October 11, 2005
Audio from Tuesday's football media luncheon is available through the links to the right. Files can be downloaded and are in MP3 format.
A transcript of Coach Dennis Franchione's press conference on Tuesday at the Bright Football Complex is posted below.
The Aggies return to the field Saturday at home against Oklahoma State. Kickoff from Kyle Field is set for 2:30 p.m. and the game will not be televised.
Coach Fran Media Luncheon Transcript
Can you evaluate where you see your offense right now after last weekend. It seems that Reggie's completion percentages are down and you guys have gone to the option more. What is everyone's state of mind with this offense?
"We had three really productive weeks where I thought we looked pretty good. You know, I don't know if you could expect us to be hitting at the same pace in Big 12 play in light of some of the injuries that we've had. So, you have to understand some of the things that you're dealing with in those regards. We've been a little up and down and a little spotty. Part of that probably is new faces and getting on the same page and all those issues. That's going to cause you to have inconsistency at times and you have to keep evaluating and keep trying to put those new guys in comfortable situations. Some of them are young guys that we're trying to do that with."
The starters have scored 16 points in regulation the last two games. The competition's been better but I'm assuming you never thought it would be that little production in Big 12 play...
"Well, I think that's true. We thought we would score more than that. I see everybody's point productions in the Big 12 and every team is dropping a little bit when they go into Big 12 play, which I think is normal. We've all played each other more and everything. We played a good defense in Colorado. I thought Baylor played good defense. They came back and got a win on the road last week. You have to acknowledge that they've got something there in that regard. Like I said, we've been in situations where we're asking a lot younger guys to step in and play at the level that we want to play and that's a growing process and we understand that."
Last week you discussed the use of more option. Last year you guys with that spread were just so dynamic. Has the move at all regressed the offense or regressed Reggie with his completion percentage?
"I think we ran maybe four option plays the other night -- four or five. We ran that many per game last year, too. That hasn't had anything to do with it. We took a lot of possessions on our 20 the other night and you've heard me talk about the difficulty in always having to go 80 yards and the difficulty in scoring points when we do that. We've missed out on some plays when we needed to make plays against good teams that's hard to overcome and especially when their offenses are scoring and that wears on you. But we were without some guys the other night and you take starters out of any team's lineup you're going to see effects of that. At least our team is because our back ups are young and you know we've just got to keep working with those young guys and get them where they feel as comfortable as they can."
Yesterday on the teleconference, OSU coach Mike Gundy was asked to describe A&M's offenseAnd he said -- his words ? basically they're running the veer out of the shotgun and he said it's an offense that had gone by the wayside but A&M is bringing it back by running it out of the shotgun. Is that an accurate description?
"I think that's the element that people notice. It's an element of our offense but it's not all of our offense. We were under center a number of snaps the other night, we ran a number of plays we dropped back and threw, but because we're a little bit unique, that's the thing that sticks out to people is that "gosh I've defended the drop back, I've defended the play action, I've defended under center, but now they've got an element that I don't see week in and week out' so they focus on that and say "gosh I've got to get my guys ready for play this and that I don't have to play week in and week out. We cause them to do that and we do it as and when we need or choose or as it is productive. It's not not the only element or component that we have to utilize. If you look at our averages per carry per quarterback dive and pitch, it's been very productive for us, but we don't just sit there and wear it out. We use it and we get to something else. The other night we ran a play action pass and threw the deep one and hit it and didn't finish the play, but we've got a lot of other elements here. This offense moved the ball well in the first game against Clemson, it scored 66 in the second game, it moved the ball at will in the third game, but you take Earvin Taylor out of the lineup, you take L'Tydrick Riley out of an offense, you take Courtney (Lewis) out of the lineup, which he was last week, I mean you're taking some guys that have made a lot of college football plays around here and that's going to have an effect. And we have to look at cause and effect and figure out how can we now best focus on what we can do with what we have healthy and what we have here."
I guess obviously Earvin and L'Tydrick aren't coming back. You're not going to tell us what Courtney's status is but he might not be feeling 100 percent the whole rest of the way. I guess the point is you guys are going to have to go forward without these guys without them all 100 percent. How do you balance with that? Fans aren't going to lower their expectations and players aren't going to lower their goals because there have been some injuries?
"So -- tell me what are you asking me about?"
How do you balance the fact there have been injuries with the fact that you and your team still have goals?
"What we always do is self evaluate and overall evaluate and "okay this guy is going to play, what can we do to utilize him. This guy is going to play what can we do to utilize him' and that's all you can do. Sometimes during the week of practice you're not quite sure which one's are going to be ready to play. But I don't want to sound ... one of the reasons I don't talk about injuries -- except season ending ones -- is I don't want them to ever sound like an excuse. I'm not making that as an excuse. I think the point I made when you lose guys like that, that's a fact. That's what the reality of the situation is. We've still got to find a way to move the ball with these guys."
