Sumlin Meets Media at Texas Bowl Press Conference
Dec 09, 2016 | Football
HOUSTON--Head coach Kevin Sumlin met the media at NRG Stadium Friday to preview the December 28 AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl matchup with Kansas State.
Video is available through the link above, while audio and transcript are available below. All content courtesy the Texas Bowl staff.
Tickets are available right now by calling 888-99-AGGIE or by visiting 12thman.com/bowltickets.
AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl Transcripts
Press Conference with Texas A&M Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
Friday, December 09, 2016
(Transcribed by Katie Karsh and Allie LeClair
)
(on Major Applewhite being named head coach at University of Houston) "I just saw that getting off the plane. I was coming from Atlanta. As far as Major goes, congratulations. I hadn't really talked to him since last summer. We did some camps. Obviously Tom (Herman) and I did some satellite camps in the state and our staffs traveled around and got the opportunity to visit with their staff and you know knowing a lot of people at the University of Houston with the success that Tom and his staff have had in the last couple of years you know to keep the continuity and have a guy like Major who obviously has tremendous ties to the state of Texas, has worked a lot - I don't know how many years exactly. Probably the last 10, 11 years I would think in the state. Gives them some continuity and gives them the relationships that they need to continue moving forward at the University of Houston."
(on being in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl and having a lot of Texas A&M fans in Houston) "The opportunity to be here in the city of Houston obviously is great for us. Great for exposure to our program. We've got a large number of Aggies here and around Houston. In a great venue for us to be able to play in that you know that obviously we played here before a year ago and had some success. Our guys like playing here and we're looking forward to it."
(on how the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl will help Texas A&M with recruiting) "Yeah you bet. The location is like everybody says location, location, location. It's no doubt that being an hour, hour and a half away from College Station, Houston is one of our primary areas for recruiting. However you want to look at it. It's the fourth largest city in America with arguably out of that top four playing the best football in the country. For us it's a major recruiting area for us, a hot bed for football across the nation and it gives us the opportunity to really showcase our program with the convenience of our fans and recruits having the ability to be right here."
(on how healthy he projects his team will be by game time specifically when it comes to QB Trevor Knight) "Quarterback. Well I just was flying with him. He said he's feeling pretty good. He was walking pretty good last night. He got up on the plane. I can just tell you that. He came up the stairs. After the last game he couldn't even get out of the building, so he's better than he was. We'll see where it is. Our preparation really we've been lifting and conditioning over the last couple weeks. We have our first real practice today. So we'll start practice today and tomorrow. Then we'll take the next couple days. We've got finals going on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So let our guys finish up finals and then we'll get back into bowl preparation, but today will be our first day so I'll have a better handle on where our health is by the end of the weekend. I'll know more then. Doesn't mean I'm going to say anything, but I'll know more then."
(on the University of Texas hiring Tom Herman as head coach) "Tom and I are friends and have been friends for a long time. Even since the day he's back at Rice and Iowa State, Ohio State. We've just know each other for a long time. I'm happy for him. I think it was a dream of his. Obviously Twitter and he's got the card of when he was a graduate assistant and now it says head coach. I think that says all you need to know you know that he's come a long way. He's a great coach. Like I said we were traveling around the state last summer doing camps and doing things so we've got a relationship. That's not going to change. We probably just won't talk as much about certain things, but we're still going to talk."
(on having the opportunity to play against a legendary coach in Kansas State Head Coach Bill Snyder) "I said it during the announcement. For me and for us, I can't tell you how much respect for Bill Snyder and what he has accomplished. You look back at where he brought Kansas State from the beginning to where they are now. The heights that they've risen to, stepped away from it for a little bit and you see what happened when he stepped away. Comes right back into it and puts it right back on the map. Just a tremendous coach. Tremendous person. Guy that as I said, personal respect. Obviously my relationships through history with Bob Stoops and the Stoops brothers, many guys. Brent Venables is one of the guys that played there, coached there. I've gotten to know him and just the way he has done things and the consistent level that he's done them for a very, very long time is remarkable and something you really don't see in this day and age where a guy is able to do that at one school for that amount of time and at that level. I just had a little bit of opportunity to peak at a little tape. You just know what you're going to get. You're going to get a well-disciplined football team where guys are going to line up the right way and you're going to have to execute and they're not going to beat themselves. Coach Snyder is a tremendous credit to college football, to this game and is well-respected by everybody I know and it's just an honor to be in a game like that and standing on the same field. Shake his hand and compete."
