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00:00 So, obviously, struggle Saturday.
00:02 So, put your fingers on what went wrong.
00:04 Depends on how many fingers I got.
00:10 About everything that you could --
00:15 that couldn't go wrong.
00:17 You know, we went in with a really aggressive plan.
00:22 And, you know, at the end of the day, we didn't --
00:27 I don't want to say execution, it's just, you know,
00:30 they blocked us and made the plays.
00:32 And we had the most pressure we've sent all year.
00:35 I wanted to do that going in.
00:36 I wouldn't change the plan anyway.
00:38 I think you have to going into that environment
00:40 against that team.
00:42 You got to make them make the plays.
00:43 And they made them.
00:44 You know, what was frustrating for me was
00:46 when you have to adjust that
00:48 and you go back to what you've done
00:52 and what you've taught all year.
00:53 And, you know, we didn't execute,
00:56 you know, simple things.
00:58 And, you know, it's always you look at the execution
01:03 side of things, you look back at things,
01:04 well, we hadn't done that since this.
01:06 Or maybe you look back at summer or spring.
01:08 I mean, we did things we've never done
01:11 in some of our base stuff.
01:12 So, just, you know, didn't play very good.
01:14 Didn't play good at all.
01:15 There's no sugarcoating that.
01:17 There's no -- I could sit up here and hash out
01:21 and try to figure out the reasons why we just didn't.
01:23 And you hope those games don't show up.
01:27 When they do, you hope that you can come out of it.
01:29 And then we didn't.
01:30 So, but I still have belief in this group.
01:33 I've seen them at their best.
01:34 I've seen them when they're good.
01:35 And, you know, I don't feel any different about them.
01:38 We just didn't play good at all.
01:40 Cincinnati, what do they present?
01:46 You know, really good at running the ball.
01:47 You know, going back to our time at Troy,
01:49 Coach Satterfield was at App State.
01:51 Very, very similar style of offense.
01:53 What he likes to do.
01:56 You know, their statistics show that.
01:59 They're going to know who to block.
02:01 They're going to get you in some formations
02:03 and some motions to create angles and numbers.
02:07 And so they're really, really good at that.
02:08 Quarterback is a good runner.
02:12 He's a good thrower on the run.
02:13 Creates another set of issues.
02:14 So, I don't think their record is very indicative
02:17 of who they are and what they can be.
02:21 So, it's a big challenge for us.
02:24 You said outside zone is how they kind of base
02:26 everything off of play pass and whatnot.
02:29 Do you anticipate more passing from them?
02:31 Do you anticipate any tempo from them
02:33 based on what Oklahoma did?
02:34 Yeah, I think that -- I mean, I think --
02:37 I don't know if it's based on what Oklahoma did.
02:39 I think that's what you just said
02:40 is a basic part of their offense.
02:42 So, they're going to present that schematically.
02:46 And they have every week.
02:47 And I'm sure they're going to this week.
02:49 It's how they get to it with, like I said,
02:51 the formations and some of the motions.
02:53 And that'll be where they adjust a little bit.
02:56 So, we'll have to probably -- you know, just like everybody else,
02:59 you'll see something you haven't seen.
03:01 You'll have to adjust to it.
03:02 But schematically, it'll be -- I mean, they do what they do.
03:06 And they're good at it.
03:08 You talked with Coach Brown about how do you kind of adjust
03:12 on the fly and not allow the game to get away.
03:16 How difficult is that when it looks like an offense
03:18 is just not going to be stopped?
03:19 And then maybe did you try to do mid-game?
03:22 Or was it just not going to happen?
03:24 I mean, you always have to have answers
03:28 as you go throughout a game.
03:31 You know, the issue is when you keep trying to find --
03:36 you know, there's only -- you know, you can play zone.
03:39 You can play man. You can pressure.
03:40 You can drop eight.
03:41 And that's pretty much schematically, defensively,
03:43 what you can -- what anybody does.
03:45 How they do it and who's doing it is the only difference.
03:49 And then you just keep trying and trying.
03:53 And that's just one of those nights
03:54 where couldn't find it.
03:58 You know, tried to get them in.
04:00 Like I said, we went in aggressive.
04:03 It's probably the most we've pressured.
04:06 Like I said, they blocked us.
04:09 And, you know, quarterback made the throws, made the plays.
04:12 And so you adjust that, and it's the same thing.
04:16 And so, you know, you're not going to create
04:20 new defense in the middle of a game.
