University of Houston
Rice
POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 38, Rice 3
9/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
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RICE OWLS (1-2 • 1-0 C-USA) at HOUSTON COUGARS (2-0 • 0-0 American)
Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 • TDECU Stadium • Houston
HEAD COACH Major Applewhite
Opening Statement
"I'm excited about our win and excited to keep the Bayou Bucket. I'm very proud of the way our guys came out ready to play. They are good people and it meant a lot to them to play for their city. This wasn't something coaches just threw on the back of their jerseys, they took a lot of pride in this. I was very proud of the way they played in the first half.
"I challenged our second stringers in the locker room after the game. It's a long season, there's nine games left, this was their opportunity to go out and show us where they were. It also shows them where they are in terms of competitive experience and competitive shape. We're going to need them down the stretch. We have a good conference and a good side of our conference. We still need a lot of improvement, but I'm happy to be 2-0."
On the difference between this week and last week…
"I'm not one of those guys who has a great feel by the look in their eyes, or the way they do things in the hotel. They did practice well Tuesday and Wednesday. Rice's offense got our defense's attention. They saw all the complicated things they do and it got their attention. I texted Matthew Adams and Garrett Davis on Monday and said, 'Have you watched this? This is some really good stuff.' They knew Monday afternoon that we had to have our eyes right. Rice's offense grabbed their attention. There's a lot of experience that (Rice Defensive Coordinator) Brian Stewart has with their defense. There's a lot of answers we had to have offensively. They caught out guys' attention early in the week.
"We respect all our opponents, it doesn't matter what their name is. It could be Rice, Alabama or the Cowboys, it doesn't matter. We just have to look at the tape and find out what we need to do schematically and practice the same way. They did a good job of focusing on every walkthrough, practice and opportunity. We need to continue to do that and take care of our bodies. It's a long season, and we aren't a very deep team. Sleep, food and nutrition determine attitude, attitude determines how we practice, and practice determines how we'll play."
On the how the forced turnovers impacted the team…
"Right now, we're the type of team that plays well with a lead. I thought we might find some adversity since their offense can cause a lot of problems. We might be down 3-0 or 7-0 and have to battle back, but it was more of a frenzy. I would have like to have seen us score a touchdown after that first turnover to make it 14-0 instead of 10-0. When there's short fields like that and the defense is playing well, it creates an energy in the stadium for the offense. We can start playing complimentary football offensively and defensively. There's a momentum that builds like in basketball when there's an 11-0 run. We have to challenge ourselves, be humble in our approach and realize we've been playing with leads and that at some point we'll play with a deficit. We have to get ready for a great team that can score a lot of points. We have a lot to improve on."
On the targeting call against Duke Catalon…
"Usually, they call that when they see vicious hits. Even though there's eight referees, there's 22 players and it hard for them to see everything. The ball crossed the field, Duke was trying to get a block for his teammate and his head was lowered. He did a good job of trying to keep his head up as much as he could and he went to the shoulder area. Fortunately, they waived it off and we could continue playing. It's good for our game though. It's good for the health of our game, and it helps preserve the players.
On the effort from freshman defensive lineman Payton Turner…
"He has a long way to go and a lot to improve on. He has a nice frame that he can continue to build and he's intelligent. He comes from a very good family, a coach's family, so he understands how to be competitive. He has expectations from the home, so he's used to having to achieve. I'm looking forward to him continuing to grow and develop.
"We talked about this yesterday in our walkthrough. There's a lot of guys on our team who have developed, like Emeke Egbule, Jarrid Williams and Josh Jones. All those guys have been developed. Payton Turner is on that list. But, we have to continue to develop. I'm pleased with what he did. He's going to have a good future if he stays humble and hungry."
On the pregame handshake…
"We wanted to do something. Rice contacted us and I spoke with Coach Bailiff on the phone. There was a lot of different ideas. Senior Associate Athletic Director David Bassity mentioned that in the beginning of the 2009 season everybody walked from the hashes and shook hands. It seemed like the most efficient way to meet in the middle. It was a sign of solidarity towards our community. There's a lot of people who have graduated from both of these fine schools and still live here. This game is a great thing for the city of Houston. We should do it to begin every season. It's great for our community. This is a football town, no doubt."
