September 21, 1999
On Toughness of Schedule:
"It seems to me that several people had opinions of our schedule that have proven not to be all that accurate. LouisianaTech went into Alabama this past week and beat them at home and Southern Mississippi went to Lincoln, (Neb.), and came very close to winning that game. They had some chances to win it and they came away with a seven point loss."
On Southern Miss. Game:
"This team will be the toughest team we've played by far and will be a good test for us. There are a lot of people in this country that you would much rather play than Southern Miss. Southern Miss has always had a good reputation among the coaches around the country. They've always played an aggressive shedule, they get good players, they're well coached. I'm told that they have one for sure first round draft pick, maybe two in their defensive line. They are good, real good, and it should be a great test for us. They are a good looking team. They are athletic, they've got good team speed. They will probably be about as good as anybody we play this year."
On Production of Passing Game:
"I think that us throwing more and having production in the passing game will be the norm for this team. I think we will be capable of making more plays. I thought our numbers went up last year, and I think this year will be even better. We have all our receivers back and we added Dwain Goynes, Bethel Johnson, and Greg Porter to the mix. We've got our quarterback back, so our numbers this year should go up, and I think they will. I think the receivers we had last year will be better. I thought we were a developing receiver group last year and this year I think we are more polished."
On Chris Taylor:
" Chris Taylor is becoming a pretty good receiver. He had never played receiver before he came here. It is kind of a develepmental thing where he is starting to become pretty good, and the more he does it and the more balls he catches, the better he is going to be."
On Having the Second Rated Offense in the Country:
"Well I'm glad that we are there. I thought we were going to be better. I'm not ready to proclaim that we are a great offensive team at this time because I don't think we are. I think we have some potential that I am excited about, but we still have a lot of development. This week wil be a big, big test for us because of the nature of Southern Miss' defense. They will be a big test for this offense, but I do think we have the capability. If we continue to work and develop and stay healthy, we can become a real good offense before this year is over, but we're not now. I don't think we've been tested under fire yet. We haven't had to line up and really grind it and make it work. I expect we might be this week and it will be good for us."
On Defense Causing Turnovers:
"It's part of our philosophy in terms of having a pressure defense and being able to make plays. We kind of expect that. I think part of playing good defense is expecting to play good defense and expecting to go knock balls loose and intercept balls and pick up fumbles. We've had a pretty good history of doing that, and I think our guys go in the game expecting to do that. One of the our goals as a staff was to be more attacking and causing more pressure and turnovers than we have in the last couple of years. Tulsa had a little different style of offense than Louisiana Tech that allowed us to be more aggressive and attack more. We have some experience now in the secondary that allows us to play more man to man, and our two outside linebackers are good pressure guys. The `Wrecking Crew', 3-4, pressure mentality has kind of come back. Mike Hankwitz has been here for three years now, and I think the whole staff has gotten on the same page in terms of what we want to do."
On Throwing the Ball Deep on the First Play of the Game:
"It was kind of a message play. It probably won't be the last time we do that. It kind of says hey, we came out here to play. That was almost a great play to start the game, but even though it was an incompletion, it wasn't a complete loss. The secondary now isn't so quick to come up on the run. The next time we are in that situation, the defensive coordinator has to think about more things."