College Station, TX - Texas A&M head football coach Mike Sherman and members of the Texas A&M football team met with members of the media today to talk about the upcoming game against 6th-ranked Oklahoma.
Quotes from the coaches and players are available below. Audio in MP3 format of today's press conference is available to the right.
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HEAD COACH MIKE SHERMAN
Can we get an update on Jeff Fuller, is he at 100 percent yet?
"He didn't practice a whole lot last week. He had bruised his toe Monday and really didn't practice a whole heck of a lot. I'm anxious to get him out there. He's still going to be a little bit suspect, but he'll be getting a little better. It's close to being a turf toe. I'm hopeful this week we'll get him back close to full force."
How much has not having Jeff at 100 percent hurt you this year?
"I'd hate to say one player is going to make that big a difference, but not having him at 100 percent coming in to the season certainly doesn't help things. You want him to practice and get reps with the quarterback and he hasn't been able to do that."
Even with the injuries to his feet, he's dropped some balls. Do you look at all at maybe giving someone else a chance to start?
"He holds almost every receiving record in A&M history, so I think he's proven he's more than capable of being a starter for us. I think it may be because of the lack of time he's had (in practice), he's always been a rep guy. He always likes to get his reps in practice. Brett Favre was the same way, he had to get his reps. Jeff gets confidence through his work ethic and his reps. If anything, maybe he's pressing too much. I think we'll see Jeff Fuller this weekend and I'm confident he'll bounce back from that."
You mentioned pressing...when you race out to first half leads, do you sense guys pressing here we go again?Â
"We've had three games in my mind are all very disappointing. We had chances to win and we didn't. I thought Ryan Tannehill said it best after the game when we sat down and visited. He said 'Coach, it's a game of inches', and he's absolutely right. Our offensive line leads the country before the game with the least amount of procedure penalties. We changed the snap count up in the offseason and made it more player-friendly, and lo and behold we more than double our entire season total in this one ballgame. That put us in some precarious situations. We didn't want to get into long yardage like we did last year against Missouri, and we did it again. Whether they're pressing or not, it's possible. I'd hate to make excuses for anything. For eight straight games we take the last possession of the (first) half down and score. That's an important possession, as is the one after the half. I don't know if that's the case or not. It's certainly something I've considered, but it's not an excuse for us not being able to handle the complexity of the game and how it unfolded. We have to be better at delivering the knockout punch and we haven't done that in those three games."
Several of the players have mentioned a lack of consistency on defense...is that a fair statement?
"Consistency defines greatness in my mind. You have to be consistently great or good to be that. We certainly are lacking that consistency. We show spurts of really good football, then we have lapses. It's just their ability to continue to play the game a certain way regardless of the circumstances. We haven't done that necessarily, and that's on both sides of the ball and special teams. This week we put a lot of emphasis on kickoff returns, and we did better there, then we let a guy sneak out on kickoff coverage on us. Once you think something is fixed something else seems to go astray."
How difficult will it be to bounce back against a team like Oklahoma?
"Not many people have had success doing that. That locker room was about as dejected as it could be. They knew how important the Missouri game was. Oklahoma is not only a great offense, but there are not a whole lot of weaknesses on the defensive side and on special teams. Collectively they are a very good football team. They started the season ranked number one, had a hiccup against Texas Tech and bounced back like good teams do against a good K-State team. It's a challenge but one we're definitely looking forward to."
Will this be the toughest matchup for you defensively this season, with what they bring off the edge?
"No question. People ask why the spread offense works so well in college football but not in the NFL, and usually it has to do with the number of great pass rushers you face in college. In the NFL they can contain that stuff. The edge pressure plus the push up the middle will be one of our bigger challenges (this season)."
Are you pleased with the senior leadership at a time like this? Also has anyone else stepped up?
"I am always challenging those guys. Some guys do, some don't. It's hard when you're injured to be that guy. I think we can always be better, particularly in times like this. It's easy to be a leader when you're winning games, it's tougher when you aren't."
Will you change anything about how you approach games or the team?
"I'm always honest in my assessment with what we're doing, and I'll be very honest with them this afternoon when we talk about this ballgame and what we need to do to get better."
Trent Hunter said the players are not responding with the fanatical effort that they should be, or even did last year...do you agree with that statement?
