University of Houston Athletics
Weekly Press Luncheon
9/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 2, 2003
On the Rice game
"Good win the other night, not only for our team, but for the University of Houston. It's a good inner-city game, and I thought the crowd was really good, and I'm proud of our fans coming out, being loud and being behind us. The main thing we (coaches) were pleased with is that our players played with the intensity that we asked them to, they played with the intelligence that we (coaches) tried to strtess to them. From that standpoint, it was a good grade on our part. I thought the effort was great, and I thought they (players) handled everything well. We'll just take that, learn from that and try to go on towards this weekend's game against Michigan."
On the Michigan game
"Of course, Michigan is one of the more storied programs in the United States in college football history, and it's a great -- and I hate to use the word challenge or opportunity or test -- but it is a great position for us to be in to be able to go up there and see how we stack up against one of the better programs."
On Roshawn Pope's transition to the safety position
"It didn't surprise me. Roshawn is very athletic and his body type allows him to play numerous positions either offensively or defensively. He had an outstanding game and his hit on Herm (Kyle, Rice QB) was a big hit, and the interception he had was also a very athletic play. He is just one of many we have that we feel like will continue to get better as the season goes on and in the years to come."
On how playing a "perfect" game against Rice is different than a "perfect" game at Michigan
"We had a couple shots on the sidelines and a few penalities, but that is going to happen if you play aggressive and get after it a little bit. You're going to have a few penalities, and you have to overcome them. Fortunately, we were able to (against Rice), and you'd rather not have them (penalities), but you'd rather tune done than tune up."
On the players "growing up" following the success against Rice and the first game of the year
"I think we grew up a bunch, and I still think we have a long way to go. I think we'll learn a lot more this week against Michigan and find out where we stand and what we need to work on. As far as the first game, I thought they (players) went out and performed well, I'm very proud of them."
On the importance of the Michigan game to the Cougar football program
"I think the game is important; it's important that we get to test our abilities against one of the better teams in the nation. And to me, that's important. As far as building for a future or making a statement for the future, I don't see it (the game) as that important at this venture in our career starting out here. I just see it as a chance for us to go up there and see how we match up and help get us ready for conference play."
On how playing a team like Michigan helps recruiting
"I guess from a recruiting standpoint you could put some merit on it (the game). We want people to come to the University of Houston to get an education and play for a staff that is going to treat them in a fine fashion and represent this school. We're going to get all of the competition we want throughout our schedules the next few years, and Michigan just happens to be the game this year that to the media and public is a premier game. Of course, our conference games are coming up later on and that's what we're getting ready for in our season."
On any special plans in playing in front of a crowd of over 100,000 at Michigan
"As far as silent counts and stuff like that, we've got a few things we'll work on later in the week. Some of these guys have been in big stadiums, some haven't. The thing you have to concentrate on is once the game starts, you have to play between the lines, and that's what we worry about. You block out everything else. If you're paying attention to anything else, then you're not doing your job as a coach or a player. If they are going to stand around and gaze up into the stands, or if I'm going to stand around and gaze up into the stands, then they don't need to be out there and I don't need to be out there. Our job is to play between the lines and that's what we're going to do."
On keeping the offense simple against Michigan like Houston did against Rice to put points on the board, or trying to open things up and gain an edge
"We'll have to do a few things differently this week than we did last week. We actually have some video on them (Michigan) this year, as they do on us, and we'll try to do a couple things to counteract a couple things they do. We'll sneak around and do a play or two that hopefully will get them on their heels a little bit. It's not like they're (Michigan) an inexperienced football team, and their heads are going to be spining and they're going to be pointing at somebody else. They've seen just about everything you can see, and what we've got to do is out-execute them, out-hustle them, out-tackle and out-block them, and whoever does that will win the game."
On his approach towards the players going into a game that noone other than the coaches and players think they can win
"Well, the thing that you have to be careful with is not to not spend time worrying about what other people think. Rather, you spend your time and energy on what you can and should do, and that's what we'll do. We'll spend our time and energy focusing on whatever we can do the best that we can in order to give ourselves the best chance to beat Michigan. We'll do what we can to give our team a chance to win."
On the team's defensive performance against Rice
"I think it was a great performance. Rice really has a great offensive football team. Any option team like Rice is hard to defend, and it takes extra concentration, assignment and technique to take care of it, and I thought they (Cougars' defense) did a great job. I thought in the opening quarter the defense made some stops that really helped turn the game momentum around. As you now, if you've got field positions, turnovers and momentum on your side, then you've got a chance to win. And we had all three of those, and it worked out well, and the defense was a big part of it."
On the Houston special teams
"I would hope that we can play that well every week, and if we can, then we'll be in great shape. That's about asgood as you can do. We had just a couple flaws and mistakes that are very easily fixed. We'll take that (performance against Rice) and run with it, because if we can stay that high on special teams then it really helps take off in a game."
On what Central Michigna did right and/or wrong in their loss to Michigan that Houston can improve on or not do/do
"They went up there and went after Michigan a little bit. Central Michigan moved the ball relatively well throughout the game, they just didn't get any points on the board. They probably went in there trying to find something to do to give themselves a little bit of confidence coming out of the game."
On how the linebacker depth will be changed following the injury to Damien West
"It's a huge loss, losing Damien not only on the field, but in the weight room and locker room, because he really was a doing a great job working hard and being a great leader on the defensive side of the ball. My heart and sympathies go out to him and his family, because it's (a season-ending injury) a tough thing to deal with, any time in your career, but especially as a senior. It's a tremendous loss to us, but we'll move Lance (Everson) and then we'll look to move a couple guys to that outside linebacker spot, probably starting with Courtney (Brooks). We've got some other guys in mind, but that's how our plan looks right now."
