Jimbo Fisher and players met with the media at the Aggies weekly press conference Monday inside the Kyle Field Media Center.
Coach Fisher's transcript and video of coach and players are available below.
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After evaluating the film, I think you saw what we saw on film, two very good football teams that played a tremendously hard-fought, physical football game. Opportunities on both sides to be significant in the game. Thought our kids competed, played, made adjustments. Stayed in the moment. Didn't allow frustrations, just kept playing, which when you're in a heavyweight fight like that, in all three phases, things are gonna happen. Keep competing, getting better, making adjustments, our will to win, our will to compete, our ability to get better as the game went on and the things we did, I thought were there. But we needed one more play. Like I say we've gotta find that 2% and we've gotta keep educating, got to get it out of these guys and get it out of our staff and get to that level. But that's a very good football team we played. Hats off to them.
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Defensively, I thought we were very physical up front, really disrupted the run game. Played the pass pretty well, pressured the passer at times very well. They made a couple downfield throws and hit some go routes that allowed them to get in there, and the field goal kicker made kicks. I thought offensively, they were disruptive on us in the first part of the game running the football. We were getting hats on hats, getting guys coming off blocks and not staying on movements and things, and as the game went on we gradually got better at that and gave Kellen time. We were able to execute in the passing game and move the football very well in the second half, especially at the end of the first half and then one other drive in the game. We had some weather and some field position issues early, but stayed in the game there and got better. Had a chance to get it at the end. Thought we could punt it and hold them but unfortunately they picked up a couple of first downs. That was one thing defensively, which we could have got those stops right there. Offensively, we had a drive we could have finished. But things happen and it is what it is. Special teams wise I thought their punter changed the field position on us a couple times really well, and we didn't put it quite as well early. Got some punts later, but didn't hit it as well early. They won some field position battles there. And then we gradually got that back and going to the second half we only punted one time, which was the last drive we had the ball, trying to pin them back. But in that regard they got one kick return, we didn't squeeze and got out of a lane, and that helped them set up a field goal one time. Then of course, unfortunately on offense we had a turn over there on a play…whether you're stopped or whether you're not, whatever, that's part of the game. You've gotta hold on the football. You can't give it up no matter what, if there's 7,000 people there. We had some opportunities there. Special teams wise, Quartney had a nice punt return. Ainias got his knee banged up and then he came back. But (Quartney) had a nice punt return, great to fill him in there and did a nice job. I thought Jhamon played a really good game on offense, catching the football. I thought Quartney had some plays. Wydermyer had some plays. In the running game we didn't get things going and we got behind and got success on first down throwing the football. We stayed with it and we were able to move the football very consistently. Unfortunately we had the short yardage that we didn't convert, which we'd been very, very good on all year. We'd had a tremendously high conversion rate and that was a big play in the game. The sneak, unfortunately on fourth down we had a guy slip through and come off a block. But you know, that's what happens in big heavyweight fights, there's other plays to be made. We kept battling, still gave ourselves a chance to be successful. Special teams all three phases, some things we gotta clean up. We got to get better at. We gotta find that 2% and get going.
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Georgia's a good football team, but I think we are too. And I think we're making a lot of strides. I think we're getting there, but there's no moral victories. We've got to get over the hump and find a way to make that one more play. We'll do a good job of that and coach them hard. The kids will play hard, and they'll respond and do the things we do because we've got to get ready. That game's behind us. It's over with. But I'm very proud of our kids. Our kids fought hard. We're pushing and challenging them very hard to get better. They're doing it. They're responding and doing everything we ask, we've just got to do a few little things better as coaches to help them get to that hump and get over the top of that mountain and we'll do well. But I'm proud of them.
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They've got to get ready this week because again we play a tremendous football team, the No. 1 team in the country in LSU. Very good football team in all three phases. Offensively, they've got receivers making plays all over the board. The front's very good. They have an excellent back who can run and catch the ball. Very dynamic. Tight end Moss does a great job. The three receivers 1, 2 and 6, and the other guys they've got are really good players. Burrow's a heck of a player. He's playing as good as any quarterback in a long time. I mean, 78% completion percentage? Man. That's amazing. Guys are catching the ball, but he's doing things and is savvy. They're doing a great job schematically and they've got good players. Defensively, very good players. You've got two or three first-round draft picks out there on that defense right now. They got guys who can affect you on the first level, affect you on the second level and affect you on the third level. A lot of experience. The kicking game is very good and very sound. Good returners. They're good all the way across the board and playing as good as anybody in America. Going down there it will be a tough environment. I've been there many times on the road and as the home team, so I know what it's like. They have great fans, great people and a great team. And we gotta put this one behind us really quickly and move on and get ready to play a tremendous LSU team on the road.
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As soon as LSU beat Arkansas they started talking very openly about trying to get revenge for last year. What is y'all's approach from your end in terms of how you treat that and can that kind of approach be detrimental?
