Tulsa Hosts BYU in Home Opener Saturday
9/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 10, 2007
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa plays host to BYU on Saturday at 8:00 pm at Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium. Tckets can be purchased by calling the TU athletic ticket office at 918-631-4688 or online at tulsahurricane.com.
Head Coach Todd Graham discussed his team and its upcoming opponent, the BYU Cougars, at today's press conference.
OPENING STATEMENT
Naturally we went another week without getting beat, so we had a good week (Tulsa did not play this past weekend). I'm not sure I like having the off week second. I would have liked to have gotten back out there and worked out some of the kinks, but I think we had a great additional week - we don't call it an off week - but a great additional week of preparation and the kids worked very hard.
We had a major emphasis on getting better fundamentally. Naturally, some of the mistakes that we made in the first game, we've worked hard on correcting them. We focused on us and us getting better.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BYU?
BYU is a very good football team. One of the things I told our kids is that they're very mature physically and mentally. They're going to play 60 minutes. They went out and dominated Arizona in week one. They just physically dominated them on both sides of the ball in every phase. They're an extremely disciplined football team. They do not make mistakes. They're disciplined on what they're doing and let you make the mistakes.
They go out and got down 20-0 to UCLA and, really, if not for some takeaways and some penalties, they were capable of winning that football game and I thought they should have won that football game. They've won 11 of the last 12 games. I think they're probably one of the most underrated football teams in the country. I think they're a very good football team. They're very well-coached. They're very, very physical and they're very, very mature. We're going to have to play extremely well for 60 minutes. It's something we're looking forward to, (playing) a team the caliber of BYU coming in here.
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO LA-MONROE, YOU'RE OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE LINE WILL SEE MORE PHYSICAL PLAY AGAINST BYU? HOW MUCH OF THIS BATTLE WILL BE DONE IN THE TRENCHES?
I think it's huge. When you look at their offensive line, it's big and physical. They're all over 300 pounds and big, tall, physical guys. They're very mature as far as in age and what they're able to do. Our defensive line has to do a great job of being able to control the line of scrimmage. The key for us defensively, and where UCLA was able to be successful, is you have to stop the run. UCLA was able to do that. The strength of their team is in their three backs (Manase) Tonga, (Harvey) Unga and (Fui) Vakapuna, if I pronounced that right. No. 1, 45 and 11. I tell you, they are very, very physical backs and very physical runners and they're the key to what they're doing. We've got to control them and we've got to control the run and be able to stop the run.
Max Hall, the quarterback, really had an outstanding week against UCLA, especially in the second half. He was very capable and not asked to do a whole lot against Arizona because they ran the football and hit the backs out of the backfield at an effective rate. You take those backs, you take that offensive line ... They're very patient, too. They're patient about what they're doing.
We have to do a great job of tackling. One of the things that hurt Arizona and hurt us last year when we played them was missed tackles. We had the guys corralled up and these guys are going to make you tackle them. They're not going to go down. They're big, strong, lower-bodied guys. They're going to fight through tackles. We have to do a good job stopping the run. We have to tackle well. We have to take away their backs and the run game. We have to be physical to do that. We're going to have to get off the ball up front and be able to be physical.
Their receivers are very capable players. Austin Collie was a freshman All-American in 2004, then went on his mission. Now he's back and is very fast and is a sub 4.5 guy, and we think he's a 4.4 guy. He burned UCLA on a couple of different occasions, as well as No. 3 (Michael) Reed, who is a pretty good player as well that stretches the field vertically. They have very capable receivers that you can't just line up and play man on. Our philosophy is to play zone, play the run and break on the football. It's going to be a challenge for us.
We've got to really be disciplined in what we're doing. We need to eliminate the missed assignments in the run game and make sure we're gap-sound in what we're doing. We have to eliminate the things that kill you in field position. In our kicking game, we have to punt the football. We have to kick the ball off, not kick the ball out of bounds. We worked very hard on trying to correct those things. It's very important that we make them earn everything that they get, no cheap one-play drives.
