University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME NOTES: Houston 24, Navy 14
11/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
NAVY MIDSHIPMEN (6-5 • 4-4 The American)
at HOUSTON COUGARS (7-4 • 5-3 The American)
Friday, Nov. 24, 2017 • TDECU Stadium • Houston
HEAD COACH Major Applewhite
On the emotion of senior day
"Just to go out the right way. I'm proud of the way those guys played for the seniors and how our defense played specifically. Guys like D'Juan Hines, Matt Adams, Nick Thurman, Terrell Williams, I'm happy the way they played their final game in TDECU stadium. Steve Dunbar going out with a touchdown. A lot of those seniors have given us a lot of good moments, so it was good to make sure they took off their path as winners."
On what they did to prepare for Navy
"So much of it is about training your scout team, because those guys come out of high school running spread offense. They don't know how to run triple option, so much of it is about training your scout team to do all of that. Bryson Smith gave us a great looks as quarterback. All the scout team guys were down there watching them. It was a great effort from our offensive lineman, slots and the coaches had put together a great plan and the kids went out there and executed it. Thats what should happen."
On how the defense played
"Consistent four quarters and consistent play. I think they had 160 in the first half, maybe 162. For them to come out and get the stops, we didn't give any take-a-ways except for the last one. For us to be able to create that many stops and punt opportunities was tremendous. They're a good football team, they played very hard, and they're very well coached. It's quite an accomplishment for our defense."
On offensive adjustments in the second half
"We lost the possession because of a kickoff return, fumbling the ball on a kickoff return. We also dropped a pass to convert on third down, then we got behind the chains with some of the runs on first and second down. It was about playing with consistency. I talked to the offense about giving them the ball and of course third quarter in the first, second series we go out there and fumble the ball. After that we played clean and made plays in the passing game. Our quarterback made some runs, Duke ran the ball well in the second half and they played like they could play to put it quite honestly. They played like they could play in the second half."
On the play of Dunbar
"I'm not surprised that he made that play yet again, he's done that throughout his career. He's got one more game for us and I'm not surprised. It was a good call and a good situation man-to-man. D'eriq put a good ball on him and Steve did a great job securing the ball and making the run after the catch. I'm proud of the way he finished. I've enjoyed watching his career, because of how hard he works and no matter what he does I know he'll be sure to keep playing. He'll be successful with whatever he does."
On Linell Bonner
"He was having some problems breathing after the hit. His head was fine. There was no concussion symptoms. I'm not sure exactly the diagnosis of it, of the injury. He just wasn't able to come back."
On the running backs
"I think some of it is luck of the draw. When you're out there with an AC sprain, your shoulder just takes that magic hit or that magic fall and you're back out again,. With Mulbah, I'm not sure what was wrong with him. It's like a soccer injury, he's down and next thing you know he's running off smiling. I have no idea. I thought he was dead initially then he comes up running and smiling."
On being bowl eligible
"It's great. It's great for Houston, it's great for our fans and our players to experience a bowl game, especially the newcomers and the seniors going out. They'll finish with a bowl game. What we'll do this week coming up, the staff has December signing day. The staff will work real hard Sunday recruiting, going to all our commitments houses getting them ready and setup for signing day. Players will spend time in the classroom getting prepared for finals, then on the fourth of December, we'll start coming back preparing for the bowl.
HOUSTON SENIOR LINEBACKER D'Juan Hines
On walking out of the stadium for the last time being a winner
"It's a great feeling. It meant something special for the seniors. I took one last walk to make sure to take it all in before I went to the locker room."
On the defense in the second half
"We settled in, took the coaching adjustments and it was lights out from there."
HOUSTON SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER Steven Dunbar
On what the play was on your touchdown late in the game
"It was a hitch play. We ran a double move on them and ended up scoring."
On walking out of the stadium for the last time being a winner
"It means a lot to me to win for the team and for the seniors, we've been through a lot. We've been through coaching changes and we've seen this stadium change, so it's emotional knowing it's your last time playing here. We went out on top with the win."
HOUSTON SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK D'Eriq King
On what it means to you that the defense was putting up stops throughout the game
"It means a lot. The defense played great all day and we got momentum off the defense. They made plays and we also made plays ourselves.
On how you played today
"This week we had to fight through adversity, we have to keep fighting and trusting each other. We executed and won."
HOUSTON SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE TACKLE Ed Oliver
On his performance today
"We stopped the dive and made plays, that's how we went about the game."
On defending the triple-option better in the second half
"The only change was with the defensive tackles, we made an adjustment. I told the guys to play level headed and don't let the ups and the downs get to us. They locked in on their assignment."
On the fourth and two stop
"That play was strictly coaching, they put us in the right position and all we had to do was execute."
On sending out the seniors with a win
"It's emotional because I've always been closest to the class that my brother has been in. Guys like Matt Adams, Marcus, and Bonner, those guys are my boys. I always gravitated towards them when I committed here. Seeing them go is emotional."