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How each team approaches it is based on them. I can't speak for them or how it affects them or how it would affect them. It may help them or may not, I don't know. All I can worry about is us. And we're gonna prepare like we always do, get ready during the week. We know we have to play well, we know what kind of team they are. We know they're going to want to play us very well and we're gonna have to play very well. At the end of day, it's going to come down to how we play and we've gotta prepare to play, and that's what we'll do. We'll do it like we normally do and be ready to go.
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Two years ago when the team was heading to LSU it was kind of a low point for the program right before you got here. How have you seen the program change from that point when you got here to heading into this game this year?
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Well, I don't know much about that, I didn't study much back then. I just know from the first day I got here, our kids, they believe in what we're doing and how we're doing it, the consistency which we're doing it with, the physicality which we're playing with, the consistency…we've got to learn to make some more plays, but I love the way we're competing in games. I think defensively we've played much better, running the football on offense, and stopping the run on defense, and we've gotten more efficient all through all the phases of the game, I hope, in what we're getting better at. Sometimes it doesn't always show in wins a losses, but I think it is. I think we're recruiting very well. I think we had a great recruiting class last year. I love the guys we're recruiting right now. The future is bright and how we're competing and the experience we're getting. Some of these young players are really developing. You see them developing in front of us right now, and it is really fun to watch them do it. And I'm looking forward to coaching them here for a long time. So I think we're making strides in where we need to go.
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Is there some frustration within the program or with him that Braden didn't make the semifinals for the Ray Guy award again this year?
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I didn't realize it. I did not know that. I had no idea, I apologize. I guess I assumed he would. I mean, listen. The guy's as good as anybody I've ever been around, as good as there is out there and I think he'll make a lot of money in this game one day. I'm disappointed for him. You say that for a guy, but obviously there's other good players out there and you don't know, I don't mean to take anything away from them, I just know our guy's outstanding and does a great job. If there's a lot more better than him, wow.
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If you could speak to the year one to the next transformation of Burrow on what you're seeing on tape this year in this offense? And how much time do you even spend looking back on that game you played against them considering how much different they are?
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We review the game, and so you see tape of him periodically with people you you play during the year, and what they've done or whatever. I mean, last year I thought against us he was a great player. He played great that night running, throwing the football. I'm sure he's much more comfortable in what they do. I guess they've changed some of their schematics, I don't know the inner workings or how they do it or if they've just gotten better at it, I don't know. But I'm sure he's much more comfortable being in Baton Rouge. Remember, here's a guy who moved all the way across the country from Ohio to Louisiana and had to make adjustments. People don't take into account how that affects guys, and I'm sure he's more comfortable there. He's better there. He's obviously the leader of that team, and you can see it. I think the guy's playing outstanding football. He's playing as good as any quarterback I've seen in a long, long time.
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Jimbo, you were part of a couple of really big rivalries at Florida State. With this, I guess, being a rivalry game, what do those mean to the game of college football and how do you go about preparing your guys for those kinds of games?
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Well, I think first of all, when you go preparing for them, you prepare for them like any other game. And what I mean is this, you can't do anything more if you put in your heart and soul in it every week. It's about execution and keeping your emotions in check. Emotionally, you have to be high when you play and you have to have energy. You have to do that. But your emotions, you can't let them get out of whack. You've gotta keep your emotions intact to where you can play, wherever that threshold is for each individual and for us as an organization. Rivalries, I think they're great. To have rivalries, both teams have got to win games, you know what I mean? We won one last year and that can help get those things going. I like the direction our program's going and where we're going in the future. I'm sure we're gonna play consistently, we have such close proximity. Eventually it's gonna have a lot of bearing on what's going on in the West, and that's exciting because I think it's great for college football. When you have rivalries, the emotions, the people, the fans, the excitement, the joy…it's things you look forward to that people mark on their calendars. I think they're great for college football. I have been fortunate to be part of some tremendous, tremendous rivalries when I was at Auburn, when I was at Florida State, when I was at LSU, I mean, it's a blessing, and it's one of the great joys and things that go with being in this profession.
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Does it change your mindset as a play-caller at all when you're going up against a team that could put up points in a hurry like LSU?
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Yeah. I mean, listen, they're gonna score points. Defensively, you gotta play well, but you gotta understand that each game, you go in with a style of game you play. Defensively, how do we feel here? Offensively, how do you feel? Everyone gets caught up in, well, defense and offense. No. You're a football team. How are you gonna have success in the game? There's games that you go in and maybe it's bad weather. Maybe it's field position. You think it may be a lower scoring game. How you play the game, how you coach the game, how on offense…you've got to play to each other's strengths. Defense, if we go fast-paced, for instance, does that leave you on the field? Are your numbers, are your injuries okay? Can you handle the number of reps that would go with a fast-paced offense or a slow-down game or whatever it may be? We strategize that as a staff, and that's one of the first things we talk about, what do we think there, how do we feel, how do you think that approach, how can we help you, and how can you help us. That's talked about all the time. So how you call plays is very directly affected by how the other team plays not only defensively, but how they play offensively.