After the Colorado game Mr. (Olin) Buchanan asked you a question on whether it was getting harder to remain positive. Looking at the answer, I didn't know how to interpret it. You said "I don't have an answer for you.' I don't know if you were saying you didn't have an answer for the guy who asked the question or if you didn't have an answer because it's hard for the guys to stay positive. So I guess I'm asking is it hard to keep a positive mindset when things start to go bad?
"Any time you don't win a game or you don't play as well as you want to you're certainly going to have all kinds of thoughts and those are certainly thoughts that you have to deal with. How you handle adversity in this game just like life is how you move forward and all glory is fleeting. You always have frustrations to deal with when you're in that situation. That's not unique. I think guys are still confident they can make plays. They know they need to make them. They get frustrated when they don't and that's true of every football team that goes through any of the things we're going through."
Coach, I don't know if y'all look at your schedule overall or if you just focus completely on Oklahoma State but -- can you talk about the importance of what's left in October. Seems like the next three games would be very key juncture with the way the season is going to go?
"Seems like you answered that question."
I would like to see do you agree with that and if you do, could you elaborate?
"It's always my job and the coaches' job to see the vision for the big picture. It's the players' job to stay focused on the next day and the next game and I mean, I think you're correct in what you said; that we have two games out of three at home here in October and we got two games on the road in November and we understand each one of these games are important. I think you covered it pretty well."
Well, I know that when you look at your November schedule no one's ever going to concede a football game but -- especially having to go on the road and then -- those are some really tough games. Do you feel like there's a sense of urgency to get bowl eligible in this month?
"I don't think there's a lot of talk about worrying about getting bowl eligible right now. I think our conversation is on improving our play and getting better. You can't win six before you win four; and we don't need to worry about six. We need to worry about four right now. And then we'll worry about five and I'll continue to see the big picture and the players need to continue to focus on the task at hand. November will always be a tough schedule here. The way the schedules are aligned, you play the Big 12 South in November and I think next year and the year after we add Nebraska in November -- November's always going to be hard. That's not ever going away. And you know, you hopefully have confidence and you get to November with some confidence and some health and you're ready for that challenge. But November is never going to be easy here."
Coach, you hear the cliches that you play like you practice. The players have said they've had good practices. Y'all as coaches have said that as well yet it hasn't translated on the field. Has that been a very unusual situation for you?
"I think good practice doesn't guarantee success. Hard work in the offseason program doesn't guarantee success. But if you don't have it you do guarantee failure. And so what you are doing is putting yourself in hopefully the best position you can, but that other team, whoever that is, they're working, too and they got things they're doing well, too, and so it doesn't just say "boy, we worked hard. There's a guarantee we're going to play well this week'. It doesn't -- it doesn't go that way. If you don't have good practice I don't think there's a chance for you to play very good on Saturday. So... the effort, the preparation, those things are not missing -- those things have been there. Making plays and doing all the things we needed to on Saturday is -- I mean, we didn't do that very well Saturday night obviously."
What are some of the reasons you think that Reggie's completion percentage is down so much this season from last year??
"He's had some drops, and he was a little off at times. Sometimes he needs a little better protection. There's not one issue that answers that question. It's a collection of things that go into all of that. I mean, Reggie overthrew a couple of balls the other night that he doesn't normally do; we've had some balls we didn't finish with. We gave up a couple of sacks the other night. We've had some coverage sacks. It's a lot of different issues. It's not just one or two."
Do you think he's totally comfortable with the offense right now??
"I think so. He's never said he's not. You know, being in the shotgun and being in a spread is a comfortable feeling for him. He's done that a lot."
Any reason to believe that for whatever reason there's some disconnect between what coaches are coaching and what the players are picking up and taking to the field?
"Any time you don't play well there's going to be some disconnect there. And that's our job to reevaluate and say "Are we doing too much? Do we need to do less.? Do we need to do this? Do we need to do that? That's what we constantly do. You constantly look at yourself first and see what could I have done better. What do I need to with this team to make it better? I mean, you can ask that same question and get the same kind of answer in half the places in the United States today that didn't win last Saturday and that's what we have to go through and deal with."
Do you feel like you're getting good effort?
"The last two weeks they've been really -- I mean, they played hard. You know sometimes when you don't play well it's easy to say well, they didn't play hard or they weren't this or they weren't that. I don't think the coaches have ever said or felt that. It's hard to have energy and enthusiasm when you're struggling and you don't make plays and you need a spark -- you need to make a play so you can have it so you can get a spark so it shows obviously and we've been in tough situations where we haven't had that."
Your career has come to be defined by turning around football programs and I think when you got here everyone expected things to, you know, here we go...
"I left my white horse somewhere else."
Is it hard to live up to the expectations put on you by others from your track record?
"No. It's hard living up my expectations. I don't accept things like that and I'm not ever going to. It took me six long years at New Mexico. It didn't take as long at some other places but there's been some grinders in this career now. I haven't walked in, snapped my fingers and everything changed over night. I take it as a compliment that people think that that's going to happen. I live in the forest. They see the forest and I can't express to you or to them everything I see in the forest, but I know what's going on and I know what the crux of things are and I understand needs, direction and things like that. I also understand that some things don't happen as quickly as you want them to happen. Those are frustrating for me, for you, for them, and believe me I don't think there's anybody who might have an expectation higher than me than myself. Now, sometimes it's not as fast as I want it to be or they want it to be."
