Tulsa Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe Press Conference Quotes
9/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 27, 2005
Tulsa, Oklahoma -
Opening statement: "Obviously, it's good to be in the win column in our first Conference USA game. There is still a lot of work to be done by our football team, yet we are happy to come out with a victory in a hard fought battle. We knew that the game would be a very good challenge because we were playing a very good Memphis team. We played a very good Memphis team. I was pleased with the way our team played during all four quarters and then each of the possessions in overtime. I thought our defense really stepped up, especially late in the game, when we were unable to get a first down there when it was 31-31, and we punted the ball and they got the ball right around mid-field and had the wind behind them. They had a great field goal kicker for Memphis, we knew that if they got a first down that they would probably be within field goal range, I think that guy could have made a 55 or 60 yarder. Our team really stepped up there, especially in overtime. While I have to give a lot of credit to our defense, I also have to give credit to our crowd. I thought our crowd was awesome, maybe the play of the game was 4th-and-4 and our crowd is really into the game, and very loud at that point in time. They jump off sides and now it's 4th-and-9, those five yards are like five miles in that situation, particularly with that guy (DeAngelo Williams) in the backfield and that one-yard loss that we had, obviously figured into that equation. A 4th and 3 might be a little different scenario. Again I thought it was a great crowd, electric night at Skelly Stadium, the fans were really into it. It was much louder than the numbers would dictate in terms of just looking at it on a piece of paper, so again I have a great appreciation and thanks to our crowd for the way the responded to the way our team played on Saturday night."
Was Saturday's game the type of game that encourages people to come back to Skelly Stadium? "It was a very entertaining game, I don't think there is any question about it. It was one of those games like I said in the post-game news conference, if you did not really care who won, you would sit up there and say this was one heck of a football game. I cared who won, and I am glad that we did. I think a lot of people in the stands felt the same way. But it was definitely a game that was entertaining to watch. If you like offensive football, there were fireworks from both teams and if you like defensive football there were some key stops by both defenses at various points in times in the game. Where we needed to score a touchdown, they held us to a field goal late in the third quarter and then obviously the defensive stand that our team had in overtime. It was a very entertaining football game and that is what we said, that is our job as a football team and as a program is to get people to come watch us play we need to do something to get them to come back and I certainly think that we upheld our end of the bargain on Saturday night and hopefully they uphold theirs as we approach this Houston game in coming back and supporting our guys."
Talk about some of the critical points in the game: "There were really some critical points in the game. A big run was when Tarrion Adams ran right before the end of the first half to make it a 21-14 game. Then the first drive of the second half we were able to make it 28-14 in that situation. So I thought that we moved the ball well offensively and sustained some drives. I think we had two 80 yard drive's a 70 yard drive, and a drive in the 60's, so we did a good job controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling the clock. We tried to keep the ball out of their hands as much as we possibly could. We knew going into the game that a good defensive performance would include a good offensive performance and keeping the ball out of their #20s' hands and putting the ball into our #20s' hands."
Can you talk about the consistency of Paul Smith at quarterback? "Paul has played very consistently for us. He has done a good job of taking care of the football and obviously that is one of the things we encourage our quarterbacks and want our quarterbacks to do. To make sure that we are making good decisions, distributing the ball to the guys who can make good plays, and then again managing the game. Possession of the football is very important. We talk about it with our returners and we talk about it with our defenders. When we secure a turnover we want to maintain possession of the football and obviously when we have it offensively we want to do a great job of maintaining that possession and not turning it over. I thought that was critical in the game and we did a good job of that. We had one turnover, they had two turnovers that were pretty critical and if you look at the 4th down situation that is like a turnover also."
"Sometimes nothing is a better play than catastrophe. I think that is one of the things we encourage all of our players. We want to make plays, we want to be aggressive, we want to dictate the tempo of the game, but at the same token discretion is the often the better part of valor. By saying that, I mean that by pulling the ball down, sometimes a sack is the best available play or sometimes throwing the ball away is the best play available and it puts us in a position to have another snap possibly on offenses, if not then we can send our punt team out on to the field and hopefully change some field position. So, I think Paul has done a good job at managing the game and making good decisions, he needs to continue to do that."
On playing for a conference championship, do you think your team is on track? "Well, we had a good start, but that does not necessarily guarantee that we will have a good finish. We have to play well in each of these seven games to put ourselves in that position. These upcoming seven, and it starts with Houston. Chapter one is closed and chapter two opens when we take the practice field. It is certainly going to be a challenge. We knew going into the season that we had a lot of parity in our league and I think that is being played out in the games that we are seeing. Houston is a very explosive football team. They throw and catch the ball better than any team that we have played so far and they are also running the football well. They are very dynamic on offense; they do a lot of things from a formational to a personnel standpoint. They are going to put you in some stressful situations. They are a very well coached football team. As I look at their team, I think Kevin (Kolb) is as good a quarterback as we have played against. He's probably the best passer. He throws the ball deep extremely well and he has some guys that can go get it.
