Tuesday Media Luncheon Quotes and Audio

October 10, 2006

Texas A&M coaches and players met with members of the press on Tuesday at the weekly football media luncheon, held at the Bright Football Complex.

The Aggies are preparing to host 19th-ranked Missouri on Saturday. Kickoff at Kyle Field is set for 2:30 p.m. (CDT) and the game will be televised by ABC Sports.

Links to audio clips are available to the right.

TEXAS A&M FOOTBALL

Head Coach Dennis Franchione comments

Oct. 10, 2006

THE QUESTION: Coach how much confidence can you take into practice after a win like last week, do the guys kind of come back with an energy to practice after an exhilarating win like that.

COACH FRAN: Well, you hope you have a team that responds the appropriate way after wins or losses. Obviously losing a game in the last minute and winning a game in the last minute have an exhilarating or somewhat numbing effect on you a little bit and the mature teams know that on Sunday at 5:00 o?™clock when all the meetings are done we have to move onto the next game. You-all (the media) and some of the fans make that difficult to do sometimes. But as players and coaches that?™s what we have to do. We can?™t let the previous game win or loss impact you negatively in the next game and that?™s part of the challenge of this game.

THE QUESTION: Melvin (Bullitt) was talking about special teams when you came in. Of the three disciplines is this the hardest one to get a grip on because perhaps you don?™t really know what you?™re dealing with until you get into a game situation sometimes?

COACH FRAN: Well, I think you have a point, wind was such a factor in that game in the kicking game and you know, your kicking game you hope that you play solid and when the other team makes a mistake you?™re able to take advantage of it and minimize (yours) as best you can. Different situations call for different tactics and there are many different ones that can be presented in a game. You try to cover them all, but there are still a lot of different ones.

THE QUESTION: The high snap -- are those just isolated things that are rare in and of themselves haven?™t really been plaguing you too much this year?

COACH FRAN: Snaps have been pretty good for a while now. They were very good last year. That?™s a freshman deep snapper and he had one that fortunately for us only turned into two points. Our kickoff return team has been excellent this year. They are vastly improved, and have done a nice job. Our kickoff coverage team has really done a super job this year. They have pinned a number of people down inside the 20-yard line. Punt team has been solid for most of the year. We?™ve had more possessions start inside our 10-yard line this year than I can ever remember in a season. I think we had either three or four inside the 13-yard line last week. We?™ve had punts hit on the 3 and go sideways and just gotten placed in difficult positions at times.

THE QUESTION: Coach can you talk about the blocked field goal.

COACH FRAN: On that one we allowed too much penetration at one line position. I?™m not sure Layne (Neumann) didn?™t hit it a little bit low too; but I know penetration was more of a factor.

THE QUESTION: You talked about being pinned inside the 10 so many times. What is the offense?™s role in sort of changing field position?

COACH FRAN: Certainly the offense has a lead role in establishing and changing field position. Defense can do it with turnovers and three and outs and the kicking game can do it. It?™s the whole team that has a responsibility, but it probably starts with the offense.

THE QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about the fast starts Missouri has gotten on people this year? It seems like they really jump on people in the first quarter.

COACH FRAN: They have. They?™ve played very well in the first quarter. I don?™t know what the magic is to it other than great sequence of plays starting the game and being very ready to play early. It?™s hard to explain it?™s hard to put a thumb on to what you can do to counteract it other than play well yourself. I believe they?™ve outscored their opponents 72-3 in the first quarter. That?™s impressive.

THE QUESTION: Kickoffs have gotten much better this year. Is it due just to a change of personnel or has it been a point of emphasis? How are you guys doing so well?

COACH FRAN: I think a couple of things. I think first off the height of our kicks has been good. If Matt (Szymanski) doesn?™t kick it unreturnable generally he?™s put good hang time on it. We?™ve got more experienced players playing because of our younger players getting a year under their belt and getting older. I think that?™s the two biggest reasons. Probably the experience factor is across the board in our special teams.

