POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 33, Cincinnati 30
11/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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2015 Houston Football
HOUSTON COUGARS (9-0, 5-0 American)
vs. CINCINNATI BEARTCATS (5-4, 2-3 American)
TDECU Stadium • Houston, Texas • Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Tom Herman
Opening Statement
"Another great team win. Culture win for us. We haven't had a 4-quarter battle like that since Louisville, so it has been a while. I was really proud of the way both sides of the ball responded to that adversity. We knew they were going to score some points, and we found a way to win it there at the end. I'm really proud of the defense. I know the yardage total certainly is a bit gaudy, but they had turnovers again and scored nine points on their own.
The offense did a pretty good job. We have to find a better way to run the football. We started two true freshmen offensive linemen, and then we were out Mason Denley, I'm sure most of you may or may not have known that. He had a concussion in practice. All signs point to him being back this week. We had Colton Freeman back, and then after about the third series Colton goes out with some stinger issues again. So we're really thin there and we have to find a way.
It's our job as coaches to put them in a great position to be successful, and it's going to be that way for the rest of the year. So we have our work cut out for us offensively. But again proud of the way our guys responded. Again, winning is never easy. It's really hard to win week in and week out, and we found a way to get it done."
On struggling to convert third downs.
"We have to figure out a way. Our third down, numbers were not real good. We put ourselves in some third and short positions and obviously didn't convert there. We have to not be afraid to throw the ball a little bit on third and short when they're packing the box. That's my job. I did a poor job of that in terms of prodding the offense to figure out different ways to get first downs. So we'll go back to the drawing board a little bit, but (I'm) really proud of those guys."
On the play Cincinnati was called for four penalties.
"Really weird. We were fortunate that it happened because we didn't make it on fourth down and received a first down out of the deal. Then we had the ball on the inch line and again, it's not the player's fault, that's my fault for being so stubborn in terms of what we were running down there. Obviously we came to our senses a little bit and wound up throwing it there once we had the first down, and of course McCloskey was wide up and resulted in a touchdown. I've never been a part of a sequence like that, but I'm certainly glad it happened in our favor."
On the effects of the injured offensive linemen on Farrow
"It's tough as a tailback when you're getting the ball, and there is penetration in the back field. He was dealing with that for most of the night and rattled off some really tough runs to set us up in third and short. That's kind of what we hang our hat on. He was able to find a way to get that done. He missed some cuts here and there, but I didn't realize he had 30 carries. That's a lot of carries and with only a 3.5 yard average. He certainly came through when we needed him to."
On what a great 'culture' win this is
"We have a culture of physical and mental toughness. I thought our guys did a great job of blocking out the noise all week and focusing in on the task at hand. Maybe more importantly than those two things, of the toughness and the competitiveness, is the genuine love that our guys have for each other and for this coaching staff. When you're doing something for yourself, when you're driven with a purpose that's only self-centered, then when things get hard, it's really easy to say 'no, I've had enough' and move on because you're not letting anyone down. The only person that's affected is you. But when you have a genuine love for the guy next to you, and he reciprocates that love back to you, really good things happen, especially when things get really hard. It's impossible to give up and give in when you're playing with love for your brothers and they've got that love right back for you."
On if it's good to be tested late in the season
"Yeah, I think any time you can get tested and come out on the good side of things, it's a really good teaching and learning opportunity for our guys. We understand that this is the meat of our schedule, and most of the games down the stretch here are going to be like this. For us to take the first step here tonight was important for us."
On blocking out the noise with the Memphis game coming up
"I told them we're certainly going to celebrate this one. We've got a 24-hour rule, where we celebrate wins that are really hard, I mean really hard. That was a really good football team that came here and played us extremely hard. We had a great plan and executed that plan. We made a few more plays than they did. I told them as we finished that this is probably the biggest game in the short history of this stadium, and it's that way because we made it that way. They need to embrace that, because they have put in the blood, sweat, work, energy, effort, and sacrifice to get us to this point. We're going to enjoy the preparation this week for this game. I know we won't approach it any differently, but I'm sure the kids will probably have a little extra pep in their step."
