Oct. 20, 2008
- ISU Media Luncheon - Coach Sherman
- ISU Media Luncheon - DB T. Hunter
- ISU Media Luncheon - WR R. Tannehill
- ISU Media Luncheon - QB J. Johnson
- ISU Media Luncheon - OL L. Grimes
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Head coach Mike Sherman and selected players met with members of the press on Monday at the weekly football media luncheon on the Texas A&M campus.
Click the MP3 links above to listen to audio from the press conference. A transcript of Coach Sherman's comments is listed below.
You came in young and inexperienced on the offensive line, and you've had some injuries. What can you do to get more of a running game generated?
"Well, we spent most of this morning and I spent most of the weekend dealing with that issue. We have to be able to generate more yardage in the run game to be successful. I do think that when you're dropping back as often as we are, you are susceptible to what happened in the second half, where guys just get worn down. They have to be perfect all the time. I think that's a lot to ask those guys. That's on us as coaches, to create some more situations where the run game becomes more of a staple of what we're doing it. Part of it is we didn't have success with it early and we kind of bagged it just a little too soon. I will say this, the shovel passes we ran--seven--really really can be equated to the run game. We kind of went into the game saying that would take the place of some of our run offense. It's blocked as a run, and the results go as passes. But there are other things we needed to do in the run game that we didn't do. We have to play with who we have at this current time. There are no trades. We still have some guys banged up and playing out of position, like (Lee) Grimes, (who) is playing tackle for us. He's also played guard and played left and right tackle. And (Michael) Shumard was not 100 percent, and so forth. We just need to get healthy and get better at what we're doing."
You also said you took some of your option game out with (QB) Jerrod (Johnson) getting banged up early...did some of that have to do with the fact that Stephen (McGee) was not 100 percent?
"Stephen was not 100 percent. We got down there in the red zone and Jerrod took that low blow to the knee. We got him out and ran a quarterback draw with (Ryan) Tannehill. We couldn't run it with Stephen. His shoulder was maybe about 80 percent last week. We handed the ball off and then he threw the touchdown pass. We were very limited in what we could have done there. So a lot of what we wanted to do going into the game, in defense of the game plan I guess you could say, we just couldn't do because Jerrod got hurt early and we don't have a `true' backup right now. Putting Tannehill in the backup would take him out of the receiver situation. So we opted to get out of a lot of the option stuff that we had in our gameplan."
Can you run down the litany of injuries that Lee Grimes has had to deal with?
"Grimes could make a ton of money just volunteering his body to science, because he's had every injury you possibly could. The shoulder sub-lex, both knees have been operated on with MCLs...the list is just so long. We won't have time to talk about all of them to be honest with you. To his credit I think he's one of the toughest players I've ever been around. He goes out there and he battles--he gave up a couple of sacks but it wasn't because of effort. I have a lot of respect for what he brings to the table."
How's (Mike) Goodson?
"We'll find out more about him tomorrow. He has an MCL sprain and we'll see how he recovers. He was limping a little bit this morning so we'll see how he is tomorrow. I don't know about his availability this week, I'm hopeful that he'll play."
Would Cyrus (Gray) start in his place?
"At this point. We'll see how practice goes but I would anticipate that to happen to start the practice tomorrow. But we'll see how everyone else practices and how he practices."
Has (OL Travis) Schneider been cleared to come back?
"No, not as of right now."
Where are you with (running back) Bradley Stephens?
"Bradley is someone that I thought had an excellent spring. It's very difficult to juggle four running backs when you have four. That was the case on Saturday. It's just hard. Each one is just so much different than the other one. But there has to be a place, and I've said this often to our staff, there has to be a place for Bradley Stephens in our game plan more so than what we're giving him."
How's his attitude been through this?
"Well, that's the thing. He doesn't complain, doesn't moan about it. I don't want us to take advantage of that fact. He's great. I don't know that he's missed a practice since I've been here. He had to leave early one time to take a test and he apologized for it. He's just a great kid."