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With what you saw from the defense against Georgia, does that give you confidence going into playing such a dynamic offense?
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Well, yeah, it does. We played great there, but you gotta also say, you know, two different teams and how you match up, to what their strengths are against what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are to what their weaknesses are. That's the one thing about college football that's so different than pro football in my opinion. The diversity of what you see week to week is unbelievable. I think it's really why Lamar (Jackson) is having so much success in pro football. You don't see that, because everybody else is dropped back pass, run on first down…so that creates diversity. Mahomes was creating different diversity. In college football, you see that every week. You go from a running team to a spread team to an option team to…I mean different stuff. Defensively, we played good against a very good team. This will be a different dynamic, because the styles are totally different. But at the same time, it means, hopefully the diversity in which you recruit to and have, and Coach Elko does a great job in adjusting those things, and our offensive approach will all be part of how we handle all those things.
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Coach Orgeron was saying this morning that the game last year that they ran out of two-point plays and that Ensminger was saying, do we have any more?
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I feel his pain (laughing).
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They said that now they make a point every Thursday, practicing trick plays and two-point plays. And I'm curious…
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We practice two-point plays. We do a lot in our red zone stuff, when we work our red-zone plays, what we call our plus-five plays. We have plus-five throws, plus-10 throws, third-down throws, situations you've got to get to. third downs, red-zone throws. And then you have two-point plays. That's something that I've always been a part of and been able to do.
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Do you remember any kind of fun anecdotes like that from last year's game?
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In what regard?
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I don't know, you're talking to whoever on the headset and going what the hell?
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Yeah, a lot of times (laughing). I gotta do this again? I gotta come up with another one? You don't ever know. That's why I say every time you play, you gain or learn something about yourself, good or bad, in a game that hopefully you can take and process for the future in a situation. No one dreamed we'd sit there in seven overtimes. In the old days, you'd kept kicking. You didn't have to go for two. Now you gotta go for two so many times, and now you will because now the rules have changed the game, it just turns into two point plays. You could coach this game 70 years, and guess what? You'll be in a situation or something will come up and you'll go that has never happened before in 70 years. That's one of the things about sports and athletics that I think constantly draws us to it. We just don't know what's about to happen. You don't know the outcomes. You don't know what's there. And I think that's one of the things about sports that makes it so great in America and why we as a country love our athletics so much.
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Do you anticipate having Ainias and Elijah available this weekend?
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I definitely think Ainias for sure. Elijah will be more questionable. We'll have to wait and see how the week goes.
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And then I was wondering if you'd had any kind of communication with the SEC office about some of the calls and if you could share anything.
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We have, we have. Listen, I have my opinion on things. They have their opinion on things. They're the experts on those things. They'll make the adjustments, what's right, what's wrong, and you'll voice, your opinion. Like I say guys, that's part of the game. You have to make your own breaks a football team and as a coach. You can't rely on well, they missed the call and blame that. As a football team, as a player, you do what you have to do. But also, I don't ever think anybody does anything wrong on purpose. I mean that wholeheartedly. But you hope they do it right because…listen. People say it's about you as a coach or the program. No. It's about the kids. Those kids have blood, sweat and tears for 12 games a year. It happens in ball, missed calls. Whatever it is, you have to make your own way. Those guys in the SEC office will make the adjustments and what they think is right, what they think is wrong and they'll make the corrections with their staff. You just hate it for your players. But it happens in ball. It's part of football. It's not a crutch. You don't rely on it. You can't worry about the spilled milk. It's over with. You gotta make your own way, especially if you're gonna beat good teams on the road and not let those situations get away. There's some things I didn't agree with, or I thought should have been called or not called. But, that happens all the time, and that's part of our game and what we have to deal with. And my job is to find a way to not let those things matter.
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Did they acknowledge any mistakes?
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Every game, when you send things in, there's acknowledged mistakes. It's like us. Every call you make, every play that a player makes, is every player graded at 100%? That just doesn't happen. But yeah, they acknowledged some things they thought should have been called differently, but hey, that's that.
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You alluded to earlier how tough it is to play at Tiger Stadium. You've been on both sides of that, coaching there and on the opposing side. What to you makes it such a difficult place to play?
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I think it's very much like here. There's such a passion. The people there genuinely love LSU. There's a love in that state for LSU. It's the flagship university. They live, eat, breathe by their having success. Those people are fun loving, great people. Both my kids were born in Baton Rouge. I understand. I lived there for seven years. It was a great place. It really was. And they have true passion for what they do and have passion for their state, their university. A lot of those kids are home grown kids, so they have it there. They want to win. The environment, the atmosphere…football is important there. It's one of the great venues in college football and we're fortunate to be able to play in it. It's genuine.
