September 15, 1998
USM's defensive line uses a lot of movement and different sets, does that concern you since your offensive line has three first-time starters?
"No question. This will be as big of a challenge as we'll have all year in terms of just getting lined up to block. They don't give you the same look two times in a row. They're always changing, stunting, looping, slanting. It's just a constant mixture. They'll have five guys, or seven guys, standing up and they'll all take off in one direction. It's a defense that has some risk involved in it, but they're going to give you some bad plays. They gave Penn State some bad plays and they'll give us some. You have to be careful in that atmosphere (on their home field) because they're going to make some plays in our backfield and that can really get them going emotionally. We have to be patient and not allow ourselves to get ruffled by those things."
A lot of people, because of USM's talent and because it's on the road, have this game circled as a tough one for the Aggies.
"You ask any coach about it and they'll tell that it's a tough one. Playing anywhere is tough, but to go into Hattiesburg is really bad. You have to go in there and win it because they're not going to let you have it. You have to take that one away from them."
A&M's average yardage per snap is down to 3.5. What's going on offensively?
"If I had point at something, it'd be that we played in the rain the other night and the other game we played against a great Florida State defense. If you took that game out and just had some other reasonable game, then we wouldn't be having this conversation."
So you say you're not concerned with the offense?
"No, I didn't say that at all. I'll be concerned every day, every week regardless of what we were doing. I'd be concerned if we had 400. I'm saying there are reasons for why it's like that and one of them is that we have three new starters on the offensive line. We're pushing like heck to get them improved."
D'Andre Hardeman seems to be showing a little more authority than the other backs...
"In wet games, like last week or the Texas game last year, he is the guy. He's a bigger guy and he runs over his pads. A guy like that just rambling up in there is more effective. And it was the same thing in the Texas game. He's a workhorse. There's no anything fancy about him, but he'll find a little crack and he runs through a lot of tackles."
FSU had Peter Warrick, Louisiana Tech had Troy Edwards. Are you looking for a "go-to" guy?
"Chris Cole is improving and made some big plays for us the other night. He made a couple big plays for us against Florida State. We'd like to get more into that, but he's got to get more consistent. We had a long pass the other night; it was a great throw and we had great protection. We have to get those. Having one guy that they can't cover makes a world of difference in ballgames. They draw the attention that the kid this week will (Sherrod Gideon), and the kid from Lousiana Tech did. We don't want to be singled up much on guys like Peter Warrick."
Are getting off to a good start and avoiding mistakes especially important on the road against USM?
"No question, because everything you do is magnified. The best thing you can do is get a lead and try to take the crowd out of the game. That's pretty much the case anytime you play on the road, but especially in this type of environment with a partisan crowd."
Seems like your defense is off to a good start...
"I think that most coaches will tell you that a defense can be a stabilizing effect on a team. You watch football on all levels and offenses come and go. One week they're brilliant and the next they're not quite hitting those passes. But you have a chance on defense to be steady. Teams that are good defensive teams are pretty much good defensive teams every week. If you have defense and a kicking game, then you have a chance to get into games and hang on until you get some things done on offense.
So you feel pretty good about what the defense has done through the first two games?
"Our defense has probably performed better than I might have guessed at this stage. You just never know how much of a factor the new defensive linemen are going to be. I'd say right now that our defense has played well enough to win both of the games we have played."
When A&M lost on the road to Tulsa in 1991 and USL in 1996, you had inexperienced backfields. How much benefit is the experience of this offensive backfield as you head to USM?
"It may change they way we perform on the field, but as a coach, you still have those concerns. It can happen to old guys too. At Tulsa we had injuries that made us young. Against USL we were just young. We had a quarterback that had played two games and freshmen running backs. The turnovers cost us that ballgame. It wasn't their play, because we had a bunch of yards, but the turnovers killed us."