Below is the transcript from the Bobby Wilder Press Conference.
Good afternoon everybody, good afternoon to all our 12th Monarchs out there in Monarch Nation. Coming off a big win Saturday at home versus Rice that puts us in position to play another big game this weekend. This was our fifth one score game in a row, it feels like every game we’ve played recently has come down to the last play of the game. To score on the last drive in this game in the two-minute drill was pretty exciting. Our third straight win, big thank you to all the 12th Monarchs who were out there loud and proud, this was a big game for a lot of reasons. It was our seniors last home game, the Shriner’s game, Military Appreciation, so to end it with a win was special.
It was a game that certainly we got off to a slow start, in this game we went three and out on offense, we had a poor punt, Rice went right down the field and scored and at that point things were not looking good. Our kids rebounded, the Shriners MVP Steven Williams had a 24-yard touchdown run that got the game tied after the first quarter. At that point I felt like our defense played exceptional football probably as well as they’ve played all year from that 10-minute mark in the first quarter all the way through rest of the first quarter, second and third quarter our defense shut them out. We had seven straight stops at that point and really played well, trying to get used to that triple option offense which is very difficult to defend.
Special teams, this was not a good performance for us, we were 1-for-3 on field goals, we got one blocked, we only punted for a 31-yard average in the game. We did have a couple bright spots, on Brad Davis’s five kickoffs he had four touchbacks and Pat Toal had a blocked field goal which certainly helped. Defensively, normally you feel really good about 62 plays, 331 yards and 21 points, but the frustrating part for our defense was giving up a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter. They had two long drives in the fourth quarter that we had some miss tackles, we had a couple guys out of position which we had been doing really well with Jordan Young continues to play really good football, our red-shirt freshman linebacker, he had 15 tackles in this game, played really well. Andre Bernhard had nine tackles at safety, and Oshane Ximines had another strip sack in this game for a turnover.
Offensively 68 plays, 360 yards, 24 points, the frustrating part is not getting the explosive plays. We just haven’t been able to get those 40-50 yard plays that we’ve become used to around here. Seven of our 11 drives we got at least to Rice’s 34-yard line and if you’re scoring touchdowns you think there’s 49 points, but we missed a couple field goals and didn’t convert in a couple situations. We went backwards and we really left some points out there. I thought our quarterback played exceptionally well again, he was 20-of-29, completed 69% of his passes, this is his fifth straight game that he’s played in that he’s been up over 60%. His third straight turnover free game which for a young guy that’s very impressive. That’s the most impressive stat for me for a freshman quarterback to take care of the football like he’s done. He had a couple rushing touchdowns in the game, he had his first game winning drive in the two minute. Last week he had an exceptional drive at FIU right before the half, but this one came at the end of the game when the game was on the line. Our last opportunity to win he was 4-for-4, ran for a touchdown. We had excellent execution on that drive, but the quarterback made the plays that he had to make. Ray Lawry over 100 yards again, played well. We’re getting better offensively; we just need to finish those drives to get some explosive points.
This week’s opponent Middle Tennessee, we’re in identical situations. We’re both 5-6, we’re both 3-4 in the league, we both need the game to get ourselves bowl eligible. Their quarterback Brent Stockstill is back, he’s healthy, he’s playing very good football. You can see it offensively they’re starting to become more explosive, particularly in their last three games the way they’ve played. Their wide receiver Ty Lee is one of the best in the league, 66 catches, 846 yards. He’s an explosive player, they move him around a lot to get him the football. Defensively, they’ve got one of the best pressure packages we’ll see all year. Their defensive coordinator Scott Shafer is the former head coach at Syracuse, he’s an outstanding football coach. They have 25 sacks; they’ve got 79 TFL’s, which is exceptional to have out of your defense. They’ve got outstanding players so this is going to be a major challenge going on the road, but it’s exciting to even be in this position. Whereas a month ago nobody thought that we would even get to this point, but the kids have hung in there and done a good job, and we feel really fortunate to even have an opportunity to be in a game like this. On Saturday for the fourth straight week our backs are completely against the wall and that’s a good thing, that we’ve got ourselves to this point so we’ll be excited for this play in game for bowl eligibility.
Q: Any Injuries?
A: We got out of this one fairly healthy, one of the few games this year that we haven’t lost somebody due to injury. Our guys are bumped and bruised, but they feel pretty good right now.
Q: You alluded to Brent Stockstill briefly, how does he make them different offensively? You mentioned the explosive plays, he’s a veteran quarterback, how are they different with him back there?
A: He does such a good job at taking care of the football. He’s got 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He can check plays at the line of scrimmage, he’s allusive, he’s clearly playing hurt. He had a major injury that he came back from and he’s always had an ability to play through injury. He’s just such a good decision maker. He throws the ball extremely well, he’s very accurate with the football. You can see the difference in their confidence as a team having him back there.
Q: You’ve always talked about Steven Williams how he always enjoys playing, he’s always upbeat, what did you see from him on the sideline prior to him going out to start that two minute drill?
A: He went up to everybody and just reminded them we do this in practice, we have success in practice. Normally I only give them a minute and one timeout to go 75 yards and he had two minutes and five seconds and two timeouts. We were also able to mix in some run on that drive which normally you can’t do. In a two-minute drive normally it’s just everything throw, but his demeanor was calm and cool. He was acting like he’s been there before even though he hadn’t.