On the performance of the defense
"(Cincinnati is) a different animal from what I've seen in terms of when and how they throw the football. I think these guys are more of a 'drop back and don't care about down and distance' kind of team. Memphis is a little more similar to us, where they're going to try to run the football first and then hit you with some play action. So I'm not overly concerned, although I was during the game. Hats off to them, I mean, that's an NFL quarterback throwing to a couple of NFL wide receivers. I thought their offensive line did a great job. We were bringing a lot of stuff at them, and we couldn't get a ton of pressure. When we did, we made it count and hit Gunner Kiel pretty hard, and we got a safety on a sack. That was a really good outfit, and we obviously have to play better when faced with that, but we probably have a different animal coming up this week."
On putting pressure on Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel
"Yeah I thought they played really well. I don't know what the numbers say in the fourth quarter. Any time you can hold them to at least one point less, and they did their part in scoring points as well. I was certainly proud of the effort, and we obviously have a few things to correct."
On trying to get pressure on Cincinnati's offense
"I felt like it was the opposite there. We were not getting pressure on them early. We made some adjustments throughout the second and third quarter and executed that well and started to get some pressure on them. Then they did a good job of readjusting and picking up some of our pressure. So it was a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, but it always is when you're a playing a team that throws the ball as well as they do and as much as they do. It is important that you continue to throw different looks at them, because if you stay in one thing too much, they're going to pick you apart. I was proud of the defense for being able to throw quite a few different looks at them."
HOUSTON JUNIOR QUARTERBACK GREG WARD JR.
On the interception that he threw
"Plays like that happen. There really wasn't anything negative in my head. I was just ready to go back on the field, try to make a drive and get some points on the board."
On preparing for next week
"We always prepare hard. We always go hard in practice, so this will not be anything new for us as far entering the week for Memphis. We are just going to go out and prepare like we normally do."
HOUSTON SENIOR SAFETY TREVON STEWART
On how the defense adjusted
"We did what we had to do. We followed our game plan. It was kind of rocky at the beginning, but we just went in at halftime and made those adjustments. Elandon Roberts talked to the whole team. We had to change our mind set. We didn't change the game plan, just our mind set on the game. "
On getting turnovers
"Coach Orlando and our defensive staff put us in positions to make plays. We practice all day and practice hard. We're used to doing that and had to execute."
On facing adversity in the game
"I feel like it's the perfect time. This is the last stretch of the season, and to be tested like this, throwing the ball and putting it in the air, because a lot of teams haven't. It was time for us to face that. I feel we held our own for the most part, and we can only go up from here."
On preparing for Memphis
"We won't change. We'll stay the same and do what we do. We're intense all day, every day. We'll keep it up."
HOUSTON SENIOR LINEBACKER Elandon Roberts
On the defense's culture
"For the last couple of years, at the end of the games, we couldn't finish. We've been a squad that has been together, the majority of us, for three years; we've been through the ups and downs together, losing games at the end. So when Coach Herman came in, he built that culture 10 months ago. It's really showing at the end of our games. At the beginning of the year, we showed it against Louisville. To be back in that position again and being able to show it against Cincinnati, shows how much the culture of our defense has changed."
On taking the field before Cincinnati's last drive
"At the end the game, how our defense is trained, we're comfortable being on the field at the end. Put us out there - we'll make it happen. It's just the culture. Defense was prepared to go. We prepare for this in practice, and we were glad we had the opportunity to win this for our team."
On preparing for Memphis
"The expectation is more on the rise now. As a defense, we come to each game prepared for it at an elite level. You can go into games the same, but you have to raise that intensity up. It's going to be really fun preparing for them. It was a great win, to beat Cincinnati."
