University of Houston Athletics
Houston Football Weekly Press Conference
9/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 20, 2011
HEAD COACH Kevin Sumlin
On what he told the team in the third quarter before the comeback...
"Nothing different than what we told them at halftime. All we talked about at halftime was what exactly was happening on the field defensively for Louisiana Tech and the fact that our defense had been on the field way too long in the second quarter. For the most part we had put our defense in a bad position by leaving them out there and not being able to move the football with a bunch of three, four, or five play drives and punt, and a turnover early in the game. We communicated exactly what was going on defensively. I've said many times that to recognize the problem as a coaching staff is one thing and to communicate it to players and actually execute it is another thing. Particularly when you have four guys in new positions on the offensive line, to have to understand what's going on and effectively get things done. Our coaches did a great job of communicating that and our players did a great job of doing it. Anytime you're ever in that situation its never one thing. It's a team situation and it takes a team to pull you out of that situation and the communication was that we can't do it all at once and its one play at a time."
On what he thought when the game shifted Houston's way...
"I didn't think any different at halftime. In any situation like that, as I've told our team many times, it doesn't matter what anybody thinks, it matters what you think. You can't win games like that if the guys don't believe they can win. Although there are a lot of people that think differently about us, obviously our team thinks we can win every game. I'm glad they don't think like a lot of people do."
On Georgia State...
"It's going to be interesting for me because to me, Coach Curry is a legend. Here's a guy who was the ACC Coach of the Year, the SEC Coach of the Year, the National Coach of the Year and has coached over 200 ball games. He has a veteran staff with George Pugh and John Thompson, which are guys that have been around forever, and it's a brand new program. It's the program's second year, so there's a lot of excitement, and those guys are going to be excited to come in here and play. Obviously with their pedigree and their coaching staff with (offensive coordinator) John Bond, they've been around and done a lot of things. They've got a new quarterback, who's been effective for them, and a very good punt returner and wide out who is pretty spectacular when he gets the ball in his hands. They are going to come in here and be ready to play. For us, every week we look at it as a challenge but also as a chance for us to get better, which we need to do, and chance for us to take one more step."
On Houston's defense...
"For people who haven't seen them, they may look at the numbers and say, `what's the difference?' If you watch the game, I think you can see a difference. Early in both games they've done what needed to be done. I think we've struggled a little bit offensively in the first half and kept them on the field quite a bit. There are adjustments and things we have gone to at halftime that have been good. The addition of the new guys in the backfield (have been helpful) and people have seen us rotate a bunch of different guys in and try different packages that have helped us with all four safeties playing. Last week you saw a little bit more dime personnel with Thomas Bates, Zach McMillian, and D.J. Hayden, which kind of leads into our conference-type situations with Marcus McGraw and Derrick Matthews. Both of those guys had outstanding games along with Sammy Brown. We're getting better and we have to get better as a team, and I see that happening."
On Richie Leone's success...
"I have a lot of confidence in Richie. In recruiting, we thought he was one of the best guys out there and he hasn't proven us wrong. That's why we nationally recruited a Georgia punter to come in and use a scholarship; that's how important a weapon he is. He's a sophomore kind of taken for granted. The decision to punt the ball with less than six minutes to go, down six, really wasn't that hard because of how our defense was playing at the time. The ability to know that we could stop them, that the momentum had changed, and that our punter was going to do his job (was really important). I thought the punt would be somewhere around 50 yards and get inside the 20 or 10-yard line, but it hit eight yards deep in the end zone. He's a real weapon. Most people don't know that at North Texas, Jordan Mannisto got hurt on the opening kickoff, and not only did he (Leone) punt in that game, but he ended up kicking off seven times. He can also kick field goals, but we don't want him doing all of that. He's just a sophomore, so we just ask him to punt and be our emergency kicker if we need him. He's a big, strong kid, who's an athlete and has great form. So the good news about him is he's young, and he's only going to get bigger, stronger, and better.
On the linebackers...
"Derrick Mathews is really a unique situation. We felt like in high school he was the best defensive player in town. He is a dynamic player. Here's a guy that is extremely athletic, very fast, has a great grasp of what we're trying to do and can cover a lot of ground and get guys on the ground and adjust to different formations. He's seen some different types of football here in the last three games. For a guy who just got here, we've been really pleased with how he's (playing). After the second scrimmage in the fall he moved into the starting lineup, and has continued to progress every week."
On Sammy Brown...
"You look back on last year when Sammy got here and he was in poor shape physically and we were extremely hard on him because of his talent level. Here's a guy that can run extremely fast, has about a 40-inch vertical jump and is just extremely explosive at 240 pounds, but had not really trained coming out of junior college. Last year he made some great plays for us but was really undisciplined, gave up some huge plays, rushed when he was supposed to drop, did not contain and just played sandlot football. And with all of that, he was still fifth in the country in tackles for a loss. Jamie Bryant has done an excellent job with him since he's been here to get Sammy to play within the context of the defense and become a complete player. Saturday was by far Sammy's best and most complete defensive game as far as assignment, technique, and effort. If we can continue to get that out of him at the level he played Saturday we're going to be fine."
On the Houston fans...
