University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 38, Tulsa 31
10/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
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HEAD COACH Tom Herman
Opening Statement
"I'm proud of our guys for responding. We talked all week about how our A game is good enough to play with anyone in the country, but our C game isn't. It isn't good enough to beat anybody of substance.
That was a really good football team riding a lot of momentum off two double overtime wins. They came in with their only loss to Ohio State. I was really proud of the way we came out.
We played our A game for the first quarter and a half. We let it slip a little bit towards halftime and they tied it up. We came out and piddled around a little bit on offense in the third quarter, but the defense held. Then we got some momentum from the offense.
I'm disappointed in a couple things. One is penalties. We've been one of the least penalized teams in the country for half the season, and we committed too many penalties tonight at costly times in the game. I have to go back to the drawing board with some of these pass interferences, targeting calls and late hits out of bounds.
For all you young coaches out there, be careful if you say you want to coach defense because I'm not quite sure how to coach it anymore and remain penalty free. But, we're going to figure it out because it's not going away. In regards to third downs, we were okay on offense. 10-of-18, that's not terrible. It's about 50 percent. On defense, that's not to our standard. 14-of-20, that's 70 percent they converted on third down. We have to do a much better job getting off the field on defense.
At the same time, we're really banged up. We have a lot of guys in there, playing very meaningful snaps that a few weeks ago we didn't plan on them playing. We have to get those guys up to speed and playing better. We have a long season ahead, and some of these nicks and bruises aren't going away. We've got to manufacture some quality depth.
Overall, I'm pleased with our fight and how we responded to adversity all night long. I told our guys, 'You're going to get their best shot, you've earned that. Everybody on your schedule is going to play you with their A game.' We've got to understand that, and understand that even when we're up 17-3 we can't take our foot off the gas. Teams are not going to go away lightly. They're going to keep swinging. I'm proud that we did respond, but we have to do a much better job if we're going to achieve the goals we have in front of us."
On his range of emotions during the final moments of the game
"I don't know that I ever have emotions during the game. It's difficult because as a head coach you have to prepare the next move. You have to prepare the defense to go back out and play defense up by seven points. After the last stop, us staring at the scoreboard isn't going to change the review. I wanted to make sure our offense had a good overtime plan and our defense was ready to go block the point after attempt. I didn't really have a lot of emotions because I have to calculate the next move. We'll let the kids have the emotions."
Emotions when game was over
"I'm really excited for our guys. Excited that they could take a punch in the face and respond. It's another example of how winning is really hard and you should never take winning for granted. I'm excited and we are going to celebrate the heck out of this one. There were a lot of lessons to be learned and it's really good to learn those lessons with a win. Understand that it is very short lived because we have to get back up tomorrow and get ready to play our rival SMU at their place who's coming off of a bye week getting ready for us."
On the last play with Emeke Egbule and Austin Robinson
"They came in with extra tackles, tight ends, full wides and no wide receivers and in order to do that you have to expect the run. We substituted in a bunch of guys who had not played defense all night. A true freshman was in there at defensive line along with Austin Robinson. One of our four pillars of success is competitive focus, which means when your number is called you are trained properly to go make the play. Credit to our defensive staff and Austin (Robinson) and Emeke (Egbule) for adhering to one of our pillars of success and being ready when their numbers were called."
On Terrell Williams' ejection
"I can't explain it. I don't understand the rule and I have got to do a better job of coaching defense. When the defender finds a target on a receiver or the ball carrier and uncoiled to speak he cannot stop at that point. He cannot stop and at the split second that target can change. It was my understanding that the rule is for player safety and I don't understand how that one is targeting and how the one on Chance Allen play was not. It was helmet to helmet contact and it wasn't called. I have got to do a better job on refreshing myself on exactly what the rules are and there wasn't really an explanation given to me."
On the decision to punt and put the defense back on the field late
"I don't remember the situation, but their offense was playing really well at the time. To give them that type of field position with the ball game tied, only needing 20 or 30 yards to get into decent field goal range, it was a no-brainer to try to pin them. Wish we would have had a better kick. It was inside the 20, but from that distance it probably should have been inside the 10. But yes, that was a no-brainer for me knowing they only needed a field goal to win the game."
On the involvement of the defense on the fumble recovered for a touchdown
"It's about time. We've done such an unbelievable job here the past few years creating turnovers. We haven't, for whatever reason, done that this year. It was Garrett (Davis) that made the strip, and he just kept fighting. Their quarterback (Dane Evans) did a nice job moving around in the pocket, and Garrett (Davis) was shielded by some really big, good offensive linemen, and he kept fighting. Emeke (Egbule) was there because of his relentless effort. He was around the football and scooped it up, off to the races. The guys did as they're trained. They looked up for opposite colored jerseys and made sure they blocked them above the waist and in front. Emeke (Egbule) did the rest."
On the confidence of the defensive after the last two games
"They ran for under 100 yards and we're built to stop the run. We've got to get better against the pass. Last week, from a defensive standpoint, we flushed that. Your defense is so different defending the triple-option that we'll worry about that the next time we play a triple-option team. It has no bearing on the way our defense played tonight because the alignment, assignments and techniques are all different. I didn't sense any doubt from our defense. It's apparent we've got to get better in our pass defense and coverage.
