University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Jeff Bower's Weekly Press Conference
10/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 23, 2006
Opening Statement: "I thought we made a lot of mistakes in the ball game. When you play talented teams, or anybody, you just can't afford to do that. We turned the ball over, and we had some crucial penalties that hurt us; the grounding call in the end zone for two points and offensive pass interference got us behind the chains and we went backwards. We never really had good field position, especially in the fourth quarter. We were backed up the entire time. Our execution, especially in our short passing game, wasn't very good. Defensively, we played ok; we just gave up big plays. That's kind of been the bug-a-boo all year long. I think we gave up three plays for over 150 yards. We gave up two touchdown passes and a long run, and we've got to eliminate that. We'll continue to work on that and eliminate that. We made way too many mistakes to win the football game. They're talented; they're a good team. There was a lot of talent on that field. I was really impressed with them, defensively. We saw a lot more blitz than we had see leading up to the game. They did about what we thought they would do. We thought they'd try to line up and run the football and be aggressive on defense and they were. They did a good job on us, but we've got to eliminate big mistakes and eliminate big plays.
Players of the Week: "We have co-offensive players of the week. Conrad Chanove had 43 snaps at 91 percent with 16 carries for 55 yards. He had two catches for seven yards and gave a great effort.
Chris Johnson had 35 plays at 77 percent with 1 catch. He was really active downfield; he had four cuts downfield and we thought he played with outstanding effort.
Defensively, Brandon Sumrall had 54 snaps at 81 percent, 3 tackles, 3 assists and an interception.
Special teams, Darren McCaleb went 2-for-2 on field goals; 38- and 27-yarders."
Injuries: "LeVance (Richmond) didn't play in the game, and we're going to hold him out today. I'm hoping we'll get him back but with those ankle injuries, you'll never know. I think we'll have a chance to get Fletch (Damion Fletcher) back, hopefully tomorrow. Travis Cooley is probably going to be out another week. We'll check him mid-week, but right now is doesn't appear like he'll play. Robby (D'Angelo) is out today; he got that ankle rolled on. I'm not sure when we'll get him back. We have a few guys who are limited. Josh Barnes hurt an ankle in the ball game; I think he's going to be fine. Caleb (Hendrix) did a good job of playing through some pain. He played with that injury, and he should be fine. Hebert (Ryan) ought to be a lot healthier with that turf toe. That's pretty much it. We've got to get a few of those key guys healthy again."
On East Carolina: "I think East Carolina has really improved since a year ago. They're a much better football team. They're throwing the ball extremely well, 260 yards a game. Their quarterback hit 31-of-40 for almost 400 yards last week against SMU. They're very multiple on offense; a lot of formations and some skilled athletes. Allison, a receiver, is really a big-time player. Chris Johnson, the back, has speed. They have a good quarterback, and they're playing solid on defense; not a lot of blitz but they're really defending the pass. They're good in the secondary, and they're just a good, solid football team. They've gotten better and better and obviously improved a lot over last year. We're getting into a five-game stretch where you've got to play them all like the championship games. Five conference games, four within the East and one outside the East but all conference games and all are very important."
On the grounding call: "I thought it was a bad call. First of all, we have a receiver in there but he's hit as the ball is coming out and that's what caused the ball to go nowhere near the receiver. I thought it was a bad call."
On the effects of team injuries: "I don't know; I can't speculate on that. You're always going to have those injuries and guys have got to fill in and play well enough to win."
On the offensive line and the sacks in the game: "Chris Clark got beat twice and then Housley beat once on the sack. Sometimes we held the ball too long. We didn't protect nearly as well as we've been protecting. Even on the intentional grounding call, they blitzed, and we should've been checking into the blitz; Jeremy misses it and that should've never happened."
On getting better at stopping big plays: "That's a good question. We're in positions to make plays sometimes; we just don't. We don't knock a ball away. It's not like we don't every work on that. We go good against good on deep balls every single week. I thought we lost a little leverage on the corner route. We switched off when it was man coverage. We're playing inside and outside and we're standing there with the guy coming to us. He lost some leverage and the guy made a nice catch. We've just got to continue to work on technique and continue to work against each other."
On Damion Fletcher: "I haven't talked to him since we've been back but he stayed here on the weekend and rehabbed it and did all of that stuff with our trainer. The word that I got this morning is that it looks like we'll get him back tomorrow. We'll probably take it kind of slow with him, early on anyway."
On getting Fletcher back in shape: "I don't think it's running shape because he hasn't missed that much. He'll have some conditioning he needs to work and just get the strength back in it. I think it's just getting the confidence in it and going out and playing."
On switching out Hebert and Wesley Housley: "Wesley didn't play bad. We'll work Wesley there and Micah Brown. I'm a little worried at center. Robby's been banged up, and I'm a little worried about what we're going to do there. Travis Cooley was playing center for us also. We're probably going to work Micah Brown some at center."
On working Micah Brown at guard and at center: "We're going to have to. I know that mentally it's asking a lot, but we've got to get someone ready to go there."
On Robby D'Angelo: "It just got rolled on. It's the same one he's had problems with."
On Rick Thompson's performance: "Rick did ok. He had 18 snaps. It was an average game for him. Micah Brown only played four snaps but did good. I thought George (Batiste) played well but the rest were average."
On the next five conference games: "We know what's there, and it's all right in front of us. We'll take it one at a time; it's an old cliché. Every time you play you approach it like a championship game."
On Virginia Tech scoring their final touchdown: "They've just got a young quarterback, and they're trying to get him some experience. That's fine; we've got to defend it and stop it. I don't have a problem with that; I think all of us like to do that. I don't think it was anything else other than trying to get their quarterback some experience."
On pulling ahead in the East: "I hope so. We understand what we've got to do."
On Jeremy Young's performance: "Ok. He missed some things. He's got to play better. We've got to get better throwing the ball."
