backs as they call them. It is very similar to what you will see from them, that Georgia Tech and some of the other teams that are really good at it. Although they are diversified, even more so than some, everything goes through that quarterback; he is a dude. He is arguably one of the greatest college players in the history of the game when you look at his numbers and what he has been able to accomplish throughout his career at Navy. He is a very highly acclaimed quarterback, and rightly so. On the success Ken Niumatalolo at Navy He has done a marvelous job. Obviously we know the challenges in recruiting to one of the service academies. The pluses are that you get one of the best educations in the world, and they are extremely disciplined in life after they serve in the military. That is usually a pretty good road for them because of the education that they receive and the connections that they make. The hard part is that you have to sell to a 17-year-old kid on serving four years in the military once they have completed their college education. He has done a fantastic job. It is a hard job, because you have to recruit nationally, and obviously the academic requirements are extremely high. To be able to perform at the level that he is performing, or has his team performing, knowing the challenges that he faces in recruiting is a fantastic job by him. On the potential of pulling redshirts off of backup players We have spent a long time talking about it. Obviously Josh Burrell and Kevrin Justice s name came up. It would be a shame to pull a redshirt off of a young man for the last regular season game. It is a shame the way the rules are set. I wish players had five years to play five, but this situation is another argument for that case. We shouldn t have to worry about this. The kid should be able to play and not worry about if I play in this one game this year, then I will have used an entire year of eligibility, and that is just not fair to the kids. We have to make some hard decisions. Obviously Josh and Kevrin are more than willing to do whatever it takes for us to win the game, but we will also experiment a little bit and have a little package for Brandon Wilson.
On if he ever learns from the players Every day. That s why I have the best job in America. These kids remind me of things that I've learned through my journey in life that maybe sometimes you forget. Then you re reminded by the way they go about their business or approach certain things. So yeah, every day is a learning experience. The day you stop learning is the day you stop living. For us in our program, we take that to heart including all of us older guys that are coaching. On how he dealt with the loss It was hard. We don t like losing around here and I don t like losing. Nobody likes losing so I shouldn t make it sound like we re any different than others. It is eye opening. You go into complete introspection mode when you lose a game like that. Then you ask a million questions to yourself about what you could have done better. I have pages of notes that I took within the 12 hours immediately after the loss of things that the staff, the players, and I can do better. Then you come pick yourself back up and go to work on improving those things. We used the phrase yesterday in our team meeting You can t let UConn beat us twice. I firmly believe that, and if we dwell on that, then we will have let that happen. It s very similar to winning. Winning is an unbelievable exhilarating feeling. Within 24 hours you have to shut it off and move on to the next one or else you'll become complacent and won t be as prepared or hungry the next week. The same goes for losing on the other end of the spectrum. It hurts, it stings, and it s painful. There were a lot of tears in the locker room and it is because of how much we have invested in this season. If we don t move on, and if we don t have a great week of preparation, then we will have let UConn beat us twice, and we can t let that happen. On respect to teams who go undefeated the entire season There's only two right now. That s an amazing accomplishment to be able to finish a regular season undefeated. It doesn t happen very often. I don t know when the last undefeated team in major college football was. I know even last year, the team that I was apart of won the national championship with a loss on our record. It made us stronger, so I think sometimes if used properly, a loss can help you grow and help you learn. I would certainly not choose it over the alternative. In today s college football, anybody going undefeated for an entire season is doing something pretty special to accomplish that. On if the team has exceeded expectations Absolutely. Just off the top of my head, we had four games against teams that were more talented than us. Louisville from top to bottom had more talent than us. Vanderbilt from top to bottom had more talent than us. Cincinnati top to bottom had more talent than us. Memphis top to bottom had more talent than us. What our guys do is play really hard, and they play for the love of the guy next to them. They play with a passion and a purpose that I would put up against anybody else s in the country right now. That s exciting because you always have a chance when you have some talent, which we do have. I don t want to make it sound like we re devoid of any talent. What I mean, is those teams top to bottom are probably a little bit more talented than us. Our guys find ways to beat those teams with energy, effort, passion, purpose and really fantastic training by our coaching staff. On throwing downfield against UConn We should have done it more. Coaching nature is to do so when you re playing really good defense, which we were doing aside from that first drive. We were playing good enough defense to win the game. On offense it creeps into your mind about not wanting to be the side of the ball that screws this thing up. Obviously throwing the ball down the field involves some risk. They are lesser percentages of throws as well. Getting first downs and scoring touchdowns is the name of the game too, so you have to balance the two that you can. At the same time you have to do what the defense is telling you needs to be done to win
