University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Todd Monken Weekly Media Conference
10/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Opening Statement...
"We had a chance yesterday to take a look at the Louisiana Tech game. Had a chance to look at the things we did well and the things we didn't do so well. Our team spirit was really good. Our guys came out with the approach of, `okay, here is how we have to get better' and have a better Sunday than UTEP has and move on down the road - control what we can control, which is this coming week. Our team really responded well to that. We certainly have a challenge this week. I would have to say at this point (UTEP) is playing as well as it has in a long time. They put the Louisiana Tech game behind them. They did well against Old Dominion and really shut down UTSA. They really did a good job on both sides (of the ball). Controlled the game offensively and really gave them nothing defensively. Coach Kugler has done a great job there of bringing a tough mentality to their team from his background in the NFL and as an offensive line coach. I know Coach (Patrick) Higgins on offense and Coach (Scott) Stoker on defense. Those are tremendous football coaches. We will have a real challenge for us on Saturday night. One that we are looking forward to and getting this taste out of our mouth from this past weekend."
On the status of Nick Mullens...
"He is going to get evaluated today. We knew he couldn't go Saturday. We will have more as the week goes on. We are hopeful to have him. I think it was more precautionary (sitting him out last Saturday). He really couldn't push off of it. So we, from a precautionary standpoint, we held him out."
Is it too early to say whether (Nick Mullens) will be available this week or going forward...
"It is too early to say. We don't go today. We will have a better idea tomorrow. I would say right now that it is day-to-day."
What kind of things are they going to do to evaluate Nick...
"There are a number of things they are going to do to check. The x-rays were negative Saturday. He couldn't push off of it. He has some swelling there. We have to do some further evaluations to see where we are going to be with him. We will know more tomorrow."
On the performance of Cole Weeks against LA Tech...
"Cole gave us a chance to win. There was nothing that he did (wrong) Saturday from a throwing standpoint. Obviously when a quarterback gets 30 percent of the reps during the week at most like he did, you are going to have situations in the game where he didn't get us in the right check or lined up properly. Little things that to the naked eye you wouldn't notice. Those are things because he hadn't repped. You have to remember, Cole didn't play a snap last year. Not one snap. He played a little bit against Alabama, maybe that last series. Don't know how many plays, maybe three or something. He hasn't played very much in the last couple of years. For him to go out and do what he did, a tremendous credit to him and Coach (Chip) Lindsey who works with the quarterbacks. He made enough throws to win. There were a few he would like back and some decisions he made. That is to be expected with any backup quarterback. If Cole ends up having to go as he did (last) Saturday, you can only tweak so many things. We are who we are. You do what you do and try to move the football. Just have to do it better."
On Weeks' strengths...
"He is very competitive. That is probably his biggest strength. He is like another coach on the field. He is very competitive. I think he understands the concepts. What I meant was, so you have had limited reps. What is it that we have done a lot (while he was playing quarterback)? However long we have been here with our system, what is it that he has done the most? So he has a lot of recall. With Nick (Mullens) as you move further and further along, you can add things towards the end of the week. You can tweak it. Even with Nick you had to be careful. With Cole, a guy who hasn't played very much, what has he repped over and over and over? What has been the core of what we have done so he can go function? It is not a matter of plays. It is a matter of do we execute the plays. I don't care what play it is; you dial it up and the quarterback has confidence and throws it straight and knows where to go with the ball, you will have a much better chance than if he doesn't, even if it fits schematically what you might want to do against a given opponent."
On is it fair to say Cole Weeks prepares himself like a starter...
"I think that is probably overrated to say a backup prepares himself like a starter. Some guys do it better than others. I think Cole was prepared, but there is nothing like knowing you are going to play as opposed to I might play. For him, I am sure the preparation will be different like it is with every player that finds out they are going to start, especially quarterbacks. Our team has a lot of faith in Cole. It is the expectations of the position. Hopefully, we will have Nick (Mullens) back, but if not, Cole is going to go. We have to find a way to put together a game plan together for him to move the ball and not turn it over."
On running the ball against UTEP...
