University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Football Head Coach Jeff Bower' Weekly News Conference
10/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower?s Weekly News Conference Opening Statement: ?We played well in the game against USF and played with good effort. We had by far our best defensive game this year. USF only had 66 yards at halftime and finished with 200 total for the game. We played the run better than we?ve played it all year. I think that was key. We did a good job in pass defense. Any time you get four interceptions in a game, you?re doing something well. It was a good game defensively. We had a tremendous goal-line stand after we mishandled the punt. That was huge in the game. We were good in time of possession, with 36 and a half minutes, to USF?s 23 and a half minutes. We had no turnovers offensively. I thought we played well for three quarters, but didn?t make plays in the fourth quarter. We missed a fourth and short play. We missed a few opportunities to make a few big plays in the passing game. We didn?t make the plays. For three quarters, we played well, but we?ve got to finish a game. We might have lost a little intensity in the fourth quarter. USF got the momentum after we missed the fourth and short. We?ve got to turn that around. ?I was disappointed with our kicking game. We had some mistakes that we?ve got to eliminate. Marvin Young makes a catch on a punt inside the five-yard line, and USF makes a tackle, which was poor judgment on our part. We fumbled a kickoff return; we had a partially blocked punt late in the game, when you know USF is coming after it. We fumbled a snap on a punt. We had too many mistakes in the kicking game. We work hard on it in practice. I think our effort was good, but we?re not executing very well. We?re going to work hard on that in practice to see if we can turn that around this week. ?We came out of the game in good shape injury wise. We had a good workout Sunday night. The players ran around very well. We?ll have a physical practice today, the only day in full-pads. We?ll back off the rest of the week, in order to get the players ready for Thursday.? Players Of The Week: ?On offense, it was Travis Cooley. He played 74 snaps and graded 84 percent. He had six cut blocks in the game and really played well. Chad Ruffin is our defensive player of the week. He played 40 snaps and graded 90 percent. He had four tackles, three assists, two tackles for a loss and one knockdown. He played well. On special teams, it was Darren McCaleb. He made two field goals of 21 and 41 yards, and made three-of-three extra-points.? On ?You can?t be misled by their record. They?ve played a tough schedule, with On If He?s Ever Had A Team That?s Waited This Long For A Home Game: ?No, never. We?re excited about being home for the first time, but I?m more concerned with getting ready to play. We?ve got to get ourselves ready to play well.? On Chris White: ?He played well. He gave a fanatical effort and really played hard in the game. He?s been very steady, and he?s been a good player for us. He has consistently played well for us.? On Eubanks? Fumble On The Kickoff Return: ?I?m not sure what it hit. I think it was a non-contact fumble. I don?t think anyone got a hand on it. He just didn?t squeeze it well enough.? On If Luke Johnson Will Continue Kickoff Duties: ?I don?t know. We?re going to continue to chart them this week and make a decision. Britt Barefoot struggled a little bit with the placement of the ball. Luke did better job. We?re going to let them compete this week.? On If USF?s Post-Game Comments About Letting The Game Slip Through Its Fingers Bothers Him: ?No. We won the game. That?s all that counts. We played well enough to win the game.? On If He?d Like To Continue The USF Series: ?I haven?t talked to Director of Athletics Richard Giannini about continuing it, but it?s fine with me? On Sherron Moore Not Participating More In Short Yardage Situations Late In The Game: ?He had a bruised hand, and we were concerned about him securing the ball. That?s why you didn?t see him again. He?ll be fine and will be ready to go this week.? On Sherron Moore?s Development: ?The key with him has been learning the entire offense, pass protection, and being consistent with his assignments. He?s gotten a lot better at that, and he?s seen more playing time. He?ll continue to play a good bit as long as he continues to do what he?s been doing.? On The Bad Snap And The Resulting Goal Line Stand: ?We?ve got to handle the snap. Defensively, we did what we?ve done so many times. Our backs were against the wall, and we bowed up and made the plays.? On If The Snap Was Bad: ?The snap was fine, we just didn?t handle it.? On Luke Johnson: ?He will be fine. He?s been really good for us. He just mishandled it, and he?ll move forward.? On USF?s Goal Line Stand: ?They got into a goal-line defense, and we hadn?t seen them do that. For what they did and what we did, they had us. We will need a better plan next time. They made a good call on us.? On Taking Care Of The Football: ?Our guys are conscious of it, and it?s a point of emphasis every single day. I think everyone deserves the credit, because so often you think of the skill guys that handle the football. Our offensive line didn?t give up a sack. We only had one sack in the game, and that was because the tight end missed the block. We?re doing a good job of protecting and blocking at the point of attack in the run game. When you do those things, you don?t have the opportunity to turn the ball over as much. Pressure on a quarterback can cause an erratic throw, which can result in a turnover or a sack. Our offensive line has done a good job.? On Dustin Almond Running The Option: ?The option was good to us. We got some big plays and good conversions on third down from it. Dustin did a good job running it.? On Third Down Conversions Against USF: ?I think we?re pretty good with it. We were about 50 percent in the game. That?s our goal, and actually, it?s better than our goal. To keep drives going, you?ve got to be a good third down team. Dustin did a good job. We threw the ball well at times on third down.? On Moving The Ball Around On Offense: ?We moved it around some, and that was good. We make them cover all our receivers, no decoys out there.? On What A Double-Eagle Defense Means: ?You cover the center and both guards. The tackles are uncovered. You force one-on-one blocking with your three interior guys.? On If The Officiating Calls Were Still Questionable After Reviewing The Tape: ?The personal foul on Kevis Coley was a good call. The roughing the passer calls, were questionable. On the one against Antoine Cash, there was no way.? On The Offense Starting Fast: ?We drove the football early and stayed on the field. Now we need to finish an entire game. We didn?t finish it in the fourth quarter.? On If The Late Penalties Were A Result Of Loss Of Poise: ?I think the penalty on Kevis might have been a poise thing. But I can?t fault Kevis or Antoine because both were playing with great effort. USF took the momentum from us, and we didn?t get it back on offense. We needed to go out and stay on the field, and even in the kicking game, when we had to execute a punt, we didn?t do it.?
On If The Double-Eagle Is Mainly Used On Goal-line Situations:
?Sometimes you see it. We see a Double-Eagle look with three linebackers, which is a pretty common short-yardage goal-line defense. The front that USF used was a 6-2 goal-line look.?