Simply, in this game from a team standpoint and what we emphasize, is that we need to win the takeaway battle. That's the thing that happened last week to them. If not for the two turnovers that they had - the interception for a touchdown was a key in the game against UCLA - we have to win the takeaway battle. We have to be plus-three in that area.
And then it's going to boil down to scoring offense. We have to be able to move the football and score on them. And scoring defense, we have to make them earn it. One of the things UCLA did was make them try a couple of field goals down in the red zone and that goes back to scoring defense and the No. 1 factor is rushing defense. Louisiana-Monroe was a good team and ran for 267 yards or something like that against Clemson. This is a different deal. This is old smash-mouth football. They're going to be running downhill and we have to be ready for a 60-minute deal. I think we're in very good condition. We have to be up for that. It's going to be a very physical ball game, but basically scoring offense, scoring defense, takeaways and no stupid penalties will be the key to the game.
One of the things that were very critical in our first game is that we can't have is stupid 15-yard penalties ... and stuff like that. I was really proud of our offensive line. We didn't have any holding penalties and none of those drive-killer type penalties. On defense, we hit a guy out of bounds. We had a couple of personal foul penalties that you can't have. We have to really limit those. BYU had two personal foul penalties that were very critical in the UCLA game. Penalties and takeaways, you take those away, and they're on a 12-game winning streak.
Defensively, (Bryan) Kehl is a playmaker. He's a big-time football player. Their secondary is very sound in what they do and run extremely well to both sides of the field. Again, they're going to keep things in front of you and be very physical about what their doing.
They're struggling a little bit with their placekicker. He missed an extra point and a field goal. He's a new guy and a freshman. Their punter has averaged 40-41 yards a kick. We really need our kickers to step up in this game. It's very important. Field position is going to be very important.
We can't play from behind. We've got to go out and be successful early.
It's an exciting game. We're excited about it. Our coaches have been buzzing for a couple of weeks. It's really tough when you practice for so long, then you play one game and then you're off for 16 days. The kids are chomping at the bit. They've worked extremely hard. We've had great practices.
We had a lot of young guys out there, a lot of newcomers and we had a lot of the first-game jitters stuff that we need to make sure we don't have balls kicked out of bounds, stupid penalties and bad snaps - we snapped a bad snap for a touchdown - we cannot have any of that stuff. We've got to eliminate that. That's what our program is about. We're supposed to be a disciplined program as well. We're anxious to get back on the field and have our home opener against BYU. We're fired up about the opportunity we're going to have against a very, very good football team coming in here. They're physical, big and well-coached and we're going to have to play very good to win.
WITH MANY PEOPLE LOOKING AHEAD TO THE OKLAHOMA GAME, DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE OF TULSA TO COME TO THE GAME?
I don't think people are waiting for the (Oklahoma) game. I think we're going to have great attendance for BYU. There's a lot of excitement of what we're doing. I think we had a good showing with our opener against Louisiana-Monroe. I encourage everybody to come out. It's going to be an exciting game to watch. Both offenses are very exciting to watch and both defenses are similar in their approach. They're attacking defenses. I'd be very surprised if we didn't have a great crowd for this game. I'd encourage everyone to come out.
HOW DO YOU GET THE TEAM TO KEEP ITS EDGE DURING A 16-DAY LAYOFF?
We had a whole bunch of things to work on. This is a new program with a lot of things that we're doing in special teams and offense. One of the things that has been consistent has been the defense and what we're doing defensively. We had a lot of things in game one where you're going to make mistakes ... but we worked on us. We've really worked fundamentally on getting better and hard on blocking, on being physical blockers with our wideouts. We improved on our tackling on defense and wanted to make sure we eliminated errors.
We had about four days in full pads last week and really worked hard. We tried to get the speed, too. I don't like playing and being off the second week. You want to play. Some of those problems, you work them out as you play. I think we had a great week of additional preparation for BYU. The thing you also have to be careful about is that in week one, everyone is excited and you try to run a whole bunch of different schemes and all that stuff and we aren't going to do that. We worked on us getting better.
