Below is the transcript for the Bobby Wilder press conference.
Coming off a painful 37-35 loss to East Carolina in a game we thought we had won with an interception from Justice Davila. The officials and the replay did not see it the same way we saw it on the jumbotron. In sports sometimes you have an upset, like in our win over Virginia Tech and then you see a let down. There was no let down in this football game from Old Dominion, the effort, the determination, extremely proud of the way our football players attacked this football game. We matched ECU blow for blow in this game. It was similar to that two weeks ago, we trailed four different times in this football game and we kept coming after them until we finally did get a lead in the fourth quarter. I felt like on the road against one of the top defenses statistically in the country and one of the top pass offenses, we never backed down, we kept fighting and competing in this football game.
Starting with special teams I felt like for the second week in a row we were outstanding in this area, we won this phase of the game. Statistically we need to execute for a little bit longer in a couple key areas on special teams so we can make more game changing type of plays. We had a 38-yard kickoff return from Isaiah Harper, this is the first time in three weeks that we had the opportunity to return the ball and that was only after a 5 yard offside penalty by them but we were close to getting that one out to a touchdown, we had a 15-yard punt return from Darrell Brown which was our only punt return opportunity. We’re making plays in that area, we just have to sustain some blocks for a little bit longer to get those things returned all the way.
Defensively, we need a much better start in the football game. We had a 13 play, 75-yard drive, they were 3-for-3 on third down and fourth down for the touchdown. We gave up 190-yards in the first quarter, two touchdowns, and then we got a huge play from Sean Carter. We were in a sub package defense, we got a receiver re-routed. Ted Alexander and I covered it on the anatomy of a play, got a ball tipped and Sean Carter returned it 75-yards to the five. That’s something we haven’t got enough of this year, we had one in the Tech game, that was a game changing play, Geronda Hall’s interception before the half that led to a touchdown. This one led to a touchdown and tied the game and then we also had another game changing type of play in the third quarter, we were down 21-20 and Justice Davila intercepted a pass and returned it 28 yards and we scored to take our first lead. So we got a couple of those big plays out of the defense.We need more of that consistently right now.
Offensively against what I felt was an excellent defense, we moved the ball enough and I felt like we scored enough points in this game to win we just couldn’t do it consistently. It was a struggle in this game, we had 71 plays for 271 yards. We scored 35 points, 14 of those off of turnovers. From the defense, we did not handle their defensive line in this game. They had nine sacks, they held us to 96 yards rushing, this was an outstanding defensive line. They held an undefeated South Florida team last week to 20 points. So we have to give credit where credit is due, this is a very good defensive front East Carolina has but I’m confident we can play better in our offensive line, I’m confident we’ll be a better offensive line this week at Florida Atlantic. We did make some explosive plays in critical moments. Travis Fulgham’s first touchdown in the game, that was a contested diving catch in the end zone. Isaiah Harper on a double move, a one play drive, for a 49-yard touchdown. Harper’s play was big and then Duhart is playing like a first-team All-American wide receiver, not just an all conference player. What you’re seeing right now with Duhart, who had eight catches for 104 yards, he’s getting a lot of consistent play against him at wide receiver and he’s still making tremendous plays in the football game. That is something we’ll continue to do, we will continue to find ways to get Duhart, Fulgham, Harper the ball, we’ve got to move them around, put them in different spots. Harpers play was, we’ve been trying to get him the ball more and we’ll continue to focus on that this week.
This weeks opponent FAU is 2-3 right now, two of their losses are to top 25 teams Oklahoma and UCF. Both of those losses were on the road, this is a very good football team. They’re the defending league champions, offensively they’re balanced, they rushed the ball for 231 yards, they throw it for 225 which is always concerning when you have an offense that balanced and that explosive. Devin Singletary is one of the best running backs in America, he’s got speed, he’s got athleticism, quickness. He made us look foolish last year at our home game, they rushed for 453 yards against us, and I forget what his number was against us but it was big. We had 37 missed tackles in that game and most of them were against him so he is someone we are aware of and will be very focused on in this game. They’re excellent in their offensive line, tight end in terms of being very athletic, blockers and then they have very good skill players on the outside. Defensively their numbers are skewed based on the points Oklahoma and Central Florida scored, they just held Middle Tennessee, it has an excellent offense, to 25 points this past weekend. They’re fast, they’re physical, they have two of the top linebackers in Conference USA, Smith and Al-Shaair. Defensively when you look at their defensive line secondary, they play to speed. So this will be a tough matchup for us, we’re going on the road against the defending Conference USA champions, a team that dominated us last year by 30 points so this will be a major challenge but one we will look forward to.
Q: Looking at Davila’s interception, Did you think it was a pick? Did you send it to the conference office?
A: We did,yeah, right after the game. Obviously it was a very difficult locker room after the game, talking to the players about it. I made a point to them that we all felt the way we felt about that and we felt like we had won the football game, we felt like we had intercepted the ball. I reminded them of some other points in there, we had a fourth and 10, we didn’t get a stop, we had two opportunities offensively. To answer your question specifically, I did on the bus ride back contact Gerald Austin, who is our head of league officials, and someone I have a tremendous amount of respect for. We were given a statement from the league on that, this is from Mr. Austin.
“I have confirmed that even though the official may have gotten the call correct he was too technical in his decision to rule incomplete on that interception,” said Gerald Austin. “He should have called it a catch and let replay decide. We cannot take a play away from a player that we cannot back up as officials.”
Statement from C-USA Coordinator of Football Officials, Gerald Austin