"That's something that we talk about. Fanatical effort is a tough subject to define. It's something we talk about every single week. When we don't get it on the tape, we point it out. It's something we preach constantly. Are we where we need to be? We can always be better. Even last year there were times. I don't think you ever totally achieve that. It's something we preach constantly."
How do you like to see team emotionally progress through a week like this? How long is it okay to be angry?
"I want them to feel bad after a loss like that. You play in front of a great home crowd and have every opportunity to win the game. If they're not angry or upset, they're in the wrong business. They shouldn't be playing football for us. I want them to be upset, mad at themselves and willing to do what it takes to move forward. At the same time, once we have practice today we have to flush that out, which will be a little difficult. The things I'm going to say today are probably going to make them a little more angry. But at the same time we'll take a step and say okay, now we deal with the present and what's in front of us, and we have a phenomenal challenge this week up in Norman. We can't wallow in our despair, we have to move forward. Teams that have the ability to do that....as disappointing as it was to lose the ballgame and as frustrating as it is, the true measure of a team is your ability to bounce back and rise above it all. It's easy to lay down on that mat. I tell them all the time it's not easy to play football. Football is a game of 1-on-1 matchups, and 11 guys winning their matchups. Our ability to win our matchups in the upcoming game is going to be huge. Oklahoma bounced back against a very good Kansas State team, and our ability to bounce back is a true measure of who we are."
ASST HEAD COACH/DEF COORDINATOR TIM DeRUYTER
Trent Hunter says he doesn't feel the players are always practicing with the fanatical effort they did last year. Does that concern you to hear a senior say that?Â
"Obviously it's a concern, but I don't know how accurate that is. I think we've practiced pretty well the last couple of weeks. We had a lull a couple of weeks ago where it hasn't been consistent enough. We addressed it and have been practicing better. But yeah, obviously when a senior leader like Trent says that it concerns you. It's a little bit of a function that you are playing some newer guys. You can play with fanatical effort when you know what you're doing and are playing fast, and we have some guys who haven't built up that confidence yet."
Can you put your finger on what caused the missed tackles?
"There are a couple of reasons I think. One, you have to give credit to that quarterback, he ran hard and tough. That one play he did a nice job lowering his shoulder. Two, guys were hitting him and they're not wrapping up. On the touchdown pass, Howard (Matthews) doesn't wrap up and he bounces off the receiver. We had way too many issues like that."
After a quick 14 points your defense seemed to right the ship. Then Missouri got something going in the running game late, how frustrating was that?
"We had four series of getting stops in the second half, and the offense was ready to go in and score. We get that turnover and we didn't respond well at all. If we make them kick a field goal there it's a different ballgame, we don't go into overtime. Then we have (Steven) Jenkins ding his head, so we have to switch linebackers around, and we stop fitting the run the way we're supposed to fit it. When you give up an explosive play right after that, the momentum swung and that swagger and confidence isn't there like it was a year ago when you have guys in different positions. We have to do a better job developing depth so no matter who's in there we're playing with confidence and attitude."
Talk about the challenge of Oklahoma and their quarterback, Landry Jones...
"He's pretty good. They are the number one or number two passing team in the country right now. It's a Heisman Trophy candidate that we'll again have to face, but it's something that I think continues to motivate our guys. We realize we're playing in one of the top offensive conferences in the country. You have to be ready to go every week, you don't have time to lick your wounds and feel sorry for yourself. You have to pick yourself up, say let's go and fix the things you need to fix."
Do you feel that say, since Arkansas, is the defense getting a little better each week?
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"I think so, but we are still having too many critical errors that we can't have. I thought in the first half we gave up the two touchdowns on missed tackles, but other than those two series we played decent. Our guys were starting to get some confidence. But we're not responding to adversity the way we need to right now."
Can you take anything from the film of Texas Tech's win over Oklahoma, or did they just have to outscore them?
"Well they had to outscore them, but they did a good job of effectively running their defense. They are a 4-man front package and they played corners against them. They got stops on third down. (OU) got plenty of yards on them, but they got off the field. They didn't have the 'magic bullet' to kill that offense though, no one has. The magic bullet against anyone is playing hard and fast and getting takeaways. People talk about Oklahoma State's defense giving up a lot of yards, but they get takeaways and their scoring defense is down. They're giving up a lot of yards but you don't hear about it because they're getting takeaways. To me I think that's a big key in this game. If we can get three or more takeaways I think we'll have a great shot."