Did you have to work with the Houston coaching staff on them coming to town early? I did not really get involved with that a whole lot if that, because obviously we had a football game on Saturday against Memphis. So, I think are administration did a great job of that and obviously Judy's knowledge of the University of Tulsa and the city of Tulsa, I think helps as she facilitated a lot of those things through Conference USA. With our bus contract with Kincaid, they were able to go down to Houston and pick them up. We certainly want to help them in any way that we can, I know it is a tough situation to be displaced like that, but I think again we are doing everything we can in an effort to help them.
How much does the Houston offense look like Texas Tech? They do a few things similarly with their line-splits and some of those things, but Art has always been extremely creative on offense since the time he was an assistant coach in Texas high school football through his years at Stephenville, that are always very creative on offense. I know that because Stephenville was always one of the schools that I recruited when I was coaching at North Texas, so I would get to watch them on film and get to see them play live every now and then. They have always done a lot of neat things, and creative things on the offensive side of the ball. I think it is more, maybe taking a few things that they did with Mike at Tech. and utilizing them within the framework of Art's system that he has had in place for a number of years.
What are your thoughts after the Memphis game about DeAngelo Williams? Great player. I think DeAngelo is a very fine football player; he does so many things with the ball in his hands. He catches it out of the backfield. He had the big screenplay that got called back because of the holding penalty, but that was certainly a good play on his part. He's a guy that when you have him hemmed in, and you think you got him down, all of the sudden he's squirtin' out of there. Every time that guy touched the ball, I was holding my breath, and held it until you saw him hand the ball back to the official. Cause every time you thought you had him down, all the sudden he's poppin' out of there, and even on the last play of the game, you know until the referee stuck his foot in the ground and said, "Game...set...match," you know, I was sweatin' it.
Do you go in the game with an ideas of how many carries your running backs will get? A little of both. We have a plan in terms of when we're going to play guys. And after this series, or in this situation, but a lot of it is just dictated by the flow of the game, and who has a hot hand; who has a feel for what's going on. The thing we have going right now with those four guys, is that we have the ability that when one of them is a little bit banged up, or one of them gets a little bit winded, we can put another guy in the game or we can put two of them in the game at the same time in one of our personnel packages. It provides us a lot of flexibility and a tremendous amount of depth. Those guys are fresh in the fourth quarter, and they're still ready to make runs, and catch, and protect the ball, where as another guy, if he's already carried it 30 times in the game, maybe he's a little winded, maybe he's a little banged up, and he won't have as much depth to spell him. I think that is an area right now that we are going to continue to exploit -- is the abilities that those guys have You saw all four of those guys make plays the other night. Uril had a good game, Brandon did some good things, I mean obviously we talked about the run Tarrion made before half time that was critical, and Cauvey had a run on the third down there in the third quarter on a toss sweep. So all four of those guys are contributing in a big way.
Talk about the secondary and how they've performed as a group? Well, I think we are continuing to improve in the secondary, but we are going to have to continue to improve because we are going to play some teams now that can really throw the football. And I touched on it earlier, Houston is very, very dynamic on offense. They have an excellent quarterback. They've got a stable full of wide receivers. They've got backs that can catch it out of the backfield. Their tight end, Bassler, can catch it. They've got guys that can play at the skill positions, and they're good in the offensive line in terms of protecting the quarterback. So, we'll have, to date, the biggest challenge that we have had so far in defending a passing attack. We've played four teams that their primary mode of operating and moving the football, was to run it. This is the first team that we'll see, that passes the ball to set up the run. And so, we've got our hands full this week, there's no doubt about it. These guys are going to come in here and probably throw forty, fifty, times in this game, and they're very good at what they do.
Who anchors your defense? Well, there are a number of guys playing good football for us. I think Brandon Lohr is playing really well on defensive line for us, Walter Boyd's done some good things, and Chadd Evans is doing a good job of rushing the passer and becoming a more complete player. Our linebackers are playing well, Chris Chamberlain is doing a good job, and Nelson Coleman in his first significant starting position is doing well. Nick is playing good for us, both Nicks --Nick Graham and Nick Bunting. Bobby Klinck is doing some good things for us at safety; Bobby Blackshire is playing good for us. At the end of the season, I'll be able to answer that question better because again the body of evidence we have right now is pretty insignificant when you look at the big picture.
Have you seen redd-shirt freshman Roy Roberts improve since starting his first game at Oklahoma? Yeah, I mean obviously any time you're out on the field, you become a better player with those repetitions -- just because you recognize things, you understand the speed of the game. I think that Roy has done a good job for us. They went after him a little bit early in the game, and they made a couple nice plays on him. But the thing that impressed me most about Roy was the way that he responded, they continued to try and go after him, but he continued to go down the stretch.
What are your impressions of the Houston receivers? They can run, and we've played against a couple guys that can run. What I think you're going to see though in Houston is a group of receivers as a whole that are as fast as we've played this year, and they're going to put three or four of them on the field at the same time. Whereas, when Travis (Wilson) was out there, against OU, we knew he was the guy that we had to key in on. When Minnesota was out there, it was usually Wheelwright. When it was last week, it was #1 or #83, that we really had to kind of zero in on. You put these four guys on the field at the same time, and they've got some explosiveness. I think as a group, as I look at Houston's receivers, this is the most dynamic and most explosive group of receivers that we have played so far.
