University of Houston Athletics
Houston at North Texas: Press Conference
9/23/2019 12:00:00 PM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL
Monday, Sep. 23, 2019 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH DANA HOLGORSEN
On relationship with North Texas Head Coach Seth Littrell…
"It's an 'Air Raid' reunion I guess, so Seth is the next on the list. I have known him for a long time, he was a really good player at Oklahoma when I went to Texas Tech in 2000 he was still playing, he was the team captain. He was a pretty tough dude, he's a meathead, he's a weight room guy, he's broken my arm before I mean he's a real physical guy. We hired him in 2005 or something like that so I coached with him for about three or four years and then he got his shot to be a head coach and is doing a really good job at North Texas. They are well coached and they play hard."
On relevance of relationship with the opposing coach…
"I don't think it is relevant. You watch the video and you've got enough information you can kind of figure out what they are going to do offensively and defensively and you game plan. There will be a couple of back slaps in pregame, a big hug and he will probably try to break my arm again and then we will try to kick each others tail during the game. All that stuff goes away once you kick the ball off, it's just another game."
On Mason Fine…
"One, he has a lot of experience. He has played a lot of ball, he's like the guy we got who has played a lot of ball and all that experience is tough to deal with, but he is a well rounded player. He throws it around, he runs around, he's athletic and he's got a lot of experience and he's got a lot of games as a quarterback. We knew he was going to be tough, and just have a lot of respect for what he has been able to accomplish."
On overcoming inconsistencies and getting into a rhythm…
"I think we have in spurts, but it's just inconsistent. I think we have played good at times but it is inconsistent. It doesn't matter which side of the ball you are talking about it's just inconsistent stuff. Over time it is going to get fixed it's just not going to happen overnight. Probably the biggest frustration that I have right now, offensively, is the rhythm of the passing game. We are just having a hard time with our timing and guys being in the right spots. Everybody wants to point the fingers at me with a play coin perspective which is fine. I am going to keep calling the same plays and it is going to get easier overtime. We went zero for 10 with deep balls, you complete one of those and we win the game and you have 600 yards of offense. I have been very pleased with our running attack in the cover zero, it's hard. You rush for 300 yards and a cover zero, that's really hard. I am proud of a lot of the things we are doing, but just the inconsistent nature of everything in the passing game is what needs to improve."
On the teams third quarter game…
"We are zero for four on third quarters. Every quarter has been bad, we have to do better. There are some things we have talked about and maybe we need to get the guys out a little bit earlier and make them do a warm up. Maybe start the second half with 100 up-downs before we get going. We recognize that it's a problem and we are going to coach hard to try to get it figured out."
On in-game strategies of mixing up the tempo during the game…
"It's a gut feeling more than anything. The way I view it, if it's not working then change it. If we're going fast and it's working, then keep doing it. If we're going slow and it's working, then keep doing it. That's what defenses's like you to do too. They want to know what you're doing, whether you're going slow or fast. They want to know what you're doing, so I try to be as unpredictable when it comes from the tempo perspective as I possibly can. That will change based on how it looks."
On improvements so far this season…
"I think we've improved every game. I've been proud of our coaches and I've been proud of our players, because of how they've attacked the last month. It was hard and challenging. We're on four short weeks in a row. Nobody wants to hear it, but we did play four games in eighteen days. That's never happened in the history of college football. I've been proud of our guys for how they've played. I think we've played with great effort, played as hard as we could play, prepared as well as we could prepare, and we just came up a little bit short. There just hasn't been enough gas in the tank. We put that game to rest on Friday.
We sat in here with the whole group and said 'Look nobody is happy about it, but we will continue to move forward. We will continue to get better.' Whether that turns in a week or a year, then we're going to continue to move forward. We'll continue to develop as coaches, as players, and as a program as well."
On David Anenih's and Zamar Kirven's role so far this season…
"They're improving. Both are a victim of not being able to redshirt and have not played a whole lot of snaps, but they've been getting better. David Anenih's a twitchy guy and is still learning how to play the defensive end role like we want him to do. For Zamar Kirven, I sat here three weeks ago and said I wanted to redshirt him. Then we have injuries and he's gotta go out there and play. I think he's done a good job of that. He's still way too hesitant. He's just a victim of circumstance; of not having enough snaps under his belt. The more he plays the better he's going to be. Anenih's the same way. The more they play the better they're going to be."
On teams struggles at Corner…
"Guys need to play better. We need to make more plays. We try to put guys in position to make plays, and then they gotta make plays. G.O. [Gervarrius Owens] is a talented guy. He's got length, he's got speed, he just hasn't played the Corner spot very much. He's the same as the guys I just talked about. He's got 3 years of eligibility. He's been on campus 3 months. The more he plays the better he's going to be."
On Kyle Porter and Terrance Edgeston…
"They're day-to-day. Porter's fine he just had back spasms in the game. He had a pretty good start in the first half, he just locked up. He's full of muscles so those things lock up every now and then. He'll be fine. Edgeston didn't make the trip but he's day-to-day. Hopefully he'll be back this week."