Did you realize pretty early on that Randy Bullock had such a strong leg?
"In competition with Richie (Bean)--every week they compete--he never beat Richie out on the field goals, until he made one more than Richie did right before Richie got hurt. So Richie had beat him out in practice, and I called him (Randy) up to the office and said `How do you think you're doing?' He said he thought he was doing pretty good, and I told him, `You may think you're doing pretty good but you're not winning the competition with Richie. Richie beats you out every week.' He said okay, and I guess he didn't understand that he was competing for a job, because the next week he did better. I was real proud of him in the game. I thought he handled the pressure of the situation extremely well. He had a couple of kickoffs that weren't what they needed to be, but his field goal kicking, his extra points, were very accurate. I was very pleased with him in the game. For the first time out of the blocks I thought he did very well."
Week to week what does that competition entail?
"They kick by themselves, but I'm talking about competition under pressure where we're bringing live rush. We do that every Tuesday and Wednesday. We have a kick off with them and they both get equal kicks. I move the ball around and we have live kicks with pressure, and Richie had won that battle every week except the last week."
Speaking of kicks, what did you do to block those two PATs? Is that something you saw on tape?
"Well, their kicker had a tendency to be a little bit low with his ball, and we were fortunate enough to get hands up on him. We had good push inside, and I felt if we could do that we could get a hand up and we were fortunate that we did."
After the 50-yard return by (Michael) Crabtree to start the game, you did a really good job on all the other punt and kick returns. Were there any personnel changes or was it maybe the intensity of the game?
"I thought it was typical of what we did against Oklahoma State, on their punt return for a touchdown--we had him and we let him go. I thought we had Crabtree dead to rights but then we hesitated and didn't make the play. One of the big emphases that I've had with our players is to shoot the gun. Don't worry about it. Go get it. But they're fearful of making mistakes so we're trying to get them to just cut it loose and don't be afraid sometimes. Sometimes you're going to make mistakes. Go get it and take your best shot. Don't let someone else make the tackle. Go make the tackle. Sometimes I've seen that out there in practice and seen it in the games. I thought the other day we had a chance to tackle him and we didn't. And him, being the great athlete that he is, took advantage of that."
Were you surprised to see him back there?
"Yeah, I was a little surprised. More nervous than surprised I think is accurate."
What would it mean for your team this week to get on that plane and bring a win back home?
"Well, considering we haven't done that in a few weeks it would mean a lot. We really want to be able to continue to get better and go up there and play well. Current weather reports have it about 38 to 40 degrees, so it's like Green Bay in August for me. I'm kind of looking forward to the cold weather a bit, to be honest with you. I hope our players handle that part of it well. I'm sure they will. We can't replicate that. Bill Byrne has figured out any weather problems we could have except for intense cold...although we do have air conditioning in the bubble so we'll see how cold we can get it. It's important to win this football game, as it is to them as well."
On the fourth-and-15 (in the fourth quarter), did you just feel like the percentages were too low there on the 50-yard line?
"I'm glad you asked that because people have wondered about that. I'm trying to win the game, and I still think we can win the game. Until they got the ball inside the 20-yard line, I thought we were going to win the football game, even though people in the stands might have felt differently. In that situation, if I had no timeouts left I probably would have taken a desperate shot. With two timeouts left, I think I had at that time, I thought our best chance was to punt the ball, hope for something on the punt to happen--maybe punt the ball high, cover to the punt, and possibly hold them. Trust me, if we lose the game we lose the game. I'm not worrying about how much they beat us by. You lose, you lose, and go to the next one. So that played no part in it. To me, I thought it was our best opportunity. Fourth and 15, we had trouble throwing the deep ball in the second half simply because of protection. Jerrod was going to take a hit on that play if we took a seven-step drop. We hadn't had success in the second half doing that. I thought our best opportunity was to punt the ball, maybe get a turnover on the punt--I know there's not a high chance of that happening necessarily, but that's probably about the same as going for it on fourth-and-15. I thought if we could hold them, they'd punt back, we'd take our shots at the end zone, and onside kick and give us a chance. I never anticipated that they'd continue to drive the ball. We almost did get a three-and-out...if we had been better on third down we could have gotten the ball back and had our chances. That decision was strictly to try to win the football game. It had nothing to do with worrying about how many points they scored. I could give a care how many points they scored, the bottom line was to win the football game."