04:21 So -- but you have your answers going in,
04:23 and you just -- you're trying to find them any way you can.
04:26 I kind of asked Neil about this.
04:30 You look at you against Oklahoma State,
04:34 you against Central Florida, and then they play each other,
04:38 and it's exactly the opposite of what you might expect.
04:42 What's in your game there?
04:45 What happens in college football
04:46 that changes things so much like that?
04:49 If I had the answer to that, I wouldn't be sitting here.
04:53 Yeah.
04:56 You know, it's -- you know, and I spoke of this last week
04:59 a little bit with the environment
05:01 of college football, and there's so much --
05:04 there's so much parity.
05:07 And, you know, however you --
05:11 honestly, outside of probably the top
05:13 five, ten teams in the country,
05:15 and it's just a matter of from 18 to 22 years old,
05:20 like, how they're going to perform that day.
05:24 You know, I go back to last week.
05:25 I thought defensively it was one of our better weeks of practice.
05:28 I thought our preparation was good,
05:31 but it doesn't matter until you get to kickoff
05:33 and how you perform.
05:35 And that game's a prime example of another opponent
05:39 and how that can change,
05:40 and it's hot or cold, night or day,
05:43 however you want to look at it.
05:44 But like I said, if I had the answer to that one,
05:48 I would -- I may be in this building,
05:51 but I'd be in a different --
05:53 in some kind of psychology role, you know, so.
05:57 Is it getting at all more difficult to kind of gauge
06:01 how your team's going to play in your mind based on practice?
06:03 Because you and Neil both have said
06:05 you thought the practice was great this past week,
06:07 and then the result was not.
06:08 I mean, yeah, that's the only thing you got to go off of.
06:10 Before kickoff, you know, and it's --
06:15 and like I said earlier, it really --
06:17 it catches you off guard when you have --
06:20 or you feel that you have a good couple of days
06:23 or a good week leading up to a game,
06:24 and then the whole -- you know, when you --
06:27 and you see it, and usually you see it in pregame,
06:30 just with the demeanor or however, you know,
06:33 you gauge that.
06:36 But Saturday, I didn't --
06:37 honestly, I didn't know it until kickoff,
06:38 and I was just -- you know, you're just kind of like,
06:41 "What is this?"
06:43 And you do everything that you can,
06:45 whether it's on the sideline, adjust,
06:47 set them down, talk to them.
06:49 You do all the things you can to try to find the answers.
06:53 And, you know, I think it's just one of those things,
06:58 like it shows up, and, you know, some of the --
07:04 and really, you go back when you watch the tape,
07:06 and it's just some of the mistakes that you make,
07:08 and the mistakes and simple things that you,
07:12 you know, that you just -- you constantly work.
07:16 And a ton of things, like you see against our offense does.
07:20 We see it in spring, summer.
07:23 But, you know, at the end of the day, you know,
07:26 we have to go out there and perform, and we didn't.
07:29 And so -- but it's got to be better.
07:33 It just seems like the more difficult job these days
07:37 is following success and wins.
07:41 It seems like every time there's been issues
07:43 or a crisis or a problem, you guys have rallied.
07:46 And -- but the part is --
07:48 the hard part is when you're going through those periods
07:50 when you're successful, right?
07:52 Does that seem to be the issue?
07:53 Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, you could -- you could say that,
07:57 and you could look at that same Oklahoma team
07:59 and how they handle failure
08:03 in the same way, you know, it's just --
08:04 it's the total opposite.
08:07 And you just -- you don't --
08:11 you know, the tricky thing is trying to make --
08:15 is trying to get, you know,
08:16 a whole big group of people to understand what it takes 12
08:23 weeks, 13 weeks in a row to be at your best consistently.
08:27 And that's the trick.
08:28 And when you're not at your best,
08:30 how can you find a way to get out of it or win?
08:34 Not if whatever adversity strikes,
08:36 just win because it's going to.
08:38 And that could be throughout a season,
08:40 throughout a game, throughout a week, whatever it is.
08:42 And so, you know, and it's hard.
08:45 And it's really hard when it -- you know, like I --
08:49 I told Mike, like, when it --
08:51 you know, you shows up at kickoff.
08:54 But, you know, I mean, it's -- you got to think, you know,
08:58 these -- like, I didn't have to worry about this
09:00 when I was a player.
09:01 I didn't have the information and, you know,
09:04 like kids have now.