The kids are ready to get back on the field and start playing. They're excited about the home opener. The biggest thing that I told them that we have to do is ... we had six newcomers touching the ball last week, we have a new center snapping the ball in the shotgun and we're in the shotgun 80-85 percent of the time and going from an under-the-center offense. We've got to make sure we don't get too high or too low. The game lasts four hours and let's be focused and intense in the time we're in there.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE NEW TRADITIONS?
Some of the things that we're doing is we're allowing the parents, if they want to bring their little kids down to be part of the run through, they'll be able to come down on the field and reach out and touch Paul Smith or Tarrion Adams. We want to do that. We are Tulsa's team and we want our fans to have access and able to do that. I want little kids to come down on the field and create some memories for them and hopefully be a Tulsa fan.
We're trying to do things like that to bring our fan base in and make this an event on Saturday, not just a football game. The best thing about an event is if you win.
BYU HAD ALMOST 500 YARDS VS. UCLA, BUT NOT HOW MOST ENVISION BYU. THEY LIKE TO RUN IT MORE THAN PASS IT, BUT IN THAT GAME THEY PASSED FOR A LOT OF YARDS.
What happened is they got behind. I think they're very well-coached. They got out there and got behind in the first half. UCLA was doing some things and I think they made 2-3 great adjustments in the passing game that opened up some things and once they opened things up in the passing game, they hit them for some big runs. UCLA really sold out to stop the run and tried to hang on for the lead and were very fortunate they got away with a win. BYU was very capable of getting that win.
When you look at their stats, they're averaging 413 yards a game offensively and giving up 245. You should be 2-0 with that type of stat. The difference in the last game was they turned the football over. The interception for a touchdown was a key in the football game. One of the turnovers by a tight end late in the game was very controversial whether his knee was down or not. They had a personal foul penalty that killed a drive on the sideline. They had another personal foul penalty when they were coming out of their own end zone, which backed them back toward the end zone and made them be more conservative.
They're not a traditional offense at all. They're well-coached and will move the ball around. They're going to run the ball to set up the pass, but they're very capable of throwing it. Their quarterback got a hot hand last week and was very impressive. We're going to have to be very balanced about what we're doing. They're a team that you're going to have to play and coach against for 60 minutes. If you go into halftime with a lead, you better not relax. You better be making adjustments and ready to play. As the game goes on, we have to be ready to do that.
The biggest thing is we have to hold up physically. I think we can physically hold up. We have to minimize the time that they get the ball in space with their best guy against our less guy. They're very well-coached and I'm very familiar with what they do offensively. It's going to be one of those things where we have to work hard with our kids to get them in position to win. We also have to turn it loose and play. We have to eliminate the silly mistakes and we have to be disciplined. They're a physical team. What happened against Arizona is they killed them on a couple of plays when it looks like the guy's down and everyone stops and then the guy takes off. They had two 40-yard plus plays when they basically had him tackled, everyone stopped and then he breaks away.
They're very physical. They want to pound the ball at you and then hit you over the top with a vertical pass. When I talk about their offense, it's what I like. It's exactly what I want our offense to be. We want to be very physical in our approach and throw the ball vertical down the field and take what the defense gives us. We want to not turn the ball over. It's really odd that they had that many turnovers in one game. They are a very disciplined team that takes care of the football. That's been their tradition there.
THEY HAVEN'T BEEN PLAYING NOBODYS. UCLA IS RANKED AND ARIZONA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THIS YEAR.
Both of them were Pac-10 teams and UCLA is a very good football team. If you watched the game and studied the game, then you would see a tale of two halves. UCLA got after them in the first half and had a good plan, but BYU will not panic. They keep doing what they've been doing and go in and make adjustments and come out and totally dominate the second half. They only came away with 17 points. The reason why they only had 17 points was because of turnovers and penalties, which is uncharacteristic of their program.
Like I told you before, they are one of the most under-ranked teams in the country. They're a team that's been 11-2 and won 11 of the last 12. I see them as a top 25 team in the country. This is a deal where our kids know exactly what they're going into. This is to find out where you are. These guys have been playing against some big-time programs. They dominated Oregon in the bowl game last year. They've beaten some really quality teams. This is to measure where we're at as a program, to play a team like this. This is a great measuring stick.