And then the fourth-and-1 in the second quarter, was it what happened against Kansas State that factored in to your going for a field goal?
"I can't say it didn't play a part in it...if I was on the road I'd have probably gone for it. But at home I feel like I'm going to be maybe a little more conservative on that. I've gone for it before and made them, and gone for it and not made it and then questioned why I didn't get the points. That can go either way. I thought we had to come away from that with points. One thing, I think with a coach you have to understand, you know your team and what you're capable of and what your psyche is. If we didn't get that again, I thought it would be very damaging to our team, our psyche. We're not a mature team just yet. If we were a veteran team, like (Steve) Spurrier the other night that went for it, then yeah. That's a different deal. But we're not quite there just yet. I figured we had to come away with points there. We went into the half ahead, which I thought was a big plus for us. So I believe I did the right thing on that one."
Did you see the hold (penalty) on the touchdown pass to Jeff Fuller?
"I did not see that, no."
Do you do anything special to put the loss behind you to get a good effort when you head to Iowa State?
"After the game, I think I told you guys this, during the course of the week there were three things I asked of the players: I asked them to be passionate about how they played; I asked them to stick together throughout the game, help each other--no matter what your role is on this team, if you play one play, 10 plays, 50 plays--stick together and help each other, and they did...the sidelines were very electric; and I asked them in the moment of truth to make that play. Like on that punt, we questioned ourselves and didn't make that play. But on other plays, guys were less hesitant, aggressive, coming downhill and making plays. So I told them I was proud of them doing those three things and there was just one more thing I wanted to ask of them, I want to be proud of your response to this loss and how we handle that. We put an awful lot into the ballgame, we had a great week of preparation, and we made an investment and it didn't pay dividends necessarily from your standpoint or our fans standpoint. But from my standpoint we took a big step as a football team. So I want to see how they handle the loss and how it will help us this week in preparation for Iowa State. It is important to take from this game what we can take, but we have to have great practices this week as well."
Iowa State's running back, anything about him that you see is any different from others you've faced this year?
"He's a good back. He plays well in that scheme. The quarterback kind of compliments them a little bit because he's a good runner as well. So when they're in a one-back they're really in a two-back, because he can run and make first downs. I think they're a good tandem. They work well together."
What's the story on their quarterback?
"He's very mobile. (Graham) Harrell this past week wanted to stay in the pocket. We tried to flush him out a couple of times, unfortunately we couldn't get him when we flushed him out. But he did not want to be on the move necessarily, from our estimation. He liked to be in the pocket and was very successful there, particularly in the second half. This quarterback functions all over the field. He's going to get some first downs with his feet and he's going to throw for first downs. He's a good quarterback, very mobile. They've always had a history of very good quarterbacks, you go back to Seneca Wallace and the different guys they've had. Sage Rosenfels was there. They've had good quarterbacks and this one falls in line with them."
How concerned are you about your pass rush?
"Well, we rushed three. We knew rushing from the tackle position was going to be a challenge because they take the big splits and they have those big 350 pounders out there. By the time you get around them the game's over anyways. Somehow we tried to generate rush from inside. By doing such we lost containment a couple of times, which allowed him to just be back there and kind of wait it out. There had to be one play that lasted 12 or 15 seconds, I swear. But we have to be better. I think we have guys that can do it but we haven't done it effectively. Michael (Bennett) had a couple of good rushes, and Cyril (Obiozor) had one. I think Von (Miller) at one time had one. We had a little push inside, but not consistently. We weren't good enough consistently."
Is it just guys not getting steam?
