University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Larry Fedora's Weekly Press Conference Transcript
10/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 27, 2008
Coach Larry Fedora's Weekly Press Conference
October 27, 2008
Opening statement:
"We didn't play well enough as a football team to win a football game (at Memphis). There are no secrets to it. Offensively, your job is to score one more point than your opponent. Defensively, your job is to hold the opponent to one less point than the offense scores. We didn't get that done. When you break it down, special teams were better this week, more sound with less mental breakdown. We were really pretty sound and we did some good things in the kicking game. Defensively, we needed to stop the run. We didn't stop the run all night and we didn't play the ball in the air very well. We were in position to make each and every one of those plays. And we didn't make the play. Some of that was because of a mismatch in the receiver and the defensive back. But our job still is to make the play and we didn't make the play. Offensively, we sputtered around in the first half. We got ourselves back into the game, got back into the lead but we still didn't make enough plays down the stretch to win the football game. When we needed the offense to make a play at the end we just couldn't do it. That's why we are sitting in the shape that we are in."
On what he is telling players after loss to Memphis:
"Well one, I am telling them that nothing has changed, that we are going to continue to do the things we have been doing because the things that we are doing are the right things. We are not getting it taken care of at this point, but these are the right things and we will continue to do them and continue to work hard. A lot of it is finding out what you have inside your chest. To keep morale up, a lot of that has to do with what kind of pride you have in yourself and as a football player and in this team."
On UAB:
"They are getting better. Their quarterback is a very good player. He is a big kid that runs really well and throws the ball really well. They do some nice things with him on offense including a lot of quarterback runs. I think the whole offense is built around him. The running back (Rashaud Slaughter) does a good job. They are athletic up front. Defensively, they are four down lineman. They do not blitz a tremendous amount, but they do blitz. They do a little bit of zone blitzing and some man blitzing. They have a linebacker (Joe Henderson) that I think is a very good player. He is making a lot of plays for them. In the secondary they have been sound. But again, not to sound like a broken record, I am more worried about the way that we play right now than our opponent."
On Damion Fletcher having three touches in first half against Memphis:
"We didn't have the ball very much in the first half to be honest with you. When I did go back and look at it, I was surprised. If you had to do it over again, you wouldn't be down 14 and you would have stayed with your game plan the whole way, and he would have touched the ball a lot more. We felt like we were going to be able to run the football on them, and we did when we tried to run the football."
On Torris Magee:
"Torris left the football team on Thursday afternoon and is not a member of the football team. Whatever happens from there is his business and is not mine to comment on to be honest with you."
On if it was Magee's choice to leave:
"Yes it was his choice, and he did not give me a reason."
On if placing new and young players on the field during Memphis game was to see if change could help:
"No, we haven't changed anything really. To be honest with you, we haven't given up on the season. We plan on doing things the exact same way we have done them up to this point and we are going to continue because I know what we are doing is right and I don't question it. That's for everybody else out there to do, to question it. I know what we are doing. We haven't sat there and said we are going with a youth movement or we are going to prepare for the future and not worry about what is going on here. No, we are not doing that. We are still playing the same young guys that have been playing basically from the beginning of the season. I don't think anybody else played that hadn't played. We brought some guys because of depth issues, but we still didn't play them."
On if defense was confused early in game with Memphis offense/ quarterback situation:
"The unfortunate thing was our team was not really able to prepare for what they were going to do, because we really had no idea what they were going to do. Which quarterback was going to play, how many times they were going to have a receiver in there at quarterback, how many times they were going to have a running back in there at quarterback. So you have to prepare for everything, when you have to prepare for everything, you are not good at anything. That is probably a little bit of what happened. As I went back and looked at the film, our players were in position to make plays. We just didn't make the plays. I mean we were there, we were there on every one. There was never one of those passes when someone was uncontested and wide open. The corner was there, the safety was there, every single time. They were in position to make the play, they were in position to make the tackle. Very seldom was there ever a situation where no one was responsible for the gap that they ran through. It had nothing to do with scheme, it had nothing to do with anything other than we didn't make the play."
On Memphis' WR Carlos Singleton:
"Yeah, you have to give the guy credit. The guy is probably about three inches taller than DeAndre (Brown) and DeAndre is as tall as any player I have ever played with or even seen play. That was a major part of their game plan. If they had third down, (they would) throw it up to see if he can make a play, and he did. I think there was only one time where he didn't. Whether it was Andre Watson, or Mike McGee, they were right there, about two inches underneath where they needed to be."
On if there are any differences in approaching the UAB game since it is Homecoming:
"I don't know of anything that they have to go through extra. It's another football game for us. It's another opportunity for us to get out on the field and play the way Southern Miss football is supposed to be played. That's the way I look at it. I know Homecoming is special for the people who get to come home. That's what it is all about. It is built around a football game, which is very important. It gives the alumni, and the people that played here, the opportunity to come back on campus and remember the good times. I think that is important. Just having the opportunity to step back on the campus where you went school, where you possibly played ball, or were involved in athletics, because those are all good memories. You don't remember the bad times, you remember the good times, and I think that's important. It being based around a football game, tells you a lot about what football means. So, yes, it is special but we won't prepare any differently."