Can you put your finger on what is happening to cause the second-half problems? Maybe something you've seen after watching film?
"No, we haven't been able to come up with just one thing and point at it like 'That's it, that's why we're losing'. It's a lot of things. We don't get enough takeaways in the second half, or at all. We didn't play the run as well as we did in the first half. We gave up too many explosive plays. There are a lot of things we can point to and say that was a reason we didn't win. It's not just one thing."
How's the mood of the team going forward after a tough loss like Saturday?
"It hurts. Every loss hurts, but the three losses we have have all been in the second half. We lost leads and we didn't perform as well in the second half. We haven't been together as a team yet (today), we'll do that later on. But knowing the guys in the locker room and knowing my teammates, we'll come back and have a good week at practice. We know we have a big task ahead of us, going to Norman and playing a top-10 team in Oklahoma. We have to put this one behind us and move on."
If you had to pick one or the other, do you think it's more physical or mental causing y'all to lose leads?
"I don't think it's physical. I don't know...I guess I'd have to say mental if I had to pick one. Assignments, not doing what we're supposed to be doing, not being where we're supposed to be, and not making the plays we're supposed to make."
Do you sense any of that "here we go again" type thing while it is happening, or is it just afterwards?Â
"No. I didn't sense it. I honestly thought we were going to win. We just let them hang around too long. It was 28-17 it felt like for two quarters. We let them hang around. We had plenty of opportunities to win it on defense, and end the game or put it out of reach. For whatever reason we just didn't."
Talk about the mood of team and trying to bounce back. What will it take this week?
"We knew Saturday was a tough loss to handle. It was a game that as a defense we should have played better in the second half. We have to get past it. It's a new week now and we have to get prepared to face a very good Oklahoma team in Norman."
Last year you guys really got the better of Oklahoma physically. Do you expect a very physical four quarter battle again this year?
"Yeah. We have to be prepared for very physical matchup. Just like all games this one will be won in the trenches. If they are able to control the line of scrimmage it will be a tough game for us to win. We just have to be physical."
Can you take anything from last year's win over Oklahoma?
"No we won't. Last year we were a different team than we are now. We can't look back at last year's victory and they won't look back at last year's loss."
With the dropped balls and missed assignments and penalties, does that come down to just focus?
"I wouldn't necessarily say focus. We are always engaged every time. It's more about consistency. We don't consistently make the plays. Some drives we force a 3-and-out, and the next drive they may run the same play or do the same exact thing and we don't do it the same. It's more about consistency, I wouldn't say focus."
Can you put a finger on what's gone wrong in these three games?
"Just like I was saying earlier, it is being consistent. That's we play so well in the first half, we're consistent. We're doing everything that's supposed to be done and what Coach DeRuyter asks us to do."
Being out there do you sense any kind of letdown mentally to start the second halves?
"No, I don't sense anything mentally. We know anytime we go into halftime with a lead, because of the other results, teams will always believe regardless of how many points they're down to us they'll have a chance to come back. Mentally we know we have to be even more focused coming out for the second half."
Missouri scored 3 points in the second and third quarters. What was the key to success in that stretch and what happened in the fourth quarter?
"In that stretch it just goes back to what I talked about earlier, just being consistent. Every play and each and every down, doing what we need to do to stop them offensively. When they start gaining momentum it goes back to being inconsistent. Early in the game we were containing them in the run but late in the game we didn't get our run fit up right. They are a very good running team and they were able to gash us."
Do you get confidence from last year's game against Oklahoma that you can pull off the upset?
"Last year is kind of irrelevant. But we can look at last year and how they played us, the things we did well against them. They'll come in with a different game plan I'm sure. I look at every game we play the year before just to see how the game went. As far as the outcome though, that's kind of irrelevant."
They had problems with the zone read last year didn't they?
"We hit that one big one on the first play of the game, that's the only one I really remember. But I'm sure they'll be ready for it."
Did Missouri do anything in particular to take Jeff Fuller out of the game?