Again, as statistics go, we dodged a statistic tonight. Which is, win or lose against Navy the last three or four years, teams' winning percentages are awful the week after Navy. In 2014, teams were 1-11 the weeks after they played Navy, win or lose. I don't know what the stat is this year, but I'm proud of our defense after getting so banged up in that game against Navy, then having to re-adjust the entire defensive scheme in such a short week. (Tulsa) is a really good offense and really tough to defend because of their scheme and the way they spread the field. We know we have to improve, there's no doubt about that. To do it the week after playing Navy was very good."
On what Ed Oliver contributed
"He's always around the ball. He plays with relentless effort. Everyone wants to point to his physical tools which are exceptional. The thing that makes Ed Oliver is his tenacity and his motor. That guy goes full speed from snap to whistle, every single play that he is in. If he can't get to the quarterback, he has a knack for jumping up and batting balls down. We needed it, because they had some guys open."
On the injured players
"Nope, and you can add Matthew Adams and Jerard Carter to that list. Jerard (Carter) got a stinger, he was in street clothes by the end of the game. Something that recurred a couple of times during the game, so we got to get him healthy. Matt (Adams) took a shot on his shoulder and we tried to get it treated up during halftime, went out there a couple different times but it wasn't very effective. Na'ty's ankle, and obviously Chance's neck. Also, Steven's (Taylor) ankle and hand. He got his hand smashed in-between two helmets. We are pretty banged up, but SMU is not going to care. We've got to figure out how to get healthy and figure out a way to get the guys that aren't banged up ready to play."
On the communication on sidelines between the players and Todd Orlando in the final seconds
"Just trust your training. There wasn't a whole lot of, 'Hey if they do this, we do that,' because you don't know on defense. You just play the call that's given to you and trust your training and technique. You'll be able to make the stop when necessary. That's all we did, just remind them that you don't have to be super human, just trust your training."
On the blown coverage in the secondary on Tulsa's touchdown play
"That was a miscommunication between the corner and the safety. That is something that we have got to fix verses up tempo teams. That's one of the areas where they can get you is that they snap the ball so fast. It's just a few miscommunications we had tonight. The other times they didn't capitalize, but that time they did. We have to make sure that we cut that number down to zero. We are going to play an up tempo team this week against SMU as well."
On how this significant win is compared to others
"They are all significant, especially at home. Our guys are undefeated now in the past two seasons at home. This place is special. Thank you to all of our fans and students, alumni and supporters that came out. They truly made this feel like a home field advantage, it is so neat to have.
The ESPN sideline guy told me during pregame that, 'This place is rocking, man.' I told him to wait till the ball kicks off. To have a guy that goes to countless venues over the course of the year tell me that, I was proud of our fan base for really being a part of the game and helping us win the game."
SOPHOMORE LINBACKER Emeke Egbule
On the fumble return and touchdown
"Once I saw Garrett Davis strip it out, I just knew I had to do something with it. Just to keep us in the game because I didn't want to let my team down so I did what I had to do."
On what it was like in the middle of that pile in the end zone after you scored
"I couldn't breathe because everybody was on top of me. That's how it was."
On two defensive plays
"It was really big, especially the last stop. I'm pretty sure that got everybody excited because that's really what won the game."
On coaches advice against Tulsa's offense
"We just had to find a way to stop them on third down and we just kept fighting. We just came out on top."
JUNIOR RUNNING BACK DILLION BIRDEN
On scoring three touchdowns
"Three touchdowns was good, but the whole offensive line, those guys work hard. Day in and day out. Coach Warehime and Coach Meekins do a great job. They make my job easy."
On seeing Emeke Egbule's actions in the game
"Oh man, I got excited. Emeke's my boy and like he said he had to do it for the team and the game was tied. He put us up with a big play. I was really excited."
On what was it like to bounce back after last week
"It feels good. We talked about it all week. We had a bad taste in our mouths when we lost. Navy is a great team, but the 24-hour rule. We had to come back and work hard. It's a long season and we have to keep playing, but it feels good to come back and win."
FRESHMAN DEFENSIVE TACKLE Ed Oliver
On the final play of the game where the defensive held them on the 1 yard line
"I couldn't believe it honestly. I was just excited we stopped them and won the game. I was ecstatic."
On the strip and fumble recovery at the end of the fourth quarter
"In my head I was just saying run, that's all I thought was run. If I could make a block to help him out I'd do it, but I was trying to sell out to get up there with him. I was just thinking run."
On being so successful with batting down passes
"If I can't get the sack, I'm going to try and bat the ball down. By watching the quarterback's hand and time it when it's coming off and hit it. It's not really that hard."
On how big this win is for the team
"Just the next one. We have our 24-hour rule so by this time tomorrow it will be gone and on to the next one."
On how much he's been developing and improving his game as the season continues
"From week to week the game has slowed down a little bit compared to Oklahoma. I was kind of just running around and now it seems like I'm playing football."
