University of Houston Athletics
Houston Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
9/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
HOUSTON - University of Houston football head coach Tony Levine and selected student-athletes met with the local media Tuesday to discuss Saturday's loss to Texas State and the upcoming contest against Louisiana Tech.
Head Coach Tony Levine
Opening Statement
"Saturday night was extremely disappointing. We have high expectations for our program, and as high as they are with our fans and alumni, they are even higher within our program. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than what was on display Saturday night. That is not taking anything away from Texas State; they did a great job. Regardless of who we played, we did not play up to our expectations. It was disappointing for our fans, student body, community, our seniors and for everybody involved in our program.
Moving forward, that game was three days ago and we have another one four days from now. We've put it behind us and we're moving on to Louisiana Tech. As disappointed as we all are, that was just one game. I said this before the game that you don't judge a team or program on one opportunity.
We have a team coming in here in four days that has not played a game yet this season due to the hurricane. It's a team that everybody has said nationally will be this year's BCS buster. They have a tremendous coaching staff, and almost all of their starters from last year's team are returning. Looking at their schedule from last year, they started off 1-4. Their one win in those first five games was in overtime. Following that they ended up winning seven straight and winning their conference championship. There are a lot of examples of teams who have struggled early and then went on to have tremendous seasons. This team coming Saturday night is as good as any.
I told the team that it doesn't matter who we are playing Saturday night, because based off our play this past weekend, our opponent is ourselves. We have to correct things, execute better and be prepared. We already have a great game plan, probably 70 percent was installed at yesterday's practice and the final 30 will be installed this evening. Our coaches in all three phases have their game plans finished.
We are moving on, and looking forward to the challenge Saturday night. In our game against them last year, it took us roughly 58 minutes to finally win it, so it will be a tremendous challenge this year. I like where our team is right now after yesterday's practice. We had good energy, good focus, good tempo on both sides and we had good execution. Everybody knows what we have ahead of us Saturday and everybody will be up for the challenge."
On David Piland's play Saturday...
"Piland never got into a rhythm. Early on we didn't give him an opportunity to make some easy throws. He hasn't played a down of college football since November of 2010. I'm not making excuses for anyone, but I'm sure all the guys to some extent had some nerves going onto the field. We went three and out immediately, and then they took the lead. We got the ball back and still didn't have anything to where he could just relax, hand the ball off to Charles Sims, get some yards and get into the flow of the game. That never happened."
On getting back to last season's offense
"We will get back to what it is supposed to be and what it is in my mind, no question about it. Conceptually we were the same going into this season, maybe philosophically not quite the same. We need to identify who our playmakers are offensively, and there were some glimpses of that Saturday. Larry McDuffey, who is a true freshman, came in on his first college snap and caught a five yard pass and took it 59 yards on his own. Ryan Jackson played six snaps, touched the ball three times, and rushed for around 22 yards. We have identified guys who can make plays, now we just need to get the ball in their hands. We have to be creative in doing so. I have prided myself since I have been here on a creative and out-of-the-box style of play, and we are going to get back to that."
On the new receivers adjusting to the up-tempo offense...
"I like where the tempo is headed. The receivers who made mistakes on Saturday weren't even here in May. A couple of them took their eyes off the quarterback and didn't get the check, and a few ran a route at the wrong depth. That's going to happen with newcomers, but we will get that fixed. Tempo is something we are going to stick with. It's definitely an advantage for us."
On who stood out defensively...
"Phillip Steward played well and Derrick Matthews played really well. We threw Trevon Stewart in the game and he was very active, always near the ball and did a good job. Our defensive performance wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it probably was good enough to win Saturday night. In the past, we have had games where our offensive time of possession was 17 minutes but we scored 70 points. Last weekend we had the ball 16 minutes and only scored one touchdown, which means our defense was on the field 44 minutes. That's hard to do. We played the whole third quarter on Texas State's side of the 50, and came out with only three points. At halftime I told the team that we have come back from worse deficits, but we've got inexperienced guys who haven't been in that situation. Our defense gave us an opportunity to pull ahead in the third quarter, but unfortunately we couldn't convert that field position into points."
On Louisiana Tech...
"They are a veteran team. They are similar to us in that they have a lot of returning starters on their offensive line and a lot of seniors on their offensive front. Their quarterback does a great job, and he's not the one we played against last season. They made the switch at quarterback and won seven straight. He gets the ball out quickly, he's efficient and it's going to be a challenge to play against him. They are a great team offensively, and they are sound and aggressive defensively. In the kicking game it will be one of the best groups we will play. Their punter is the best in the nation and showed it in our game. Our focus is more on us than our opponent."
On offensive coordinator Travis Bush...
"One of the toughest parts of becoming a head coach is assembling your staff. That's nine full-time assistants, graduate assistants, quality control, etc. Once you work with people on a day-to-day basis, you get a pretty good feel for them. I feel good about our staff right now, and Travis Bush has done a fantastic job in the short time that we've all been here together. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Travis and the rest of our offensive staff, as do our players. I'm looking forward to not only Saturday night, but the rest of the season and the next 11 games that we're promised. We've had one chapter of our book, and it was a bad chapter, but we're not putting the book down, we're going on to chapter two. There are 12 total guaranteed and we're going to read the whole thing."
