A&M hosts UTSA on Saturday (11 AM, ESPNU).
Coach Sumlin's press conference is posted below, as well as a summary of his comments, along with the press conference videos for Coach Chavis, Coach Mazzone and players.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
Do you see killer instinct in your team.
When you lose a game by one point you haven't killed anything. Just being honest. If you win you've got killer instinct. Lose, you don't. Doesn't speak for whole year. Won games where we separated from other opponents in fourth quarter. Won in overtime. Gone for it on 4th and 1 in overtime. Think team as you go through year you have identity, and you start to move away from that somewhere in games. Said after games the recipe earlier in year was running the ball and stopping the run. Had very hard time doing that. You look back at Saturday, first half had 5 possessions, one was end of half, so we scored in 3 of really the 4 possessions. Scored touchdowns. Defense was on field for 47 plays in first half. Very very different game. Time of possession is not as big a factor for our football team and how we do things as number of plays is. Lot of things going on. Trying to get defense off field. End of first half called timeout to see if we could get them to punt, spring a return and get Christian (Kirk) loose. Didn't get that. We started off got backup quarterback in and we're up 21-6, we don't want to give ball up in that situation and make it a one score game. Felt good going into half knowing you get ball back in third. Didn't make enough plays in second half to win. Haven't made enough plays to win last few weeks. That's across board. Third quarter we came out aggressive with that reverse pass. Almost got it. We don't get two fourth downs to stay on field. Staying on field offensively and getting off field defensively is way that is.
Mentioned all year team blocking out noise. How do they handle noise out there now.
Same way handle lot of things. Know attitude right now is that no one in this building, from players, coaches, people around us, are happy about last 2 weeks. No way you can be. Because those are 2 games we wanted to win and where we were headed and what was at stake were big games. Because of that still lofty of things out there for us. Two more games to go this month. When all said and done depending on what happens last two games will say a lot about where this team going to be. Because of what happened in college football last few weeks, with two games to go, winning those two games could put you in lot of different scenarios that are very positive for this program. And winning those two games can change that feeling in locker room very quickly.
Playing in SEC west, with more beef, how do you find that balance between getting guys bigger and stronger and staying conditioned for second half.
Hadn't been real issue condition-wise second half. We've won games second half. Played maybe longest game in history vs Tennessee and won that game in the middle of the year. Whenever you're unsuccessful you're always looking for why is that. From a conditioning standpoint we're in good shape. We played a large number of snaps on defense this year., probably as many or more than anyone in this league, with a concerted effort offensively to slow things down at times and take some time and do some things. Was combination of things Saturday night. For us to stay on field was one thing. We did that third quarter. We controlled time of possession in third quarter but didn't have any points. Also have to get off field on defense on third down. Had number of opportunities throughout year on third down to do that and haven't been successful. And ultimately a 3-and-out turns into a 14-play drive. That's how you lose games in this league. Something we recognize. Something we have worked at. Some of those things we've gotten away with early in season, with some big plays on offense to get us back in games or get us ahead and stay ahead. We did that (Saturday) in 4th quarter with that drive. That's what you want to do. What you don't want to do is have them go 75 yards in a minute and 20 seconds. Combination of things. We win games as a team. We lose games as a team. That's something that has been discussed. Something that's being practiced and being worked on.
The fourth is only quarter you've been outscored in this year, albeit just by 4 points. Given up 43% of points in 4th. Why do you think that is that you haven't played as well.
Think that's skewed too. The third has probably been our best quarter, coming out of halftime and making adjustments. Saturday night was worst 3rd quarter we've played statistically. No points. Didn't give up any, but didn't score any. Had every opportunity off bat to put things away. When you say statistically, after 10 games you're basically even in the 4th quarter. Some of those games we've been ahead, some behind. Don't think you can just generalize what happened there. What you can do is look at what happened Saturday night. Saturday night is probably a reflection of Saturday night more than whole season.
Seem to be lot of similarities of what happened in two wins vs UCLA and Tennessee and what happened Saturday. Do you see any correlation between the three.
They've got players and they've got coaches too. What you see is number of snaps has gone up on defense, particularly the other night. Number of people available has gone down. That's not rocket science, but that's not an excuse. That's everyone right now. Able to control clock more has been effort on offense. Done that in certain games. Went into that mode some Saturday night with number of people that were out. Becomes a team game. With a backup quarterback that maybe you're not as comfortable with trying to outscore someone all the time. To be up 21-6 at half and only have really 4 possessions in first half, got to feel good about where you are and your ability to move ball 2nd half. And we weren't able to do that.
UTSA has a lot of JUCO and FBS transfers on roster. What are you looking for in those type of guys when you have opportunity to come across those guys.
