October 17, 2000
Head Coach R.C. Slocum
On Being Up for the Iowa State Game:
"After having watched the Nebraska tape, I would hope that our players would recognize that it is going to take maximum effort and maximum performance to have a chance in this ballgame. This team is 5-1, with their only loss to Nebraska, who is the No. 1 team in college football. In that ball game, it was 21-20 late in the third quarter. They passed for close to 400 yards against Nebraska and seemed like they were just running up and down the field. Players are usually pretty good about picking those things up. It works both ways. If you're playing somebody they feel pretty comfortable that they are going to beat, the coaches usually have to talk those up a little more. In the big games, coaches don't have to say a whole lot. The players usually recognize what they have to do. I think in this case, I don't have to say a whole lot to get the guys fired up. They know what has to be done."
On Iowa State:
"You can look at their record and look at the way they play on the tapes and see that they are a good football team, no matter what the perception of their team may be. We haven't played them in a couple of years, so our team is not as familiar with them. The players that were here when we played them last time in Ames remember that was a pretty competitive ballgame. Part of playing in the Big 12 or any of the other major conferences is that nobody has a lock on things. Any given Saturday anybody can lose. They will have a lot of emotion when we go up there. It is Homecoming, they have a chance to wrap up a winning season for the first time in a while, and they have a chance to lock up a bowl berth for the first time in over twenty years."
On Positives of the Team at the Halfway Point:
"We're really about like I thought we would be going into the season. The quarterback has probably done better than I would have imagined. I had no idea what he was going to do in a game situation going into the season. After six games, I would say that has definitely been a positive. Robert Ferguson has lived up to or exceeded the expectations I had for him. Our secondary has performed as well or better than I would have expected, especially if you would have told me that Michael Jameson was going to be hurt part of the time. Overall they have performed pretty well, especially when you consider some of the offenses we've faced."
On Concerns at the Halfway Point:
"I would have hoped we would have run the ball a little better than we have run it so far. That has definitely been a concern. Obviously, after losing Terry Nichols over the summer and then losing Rocky Bernard, who was our best lineman, our defensive line was a huge concern going in. Ty Warren also missed some time. Overall, I haven't been pleased with the play of our defensive line, but part of that is the fact that we lost our best player at that position. We've not been quite as solid up front as I hoped we would be, but if you look at our statistics, our defense has played pretty well so far."
On the Problems of the Running Game:
"I'm not sure why we haven't run the ball well. I'm still looking for reasons why we have not run the ball better. We lost our starting guard (graduation) and we've had Michael Mahan hurt, so we've kind of been shuffling players into different spots. We've had injuries at left tackle, right tackle, and right guard pretty much since we started. We haven't been solid in the offensive line, and I think that is part of it. We also have some young backs, which is also a factor. We've been very close on a number of plays. We just haven't been consistent and part of that is because we haven't had consistent work up front because of the injuries. We definitely have to do better running the ball to have a chance in the rest of our games."
On Hiring New Coaches:
"You just keep a list of guys you play against, articles you read, people that impress you, and guys you meet through different things. I saw Pete Hoener's work when he was at TCU and he impressed me with some of the things that he did while he was there. You just have a list of guys that you like, and there has to be a fit for the guy. When you have a job come open you just get besieged with guys calling about the job. I got to talking with Pete at the American Football Coaches convention and I mentioned that I had a job opening, and it was a good fit for him, so it worked out well for both of us."
On Richard Whitaker Being Hurt:
"We'll play Maurice Harris there along with Joe Weber and still try to keep both of them fresh. Joe will most likely get more carries, but Maurice will play some in the ballgame. I couldn't see us going into the game expecting to just play Joe the whole game. We're not sure who is going to take his place on kickoff returns."
On Third Down Conversions:
"We're a lot better at that than we've been in a long time, especially on third and long situations. We're better at throwing the ball all around and I think that definitely helps us on third down."