University of Houston Athletics
Football Press Conference Quotes Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005
8/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 30, 2005
HOUSTON -
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Quotes from University of Houston Football Head Coach Art Briles
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 • Houston, Texas • Entering Oregon game
"It's here. This is why we work, worry, fret, sweat and do all those things for football season. We're excited that it's finally upon us. It's been a very, very, very, very good fall camp for us. We are expecting big things Thursday.
"Oregon has an excellent football team. They are a very, very strong program. In the decade of the 1990s, they were the winningest Pac-10 program. Since that time, USC has moved into No. 1, but Oregon remains No.2. This is a great opportunity for us. It's a great opportunity for them. It's not like we feel like we are a slouch or a pass by the night type football team.
"This is a good chance for us to showcase the city of Houston, the University of Houston, our football program in the national spotlight. As far as I know, we are the opening game of the 2005 season in Division I-A football. We'll kick it off at 6:02 p.m., Thursday, and I don't think there's a game prior to that.
"We're confident, we're ready and we're going to be able."
On Oregon: "They bring a solid foundation. They are a solid football team and have been good for a long time. Prior to last year, they had probably been in a bowl game 11 years or so. They have been around the top for a long time. In 2002, they beat Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and finished No. 2 in the nation at 11-1. They are a very solid football team. They bring some strong, quality football players from that part of the nation - California, Washington, Oregon, the Islands - that we're going to match against our guys from Texas. I like that aspect and challenge of it. I like the opportunity to have a chance to defend what we stand for down here."
On having a big game early: "I don't think so. I made a mistake last year in how we focused going into fall camp. We let our number of games in the minimal number of days determine how we approach the season and work out. This year, it's been easier, because all that we have focused on is Oregon. We're not looking anywhere else. We're not saying we have to pace ourselves because we have so many things to do in so little time. From that aspect, it's been a comfort. This is just a good opportunity to play a good team early in the season. It has no bearing on what a lot of our goals are for the rest of the season. It's going to be a fun game to open with. They are a very good football team."
On Reliant Stadium vs. Robertson Stadium: "I would always rather be at Robertson. Robertson is our home field. Reliant is attractive to fans; it's attractive to national media. If you asked these five gentlemen where they would rather play, it would be 100 percent across the board Robertson. That's our home. That's our field."
On looking at BYU tape: "We're all BYU tape on the defensive side of the ball. We are pretty familiar with that aspect of what they do. But Oregon has been an I-based football team for a long time. When it's third-and-2, I am not sure they are going to be in the 3-1 set with one back shotgun. They may revert back to the standard I-set and pound the ball up the middle because (Terrence) Whitehead is a great between-the-tackle runner. That is something we are not sure about.
"Defensively, they have the same coordinator they've had for the last seven years, so they will be pretty similar there. They did change from a 4-3 look to a 4-2-5 look they went through this spring and summer. That's a little bit different for them.
"We feel a little more comfortable this year because we can adjust quicker. Our guys are more mature. We know our players better. They have been through a few more wars with us. If they throw something out there, we can adjust on the sideline a little quicker."
On matchups he likes: "That's a tough question because it reaches into strategy which I don't want to get into publicly. As far as matchups, team versus team, it's the Southwest-Northwest. I like our guys. We recruit our players because they are good players. The guys that are here we have nurtured and worked with and attained a trust that we are all the same. Whoever they have, I don't feel like they have better than what we have. That's just the way that we feel. If they want to go one-on-one with anybody we have, then we will play and I feel like we will win.
"They have the best Pac-10 defensive line possibly in the nation. That's a great opportunity for our offensive line to come out, establish themselves and make a stand. That will be an intriguing matchup.
"With them going to their new offense, (quarterback Kellen) Clemens being a three-year starter, (Terrence) Whitehead being a between-the-tackles runner who gained over 1,000 yards last year, second-leading rusher in the Pac-10, going to a new look against our defense with the new look, that will be an intriguing matchup."
On his brashness this season: "I am not sure what brash means. I don't want to seem that way. I have been out and I have been whipped. I ride with my wife in a car and somebody will honk or cut her off. The next thing I know, she is hollering and pointing and all that. I'm thinking (that) she's never been beat up. I've been beat up. I have had somebody on top of me hit me before. I understand situations. You have to be in situations where you feel like you have some control.
"I feel good about our football team because I feel good about our players. I have confidence about our players. My confidence, which I hope is not brash, comes from being around guys that I trust and understand. If we are going to play the game, we expect to win. We are going to play Oregon, so we expect to beat them. We played Michigan two years ago; we expected to beat them in front of 110,000. That's why you coach; that's why you play. That's the way we are going to coach every game with an open mind. To me, it's not just saying it; it's feeling it and meaning it. We have the opportunity, so we are going to take advantage of it."
On team health: "Jeron (Harvey) is still not at 100 percent. Brendan (Pahulu) has really done well the last two workouts. We expect both of those guys to be on the field."
