Below is the chat transcript and video from the Bobby Wilder Weekly Press Conference.
Good afternoon everybody. Good afternoon to all of our 12th Monarchs out there in Monarch Nation, coming off a 56-14 loss at home to Marshall. That puts our record at 3-3, 1-2 in the league. I said in our preparation last week going into this game that I thought Marshall was the best team we had ever played and I was proven to be accurate in that assessment based on what happened Saturday afternoon. That’s an outstanding football team, I would not be surprised if they go undefeated and represent the group of five teams in a major bowl game this year. From our standpoint this game was really decided in the first eight minutes of the game. We gave up two drives on defense, we had an interception on our own end that they returned down to the eight yard line, and then we had a blocked punt that put us behind 28 to nothing. That was one of the points we talked about all week; that we really needed to get off to a good start against this team since they outscored people 103 to 6 in the first half. They had not allowed a first half touchdown this year, so we put ourselves in a big hole. I felt like we battled very well the next 22 minutes of the half. It was 14-7 from that point on, we had a good drive with a touchdown. Defense played much better. I thought our defense put us in some good positions by forcing three consecutive turnovers. We had the two interceptions by Christian Byrum, we had Reggie Owens outstanding strip and fumble recovery, but we didn’t take advantage of those turnovers, and that put us in a really bad position.
Special teams wise we gave up the blocked punt for a touchdown. I felt like we were much better in our kick off unit. Our coverage after that blocked punt by our punt team. Our freshman punter did a fairly good job in this game, but we still have a lot of areas to improve. Defensively, it was very exciting to see those three first half turnovers. The guys did a real good job trying to strip the ball throughout, but the story of this game was our inability to stop the run game. We had schemed this to try to force Devin Johnson more to the sideline, and we just weren’t successful with that. Their offensive line was very good as advertised. They blocked well, and they ran the ball well, so that was really the story of the game. Offensively, I felt like we ran the football well in this game right from the start. Gerard Johnson had a good game, had a really good first half. That’s when he played the majority of his snaps, and went for 68 yards. Ray Lawry played the majority of the second half and went for 132 yards. Offensively the story for us was we were just too inconsistent in the pass game. I give Marshall a lot of credit for that. They pressured the quarter back consistently, and they did it with some different looks defensively. They blitzed us, and when they did blitz they were excellent in coverage. They played man coverage, they walked up and challenged us. There were times when Taylor either just didn’t get the ball out in time, or our receivers didn’t get open, or we just gave up a sack due to protection. This was the best defense we faced coming in and I still feel the same way about their defense. They’re outstanding.
This week’s opponent is UTEP. They’re 2-3 football team right now, 0-1 in the league. Sean Kugler is their head coach. He’s an outstanding football coach with an offensive linemen mentality. One thing you can expect from this team is they run the ball well, which they do. They’re very good in the run game. This is his second year as head coach and I think that he’s doing and outstanding job with their program. Our biggest challenge this week, besides UTEP, will be the travel. This will be the longest trip of the year, and the fact that it’s their homecoming game. We anticipate they will have about 40,000 people for the game. Offensively, they average 26 points per game. As I mentioned, they run the ball very well, they go for about 220 a game. Aaron Jones is an outstanding back, he goes for about 130 a game. I think he’s one of the best backs in the league. Then Jameil Showers, their quarterback, he can throw it and he can run it. He does a very good job with the football. Defensively, they’re allowing 38 points a game 460 yards, and the majority of that has really come in the last two weeks. They gave up 58 points to and outstanding Kansas State team, and they gave up 55 points on Saturday night to Louisiana Tech. Both those games, I should add, were on the road. They are a much better team at home. They’ve only played two home games but they’re 1-1 at home, and their loss was a very close loss to Texas Tech in the second game of the year. So, what I’ve told our players, is this will be the game of the year for us. An absolutely pivotal football game, we need to get the win, get to 4-3 and 2-2 at the break. A much needed break coming up next week where we will get rested and get healthy. I told our guys we need to put as much planning and preparation into this game as we have for any game all year because it’s going to be critical that we get this win.
BOBBY WHAT WAS THE VIBE OR THE MOOD OF THE TEAM YESTERDAY WHEN YOU MET WITH THEM?