On getting the stop on the final play
"It was actually supposed to be a run to my side, but it ended up being a pass. When I saw that they were passing the ball I was thinking 'this is not the play' and it just so happened that we stopped it. I was just glad they stopped it because they were supposed to run it to me, but I guess they said 'no not this way.'"
On the type of games he expected when you came to the University of Houston
"I always liked the big stage. I didn't think the stage could get that big here but it was."
On emulating JJ Watt's playing style
"I'm not going to say I do or I don't. I like JJ Watt. If I could get a chance to workout with that dude that would be awesome."
On who he looks up to most
"Probably the person I look up to most is Dominic Ensue. He's very dominate, and offensive lineman are actually scared of that dude. If I could be like anybody, I'd be like him."
TULSA HEAD COACH PHILIP MONTGOMERY
Opening Statement
"This is one of those games that are tough to swallow. I don't feel like we lost the football game, we just ran out of time. Our guys competed extremely well. We had some injuries that made it tough on us especially running the football, but our offensive line and defense played really well.
Greg Ward is a special player, he's tough to stop and he makes them go. He has good players around him, but he is the main key to it. They are good on defense and they give you a lot of different looks and our guys adjusted well. We had to make a lot of adjustments throughout the game to some of things they were doing.
We had some guys who really stepped up. Keenan Johnson came in a played really well for his first start ever. Keevan Lucas played great, Josh Atkinson and Justin Hobbs made some good catches, James Flanders ran the ball extremely hard and Corey Taylor got him a couple of touchdowns in there. It's one of those games that you just run out of time. I was proud of our guys and we battled all the way to the end. Hats off to them for a good win."
On the last play of the game
"It was just a play action deal, we've never thrown out of that set before, and that's always been a heavy run set for us. I felt like we had a good play and I thought we executed it. (Jesse) Brubaker was really close, I'll wait to look at it on tape and kind of see what we think but I don't think you can get any closer than what it was."
On Quarterback Dane Evans play in the final drive
"Dane (Evans) played really well tonight. He had just the one mistake late and the one earlier was just a miscommunication and should have been taken care of and not have happened. I don't really put that on him. He was about to throw that football away and a guy makes a good play and knocks the ball out. To recover from that and take us back down the field and give us an opportunity to tie it up is just a credit to him and our guys believing in what we do. He has been in fires before and he just keeps competing. If there is one thing you want to be described as a football player is a fierce competitor and that's what he is."
On the younger players stepping up in this game
"Keenen Johnson played really well. All of our receivers played well, Houston is a tough defense to move the football on. We had some good things happen but Keenen really stepped up and played well, made some big catches down the field, and made some good runs underneath. I'm excited about what his future holds and watching him continue to get better.
On how tough it is to lose a game like that
"We've been in these type of ball games and the one thing that our guys are never going to do is quit. Those guys fight, they believe in what's going on and they play with a lot of heart and passion. When you do that you always have an opportunity to get a win.
Was it a tough locker room? Yes, but just like I told them, that's not the end of our season. We have a bunch of games left and we've got a bunch of goals still in front of us. We will spit this one out and we've got a good Tulane team coming to town next week that we've got to be prepared for."
Tulsa Quarterback Dane Evans
On the last play of the game and tough loss
"I had full confidence in Jesse (Brubaker), I know he is a defensive lineman, but he is probably one of the best athletes on our team. I had no doubt that he was going to catch it. I thought he got in, but the rule says it has to be conclusive when they go to review. He didn't get in, but we never quit. That play sums it up. It doesn't matter who is catching it, throwing it or who is scoring it. We know we are going to get it done. We were about an inch away."
On practicing that last play
"That formation was more of a go-to. With seven seconds, we knew if we ran it and didn't get it with no time-outs, we couldn't do anything. There's not even time to try and get everyone back in line and run a quarterback sneak. We knew throwing was our only option. He was open and I put it on him, and he made a great catch. I guess he was just a little short."
On if it was toughest loss in career
"I don't know. I would say it hurts the most right now because I think we are better than them, and it didn't get shown. They beat us by an inch basically and we had some plays. The fumble, I was just trying to throw it away. They made plays too. They are playmakers. It definitely stings because we should have had it."
On young players on team stepping up during game
"All the young guys stepped up, even the young guys on the offensive line that got thrown in on the right side. I might be wrong, but I don't know if I got sacked. They did awesome, great in run-blocking too. Keevan (Lucas) out there, he is a playmaker. I know he played quarterback in high school, but he's a baller. He has got to have the ball in his hands. I have full trust in him just like I do any receiver on the team. I think it showed tonight that he has got a little shake to him and can get yards after the catch too. And I think it compliments Keenan, pretty much."
On Tulsa resiliency throughout the game.
"I'm sure Coach Montgomery said it too, but we never quit. There are a lot of other people who would just hung it up, and say 'oh we are on the road, they are ranked, let's pack it in and get ready for Tulane,' but that it not us. We knew every time we got the ball, we were going to score. We expected to. That's what Coach Montgomery has instilled in us ever since we got here, that 'never quit' attitude. That's all you can ask for is a chance."