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The first half of last game, it was pouring down rain at times and there's rain in the forecast this Saturday. Do you guys do anything in particular to prepare for that?
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Oh yeah. We practice with wet balls. We do drills. We throw wet balls. We do inside drills with wet balls. We snap wet balls. We punt wet balls. We kick wet balls. Actually Thursday it was starting to rain a little and I was trying to get out there and practice in the rain. Football is a game of conditions. Wind, different things. Every week we do wet ball drills. We soak the balls, snap them, handle them, whether it's dry or not, you always work for it. But then those weeks you know it's going to be wet we try to do extra drills and more things with him as much as we possibly can. And that was a good thing, for the most part, we had the one turnover which we gotta hold on to, but far as ball security and things like that on a very wet, dreary day I thought we did a pretty solid job. Unfortunately we had the one, which is still one too many.
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Your false starts and delay of games, how much of that possibly was the crowd or being on the road?
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Noise, a little bit. The first two delays, I thought we got the first one off. Because the rule is as they look down, they can't see it, so they see it go zero and they look and see if it's kind of being snapped, which I thought it was. We felt comfortable getting it off. But they said it wasn't. The second one, we went out and looked up, had time, and he checked real quick and lost track of the time. It was just a just complete mess up. The others are very disappointing, because we do crowd noise. We do that a lot. Anxious, anxiety, jumped…what's funny is it wasn't the same guy twice. Everybody took a turn. We haven't had those, as I say, self-inflicted, pre-snap wounds that affect you. And those are unacceptable, They're unacceptable. We practice them, we do them. Is there noise with the crowd? Yes, because it's just different. But listen, you play in this league, that's part of it. You can't have that. All of them but one was by guys who had experience, which was the disappointing thing.
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Could it help that you have back-to-back games, the fact you're going on the road again after just playing on the road?
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Hopefully it will, because we can correct those right directly after that and get it, because you're gonna be the same kind of noisy environment and atmosphere. And you know those things are on myself. I can't allow those things to happen. We've got to coach them better so those things don't happen.
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Jhamon, his family's all from Baton Rouge down there. He was committed there. 63 catches for 840, maybe a little underappreciated regionally, nationally. But what's been the key to his emergence as an upperclassman?
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Let me tell you something, his character, his intelligence and his toughness. The guy's a total team guy. Smart guy. Learns. Can be put in different positions, do different roles, can catch it, can block, can run different routes. Likes the physicality of the game. Is a tough sucker. He's very competitive, he's intelligent and he has high character. Whatever he has to do for this team, he will do. I have tremendous, tremendous respect for him as a human being. And he's one of the true leaders we have. Last year he played, remember he got hurt, and he came back and you say, well, he only had three catches. Look at what he did blocking. Look at where we put him. He does so many things…Even though he's out front with all these catches, he's a guy who could go get the numbers and want to be the superstar. But he'll go do all the little things a lot of people don't like to do and think, well, that's beneath me at times. I'm just saying in our society. He is a true, true team guy that I can't say enough good things about. Tremendous character. Tremendous human being.
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Coach Orgeron talked today about the importance of recruiting Houston. How often do you cross paths with LSU in Houston and East Texas? And does that raise the stakes of this game?
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Yeah. I mean, I think it always is with people who are on your borders…when we were at LSU we always tried to get into Houston, we always tried to get into Texas. I mean, you're in Louisiana, that's the closest place that had great players. Houston, you've got three million people. Unfortunately, everybody in America is in Houston. We need to set a rule to keep them out (laughing). That is a big part, and it does affect the game. I think it's very important. We do cross paths with them quite a bit in Houston and in different areas, East Texas, Dallas, all over different area, even nationally, Because as we go, as we're branding out more national to get kids, We bump into each other a lot. I mean a whole lot. But you know what's funny, the kids today and recruiting. I've seen in the last I'll say, 30 years I've been in Division I football, when I was at Auburn, man who ever won that Alabama/Auburn game, it was unbelievably significant how recruiting would come into that. But in the last 10 to 12 years, I mean, they love it, they want to be a part of it, But a lot of them say, Okay, they got problems. I can play there earlier. It's funny how the dynamic has changed because it used to be, hey, I'm going there, we'll win. I don't care about redshirting a year. We're gonna play and I'm gonna be good. Now, it's can I get on the field and how quick can I get out? But it is very important in these games, and you've gotta win your games, But the same time, it's funny how in recruiting our society's changed a little bit in that regard. I used to see it effect recruiting, I'm talking in the 90s, early 2000s, who won games a lot of times affected a lot of that. I think it still does, because listen, the good teams still get good players, they're still recruiting well, it's still about the product on the field. But I think it's a little less now as much as it used to be years ago, if that makes any sense. Because everybody now was what can I make, what can I do real quick. But it's still very important, there's no doubt.