IT WAS GOOD. IT WAS BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. I WAS HOPEFUL THAT BASED ON HOW I TALKED TO THEM AFTER THE GAME SATURDAY. I TRIED TO SET THE MOOD THAT WE NEEDED TO FLUSH THAT ONE OUT OF OUR SYSTEM. NOT TO MAKE ANY EXCUSES, WE GOT BEAT BY A MUCH BETTER FOOTBALL TEAM THAN WE ARE NOW. AND I EMPAHSIZED TO THEM, NOW, NOT THAT THIS WILL ALWAYS BE THE CASE. MARSHALL IS A BETTER FOOTBALL TEAM THAN OLD DOMINION BUT WE TRIED TO GET THAT GAME RIGHT OUT OF OUR SYSTEM SATURDAY AFTER THE GAME. I STARTED TALKING TO THEM IN THE LOCKER ROOM ABOUT HOW CRITICAL THIS UTEP GAME IS, AND GETTING THE FOUR WINS GOING INTO THE BYE. THAT PUTS US IN THE POSITION WHERE IF WE GET THIS ONE AND WE GET TWO MORE AFTER THE BYE, THAT WILL PUT US IN THE CONVERSTATION FOR BOWL GAMES, WHICH WAS OUR GOAL THIS YEAR. TO GO INTO NOVEMBER WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TALKING ABOUT GETTING BOWL ELIGIABLE. SO THE MOOD YESTERDAY WAS PRETTY GOOD.
HOW DID YOU GUYS COME OUT HEALTH WISE FROM THIS GAME?
VERY GOOD. BETTER THAN I HAD EXPECTED GOING INTO IT. WE GOT A FEW BUMPS AND BRUISES BUT THIS IS PROBABLY AS HEALTHY AS WE HAVE BEEN GOING BACK TO THE WEEK OF NORTH CAROLINA STATE. JOSH MANN PLAYED THE ENTIRE GAME, ALL 67 SNAPS ON A BUM ANKLE. I TALKED TO HIM THIS MORNING AND HE SAID HE FEELS MUCH BETTER THIS WEEK THAN HE WAS LAST WEEK. CHRISTIAN BYRUM BANGED HIS KNEE UP A LITTLE BIT, BUT HE SAID HE’D BE FINE AND GOOD TO PRACTICE AND PLAY. AND WE ARE CLOSE TO GETTING TROY BUTLER BACK. I DON’T THINK WE WILL GET HIM BACK FOR THIS WEEK, IT WILL PROBABLY GO RIGHT UP UNTIL GAME TIME. BUT SURELY WITH THE BYE AND THEN ANOTHER WEEK BEFORE, I AM CONVINCED WE WILL HAVE HIM BACK FOR WESTERN KENTUCKY. WE ARE AS HEALTHY AS WE’VE BEEN AND THAT’S A GOOD THING.
WHEN YOU WENT BACK AND LOOKED AT THE VIDEO OF MARSHALL, I KNOW YOU SAID FLUSH IT, PUT IT AWAY. WAS THERE ANYTHING ONCE YOU LOOKED AT THE TAPE THAT WAS DIFFERENT THAN YOUR INITIAL IMPRESSIONS ON THE FIELD AND AFTER THE GAME?
UNTIL YOU REALLY SEE THEM IN PERSON, IT IS HARD FOR YOU TO REALLY APPRECIATE THEIR SIZE, THEIR OFFENSIVE LINE AND THEIR RUNNING BACK, DEVON JOHNSON. HE IS ALL OF 240 POUNDS. AND HIS 240 LOOKS BETTER THAN MY 240. THAT WAS CLEAR TO ME AFTER MAKING COMPARISONS OF US. BUT IT IS THE LINEMEN, THAT IS WHAT REALLY JUMPED OUT AT ME. AND WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THAT AS A COACHING STAFF. THAT’S WHERE WE NEED TO GET TO; WHERE OUR GUYS SIZE WISE IN THE LINE, THAT WE LOOK LIKE MARSHALL. THEN I LOOK AT THE OTHER POSITIONS. THE CORNERS WERE TALL. THEY WERE ALL 5-11 PLUS. THEN THEY CAN WALK UP AND PLAY MAN COVERAGE. THE SAFETIES WERE BIG. SO IT WAS ALL OVER THE BOARD JUST A SIZE COMPARISON. AND I THINK ANYBODY WHO WAS DOWN ON THE FIELD COULD SEE THAT. BUT THAT IS WHERE WE NEED TO GET. THAT IS WHERE WE ARE GOING. A MAJORITY OF OUR GUYS ARE YOUNG RIGHT NOW AND WE ARE STILL A YEAR OR TWO AWAY PHYSICALLY FROM LOOKING LIKE THAT MARSHALL TEAM, BUT THAT’S WHERE WE NEED TO GET TO.