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00:00 - Arden, Eric, Jordan, after, you know,
00:04 good start to the season defensively,
00:07 maybe a month of struggles, all of a sudden,
00:08 back in form, pinpoint why you guys
00:11 were better this past week.
00:13 - Well, I think any time that you get a little bit
00:19 into your depth, depending on what that depth looks like,
00:22 or our depth happens to be young at some key areas,
00:26 and so, you know, the only teacher
00:30 for youth and depth that is young
00:35 is time and reps and being able to play, you know?
00:38 And so I think that's probably the biggest thing,
00:41 is the more they play, the more the game slows down.
00:46 And so, and I think that's the biggest thing,
00:49 just experience, the more experience they get,
00:50 the better they play.
00:52 Just like, you know, as you go throughout your career.
00:55 And so I think that's probably the biggest thing.
00:58 You know, I had to go back to, you know, some fundamentals,
01:02 which you usually, at some point in the middle,
01:05 toward the middle end of the season,
01:06 you always have to do.
01:07 And, you know, everybody always,
01:11 I got asked last week about tackling,
01:13 you know, and that's always the hardest one.
01:16 You know, how do you, when you're in your depth,
01:19 how do you practice, you know,
01:19 you have to be creative with how you practice that.
01:22 And so we changed up some things that we were doing.
01:26 You can't go out there and go full speed with, you know,
01:29 with your ones or your twos that now become your ones,
01:31 and, you know, just beat the crap out of them for two days.
01:34 You can't do that,
01:35 but you got to be creative with how you do it.
01:36 And so we had some good thoughts from our coaches
01:41 and guys talked around college football.
01:43 And so we were able to improve on those things.
01:46 And that's probably the biggest thing.
01:48 - Yeah, when you start putting down a list
01:50 of the hardest things to do today in college football,
01:53 shutouts is right up there.
01:55 And you guys are really close to getting one.
01:58 What, you got to be happy with that,
02:01 first of all, with your guys,
02:03 but what did you tell them?
02:04 What was the message when they got that late one?
02:06 - No, I mean, you know, you can,
02:08 you can let your, you know,
02:13 pride or ego or whatever you want to say,
02:14 get in the way, or you can understand that you need to,
02:17 there's guys out there that need to get rips.
02:20 You need to get rips off of other guys in the situation.
02:23 And so you just hope that,
02:25 that anybody in that situation,
02:26 when their number's called, they perform.
02:28 And, you know, we actually, the touchdown play,
02:31 we actually worked that play a ton,
02:35 but never in that formation,
02:40 in that field zone against that coverage.
02:42 And so they really, they really kind of had us there.
02:44 We worked it, they had been out in the field,
02:48 we played for them.
02:49 And so, you know, we weren't,
02:52 wasn't trying to really scheme that up.
02:54 I'd like for the kids to have a shutout,
02:56 but at the end of the day,
02:57 I'm not about to play starters.
03:01 It was six minutes ago, up 37 points.
03:03 - I mean, they tried a 50-yard field goal,
03:05 really, when the game was out of hand anyway,
03:06 to avoid the shutout.
03:08 - Right, yeah.
03:09 - I mean, so that part,
03:10 so that speaks well to what your kids did defensively.
03:13 - Yeah, I mean, they did.
03:13 They played, well, played hard, number one,
03:17 played fundamentally as good as we probably have all year,
03:22 played with a lot of energy.
03:25 I thought our crowd was great,
03:27 thought our stadium was great.
03:28 They fed off of it.
03:29 And they come out, and they come out on fire,
03:33 and they never look back.
03:34 And credit to them and all of our coaches
03:38 for getting them to that point.
03:41 And so I was really, really proud of them.
03:43 Like I said, I'd like to have the shutout,
03:46 but common sense and what's ahead takes over.
03:49 - One more here.
03:50 You mentioned the depth.
03:51 Is that the biggest lesson that you guys learned
03:54 when you got into this league,
03:56 and it's what maybe the new teams in this league's learning,
03:59 that you're gonna have to go through your depth,
04:01 you're gonna have to have a deep roster?
04:03 'Cause I know BYU was running out of players
04:05 in that game on Saturday.
04:06 - Yeah, I mean, I think everybody,
04:08 and not trying to go on the state of college football rant,
04:13 but you look at it, everything funnels up.
