Head Coach Jeff Bower' Weekly Press Conference

Head Coach Jeff Bower?s Weekly Press Conference

Opening Statement:

?It was a good win for us. I thought for the most part, we played well in the game. We played hard again and did a lot of good things in the game. We created some turnovers and had five on the day. Thank goodness we did do that, because we really let East Carolina drive the ball, especially in the first half. I thought we played better defensively in the second half. We gave up 263 yards in the first half, but only 100 in the second half. We did a good job of making adjustments and playing better in the second half. We were not a very good third down team on defense. That was the emphasis at halftime. We had to get them off the field when we had them at third down. We created some turnovers and we played better in the second half. We lost containment some. We need to work on that a little bit and continue to work at getting better at tackling. I thought on offense, we did a lot of nice things in the game. We need to do a better job of getting touchdowns when we are in the red zone area, instead of kicking field goals. We came out and had a big third quarter and had 220 yards of offense. There were two key drives in the game, the one before halftime and the big pass from Dustin Almond to Antwon Courington to start the second half. I thought Dustin was sharp and played well. We did some good thing, but we need to work at getting better running the football. We did a good job at time, but other times, we didn?t look good at it. Darren McCaleb had a good game, and we didn?t punt until late in the game. We didn?t have much of a chance to return punts. We need to get Luke Johnson kicking the ball off better. East Carolina showed us a reverse scheme on kickoff return and we had not seen that before. We need to do a better job of playing with our eyes. Overall, it was a good win for us.?

Players Of The Game:

?On offense, it was Dustin Almond. He had 73 snaps and graded 93 percent. He was 23-of-34 for 324 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, we had co-defensive players of the game with Kevis Coley, with 59 snaps and graded 85 percent. He had seven tackles, four assists, a caused fumble, recovered fumble and one big play. Trevis Coley played 61 snaps and graded 84 percent, and had nine tackles and two assists. Both of those guys played well. On special teams, Darren McCaleb had 4-of-4 on field goals and 3-of-3 on extra points.?

On Injuries:

?We came out of the game pretty healthy with no injuries. Brandon Sumrall had a mild concussion, but came back and played in the game. We are in good shape going into our week of preparation for Tulsa.?

On Tulsa:

?I think Tulsa is a good football team. I?m impressed watching them on tape. They are coming off a tough loss against Houston. It was a close game, 30-23, but they are a team that beat a good Memphis in overtime the week before. They also really blew out North Texas 54-2 after losing their first two games. They played some tough games, against Minnesota and Oklahoma. They are balanced. They have four running backs that do a good job. They are high percentage throwing the ball. The quarterback does a good job and only has two interceptions in 140 throws. They have good balance and move the ball well. They are a good team on third down, and are 48 percent on third down conversions. That is an area we haven?t been good at. That will be a key for us in the game. Defensively, they play a three down front. They do a lot of blitzing, but they didn?t blitz Houston as much as we had seen them blitz other people. Against North Texas, I think they blitzed about every snap. In the secondary, they do a good job of covering. Teams have not completed a high percentage against them, a little less than 50 percent. They have also done a good job of getting some interceptions, with six on the year. I think they are a good football team that has some good athletes. I?m impressed with what I see on tape.?

On If The Layoff Hurt The Rhythm:

?I don?t think so. I thought we played hard in the game. East Carolina did some good things. With their running back and receiver, they are going to move the ball on people. They do a good job of getting them the ball and they got the ball to a lot of other people in our game. I thought their quarterback did a good job. I was pleased to see our defense react and play much better in the second half.?

On The Big Drive Before Halftime:

 

?It was big. We were backed up and I wanted to be conservative until we got some field position. Once we did, we made some plays. That was a great throw and catch for the touchdown. Going in at halftime, it was a big lift for us and it hurt them a little bit, using having a 90-yard drive before halftime.?

On Caleb Hendrix:

?He did a good job. For the first time back, I thought he covered pretty well.?

On Cody Hull:

?We need to get him a few more carries. We?re going to keep playing Larry Thomas and Cody Hull. Cody has been productive. He has made some nice cuts. I?m pleased with both of those guys. Larry dropped a pitch one time for our only turnover of the game, but I don?t know if we would?ve gotten the first down anyway. We?ve got to play both of those guys. Cody has done a good job and has been good running the ball.?

On Hull?s Ball Security And If It Has Cost Him Snaps:

?I think he lost the ball in our last game. We?re going to keep working on that. Ball security has been a big key for us. I don?t think it has cost him snaps. Larry Thomas has played well.?

On Hull Being A Late Signee:

?In the latter part of recruiting, we decided to sign another back. There were two or three that we were looking at, and we settled on him.?

On The Performance Of Dustin Almond Managing The East Carolina Game:

?It was good. He did a good job mentally. He was into the game and he did a lot of nice things, and put us in the right place. I think that was the best he?s played.?

On The Season So Far:

?I?m pleased. I think we?ve played hard. You?d like to have the second half against Alabama back and replay that. I?m pleased with our effort. We need to continue to be smart and respect all of our opponents that we play. Like this week, we haven?t played Tulsa a lot, at least recently, but they are a good football team. Two years ago, they went to a bowl, but last year they were 4-8, but lost in overtime three times and beat UTEP late in the year when they were ranked. They were close last year to having a good year. Watching them on tape, they are well coached and they do a lot of good things on both sides of the ball. We need to respect our opponents and make sure that we continue to prepare throughout the week to play as well as we can.?