COULD THIS MAKE A NATIONAL STATEMENT WITH A WIN?
No question. To go out and be successful against a BYU team would speak volumes of where we're at. But we can't have the mistakes like we had in our first game and can't turn the ball over and make things easier for them. We have to have be good in the kicking game and field position is going to be critical. It's going to be one of those games that for us to be successful, we have to make sure we don't make mistakes.
LAST YEAR THE DEFENSE GAVE UP 49 POINTS. THEY DON'T WANT TO DWELL ON THAT, BUT WHERE THEY BRUISED A BIT BY THAT?
No. I don't think kids think about last year. They're very upset about how that game went. I think if you go back and look, they turned the football over. If you turn the football over, that's going to happen. It's a tale of two halves. In the first half, it was a game. But in the second half, they just got hot and hit them, hit them, hit them. But, if you look at the film from a defensive standpoint, they got the ball on the plus-35 going in, the plus-40 going in and the 48-yard line going in. When you get those kinds of short fields and turn the football over against these guys, they're going to capitalize on it.
They're going to take their shots, also. You can't give them one-play drives. That's what hurt last year. We got hit on some one-play drives. Basically, the thing that really happened last year and I took out the film to show the kids, was how they had us outflanked several times last year. There was nobody in the d gap. They do a good job with formations. It's easier to critique somebody from last year and said you lined up wrong, but they can get you lined up wrong too. We have to be very disciplined about what we're doing. We need to do what we do and make sure we force them to beat us at what we do. We're going to line up, we're going to play and play zone coverage and make them earn it.
I do think that game left a sour taste in their mouth. I know Coach Patterson has a sour taste in his mouth. We're excited. This is our opportunity. We've got an opportunity and this is what you practice for. I'll be honest with you, I was real nervous last week. It was my first game back here and we were playing a team that we should beat, I thought, convincingly, and I thought we had a good showing.
To come back here and play BYU on national television for the second week in a row and have an opportunity to put our program on the map, this is what you play for and we'll find out where we're at.
BYU GOT THE IDEA TO RUN A WILD PASSING OFFENSE FROM THE 1960S TULSA TEAMS. DO YOU TALK TO YOUR TEAM ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TU?
You look at this building and that's why the graphics in this building are important because it's very important that you know what you're playing for. You have a cause in your heart. It's important that I know the history of Tulsa football and our players know it. Our players know of the history. We've talked about that. We've talked about the storied past of BYU. They are a national program with national prominence. To have an opportunity to go out there ... this could put our program on the map.
Our whole motto is we want to take this thing to the next level, and to do that, here it is. In the next two weeks, we're playing the best two teams on our schedule as far as how the national media looks at the next two teams.
We talk to our kids an awful lot about that. We have an honorary captain each week that is a former player that comes back and stays with us in the hotel and stays with us and speaks to our kids on Friday night. Coach (John) Cooper and Coach (Dave) Rader are going to come back as well and address our kids and stay with us in the hotel and be honorary coaches for some games. That's important.
What we're trying to do is establish tradition. You guys have heard about the rock and we're going to have that mounted on the side of the building where kids go out and touch that thing as they go on the field. Our program has a great past and great tradition. We need to re-emphasize that and teach it to our players. That's important that you know that. When you have a cause in your heart, I think you play better. My first meeting after the Louisiana-Monroe game, about BYU, we talked about their program. We talked about where they were in the national spotlight and what the opportunity is for us to put our program on the map and where we want to be.
HAVE YOU SELECTED AN HONORARY CAPTAIN FOR THE BYU GAME?
Mike Case is going to be our honorary coach for the game and we're still finalizing our honorary captain, which will be a former player. This week, with the Mike Case dedication, Mike has been an unbelievable difference maker in our program and I've talked to our kids about that. My office was across the street for three years and going from over there to over here is like night and day. I tell our kids every day to earn it. I don't want to dedicate the Case facility and not bring a victory for Mike Case and the people that's given so much to this program to get it where it's going.