THE QUESTION: Coaches have talked about parity in college football these days and in the Big XII especially. Gary Darnell said it?™s the money these programs are pouring into their football programs. I know the 85 scholarship limitation has a lot to do with it. What do you think is contributing to this parity?

COACH FRAN: Well, I think the 85 scholarships can?™t be overlooked. You know when you?™re signing maybe as few as 14 guys in a year and you have a few misses, you have a few injuries that they have to give up playing football, guys don?™t make it academically, you have a few guys that don?™t work out like you hope they would. All of a sudden you?™re in an up and down pattern right there and we all go through those, no matter how hard you try to avoid them, you?™re going to go through some of them and you can get limited at a position sometimes because of the 85. When you had 95 and above you had a lot more stock piled and you had a lot more younger talent developing more freshman playing more guys are playing today maybe a little sooner than they really need to be. Though I think freshman are probably more prepared to play than ever before. All those factors then like Gary said everybody is putting money into their facilities to help recruiting and -- it?™s not one thing you can put your finger on.

THE QUESTION: Is it paramount with these athletic budgets that football has got to be good at these schools?

COACH FRAN: Well, I think that?™s important. I mean, certainly in some of the schools it?™s going to be the bread winner and support the department or a large portion of what the department has. So it is important.

THE QUESTION: Are you concerned at all with the slow starts the last three games?

COACH FRAN: We obviously would like to start faster, but we still have to play 60 minutes like we did Saturday no matter what. I?™m not overly concerned.

THE QUESTION: Seems like people were excited about the Nebraska and Oklahoma games. Can you talk about how this has shaped up into such a big weekend with Missouri coming in undefeated?

COACH FRAN: Well you?™ve got a nationally ranked team coming to town. Missouri is playing really well in every aspect of their game. Looks like they?™re staying reasonably injury free. They are playing with great energy and enthusiasm and chemistry and belief. They?™re doing very well on offense, they?™re playing very well on defense. Right now if you had to pick the team to beat in the North, you?™d have to pick Missouri. I know there are some teams that are going to have something to say about that as we go on we?™re only halfway through the games. But today I think you have to say that this team has the best chance to be in Kansas City.

THE QUESTION: Can you talk about Chase Daniel, what he brings to their team and what you see on film?

COACH FRAN: I think the highest compliment you can say about Chase is that he?™s just a winner, he finds a way, he makes the most of his talent, he makes his teammates better, he?™s an intelligent, savvy quarterback that is a winner.

THE QUESTION: Did you guys look at him at all when he was --

COACH FRAN: Sure.

THE QUESTION: Seems like him and Stephen (McGee) have a lot of the same type of qualities in terms of that leadership that attitude?

COACH FRAN: I think those are good comparisons.

THE QUESTION: Did you look hard at Chase?...

COACH FRAN: Sure.

THE QUESTION: Your third down defense has been very good, how much does that help your football team.

COACH FRAN: We couldn?™t have won the game Saturday (without it). I think the last four possessions our defense stopped them three and out -- I believe they were three and out and got the offense the ball back and one time got us the ball back on their side of the 50. The offense didn?™t get much done with it but we had the opportunity to and made the critical stop there on third and one. They did their part across the board even when we were backed up. I think if you look at our team right now -- third down is a pretty pivotal part of things so far. We?™ve been good on third down defense and we?™ve been good on third down offense. Eight for 17 Saturday and when you?™re batting around 50 percent on third down you?™re doing pretty good.

THE QUESTION: Did Stephen (McGee) do anything different on that last drive to be so successful passing the ball?

COACH FRAN: I think he did a good job of getting the ball to the right guy when they pressured and when they chose to cover. I don?™t know if that was a lot different than earlier but we managed to get the good execution in that last drive and converted three big third downs which is a credit to Stephen and his teammates, too. But other than that I don?™t know. There?™s nothing that just sticks out in my mind.