Monday, Sep. 23, 2019 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH DANA HOLGORSEN
On relationship with North Texas Head Coach Seth Littrell…
"It's an 'Air Raid' reunion I guess, so Seth is the next on the list. I have known him for a long time, he was a really good player at Oklahoma when I went to Texas Tech in 2000 he was still playing, he was the team captain. He was a pretty tough dude, he's a meathead, he's a weight room guy, he's broken my arm before I mean he's a real physical guy. We hired him in 2005 or something like that so I coached with him for about three or four years and then he got his shot to be a head coach and is doing a really good job at North Texas. They are well coached and they play hard."
On relevance of relationship with the opposing coach…
"I don't think it is relevant. You watch the video and you've got enough information you can kind of figure out what they are going to do offensively and defensively and you game plan. There will be a couple of back slaps in pregame, a big hug and he will probably try to break my arm again and then we will try to kick each others tail during the game. All that stuff goes away once you kick the ball off, it's just another game."
On Mason Fine…
"One, he has a lot of experience. He has played a lot of ball, he's like the guy we got who has played a lot of ball and all that experience is tough to deal with, but he is a well rounded player. He throws it around, he runs around, he's athletic and he's got a lot of experience and he's got a lot of games as a quarterback. We knew he was going to be tough, and just have a lot of respect for what he has been able to accomplish."
On overcoming inconsistencies and getting into a rhythm…
"I think we have in spurts, but it's just inconsistent. I think we have played good at times but it is inconsistent. It doesn't matter which side of the ball you are talking about it's just inconsistent stuff. Over time it is going to get fixed it's just not going to happen overnight. Probably the biggest frustration that I have right now, offensively, is the rhythm of the passing game. We are just having a hard time with our timing and guys being in the right spots. Everybody wants to point the fingers at me with a play coin perspective which is fine. I am going to keep calling the same plays and it is going to get easier overtime. We went zero for 10 with deep balls, you complete one of those and we win the game and you have 600 yards of offense. I have been very pleased with our running attack in the cover zero, it's hard. You rush for 300 yards and a cover zero, that's really hard. I am proud of a lot of the things we are doing, but just the inconsistent nature of everything in the passing game is what needs to improve."
On the teams third quarter game…
"We are zero for four on third quarters. Every quarter has been bad, we have to do better. There are some things we have talked about and maybe we need to get the guys out a little bit earlier and make them do a warm up. Maybe start the second half with 100 up-downs before we get going. We recognize that it's a problem and we are going to coach hard to try to get it figured out."
On in-game strategies of mixing up the tempo during the game…
"It's a gut feeling more than anything. The way I view it, if it's not working then change it. If we're going fast and it's working, then keep doing it. If we're going slow and it's working, then keep doing it. That's what defenses's like you to do too. They want to know what you're doing, whether you're going slow or fast. They want to know what you're doing, so I try to be as unpredictable when it comes from the tempo perspective as I possibly can. That will change based on how it looks."
On improvements so far this season…
"I think we've improved every game. I've been proud of our coaches and I've been proud of our players, because of how they've attacked the last month. It was hard and challenging. We're on four short weeks in a row. Nobody wants to hear it, but we did play four games in eighteen days. That's never happened in the history of college football. I've been proud of our guys for how they've played. I think we've played with great effort, played as hard as we could play, prepared as well as we could prepare, and we just came up a little bit short. There just hasn't been enough gas in the tank. We put that game to rest on Friday.
We sat in here with the whole group and said 'Look nobody is happy about it, but we will continue to move forward. We will continue to get better.' Whether that turns in a week or a year, then we're going to continue to move forward. We'll continue to develop as coaches, as players, and as a program as well."
On David Anenih's and Zamar Kirven's role so far this season…
"They're improving. Both are a victim of not being able to redshirt and have not played a whole lot of snaps, but they've been getting better. David Anenih's a twitchy guy and is still learning how to play the defensive end role like we want him to do. For Zamar Kirven, I sat here three weeks ago and said I wanted to redshirt him. Then we have injuries and he's gotta go out there and play. I think he's done a good job of that. He's still way too hesitant. He's just a victim of circumstance; of not having enough snaps under his belt. The more he plays the better he's going to be. Anenih's the same way. The more they play the better they're going to be."
On teams struggles at Corner…
"Guys need to play better. We need to make more plays. We try to put guys in position to make plays, and then they gotta make plays. G.O. [Gervarrius Owens] is a talented guy. He's got length, he's got speed, he just hasn't played the Corner spot very much. He's the same as the guys I just talked about. He's got 3 years of eligibility. He's been on campus 3 months. The more he plays the better he's going to be."
On Kyle Porter and Terrance Edgeston…
"They're day-to-day. Porter's fine he just had back spasms in the game. He had a pretty good start in the first half, he just locked up. He's full of muscles so those things lock up every now and then. He'll be fine. Edgeston didn't make the trip but he's day-to-day. Hopefully he'll be back this week."
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