October 23, 2007
Coaches and players met with the press on Tuesday at the weekly football media luncheon, held at the Bright Complex on the Texas A&M campus.
The Aggies (6-2, 3-1) are preparing to host 9th-ranked Kansas (7-0, 3-0) at Kyle Field on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. (CDT) and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
Audio clips will be available shortly.
COACH FRAN PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
When you're on the plane ride home (from Nebraska), and you had a chance to really examine the boxscore and saw 35 carries (for QB Stephen McGee), did you feel any different about it when you got home than you did after the game? 35 seems like a heck of a lot...
"It was a lot, but it was what we did to win the game. You know, last year when we played Kansas--I've been watching that film all week--we threw it 45 times, probably called 50-55 passes. So I don't anticipate that'll be an every week deal. It happened in that game because of the circumstances. I've always tried to live by the feeling that if you're bloodying somebody's nose with something, keep bloodying it until they stop it. They weren't having much success in trying to get it stopped, so it ended up that we kept doing it a lot."
You ran the ball 66 times altogether...was that more of a case of that's what was working against Nebraska, or was that kind of indicative of where this team is right now?
"Probably more of the game with Nebraska. Obviously going into the game, their rushing defense had not ranked very high. We didn't go into the game necessarily thinking that would be the plan, but I think it got to the point where it was successful, and we did not get behind the chains a bunch of times. We were very good on first down. And then in the fourth quarter, we held the ball for 12 minutes. Part of it was just draining the clock and getting the game over with and getting out of town with a win. I've been to Lincoln a bunch of times without a win, so that was just the circumstances of the day more than anything."
No one's been able to bloody Kansas' nose...how do you accomplish that when no one else has?
"Well, we've got to play our game. They're good on defense. I think this is a good football team. They deserve to be where they are. It's essentially the same defense that we played last year. We're playing one of the better defensive tackles in the league in (James) McClinton. The three linebackers all do a great job and get to the football. They don't stay blocked, they get off blocks. We're going to have to sustain them. Their secondary's played much better this year, pretty solid football. They have a lot of confidence and belief, and they're playing very hard and with a lot of energy. So it's going to be a challenge. I think these guys, they've got a chance to be Big 12 North champions."
What does the win over Nebraska do for your team's energy? Could you tell a big difference on Sunday?
"Well, they were fired up. They felt good. They know it's not an easy challenge, ever, to go to Lincoln and win, and they felt good about the way they played. We didn't turn the ball over. We got three takeaways in the game. We had 450 yards of offense. We had a good goal-line stand. We played reasonably solid in the kicking game. I think the guys felt like they had prepared well last week and focused and played hard on Saturday, and it all came together well for them. It's certainly a good boost. I think this team's been pretty even in temperament though from one week to the next. But Sundays are always most pleasant after a W."
How do you feel like the running game's been since the Miami game?
"Baylor was pretty good. Oklahoma State sputtered a little bit in the first half but got going. Tech wasn't too bad. We had some drives. And of course Saturday it was pretty good. We're number 1 in the conference in rushing offense, and you put 350 on anybody you've done something pretty good. We were more consistent Saturday, and we've had our quarters of inconsistency offensively, but that happens a little bit. All in all I think the line's done a pretty good job, and Stephen's (McGee) done a good job with his reads, and the backs have done a good job of seeing seams and finding them for the most part, but I think they can always improve on that."
Do you have any remembrances of (Kansas QB) Todd Reesing coming out of high school?
"Yeah, just a gutty winner. I think the descriptions our guys used when looking at him were 'competitor'...kind of like Chase Daniel...'fiery', 'winner', does whatever he needs to do to move his team. I think he's playing that way right now."
Do you see a lot of the intangibles that you see in your quarterback?
"Yeah. That's a pretty good analogy right there."
When you looked at this part of the schedule at the beginning of the season...obviously November's always tough, but did you look at it and think it could come down and be this difficult, with four top 25 teams? This could be the toughest stretch of anyone in the nation...
"I think it says that in our press release, that we had the toughest remaining schedule of anyone in the nation. You just kind of learn that November is going to be that way, and November generally means for us that we're playing the Big 12 South, the exception here being Kansas and Missouri coming up here in these last four games. So it looks like we've caught the two best teams from the North to accompany what we usually get from the South. Last year it was Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, bang-bang-bang, and this year it's this group. We've had tough schedules in November, and hopefully you've gotten better in September and October where you can manage this at the end of the season."
How do you feel like your team's playing right now to meet this challenge? It looks like each week you're getting better and better...
"After Saturday's game, we played a pretty good ballgame in all three aspects of the game. Obviously, if this was last Tuesday, I probably wouldn't feel quite as good after the Tech game. But you know, we had our opportunities in the Tech game and didn't cash in well enough. If we can manage to stay healthy in these last four, two at home and two on the road, I think we've got as good a chance to meet this challenge as anybody."
Have you guys as coaches talked about (RB Mike) Goodson's role right now? His explosives are down, and a lot of us expected big things from him...is it just the way the defense has reacted?
"Yeah, we've talked about that a good bit, and are still talking about it. It's a combination of various factors that I think have led to this. We probably have not been as good getting the ball to the perimeter as many times as we were last year, and on the tackle-to-tackle plays that Mike's had, he's gotten some nice gains, but he hasn't broken big ones. We've played two or three teams that just haven't given up very many big plays. You look at Kansas' explosive run, explosive pass cut-up that we have of their defense and there aren't a whole bunch of plays...and Tech didn't have a whole bunch of plays. Nebraska's had a few more. It's a combination of I think not just Mike but a lot of issues there that have probably put us in that situation."
Is he frustrated?
"He certainly has not expressed or shown any frustration. Mike loves to win and would love to do better and better, but I think he's been fine."
Getting back to the remaining schedule, it seems the way college football has been going this year it's almost worse to be a top-ranked team...
"I just hope you're right (laughs). I hope it is bad to be the top-ranked team. It's certainly been an unusual year in college football. I think voting in the top 25 the last two weeks has probably been as time consuming for me as any time since I've been doing it, especially the week before this one. With all the upsets that happened that week, it took me a while to put together a top 10, let alone top 25, after all the upsets."
How is Jordan Peterson?
"He's fine. He'll play this week."
Is Stephen (McGee) okay?
"Yes."
Martellus (Bennett)?
"I think he'll play this week. He hasn't practiced yet."