OPENING STATEMENT: “We sure as heck didn’t get the result that we were looking for, but as I talked to the team and as I told them and as we looked at the film, the thing that we need to understand is that we’re not as talented as a football team as these teams we are playing. If we are going to give ourselves an opportunity to win, our margin of error is very slim. We need to do things correctly, get lined up and execute at a very high level. We didn’t do that, we haven’t been doing that and it’s something we need to work on and get better at.”

“Defensively, I felt we were in position to make plays, we didn’t make plays and there were times we didn’t get in a position we should’ve been in and we missed 21-tackles and that led to 220 extra yards. That’s something that you aren’t going to win doing that. I thought Keyshawn [Paul] was in great position on the touchdown pass and it’s one where they made a great throw and a great catch and they put it in a place where he couldn’t get it, so a play like that, you’re not upset with because he did everything he could on that play and they just happened to make a great throw and catch that they couldn’t defend and that’s going to happen in the game of football. The very first play of the game, we don’t align properly with that look, they get outside and it goes for a ten yard gain. Then the touchdown play for 61-yards, we don’t go and fit it right and do the things we were supposed to, that would have been a 1-yard gain if we go and execute. Those are the things between missed tackles, eye violations, going on and putting on the proper pad on defense, those are the things that are giving us the biggest problems. We still didn’t do as good as we should have done on 3rd down, getting off the field. We gave up 10-explosive plays yesterday for over 200-yards. Again, if we do what we’re supposed to, they don’t have those things.”

“Offensively, a lot of it was is we didn’t get up to the right guys blocking some things in the run game. We couldn’t get off press coverage and we need to be able to make better decisions in some situations from a quarterback standpoint. We need to find some people where we can make some more explosive plays to help ourselves because if not, we’re a team that has to execute at a very high level offensively because we don’t have a game breaker, we don’t have people based on who we are going against, that make big plays, so execution has to be at a higher level.”

“I thought we did some good things from a special teams standpoint. I thought Mason Donaldson did a good job, he was asked about trying that, he did some things in practice and went out and performed well. I thought Luke punted the ball well. We gave up a 25-yard return, we had a holding penalty on a kickoff return that hurt us, but we can still be a lot better in all of our units; one time we didn’t cover well; I don’t care if Luke outkicks the coverage, we need to find a way to get down there. I want him to kick it 50 or 60-yards, however far he can kick it.”

“I thought Jackson Mitchell played a very good game defensively, he went in there in the 2nd half and did really well. I thought Ian Swenson played well, he got in there a little bit and played really well defensively, made some things happen. I thought Christian Haynes played one of his better games up front and I thought Jayce Medlock had a really good game, really played well for his first extended time in there. After thinking about it and seeing where we are [at that position], we are going to continue to play him [will not redshirt]. He’s only going to get better. I know he’s undersized at 218-pounds, but he’s a football player and thought he did some really good things. I thought Art [Thompkins] played hard. I thought Jack [Zergiotis] came in on that last drive and did some of the things you want to do, was a little more like himself than he had been after the Illinois game, so I was pleased with that.”

“We are going to go out there shortly and continue to work on being better fundamentally and using better techniques, making sure we get aligned and just go back to work, keep working and developing guys to get better. I was always taught, repetition is the mother of learning, so you keep doing repeating things until you can’t get it wrong. That’s what we are going to continue to strive and look for.”

HOW DO YOU KEEP IT POSITIVE SO GUYS KEEP GROWING & LEARNING?: “I think you just have to be truthful with them. I’m going to be up front and honest, I’m not going to sugar coat it. If you sugar coat it, that’s the problem with out society, everybody gets a trophy, I’m not going to do that. We didn’t play well enough. We are who we are and we don’t have much margin for error. This week against Houston coming up, we don’t have much margin for error in any games that we play. If you’re a true competitor, you find a way to keep working and find a way to keep getting better. I didn’t think our kids quit in the game. Were we overmatched in some areas? Yes. Were we in position to be able to make some plays? Yes. Did we miss some tackles? Yes. We can’t go out and tackle for them, they have to go do it. We can tell them where to get aligned, , but they need to line up and understand leverage, that’s on them. We’re just going to keep coaching them, tell them what they did right, what they did wrong and to me, that’s all you can do. I’m not going to blow smoke and tell them we’re great. There were some positive performances yesterday and we’ll highlight that. There will be some guys that will be starting this week that weren’t starting last week because of what they did on the field. That’s what you have to do, reward performance. If guys are true competitors, they are going to go out there and perform to give themselves more opportunities to be on the field, that shows you that they care.”

ON EYE DISCPLINE & MISSED TACKLES, THERE IS MORE OF THAT AS THE SEASON HAS GONE ON, WHAT CAN YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO?: “It’s a lack of having confidence in yourself and not knowing what you’re doing. If you just lock in on what you have to do and do your job, then you don’t have to do that. It’s when you think you have to do something else, or you’re not confident in what you’re doing then you start taking shortcuts. There was one point in watching the film, we had all true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores out there, no juniors or seniors on the field at times at all yesterday. But that’s not an excuse, guys need to step up, do their job and play with confidence. How you play with confidence is by doing things correctly over and over again.”