"Our guys really appreciate a crowd. I said after the game Saturday how much I appreciated all the people who made the trip to Rustin. It was impressive how many people were there. The students are our players' friends. They see them on campus and they love that they're the first guys in the stadium even when we're warming up. I think we're no different than anybody with the fact that we're more comfortable at home, but a home field advantage is not just created by playing at your own place; it's created by your crowd. At the UCLA game, crowd noise was a factor on third down, and UCLA had a couple of false starts, a timeout and some confusion down there at the end of the game. That's what home field advantage is about. Our guys enjoy that and are looking forward to getting back home. It's been a while since we've been here."
On the young players...
"We feel like we're pretty strong at linebacker right now. Lloyd (Allen) came in here a week or two into two-a-days. With Phillip Steward and Sammy Brown playing, it's kind of hard to take them off the field, so that's Lloyd's story. Joey Mbu has tremendous upside. He is extremely athletic for a guy who's 340 pounds and that gives us some added depth on the defensive line. He's probably not the pass rush guy you're looking for, but he definitely has the ability to become a top tier defensive lineman over the course of time. I'm happy that he's playing in the rotation, instead of about two or three years ago, when he would have been on the field playing about every snap. Dominique (Miller) has had an impact for us inside. Those guys aren't going to get the glory unless people put the camera on them and look at them. I think he has made a definite impact on our defense, just watching the games. He played against a veteran fifth-year center at UCLA in his first game that I thought he handled very well. The rotation of David Hunter and Dominique in there has helped us."
SENIOR QUARTERBACK Case Keenum
On the confidence that the comeback gave the team...
"A lot of the guys have that confidence but it carries over to the entire team after that game. We can look at everybody from now on and whatever situations we're in, we know we've been here before now. With that being said, it's a good thing to draw from knowing we can make stops."
On what they can improve on after last week...
"It would be nice to start a little faster and get going early. Offensively we need to execute when the defense makes stops and gets us the ball back. We need to stay on the field. Convert third downs and keep drives going."
On the excitement in the huddle during the comeback...
"There was a lot of excitement because the defense was making turnovers, but it was the same as normal. We were no huddle and moving fast and just playing. When it comes down to it at that time of the game it's just about going out and playing. We knew we had nothing to lose so we just went out and did what we had to do."
On what the win says about the team...
"We believe we can win every game from the start no matter what situation we get in. The game last week proved that we're right. We can come through in any situation that we need to. That was big for a lot of guys who haven't been around to gain some confidence. It was good that a lot of the seniors on the team came through and even some of the younger guys. That tackle on third down was pretty big. I thought everybody played well when we needed them to."
On what he said to the offense after the game...
"I told them I was proud of them and I loved them but we talked about needing to turn it on when we want to and not when we have to. We need to come on and flip the switch right from the start and not wait around like we did."
On what the team learned from the game this weekend...
"It was a really good learning experience being in a hostile environment. I think that's going to be really big in conference as we get along down the road and have to deal with different atmospheres. We're learning how to deal with that adversity not only from the crowd but also from the other team. To be able to bounce back and win when you aren't playing extremely well is always good."
On home crowds...
"The crowd has been huge over the past few years. Coach Sumlin has said that a home crowd is almost a seven-point swing. You can think about that after a game where you realize that a particular play was huge. Any time we play at home I know it's an advantage for us especially when the fans we have get going and get loud. I hope our fans are just as crazy as some of the fans these past few weeks have been because they were pretty riled up and rowdy."
SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER Justin Johnson
On being down to Louisiana Tech...
"When you look up and see that you are that far behind, you just think to yourself, `what is going on?' We need to come out faster and we have a good group of seniors to do that and a lot of young guys that have stepped up. We just stayed poised. In any game we know we can score quick and our defense can make a stop. We learned that we don't want to dig ourselves in a hole and come out fast. Those kinds of games are fun to watch but on the other end they aren't. You can't give that many points of cushion to a team."
On what the next step is...
"We are just going to take it game-by-game. We are focusing on our next opponents and given each of them the same attention. We're glad to be back at home and in front of our fans."
On flipping the switch earlier...
"It's more of executing and staying on the field on third downs and converting when defense gives us the ball. It's more or less just concentrating and converting third downs."
Outlook on Georgia State...
"We'll get into the game plan really heavy this week. We will give them the same amount of attention as Louisiana Tech and study them really well. Our coaches will do a good job on giving us a great game plan. Whatever they try to take away, we've got good players. If we need to pass, we'll pass. If we need to run, we'll run. We are just looking to get a victory."
SENIOR RUNNING BACK Bryce Beall
On the home crowd...
"The first home game was awesome. We feed off of the home crowd. They don't understand how much they really mean to us and help us out."
On his feelings after Saturday's comeback victory...
"It was tough. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. We never put our heads down and kept at it and found a way to get a victory."
On what he learned from Saturday's game...
"We learned that you can't take plays off. You can't take a possession for granted because you may not be lucky enough to come back. We need to start off every game strong. You don't want to put yourself in tight situations."
On what went wrong in the game...
"Effort was there. We played with great effort. All of our fundamentals were there and we played with great blocking. As running backs, sometimes we choose the wrong holes and miss. The effort was there but we just couldn't finish. We were able to turn the game around."
On what the comeback victory means to him...
"Experiencing that kind of comeback was great for the team. It showed the type of character we have on this team and hopefully we can build on it. I never complain about a victory so I just hope we can build on it."
On the motto of the team at this point...
"As Coach Sumlin would say, it's opportunity number four. We won our first three games and now we have a fourth opportunity to prove ourselves."
On the team being special...
"It started this summer. When we got Case back we knew the sky was the limit. Every week we work hard. We have something special."