Coach Fisher's transcript and video of coach and players are available below.
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After evaluating the film, I think you saw what we saw on film, two very good football teams that played a tremendously hard-fought, physical football game. Opportunities on both sides to be significant in the game. Thought our kids competed, played, made adjustments. Stayed in the moment. Didn't allow frustrations, just kept playing, which when you're in a heavyweight fight like that, in all three phases, things are gonna happen. Keep competing, getting better, making adjustments, our will to win, our will to compete, our ability to get better as the game went on and the things we did, I thought were there. But we needed one more play. Like I say we've gotta find that 2% and we've gotta keep educating, got to get it out of these guys and get it out of our staff and get to that level. But that's a very good football team we played. Hats off to them.
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Defensively, I thought we were very physical up front, really disrupted the run game. Played the pass pretty well, pressured the passer at times very well. They made a couple downfield throws and hit some go routes that allowed them to get in there, and the field goal kicker made kicks. I thought offensively, they were disruptive on us in the first part of the game running the football. We were getting hats on hats, getting guys coming off blocks and not staying on movements and things, and as the game went on we gradually got better at that and gave Kellen time. We were able to execute in the passing game and move the football very well in the second half, especially at the end of the first half and then one other drive in the game. We had some weather and some field position issues early, but stayed in the game there and got better. Had a chance to get it at the end. Thought we could punt it and hold them but unfortunately they picked up a couple of first downs. That was one thing defensively, which we could have got those stops right there. Offensively, we had a drive we could have finished. But things happen and it is what it is. Special teams wise I thought their punter changed the field position on us a couple times really well, and we didn't put it quite as well early. Got some punts later, but didn't hit it as well early. They won some field position battles there. And then we gradually got that back and going to the second half we only punted one time, which was the last drive we had the ball, trying to pin them back. But in that regard they got one kick return, we didn't squeeze and got out of a lane, and that helped them set up a field goal one time. Then of course, unfortunately on offense we had a turn over there on a play…whether you're stopped or whether you're not, whatever, that's part of the game. You've gotta hold on the football. You can't give it up no matter what, if there's 7,000 people there. We had some opportunities there. Special teams wise, Quartney had a nice punt return. Ainias got his knee banged up and then he came back. But (Quartney) had a nice punt return, great to fill him in there and did a nice job. I thought Jhamon played a really good game on offense, catching the football. I thought Quartney had some plays. Wydermyer had some plays. In the running game we didn't get things going and we got behind and got success on first down throwing the football. We stayed with it and we were able to move the football very consistently. Unfortunately we had the short yardage that we didn't convert, which we'd been very, very good on all year. We'd had a tremendously high conversion rate and that was a big play in the game. The sneak, unfortunately on fourth down we had a guy slip through and come off a block. But you know, that's what happens in big heavyweight fights, there's other plays to be made. We kept battling, still gave ourselves a chance to be successful. Special teams all three phases, some things we gotta clean up. We got to get better at. We gotta find that 2% and get going.
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Georgia's a good football team, but I think we are too. And I think we're making a lot of strides. I think we're getting there, but there's no moral victories. We've got to get over the hump and find a way to make that one more play. We'll do a good job of that and coach them hard. The kids will play hard, and they'll respond and do the things we do because we've got to get ready. That game's behind us. It's over with. But I'm very proud of our kids. Our kids fought hard. We're pushing and challenging them very hard to get better. They're doing it. They're responding and doing everything we ask, we've just got to do a few little things better as coaches to help them get to that hump and get over the top of that mountain and we'll do well. But I'm proud of them.
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They've got to get ready this week because again we play a tremendous football team, the No. 1 team in the country in LSU. Very good football team in all three phases. Offensively, they've got receivers making plays all over the board. The front's very good. They have an excellent back who can run and catch the ball. Very dynamic. Tight end Moss does a great job. The three receivers 1, 2 and 6, and the other guys they've got are really good players. Burrow's a heck of a player. He's playing as good as any quarterback in a long time. I mean, 78% completion percentage? Man. That's amazing. Guys are catching the ball, but he's doing things and is savvy. They're doing a great job schematically and they've got good players. Defensively, very good players. You've got two or three first-round draft picks out there on that defense right now. They got guys who can affect you on the first level, affect you on the second level and affect you on the third level. A lot of experience. The kicking game is very good and very sound. Good returners. They're good all the way across the board and playing as good as anybody in America. Going down there it will be a tough environment. I've been there many times on the road and as the home team, so I know what it's like. They have great fans, great people and a great team. And we gotta put this one behind us really quickly and move on and get ready to play a tremendous LSU team on the road.
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As soon as LSU beat Arkansas they started talking very openly about trying to get revenge for last year. What is y'all's approach from your end in terms of how you treat that and can that kind of approach be detrimental?
