University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Jeff Bower's Weekly Football News Conference
11/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 20, 2006
HATTIESBSURG, Miss. -- - Opening statement: "It was a much needed win for us. I'm proud of our players. I thought we played hard in the game and with good effort. I think we may have lost a little intensity on defense when we got up 23-0. As a result, we didn't tackle as well, and we let the quarterback out of the pocket. We lost containment on him, and he made some plays on us. We turned the ball over. We gave them some gifts there. We had those three fumbles and an interception. I think we could catch that ball, and Josh (Barnes) gets tripped up a little bit trying to get around that safety. We ran the ball well, but we didn't throw it as well as we needed to. We missed a deep one for a score, and we had a couple of drops in the game. Turnovers were the big negative in the game. That and missing tackles in the second half. (Darren) McCaleb's field goal was huge in the ball game and that interception by Jasper Faulk for a touchdown got us going. We didn't do much at all offensively in the first quarter. We made some adjustments and then averaged 100 yards a quarter for the rest of the game. We did pretty well after that. We've got to eliminate the turnovers. Normally, when you turn the ball over four times, you don't win the ball game. "
Players of the Week: "On offense, Robby D'Angelo had 59 snaps, graded 85% and had two cuts and three knockdowns. I thought he played his best game of the year. On defense, we had co-players of the week. Gerald McRath had 56 snaps, graded 75% and had five tackles, seven assists and three tackles for loss. Also, Jasper Faulk had 55 snaps, graded 86% and had two tackles and an interception for a touchdown. On special teams, Darren McCaleb had a 47-yard field goal. That was a big play."
On Injuries: "I think we're o.k. We'll probably hold (Ryan) McKee and Sean Merrill for a couple of days. We'll get them back. I think Bobby Weakley will be o.k. Other than that, there was nothing major in the game. Fletch (Damion Fletcher) had a mild concussion, but he's fine and ready to go. We should be in decent shape. We have our fingers crossed that we can get McKee and Merrill back and get them ready to go."
On Marshall: "That was a big win for us, and this is a big game this week. We're playing a team that has really improved. They started the season 1-5, but they've won four out of the last five games. They're scoring a lot of points. They've got a great running back, and he's a big time player. They're playing a couple of quarterbacks. One of them is more of a runner. Skinner is a good thrower. I think they have a good offense. They move the ball, they score points, and they're solid on defense. They've got a good defensive end. We'll see a number of different looks. It will be a little bit like last week. We'll see some three-down lineman and some four-down. We've got those two things to prepare for. They're coming here on a roll, trying to get bowl-eligible. We know what we need and how bad we need this win. I hope we have a great crowd. I really want to encourage our people to come out. It's Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope a lot of people come out and support this football team. It's going to be important that we have a good crowd there. Our student body has been wonderful, and I thank them for their support during the last game. I hope they'll make plans to be here."
On the quarterback situation: "We're going to start Jeremy (Young). Both of them were average during the game. I don't think either one of them did enough to take us to the next step offensively, as far as throwing the ball. We hung in there with Stephen (Reaves), and I think he did o.k. Jeremy was 1-for-4. He missed that deep throw, and he had that throw-away, which was a good play. He also had one drop in the ball game. We'll play them both and stay with that."
On why Young has been inconsistent: "I don't know. That toe is still bothering him. That's an injury that's not going to get well until he has some time off. The toe is bothering him. I don't think it's just Jeremy; it's both of them. We've got to improve our consistency on throwing and catching the ball. A lot of it is that we've dropped a lot of passes. As I mentioned last week, we dropped seven touchdown passes. You make some of those plays, you get some confidence, you get some momentum and things change."
On finding out about the Rice and East Carolina game: "They knew during the Eagle Walk. I guess they were on their Blackberries. Somebody told them. That's when I found out. My brother told me right at the end of the Eagle Walk. I knew it was inevitable."
On how to decide which quarterback to play: "It's a little bit of a field call. We see how we're going and how things are going. I thought it was time to give Stephen a shot. We don't sit down and say that he's going to play third or fourth possession or anything like that. It's seeing how the flow of the game is."
On Chris Johnson's performance: "Chris has picked it up some and made some big plays. He had a couple of reverses for good gains, and he had a touchdown the other night. We've got to get more play like that from our receivers. We've got to get more guys making big plays when they have the opportunity to do it."
On the first fumble: "I think that Damion was reaching for it and didn't really secure it. That's what it looked like on tape."
On the dropped pass by Nelson: "It got punched out. You've got to secure it."
On the seven-play drive for a score: "I thought that was going to be a game-setter. I thought that was going to be key. It wasn't necessarily the key play of the game, but it was the key drive of the game. Then, we got back on the field and let them drive down and score. So, they did a good job of coming back and getting some momentum. We didn't go out there and stop them."
On the defense: "I think we played well. We had lapses with tackles. We lost containment and let them make some plays, but I thought we played well."
On Sean Merrill's injury: "It's his knee, an MCL sprain. That's going to be a day-to-day thing, but hopefully we'll get him back limited on Wednesday and ready to go."
On Ryan McKee's injury: "We're just going to give him some rest. I think he'll be fine, but we're going to rest him. He's sore."
On Bobby Weakley's injury: "It's his ankle. That's the injury of the year."
On how the team is reacting to the possibility of a conference championship: "I haven't seen them since after the game. This is what you play for and work so hard for, going way back to last year's offseason and spring and summer. You're in the position to do what you set out to do."
On if he was surprised about being in this situation and needing the help from the East Carolina loss: "Sure. If you remember me saying, I wouldn't be surprised if the winner of this side of the league will have two losses. I guess it could be more than that. I thought we had an opportunity, I'm pleased with how we responded the last few games."
On the parity of the league: "It's what we expected and what we talked about all preseason. It's a deep league."
On McRath's performance: "He's playing well for us."
On Fletcher's concussion: "He got hit pretty good. He's fine, and they cleared him to go. We left Tory in there. I didn't want to put him back in there."
On putting up a lot of points: "We've got to score. We've got to continue to play well defensively. We've got to try to slow that running back down. We've got to complement our running game with our passing game."
On if last year's game with Marshall will effect this year: "I don't know. Both teams are playing for a lot in this game. I'm sure they're going to be ready to play. I can assure you of that, with them winning four out of five and possibly getting bowl-eligible. They'll have a lot to play for."
On having so much pressure on a regular season game: "We've won four championships, so we had to win a game to clinch a championship. We haven't been to a championship game, but this game gets us there. We have to take care of our business. We're treating it like any other week. Our players know it's important. I expect them to prepare and do their best ever single day and play their best."
On the team's Thanksgiving Day plans: "We'll have a church service and then a team meal. We're inviting the families and parents of the players. We'll do that and then have our normal Thursday afternoon practice routine. It's our last game for our seniors so it will be senior night. We'll introduce them before the game. That's another reason why I hope the fans come out, to appreciate our seniors. They've done a really good job."
On the status of this game compared to TCU and Nebraska: "In terms of importance, it's the same. I think so."
