University of Houston Athletics
Houston vs. Tulane: Press Conference
9/16/2019 12:27:00 PM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL
Monday, September 16, 2019 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH DANA HOLGORSEN
On challenges D'Eriq King faced against Washington State…
"He's a great player, and he works very hard. He's got a ton of experience, so he understands the game of football. Anytime things are new it takes a little time to get into a rhythm. Washington State is pretty good on offense and they have a coaching staff that has been together for eight years, so they're used to hearing the same thing. We've been here for eight months, so it just takes time. That isn't an excuse, but we have to get good quick.
"Unfortunately, we didn't score enough points to be able to win last week. It's all about conference play moving forward. We have to get better this week, especially because we don't have a lot of time to do it. I think the defense will dictate what we do with D'Eriq because we aren't going to just ram him into a bunch of people. We are going to have to get creative with different ways to give him space, so he can do what he needs to do.
"I don't really want to talk about what has happened. I'd rather talk about what is in front of us. We were up here late Saturday night prepping for Tulane. We got off the practice field at 9:00 p.m., and we're going to do the same tonight. We're going to go to New Orleans here in a few days to try and beat a good Tulane team. They're really good this year. They have momentum; they won a bowl game last year, and they're 2-1 on this season so far. These guys are good, so we've got to prepare a lot and play hard."
On the challenges of having a short week…
"I reminded our guys that nobody cares about any of that so after this one is over on Thursday we've got one game in 22 days, so we have a lot of time to be able to recuperate. We have talked about this and we put a plan together, we're not supposed to go in because we are underdogs and this has been a challenge, what's going to amount to four games in 18 days. Nobody can do anything about the schedule. We are going to play one game in our home stadium and a lot of games on the road against really good high-quality teams that have won a lot of games this year. So just don't think about it, don't worry about it just go practice and go prepare and go play to the best of your ability which I think we will."
On Terrance Edgeston…
"He is day-to-day. Jordan Carmouche is going to have shoulder surgery this week, so he is done for the year, but Terrance Edgeston is not. He has a high ankle and he is going to be day-to-day."
On Zamar Kirven's performance against Washington State…
"I thought he did good. It's why this is a week-to-week discussion. A week ago I said I wanted to redshirt Zamar Kirven, and then we lose Jordan Carmouche and lose Terrance Edgeston. So what do you do? You play him. I would like to redshirt every kid that has one available but that is just not the reality of football. You have to play who is available and I thought Zamar played really well, he acted like he belonged, he looked like he belonged for not having a ton of reps. He didn't play hardly at all last year. He burned his year, it's unfortunate. We haven't had him on scout team we have had him ready to play we just didn't want to unless we had to, and we had to."
On Jordan Moore's reinstatement…
"Guys earn playing time on how they practice, he didn't practice so we didn't play him. We have him back this week, so we practiced him yesterday and he got reps. We'll practice him again today and we'll look at it and see what kind of reps he deserves based on how he practices. He hasn't been a part of the team for a while and now he's been reinstated so we're going to practice him. Those were circumstances out of my control. We'll see how he did last night and today and we'll play him accordingly."
On the defense's performance against Washington State…
"I think the defense has improved, if you look at game one tackling was a problem. Last game I thought we tackled really well, with what Washington State does, there was a lot of space and they do such a good job upfront of protecting that, they're going to put the ball in play and we have to go tackle in space, and I thought that's the best we've looked. We executed better, we communicated better. It's a work in progress and it's going to take some time. But I thought we got better from game one to game two, and from game two to game three. The biggest thing is knowing what your assignment is, being in a position to make the play, and making the play. I thought we did a good job at that."
On Derek Parish's evolving role within the team…
"That's more scheme than anything. We had to do some things defensively to try and create pressure. Those guys are so good at identifying fronts. If you line up in a four down front and rush they're going to block you pretty easily. We did some things with some of the defensive ends to be able to play linebacker. We're not moving guys. David Anenih played some linebacker, Derek Parish played some linebacker, and Alexander Duke played some linebacker, but they're not linebackers, they're defensive ends. We did that by switching to a three down front to try to create some gaps and some confusion. David Anenih got there a couple of times and Derek Parish is a hard worker. We didn't change our scheme from a four down to a three down. (Defensive coordinator) Joe Cauthen's made reference that we will play three down at times, it just depends who we play and what schemes we decide that we're going to go into the game with."