(on this matchup meaning more to Texas A&M than a Big 12 opponent) "You know I thought about that. Flying over here today, you know, I don't know. I think it's a great matchup. I think over the course of the last few years the SEC – Big 12 matchups are good particularly regionally when we're right on the edge of both. So for our fans there's some relevance and some recognition of opponent. Anytime you have that where there's a past, a previous opponent or a past conference alignment I'm sure there will be a little bit more interest from our fans and from our fan base."
(on if he remembers if where he was in 1998 when Texas A&M faced Kansas State) "Yes, I do remember exactly where I was. I was at Purdue. Ironically because of that game, we ended up playing Kansas State in another bowl game. I do remember that. I was in West Lafayette, Indiana. What a game. I can just remember the end of it. I didn't see the whole game, but I caught the part that I needed to catch at the end. As you asked earlier, I think there's some recognition and some relevance because of our fan base understanding and knowing our opponent. With us being this close and being in Big 12 country and the edge of SEC country, I think it will be a great atmosphere the (December) 28th."
(on his thoughts on expanding the college football playoffs and how it would affect the traditional bowl formats) "I don't know. I don't think that you are going to see expansion of the four teams any time soon. I think there are a lot of issues with the expansion from the four mainly academics and time. This is college football. It's not pro football. The number of games continues to increase. You cannot reduce the number of regular season games because of the revenue that is generated, not just for football, but for all the athletic programs. Where is that time going to come? We have guys playing into January. We have new semesters starting. There's a lot of things that happen. The bowl system is a great system. I think the way it is right now the rewards for guys who have played, have won games and have earned that right to play against another opponent continue to … What I see is what we just asked about, for us to have a matchup against a Big 12 opponent, against Kansas State – that wouldn't happen. The bowl system allows both fan bases to continue to watch their teams and our young guys, student athletes, it's a reward for a season of winning. Just because you aren't in the final four doesn't mean that you don't deserve to continue to play. From that standpoint, the bowl system works. I think it's great for fans and I think it's great for student athletes. As far as the expansion from four to eight, we are complaining about five and six. Like anything else if you go to eight, you are going to complain about nine and 10. Four is good enough."
(on other advantages to playing a bowl game close to home) "It would be because of the availability of fans to be here. You're in your primary recruiting area. The familiarity of the fans and of us being in proximity of where we are going to recruit has to help instead of being 700, 800 miles away, 1,000 miles away. We probably aren't doing as much recruiting. Being here locally and being here for the couple of days, too, and our players being here in Houston and being around, that surely doesn't hurt because there's some pretty good football players around here and their access to be able to see us, to be this close doesn't hurt us at all."
(on looking closer at the tape after the LSU and what is going on defensively) "We've had some discussions about two things; we've talked about schematics and we've talked about personnel. Some things that were problems schematically that have been addressed and some things from a personnel standpoint that we're somewhat limited in that game and the number of plays that our guys were on the field. It's not just one thing. It's a combination of a lot of things that really manifested itself at the end of the year. We played more snaps than any other team in the SEC on defense. If that was the case, it was the case, but with that being the case I think we were worn down towards the end of the year. Our rotation system was not what we needed to do. Across from the whole point of this season. Injuries are part of the game, so that's not an excuse. We have to find a way in many critical situations to get off the field on third down. We didn't do that well enough. Those problems continued to snowball as the year went on, playing that large number of plays. You look back as a coach, the first thing you say is well your offense wasn't able to keep your defense off the field. That's not necessarily true. You take a team like Ole Miss who had less time of possession than us, than our offense throughout the year but still played almost 80 snaps less during the course of the season than our defense did. Our ability on third down has got to get better. Schematically, there are some things that we're changing, but it's a combination of all those things and when you look at it, the first thing you think of is, as I said, time of possession. We can get better there, but even with that, we have to get off the field on defense on third down and eliminate basically playing almost two more games than the average team in our league and those snaps added up, and ultimately, created some issues for us the last few games."
Video is available through the link above, while audio and transcript are available below. All content courtesy the Texas Bowl staff.