On thoughts on Payton Turner…
"It all goes back to recruiting. I learned from Coach Nick Saban and his first year that changing the roster requires recruiting certain body types. Then, finding the right body types from the right families who have character. We were on him all summer and fall camp about learning the defense. He has the length and flexibility. He must develop the strength and put on the weight. He's a good young man from a good family. We're 98 percent of the way there."
On playing young players…
"Competitive experience is very important. Talent is too, but what you see a lot of times is young talent without competitive experience. It was good to get a lot of those young guys in and just get them under the lights, see how they handle good plays and bad plays. We were able to get a lot of those young guys in. We played very conservatively offensively in the second half, because we've got a long season ahead, but I'm excited to see these guys get their feet wet."
On the difference in the offense after tonight's game and the game at Arizona…
"I'm being very honest: we didn't practice very well offensively this week. I was on the offensive staff very hard, because how do we practice this hard, score 19 points and think it's okay. Our standard for the level we practice at was not there, so no I had no idea he was going to throw two incompletions by the way we practiced."
On how to prepare for Texas Tech…
"We made our point with the offense on Thursday with how we practice. Tuesdays are install days, and there are going to be mental errors, and that's okay. Wednesday, there is still room for error, but what went wrong on Tuesday should be better, but those mistakes from Tuesday were still there, so that was frustrating. On Thursday, it still wasn't better, so on Friday we had a run through practice, and we said 'look we've got to get this right'. Some seniors and leadership figures stepped up and said 'this isn't right'. Against (Texas) Tech we need to win the kicking game, control the offense and watch the clock."
On offense…
"It's hard, because I'm watching more of the defense. It seemed like things came out on rhythm a little better, a little faster, but I need to go back and watch the tape. It looked better. Our wide receivers got in early. Those guys, those 'white owls' got excited, but it was good they got in early and got their hands on the football. They're a good group, but they just need to continue to work and get better."
On sophomore quarterback D'Eriq King…
"It has been the hardest thing for me and the offensive staff this week. This guy works so hard and is just trying to get back. He was a lot better this week than last week, but we made a decision yesterday afternoon as an offensive staff to only use him if we needed to use players with no experience. We as a staff wanted to give him an opportunity to heal because it is such a long season, but he is really close to being ready."
On the pregame handshake at midfield between each team…
"It's symbolic. What both of our universities have done is more impressive than a handshake, but that's a symbol of what our two universities have done in the past weeks. Everyone needs to be acknowledged, not just our two football teams, but it was a great gesture of universities coming together in the city we love."
HOUSTON JUNIOR QUARTERBACK Kyle Allen
On if he thought the team played cleaner tonight than it did against Arizona…
"That was the biggest thing I got out of this game, and I think a lot of coaches thought we played a much cleaner game in that first half. I know I was excited about that. I know the offensive line, receivers and running backs were all really excited about that as well. We played a clean game, no turnovers, very few penalties and a couple false starts, but overall I think it was a very clean game offensively."
On what the biggest difference was for him tonight…
"I don't think there was much of a difference. I think last week was our first week and it was a lot of other teams' second game last week, and we just had to get those first game mistakes out of the way. I think tonight we came together as a unit and gelled a little bit more, just like we will every game. I just think it was a lot cleaner in that respect."
On what it means to win the Bayou Bucket after Harvey…
"For me, we just wanted to give back to Houston for them for having our back the whole time, and we had their backs the whole time. In moments of devastation sometimes you need some distraction from the devastation and tonight we were that distraction for Houston hopefully. It means a lot to get this win and the way we got it."
On what he felt during the pregame handshake…
"I wasn't really aware that we were doing that until we actually did it, and it was cool to show that the city is unified. It is a rivalry game, but after all that Houston has been through recently, we are unified as a city. We're here to come back and give back to rebuild the city. I think that was a cool gesture at the beginning."
