Oct. 18, 2010
A full transcript of Coach Sherman's press conference, along with selected quotes from players, will be available soon. Audio clips are available in MP3 format to the right.
HEAD COACH Mike Sherman
On his observations after watching the film from Saturday… “I think it's obvious to everyone we didn't execute well and didn't make the plays we needed to make. I don't think we as a team or a staff underestimated Missouri. I thought coming in they were a very good football team. Their quarterback played about as flawless a game as you could possibly play. He was very accurate and made zero mistakes. They caught every ball he threw. We didn't catch every ball, didn't make every throw, and didn't protect the quarterback well. In a general sense we didn't execute very well. Our preparation, which makes it even harder as a coach, was great. The Monday and Tuesday practices were as good as we've had. They had great focus during the course of the week. Friday night we felt very confident. We just didn't go out there and execute the game plan the way we thought it should have been. Each player will tell you the same thing.”
On whether this situation is similar to last season following the loss at Kansas State… “I hope so. Certainly our back is against the wall, as is Kansas. So it's little bit different. At that time, Texas Tech was riding pretty high. They had just won big and we'd lost big. Here you have two teams that need a win and I'm anxious to get with our guys today to put the pieces together and go up and do what we have to do.”
On whether he's worried about the team's morale… “No, they're a pretty resilient group. I've been in a similar situation before. In Green Bay we started off 1-4. Everyone wrote us off and we went up and won the division. All we have to worry about right now though is just winning one game and taking it one at time from there. I think they play off the coaches, and if the coaches panic and are pointing fingers…we put a huge microscope on ourselves as coaches to see what we could have done to win at home in front of a great crowd. We talk to the players about what we can do better and what they can do better, and what we can do to win next week.”
On whether the play calling is different this year without an offensive coordinator… “It's no different. I called just about every play a year ago. I didn't my first year, I wanted to get settled in as a head coach. But I called every play (last year).”
On why the tempo has been so slow of late… “Well, if I had that answer we wouldn't be in this position right now obviously. Last year, at the speed we were going, to translate calls and get it done on a fast pace was more a reflection of their ability to process information at a fast pace as well. At some times Saturday we had three true freshmen out there (on the offensive line) so the level processing is maybe not where it was last year.”
On maybe shaking things up (including quarterback)… “Every week, and these players know this, we evaluate every player after every game. We will go with who gives us the best chance to win. Everyone knows that is looming, including Jerrod. I have zero favorites. Some guys I'm usually harder on, the star players for example, but I don't have any favorites one way or the other. I care about all of them, but as far as winning my decision goes with who gives us the best chance to win.”
On the wideouts with the exception of Jeff Fuller struggling to get the ball… “I think as group I wasn't real pleased with them, including Jeff. He had three penalties and there were other plays he could have made, as well as the other receivers. We don't accept dropped balls. When you're throwing them with any regularity (drops) are drive-killers. We didn't really as a group play to the level I expect them to play. That goes to blocking, receiving and route-running. Jeff's included in that group.”
On the ball Jerrod Johnson throws and that it sometimes comes out wobbly… “I thought he threw the ball really well against Oklahoma State with the exception of that last interception. There have been times he has been sporadic. He's kind of been a streaky quarterback in his history, even with me. If he gets hot he can make every throw. I can't disagree with you that there's been some times the ball has fluttered. Part of that I think is he's overanalyzing things and I think we can correct some of that stuff. And we're going to correct it this week.”
On how much blame can be placed on the O-line with sacks… “They've had their share. Some of our throws look short, and when you have pressure on you can't step into the throw. I looked at every play and every pass play, and what was the result and what caused the result, positive or negative. A fair amount of times they brought a zero-blitz on third down. The pressure that was exerted didn't allow the quarterback to step up, so his hips never came through on the play. He forced some throws that were a little bit suspect. As far as who is responsible for all the sacks, it is an assortment of things. Sometimes it's coverage, sometimes it's the offensive line, sometimes it's the running back or tight end involved in that. Sometimes a guy doesn't run his route crisp enough and we don't get the ball out in time. And sometimes it's the quarterback.”
On Jerrod Johnson… “He and I met this morning and talked a lot about things. He wants to play a perfect game, and you're not going to play perfect. Sometimes you have to cut it loose and that doesn't mean we're going to throw interceptions. He has an aggressive style.”
On whether or not he insulates himself from outside “chatter” during tough times… “I told Jerrod this. I said that the difference between me and you is that I come to work, I'm in a building, I go to practice, and when I come home at night everyone's asleep. When I leave in the morning everybody's asleep. So I'm little bit insulated from all that mess. Players are not. They have to handle that on a regular basis. My job is to flush that out of their heads and get them focused on what they need to focus on. You have to correct all your mistakes, and you have to be accountable and honest in order to get better. But you can't hang on to it or you can't take that next step forward. They have to deal with that walking to class, going to class, people asking them what's wrong and why didn't this or that happen…and even more harsher things. We're more incubated here than they are when they are out and about.”
On his message to fans who are frustrated… “That's understandable. The frustration I'm sure is very intense, and that's part of it. I want to coach at a place where people expect you to win. I wouldn't want it any other way. If they weren't passionate, I wouldn't be here. I feel that disappointment when I walk off that field. And our players feel that. They know they let the fans down. They are bound and determined to get back on track. They are good kids, and they work hard. We have got to coach them better and they have to play better. As I tell the kids, we are in this together through thick and thin. Our backs are against the wall and we have to put it all together.”
