University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower' Weekly News Conference
11/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower?s Weekly News Conference
Opening Statement:
?It was not a good performance at TCU. We didn?t play with emotion in the game and when you don?t do that, it?s hard to be a good football team. We felt that it would be important to get off to a fast start. We needed to do something early in the game to get some confidence. Undoubtedly, TCU felt the same way, and they took charge of the game early. On their first drive, they took the ball down- field and get a touchdown. They kicked off to us, we miscommunicate and mishandled the sky kick. We did a good job of stopping them and getting to miss a field goal. Then they scored two out of their next three possessions. They took charge early in the game. We got the touchdown before halftime, which was huge in the game at the time. In the second half, especially in the third quarter we played pretty well. In the first half, they had the ball 20 minutes to our 10 minutes, but in the third quarter, we had the ball for over 11 minutes. We played better defensively in the second half, after not playing well in the first half. We were inconsistent on defense. We got ourselves back in the game in the third quarter, making the score 28-14, then we blocked a punt. I wish we could?ve gotten a touchdown on the board with the pass to Courington, but we didn?t make the play. We got a field goal to make the score 28-17, but they came back and scored another touchdown. We just didn?t make enough plays to win the football game. There were a few bright spots, John Eubanks played a good game at cornerback, and Caleb Hendrix played well with a brace on his dislocated elbow. He showed me some toughness in the game. Luke Johnson had two punts inside the five-yard-line which was good. We obviously have to go back to work. We?re no different than anyone, we?re not talented enough, and I don?t know that anyone is, when you don?t play with emotion, you?re not going to make the plays. We didn?t in the game.
Players Of The Week:
?On defense, it was John Eubanks. He had 79 snaps and graded 84 percent, with four tackles, one pass broken up and a caused fumble. On special teams, it was Yamil Ortega, who had the blocked punt. We did not name an offensive player of the week.?
On Injuries:
?We?ve got some guys that will be out of practice today. Kenneth Boley dislocated his shoulder and will have surgery. He?s out for the remaining two games. Nate Young dislocated his elbow, he?s definitely out for UAB, and I don?t know about
On UAB:
?They?re playing very well. They?re 7-3 on the year and have a winning season and are bowl eligible. Hackney is a good quarterback, and Roddy White is a big time receiver. They?ve got a good football team. They?re playing well.?
On This Week?s Preparation:
?We?ve got to be challenged and challenge our players. Everyone, including the coaches, have to do a better job. We?ve got to pick it up a notch. We?re not going to do anything different. We?re going to stay in our routine. The only thing we?re going to do is create more competition during practice. Hopefully that will get us going a little bit. This senior class has never had a losing season. There?s a lot we?re playing for, a winning season and bowl eligibility. The most important thing is understanding that the way to play well is going through the process of getting yourself ready to play, having great practices, meetings and those things. We?re going to challenge our players to turn it up a notch. I thought practice went well last week. But somewhere between Thursday and game time, we lost something. We?ll make sure that won?t happen again.?
On If The Schedule Or Almond?s Injury Is To Blame For The Three-Game Skid:
?I don?t know if you can put your finger on one thing. We?re playing a tougher schedule than we did early in the year. Maybe some key injuries helped, but that?s no excuse. There?s no excuse for not playing with emotion, playing hard and flying around. That?s what we?ve got to get back to. I thought we did that against
On If The Team Practices Poorly:
?No, our practice habits haven?t been bad. Some days are better than others, like it always is. But it?s not been bad. I want us to be more competitive, and we need to do that throughout the week. We?re not going to change what we do in practice, but we want to make it more competitive. I think our players will make it more competitive, and they?ll respond.?
On If Jeremy Young Will Be The Back-up Quarterback:
?Yes. We?ve been working Damion Carter a lot more at receiver, because of our injury status at that position. With DaRon (ACL), Marvin (Turf toe) and Chris Johnson coming back from his knee injury, we felt that we needed to work him at that position more. We gave Jeremy some more work as the number two quarterback. Jeremy did some good things in the game, and I thought he showed a lot of poise. He made some good throws. He impressed me at times. He can be better, but I thought he kept his composure and made some good plays.?
On Why The Defense Has Given Up So Many Yards In The Last Three Games:
?Our tackling has been one of our major problems. We had too many missed tackles in the TCU game. We had some times where we had things played, but we had one guy that was out of position, or missed an assignment, or lost a gap. We were so inconsistent and didn?t get 11 guys to do it all right. They made some plays on us. We got some things corrected and played better in the second half, but we?ve given up a lot of yards recently. We played better in the second half. Part of that came as a result of staying on the field on offense.?
On Who Went In For George Batiste Once He Injured His Ankle:
?Myron Powe. He played the majority of the second half.?
On The Three Losses Following The 5-1 Start:
?It?s not something you plan on. I?m disappointed. We all are. We?re frustrated. We?ve got two important games left, and it?s time to crank it up a notch. We?ve got to. You can?t look back, and you?ve got to understand that if you want to take care of what?s ahead, you?ve got to make sure you do it every single day. We?ve got to take care of business on and off the field and do everything right. We?ve got to go back to work. That?s all you can do.?
On If The Defensive Mistakes Are Correctable:
?I think so. We?re going to do a little more fundamental work this week. We?re going to go back and do some position fundamental work. We?ve worked a lot on tackling. I don?t know how we can work on any more in that phase of it. We want to emphasize the little things and fundamentals and in hopes that it will help us out.?
On Darrell Hackney:
?He?s really big and strong. He?s hard to tackle. I think he?s got the biggest arm in Conference
On UAB?s Program:
?I think Watson and his staff have done a nice job.
On If The Season Can Be Salvaged:
?Yes. That is the plan. We?ll get it done.?
On If This Week Is A Do Or Die Situation:
?I?m never going to look at it that way. I?m just asking our players to get ready and for them to play and have some fun.?
On If He?s Feeling Any Heat:
?No. Only from my wife. My dog won?t even come visit with me when I come home at night. It?s a smart dog. He knows not to mess with me. It?s not a good time.?