04:17 And if I look at, and always people wanna compare
04:24 to the NFL model, there's a reason there's only 32 teams,
04:27 and they dress 43 or whatever it is, 53 roster spots.
04:32 And there's not that many guys that are that talented enough
04:35 to play at that level.
04:36 Well, if you apply that to Power Five,
04:38 now you got 85 jobs available at every single team.
04:42 And so as everything funnels up,
04:44 from the bottom to the mid to the top of college football,
04:51 that's where, here's an example,
04:54 and I won't say the school,
04:55 we recruited a Porter linebacker in this cycle.
04:59 And if you look at it,
05:02 if you fast forward it to the situation,
05:04 here's a kid who's coming from a small level of ball,
05:08 would have ended up more than likely
05:10 being a significant contributor here, okay?
05:13 And maybe even a starter, who knows?
05:16 He goes to one of the top programs in the country
05:21 and he plays five snaps a game.
05:22 So that would be a significant quality depth for us.
05:29 And honestly, BYU, Oklahoma State, Iowa State,
05:36 everybody right there.
05:39 So that's what the environment creates.
05:43 And so when you get into it,
05:45 you hope it's not, the depth is depth,
05:50 but you just hope it's not young.
05:51 And I'm talking about young as in true freshmen,
05:54 who on average are not ready for that situation yet
06:00 in their career.
06:02 They're more than likely they will be.
06:03 There's a reason they're there.
06:04 They're good players,
06:05 that's a lot on a young kid.
06:07 So, you know, that's,
06:10 you know, I think everybody's fighting that same battle,
06:14 like you said, across college football.
06:16 - Biggest difference you notice in Anthony Wilson
06:21 from UCF to BYU?
06:22 - Oh, it's really just confidence in what he's doing.
06:26 You know, I think that it's obviously
06:31 a different style of offense.
06:34 You know, those types of offenses that UCF does,
06:37 you know, especially in the run game with RPOs
06:39 and then the plays off it,
06:40 man, they stress safeties, they really do.
06:43 Puts them in some tough situations sometimes.
06:46 I think that, you know,
06:50 the biggest thing for him was confidence
06:54 in his fundamentals.
06:55 You know, he's one of our hardest hitters.
06:57 He's one of our hardest players.
06:59 He's one of our best tacklers.
07:00 And just that game, you know, for whatever reason,
07:02 it kind of,
07:03 so we really just got back to basics
07:05 and he come out and did a bunch of simple things
07:09 really good and it just carried over throughout the game.
07:13 - Aubrey Burks, the trail play,
07:16 noticing the ball, punching it out,
07:18 recovering the fumble.
07:19 That's his great coaching, right?
07:20 - Yeah, yeah, I'll take credit.
07:23 I'm gonna take credit for that one.
07:24 No, that's just, I mean, Aubrey's a,
07:27 he's a heads player.
07:28 He's a player that plays with a significant,
07:30 you know, a lot of awareness on the situation.
07:34 And he understands when those opportunities
07:36 present themselves.
07:37 And what a lot of guys don't is they do a lot,
07:40 you know what I mean?
07:40 The trail in the ball is, you know,
07:44 and I don't think, you know, receivers are,
07:47 some of them are, some of them have poor ball security,
07:49 but on average, you know, they don't.
07:51 And he just, man, Aubrey's a strong handed kid
07:54 and goes in there and rips the ball out.
07:55 It's a huge play, huge play in the game
07:58 right before halftime.
07:59 So, I mean, that's, you know, Aubrey,
08:01 and Aubrey makes a ton of plays like that
08:03 that never show up on a stat sheet,
08:05 whether it's the run fit, whether it's leverage
08:07 and perimeter throws and passes and things like that.
08:11 And that's just his, he's a real headsy football player.
08:14 - So, Aubrey talked a little bit about how
08:17 once he came back, he knew mentally
08:19 he had to just go back to his job.
08:20 He couldn't be hesitant about being hurt again.
08:23 But you did mention that he,
08:24 when he first came back, he might've been
08:27 a little less than 100%, just 'cause that's natural.
08:30 Where do you think he is now?
08:31 Like, what kind of, is that, is that an example?