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How each team approaches it is based on them. I can't speak for them or how it affects them or how it would affect them. It may help them or may not, I don't know. All I can worry about is us. And we're gonna prepare like we always do, get ready during the week. We know we have to play well, we know what kind of team they are. We know they're going to want to play us very well and we're gonna have to play very well. At the end of day, it's going to come down to how we play and we've gotta prepare to play, and that's what we'll do. We'll do it like we normally do and be ready to go.
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Two years ago when the team was heading to LSU it was kind of a low point for the program right before you got here. How have you seen the program change from that point when you got here to heading into this game this year?
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Well, I don't know much about that, I didn't study much back then. I just know from the first day I got here, our kids, they believe in what we're doing and how we're doing it, the consistency which we're doing it with, the physicality which we're playing with, the consistency…we've got to learn to make some more plays, but I love the way we're competing in games. I think defensively we've played much better, running the football on offense, and stopping the run on defense, and we've gotten more efficient all through all the phases of the game, I hope, in what we're getting better at. Sometimes it doesn't always show in wins a losses, but I think it is. I think we're recruiting very well. I think we had a great recruiting class last year. I love the guys we're recruiting right now. The future is bright and how we're competing and the experience we're getting. Some of these young players are really developing. You see them developing in front of us right now, and it is really fun to watch them do it. And I'm looking forward to coaching them here for a long time. So I think we're making strides in where we need to go.
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Is there some frustration within the program or with him that Braden didn't make the semifinals for the Ray Guy award again this year?
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I didn't realize it. I did not know that. I had no idea, I apologize. I guess I assumed he would. I mean, listen. The guy's as good as anybody I've ever been around, as good as there is out there and I think he'll make a lot of money in this game one day. I'm disappointed for him. You say that for a guy, but obviously there's other good players out there and you don't know, I don't mean to take anything away from them, I just know our guy's outstanding and does a great job. If there's a lot more better than him, wow.
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If you could speak to the year one to the next transformation of Burrow on what you're seeing on tape this year in this offense? And how much time do you even spend looking back on that game you played against them considering how much different they are?
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We review the game, and so you see tape of him periodically with people you you play during the year, and what they've done or whatever. I mean, last year I thought against us he was a great player. He played great that night running, throwing the football. I'm sure he's much more comfortable in what they do. I guess they've changed some of their schematics, I don't know the inner workings or how they do it or if they've just gotten better at it, I don't know. But I'm sure he's much more comfortable being in Baton Rouge. Remember, here's a guy who moved all the way across the country from Ohio to Louisiana and had to make adjustments. People don't take into account how that affects guys, and I'm sure he's more comfortable there. He's better there. He's obviously the leader of that team, and you can see it. I think the guy's playing outstanding football. He's playing as good as any quarterback I've seen in a long, long time.
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Jimbo, you were part of a couple of really big rivalries at Florida State. With this, I guess, being a rivalry game, what do those mean to the game of college football and how do you go about preparing your guys for those kinds of games?
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Well, I think first of all, when you go preparing for them, you prepare for them like any other game. And what I mean is this, you can't do anything more if you put in your heart and soul in it every week. It's about execution and keeping your emotions in check. Emotionally, you have to be high when you play and you have to have energy. You have to do that. But your emotions, you can't let them get out of whack. You've gotta keep your emotions intact to where you can play, wherever that threshold is for each individual and for us as an organization. Rivalries, I think they're great. To have rivalries, both teams have got to win games, you know what I mean? We won one last year and that can help get those things going. I like the direction our program's going and where we're going in the future. I'm sure we're gonna play consistently, we have such close proximity. Eventually it's gonna have a lot of bearing on what's going on in the West, and that's exciting because I think it's great for college football. When you have rivalries, the emotions, the people, the fans, the excitement, the joy…it's things you look forward to that people mark on their calendars. I think they're great for college football. I have been fortunate to be part of some tremendous, tremendous rivalries when I was at Auburn, when I was at Florida State, when I was at LSU, I mean, it's a blessing, and it's one of the great joys and things that go with being in this profession.
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Does it change your mindset as a play-caller at all when you're going up against a team that could put up points in a hurry like LSU?
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Yeah. I mean, listen, they're gonna score points. Defensively, you gotta play well, but you gotta understand that each game, you go in with a style of game you play. Defensively, how do we feel here? Offensively, how do you feel? Everyone gets caught up in, well, defense and offense. No. You're a football team. How are you gonna have success in the game? There's games that you go in and maybe it's bad weather. Maybe it's field position. You think it may be a lower scoring game. How you play the game, how you coach the game, how on offense…you've got to play to each other's strengths. Defense, if we go fast-paced, for instance, does that leave you on the field? Are your numbers, are your injuries okay? Can you handle the number of reps that would go with a fast-paced offense or a slow-down game or whatever it may be? We strategize that as a staff, and that's one of the first things we talk about, what do we think there, how do we feel, how do you think that approach, how can we help you, and how can you help us. That's talked about all the time. So how you call plays is very directly affected by how the other team plays not only defensively, but how they play offensively.
