Press Conference Quotes: Jimbo Fisher
After evaluating the film, there are plenty of things we need to fix and get better at. We played in spurts. We did not play as well consistently and it’s, as I always try to say, doing ordinary thing better and becoming more fundamentally sound in the way we do things. On offense, we actually did not have a three-and-out in the first half. We moved the ball, we moved the ball to midfield and did not execute on a couple drives, missed a couple blocks. Even though they were scoring points, if we had gone and kicked two or three field goals, or responded with some kind of points or momentum it would have been much better. We had too many penalties, too many costly penalties at crucial times in the game. We need to play much more consistent. The way they play, they force you to throw the ball. It was a game where we needed to catch and run and execute, we didn’t do a good enough job in our runs. We didn’t have as many clean runs.
Saying all that, we were down 17-0 and that thing could have gotten real ugly real quick. We got better as the game went on. Our offensive line, I thought, got better once we got into the game. We got back to 17-10 with 7:50 left in the third quarter. We battled back and got back there. I’m proud of the kids the way they did that, but we didn’t finish.
On special teams, our punter did a really good job. He has five punts inside the 20 and he averaged 46 yards per punt. He did a tremendous job with field position. We had no punt returns, their punter punted the ball really well too. He punted it high and we didn’t get returns. We had one good kickoff return, the one we could return we popped all the way out to the 36. None of our kickoffs went out of the end zone, from a field position battle.
We play on long fields, you have to execute, you have to drive. When teams play big, umbrella coverages you have to execute long drives or catch and runs, and we have to do a better job of that. We have to have some more clean looks for our backs to get through. We just have to play better. I’m disappointed, but at the same time there are a lot of good things that happened in the game and its one game. We can’t let one game become two. We have to come back and practice with even better habits. Hopefully get a couple buys back if we can, and play more consistent all the way across the board in all three phases.
We have a very tough opponent this week in Mississippi State. They are playing outstanding defense right now, I think they are giving up 71 yards per game rushing. They are experienced, they are physical up front and they have a very physical secondary. Offensively, you know Mike [Leach] is going to throw it. [Will] Rogers is completing about 75-percent of his passes right now. They have had some tough luck in some tough games, some close games that could go either way. It’s going to be a tough games, so we need to get cleaned up, clean the mistakes up from this game and get ready for Mississippi State.
On the standard in practice …
We are preparing, but the standard of how to take care of the details, we aren’t detailed enough or we would play that way. Why is that? Some of that is experience, some of that is youth, some of that is new guys are different, critical positions in different moments of the game because you are rotating guys. We are playing freshmen linemen, young receivers, a young new quarterback. Is that an excuse? No. You still have to meet the standard of what you have to do because that’s when your opportunity calls. That’s what I tell those guys all the time. You either wait to play or prepare to play. The one thing you can give a guy is experience. Experience, he has to get it in the saddle. At the same time, I was proud of the way they battled back and got better during the game in my opinion. We got to that critical moment, but we just couldn’t get over [the hump]. That goes for both sides, offense and defense. We have a little more experience on defense, but we gave up things. We can’t get behind 17-0 right off the bat. If we didn’t get that fourth-down stop it could have been 24-0. We have to learn to get out of the both in both phases and play better and execute better. And more importantly, practice better. You can always play better, and you can always practice better. That standard is getting better. Last week, I thought, was one of the best ones we’ve had, but still, as you can see, we have to push that level with these young guys and make sure we can execute at the critical times.
On whether the team is getting frustrated with the way they are playing …
We’re not frustrated. I’m disappointed because we could play better, but we’re not frustrated. Frustration can’t set in, frustration clouds your thinking. You can be disappointed about what you do, but you have to keep your head up in how you coach and what you do. We know we can do the things we are trying to do, but we just have to do them better.