THE QUESTION: Missouri?™s defense did a good job of rattling the quarterback the other night. Y?™all got a pretty young one, too. What makes them so good at doing what they?™re doing right now? Is it quickness or speed or what?

COACH FRAN: Well, I say they have good quickness and they play very hard and very confidently. They were able to get a rush on (Graham) Harrell sometimes with a four man rush and that may have been a coverage factor a little bit sometimes, but I think their D -linemen are playing very aggressively and making things happen and I think that may be forced some bad decisions there and their secondary is doing a good job of covering people. They?™re playing really well on defense. Not missing tackles, they?™re in the right spots, they?™re getting off blocks they?™re fast to the football and making quick, good reads.

THE QUESTION: How important is it to be always aware where (MU defensive end) Brian Smith is?

COACH FRAN: Well, he certainly may be the best one of their front four, but I think our guys would tell you that they respect all four of their guys upfront. It?™s pretty much a group effort. He?™s certainly the best of the group probably or the ring leader, he plays with a great motor and great quickness. I think he?™s been a four year starter so he?™s played a lot of games, been through a lot of the battles.

THE QUESTION: Coach, can you tell us about Michael Goodson and what you see from him as the season has progressed?

COACH FRAN: Michael makes a little bit of improvement every week. I really want to commend him for that. You would like to hope every freshman does that; but Michael?™s had a lot thrown at him, been asked to a lot with Courtney (Lewis) being out of the lineup some he?™s been asked to more and you have to understand doing more past protection rules and blocking and things that maybe he?™s ever had to do and more complicated at times and you know every week he gets a little better at all those things. His ball security was much improved last week and the better he does, the more we can continue to give him. His improvement has been real steady. You have to hand it to him on that.

THE QUESTION: Coach can you just talk about the vision that Michael Goodson has on the football field and how that helps him as a running back.

COACH FRAN: Well, great running backs generally have instincts and he has instincts. I?™ll tell you what else he has, not only does he have instincts but he has a gear that he can get that a lot of people don?™t have. I?™ve seen it several times in practice and when he hits that gear, there are a lot of people on the practice field that have said ?wow?, because not everybody can reach down and get that one like he can.

THE QUESTION: He?™s been so close a couple of times to really breaking that long one, is it just a matter of time?

COACH FRAN: Well I think so. He?™s going to have big plays. One of the things Mike has had to learn a little bit -- the first couple of games every time he got the ball he wanted to hit a home run, swing for the fences. And I think eventually Mike has got to the point where I?™m going to make a good solid run and I know that if I do that my ability and instincts will let me have bigger runs. And that?™s really how you get them. If you?™re always playing for the big play, you?™re liable to lose six along the way. If you just play for good solid football plays and then let his instincts and ability take over he will eventually hit those home runs. He almost had one in the endzone Saturday, but one guy leapt to get him inside the five.

THE QUESTION: Do you think the ball security issues are a thing of the past with him now?

COACH FRAN: I?™m not sure they?™re completely over. I hope so. I can only say he?™s gotten better. Even -- there was one time the other day that he was still looser than I would like to see him. To Mike?™s credit he?™s worked hard at it and is still working hard at it. There comes a point in time where he brings explosiveness so much that maybe you?™ll just hold your breath and not worry too much about it for the chance that maybe he will hit the big play like he can do at times.

THE QUESTION: As a coach standing on the sidelines and you see him maybe cut across the grain or whatever, do you kind of hold your breath a little bit? I mean, just knowing that he?™s had some fumble problems?

COACH FRAN: I think we?™ve all held our breath on his ball security several times. But as far as his cuts and cutting across the grain I don?™t (hold my breath) on that. When he starts backtracking and trying to circle the other team, I do kind of have some choice thoughts for that at times but when he starts this and those kind of things -- I just think that?™s a great running back that?™s you know doing what he does best and don?™t worry too much about that.

THE QUESTION: You expressed some irritation about the false starts. Is that something you hammer on them about or was there any common thread to those the other day do you think?

