University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Jeff Bower's Weekly News Conference
10/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 9, 2006
Head Coach Bower's Weekly Press Conference
Opening statement:
"I think we had two good days of practice on Thursday and Friday. We went out in full gear and the emphasis was just to get better and improve. We worked against each other, did some live work and worked on fundamentals. I think it was two good days for us. We gave them the weekend off, and we'll get back on our normal routine with our afternoon meetings and practice tonight and getting ready for Houston.
I think Houston's a good football team. It was kind of a shocker last week; they were up 21-0 with 14 minutes left in the second quarter. They went up and down the field and then let Lafayette get back into the game. They hurt themselves with penalties, and they had two touchdown passes called back because of penalties. In the second half, they just didn't have the ball. I think they had the ball nine minutes in the second half. Lafayette held it 21 minutes in the game; they had an 18-play scoring drive. Mistakes hurt them. I've been on that side too; when you're up 21-0. Sometimes you relax and the other team gets momentum. It's hard to turn it sometimes. They're a good football team. Their quarterback's really good; he doesn't make mistakes. On the year, he's completed 70 percent of his passes and had only one interception out of 194 throws. He's really good. They move the ball offensively better than anybody we've seen this year. They're averaging 438 yards a game and not making a lot of mistakes. They've scored a lot of points. They're the top scoring team and total offense team in the league, averaging about 32 points a game. I think they also have a good defense. A defense that doesn't blitz a lot; they blitzed a little bit more against Louisiana-Lafayette but primarily play a zone defense and zone coverage. They have good return units; their kickoff returners and punt returners are very good. That's going to be an area that will be key in the game, our ability to cover on our coverage units. I think they're a good football team, coming off of a disappointing loss.
We've go to get ourselves ready to go; we're in pretty good shape physically with the exception of a couple of them. We'll find out about Shawn Nelson on Thursday, although he will miss the first half anyway. Stephen Reaves, I don't know. I would say right now doubtful just based on what I saw last Thursday and Friday. Jeremy continues to recover from the toe injury; hopefully the couple of days off will be good for him and he'll have a little different step this week. Sean Merrill should be back in the mix there inside at defensive tackle. We'll be in good shape; we've just got to have a good week. We're missing a couple of guys for at least half of the game, and we've got to find a way to get it done."
On the starter at running back:
"Conrad Chanove will start at running back."
On Jeremy Young's toe:
"He's not real good. At least he wasn't in that Tulsa game. It affected his throwing; it did all week long. We were concerned about that. Even one time in the game, we ran a little naked boot leg off the play action fake. He just can't turn the corner. If he's 100%, he's down that sideline running. It just took him forever, and he didn't look real fast. It's affecting him but I'm proud of him. He's played with it; he's been a tough guy, and he's doing the best he can."
On if the weekend break will help Young's injury:
"I hope; I'll let you know tonight. I hope it will. Those turf toes are like ankle injuries. Some guys are quicker to respond than others. It's an injury that needs rest, and we can't afford to rest him."
Players of the week from the Tulsa game:
"On offense, it's Chris Clark. He had 75 snaps and graded out 88 percent. He had two pancakes, seven cuts; he played very well.
Defensively, it's Gerald McRath. He had 51 snaps, 81 percent, six tackles and four assists.
We didn't have any on special teams."
On McCaleb's dependability this season:
"He's been that way his whole career. He's done a good job for us and nailed a lot of field goals. We've just got to get points when we get down there instead of field goals. I've got a lot of confidence in him; he's been a good kicker for us."
On preparing for Houston's offense:
"They're hard to prepare for. It's seeing the speed of the game. You can get all of the looks that you want out there with your scout team but it's an unusual type of offense. In some ways, they've got some similarities to Tulsa with the misdirection and options. They're some similarities, but I think the key is we've got to get our scout team really going fast with it this week and giving them a game-type speed look."
On it's relation to Florida's spread option:
"A little bit. They just kind of do it in a unique way."
On Houston's quarterback Kevin Kolb:
"He's right up there with Paul Smith from Tulsa. Those are two guys that jump out at you. He's been running this offense since high school. He's been doing it a long time, and he doesn't make mistakes. He's really good with the ball."
On feeling pressure to win this conference game:
"You don't want to because there's a long way to go. It's certainly not a make or break game but it's an important game, a conference game. We're coming off a loss and they're coming off a couple of them but they weren't conference losses. They're undefeated in the league. Every time you play a conference game the importance is equal. It doesn't matter when it occurs; I guess sometimes it might be different. Early in the year it's very important. Early in conference play anyway."
On who is the backup to Chanove:
"Barrows (C.J. Barrows)"
On giving Tory Harrison more reps during practice:
"You've got to rep him just to get him ready. We'd still like to hold him out and redshirt him. It's very similar to the quarterback situation. You've got to get Martevious Young ready to go. He's third now. You're not sure how long Stephen will be out, and Jeremy's banged up. You've got to give him reps too. He's the backup right now if Stephen can't go."
On giving reps to Damion Fletcher during practice:
"Yeah he gets reps. He doesn't get as many as Chanove does, but he'll get some. That's kind of the way we'll approach it. All three of them will get reps, including Tory."
On if Fletcher will start in the second half:
"Yes"
On if he thinks players will break the curfew violation after the suspensions:
"I hope not. That's not good; you've got a team rule. It's a team game, and we need everybody. A rule's a rule and you're not thinking of the team when you make a mistake like that. You've got to have discipline. You've got to enforce the rules."
On if Houston's loss to Louisiana-Lafayette will affect their performance:
"I don't know. I've never been good about figuring that out. We'll see a good football team in here, and I imagine they'll be a little upset. We're going to see their best."