Tickets are available right now by calling 888-99-AGGIE or by visiting 12thman.com/bowltickets.
AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl Transcripts
Press Conference with Texas A&M Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
Friday, December 09, 2016
(Transcribed by Katie Karsh and Allie LeClair
)
Texas A&M Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
(Opening Statement) "Thank you. Howdy. Glad to be back in Houston. Know a lot of people here walking around the building. Really an opportunity for us, for Texas A&M, to be on a national stage again at a primetime game at a tremendous venue. I want to thank the Texas Bowl for the invitation and the opportunity to play in a great game against Kansas State here at NRG. On behalf of our football team. On behalf of Texas A&M I just want to say thank you again and we look forward to the festivities and the game coming up the (December) 28th. Questions."(on Major Applewhite being named head coach at University of Houston) "I just saw that getting off the plane. I was coming from Atlanta. As far as Major goes, congratulations. I hadn't really talked to him since last summer. We did some camps. Obviously Tom (Herman) and I did some satellite camps in the state and our staffs traveled around and got the opportunity to visit with their staff and you know knowing a lot of people at the University of Houston with the success that Tom and his staff have had in the last couple of years you know to keep the continuity and have a guy like Major who obviously has tremendous ties to the state of Texas, has worked a lot - I don't know how many years exactly. Probably the last 10, 11 years I would think in the state. Gives them some continuity and gives them the relationships that they need to continue moving forward at the University of Houston."
(on being in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl and having a lot of Texas A&M fans in Houston) "The opportunity to be here in the city of Houston obviously is great for us. Great for exposure to our program. We've got a large number of Aggies here and around Houston. In a great venue for us to be able to play in that you know that obviously we played here before a year ago and had some success. Our guys like playing here and we're looking forward to it."
(on how the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl will help Texas A&M with recruiting) "Yeah you bet. The location is like everybody says location, location, location. It's no doubt that being an hour, hour and a half away from College Station, Houston is one of our primary areas for recruiting. However you want to look at it. It's the fourth largest city in America with arguably out of that top four playing the best football in the country. For us it's a major recruiting area for us, a hot bed for football across the nation and it gives us the opportunity to really showcase our program with the convenience of our fans and recruits having the ability to be right here."
(on how healthy he projects his team will be by game time specifically when it comes to QB Trevor Knight) "Quarterback. Well I just was flying with him. He said he's feeling pretty good. He was walking pretty good last night. He got up on the plane. I can just tell you that. He came up the stairs. After the last game he couldn't even get out of the building, so he's better than he was. We'll see where it is. Our preparation really we've been lifting and conditioning over the last couple weeks. We have our first real practice today. So we'll start practice today and tomorrow. Then we'll take the next couple days. We've got finals going on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So let our guys finish up finals and then we'll get back into bowl preparation, but today will be our first day so I'll have a better handle on where our health is by the end of the weekend. I'll know more then. Doesn't mean I'm going to say anything, but I'll know more then."
(on the University of Texas hiring Tom Herman as head coach) "Tom and I are friends and have been friends for a long time. Even since the day he's back at Rice and Iowa State, Ohio State. We've just know each other for a long time. I'm happy for him. I think it was a dream of his. Obviously Twitter and he's got the card of when he was a graduate assistant and now it says head coach. I think that says all you need to know you know that he's come a long way. He's a great coach. Like I said we were traveling around the state last summer doing camps and doing things so we've got a relationship. That's not going to change. We probably just won't talk as much about certain things, but we're still going to talk."
(on having the opportunity to play against a legendary coach in Kansas State Head Coach Bill Snyder) "I said it during the announcement. For me and for us, I can't tell you how much respect for Bill Snyder and what he has accomplished. You look back at where he brought Kansas State from the beginning to where they are now. The heights that they've risen to, stepped away from it for a little bit and you see what happened when he stepped away. Comes right back into it and puts it right back on the map. Just a tremendous coach. Tremendous person. Guy that as I said, personal respect. Obviously my relationships through history with Bob Stoops and the Stoops brothers, many guys. Brent Venables is one of the guys that played there, coached there. I've gotten to know him and just the way he has done things and the consistent level that he's done them for a very, very long time is remarkable and something you really don't see in this day and age where a guy is able to do that at one school for that amount of time and at that level. I just had a little bit of opportunity to peak at a little tape. You just know what you're going to get. You're going to get a well-disciplined football team where guys are going to line up the right way and you're going to have to execute and they're not going to beat themselves. Coach Snyder is a tremendous credit to college football, to this game and is well-respected by everybody I know and it's just an honor to be in a game like that and standing on the same field. Shake his hand and compete."
