October 14, 2003
Coach Dennis Franchione and selected players met with members of the media on Tuesday at Cain Hall. The Aggies are preparing to travel to Nebraska for a nationally-televised game on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Click the links above to hear what selected coaches and players had to say.
Here is a partial transcript of comments made by Coach Fran during the news conference.
Is this game a crossroads, (with A&M) being 3-3 (and) all remaining opponents 4-2 or better?
"I haven't looked at it as that kind of game. I'd hate to think that if we didn't win this game then we're going to go down a bad path. They've (Nebraska) only won 99 of the last 104 games they've played (at Memorial Stadium), so there's some pretty good odds in their favor in this one in that regard. We just have to look at this schedule one at a time and I know you all don't like to hear that clich?, but we keep trying to improve and play this schedule that we have in that order and leave it at that. I don't know if you really know what a crossroad is until you look back sometimes. If you win this game, you've still got to do something with it, and if you don't win, you've got to take the loss and turn it into something positive. We kind of did that after the Tech game."
Are (Missouri quarterback) Brad Smith and Reggie McNeal similar enough that A&M can exploit some of the things that Missouri did to Nebraska last week?
"(laughing) We put every play Brad Smith ran in our offense this week.
"They are similar styles -- athletic, good passers, can make things happen. As part of us rolling together offensively has been the fact that Reggie has become our quarterback and we can play to his strengths, which I think has been a little bit of an ingredient of our improved production in the last three weeks. There are other components to that, but that's part of it."
Does seeing someone else do something offensively against Nebraska last week help confidence?
"I think it probably does a little bit. I don't believe our guys would have sat around and bemoaned the fact if (Nebraska's defense) had stoned Missouri because I think they're developing some confidence on that side of the ball. But it is a good take to see some of the things that happened in a positive way in moving the football. And for us, we're probably closer in style to Missouri than we are to Utah State or Troy State or some of those people, so it was good in that regard."
Are you possibly going to face an angry team, coming off a loss?
"I would expect that. When you get a team like them that gets a little bit cornered sometimes, it can be difficult. I didn't think we played Baylor at a very good time last week, and now I'm not sure we're playing Nebraska at a very good time this week. It's never easy to go to Lincoln and play those guys. I'm sure they're going to want to make amends."
What are your reasons to want to emphasize the running game?
"I think a team that's 50-50 balanced--and I really like our numbers, run and pass, right now-- is more difficult to defend and is not dependent on any one thing. We put emphasis on developing a running game here because we have not had a 1,000-yard rusher here in quite a few years. I felt like we threw the ball pretty well, and had some time behind us where we had done that. But our rushing attack was not very good, and sometimes in order to improve your passing attack, you have to have a running attack. And in order for us to become difficult to defend, I felt like it was important for us to be able to do both. When you can't run the ball -- Texas Tech shoots holes in this theory-- but most of the time when you can't run the ball you don't throw the ball as well either. I'm sure every week (defensive coordinator) Carl (Torbush) comes in here he wants to stop the run and then take away the pass as best he can. I just think people look at us right now and they know we can run it and throw it pretty good, and you've got to be able to defend both. I think it keeps you from stacking people in the box to stop the run if we can throw, and if they spread out to defend the throw, we can run."
Have you noticed on game tapes that defenses are a little unsure of what's going on?
"Yeah, we've kept people off-balance pretty well. When we do our self-scout, you start looking at some of our tendencies and you can tell if we're doing a pretty decent keeping people off balance. The Utah game for instance, they were more than willing to bring the extra guy to the run box, and at that point in time we weren't good enough to make people pay as much as we have been the last three weeks. We just weren't that far along in the offense, weren't that diverse yet, and hadn't done that many things. Now I think people would look at that a little bit more carefully that they had, and you can kind of tell that."
Where is the offensive line compared to where they were earlier?
"It's light years--it's immeasurable. Coach Helduser's done a great job with them, and they've done a great job of learning. But we probably gave them too much in the Arkansas State game-- probably gave the whole offense too much--and we cut back and let them build and grow. Probably one of the things that has been as helpful as anything is that we've stayed healthy there. (Franchione knocks on wood) So those guys have gotten to work together a number of days. And I believe that's helped our cohesiveness and their understanding of what's happening next. They've just gotten better. They're more confident. We're a much different offensive line than we were a month ago. (Are you surprised?) We're still a work in progress. We're had some nice games here, but we're still a work in progress. If anybody had told us that we'd make 700 yards on anybody, I'd would have probably not believed them. I think in the last 3 games, we've had almost 1800 yards of offense. So I'm a little surprised that we've been able to move the ball that well in the last three weeks. I would have never guessed that we could do that. In the first game we only had about 280 yards I believe, and I was hoping we'd get to average 350-370 before the year was over and so far they are doing much better than that."
What is it about a 1,000-yard rusher that's such a big deal?
"Number one it goes back to what we talked about earlier, that it provides balance for our offense to have someone back there who is capable and can take the pounding and take the number of carries to be able to get a thousand yards-- especially on this schedule. I think it sends a good message for tailbacks looking at this offense. But the big thing is the balance that it provides us that they have got to defend the tailback position."
Is it a goal to have Courtney Lewis reach 1,000 yards?
"I talked about this all summer that we need to have a 1,000-yard rusher to be able to improve on offense. We have not run the ball here as well as I think we need to in the last few years. We've thrown the fairly well, but in order for us to improve our offense, that was the area that we were a little shy in. I think the progress we've made there with the tailback and the offensive line has enabled this offense to move ahead."
It doesn't matter to production, but would you be looking to let Courtney start, or is it still Derek (Farmer)?
"I've talked to both those guys about that. We look at both of them as starters. A lot like when we talked about the quarterback position. Somebody runs out for the first play, and Derek has been here and put in a lot of time, and is a little bit of a veteran, so we've given him the gesture of respect to run out there for the first play. But we look at our tailback position as two guys that are starters, and we feel fortunate about that. I've had that situation before, even with LaDainian Tomlinson when I had him."
What has Jamaar Taylor meant to the progress of the offense?
"Jamaar has given us pretty consistent week in week out play, and he has certainly made some big plays for us. With him and Terrence out on the perimeter I think some weeks Jamaar is going to make more catches and some weeks Terrence is, it just depends on how they are going to defend them. Having guys on both sides like them, and then adding rushing game and Reggie's passing ability have been the components that have made us progress offensively. And he's given us a legitimate home run threat out there."
Is Courtney Lewis pretty advanced for someone so young?
"His God-given instincts are about as good as you could ask for. He sees things very well. You stand behind the huddle during practice and see some of the cuts that he makes and the times that he can make people miss, they're very impressive. He sees things well. His vision side to side is very good, and I think that's the key to his success. He made a run Saturday, the long one, and he made a cut in front our bench and it was like he was on a rollerblade. He dropped that shoulder and put all his weight on his left side, and made a left turn and threw about two of them. And I was kind of taken aback when he made that cut. It was a very impressive run. I haven't seen too many backs that make those kind of runs like that."