December 17, 2001
How are the bowl workouts going?
"We've had some good workouts. We're getting some players back (from injuries). We've never had this many, that I can recall, going into a bowl workout. But the ones that had a chance to get back, they've pretty much been back out there.
"(Starting offensive tackle) Michael Mahan (back injury) has not practiced and I doubt that Michael is going to be able to play in the game. I'm close to ruling him out for the game. He is actually not practicing at all right now. We will make a decision on the (December) 22nd on whether or not he's going to be available.
(What about starting cornerback Sean Weston?) "Sean Weston has not practiced so far. I'm not sure if he's going to practice today (Dec. 17). He has a hyper-extended knee.
"(Starting inside linebacker) Jared Morris had knee surgery and he is out for the ballgame. (Who will replace him in the starting lineup?) "Harold Robertson."
How important is it to win this bowl game?
"It is (important) and this team (TCU) is pretty good. If you look at the last couple of games, they are finishing strong. What they've done in the last two games by beating Louisville and going to Southern Miss and beating them certainly makes them a team to be taken seriously, which we are."
What do you do to regain confidence, if there is some lost confidence?
"I think it's very important that we come out in this game and play better offensively. Without a doubt, we have not played well offensively. But when you factor in the quality of the OU and Texas defenses and the injuries we had, it hard to know exactly what you're seeing and I'm a coach looking at it every day. I don't know really how poorly we performed, or, if taken in light of the injuries and the opponents, we didn't have a real good day but we really we weren't that bad. We will get some of those players back for the bowl game and this is an opportunity to come back and have some success. We will still struggle at the tight end position. We've got a young, inexperienced guy there who's still feeling his way around and we don't have two tight ends. TCU is an eight-man front team and one of the better ways to play them is to lineup with two tight ends. And we don't have that opportunity."
How does TCU look defensively?
"They look good to me. Their whole team does. I think they are a well-coached team and they have athletic ability. They put a lot of pressure on you defensively. Offensively, they have a mobile quarterback and they come at you from a lot of different directions. They're a good solid football team."
Evaluate quarterback Mark Farris and how he's handled the whole situation.
"Again, it's hard to know exactly what you're looking at. Mark has completed a similar percentage of his passes this year. My overall take is that he has not performed at as high of a level as he did a year ago, but I'm not convinced that is an accurate assessment. There are a lot of factors beyond his control (with injuries to much of the tight end and wide receiver corps). He faced a busted route here and a little bit different route there. That's disconcerting for a quarterback to not know for certain that guy is always going to be there. People talk about having a 'go-to' guy -- I don't think we have a guy with enough experience to say we had a 'go-to' guy. The things that normally make a quarterback look good are the receivers and when you have all new receivers and a new tight end then a big part of your complementary forces are gone. All the supporting cast that Mark had this year were young, inexperienced guys so that puts a bigger burden on him."
Are you concerned that TCU's excitement and intensity level will be higher than the Aggies?
"We feel going into the game that TCU's (level) will be high. This is a big opportunity for them. They are playing in different league than we are and this is a chance for them to play against a team in a quote 'bigger or more prestigious league'. I'm sure they're playing that up. We're here in-state, so I'm sure there's lots of things they can use like that (for motivation). But at the same time, there's no reason for them to be more fired up than we are. I give them credit for being as fired up as they can possibly be, and we should be ourselves. We're playing in a bowl game. I don't think we've ever had any problem being fired up or excited about playing in a bowl game. With the way our season ended (with three losses), we should be chomping at the bit to get back out on the field to play somebody, regardless of who that somebody is. They should get our maximum and our best effort and that's what I expect. That shouldn't be a factor in the outcome of the game."
Can you talk about the career of four-year starter Seth McKinney?
"Seth has been the picture story of a student-athlete. He came and got his degree in three and a half years, started every game that he was eligible to start after redshirting. Everything he did was positive. He was a leader for our team. If I had all guys just like him, I'd probably still have dark hair. He comes in, does his work, does everything asked of him. He's a pleasure to be around. He's always done a good job focusing on football when he's on the field, and budgeting his time and managing his academics when he's off the field."
What is your educated guess of Thomas Carriger's future -- tight end or defensive line?
"I think we have to keep him at tight end until someone, and more than one person, demonstrates they can play that position better than he can. He's a big strong guy. Obviously it's going to be another freshman coming in next year that's going to play that position. We've got a guy or two here (already on the team), but no one's demonstrated here that they can play the position." (Has he progressed enough to hold off a challenge?) "I don't know. It's too early to tell. It would depend on who the freshman is and how quickly he adjusted to college football." (Does Carriger have a future on the defensive line?) Yes. He's got a future as a college football player at a number of places -- tight end, defensive end. He may even grow into being an offensive lineman. But certainly he's played well enough for us to keep him at tight end. The only way we would change that is if we got two or three guys that came in and performed better than he did. For the foreseeable future, he will be a tight end."