(on this matchup meaning more to Texas A&M than a Big 12 opponent) "You know I thought about that. Flying over here today, you know, I don't know. I think it's a great matchup. I think over the course of the last few years the SEC – Big 12 matchups are good particularly regionally when we're right on the edge of both. So for our fans there's some relevance and some recognition of opponent. Anytime you have that where there's a past, a previous opponent or a past conference alignment I'm sure there will be a little bit more interest from our fans and from our fan base."
(on if he remembers if where he was in 1998 when Texas A&M faced Kansas State) "Yes, I do remember exactly where I was. I was at Purdue. Ironically because of that game, we ended up playing Kansas State in another bowl game. I do remember that. I was in West Lafayette, Indiana. What a game. I can just remember the end of it. I didn't see the whole game, but I caught the part that I needed to catch at the end. As you asked earlier, I think there's some recognition and some relevance because of our fan base understanding and knowing our opponent. With us being this close and being in Big 12 country and the edge of SEC country, I think it will be a great atmosphere the (December) 28th."
(on his thoughts on expanding the college football playoffs and how it would affect the traditional bowl formats) "I don't know. I don't think that you are going to see expansion of the four teams any time soon. I think there are a lot of issues with the expansion from the four mainly academics and time. This is college football. It's not pro football. The number of games continues to increase. You cannot reduce the number of regular season games because of the revenue that is generated, not just for football, but for all the athletic programs. Where is that time going to come? We have guys playing into January. We have new semesters starting. There's a lot of things that happen. The bowl system is a great system. I think the way it is right now the rewards for guys who have played, have won games and have earned that right to play against another opponent continue to … What I see is what we just asked about, for us to have a matchup against a Big 12 opponent, against Kansas State – that wouldn't happen. The bowl system allows both fan bases to continue to watch their teams and our young guys, student athletes, it's a reward for a season of winning. Just because you aren't in the final four doesn't mean that you don't deserve to continue to play. From that standpoint, the bowl system works. I think it's great for fans and I think it's great for student athletes. As far as the expansion from four to eight, we are complaining about five and six. Like anything else if you go to eight, you are going to complain about nine and 10. Four is good enough."
(on other advantages to playing a bowl game close to home) "It would be because of the availability of fans to be here. You're in your primary recruiting area. The familiarity of the fans and of us being in proximity of where we are going to recruit has to help instead of being 700, 800 miles away, 1,000 miles away. We probably aren't doing as much recruiting. Being here locally and being here for the couple of days, too, and our players being here in Houston and being around, that surely doesn't hurt because there's some pretty good football players around here and their access to be able to see us, to be this close doesn't hurt us at all."
(on looking closer at the tape after the LSU and what is going on defensively) "We've had some discussions about two things; we've talked about schematics and we've talked about personnel. Some things that were problems schematically that have been addressed and some things from a personnel standpoint that we're somewhat limited in that game and the number of plays that our guys were on the field. It's not just one thing. It's a combination of a lot of things that really manifested itself at the end of the year. We played more snaps than any other team in the SEC on defense. If that was the case, it was the case, but with that being the case I think we were worn down towards the end of the year. Our rotation system was not what we needed to do. Across from the whole point of this season. Injuries are part of the game, so that's not an excuse. We have to find a way in many critical situations to get off the field on third down. We didn't do that well enough. Those problems continued to snowball as the year went on, playing that large number of plays. You look back as a coach, the first thing you say is well your offense wasn't able to keep your defense off the field. That's not necessarily true. You take a team like Ole Miss who had less time of possession than us, than our offense throughout the year but still played almost 80 snaps less during the course of the season than our defense did. Our ability on third down has got to get better. Schematically, there are some things that we're changing, but it's a combination of all those things and when you look at it, the first thing you think of is, as I said, time of possession. We can get better there, but even with that, we have to get off the field on defense on third down and eliminate basically playing almost two more games than the average team in our league and those snaps added up, and ultimately, created some issues for us the last few games."
-END-
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