"They doubled him a couple of times. A lot of times on third downs they'd go two-man. They'd bring the high safety down and double Jeff. On the last drive we tried to do a double move and they caught him after the first down marker. So yeah, they did a couple of things to take him away."
To really over-simplify it, what is the single biggest problem offensively in the second half?
"I don't know what the single biggest problem is, we just haven't been making plays. Slight mistakes that end up causing big mistakes throw off the timing of the play. You miss a throw here, drop a ball there, miss a block here...they add up. We have to all play together. All 11 guys have to do their job. If one guy misses on this play and another on the next play it starts snowballing. We all have to play together."
Do you think the second-half struggles are physical, mental or a mix?
"It's not physical. We have guys across the board that can make plays. A couple of missed assignments, those types of things really kill us. On third downs, we put ourselves a lot into 3rd-and-longs with false start penalties and movement up front. That really puts a strain on the offense. I think it's a combination of things."
Is there any carryover to the confidence factor in the second half?
"No, I don't think so. I looked every guy in the eyes on the sideline. Every time we went on the field we were expecting to move the ball and score. I never felt it was a confidence issue."
Is it frustrating that you could be 8-0?
"It's frustrating, but at the same time it's not how it worked out. You have to be truthful with yourself and move forward. Do I feel like we should have won those games? Yes. But we didn't. We have to pick up the pieces, move forward this week and get ready to play a tough Oklahoma team in Norman."
What's the environment like in Norman and how difficult is it to play there?
"I think it's a great environment. A great college football environment. It's a packed stadium every game with enthusiastic fans. It's a great college football environment and will be fun to play in."
Do you think this team can still make a run like they did last year?
"I think so. We have the type of guys on this team that can do it, the type of players that are capable of making plays. Does that mean that's how it's going to happen? No. It's up to us and how we respond. I'm going to do everything in my power to get this team ready to play. I think the guys will respond and be ready to play on Saturday."
You've been ranked by some as the No. 2 quarterback in the NFL draft...do you think about that at all?
"No. That doesn't affect me right now. What affects me is wins and losses for this team. I'm going to go out every week and try to get a win and be the best quarterback I can be at Texas A&M. I take it one week at a time."
Are you looking forward to the challenge of playing Oklahoma?
"Definitely. OU has great receivers and it will be a big test for our secondary. If we can go out and play four quarters I think we will be successful."
How big will it be to eventually get Coryell Judie back?
"It's definitely going to help this defense. Judie is a big part of this defense, he's known to make plays. If he can come back it would be real good, but I don't know his condition right now."
Do you feel that you improved in some areas in the secondary, even with the injury issues?
"We improved this game in some areas but at the same time we have to stop the run. They were killing us on the run almost the whole game. We have to just be better at tackling. That's the most important thing. If you miss tackles big plays happen, but we have to give credit to Missouri. They came out and played four quarters and got the win."
DB TRENT HUNTER
As a captain and senior leader how much pressure are you putting on yourself?
"I'm putting a whole lot on myself right now. We practiced (well) but we have to practice great. The coaches are trying to push us to play better but we have to put it on ourselves as players. We have to go out and practice better."
How can y'all put the tough overtime loss behind you?
"That game ended on Saturday. We had time to sulk on Sunday and we have another big game coming up this week. There's nothing we can do about it right now, we have to have a great week of practice to get ready against OU."
Is Landry Jones going to be the best quarterback you'll face all year? How much better is he this year than last?
"I haven't got chance to break down film at all yet. I've seen the stats he puts up every week. There are a lot of great receivers and a great offense around him. It's a great football team, one of best we'll see this year."
How's the team's confidence level going forward?
"We'll be able to find out today where the character of our team is at. We have a big test coming up this week. We have to come out with our intensity at an all-time high."
Can you put your finger on why you guys had so many missed tackles Saturday?
"One of the things we went into this week with was being more physical than the other team. They outplayed us, myself included. I need to do a better job of being a better tackler. I'm one of the worst at it right now, making tackles. It comes down to preparation on those days we have our shoulder pads on."
Is missing tackles a mental thing?
"I don't know what it is with tackling. It's just a trait you pick up and it's something you have to work on. It's like catching the football, you have to work on it to be good at it."
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