"It is week-to-week. Some of their stats depending on who they are playing. When they played New Mexico earlier, it was all run. Saturday you end up with 76 yards loss rushing. That was bad snaps and loss yardage plays. We didn't run it tremendously. Some of that was our scheme. Some of that was our backs. Some of it was situation of the game. A few weeks ago against Middle Tennessee, we were running the ball fine, but we got down in the game so the last 20 plays or so were passes. North Texas was much more in the balance. We have a few more explosive plays and got the ball on the perimeter more. When you are up in the game, you are going to have more rushing yards. When you are down in the game, you have more passing yards. We strive for balance. Balance isn't always in terms of yards. It is our ability to run the ball when we want to run it - short yardage, goal line, four-minute and coming out. Other than that, whatever you have to do to score. A lot of things go into the run game. There were a lot of throws on the perimeter because the numbers weren't right. What is wrong with throwing on the perimeter and getting eight, ten, five and using that as part of your run game."
On seeing anything in particular that UTEP has been doing better...
"They got after Old Dominion pretty well. Old Dominion is similar to us, four-wide. They got after them up front and blitzing wise. Their quarterback was under duress for much of that game. Then they had a bye week and I would guess that after that win, if you look chronologically, Louisiana Tech was probably the low point in their season; they come back, beat Old Dominion; get a bye week; have a great couple of weeks; get some guys back; and then play a UTSA team that they completely took out of their game. The score probably isn't indicative of how badly they beat them. They controlled it. There weren't a lot of plays in the game. I think UTEP had 64 and UTSA had 46. It was never in doubt. There was never a point where you think they are consistently going to stop UTEP and no point where you thought UTSA was going to move it. That was impressive. I am sure that momentum and that confidence is going to carry over. It will be a huge game for us. We are going to have to play our best to give ourselves a chance to win and I think we will."
On the improvement on special teams...
"It is a reflection of your team. We made an emphasis a couple of weeks ago. Corey (Acosta) had a stretch between Rice and Middle Tennessee where he really didn't kick it that well and we didn't cover (on kickoffs). That hurt us in both those games just where the starting position was. We changed up personnel. We asked our guys to make a commitment. We have to do it better. We can't give them the ball on the 40 yard line. Last week, I thought the emphasis was how do we get better on our kickoff return unit? Fielding it; blocking it; give ourselves a chance to start with better field position. Punt return is hard because you get so many teams that are now rugby style. Our punt team is fine, we just have to get more consistency out of Tyler (Sarrazin) kicking it. That is really it. Is your kicker going to give you hang time to go down and cover? We have done some different things to try to help ourselves. That is probably our emphasis this week to continue to be as good as we can be on those other phases and giving ourselves a chance to win. The week before kickoff cover and the fake punt were integral in us winning at North Texas. This past week you talk about our kickoff cover team early on. We score; kicked off; and tackled them on the 11. That is powerful. That is a great start. We didn't finish that way, but that is all part of how you win."
On the performance of the defensive line against Louisiana Tech...
"I thought that we had an advantage up front. I thought our guys at their best were better than their guys at their best. Whether or not we get that, I don't know. Our guys took it upon themselves to understand that with that running back, if you make him go sideways, any running back who is a big powerful guy like he is, you make him go sideways he is a lot easier to defend. What happened on that check down (when they scored at the opening of the second half) is we didn't get him going sideways. That big son of a gun got his pad level going and got vertical and we couldn't catch him. That hurt us in that moment, but I thought our defense line early in the game really got after them. They gave us a chance. Later on, we didn't get as much pressure as we needed sometimes because the ball got out quicker. Our defensive line played as well as they have at any given point in the season. They gave us a chance to win."
On Michael Thomas and the wide receivers...
"Mike is a good player. We have said this many times. Mike got here late in the summer. Mike has the ability to make tough catches. He runs well enough to win down the field. With each week, he has gotten more and more consistent. He is not there yet. He is a guy that we rely on to make big plays. There are a number of those guys. Casey Martin remains being steady. Markese Triplett plays hard. Not always flawless, but he plays hard. He came up with some big catches. I think the last couple of weeks we have eliminated some of those drop issues. Marquise Ricard has gotten better. We have fairly good depth at those positions. We hope to get Kyle Foster back this week. That adds a physical dimension to us. We have to get James Cox more involved because he is a good player. We have a pretty good rotation of guys. We just have to be able to be more consistent and run the ball better. We have been inconsistent with that. We need to be more balanced with that to give defenses more to things to worry about."