09:05 And a little bit of success, you know, there's a lot.
09:10 There's a lot they have to see, read, hear, all those things.
09:13 And they have to be able to put all that aside.
09:15 And it's really hard because it's constant.
09:17 You know, it's just constantly on them,
09:19 being fed to them whether it's social media.
09:21 I mean, it never stops, you know.
09:24 I mean, it's like when I grew up,
09:25 you watched SportsCenter Highlights at 8 a.m.
09:27 That's all you got, you know.
09:30 And I don't know if that's it.
09:31 I'm just using that as an example.
09:32 Well, I mean, like, it seems like in the old days,
09:34 you probably knew by Thursday
09:36 whether you're going to have it or not.
09:37 These days, you don't know up to game time.
09:40 Yeah, I mean, exactly.
09:41 So, Tuesday, Wednesday practice, we're focused,
09:44 and we're doing the things we're supposed to do.
09:46 And that shows up on Saturday.
09:47 Today doesn't always work that way.
09:49 I know. I mean, it's -- it's --
09:51 but, again, when it does, you know, you have to respond.
09:56 And you have to -- you have to find a way.
09:59 And that's, you know, I mean, you know, hell, I own it.
10:03 Like, it's coaching. It's leadership.
10:04 It's the whole thing.
10:06 When it -- you know, and if it happens Thursday,
10:07 you got -- you got 48 hours to figure it out.
10:09 If it happens Friday, you got 24 hours.
10:11 If it happens at kickoff, you got about 59 minutes
10:14 and 59 seconds to figure it out.
10:16 And so -- but at the end of the day,
10:19 like, we're better than that.
10:20 I know this group is better than that.
10:23 We didn't play well. Didn't play -- didn't play --
10:25 didn't play good. I mean, didn't do anything.
10:27 There's nothing on that video.
10:29 And our guys, they know that.
10:31 They're not telling them anything they don't know
10:33 or telling anything to y'all that I hadn't told them
10:35 that we didn't talk about yesterday.
10:37 But at the end of the day, that's why we come in here
10:38 yesterday. It's flush. It's gone.
10:42 And we have to look forward and be better and get better.
10:47 Talk to Coach Brown about this briefly.
10:49 Do you have any -- any thoughts on the sequence
10:51 kind of that almost unraveled with Wilson
10:53 and then they kind of looked like he almost
10:55 was kind of being targeted by one of the linemen
10:57 who was kind of roughing him up
10:58 and then got kicked out of the game?
11:00 Just that sequence of that.
11:01 Is the reason he got kicked out of the game.
11:03 Did you say anything to Wilson prior to that?
11:06 I mean, you get them over there and you calm them down.
11:08 You know, at the end of the day, like,
11:10 kid throws a dart across the middle,
11:13 and Anthony does exactly what his coach would do,
11:15 and that's dislodge ball from body.
11:17 You know, and how they feel about the kid getting hit,
11:22 you know, I can't answer for that.
11:24 You know, the quarterback, yeah, it was a clean hit.
11:26 Otherwise, the guy -- I understand.
11:28 The guy has to throw the flag. I totally understand that.
11:31 Like, any official in our league
11:33 and across college football is going to throw that flag.
11:36 I get it. It's bang, bang, bam, it's a big hit.
11:38 Kid lays there on the ground. I got no problem with that.
11:41 Now, it goes to review, comes back,
11:43 they pick the flag up because it was a clean hit.
11:46 Now, how they laid there and the quarterback running on there
11:49 and doing what he did, that's on them.
11:51 I can't control that.
11:52 All I know is a clean hit, and then, you know,
11:57 however the game's going, you know,
12:00 where you're at, what time the game is,
12:02 what logo you got on your helmet,
12:03 doesn't keep you from getting hit.
12:06 You know, so, you know, I like Anthony Wilson
12:08 not supposed to dislodge body from ball.
12:09 That's what his coach would do.
12:11 So, how they reacted to that, that's not my issue.
12:15 I think I've asked you this in a while,
12:16 but your freshmen that are red-shirted,
12:19 you've worked with them for four months or so.
12:21 Give us a little view of is Josiah on the field at all?
12:26 Where's James Hurd and his development?
12:28 These guys that are practicing and not playing.
12:30 So, I mean, we do our developmental work twice a week,
12:34 sometimes three times a week, depending on time and day
12:38 and whatnot.
12:39 Did some last night. They're doing fine.
12:43 When you say Josiah, are you asking about Trotter?
