OPENING STATEMENT:

“We got off to a good start against Cincinnati, took the ball right down the field on them and scored a touchdown. After that we just weren’t able to do some of the things we wanted to do and credit to Cincinnati, who’s a really good and undefeated football team at this point in time. One thing is, you see our guys getting better. The one thing is we are just so young and we need to keep encouraging our guys, show them how they are getting better in doing the things that will put them in position to break through and get some wins here. I’m pleased with their overall attitude and effort. We have another tough one this week when we play Memphis, a very talented football team that presents a tremendous opportunity, but also presents a tremendous challenge for us.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS GAME, DO YOU POINT OUT TO YOUR TEAM THAT IT COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN TIED AT THE HALF?:

“I think that’s what happens sometimes when you have a young team and you haven’t had a lot of success in the program in the previous six years where all of a sudden you have that opportunity. I felt we should have been tied or ahead when we went into halftime. We had an opportunity, didn’t get the touchdown, miss the field goal and then they score right before the half. The job of getting those kids to understand is to keep playing one play at a time. We came out, didn’t execute on two plays, they get a touchdown and then you’re fighting an uphill battle. The one thing I do like is all these young kids that we have playing up front, Travis Jones, Lwal Uguak, Jonathan Pace, Caleb Thomas, all freshmen or redshirt freshmen, you can see them getting better. They are coming off the ball better. They aren’t strong enough yet, but it’s the process we are going through here in terms of building our program. It doesn’t happen overnight, so you look at tangible things that happen each and every week that you can point to with your players that you show them that if we keep going we’ll be ok. One thing our offense needs to understand is they can’t get down on themselves when they feel like they have to score every time, that’s just not going to happen. You can’t get down on yourself, or feel defeated by the fact that you settled for a field goal and then put more pressure on yourself to try to score. This is the process we are going through in terms of building our program. David Pindell, I give him a lot of credit for going out there, he wasn’t 100-percent last week. I think anyone that’s seen him play could see that, but that’s his competitive nature. We’ll just go back to work this week, continue to get better, improve and continue the process that we are doing to improve our program.”

DOES THIS MEMPHIS TEAM SEEM MARKEDLY DIFFERENT FROM YEAR’S PRIOR?:

“I think Mike [Norvell] has done a really good job with his team. They are talented, they put pressure on you in all different ways. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what they are doing and what he’s done down there. They are very, very good, it will be a tough challenge for us. They are a very good football team, which they were a year ago when we played them. I only have two years, last year was the first year I played them and was very impressed and impressed with them this year as well.”

HAS RB DARRYL HENDERSON CHANGED THEIR APPROACH?:

“He’s very, very good. When you have a guy like Tony Pollard as well, those are guys that can make plays. That’s the one thing we need to do is stop their playmakers. Both Henderson and Pollard are very talented and do a good job for them.”

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR