Houston vs. Grambling State Postgame Quotes
9/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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GRAMBLING STATE TIGERS(0-2 • 0-0 SWAC)
at HOUSTON COUGARS (1-1 • 0-0 The American)
TDECU Stadium • Houston, Texas • Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Tony Levine
Opening Statement
"First and foremost, it was good to get back out there again. It was a long week. In college football, you typically have seven days in between games; I know that's not true next week, this last week felt like seven months. It felt good to get back out there and pull off a win. We improved on some areas, and there are still certainly some things that we need to work on throughout the season.
"It starts with the turnover battle. We created six turnovers, but we did turn it over twice, which is two times too many. We didn't play a perfect game, nor will we probably ever, but I was proud of our student-athletes and our staff coming back from the disappointment last Friday. I liked the positive energy on the sideline and how they went about their business this past week in practice. Three days from tomorrow, we'll be getting on a plane, leaving the state of Texas and be ready to play Thursday night against BYU.
"The other thing I'm going to add, the turnout tonight from the students was outstanding. I thought the stadium was loud and we appreciate the fans, alumni, and again the students showing their support being out there tonight. It makes a huge difference in the environment, its tremendous and makes it difficult for opponents to come in here."
On The Use Of Greg Ward Early In The Game
"I think that is something were going to see week in and week out. It's a change of pace, and it gives opponents something else to think about. Going back to what I said in the past, I do not think he's a Wildcat quarterback, I think he's a dual-threat quarterback. I think John is dual-threat, he can run as well. I think it can give us a spark as well, and whether we do it six times or twenty six times, an opponent is going to have to prepare for that. Whether it's a normal seven-day week, or a short game week, it tends to be a little bit more challenging for opponents to prepare for."
On The Defense's Development The Past Few Years
"Confidence and identity are what I think of when I think of our defense. I think a year ago at this specific time defensively, we had confidence but not an identity. The identity at that point, early on in the season, was not the one we ended with towards the end of last season. All the turnovers and the success we had in dropping the scoring defense from the previous year, we've got that right now. I go back to the comments I made after last weeks game, I thought our defense played well especially early in the game, we didn't create the turnovers, I gave our first opponent credit on ball security.
"Tonight, I thought we made some plays defensively to get us the ball back. Adrian McDonald with the one-handed interception, William Jackson earlier in the game breaks on the hitch route on the sideline. We had some guys make some plays, Vincent Hall; he had two fumble recoveries and scored a touchdown at the end. We had some guys making plays on that side of the ball and who were confident that someone was going to make a play behind them, which I think goes a long way."
On junior free safety Trevon Stewart
"It got to the point where we could rest him with the short turnaround and get him ready for Thursday."
On The Quarterback Situation
"Could Coach Bush and our staff come in tomorrow and say, 'Hey, were playing Greg Ward ninety snaps against BYU', instead of nine, give us the best chance to win against BYU? Maybe. In that case, John would be off rhythm. I think using Greg has been a good change of pace for us, I think it was last year and especially tonight as well. When he's out there, he can run it, hand it, throw the quick game, and throw it downfield. There is a lot we can do with him. With John having to either split out at wide receiver, or come out for a play or two, really shouldn't affect his 'rhythm.'
On QB John O'Korn's play
"He played well. I thought he was more confident in his throws tonight. I don't think anyone coached a perfect game or any of our student-athletes played a perfect game, but we saw improvement from John from week one to week two. He will come in tomorrow and say that I missed this throw, I missed that throw, I had a poor read. He is his own biggest critic but again what we are looking for in our program is improvement from game to game and I would like to say in a post game press conference Thursday night that John O'Korn again improved from game two to game three."
On late shots down the field
"Every opponent presents different challenges and Grambling, with what they do defensively, they blitz almost every down so when a defense is bringing six and seven guys every snap then you have a little bit less time back there to operate a quarterback which can also attribute to limited time with him holding the ball and some limited routes down field. I agree with the basis of your question, we have got to be able to throw the ball downfield and take shots and again based on game plan we felt like we had a couple opportunities tonight but really with what they did defensively we felt like we needed to get the ball out of our hands quickly and let our receivers and back run after the catch."
On change in offensive play in the backfield with Daniel Spencer
"When you at a young man like Daniel Spencer, I don't anticipate him making too many throws from back there. He was a high school running back and a receiver here but again a change of pace when he goes back there to take the snap, and what I just mentioned he was a high school running back so it is natural to him when he is back there, it's when he has the ball in his hands. Between John playing quarterback, Greg going back there to play quarterback and having a package for him and Daniel Spencer going back there I think it is a good change of pace and again it forces opponents to prepare for three different guys."
