Steve Kragthorpe Quotes
9/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
About the Minnesota Loss:
"Obviously we are disappointed that we lost the football game, but I was very, very pleased with the effort of our players. I thought they battled for 60 minutes and that's what we talk about all the time. We can't control the opponent we play. We can't control the crowd and environment. But what we can control is our attitude and our effort and I thought our guys competed for 60 minutes. We are not a team that right now matches up with a team like Minnesota from a physical standpoint, but from a character standpoint, I thought our guys displayed a lot of character throughout the course of the game and I thought that was evident from the way we played throughout the fourth quarter."
What Did You See From That Game to Improve Upon:
"You get a chance to see some things on tape. It's the old cliche, like I said the other day, a picture is worth 1,000 words. And so, particularly for us, a new program and new regime, there are a lot of things that we say and a lot of things we can try to simulate in practice that are very, very difficult, but only a game tells you. I think it was a very, very valuable film for our players to see themselves perform in a new scheme against a quality opponent and I think the thing that you see is the fundamentals and techniques in a game, or lack thereof, are really magnified when you play a quality opponent like a Minnesota and like we will play this week in Arkansas because of the speed that they possess and the athleticism that their players have. So that's a big emphasis for us this week to continue to be a better fundamental team, a better technical team and do the things that hopefully put us in position to make plays."
What about Arkansas:
"They have a lot of depth and when you look at their entire offense and defense, you look for weaknesses and there aren't a lot of weaknesses on their team. They've got a lot of starters coming back off of a very good football team last year. It's interesting. You look at the Music City Bowl that they played Minnesota in last year. I thought at a lot of points and time in that game, I thought they outplayed Minnesota. But it's interesting. I thought there were a lot of points and time during that game, if you just turned on the tape and never saw the score, you would think that Arkansas would have won the football game. But it's crazy. The ball bounces a certain way and maybe things don't go your way and all of a sudden it doesn't come out like you would perceive it if you just looked at certain clips or certain plays. But I think they've got a heck of a team. They were SEC West champs last year and they are primed to have another great year this year with as many players as they have coming back off last year's team. I would look for them to be in that game again and maybe win it all."
What Offensively Do You Think You'll See From Arkansas:
"I think a little of both. Obviously, there is a little bit of a body of evidence because they have basically the same coaching staff that they had last year. The only addition, I think, is Roy (Wittke) coming in and taking David's spot. With that being said, I know they are probably going to try to throw the football a little bit more. I've heard rumors of involving the tight end a little bit more in the passing game and those things that Roy did at Eastern. I have known Roy a long time and I have a lot of respect for him. I think their personnel will allow them to do that, too. And the questions that keep coming up is who is going to be the quarterback? Are they going to play Matt out at wide receiver and Ryan is going to be the quarterback. There are a few unknowns because they haven't played a game yet and yet there are a few knowns because of what they have on tape. And I don't think they will make wholesale changes. They will make some wrinkles in terms of changes and those kind of things in their game plan. Obviously Houston does a great job of putting his best personnel on the field. But that will be a little bit of a challenge for us, and then the other thing that you are always prepared for when you basically could have two quarterbacks in the game at the same time are all those trick plays that are now available to their offense because you can put Ryan at quarterback and you still have Matt in there and reverse passes and all those kind of combinations that you can conceive in your mind as an offensive coach when you have both of those guys on the field at the same time. You've got to prepare yourself for those two."
Your Impressions of Arkansas Offensive Lineman Shawn Andrews:
"He's a heck of a player. A first-day draft choice and maybe a first-rounder, depending on how well he does this year. He's a big body that can move. He's what you are looking for. He's the prototype when you look at that position. He's a heck of a player."
Who Do you think will start at Quarterback for Arkansas:
"I really don't know. Gosh. I thought he did some great things last year as I looked at tape. He's got a lot of athleticism for a guy his size. I think, in my mind, if I was looking at it as an offensive coach, I would look at it more is Ryan (Sorahan) ready to be the guy rather than is Matt (Jones) not good enough to be the guy, because I think Matt has proven to me during the course of his career, he has played pretty well in the 14 games that he has started. So I guess the question is, is Ryan a good enough player at quarterback to facilitate a move of Matt playing more wide receiver and those kind of things. I guess from what I read into it, Ryan is having a heck of a fall camp. We'll be ready for both of them, in terms of both guys playing quarterback and we're ready for Matt to play receiver also."
How Did Your Team Bounce Back on Monday:
"I was very, very encouraged with the practice we had last night. We had a great practice last night. I was very pleased with the effort our players played with. I was very pleased that they were as resilient as they were. Hopefully, we don't have to be too resilient all year long. We would like to put ourselves in position to win some of these games. But I was very, very pleased with the attitude they came back to work with yesterday. There were a lot of guys around the office watching the film before we ever met officially as a team. I thought our attitude was excellent. Like I said, we can control only what we can control right now. We can't control the people we play. As you look to build a program, you can' get too short-sighted in terms of where you want to go. We want to build this thing and create a firm foundation for success here and I think we are on the way to doing that. The way I look at it is we are better coming out of fall camp than we were going into spring ball. And I think we were a better football team on Monday than we were on Saturday going into that game because I thought there were a lot of valuable lessons that we were able to take from that game and a lot of things we can point to the players and point to ourselves as coaches where there is room for improvement. The good thing is you look at those mistakes and they are all very, very correctable. We've got a challenge again this week. We are going to be physically outmatched this week. One thing I thought we did a good job of in the ball game against Minnesota is we didn't turn the ball over. But in order to beat a team like Minnesota and in order to beat a team like Arkansas, with where we are at right now, some things are going to have to go our way. Minnesota did a great job. They didn't turn the football over. We knew we were going to have to have some good things go our way and hopefully play on a short field on occasion and they did a good job of avoiding turnovers. We are going to have to have some breaks."