HOUSTON JUNIOR LINEBACKER TYUS BOWSER
On last defensive possession
"I can just rewind back to practice and going through situations like that. We go through those types of situations all the time. It was pretty much another two-minute drill that we do during practice. We really just went out there and embraced the moment. During big games like this one against Cincinnati, we want to come out and win. We just go out there with a game plan, the right mind set and win."
On creating pressure later during the game
"We pretty much do the same routine that we always do. Really it's all about going out there and doing your job. Coach Herman always preaches to us 'do your job and everything will fall into place.' We just have to go out there and execute the plan and win."
On how he felt about the game
"Pretty good. Going against a team like Cincinnati, and then winning against them is a big deal for us. Next week is Memphis, so we really just needed this win."
On his fumble recovery
"During practice we always work on just trying to get to the ball. Coach Orlando wants us to attack the ball and make sure someone gets a tackle first. Whoever comes in after that needs to try everything they can to get the ball. For that play, I wasn't expecting for them to come out like that, but I was able to get to the ball."
HOUSTON SENIOR RUNNING BACK Kenneth Farrow
On facing Cincinnati's size
"It was big; they had something we haven't really seen down there on the goal line. They really brought it and stopped us a couple of times. Like you said, we got that penalty and it was huge for us to capitalize and get that touchdown at the end of that drive."
On the Memphis game next week
"It's huge, they're 9-0, and we're 9-0, and they're on our side of the division, so it's a must win for us. Every game from here on out is a championship game. We have to go out there and execute, and do what we did tonight. We have to find a way to win and execute a little bit better on the offensive side of the ball. As long as defense plays lights out and at the end of the night and we get a win, we'll be good with that."
On the defense's performance
"At the end of the day, we had more points on the other side. We were able to get a touchdown and a field goal up there towards the end. Like I said before, the defense really got us this one tonight; they really played lights out. They really got it done for us tonight."
On the importance of tonight's game
"We knew going in that this was going to be one of the better teams that we played in a while. We knew we were going to have to fight until the very end, and that's what we did. Hats off to the defense; they really saved us tonight, going out there and getting turnover after turnover. Especially when we couldn't capitalize on it, they went out there and still got stops, so they really kept us in the game and finished it off for us."
On Cincinnati's defensive game plan
"They (Cincinnati) did a good job; they dropped down their safeties a lot in the box, containing their stuff. We were able to hit a couple of runs, but for the most part, we had to go out there and grind with everything we had. It was a good fight, and I'm glad we made it out on time."
CINCINNATI HEAD COACH TOMMY TUBERVILLE
On the onside kick to begin the second half
"That was miscommunication. That's my fault. We didn't communicate very well. Everybody has got to communicate on that, and it just kind of blew up in our face, but that's my fault."
On the mistakes and penalties on the road
"We're killing ourselves on offense. We've got a good offense, but you can't give up nine points to them on offense. We're not good enough to do that on the road, especially on defense. After bending and trying not to break, our defense played pretty well. We had a couple of missed assignments, but we've got a lot of young guys trying to play.
They've got a good offense. They're top ten in the country on offense. Our defense did a great job. We just had too many mistakes in critical situations. They made too many third down conversions. They converted almost 40-45%. That's too many. We stood up, we played hard, we tackled better, and it was a heck of an effort from us on defense. Defense got us back into the game. Even though we went down two scores, we came back because we got the ball back, and we put our offense back out on the field.
We're still hit-and-miss on offense. We just shoot ourselves in the foot, throwing the ball up for grabs. You can't do it. Then they run a bunch of stuff out there that we normally pick up, but they took all of their defensive lineman out, put the [defensive backs] and linebackers in the game and started blitzing us, and we just kind of lost our poise on offense. Again, I've got a good team, but on the road we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers, and we still had a slight chance out there to get back in, possibly in overtime, on that last drive, but we just didn't do it."