08:33 - Yeah, I mean, I think his play,
08:34 I think his play tells you where he's at.
08:37 He's, you know, he's all the way back.
08:39 And, I mean, you gotta think now.
08:40 I mean, kid, you know, doesn't really know
08:44 on the field what the extent of what's going on.
08:48 And you're on a board and you're going through
08:50 the whole protocol, which is totally fine.
08:52 I mean, it's what should happen.
08:54 And mentally, you know, where he, you know,
08:58 has to get back to.
08:59 And so it's totally understandable, you know,
09:01 where he was, we expected that.
09:03 But I think his play tells you where he's at now.
09:06 - Oklahoma, where do they present offensively?
09:09 - A lot.
09:12 (laughs)
09:14 They're always, they've always been good on offense.
09:19 You know, at least, always, really.
09:23 I mean, you look at the history of it
09:24 and it's just kind of their MO.
09:27 And they've been a little bit different every year
09:28 based on their personnel.
09:29 So one of the things I think they've always done well
09:32 is cater the offense to their personnel,
09:35 whether it's running backs, receivers,
09:37 even tight ends sometimes, especially to the quarterback.
09:40 Think the history, you know, speaks for itself there.
09:44 Very similar to a style like a UCF,
09:48 where they get you in so many different ways.
09:53 You always hear me talk about split you in half
09:55 and get you to both sides.
09:58 So you just have to, your eye discipline has to be,
10:01 you know, where it needs to be.
10:03 And then you have to, you know, you have to fit,
10:07 you know, whatever your responsibility is,
10:12 but at the same time, you may be a guy
10:13 that is being in a conflict with an RPO.
10:15 So it makes you tough.
10:17 They present a lot.
10:17 You know, we've been, most everybody at some point
10:21 in our league has this style of offense
10:23 or the ability to get to this style of offense.
10:25 So there's a lot of things that we have seen.
10:28 You know, they're very explosive.
10:30 So there's going to be some pieces in their offense
10:32 that are better than some pieces we've faced.
10:34 Schematically, there's a lot of things
10:35 that we have faced, though.
10:37 - Offensive line, Oklahoma comparable to Penn State?
10:40 - Yeah, I would say, I mean, talent wise, yes.
10:45 Schematically, totally different.
10:48 And so there's some, you know,
10:52 they're as talented as anybody that,
10:55 across the whole five, as we've played.
10:58 They're just different, you know?
10:58 - Is Chalice to your defensive line this week
11:01 with these guys, would you say?
11:03 - I mean, you have to stay on edges against them.
11:07 You can't sit in there and try to play,
11:10 try to play, you know, I won't say necessarily
11:15 down the middle, but you have to get on edge
11:19 and you have to penetrate quickly.
11:22 Otherwise, they kind of, you know,
11:26 what they try to do a lot of times
11:27 is kind of collect you, and they're really big,
11:31 which that allows that a little bit easier to do.
11:35 So you just have to, you have to do, you know,
11:38 again, like I talked about with Anthony,
11:40 he had a lot of simple things really, really well,
11:43 and they make you do it,
11:44 and then that's what makes it hard.
11:46 - You haven't mentioned the quarterback yet.
11:48 - Sorry?
11:50 - You haven't mentioned the quarterback yet.
11:51 - Oh, I mean, I don't think I have to.
11:53 I think his play speaks for itself.
11:56 I mean, he's been in that system
11:59 all the way back to when he was at UCF.
12:01 His numbers, his play, his video, his stats,
12:03 all of it kind of speaks for itself.
12:05 I mean, he makes them go, you know?
12:07 He, with his feet and his arm,
12:10 presents some different things
12:11 'cause he can RPO the defense as a left-hander
12:15 from any point on the field, any side, any hash,
12:19 and so it just keeps you straight up honest
12:21 in what you're trying to do coverage-wise.
12:23 So, yeah, I mean, his play,
12:26 he's one of the better ones we've seen.
12:29 - Is it fair to say if you were gonna manufacture
12:33 some depth, then it was gonna have to be
12:34 like through Caden doing what you're doing with Jacoby,
12:37 and I guess getting Austin Cade back to you.
12:40 Like, there weren't a lot of buttons you could push.
12:42 Those three of them, and a little bit
12:44 can make a difference there.