We've had tremendous success with transfers from other schools. Haven't had bunch of them but guys who have come here from 4-year institutions, every one of them has been someone we knew and recruited. Because of that we had prior relationship either before I got here or since we've been here. Think that's why guys who have transferred from 4-yr institutions have been good. Tra Carson, had relationship with him, just like we had with Brandon (Williams). Tried to recruit him at Houston. Same thing with Trevor Knight and Keith Ford. We knew something about them in high school. Knew their coaches and families. Transition is not so much a guessing game about why that guy is coming here. Knowing maybe more about their character and situation. Same thing with our JUCO guys. Guys that come here, some been recruited out of high school and some haven't but we usually have great relationships. Josh Reynolds, guy who came in here from junior college. Our two offensive linemen. Had really, really successful and positive experiences because of relationships we had before that and knowing more about them. Very rarely will we take a transfer from another 4-year institution that we don't know anything about. We get calls all the time from guys that want to come. If we really don't know much about you and your background and we can't have a relationship there we really don't go there. Few years ago can remember when Larry (Coker) was there UTSA had 31 seniors on team, because they'd just started the program. They were really good too. Had bunch of guys who'd transferred from all over place. Frank Wilson is an excellent recruiter. Great reputation throughout this region. Hard worker. Really personable guy. Great relationship with high school coaches. Was one of if not the lead recruiter for LSU when he was there. Future is bright. Got good situation. Knows what he's doing.
Rushing offense was really good mid point of season. Last 3 SEC games have had lower numbers. More of combination of injuries to offensive line or case of teams have had more game film?
Could be combination of all those things. But for who we are we still have to be able to run the ball. Not an excuse. Injuries are not excuse in this league at this point in year. Got to be more creative with what we're doing. Last game without presence of Trevor we were getting different defense, where maybe we have to block everybody instead of reading one or two guys. Changes some things schematically but we still have to be who we are. Haven't been that team last few games. Different reasons for that.
Can you all use Jake (Hubenak) the way you used Trevor.
Different guy. Not a 4.5 guy like Trevor. And he's built little bit differently than Trevor, taking hits and such. Put it that way. Not saying he's not strong, just built differently. He can run. Early you saw them make an adjustment. Were playing more man-to-man early. Saw less of that with Trevor. Did see it early in year. Theory was play man-to-man, make Trevor be accurate. But when everyone's back was turned he was running behind you. That scared everyone out of that. Thought Jake was effective for what we asked him to do. He was not reason we lost the game. He had one turnover and it was at end of game when he was trying to make a play. Took care of ball. Scored on 3 out of really 4 possessions in first half. Gave us opportunity at end to win game, 80 yard drive and the touchdown pass to put us ahead (by 9). If you'd said that before game I think he would have taken that. It takes other people with the backup guy to come in and win football games. Not just defense. Talking offense, special teams, everybody. For him, it was knowing that going into it, asking him to be solid, do what we ask him to do and be solid. And he did that.
UTSA offense attack. Leading receivers from College Station.
Those guys have gotten loose last couple of games. Gone for quite a bit of yardage. Can really, really run. What you see right now is indicative of high school football in state of Texas. Used to be just what, 7, 8, 9 years ago there were only so many Division I programs in state. Now with large number of leagues teams are playing in, programs like UTSA and North Texas or others that used to be in FCS level, give kids in this state opportunity to stay home and play. Guys will be excited to play here. Played New Mexico State earlier in year, and was talking to their coach, their whole secondary was from Dallas/Ft Worth. Gives lot of guys in this state opportunity to play Division I football. Some guys are late bloomers also. Can't get them all. Those guys will be excited to play here, to be basically back home to play at Kyle Field.
Do you sense your guys in locker room lost any confidence last 2 weeks, and what is mindset of team is right now.
Mindset is what I said earlier. No one is happy. More anger than frustration if that makes sense. From that standpoint as coach in this situation that can be a good thing. Thought in critical situations in last couple of weeks we were a different team. Probably were a little bit tight, instead of being free-wheeling guys running around doing things they're needing to do. Didn't make plays last few weeks at end of game that we made earlier in year, in close games. From that standpoint that's something we be looked at as coaches. Talked about as staff. Talked about as team. Something that quite honestly sit down with our leadership guys on this team and talk about where you are, how you feel, and why is that. Do you feel pressure, do you feel this or that. Because we try and take that off of them. Play the free and loose style of football that was successful for us early and maybe we're not as tight as it's been last couple of weeks.
JOHN CHAVIS PRESS CONFERENCE
NOEL MAZZONE PRESS CONFERENCE
KEATON SUTHERLAND & SHANE TRIPUCKA