University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower's Weekly News Conference
9/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Football Coach Jeff Bower's Weekly News Conference
Opening Comments:
?Our players were very determined to win the
Players Of The Week:
?On offense, it was George Batiste. He played 62 snaps and graded 81 percent. He had two pancake blocks, six cuts, and had a knockdown. Our offensive line played well in the game, only giving up one sack in the game, and that was a missed assignment on the running back. We played well up front.
?Michael Boley was the defensive player of the week. He played 85 snaps and graded 81 percent. He had 13 tackles, five assists, one tackle for a loss, two forced fumbles, and a quarterback pressure. He played like we expect him to play.
On special teams, it was Darren McCaleb. He made three field goals of 39, 41, and 21 yards. He did a good job.
Rick Thompson was our scout team Player of the Week on offense. Our scout team players of the week were Rick Thompson on offense. Our scout team does a great job every week, but they go unrecognized. They do a tremendous job and they were just as much a part of the win as anyone that played.
Our defensive scout team player of the week was Kenneth Boley. He does an unbelievable job every week. Our special teams scout team player of the week was Mitch Craft.
On
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On The Difference Between
?They had a lot of junior college transfers last year, and they got a year of experience behind them. They?ve got talent on this football team. They are a program on the move. They?re in the midst of a $140 million football/academic facility expansion. They sold 33,000 season tickets this year. Everybody?s excited about
On If He Know?s Cal Head Coach Jeff Tedford:
?Yes, I know him pretty well.?
On Last Year?s Cal Game:
?It was ugly. Our operation on special teams was poor. We didn?t play very well in the game. That?s not to say that
On If He?s Reminded The Player?s Of Last Year?s Game:
?Yes.?
On Naton Stewart:
?He will be suspended for this game, because of a violation of team rules.?
On Seth Cumbie:
?He is out for the season. He totally injured his knee, and tore the ACL and MCL. I really hate it for him. He?s been here for five years playing. He finally got the starting job and was playing extremely well. He?s been a great special teams player. We?re going to miss him and his leadership.?
On Who Takes Cumbie?s Place:
?Caleb Hendrix will take his place. At gunner, we?ve worked three players, but we?re not sure who will play there yet. James Nelson will back-up Hendrix.?
On If He?s Followed The Weather And If That Would Affect Thursday?s Game:
?Yes. I think we?ve got to make the call on what to do tomorrow. We?ll wait and see what happens.?
On If Other Plans Have Been Discussed:
?Yes, but nothing has been finalized. I don?t know if you can make a decision right now. One way or another, we?ve got to do something tomorrow morning.
On Possible Plans:
?We could make it up later in the season. We could play later in the week, Saturday or even Sunday.?
On Maybe Losing The Television Game:
?It will be tough luck on that. If we play on Saturday, there?s no way we?d be on television. On Sunday, I don?t know what ESPN has going on. Those are possibilities, I don?t know what happens.?
On Anthony Harris:
?He ran tough, which is his style. His style is what you saw. He handled the ball well, and did a good job for us. He also played with an injury. He hurt his ankle mid-week last week, but he did a good job.?
On The Offensive Line?s Improvement:
?Mitch (Rodrigue) has done an excellent job with them. This is also our second year in this offense. We?ve got some experience there, so you would expect them to play well. They understand what we?re doing so much better than a year ago.?
On Darrell Bennett:
?He had the best last week in practice. Darrell?s been hungry to get on the field. We redshirted him last year after he had an early season injury. His biggest thing is consistency. That?s something day in and day out he?s got to work on. I think he?s gotten better at it. He?s paying attention to the little things, and he?s studying the game more than he has. Mentally, he?s locked in, and that?s why you?re seeing him play. He played wide receiver as a true freshman, then we moved him to defense in his sophomore year.?
On The Defensive Understudies:
?We gave up some yards against
On Some Of The Newspaper Headlines Following the
?Protecting the football is a major part of the game. If you don?t do it well, you?re chances of winning aren?t very good. We know that from 1999. All I know is we won the game.?
On
?We didn?t do any last week, but we did do a lot during preseason camp. Like we always do with our first four opponents, we do summer scouting reports, tape evaluation, and game planning. There was a lot of work done this summer.?
On C.J. Barrows? Injury:
?He?s recovering well, and I think he?s going to get the cast off this week. I think he?s supposed to see the doctor this afternoon.?
On Dillon Cleckler:
?Dillon played well and did some good things. He?s involved with our punt and kick off cover team. He made four tackles on the kick off cover team. He did a good job.?
On When Southern Miss Is Scheduled To Play
?We?re not scheduled to play them that I know of. If they want to come here, I?d be for playing them again. I?d like for it to be a home and home agreement, but I don?t make those final decisions.?
On
?I don?t know what the West Coast Offense is. I?ve never heard anyone explain it to me.
On Similarities Between
?I think there are differences in their passing games. Their formations are quite different. They run a zone play like
On
?They?re playing very well on defense. They?re very impressive to watch. They play fast, and play hard. They?re really playing well.?
On If Playing Thursday Nights In The Past Is An Advantage:
?I don?t know if it is an advantage. We?ve got a routine that we go through. You try to cram a full week of preparation into a few days. You don?t get your off day. We try to stick to a normal routine as much as we can. We can?t beat on each other as much in practice, but at the same time you?ve got to practice hard. We went out in helmets only last night, but we?ll go out in full pads today for a good practice, before we start cutting back.?
On The Team?s Health:
?We got out of the game in good shape. Other than Seth Cumbie, we?re pretty healthy.?
On The Emotional Mood Of The Team Following The Big Win And If They Will Be Prepared for Thursday?s Game:
?We?ll see after Thursday night. The team has been talked to. This is where you look to your senior leaders. They?ve been around and have enjoyed some nice wins. You?ve got to be smart enough to put last week?s win behind you. All you have to do is put in the
On Naton Stewart?s Back-Up:
?It will be Carsha Stromas.?
On Why He Didn?t Announce The Contract Extension Last Week:
?I made a statement and that?s the only statement I?ll make. I was asked about the contract last night, and I signed the contract last week. It?s football season. I?m coaching football. That?s the end of the statement.?