On Tulsa?s Tight End Garrett Mills:

?He?s a big time player. We need to look at him on tape. They get him the football. He has 38 catches on the year and he is the leading receiving tight end in the country right now. He?s athletic. They move him around, flex him, split him out and put him in the backfield. They find ways to get him the football.?

On The Dustin Almond-Antwon Courington Relationship:

?I think it?s true with any quarterback, you develop confidence in receivers based on who make plays in the game and on the practice field. The biggest difference with Antwon this year is that he has worked harder than he?s ever worked. I?m not going to say he was a good practice player; he was a little up and down. He?s been consistently a good practice player and when you make plays in practice, quarterbacks are going to look for those guys in a game. That?s what has happened. You don?t want it to happen too much, because you want a quarterback to go through all the reads and make the proper decisions on where to go with the football. I still think that at times, you?re going to look for that guy, all things being equal, you?re going to go to that guy you have confidence in.?

On Almond and Courington?s Strong Communication

?I like that, but you expect that out of your senior leaders that have that kind of ability.?

On If He Thinks Almond Has Done A Good Job Of Spreading The Ball Around:

?Yes I do. We had a lot of receivers catch a pass the other night. That?s his job. You?re going to get certain coverages that dictate where you go with the football. Being a good quarterback is making good decisions, and I think he has done that.?

On Robert Henderson?s Play:

?I think he reverted back a little bit this game. He didn?t play like he is capable of playing. We?ll get him back going again, but he didn?t have his best game. We lost containment and he didn?t do some things that he was coached up to do. I don?t think he had a great week of practice. You?re going to play how you practice during the week and our players need to understand, if you?re going to be good on Saturday, you?ve got to be good throughout the week. He wasn?t good last week and played that way too. He?ll get better. He has a lot of pride in what he does and will bounce back this week.?

On Kevis Coley At Middle Linebacker:

?He?s a good one. He?s a ball player. He has played really well for us. He?s a physical player and can run. We need to eliminate the 15-yard penalties, but I don?t think that was a good call on roughing the passer. He was honest with me, I asked him if he rushed the passer and he told me ?Coach this time I did not.? I watched the tape and I believe him.?

On The Tradition At Middle Linebacker:

?Someone told me the other day, when Minnesota played Atlanta that we had three of our ex-linebackers on the field, Rod Davis at Minnesota and Antoine Cash and Michael Boley with Atlanta. You?ve got TJ Slaughter at New Orleans, Adalius Thomas was an outside linebacker and a hybrid player and is playing with the Ravens, and Jeff Posey played outside. I know we have at least five players active in the NFL.?

On The Tulsa Program To The One When The Two Teams Played In The Early 1990s:

 

?I think it?s much better. They are a lot better football team from what I remember. They are athletic now and have some good players on both sides of the ball. The offensive line is big. They do a nice job. They are a good football team.?

On If He Had Heard Anything On The Marshall Or Houston Game:

?No. I haven?t heard a word.?

On Conference USA So Far And The Parity Of The League:

?I think there is a lot of parity and I said before the year that there would be some good teams that would surprise. I have a lot of respect for all the teams in this league. That was a good win for Houston over Tulsa. Memphis had a good win over UTEP. Central Florida has back-to-back wins now. UAB looks like they are playing very well, at least their quarterback. He has completed 70 percent of his throws and they are first in the nation in turnover margin. They look like they are playing very well.?

On The Explanation On The Apparent Fumble Recovery By East Carolina

 

?They could not review it because the whistle blew. You don?t blow the whistle until you know where the ball is. That?s why referees don?t run around with a whistle in their mouth. Evidently, the referee never saw the ball and blew the whistle anyway. It was a non-reviewable play.?

On East Carolina?s Touchdown:

?It was hard to see. I got word from upstairs that he did not get in. That was a tough one.?

On If Courington Was Out Of Bounds:

?I don?t think he was. I really don?t. I know the appearance of it looked like he could have been out of bounds. That toe may be in the ground and his heel may have been cocked up over the line but not touching the line. The referee on our side said ?Coach I was watching him close and he never touched out of bounds.? He was pretty adamant that he did not go out of bounds.?

On How The Hurricanes Have Affected Recruiting:

?It is a little bit of a concern. We?ve been out of touch with a lot of kids. Some kids we can?t find because they have been displaced. Others are in Ohio and a number are in Florida. Some, we don?t know where they are. Lytrel Pollard is having a tough time and Mitch Rodrigue is having a tough time because he recruits south of New Orleans. It?s been hard to make contact, even getting in touch with coaches. The lack of communication has not helped us at all. We?re going to go out on Friday to South Louisiana and have a few coaches that will try to find some things out.?

On The Talent Locally:

?It?s very good. I think it?s a good year. There are a lot of good players around. We do recruit locally, despite what some people believe. Look at our roster; we?ve got a lot of kids from south Mississippi.?

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics

Head Coach Jeff Bower' Weekly Press Conference

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