HOUSTON SENIOR WIDE RECIEVER Linell Bonner
On playing in front of the home crowd…
"Bouncing back from the first week against UTSA, game week and having to travel, it's a great feeling to be able to play in front of our fans for the first time. We were fired up and excited about that."
On other receivers stepping up tonight…
"This is the most experienced receiving core we've had since I've been here. We have five seniors at receiver and the young guys stepped up too. I think this is the best and deepest wide receiving core we've had. Things are going to be pretty good and flashy this year."
HOUSTON SENIOR LINEBACKER Matthew Adams
On playing in jerseys with Houston on the back…
"Hashtag for the city."
On his thoughts about how the defense has played thus far into the season…
"I'm very proud, because every time we walk out on the field I can feel the edge that we took the field with. We were ready to get off three-and-out every time. Even though the score was 38-0, we came out there like it was 0-0 and were trying to get off the field for the offense to get back on."
On how it felt to carry the Bayou Bucket trophy after the game…
"For the city. You know everything we do, we do it for the city and for each other. It was a great home win to start it off undefeated at home."
RICE HEAD COACH DAVID BAILIFF
Opening Statement
"Major (Applewhite) did a great job at getting this team prepared. They were the more physical football team. Last week in El Paso, we learned how to play the game of football, be physical and play with a chip on our shoulder. We didn't do that tonight. They were more physical, especially in the first half. They forced us into three turnovers offensively and we missed tackles defensively. We've got to take this game and grow as a football team for when we play a conference game next week. They outfought us tonight.
"The team in the second half responded and played much better, but we had a nine-play drive with no points and 10-play drive with no points. You can't be a ball-control offense and come away with that many plays with no points. We've got work to do. The first thing is, we just have to be tougher. Everybody, every coach and player has to make a decision that we're going to be the tougher football team."
On the sequence of consecutive turnovers…
"When you give up the ball inside the 10, it's a nightmare scenario. It's a young quarterback growing up, and we knew we were going to have to live with some growing pains. We can't have those kinds of growing pains and expect to beat a team like Houston, it's not going to happen."
On the Jackson Tyner substitution and how that affected the game…
"There was an injury to Sam (Glaesmann), so we had to get him out of the game. But you can't throw the ball away three times like that. Sam's last fumble was after a big play when we picked up the first down. Those are momentum killers. You can do that when you're the superior, but you can't when you're playing Houston."
On what he liked from the team in this game…
"The second half. We responded with nine- and 10-play drives, and still didn't come away with points. We didn't execute near the precision we did on either side of the ball as we did last week. We have to have it. We're a precision football team, we have to play."
On injury updates for Sam Glaesmann, Kenneth Thompson and Cole Thomas…
"I have not met with trainers or doctors. I know when they took Kenneth [Thompson] off, they were working on his leg. Sam (Glaesmann), they were working on his non-throwing shoulder, and Cole Thomas was a shoulder, that's all I know."
RICE REDSHIRT JUNIOR WIDE RECIEVER ASTON WALKER
On the offense's performance…
"To sum it up, four turnovers won't cut it. We let the defense down, there's no way around it. Defense was making some critical stops. You can only ask so much from them with their back's against the wall all game. We have to do something as an offense to help our defense out and it comes down to execution.
"Coach (Bailiff) was talking about grit all week and we came out and played really well, but we didn't execute and I feel like we let the team down. I took that personally, and this one really hurts because I know how much this game means to people like me, Emmanuel (Ellerbee) and Coach (Bailiff)."
On the Houston defense…
"Personally, knowing so many of the players over there, they played with a chip on their shoulders. They played aggressive and they played physical. My unit, I felt like we weren't the most aggressive and sometimes the defensive backs shed some blocks. Of course you've got their defensive line. You know Ed Oliver that's a great player, much respect. Not just him, their linebackers are great and their secondary stopped us. Overall, that was a solid defense, a solid team. When you play teams like that you've got to execute and we didn't execute."
On the turf conditions…
"I was actually the first person to slip. It just comes down to footing and it could just be one particular play. I know Cam Montgomery and myself run so fast that it just sometimes happens. That can't happen though and that's not an excuse. We've just got to keep our feet. Can't justify that."