12:45 - Say that one more time, Mike.
12:47 - Yeah, it doesn't sound like you had a lot of options
12:48 to create depth on defense, but getting Caden to play,
12:51 Austin Cade back a little bit,
12:53 using Jacoby as a corner to move Malachi,
12:55 that's, I don't know if that's the most you could do,
12:57 but it's probably close, but little things,
13:00 but making as big of a difference for depth as you could.
13:03 - Yeah, I mean, you're always,
13:05 you just go off of play counts,
13:07 and you kind of have an idea.
13:09 Through, whether it's the two or three years into a career,
13:14 maybe it's a couple games in a season,
13:16 kind of where you need to be with your starters,
13:20 play count wise, and so any situation where you can,
13:25 whatever the, whoever the depth is that you can use,
13:30 10 plays is great, five plays is great,
13:32 15 plays is great, anything that you can,
13:34 where you can get those reps,
13:38 and it may be in special teams too,
13:40 and get those full speed reps,
13:41 especially cover teams, off of those guys,
13:44 it obviously helps, and especially in our situation,
13:49 where we have been at linebacker,
13:50 to be able to get those guys in,
13:52 I mean, it's a tremendous help,
13:54 especially down the stretch,
13:55 and when you're going to play,
13:58 majority of your games are going to be decided
14:00 in the last quarter, and probably less than,
14:03 around one scorer probably most of the time,
14:07 so yeah, it helps.
14:08 - One of the linebackers you got back,
14:10 Tariq Austin, K, got some snaps this past week,
14:13 so where is he, how much does it help,
14:15 just to get another body in
14:17 that you can utilize at linebacker?
14:19 - Yeah, I mean, it helps a lot,
14:21 I mean, any time that you've been,
14:23 you've been out as long as he has,
14:26 I mean, it's obviously, there's some rust to knock off,
14:28 there's just simple things, seeing his keys,
14:33 fitting where he's supposed to,
14:34 getting to his landmark and his drop
14:36 where he's supposed to, you know,
14:38 the practice is practice, but until that,
14:40 you know, you get full speed,
14:42 like, you're going to have some rust there,
14:44 but it helps a lot to get him back,
14:46 and like I said, whether it's, you know,
14:49 five, 10, 15, whatever the reps are,
14:51 it doesn't hurt at all.
14:52 - You guys have been kind of a streaky defense,
14:56 there was a stretch, a four-game stretch
14:57 where you were dominant,
14:59 and a two-game stretch where you struggled a little bit,
15:01 and now you've kind of got it turned again.
15:03 How did you get it turned,
15:05 and what's different from that stretch
15:06 where you were struggling?
15:08 - And I think, you know, like I said about the depth,
15:10 it's experience for those guys.
15:13 Now, I think that going back to
15:17 to that time frame when we were, I mean,
15:22 it's really, overall, for the whole group,
15:27 it was focus and finish.
15:29 You know, we had opportunities in both the games
15:32 where we didn't play up to our standard
15:34 to finish and win the game, and we didn't do it.
15:37 And I think it was understanding that every,
15:40 you know, all those plays matter in our league,
15:43 and it doesn't matter who, what time, where, when,
15:46 the day of the week, it just doesn't matter.
15:49 And so I think that that was probably the biggest thing.
15:53 And we just let some simple things, you know,
15:57 kind of go to the wayside that we work all the time,
16:01 but you just have to, you gotta stay focused,
16:04 and you have to continue to improve as the season goes.
16:06 It's always the hardest thing to do.
16:08 And I said this during that time frame,
16:10 is you gotta learn how, you gotta handle success.
16:12 Handling success is harder than handling failure.
16:14 It's easy to handle failure if you're a competitor.
16:16 You get beat, you come back, you regroup.
16:18 But when you have success, it's,
16:20 can you essentially regroup and continue to improve?
16:24 And that's the hardest thing.
16:26 And now we've come back, kind of bounced back.
16:28 I mean, that kind of shows you, you know,
16:31 especially when you start playing young guys,
16:33 about the growth of those guys as they go
16:35 throughout the season, they understand that.
16:37 You hope they do sooner or later,
16:38 but that's probably the biggest things.
16:40 - Okay, thanks Coach.