On the introductions before the game and going out there with your family and brother
"I'll still be on the team next year, but it's my brother's senior day. That's why I went with them."
On the being nominated for lineman awards
"I'm looking forward to it, that's number one on my list. I don't have anything else to do, so I'm looking forward to that. As far as being a lineman, it's the most prestigious award you can win in my book. If I win it I'll be amazed. The other award, Nagurski, is given to the top defensive player of the year, so everyone wants that. It's a blessing."
NAVY HEAD COACH KEN NIUMATALOLO
Opening Statement
"Disappointing loss, we left some points out there during the first half that came back to bite us. I thought that was a huge targeting call that changed the momentum of the game. We had them stopped. We left some points and against a good team like Houston, you can't do that. Those 10 points we left ended up being the final difference."
On the second half struggles
"You have to give credit to Houston, they play well. The story of our season has been not us not being consistent. Obviously Houston knew that, they kept their safeties back to see if we could grind it out and obviously we couldn't. So you have to give them credit."
On mishaps
"We started off with a decent drive, but we missed that field goal. Seven and a half minutes and we came out of it with no points. I thought that our defense did well, you're not going to beat many teams scoring 14 points, but our defense played explosively."
On the targeting call
"If I'm going to be honest I don't think they look, I think our league covers itself. You can see it on the screen he hit him on the shoulder, I thought for sure it was going to be overturned. You can see very clearly on the screen, I mean it's the size of a billboard, the league is just covering themselves. I'm tired of getting the call on Monday saying we were right, that does us no good. It was the same guy last week against Notre Dame, I told him 'that's a penalty' he said 'no it's not'.I turned it in and sure enough on Monday I was right. I saw him again out there today and he was the same guy who called targeting, so that's two calls that he's killed us. I know I'm going to get reprimanded but I'm tired nobody holds those guys accountable."
On the injuries at cornerback
"Especially against those guys, they're so athletic and fast. Losing your top corners against those guys did not help us, they're too good. It's a part of the game, they had injuries too."
On sliding from 5-0 to 6-5
"All of our focus is on Army, you're looking back I look forward."
NAVY DEFENSIVE END TYLER SAYLES
On the first and second half
"The defense as a whole wasn't playing well in the first half and then once they saw they couldn't hit the downhill run in the middle, they started going to the perimeter runs and throws. That's what we struggled with in the second half."
On holding the score to 24
"24 points looks like a good number on paper for a high power offense like this, but still that's not enough. We didn't do enough as a defense, no matter how many points they scored."
On D"Eriq King
"He's a really good quarterback. I thought he came out there and played well. He's really fast, a good runner, good athlete, good arm, and we just didn't do enough to contain him."
NAVY LINEBACKER D.J. PALMORE
On having one more game to redeem himself
"It hurts rights now, but we have to move on. Some of us get to go home to our families and hopefully that will help us move on. Somehow every person in the locker room has to find their own way to move on."
On if the confidence is still there
"I think it is."
NAVY QUARTERBACK ZACH ABEY
On points in the first half
"The first half, we didn't have a problem with moving the football. I thought we blocked well and did everything on the perimeter well. Then little things, missed assignments and penalties killed us. We were definitely within the five and didn't put points on the board and that's on me. We just have to, in big games like that, take advantage of opportunities especially in the first half."
On being short of the first down
"I mean I thought I knew where I was, but I don't know."
On second half
"I said we just couldn't get the offense on in the second half. It's really inexcusable, because they didn't really do anything different with the defense or anything. We just couldn't get the ball going. First, it starts with the quarterback, the ball is always in the quarterbacks hands. I take responsibility for that, but we just have to get the ball rolling."
On beating Army next week
"It's not really much to say about that, I mean we all know how big of a game it is and we already have one leg up for the SC trophy. It's definitely a big motivation. We have a week off this year to prepare and get our minds right. Like Coach Niumatalolo said in the locker room, this game is over with, so we have to put all our preparation and focus to get the right mindset and go out there to beat Army."
NAVY QUARTERBACK MALCOLM PERRY
On Houston defense
"Really nothing we haven't seen all week, we just have to come out and execute. We didn't do that. Like you said in the first half, we got the ball rolling and made some plays, but didn't put enough points on the board in the second half. We just didn't come out and execute."
On is it hard to stomach you couldn't score for five possessions
"It's definitely hard to stomach. That's not Navy football, that's not our culture, that's not how we play, and that's not how we win. We definitely want to win and that's what we need to do, so we have to go back to the drawing board and fix it."
On beating Army
"Like coach said everybody knows in our program that this is one of our goals at the beginning of the season. It's our Super Bowl, so there's no room for errors and these types of games are always close. Whoever makes the least mistakes wins, we know that going into practice and we have to practice like that and perform.