Do you think your team has warmed up to the idea of playing in the Gallery-furniture.com Bowl?
"Yes. I've not sensed any negatives in quite a while now. I think initially a lot of the players had thought for some time that we were going to end up in the Alamo Bowl. There is no doubt that some were operating under that assumption and when that didn't work out there was some skepticism. But that never was a big issue. Early on I think they recognized that Houston is an attractive city. It will be so much easier when we start talking about the availability of the game for their families. Their aunts and uncles and grandmothers and people like that will be able to the game with very little effort. I think the more they thought about it, the more it kind of grew on them. The fact that we are playing TCU is something that is positive. Over the past few years, they've gotten a lot of publicity and deservedly so. They've been a good football team for the past several years. I think our kids know a lot of their players. I think it's grown on them and it's always been an attractive bowl to me.
"If you look at programs, when Coach (Bear) Bryant was at Alabama they played in the Bluebonnet Bowl, they played in the Liberty Bowl, they played in the Peach Bowl. They didn't go to the Sugar Bowl or the Orange Bowl every year. I think from a players' standpoint and from a coaches' standpoint, it's healthy to aspire to be in a bigger bowl and be disappointed that we're not in the Rose Bowl. I don't want them to adopt the attitude that 'we're in a bowl, it makes no difference.' I don't feel that way and I don't expect them to. It makes a difference which bowl you go to, because the bowl is tied to your performance on the field and your season record. But with that being said, it's still positive that we are going to a bowl. I'm very pleased with that and there are a lot of teams would like to trade places with us. There are 11 teams that are going to bowls with 6-5 records this year. So this team, in light of all the injuries, did a good job of winning seven ballgames and when you consider the teams they lost to. They lost to some good football teams, some national level teams -- Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas -- that a lot of teams probably would have lost to."
Do coaches have to guard against a letdown when their teams don't achieve the bowl they aspire to?
"I think so. I think it's the nature of college football. It's the coach's responsibility to educate his team and convey to them the realities of college football. You don't know for sure where you're going to go. But to me it should all boil down to one thing -- if you like to play football. They give you 11 regular season games, and if you play well enough you are rewarded with one more game and you get to play in a bowl game. For a player to get to play that 'one more time' is a bonus. Now are you going to get picky and say, 'I'd like to play another game but if I can't go over here then I'm going to be unhappy'? That's bull. And I tell them it's bull. You're thinking wrong if you think that way.
"I've seen teams play like they thought they should have been somewhere else. That they were too good to be in this bowl and usually those teams prove that they weren't good enough for that bowl. That's what usually happens."
Has anyone done more than Jami Hightower with the way he stepped in at tackle as a true freshman?
"No. That's a hard position to step into anyway. And to step in at offensive line in a tough league is really hard and he's done a good job. (What kind of future do you see for him?) He'll be a great player. If he stays healthy, he'll be an NFL player someday."
Is Quentin Coryatt's hit (against TCU in 1991) the signature hit of the Wrecking Crew?
"I don't know. That was a big hit. That was a big play. It was one of those plays that stand out in your mind. The average fan looks at that play and says 'wow.' It was unfortunate for that young man who was injured on the play. You've seen a lot of plays like that where the guys gets up and walks off. Quentin says he didn't hit him with his full blow, that he didn't get a square hit on him. I don't know, but that's a good thing if that's the case. We had a linebacker freed up on that play looking for crossing routes. That's part of those crossing routes in football. You're trying to make that guy pay for coming in there. And that guy certainly paid. (Did you say 'wow' when you saw it?) I did. That night was on my birthday. I remember that and we had a lot of respect for that TCU team. We were playing that game to win the championship and go to the Cotton Bowl. It was bitterly cold. I remember having to encourage each other to come out of the locker room. It was really cold and the wind was blowing. I remember that game vividly."
With the way the offense struggled down the stretch, what kind of an opportunity is this game for Mark Farris?
"Mark's made out of good stuff. I would expect him to be highly motivated for this game to come out and kind of redeem himself and for the offense to redeem themselves. We know, they know about the performance. Anyone that has watched us play can recognize that's not something we're proud of. Mark recognizes that he's a better player than he played. I think our whole offense is motivated and Mark understands his role as quarterback in terms of when things go bad, he bears the brunt of that. But it's the quarterback that can help turn it around too. Unfortunately it goes with that position. If the right guard misses a block, no one notices. But if the offense doesn't move, a lot of the burden goes on the quarterback. Sometimes it's warranted and sometimes it's not. It's always that way at that position. You have to be a guy that relishes the position and says 'when it's going bad it's on me and when it's going well it's on me. So it's up to me to make it go good'. I'm hoping in this bowl game that he comes back with a renewed determination."
Earlier in the season you challenged the defense and they came through for you. Can you challenge the offense and get the same results?
"I'm trying to do that right now. And wehave to. We have to get better. Our level of performance right now is not acceptable. I'm taking into consideration that there are some factors, but still, overall, taking everything into consideration, we have to perform better on offense."