University of Houston Athletics
Coach Dimel's Expectations for UAB Contest
10/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 8, 2002
HOUSTON -
Dana Dimel Comments from October 8 Luncheon
"Judging from last week's game, we are at the stage where, regardless of who we are playing, we can take a game to the point where we had a great opportunity to make a play here and there and win the football game. That is the positive. The negative is that we didn't make the plays and we made some mistakes that kept us from winning the football game."
"It was a very physical football game. Our defense played a very good game. I can't say that our defense played outstanding -- the object of the defense is to hold the other team's offense to one point less than what your offense scored -- and we didn't accomplish that. However, they played at the level that would be good enough for us to win a football game on any given Saturday."
"Offensively, I don't think we performed to that level. We showed some signs of having the ability to create some things offensively. Regardless of TCU's defense, our offensive performance has to be better for us to win. That is something that we need to work on this week in practice."
"I wasn't pleased with Nick's level of play; he knows this and we know this -- he has to be better. He just has to perform at a higher level than he did Saturday. As he does this, the offense will get to develop its new personality with its new quarterback. We should have made a smoother transition between quarterbacks, but we didn't. Now that we have one game under our belt, hopefully we will be able to make a smoother transition."
"As far as long-term injuries, Justin Davis will be out until the Memphis game. Damien West and Matt Schirmer will fill in at Davis' position. Jon Clark is out. Originally we thought his injury was going to be season-ending, but it will only affect him through the Army game. Clark will probably be ready for the Army game but we don't want to risk further injury, so he may not play until Memphis."
"Jonathan Pritchett did not play in the ball game very much because he has a minor stress fracture in his foot. We will hold him out of practice this week to rest the stress fracture. Since he won't practice, he won't get a lot of play in this week's game, however it will be nice to have him if we need him."
"We had several people go down on us in the game, and that affects you in several ways. It affected us on special teams because we weren't able to get players in for enough repetitions."
"Another positive from the game is that we were able to take the TCU team, who has traditionally been good at special teams, and we played very well exclusive of one special teams play. If you take the one play out of the picture, the performance of our special teams was very encouraging."
"In the UAB game, we want to get back and establish that we can play well on the road like we did against Rice. We want to gain a good win, a conference road win. Hopefully that will get us back to a .500 mark going into the next few games of the football season."
"UAB has gained momentum from their win against Memphis. To win we have to have a great week of practice and play solid football, which I think our team is prepared to do."
Dimel Q&A
Q: How do you explain the unforced errors in the beginning of the TCU game?
A: We need to do a better job of getting off the bench, getting on the field and making the play. Concerning the offensive procedure penalties, we were trying to get to a blitz check and we didn't handle it very well. They were caused by errors in the mechanics of the offense.
Q: What are your biggest concerns about UAB?
A: Our biggest concern about UAB is their young quarterback. He is a good athlete and he creates plays and makes nice things happen in their offense. They have three good running backs; two of them are 230-235 lbs. They have good height at the receiver position. Their offense has good play capability. Their defense is starting to come together; they have several young players.
Q: I expected Nick to have a good game last Saturday, based on TCU's defense. It seems like he needed more protection back there. It seemed as though we should have been able to take advantage of their defense, yet we were unable to do so.
A: We didn't get any surprises except that they blitzed even more than usual. We didn't execute well, and our offensive line didn't play as well as they have. We just have to get better.
Q: Do you see any changes ahead for offense?
A: Right now, other schools are trying to find out what our offense is going to do, so I don't want to give anything away. We will develop a personality with Nick that will be versatile. We don't want to be a pocket-passing team.
Q: Do you feel like you can still run the football out there without Barrick on the field?
A: We may not have as much of that aspect of the game, but Nick is not immobile. He is mobile enough to do some things and that is important to remember. It is important for us to find ways to get the ball on the perimeter in our run game. Once we establish a perimeter run game, our run game will become more apparent.
Q: Can you tell us about Tillman and Thibodeaux?
A: Thibodeaux is back. He is working hard and performing well. We are going to travel him this week and play him on special teams. This is his week to show himself. Bobby Tillman is having some medical problems right now.
Q: Do you anticipate any personnel changes on special teams, especially on kickoff coverage?
A: We want to keep our corners, Victor and Roland, healthy. We have tweaked special teams a little to get some better athletes out there. I don't think our kickoff coverage was real poor; we just had too much field to cover.
Q: Were the offsides pretty noticeable?
A: Yes, the offsides were both legitimate calls. We were offside twice in a row, because we were too anxious to make the plays. They just have to be more disciplined out there.
Q: Does UAB's quarterback present any problem for our defense?
A: He has good mobility and confidence and those to things will allow him to go into this game feeling good about himself. He is very versatile; he can throw the ball as well as run it. He has a gun on him.
Q: Blade Bassler got some action with special teams in the last game; do you anticipate using him again?
A: We are going to use him on special teams and try to develop him as a better quarterback. We have involved him in two special teams, and plan to use his athleticism to our benefit. We are also trying to develop him into a quarterback as fast as we can.
Q: How do you feel about Dustin Bell?
A: Dustin has done a great job for us. He has got a cannon for a leg. I had no hesitation on calling a field goal at the 54-yard line. He missed it just wide, but the kick was three-fourths the way up the goal posts. He has the power to make those kicks. He has the leg to make 60s easy. He missed that one because he kicked it too well. When you kick it too hard it gets a hook on it. His kickoffs have been fantastic and that is a big plus for us.
Q: Are you going to go with Nick the whole game against UAB?
A: I think Nick is going to have a great game and do what we expect him to do. We have to see how he does through this ball game. We didn't expect him to have any first game jitters. We asked him to do a lot more than what TCU asked their quarterback to do. We want to have a quarterback that can help us win each game and not just do enough to help us get by. He didn't play to that ability in the TCU game, but we think he can play to that ability and that is something we will continue to work on.
Q: What is the rotation with Joffrey Reynolds?
A: Chris Robertson is two, Evans is three and Cody Thibodeaux would be four this week. Anthony had a concussion, but he is practicing today and he should be ready to go.
Q: How would you rate UAB's defense?
A: They lost 10 starters and they are trying to find the players who are going to establish themselves in those positions. We need to understand that they are a maturing defense that is going to get better with each Saturday game. They have had some injuries, but played well against Pittsburgh and Memphis. They have the ability to play some good football.