In days gone by there was a thing called a five-year plan. Are fans impatient?
"(Former Notre Dame head coach) Tyrone Willingham ruined all the five year plans. Notre Dame threw that out the window."
Is it hard to tell people to be patient? Ticket prices have gone up that gets people more impatient. Is it hard for you and the team when there's so much outside forces at play to stay positive and keep the task at hand?
"When we lose, when we don't play well, we haven't just let each other down we've let a lot of other people down and we understand that and feel that. Aggies are as supportive and committal and as loyal as any place I've ever coached. Whatever is being said we probably deserve a portion of it. I don't have a problem with criticism. I don't care for what I think is unfair criticism but again I live in the forest and I can see what's inside and some people can't. So sometimes I'm the only one that can recognize what I think is unfair criticism. I don't want to coach any place that doesn't have expectations. The players don't want to play some place that doesn't have expectations. Winning is not a right. Winning is a privilege. And you have to work to do it and that's what we're going to keep doing. We're going to keep working to do it."
What do you think are some unfair criticisms?
"I don't think we need to get into that today. If you lay one on me Rachel (Cohen), I'll tell you if I think it's unfair. I think everybody in this room knows that I'll speak what's on my mind and if you're off base I will correct you, at least from my vision. You may not agree with it and I understand that. That's your right to disagree. But if you're unfair in what you say about our football players or our team, I will say something to you. We've had discussions and I've always handled it in a professional and I think a good manner. And sometimes the reason you probably write that or say that or somebody else is they don't know different and that's a little bit my fault because maybe I need to communicate to where you do know but there are some things that -- how I say it and what I say -- are going to be a little bit different. Robert (Cessna) and Terrence (Harris) were with me Sunday night. We sat and talked for a long time and I think when they left -- you weren't there. You're usually always there -- I think he had a much more clear vivid picture of things but all did I was educate him to some of the situations. If he had wrote his article on Monday and been unfair, I would have told him that, if I thought he was. And I think he would probably tell me if he thought I was and that's okay. I got no problem with that. Sometimes I've got to look and see how I deal with things, too."
You hear a lot of fans say the biggest frustration is that A&M had a large number of returning starters and the progress they made last year ...
"I think it is with the players and with us too. They're not alone on that. We all knew we were a little inexperienced in the secondary when we started the year but we were all hopeful and you know we're going through some of the pains of those things. I looked at our secondary a couple of times Saturday night and I saw redshirt freshman, freshman, maybe another redshirt freshman, and maybe Jaxson Appel or somebody like that. Now, that's a pretty young group. Believe me I'm not saying that to call that an excuse. I'm just saying experience and inexperience play into every matter."
What did you see from Alton Dixon? He seemed to play as much or more on Saturday than any other game.
"Alton has done a really good job in his kicking (coverage) game and I think he's most comfortable there now. With Japhus' (Brown) loss for the year, Alton has to be asked to do more at safety. He's like every true freshman. Like I talked to Martellus a little bit each week and every week he says "I'm getting more comfortable.' He's played five college football games and Alton hasn't played in all five yet so he's going through that transition as an athlete, too. I really think he's progressing nicely. We just need all of them to progress fast."
What about Martellus Bennett? He had a good game, but it was in mop-up. How do you evaluate him?
"He played 35 plays the week before and I'm not exactly sure he didn't play too many less than that last week. I think you noticed he made some catches. When we watch the film we see a lot of blocks that he did very well, he has the ability to get off balance and recover and finish his block and do things. He's getting more comfortable in his assignment and when they get more comfortable, their physical talent shows. That's what this year is going to be about for him. But we all believe he's going to be a fine player we just all have to understand that freshmen are still freshman."
How about Jordan Chambless' progress?
"You've got to understand last year at this time he was playing quarterback. So he's played five college football games as a safety. There were a couple of naked boot legs the quarterback ran the other night where he should have been on the guy and he wasn't there. But then he made some really nice plays, too. He's just growing into the position and again with Japhus gone we've got to speed that process up as fast as we can."
Coach can you talk about Jorvorskie Lane and how his role might expand with Courtney Lewis being hurt. What have you seen in terms of his progress thus far this season?
"Well, I think just about everything I've said about all the freshmen you could say about Jorvorskie, too. He made some mistakes the other night. He didn't release fast enough on a pass so he didn't pull the linebacker out so we could throw the curl so the curl got covered up because he got covered up fast enough because he spent too much time worrying about what that linebacker was going to do. Those are experience issues he'll continue to grow with and eliminate and get better at. He made two or three nice runs the other night and he made some good plays in short yardage for us. He's not ready for the full cup yet. He's ready for a portion of it and we're trying to give him as much of a portion as he's ready for. We have to evaluate each week and see exactly where his progress is."
-- transcript courtesy Paula Frederick