University of Houston Athletics
Houston Football Press Conference Quotes
10/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2011
Houston -
University of Houston Press Conference
Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
Oct. 11, 2011
On heading into the bye week with a win over East Carolina:
"The bye week comes at a great time for us because we are fortunate to be at the midpoint of the year. We have played good football. We have to continue to play good football. Tyron Carrier has been playing through some injuries the past three weeks. This comes as a good time for us to focus as a team and get some players healthy. Case (Keenum) has been at a healthy pace since two-a-days, so it will be a good time for him to get some rest too. It's just a good time for us. The best part of it is to be 2-0 in the conference going into the bye week. It's time to develop some of the younger players that have come out and helped us. We have a lot of confidence in them. We will get them some more time and more repetitions. Some of our special teams, back-up lineman were strong earlier in the year, but we have to get more confidence in them. We are going to need them all down the stretch."
On defense and the changes:
"Last week we have had twelve plays that were over two hundred yards. You have to find what exactly was the problem, if it was the scheme. I was not as panicked as a lot of people were on what happened at UTEP. We just had to find what was the difference and what happened there. As a coach you have to find out what went wrong and what to execute."
On Playing at Home:
"A home team has a definite advantage. We have a bigger advantage than anyone by looking at our record. Philosophically, we are not any different than anyone else, but the results show that we are a little bit better than everybody else. There is a definite home field advantage (here). It's not easy to go on the road and play. Our fans and the addition of the crowd noise is a big factor. Since I have been here our student attendance has increased dramatically. Our players have enjoyed that a lot. The students are loud and more vocal than most fans. We want all of our students at the game and they have been very supportive of it."
On being ranked and what it means:
"It is an important issue for our fans and students. It is important for our students to know that they are a part of an elite group in the country. It becomes important when you are recruiting. That's where kids want to be… nationally recognized. As a team, it hasn't made that much difference in what we are trying to accomplish and what our goals are. When I got here the main goals were to win conference championships. Our goals as a program are completely different to the goals of the team. The goals of the team are year-to-year. We want to build a good team and to build a good program. That comes from building blocks and week to week preparation. It is a good thing for everyone involved in the university and the city of Houston. It creates a sense of pride. As I said before, this city supports a winner. When the teams in this city are winning it becomes a tough ticket to get. I have seen stadiums get real full and real empty. One thing this city will do is support a winner. It is important to be recognized and involved nationally. It helps us with everything that is trying to be accomplished. "
On Case Kennum and his play since his injury:
"I think he has played on a very high level. He will be the first to tell you that he can play better. As I said a week ago, which sounded crazy, we left a lot of points on the field. He continues to improve. It is about a year from his surgery, which is really amazing. Technology has helped him and our medical people, who have worked really hard to get him back on the field. There are a lot of things to consider where he is right now. He put a lot into it and our medical staff worked really hard with him. I think he is gaining more confidence. The bottom line as a team, no matter how we have done it, we have won games. When you have a guy that is an experienced quarterback he is able to deal with the criticism as well as the praise."
On being afraid of a let down after all of this emotional success:
"Many people said it was the most complete football game they have seen in 20 years. I would like to play like that again. That is what we work for. We visited yesterday on where we are as a team. Our guys understand what is going on. The bye week comes at a time where we need it physically and even emotionally. There are a lot of expectations for this team. We have not played well enough consistently all year. I don't know if we are in a position to have a let down."
Senior quarterback Case Keenum
On how he feels now compared to when the season started:
"I don't know if we've played as well as we could have yet. That's encouraging to know that we still have some football left and we still haven't played our best games. I feel like there are a few times where we've gotten stopped and then there have been quite a few times where we have stopped ourselves. Whether that's mental mistakes, penalties, dropped balls, bad checks on my part, those are things we can work on and get better. We have done that throughout this season but we can get better as we go along. As far as confidence goes, we've all gotten more as we've gone along. I feel like I have the best mindset going into each game than I have had at any time I've ever played. It's a lot of fun out there and we need to keep having fun."
On what is making the offense so efficient:
"It's a lot of things. It's me making good decisions. It's receivers making good decisions and good plays. That's one thing we always stress… when the ball is in the air, the receivers know it's their ball and if they can't catch it, the other team isn't going to get to it either. Also the offensive line does a great job of keeping me out of pressure situation that force bad decisions. The whole offense has eliminated turnovers as much as possible"
On Chris Thompson's adaptation to leading the line:
"It is hard for him to be patient sometimes when I'm back there yelling at him to hurry up and snap the ball, but he has gotten tremendously better. It is hard enough to play offensive line without having to lead those guys and tell them what blocking scheme's there are going to be. He gets the line into what they're going to do and then he has to go and do it himself. I know that's a lot to put on him, but he does a great job with it and he's getting better. The whole offensive line is getting better, especially helping us run the ball which is good for us."
On Christ Thompson's character:
"He does like to talk and joke, I don't know if that helps him to be a better football player, but it makes us like him a lot more."
On what it means to be 6-0:
"College football is pretty special when each week is the most important game. This is the biggest game of the year we're about to play and then if things go right then the next week is the biggest game of the year. If we treat each week like a championship week and take it one week at a time we'll be fine. It's nice to look at the bigger picture, but we can't get caught patting ourselves on the back."
Senior running back Mike Hayes
On Bryce and his relationship in the huddle:
"Bryce and I are like brothers. We are always playing around. When we get close to the goal line we're always arguing about who's going to get the touchdown. But Case is like the dad, so anytime he wants he can just check off to a passing play and get the touchdown."
On if this was the best game they've played:
"It was, especially for our defense. All week we read articles about how good we could be except for that our defense was holding us back. I really think it was a good time for our defense to go out and play really well. It was good for them to stop a high-powered offense like ECU."
On when the time comes to start thinking about being undefeated and ranked:
"After the season. For me, that's the best time to think about it. We can't be worried about anything else besides this off week and the week after that. Winning that game would get us to 7-0 and one step closer to winning conference."