On how much input Levine will have on the offense...
"My input is primarily during the week. Once the game starts, if I feel that I need to give input I will and I did Saturday night. I am involved during the week, but once the game starts, our coordinators on all three phases are responsible for calling the game. In terms of Travis Bush being our long-term offensive coordinator, I'm excited where we are right now, where our staff is and where our players are. We had a lot of energy at practice yesterday; our focus was good and our execution, specifically offensively, was the best it's been in a while."
On if there will be a new offense reinstalled...
"We are tweaking our offense. There will be some noticeable wrinkles, but also some that aren't. There will be some route adjustments to improve some concepts that we had. In that sense we are not completely scrapping what we've been doing. We literally might adjust angles or depth of routes and a couple things here and there. My philosophy is that players are more important than plays. Plays are overrated. We have to get the football into the guys hands who we know will make plays."
On the offensive players adjustment to a new coordinator...
"I will use the word transition, which has been a popular word for the last nine or 10 months. It isn't difficult. We are not going to come out Saturday night and run the Wing T. We will continue to do what we have been doing. The kids are excited and looking forward to this weekend."
On the Houston fans...
"We have the greatest fans in the country. It hasn't crossed my mind that our fans wouldn't come out and support us this Saturday like they did last Saturday. Our season tickets are at an all-time high. Our crowd was into the game and came early. We need them to be like that again this week. We've got tremendous support from our fans, and it's been like that the last couple years and it's come with winning. However, I hope and assume that based off one game they wouldn't stop supporting us. I can't wait to see them all there on Saturday night."
Sophomore quarterback David Piland
On the game tempo...
"The game tempo wasn't what it should have been and we now have that to focus on. We have to focus on right now and Coach [Travis] Bush was been doing a great job at that."
On Saturday's game...
"Saturday was disappointing, like any loss. When our offense is inefficient it really hits home, especially with me. Right now we are focused on the next game and are so lucky to have an opportunity to go out and let that one go. We have a lot of things ahead of us and this one game doesn't change our goals."
On Travis Bush being named the new offensive coordinator...
"We are really excited. Coach Bush stepped into the role and has done a great job of accepting it. I was thrown into the fire two years ago and now he is. He has been working really hard around the clock, and we're excited for Louisiana Tech and what he'll bring for us."
On Louisiana Tech playing its first game on Saturday...
"There is always the `What ifs,' but they are going to come out and play the way they do and we expect them too. We will come into the game with a good game plan."
On tweaking the offense...
"We have a very elaborate offense and we can use it in a variety of different ways depending on how we have our players. We need to get Charles Sims and other playmakers the ball whether they're known now or not. Finding ways to get them the ball are little tweaks here and there."
On freshman receiver Larry McDuffey...
"Larry made a great play. He has speed and can definitely run. I'm excited for him to keep learning because he is a young player. He'll be a great player here."
Senior defensive back Chris Cermin
On preparations for Louisiana Tech...
"We're anxious after what happened last week. We're excited to go against them this year. They're a lot like our offense in the fact that they like to pass the ball a lot. We're just going to go against our offense with our tempo, and we should be fine."
On putting last week's performance behind them...
"You have to learn and burn. You watch the film and see your mistakes, correct them and then you get back at it; that's the good thing about football."
On what Houston must do to stop Louisiana Tech on defense...
"They present a vertical threat so I'll have to be very disciplined in my reads and be able to play the pass very well this week. It's a lot different than last week in that they ran the ball 80 percent of the time and these guys love to pass, so it'll be a fun week for us as defensive backs."
Senior Linebacker Everett Daniels
On getting back on the field for practice...
"We are going into this week forgetting about last week. We are erasing everything and starting over. We have to have a short memory. We have a great team, we have great players and we have great coaches. That's all that we need."
On Saturday's feelings...
"I was pretty unhappy about the loss, but we have to move on and get better. That's what we're doing this week, getting better."
On last year's game against Louisiana Tech...
"I really didn't play much last year because I was behind Marcus McGraw, but I remember those guys. Their offense was very good. They had great running backs and great quarterbacks. I know they're going to come to play this year."
On buzz about the loss...
"All our goals are still in place. We want to win a conference championship. We haven't even started our conference (schedule) yet."
On bonding as a unit after Saturday...
"Since practice yesterday, we have gotten closer as a team. It's us against the world; that's how we put it."
Junior punter Richie Leone
On the team's focus and attitude at Monday's practice...
"There was an absolute spark yesterday at practice. You can definitely tell with how people were moving around. We're looking forward to getting back on the field Saturday."
On facing off with one of the nation's top punters in Louisiana Tech's Ryan Allen...
"There's definitely motivation each week to beat the player you're matched up with. We're also good friends so it's going to be fun to go out there and compete with him."