On the possibility of taking control of the game and taking the lead
"We're not good enough to just knock anybody out on the road, but we should have played better. We went three-and-out on the second, third and fourth drive of the first quarter. That just put our defense out there for 30 straight plays, and we were dragging. We were over 40 plays at halftime [that] the defense was on the field. That's a long time against a quarterback who can scramble and make you miss. Again, they've got a good offense, and they do a good job of spreading it around. We just gave them too many things. We just gave them a gift, and you can't do that when you're playing on the road.
On the facemask penalty
"Well, their left tackle moved. Everybody in the stadium saw it, and they didn't call it. That's what we're looking at. Their guy even stopped, and I don't even think it was a facemask. At the end of it, he said he didn't grab his facemask, he said he grabbed his shirt, but it's just one of those things. I didn't like the call. I still don't like it. We've got to do a better job than that. When you're on the road you can't let things like that get by. We kind of just shot ourselves in the foot.
On the penalty called on him
"They called it on someone on the field, and then they called it on me. It was on the one-foot line so it doesn't make any difference. They heard me after that; it just wasn't very good."
CINCINNATI SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER CHRIS MOORE
On the comeback in the fourth quarter
"We knew coming into this game that it would be a close game and that this team has fight. No matter what the circumstances were or what the score was, we would always fight to the end of the game to try to win the game."
On team's third quarter play
"You just see it, and you never give up. It gives us more passion in the game. Every play is important and every play, you know you got to go out there and do what you have to do to win the game."
On the team's offensive performance
"We had some mistakes on offense that shouldn't have happened. We should have definitely been up on them. We had a messed up punt and a fumble, but we know that they are a great turnover team, and that is what they hang their hat on. We just have to clean up the mistakes and we could have come out there easy with the win."
On the team's record of 5-4
"We just keep moving on. Nobody expected us to win this game. I saw somewhere on TV that we weren't even supposed to win, but the fact that we come in here every game knowing that we are Cincinnati, that we fight and that we can win every game from here forth gives us motivation to practice."
CINCINNATI FRESHMAN LINEBACKER BRYCE JENKINSON
On his team's third quarter play
"The thing is, we were starting to get down a little bit, but the emotion on the sideline just kept picking up. It was something awesome to see. This defense has gathered up through the year. We are a pack of brothers, and we know that. It came out tonight. With our comeback, our defense played great tonight in the fourth quarter. We did have a slipup in the third quarter, but bouncing off of that in the fourth quarter, we did great. Everyone was yelling, everyone had each other's back. We are brothers here. I have your back, and you have my back; we are going to hold each other accountable, and we are going to play as hard as we can, because we know we have each other's back. We are a pack now. Nothing is going to separate us. We are a defense that is always going to stick together, and that is something we are always going to talk about now, because we have a group of guys that are always going to be with each other, always going to talk. These relationships are not going to end. I love my group of guys. We have a great group of guys that fought hard."
On failure of the onside kick to open the second half
"I really don't think it affected us. We take those opportunities, as a defense, to go out there. We are going to make big plays, big stops, and we did. It was a five-minute drive for 45 yards. We came together as a defense again, as a pack of brothers we held each other accountable, and we took advantage of the situation. We were like 'we are ready.' We were put on the spot, so we are going to get ready to play and we did."
On the conditions of the game
"Honestly, it added to the whole atmosphere. Everyone was ready to play. The rain also got the excitement ready because of turnovers. When it is a wet game, you know there are going to be turnovers, so that sparked us up a little bit. The crowd â€" Houston was a loud crowd. You know they were the home team, and it is tough coming into someone else's house to smack them in the mouth. We couldn't come out with the win, but we gave it our all given the circumstances."
On containing Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr.
"We did really well. I have to give it to Greg Ward; he is a great guy, very humble guy. I was blessed to be able to play against him. We contained him very well. He slipped through some cracks a couple of times, but we got that worked out on the sideline. He is a great player who can move, is very mobile, and is a very smart guy. Our front line did awesome tonight. They pushed, and there were a couple times whether it was the backers' spot or the defensive line's spot or the secondary; we don't know, but that is what we are going to review on film, but he slipped through a crack and we are going to get that fixed."