COACH FRAN: You know crowd noise obviously had a factor in that and as much as we can we try to emulate it in practice but it?™s difficult. That was in all honesty, that was really our first real road test with a crowd like that. We didn?™t manage it as well as I had hoped we would and that?™s disappointing and yes they?™ve heard about it and yes they will hear about it.

THE QUESTION: Kansas seemed to be blitzing a lot, could that have had something to do with it as well.

COACH FRAN: I think you could be right. I think combination of that and the crowd and anxiousness and things like that.

THE QUESTION: At what point in your career did you become enamored with the option as something that can give defenses something else to think about as they prepare to play you week in and week out?

COACH FRAN: You know, in 34 years there?™s been years where we?™ve ran some option and years where we haven?™t run any. You know there were years that we depended on it and now it?™s just kind of a component.

THE QUESTION: Does just the personnel you have determine that?

COACH FRAN: Personnel. Part of the spread -- you know Missouri incorporates this, too. They run an option in their spread and part of what?™s come out of all the spread offensive stuff is you can be like Texas Tech if you want to or New Mexico State or some of those kind of teams and then there?™s the other avenue that incorporates some option into it which has its components as part of it not all of it. I think some of the theory of this started a few years ago when you didn?™t see an empty backfield in an option for as long as I can remember. Until three or four years ago they didn?™t go together. Now in our game we were probably in empty more than we ran option the other day and the zone read is part of all that component now, too, because if they overload the box with one more than you can block the zone read lets you read the guy and have a blocker for each defender. Defense started a few years ago starting to bring one more guy to the box than you could block. Somehow you?™ve got to devise plays that can overcome that where one guy is going to sit there and make all kinds of tackles for 3 yards or less and you are going to have trouble moving the football. So you find ways that -- how can we have a successful play and give our guys six helmets to block six defenders even when they?™ve got seven guys in there or eight.

THE QUESTION: The other day at least (Stephen) McGee kept it more than he pitched it. Is that because they were taking the pitch guy away or were there times he could have gotten rid of it where he should have?

COACH FRAN: No, that?™s going to happen. I mean, there?™s going to be weeks where we run 10 of those and 70 percent of them may be gives and three may be pitches and then it?™s going to change the other weeks. We didn?™t run a lot last week. We depended on other things, so it just kind of varies.

THE QUESTION: How did Kansas start off? Were they bringing an extra guy up in the box?

COACH FRAN: Not really. I think they did a good job of fitting on the dive and the quarterback and things like that. There were a couple of times we didn?™t block very well, didn?™t get a linebacker blocked or get this guy taken care of and you know that?™s going to happen sometimes. You?™re not going to get them all perfectly and they?™re going to make a play. That happened a time or two the other day.

THE QUESTION: Because you?™ve had such good success running those plays do you expect Missouri to crowd in at first and say all right we?™re going to try to take that away and make you go to something else?

COACH FRAN: I think maybe is what is difficult for y?™all to understand sometimes is that those plays are a component of our offense. They are not our offense. They?™re a component that if it?™s there we?™re going to utilize it, and if it?™s not we?™re going to go to a power game or go to a spread game or empty game. We?™re going to go to different aspects of our offense and if it ends there then great. I think the worse thing we can do as an offense is become too much one way or the other. Now, there are going to be games such as the Texas Tech game where we were more option in that game but to grind the clock we were making first downs keeping their offense off the field we were establishing field position. It was pretty good mode for us that day. Last week it wasn?™t as good. And so you know, what we have to do as coaches is go into the game with a plan for all of our components and then find the component that is most successful and if we become too much dependent on any one of our components then our defenses are going to defend that and stop it. And if we are not good enough at the others then we get stopped. Sometimes you get stopped because they get a play ahead of you or behind you and different things. So Saturday we ended up in a lot of empty backfield four wides and called 50 passes, we threw 45. You can?™t lose sight of the multiplicity of what we?™re able to do and the difficulty the defenses have in facing multiple things. And we have to make sure that we can execute them.