"They are just getting engulfed by the blocker and aren't using their hands more. Our guys have a history of using the spin move, which they've used in the past, and I think it's a slow thing. If you're spinning and I'm an offensive lineman, I'm going to back off you and just let you do your deal. You need to beat them with speed around the edge I think."
If Jerrod were to get banged up again, would you handle it differently this week?
"Well, we have Tommy Dorman, who I'd like to redshirt if possible. I'm trying to hold that one back. I've talked to him and his parents about the fact he may have to play this year, based on his situation. It's quite a dilemma because if you take Tannehill and move him there, you lose your top quarterback and one of your top receivers. So now you're less of a team. It's quite a dilemma. I'm hoping that Stephen will be available this week and make continued progress with that shoulder. If he's available we don't have a problem, but if he's not then we do have a problem."
Can you give us a synopsis of Iowa State's defense?
"They play hard and fast. They started out the season as more of a two-shell, quarters type of team. They seem to change game plan based on who they are playing. Recently they've played a little more with a middle safety, which was not their style early in the season. It's more of their style now. They're bringing another player down into the box. But they play hard, they play fast. They play downhill. The linebackers are extremely aggressive downhill."
Coach after the game you said you didn't want to see your team on Sunday cutting up or giggling, you wanted to see the loss hurt. Did you see the loss hurt?
"Yeah, I've seen it bother them. After the game it was the most disappointed locker room we've been in this year. We went into the game fully convinced ourselves that we were going to win the football game, with our preparation and our game plan. I was really excited about our game plan. I do feel like we got away from the running game too much, and part of that was the availability of Jerrod Johnson in running some of those options. So we kind of went away from that. We also had some runs geared for him in the game. But there was tremendous disappointment and that has continued with the guys I've talked to since then. But tomorrow we have to be back on target. We can't be hanging on to this thing."
So far you feel like they've responded that way?
"Yeah, so far. And I gave them off Sunday, I told them I didn't want to see them Sunday. They came in and watched tape on their own and got their lift in. It's mid-season and I thought we didn't need to see each other for two days. It wasn't totally selfless on my part, I promise you (laughter)."
You said you took a big step forward this week, how do you gauge that?
"Well, I thought it was our best week of preparation. By no imagination do I think losing the game is progress. That's not progress. But I thought our preparation, and we played the game more aggressively, particularly on defense. We had an aggressive nature. There was a lot of energy on the field, a lot of want to, a lot of support amongst teammates for teammates. So I saw a lot of things that I hadn't necessarily seen. These have been talked about forever but they're starting to click for us a little bit more. That was encouraging. The loss was disappointing. But the way they handled the week and the preparation and the confidence with which they took the field was encouraging."
Robbie Frost was not in pads, is he going to be back?
"He had a concussion last week in practice, Wednesday I believe, and I'm assuming...with those type of injuries we're very cautious but I'm assuming he'll be back this week."
Are you surprised at how many freshmen you've had to play, and while that may not bode well for this year how it may help you out in a year or two?
"Coming out of spring ball I thought we'd probably have to play some freshmen this year. So that wasn't a total surprise. I think the freshman that's the most surprising, the way he's adapted to things...I had confidence that Trent Hunter would fall into his ways, and I thought (Jeff) Fuller would be fine...our corners played very well in this ballgame, and (Terrence) Frederick being a true freshman, and probably the last guy we committed as a staff, him coming in here and playing very well. He's tackled well, he's covered well. He's played well."
What's going to be the difference maker in this game?
"For us, to rebound from a disappointing home loss in front of a great crowd and a great day to play football and all we put into that ballgame, and coming back tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday and have great preparation. To me that's the difference in this ballgame, us going out there and preparing like champions. Even though we're not right yet in the eyes of the public, we need to prepare like we are. Every day we take practice we have to get better."
Any relationship or history with you and Coach Chizik?
"No, not really. I met him at the Big 12 meetings, but no. He seemed like a nice guy. I'm sure he'd say the same (laughter)."