University of Houston Athletics
Dimel Gives TCU Outlook Over Lunch
10/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2002
HOUSTON, Texas - Coach Dimel on Week Five at TCU
"The biggest thing during the open week was that it came at a good time for us. We had just been through four grueling weeks of football, which was pretty demanding. Having the open week provided a chance for our offense to get the chemistry back with Nick Eddy. Due to Barrick's injury, our football team and our offense has to assume the personality that it had with Eddy during spring ball and two-a-days. This was a good week to accomplish that, and it was a good week to get ourselves revitalized and ready for the next part of our season."
"Two conference road games is always a difficult task. I think that Conference USA is very similar to the Mountain West Conference in that any team that can start to establish some road wins will start to make a dramatic impact in the Conference standings."
"As you look at the TCU game and a team that went to a bowl game, it becomes apparent that TCU is a definite player, even though it is only their second year in the Conference. They are also a team that has established their recruiting in Texas. With all these things considered, this is an important ball game for us where a win it will be a big victory and another hurdle that we will have crossed."
"We are moving Matt Bentley into a starting defensive tackle position. Now we have two true freshmen that will start on the defensive line. This is a big plus for us. Matt has only played forty-five snaps for us and he has three sacks, so we need to play him forty-five in one game and we he will get three sacks in a game."
"I have been happy with our defensive end play. Sherod McGowen is really starting to come along at the defensive tackle spot, now that he is back in shape and playing at a higher level."
Q & A
Q: Do you feel like Chris Robertson is ready for game action at this point?
A: On September 20 it was five months, so now we are at five months and 11 days since the surgery. We are going to try and visit with the NCAA and see if we can get a sixth year out of him. I think that would be very important to the program if we could. My estimate is that he is about 75% right now and by the end of the season he would probably be 100%. Whether or not a sixth year is feasible for Chris is not our decision. If not, then he is going to play this week.
Q: How is the team in the off week, after a disappointing loss to Texas, considering the moral as a whole?
A: I thought we played well in the second half, which was a building block for us. If we hadn't thrown the pick at the end of the ball game, it would have been a pretty tightly contested ball game. It became a real battle in the second half, and we actually played better than they did. There are young guys out there whom I can see are improving. We built-up our confidence from that game and I have discussed that with the team. The Texas game showed us as a young team getting better by playing great competition. The first four football games are behind us and we need focus on the upcoming games.
Q: Is Torrence assuming the number two position?
A: He has a firm hold on that position. We are trying to get him enough reps in practice so that if and when his time comes to play in a game he will be ready. He has been improving over the last two years as a quarterback, and I feel confident that he will be able to get in and move our team effectively. If he does get in the game, our offense will take on a different personality than it does with Nick or Barrick, and we have to be prepared for that.
Q: At the beginning of the season you said that Torrence had been putting in a great deal of hard work and you were really impressed with him. How do you feel about him now?
A: When a head coach loses a quarter back, you get pretty leery. We are walking on eggshells as far as not wanting to get any more injuries to our quarterbacks. The thing I feel comfortable about is that Torrence has worked harder than anyone else to get ready for the season. That makes me feel that if and when his opportunity does come that he will go out on the field and perform well.
Q: How is Blade's physical condition?
A: Blade's back is to a point where it does not hinder him any more. What is holding Blade up is coming from a 3A high school and not having the raw skills that Barrick has. Barrick is an unusual type of kid who can come in and adapt to play well early, but Blade is not there yet. Blade needs to continue his repetitions to become comfortable with a higher level of play than he was exposed to in high school.
Q: Is Chris Redding back this week?
A: Chris Redding is back this week. He practiced all last week and is back to 100%. That will help us on the offensive line to be able to run the ball more effectively.
Q: Is Barrick's knee injury going to be a fairly simple surgery?
A: Since it is the ACL, there are no other ligaments involved. It is just a nice clean ACL surgery, which will help speed up his recovery. If the swelling goes down, he will have his surgery Thursday.
Q: Have you seen enough film on (TCU quarterback) Tye Gunn to see how he has developed and where he is in his level of play this early on?
A: We were recruiting Tye and Blade at the same time and we knew if we got one that we wouldn't get them both, especially because we got Barrick. He is all of the things that we saw in recruiting. I was hoping to turn the film on and see that he wasn't what we saw in recruiting, but he is. He is a good football player and a good athlete; he is also 220lbs.
Q: How is TCU different with Tye as apposed to (TCU quarterback) Stilley?
A: They are quite a bit different. They are listing Stilley as their number one right now, but I am not sure whether he is going to play in the game or not. Therefore, we are preparing for both quarterbacks. Tye is more of a move-the-pocket and run the ball type quarterback than Stilley is.
Q: Will the receiver rotation be the same as the line-up?
A: Right now we are predominately playing with five wide receivers. The starting line-up will be the same. Johnny Tyson will be the fourth guy and Jeremy McCardell will be the fifth. We can go deeper than that but we are trying not to. We are trying to make sure we get these guys enough reps, because we are using several two backs and tight ends right now.
Q: Do you think we will see more of Jon Clark?
A: I would like to get Jon Clark some more catches and get him involved in the offense. With Nick at quarterback, you will see the style of play we had last year, where ten or eleven different receivers caught balls during games. What makes us different is that this year we have tight ends. Now we should see our running backs and tight ends catching more balls than in previous weeks because the offense will change structure somewhat.
Q: KeyKowa had a good game last week, didn't he?
A: It was nice to see KeyKowa step up and play so well. He has to continue to play well. Nick has the ability to get Brian Robinson involved in the game too.
Q: If we are to beat TCU, what do think the reasons for it will be? What are any advantages that we might have?
A: We need to play like we did in the Louisiana-Lafayette and Rice games. If we can play this game like we did those, we have a good chance of winning the ball game.
Q: When Nick came in the Texas game, it became more of a passing game. Will this continue?
A: We need to remain balanced between our running and passing games. We have an offensive line that we feel good about and runningbacks that we are confident with. However, in this ball game, TCU doesn't allow you to run the ball. They blitz you almost every snap. They have been in the top running defense in the country over the last four years. I do like when we run the ball, but this excludes the Texas game.
Q: How is their offense?
A: If Tye is in the game, then we have to be ready for the run game. If Stilley is in the game, then we have to be ready for his style of play.
Q: Do you like playing the day games or the night games?
A: I love the day games. They are much better or us. I think we have all day games from now on, which I think will be god for us.