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/DEF COORDINATOR Tim DeRuyter
On what he saw after reviewing tape… “While watching the game I was disappointed with the effort. After watching the tape I don't know if the effort was bad but we didn't play with that edge we established in the first five weeks. We didn't approach that on Saturday, and that's on me. We didn't have our guys playing hard enough. I thought we played well the first couple of series, but we gave up a couple of throws on the third series and had busts of coverages. They had a good plan in what they did in spreading us out. They had wide line splits that tended to neutralize our edge rushers. That was a good plan on their part. But, you live and learn. We will get better at it and get our players better at it.”
On what changed between the confidence going in to Saturday's game and the kickoff… “Well, one thing is we didn't play against Blaine Gabbert during the week. He threw the ball extremely well. There were some tight windows he threw the ball into. The receivers caught everything. Again, you have to give them credit. They made some changes in their game plan and were a little more empty than they'd shown coming in. You don't know early in the game if that's an anomaly or a change. They executed better than we did, clearly. I thought our guys understood our plan coming in and we started out well. But we've got to be a better red-zone defense and make them kick. We didn't do that and that was the story of the game.”
On the team's mood… “The mood this morning was somber. We were disappointed in how we played. We pointed out to them where exactly they should have been on some plays and opportunities to make plays where we didn't and they did. It's never fun, but we've got grown men in that room who are accountable and ready and willing to work through it. We're still the same team we were on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning where we thought we'd win the rest of our games this season. I still feel that way. Do we have to get some things straightened out? Absolutely. I'm not discouraged with our guys right now. I think we'll come out and play well Saturday.”
On what to expect from Kansas… “They're a team a little like us, with their backs against the wall. They struggled the last couple of weeks. They are back home looking at us for an opportunity for them to win. I told our defense this morning that we'll be playing a team that's like a (cornered) animal, ready to come out and fight. We better be ready for their best game of the year. We expect a great game from them. They have a freshman quarterback who's talented. Their freshman running back has done good things for them. Their receiver (Daymond) Patterson is a good receiver that has made a lot of big plays. They've got some tools there. They can be explosive at times. We'll have our hands full.”
SENIOR QB Jerrod Johnson
On what he saw after reviewing Saturday's tape… “You know, just the same old (things). They've been bugging us for a while. A lack of execution. We've got to find a way to execute.”
On the struggles by the receiving corps… “(Missouri) mixed up coverages well. They doubled guys on plays we didn't know they'd double. We had penalties. You name it, it happened. I can't really pinpoint one person, just the offense for whatever reason as a group. There's always something just seeming to break down. We practice and practice, and it's uncharacteristic, but we have to find a way to get it done in the game.”
On what he as a leader can do to keep the team motivated… “All you can do as a football player is put as much you can into practice. We put a lot into practice. I've got to pinpoint those details and put even more effort into being perfect in practice. It'll be huge for us. I'm really going into this week looking to be as perfect as I can be and the team as perfect as they can.”
On the team's morale… “I'm not worried about morale. It's one of those things, if we were going out and getting straight completely dominated physically, it may be different. But to know we're just not executing, it's frustrating to ourselves. It's not a morale thing. We never feel overmatched and we haven't been. We've played good football teams, but I feel it's just a lack of execution on our part.”
On not being able to maintain an up-tempo offense… “We're really looking into that. The reason why we had so much success last year is we had that tempo, and that made it hard for teams to line up against us. When we slow down, it gives the edge back to them a bit. We're not trying to slow it down, but for whatever reason that's been the case. We're dissecting the offense trying to figure out why that's the case.”
SENIOR DL Lucas Patterson
On losing at home… “Every loss stings, but definitely at home at Kyle Field, in front of your home fans. It's a rough one. We've got to move on. It's tough but you've got to look to next week.”
On moving on… “We've got to fix our mistakes, all the mistakes we made on Saturday. They're all correctable. We've got to get that fixed through watching film today and then move on to Kansas.”
On feeling they had a chance to beat Missouri and the disappointment that followed… “It was really disappointing. Missouri is a great football team. Give them all the credit. They played great. There were a lot of mistakes we made in that game that we haven't been making all season. It's tough to lose one like that, especially when your last two were real close. We've been playing hard all season but it's all correctable.”
On the importance of turning the corner… “We've got to take it one game at a time. We all realize where we're at, 3-and-3 and half the season left. Everyone knows the situation and what we have to do to accomplish some of the things we set out to accomplish this year. The main deal is taking it one game at a time, and that starts with Kansas.”
SENIOR LB Michael Hodges
On whether hearing negative things from fans and friends after a loss can wear on a player… “It does, especially because a lot of people have their opinions and think they could take Coach Sherman's job pretty quickly. That's disappointing, but understandable. I catch myself doing the same thing when watching the Cowboys. It's in our nature to do that, so I do not hold that against anyone. It's definitely a factor (as a player) but you have to learn how to avoid those situations. It's part of the game. We signed up for it. It's our fault for losing (the game). I can't imagine being in, say, Jerrod's position. Out of anyone on our team, he's the best person for that position. He deals with it more than anyone has to, and deals with it well. He's confident in his game and so is everyone else on this team. He knows that. He's going to rebound. There's no worry from any of us.”
On whether he likes the passion from the fans… “Absolutely. We appreciate that. That's the good thing about our fans, they are same way if we win. They are very passionate, win or lose. Either way it will be very heated and emotional comments.”