12:48 Yeah, I mean, I saw him doing a little bit of running
12:51 with him last week as far as trying to push off
12:55 and go full speed. He looked pretty good.
12:57 I don't know any kind of timetable on him,
13:01 but, you know, there's a couple of those young guys.
13:05 I think over the next couple of weeks,
13:06 he had an opportunity to see them.
13:07 You mentioned Hurd and try to find a role for him.
13:12 You know, Corey McIntyre is another D lineman
13:15 that has shown some promise.
13:17 The Jackson twins could possibly help us,
13:21 maybe in some special teams and some different roles.
13:25 And so, yeah, there's a couple of guys
13:27 that are coming along.
13:28 You know, Ryan Fisher is a guy that we knew had to come in,
13:31 a big, long-edge defender who has to let his strength
13:36 and his weight catch up with how much body he's got.
13:39 And he's coming along, especially in that light.
13:40 He's playing stronger.
13:42 You know, so we'll see.
13:44 I'm not that far into specifically Cincinnati
13:46 as far as a game plan and what we'll do,
13:48 but, you know, I would like to be able to use that
13:53 and still, you know, they're going to keep their red shirt,
13:55 but I'd still like to be able to find a role for them.
13:57 Yeah.
13:58 Because they have games left.
13:59 Sure. Yeah.
14:01 [Indistinct]
14:04 More than you normally do.
14:06 I guess why you mentioned the environment in that game
14:08 was just to maybe make some plays
14:09 and not be in their crosshairs as much.
14:11 Yeah, I mean, you know, we mentioned that last week
14:13 when I was asked about Dylan Gabriel,
14:15 and I said that the video and his stats
14:20 and what he's done speaks for itself.
14:21 And so, you know, I think you go into a game like that,
14:26 you know, he's good enough definitely to sit back
14:30 and you let him have, you know, a clean pocket and time.
14:36 He'll show you real quick how good he is.
14:38 And so, you know, the plan was to do exactly what you just said
14:43 and at the end of the day, he did it.
14:45 And credit to him. Credit to the offensive line.
14:47 Credit to him.
14:49 Credit to some of the throws that he made
14:51 and some tight coverage and some man coverage
14:54 and tight zone coverage with pressure in his face.
14:58 And a sign of a good player.
14:59 You know, that's, like I said, there's credit to him,
15:03 and he deserves the credit.
15:05 He's one of the better quarterbacks
15:07 we've played against in this season.
15:09 I don't know if it's like last night's stuff
15:10 and maybe you don't want to touch it again,
15:11 but the two teams you're playing left,
15:13 they've given up a number of sacks this year.
15:15 You don't have to blitz to get sacks,
15:17 but as the coordinator,
15:18 you have to be careful with your players or even yourself
15:20 about, you know, maybe not going back
15:22 to what didn't work Saturday.
15:24 Doesn't mean it won't work the next two,
15:25 but I don't know how you handle, like, the review and the --
15:27 Well, I mean, Mike, it always depends on,
15:30 you know, there's two -- You know, you all have heard me say
15:33 this, there's two ways to approach that,
15:37 and you really saw both of them Saturday night.
15:39 You know, we go out, come out, the first play of the game
15:43 is pressure and affect the throw
15:47 and probably one of the very few ones that we did.
15:50 Well, then you transition to where we really didn't want
15:53 to let them get, all right, inside the five-yard line
15:56 because we knew it would be hard
15:58 because now you've got a whole other set of issues
16:00 because that's where you get the quarterback runs
16:02 and the plus-one runs, and there's some pressures
16:05 that are good for that, and there's some
16:06 that you have to have --
16:09 You have to get a number back to whatever that formation may be.
16:12 You don't know what it's going to be until you get it,
16:14 and they had two new schemes inside that,
16:16 and again, on those --
16:18 We got them the third down inside the five-yard line
16:20 three times, actually four times,
16:24 and, you know, you just --
16:27 It's this quarterback, we call them plus-one runs,
16:30 and it's essentially man-for-man across the field
16:33 when you do that, and like I said,
16:35 some pressures are good, some pressures are bad.
16:38 One of the pressures we had was really good for it,
16:40 and one of them was not so good,
16:42 and they caught us in one of them on the second touchdown,
16:46 but that --
16:48 You know, in that situation, the same thing.
16:50 When it's that much pressure and it's one thing,
16:54 one gap, one guy, it can be tough.