On the short we week and preparing for BYU
"Reminiscent of last year of playing Rutgers on Saturday and playing South Florida on a Thursday; however, Rutgers was on the road and we came home and played South Florida, we think it is very important that our student athletes are fresh for the game Thursday night and that they know exactly what to do on offense, defense and special teams. I said this a year ago that we are not going to try an reinvent the wheel this week and having said that on the flip side we aren't going to take the Grambling game plan and just run that against BYU, it is certainly a different opponent and we are going to game plan for them all day tomorrow. We will have meetings tomorrow evening and about an hour-long practice with helmets just to introduce BYU to our student athletes and really install our game plan. What I told them is that when they wake up tomorrow in three days we get on an airplane and we leave town so they need to take care of themselves and we have to be as healthy as we can before the game Thursday night. It'll be a physical game it certainly was last year and this is a physical program. We are playing Thursday night so our guys have to be fresh and they have got to know what to do."
On changes made to the offensive line
"I thought I saw improvement up front and again you always have to watch the film to see exactly how much. Travis Cross was the new starter at left tackle for us and I thought he played well. With the running game we had some explosive plays but we did still have too many negative plays in the run game. The protection certainly was better than it was last week. We'll study the film tomorrow morning and see how everybody performed but again I thought we did see improvement from our offensive line."
On BYU
"They are not one dimensional. They throw with Taysom Hill, he can throw it all over the field, he is very talented and a very physical quarterback and it is a very physical football program. We know them from having played them last year and they are always one of the top defenses in the nation and again it will be a great challenge. Coach Mendenhall has done a fantastic job. You put the film on and offensively last year they went to the no huddle and they we're able to go up and down the field all season and put points on the board and still have that physical mentality and defensively the same thing they are an experienced team and that is Coach Mendenhall's background and traditionally they are a top 20 defense in the country and on special teams they've always been outstanding. So it'll be a great challenge and I know that is a tough place to play, I've never been there before but again I am going to reference what I have said in the past that it is about us and how we feel we can play, we have got to do a great job with turnovers and turnover margin and we got to fly around and tackle on defense and get those guys on the ground. It will be a tremendous challenge and we are going to try, like we have, to be 1-0 at the end of each week and begin our preparation with our guys."
HOUSTON JUNIOR RUNNING BACK Kenneth Farrow
On the difference in O'Korn from game 1
"We came out there and ran the ball so they weren't dropping in people and their defensive ends weren't coming like last week. So when we can run the ball and they don't know we can throw, the pass helps any quarterback on any team. John is younger than any guys on the team, the o-line is a little older, the running backs and receivers are older; we have to take some pressure off him. He's still young and he's making a lot of progress year-to-year. It makes his job a lot easier if we can get 50-yard and 60-yard runs. We have to keep it up and open up the pass for him so he can sit back there and deliver a good pass. That definitely helps him when we can run the ball and get into rhythm."
On if they are motivated to beat BYU from the Homecoming loss last season
"We aren't even thinking about that because last time we were thinking about anything other than going out and playing our game. Tomorrow we've got to go out to practice and the film room and work. We are going to work hard everyday and we are going to BYU Thursday and see what happens."
On how the running game set the tone for the game
"We had some running schemes and we were able to go out there with a good attitude and see if we could establish a run first. That's what we did and it definitely helped us throughout the game."
On how he was able to break the mold to set a career high
"Just working hard in practice all week. That's what we had to do because we came out against UTSA and they beat us so we had to work harder."
On putting the UTSA game behind them.
"We know how good we are capable of being and we know how bad we played. We knew from the jump, right after the game that we needed a need attitude going into practice that week and it showed up when were watching our practice film. We have to continue to do that."
HOUSTON JUNIOR LINEBACKER Adrian McDonald
On the third quarter play when Grambling had the ball in the red zone off a fumble keeping a shutout
"It was a big play. Brandon Wilson, his effort. He could have trotted off the field and gave them six but he halted them down. That was a big play for him and the defense. Bending and not breaking on the goal line was big for us and gave us momentum."
On if mindset coming into the game and if its motivation for BYU game
"We watched film and learned from our mistakes. Against UTSA I felt like people thought the new stadium was going to score for us but that's not the case. Every Saturday, Thursday, Friday, whatever game we played, we have to line up across from the other team and stop them and the offense has to put up points and that's what we did tonight."
On the one handed interception.
"My gloves were a little sticky during pre-game. I looked where the quarterback was going. He didn't look me off very much so, I got a good jump on it and made it happen."
On how the offense scoring point affects the play of the defense.
"UTSA last week scored first, so that puts pressure on us to get a stop so our offense can get a lead and hopefully move the ball. But when we score first, there's no pressure, no worries. We just go out there and play."HOUSTON SENIOR LINEBACKER Efrem Oliphant
On how much they wanted to get the shutout
"We weren't even thinking about it. But we know we needed to play a good defense and that's what we did. We know if we play good defense the sky is the limit on our performance. We just went out there and played good defense and we were able to get the shutout. We got to see some guys, who usually don't get playing time, go out there and it was fun and a crazy atmosphere."
On the defenses' identity
"Our identity is that we're a defense, and that's something you couldn't say in the past. Now we're a defense and we play all together, all eleven of us on the field, looking to stop teams and correct turnovers."
On the challenge of facing BYU
"I'm sure there may be a challenge but we just have to focus on us right now and go back into the film room and play hard when we get out there. We have to do what we do - play Houston Cougar Football."
