University of Houston Athletics
Coach Dimel's Press Conference Quotes
10/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 2, 2001
Houston, Texas -
Question: Dana, you have mentioned all of the positives of your program, do the losses just come down to avoiding turnovers?
"The turnovers in this ball game (TCU) were huge for us. The fumble in the end zone killed us. The mistakes are a concern and we have to win turnover margins. We have to get them to turn the ball over early. One of the stats right now is that we are giving up ten points on turnovers and only scoring two points on turnovers and that makes a big difference in what could be the outcome of our games."
Question: The defense is giving up about 50% on third downs. It seems like the majority of the time the team is playing rather passively and not pressuring the quarterback. Have you decided to change anything with that?
"I asked the defense to sit down and write on paper what they think that we are doing, because we have not been very good on third downs at all. I got them to write down our calls during those times so we can change our strategy. It is important for us to be good on those down and distances. We know that what we are doing isn't working so we need to change it without revealing any strategies that we will use in the future."
Coach Dimel on changing the lineup:
"Chris Robertson will probably play a little more, but it is not because Joffery is not running well. In offensive lineman evaluation Al James was player of the week against Texas and Rex Hadnot was player of the week this week. They are both playing extremely well, Darnerious Watson and Chris Redding have really started to improve in the last couple of weeks. We don't think that it is a problem with the offensive line. I still want us to be able to run the football better than we have been. We are getting the yards. We just were not efficient enough getting points on the board with the yardage that we had. The thing that we need to improve with running the ball is be better inside the 25 yardline. We are going to try to be more verstile in our run game this week."
Coach Dimel on Senior Leadership:
"We are going to continue to improve each Saturday. We need players to step up and be leaders and our players have stayed very strong throughout practice this week. The seniors always have to take a leadership role with the football team and do a good job, but the young guys can put in their part too."
Coach Dimel on change of venue:
"The first road game is always a chance to start something new and our guys need something like that, they need a spark to get things going. It should help get us over the edge. The change of venue should help us to do that."
Coach Dimel on where he is right now:
"I'm staying more positive with it, because I see several good things. It would be scary if I said that "I don't think that we have the ability to get it done, we don't have the ability to play with some of these teams." That is not the case at all. It is just a case of learning how to win the game, we need game discipline. I'm not going to take any short-cuts. When we get there we are going to do it the right way for a long period of time."
Coach Dimel on both Army and Houston going into the game at 0-3:
"Whoever comes out of this one at 0-4 has a long road ahead. They will have to work to keep their kids tight and together the rest of the season. I'm willing to take more chances with this football team, the better I feel about a team the more chances that I am willing to take. You gain confidence from winning. We are not getting that right now, but the mind set of our team is so much stronger that they were last year that we have a chance if we keep fighting through these roadblocks and we will have success eventually."
