University of Houston Athletics
Press Conference: Game 6 at Navy
10/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES (PDF)
#6/5 HOUSTON (5-0, 2-0 American) at NAVY (3-1, 2-0)
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, Md • Saturday, Oct. 8 | 2 pm CT
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Tom Herman
Opening Statement
"Feels like forever ago that we played against Connecticut, but to wrap up, it felt like a very balanced offense. Balanced to me is not really running and throwing the same amount of times. Balanced offense to me means however the defense dictates that you have to win the game. You are able to do that if they are taking away the run and forcing you to throw the football.
The offense threw for over 400 yards. We certainly don't go into games saying we are going to throw 400 yards, but it was necessary to win the game. The offense responded. I think we take for granted the nation's best run defense. I want to make sure we don't. I'm always proud of the defense when you can hold a team under 100 yards rushing for however many weeks in a row it is. UConn maybe exposed a couple of weaknesses in our pass coverage that we need to get fixed.
Certainly none of that matters this week against Navy, because your defense basically changes completely in terms of how you defend the triple option. Our guys are excited to play at their place and excited to have a normal week. (After) five games in 24 days it's nice to have normal Monday. Today our players are off, and our coaches are game-planning all day. We are getting back to a sense of normalcy."
On how much wide receiver Linell Bonner has grown
"A lot of it is he's a good receiver, and was coming into the season. He has gotten better and improved his route running. He is a physical guy for that position. Coach (Major) Applewhite and the offensive staff have done a good job saying this he is not Demarcus Ayers. He has some strengths that are different than Demarcus and has some limitations that are different, but he's our guy. That's what we have right now. We have to be able to adapt the offense and adapt that role around him and what he's good at. The offensive staff has done a nice job of that."
On defensive back Howard Wilson's development and coming back from an injury
"He's bigger and stronger. Last year he was a toothpick. He was very small. This year he has an added strength and size to him to where he feels very confident in the way that he is playing. He was able to be physical with wide receivers last year the little, but when he did play he got tossed around a bunch by bigger wide receivers. This year he is much more confident playing against bigger wide receiver because of his size and strength. Howard has great feet. He always seems to be in a good position from a foot standpoint. The tipping point is the strength and size that he has gained over the last year or so."
On Greg Ward's health,
"Pretty good. He took a couple pretty big time hits against Connecticut. Stood in there. I was really proud. That is something Greg has never really done in his career; sit in the pocket and take a hit while you're throwing the football. It's kind of a double-edge sword, because he doesn't have to a lot of the times. He can run around, make the guy miss and go make yards. He realizes for the offense to succeed that he needs to be able to make that kind of throws. He's doing that now.
It takes him a while to warm up. That's the only difference between now and before the injury. I know it hurts him. There is some pain when he does throw, but once he's warmed up loose, and the adrenaline is flowing, there is nothing limiting in terms of his shoulder."
On Navy's offense without Keenan Reynolds
"That's like asking if our offense is different without Greg Ward. Yes, it is different from a personal standpoint. He was one of the greatest college football players to play the game, and he isn't there anymore. The schematics of what the Navy is doing is the same and probably will always be the same. He's really good, and I'm glad he's not there anymore. He was the man."
On the challenges of facing a triple option offense
"It's totally different. All the assignments, run fits, and even where you line up on defense are different. We have had success against the run in previous games, but that's a conventional two back or spread run. We haven't played a triple option run since Navy last year.
To say that we will have success against the run, opposed to the last six or seven games is a big test. Navy runs it every snap and in a unique way, so that would be foolish of us to say. Therefore that's not a goal of ours. Hopefully the public knows, being that this is our second time playing them, that the defense is completely different this week. With that being said, it is a challenge to get them ready in just one week's time. That's why their offense has been successful over the years."
On preparing for the triple option
"Last year we played them in week 12. We only had one Thursday night game, so we had basically every Sunday to spend ten to 15 minutes preparing for Navy and tinkering with the game plan. This year we spent some time in training camp once every five or six practices for ten or 15 minutes. We've only had two regular Sundays in five weeks. There's less time, but the good thing is there is carry-over from last year. What they do is not going to change from year to year. We've got to vary our looks a little bit this year, because we did have quite a bit of success last year slowing down their running game. I'm sure they will have some wrinkles to combat that. There are some adjustments we have to do, but for the most part the carry over takes the place of having to prepare every week like we did last year."
On playing in Annapolis
"We're excited. They have the names of the battles around the wall of their stadium, and I wanted to know if that was every battle and what the significance was. From 1900 and beyond, they have any battle that the United States Navy has been a part of. I also learned that the stadium actually serves as a memorial to all of the Navy and Marine soldiers that have ever fought for this country. When we play them at home, you definitely show them as much respect as you can. We did last year in terms of singing their fight song after the game, but there will be some goose bumps going into that place. It will be a neat experience for our kids in terms of the pomp and circumstance and regalia that is involved in a home game there."
Houston Football student-athletes Steven Dunbar and Jerard Carter also met with the media on Monday.
DEFENSIVE END Jerard Carter
On the way the defense has been playing to start the season
"It's just a testament to the way that we practice, and the way that Coach (Tom) Herman and Coach (Todd) Orlando and all of the coaches try to get us to emulate them. It's just a testament to the way that we practice, and the way we do things around here. We work so hard and Saturdays or Fridays or whatever day we play is easy because of the way we prepare."
On there being five or six possible starters on the defensive line
"We embrace that about each other. It's always competitive in our room. It's a very competitive room. Like you said there are five or six starters, so whoever gets in the game is going to produce. We take pride in that."
WIDE RECEIVER Steven Dunbar
On the wide receiving corps
"Everybody is held accountable. Everybody works hard. On any given day somebody could have a bad day and the next guy just has to be ready. That's just how we play. We work real hard. It's always on us about just going hard and playing hard."