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With what you saw from the defense against Georgia, does that give you confidence going into playing such a dynamic offense?
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Well, yeah, it does. We played great there, but you gotta also say, you know, two different teams and how you match up, to what their strengths are against what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are to what their weaknesses are. That's the one thing about college football that's so different than pro football in my opinion. The diversity of what you see week to week is unbelievable. I think it's really why Lamar (Jackson) is having so much success in pro football. You don't see that, because everybody else is dropped back pass, run on first down…so that creates diversity. Mahomes was creating different diversity. In college football, you see that every week. You go from a running team to a spread team to an option team to…I mean different stuff. Defensively, we played good against a very good team. This will be a different dynamic, because the styles are totally different. But at the same time, it means, hopefully the diversity in which you recruit to and have, and Coach Elko does a great job in adjusting those things, and our offensive approach will all be part of how we handle all those things.
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Coach Orgeron was saying this morning that the game last year that they ran out of two-point plays and that Ensminger was saying, do we have any more?
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I feel his pain (laughing).
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They said that now they make a point every Thursday, practicing trick plays and two-point plays. And I'm curious…
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We practice two-point plays. We do a lot in our red zone stuff, when we work our red-zone plays, what we call our plus-five plays. We have plus-five throws, plus-10 throws, third-down throws, situations you've got to get to. third downs, red-zone throws. And then you have two-point plays. That's something that I've always been a part of and been able to do.
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Do you remember any kind of fun anecdotes like that from last year's game?
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In what regard?
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I don't know, you're talking to whoever on the headset and going what the hell?
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Yeah, a lot of times (laughing). I gotta do this again? I gotta come up with another one? You don't ever know. That's why I say every time you play, you gain or learn something about yourself, good or bad, in a game that hopefully you can take and process for the future in a situation. No one dreamed we'd sit there in seven overtimes. In the old days, you'd kept kicking. You didn't have to go for two. Now you gotta go for two so many times, and now you will because now the rules have changed the game, it just turns into two point plays. You could coach this game 70 years, and guess what? You'll be in a situation or something will come up and you'll go that has never happened before in 70 years. That's one of the things about sports and athletics that I think constantly draws us to it. We just don't know what's about to happen. You don't know the outcomes. You don't know what's there. And I think that's one of the things about sports that makes it so great in America and why we as a country love our athletics so much.
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Do you anticipate having Ainias and Elijah available this weekend?
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I definitely think Ainias for sure. Elijah will be more questionable. We'll have to wait and see how the week goes.
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And then I was wondering if you'd had any kind of communication with the SEC office about some of the calls and if you could share anything.
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We have, we have. Listen, I have my opinion on things. They have their opinion on things. They're the experts on those things. They'll make the adjustments, what's right, what's wrong, and you'll voice, your opinion. Like I say guys, that's part of the game. You have to make your own breaks a football team and as a coach. You can't rely on well, they missed the call and blame that. As a football team, as a player, you do what you have to do. But also, I don't ever think anybody does anything wrong on purpose. I mean that wholeheartedly. But you hope they do it right because…listen. People say it's about you as a coach or the program. No. It's about the kids. Those kids have blood, sweat and tears for 12 games a year. It happens in ball, missed calls. Whatever it is, you have to make your own way. Those guys in the SEC office will make the adjustments and what they think is right, what they think is wrong and they'll make the corrections with their staff. You just hate it for your players. But it happens in ball. It's part of football. It's not a crutch. You don't rely on it. You can't worry about the spilled milk. It's over with. You gotta make your own way, especially if you're gonna beat good teams on the road and not let those situations get away. There's some things I didn't agree with, or I thought should have been called or not called. But, that happens all the time, and that's part of our game and what we have to deal with. And my job is to find a way to not let those things matter.
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Did they acknowledge any mistakes?
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Every game, when you send things in, there's acknowledged mistakes. It's like us. Every call you make, every play that a player makes, is every player graded at 100%? That just doesn't happen. But yeah, they acknowledged some things they thought should have been called differently, but hey, that's that.
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You alluded to earlier how tough it is to play at Tiger Stadium. You've been on both sides of that, coaching there and on the opposing side. What to you makes it such a difficult place to play?
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I think it's very much like here. There's such a passion. The people there genuinely love LSU. There's a love in that state for LSU. It's the flagship university. They live, eat, breathe by their having success. Those people are fun loving, great people. Both my kids were born in Baton Rouge. I understand. I lived there for seven years. It was a great place. It really was. And they have true passion for what they do and have passion for their state, their university. A lot of those kids are home grown kids, so they have it there. They want to win. The environment, the atmosphere…football is important there. It's one of the great venues in college football and we're fortunate to be able to play in it. It's genuine.