the game, to move the ball and score points. At times we didn t do that and we got a little stubborn. I'm committed to making sure that doesn t happen again. On why the team has struggled offensively early in the last couple of games We're playing some really good defenses and better defenses than we have played in the past. We re banged up, and we have guys in there that are inexperienced at this point, and it takes them a little time to get used to the speed of the game. On reaching out to coaching friends when facing adversity My mentors: Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, and former Texas coach Mack Brown are certainly two (that I ve reached out to). David Baliff from Rice as well since he is going through some adversity. Those are the guys I lean on a little bit, and this was a first for me. This was my first loss as a head coach. I've been doing this for almost a year now, and I came across another first. I needed a little advice but more confirmation than advice on how to handle it. On if the quarterback situations will be made at game time Unfortunately yeah. Whoever is healthiest is going to start. That s really what it comes down to. If Greg s (Ward) ankle can heal where he s close to one hundred percent, I would imagine it d be Greg. If it s not and Kyle (Postma) has healed quicker, it will be Kyle. We wont know that until a few days into it, especially on a short week. We don t have a whole lot of time to figure that out. On how difficult it is to choose given the significance of the game The significance of the game doesn t matter. It s difficult any time. We re already playing a quarterback that was a receiver for the first month of the season. Then the guy he came in and relieved was a guy that was a receiver for the first two years of his career. If that tells you anything, then there s not a whole lot we feel comfortable about behind them, or else we d go with that; we d go with plan-b. There is no plan-b, so we've got to make it work with one of those two guys. On if Hunter McCoy will get snaps this week He will. We also had a little package for Demarcus Ayers last year since he was a quarterback in high school. Demarcus will expand that package a little for an emergency, and we re going to go from there. HOUSTON SENIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN ALEX COOPER On moving on from the UConn loss Yeah it was a tough loss. We hurt pretty badly after it. But we have to get over it. Every week is a one week season and Navy is this week. We re all about Navy this week. On having a chance to play for the conference championship Exactly. We started with those goals from the beginning of the season, and it s still there. We put ourselves in a position to control our own destiny, so we re really happy about that. We take care of this game and we ll represent the west division in the championship. On dealing with the teams injuries and knowing who the starting quarterback will be Friday No, it s kind of like what happened with the offensive line. Man down, next man up. At this point we don t know who it is going to be, but whoever it is, as an o-lineman, we re going to protect him. We re going to give him confidence. We re going to tell him to do his best, and we have you. Their best is going to have to win us a game. On what was learned from the UConn loss We learned that we have to get into a rhythm. That s the one thing that didn t happen in that game. As an offense, we never had a rhythm. That showed throughout the game. We never really got going. It wasn t
smooth. It kind of hurt that we felt like we let the team down, but that s something we ll take to the next game. It was a learning experience. On the challenges of facing Navy Navy is just an all-around good team. The defense is awesome too. So a short week doesn t help at all. But we ll be very ready, because we re focused in and locked in. it s the biggest game of the season to this point, so we ll be ready to go. On dealing with UConn loss It was a rough scene in that locker room after the loss. He (Coach Tom Herman) just didn t want any of that to come to Houston. We want to move on. The week has already started. Its Navy week. UConn was last week, but it could ve been last year for all he cares. So move on and let s get Navy. On playing last home game It s going to be a very emotional one. Thinking about Navy. Thinking about it being my last regular season home game. Thinking about everything I ve done at this university and on this football team for the last five years. It s going to be a big deal. HOUSTON SENIOR SAFETY ADRIAN McDONALD On what makes Navy s offensive formation tough The sense of urgency, the way they get lined up, their snap back, makes it seem difficult. On the biggest takeaway from Saturday s game We lost, and everything in life can t be sweet. We have to take some losses sometimes, and I think this is going to help us out. On how defense has grown We try to do the right thing and carry ourselves in a positive manner. We really just try to execute when our number is called and somebody gets down then the next guy is up. It is a one-game season right now, so we will take this game and prepare hard for it. On having a sold out game against Navy We have a great senior group, and this Navy game will be a great way to end it. On how he feels about Coach Tom Herman He s a player s coach. When he walks into the locker room he hugs everyone; he does room checks and talks to us on a personal level. On how Herman has changed the culture this year The program is more structured. There are no grey areas. On how they prepared for Navy throughout the season That is something that we have been doing since week one. We go out to practice. Every Sunday we go out there and go through a couple formations. I hope all this hard work pays off in the end. On how team is doing after their loss Coming off of a loss, we can t dwell on it. We just have to move on. Our spirits yesterday were pretty high even though we lost. Nobody was really hanging their heads, and we were in the weight room working. We had a walkthrough, and the energy was great between everyone like we had just won. On Coach Herman telling the players not to let UConn beat them twice
When Coach said that, it made everyone feel better about themselves and made them realize that we need to focus and concentrate on Navy. On Navy s quarterback, Keenan Reynolds If you have a quarterback (who is) that intelligent, that runs that type of offense, then we just make sure we read the keys on the defensive side, limit the explosives, and do your job. On facing the triple option offense No I haven t. I have run the triple-option when I was in high school but it is a different story on the other side. On UConn s trick play that led to the game-winning touchdown They picked a good time to run it. We needed a stop, so I felt like we were a little aggressive in the back end. I saw a pass and I guess William Jackson did too, so we let a guy free and it turned into an explosive play. On the senior class It s a big deal. There are about 20 of us, and we have a lot of guys that had a direct impact, because they came in as true freshman. We built the legacy that is going on now, and I feel like this Navy game will be one to remember. It will also give us an opportunity to close out the season with a home game. On the biggest challenge facing the triple option They are pretty solid along with their intelligent quarterback. He makes plays, and if he has a good read, it could be a good one. It could hurt us, but we have been putting the time in. You can t have one guy that knows the offense and then the other guys not know the offense.