Larry Fedora's Weekly Press Conference
11/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 29, 2010
Head Coach Larry Fedora's
Weekly Press Conference Transcript
Opening Statement:
"Obviously that was a very frustrating game for us the other night. We had many opportunities to win the football game and we did not get it done. We gave up way too many big plays on defense and turned the ball over too many times on offense and kicked too many field goals in the red zone. The only phase that I can say we played well enough in to win the football game was our special teams.
"We are excited about getting the opportunity to play in a bowl game and get our ninth win."
On an End of Year Meeting with Athletic Director Richard Giannini:
"I meet with him every Monday. We have not started evaluating the season yet. Basically, we meet every week and just talk about the week - what happened in the game, the practices and everything that encompasses that week. That is what we spent most of our time talking about this morning."
On the Schedule headed into the Bowl Game:
"Until we find out what bowl we are going to play in, the guys will lift and run this week. We will probably get into practices this weekend. If we know who we are playing in the bowl game, we will start preparing for them. If not, we will just have some basic fundamental practices. We will get some practice in this weekend, either way, around the high school state championship games."
On if the league is headed to an offense only style of play:
"I hope not. I said at the beginning of the year that the team that plays the best defense will win the league and we will see this weekend. I thought there were some games that we played very well in defensively and there were some games that we did not play the way we needed to play. In each of the three C-USA games we lost, it did not matter that we scored 142 points, we still needed a few more.
"I cannot really tell you that we played great offensively in any of those three games. I think we had some tremendous opportunities to score points that we did not take advantage. We have to play better in every phase. You can go back in each one of them, as we did throughout the season, and find five or six plays that were the difference in the game, just like you can in every game. But when it's a one-point game, it just digs a little bit deeper into you because you were very close.
"This team was close, just a play or two away and we could have won 11 games pretty easily. In one aspect its frustrating, but also when you look at it the future is very bright. The program is heading in the right direction. Give these kids some credit as well. We overcame a lot of adversity this year - a lot of adversity. We had the shootings that overshadowed all the injuries. We were having a rough time with all the injuries and then we had that incident. There were just a lot of things that the kids have overcome and we had three games there we just did not get it done."
On any surprise players this season:
"There were guys that played that we did not anticipate playing. We played two true freshmen at receiver. Francisco Llanos helped us some this year. He scored a touchdown the other night. Deon Hodges scored a couple of times. Alex Walters was a true freshman at corner who played extensively this year. There were a lot of guys that were young and playing that we did not expect would have to play. That is kind of the nature of the beast and I was proud of those guys."
On the inconsistencies from game to game:
"I am sure that was a contributing factor, but I do not know if it was the only factor. I will have to go back as this week goes on and really look and see why there was inconsistencies and what the reasons were. You are going to have inconsistencies throughout the year. Very few teams every year play at that high of a level 12 weeks in a row, where you go out and play your best each and every week. It does not happen very often."
On the bowl game:
"First of all, we are excited to be in another bowl and do not ever want to take that for granted - 17-straight winning seasons and 13 bowl games in the last 14 years, you don't take that for granted. There are some programs out there that have been very successful in the past who this year are not and maybe because they took some things for granted, I do not know. But I do know that I will never take those things for granted and I am happy to be in a bowl game as well as these players are. Now, they are excited about finding out where we are going and who we are going to play. That gets them excited to know they will play a quality opponent and be out there one more time to play. This is the last time that this football team will be together as a team and, no matter what, there will be changes. It is a lot of fun and you have to take advantage of it."
On Francisco Llanos' kickoff returned for a TD:
"I would love to say it was Llanos that did it all, but there were guys who did a tremendous job of blocking. He was untouched because they did such a tremendous job. If you go back and look at it, not only are guys on their blocks, but they stuck on their blocks and stayed on them well into they were in the clear. We also had guys downfield with him. There was two guys running all the way down beside him still blocking all the way down the field.
"(Coach) Pat (Washington) did a great job with that team, especially in the second half of the season. The year before we were really good on our kickoff return team and I think the guys just thought it was going to happen and probably did not have the mindset they needed to have. Pat changed that around probably around the Tulane game and decided that they were going to be the best kickoff return team from that point. They went back and did some fundamental things in practice and got after it. From that point on those guys really did a nice job."
"(Tracey) Lampley has been banged up the whole time. Then you had Desmond (Johnson) who was back there early on and then he got hurt. Injuries have done a lot to us. We have had to make a lot of changes throughout the season. More times than not people do not realize it, but those injuries hurt you more in special teams that they do anything. If it is a guy on defense you just think he has to be replaced on defense but he may have been the starter on four special teams. (That is the) same thing on offense, because you have guys from both sides of the ball on special teams."
"One thing about that position is that you have to be fearless. The good ones have no fear. They hit it 100-miles an hour. They hit it full speed, and do not stutter step. They just make one cut and go. Reggie (Hunt) has bought into that and he has done a great job, especially there in the second half of the season when you start trusting that those guys are going to do their job up front and you can just hit it as hard as you can."
On the challenges of this season:
"No doubt this has been the most challenging year I have ever had by far (as a coach) and it is not even close."
On offseason evaluations:
"We do the same thing every year. Until I get to really breakdown the season and really evaluate every aspect of the program, which will not come until after the bowl and we can get everything done."
On staff turnover:
"Do you ever know me not to be worried? I am always worried about everything. Everything concerns me about this program and I am always trying to stay one step ahead and not get caught off guard by anything that happens. When you have good people and you do good things people will come looking. That is just something you have to deal with year-in and year-out."
Latest news on the three players who were shot:
"Everything that I know right now is that they are still making good progress. Martez and I played phone tag yesterday and could not catch each other, but I have not heard anything negative."