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The first half of last game, it was pouring down rain at times and there's rain in the forecast this Saturday. Do you guys do anything in particular to prepare for that?
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Oh yeah. We practice with wet balls. We do drills. We throw wet balls. We do inside drills with wet balls. We snap wet balls. We punt wet balls. We kick wet balls. Actually Thursday it was starting to rain a little and I was trying to get out there and practice in the rain. Football is a game of conditions. Wind, different things. Every week we do wet ball drills. We soak the balls, snap them, handle them, whether it's dry or not, you always work for it. But then those weeks you know it's going to be wet we try to do extra drills and more things with him as much as we possibly can. And that was a good thing, for the most part, we had the one turnover which we gotta hold on to, but far as ball security and things like that on a very wet, dreary day I thought we did a pretty solid job. Unfortunately we had the one, which is still one too many.
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Your false starts and delay of games, how much of that possibly was the crowd or being on the road?
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Noise, a little bit. The first two delays, I thought we got the first one off. Because the rule is as they look down, they can't see it, so they see it go zero and they look and see if it's kind of being snapped, which I thought it was. We felt comfortable getting it off. But they said it wasn't. The second one, we went out and looked up, had time, and he checked real quick and lost track of the time. It was just a just complete mess up. The others are very disappointing, because we do crowd noise. We do that a lot. Anxious, anxiety, jumped…what's funny is it wasn't the same guy twice. Everybody took a turn. We haven't had those, as I say, self-inflicted, pre-snap wounds that affect you. And those are unacceptable, They're unacceptable. We practice them, we do them. Is there noise with the crowd? Yes, because it's just different. But listen, you play in this league, that's part of it. You can't have that. All of them but one was by guys who had experience, which was the disappointing thing.
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Could it help that you have back-to-back games, the fact you're going on the road again after just playing on the road?
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Hopefully it will, because we can correct those right directly after that and get it, because you're gonna be the same kind of noisy environment and atmosphere. And you know those things are on myself. I can't allow those things to happen. We've got to coach them better so those things don't happen.
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Jhamon, his family's all from Baton Rouge down there. He was committed there. 63 catches for 840, maybe a little underappreciated regionally, nationally. But what's been the key to his emergence as an upperclassman?
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Let me tell you something, his character, his intelligence and his toughness. The guy's a total team guy. Smart guy. Learns. Can be put in different positions, do different roles, can catch it, can block, can run different routes. Likes the physicality of the game. Is a tough sucker. He's very competitive, he's intelligent and he has high character. Whatever he has to do for this team, he will do. I have tremendous, tremendous respect for him as a human being. And he's one of the true leaders we have. Last year he played, remember he got hurt, and he came back and you say, well, he only had three catches. Look at what he did blocking. Look at where we put him. He does so many things…Even though he's out front with all these catches, he's a guy who could go get the numbers and want to be the superstar. But he'll go do all the little things a lot of people don't like to do and think, well, that's beneath me at times. I'm just saying in our society. He is a true, true team guy that I can't say enough good things about. Tremendous character. Tremendous human being.
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Coach Orgeron talked today about the importance of recruiting Houston. How often do you cross paths with LSU in Houston and East Texas? And does that raise the stakes of this game?
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Yeah. I mean, I think it always is with people who are on your borders…when we were at LSU we always tried to get into Houston, we always tried to get into Texas. I mean, you're in Louisiana, that's the closest place that had great players. Houston, you've got three million people. Unfortunately, everybody in America is in Houston. We need to set a rule to keep them out (laughing). That is a big part, and it does affect the game. I think it's very important. We do cross paths with them quite a bit in Houston and in different areas, East Texas, Dallas, all over different area, even nationally, Because as we go, as we're branding out more national to get kids, We bump into each other a lot. I mean a whole lot. But you know what's funny, the kids today and recruiting. I've seen in the last I'll say, 30 years I've been in Division I football, when I was at Auburn, man who ever won that Alabama/Auburn game, it was unbelievably significant how recruiting would come into that. But in the last 10 to 12 years, I mean, they love it, they want to be a part of it, But a lot of them say, Okay, they got problems. I can play there earlier. It's funny how the dynamic has changed because it used to be, hey, I'm going there, we'll win. I don't care about redshirting a year. We're gonna play and I'm gonna be good. Now, it's can I get on the field and how quick can I get out? But it is very important in these games, and you've gotta win your games, But the same time, it's funny how in recruiting our society's changed a little bit in that regard. I used to see it effect recruiting, I'm talking in the 90s, early 2000s, who won games a lot of times affected a lot of that. I think it still does, because listen, the good teams still get good players, they're still recruiting well, it's still about the product on the field. But I think it's a little less now as much as it used to be years ago, if that makes any sense. Because everybody now was what can I make, what can I do real quick. But it's still very important, there's no doubt.