Below is the transcript for the Bobby Wilder press conference.
Coming off a hard fought and physical loss to a very good Marshall team. A game that was 28-20 with five minutes to go and we were in a position where Marshall had a third and six, completed a pass, we could not force a punt and then they hit a 65-yard run against a couple missed tackles and poor angles. I really liked the way our guys fought hard, competed throughout this football game as a team. This was a game that we trailed 14-3 at halftime and we were down 21-3 in the third quarter. We just never backed down. We got it to a 21-13 game, got it to a one score game in the third quarter, got it to a one score game again at 28 to 20 with five minutes to go. Looking back in this game, the start for us on offense was not what we had been accustomed to since the Virginia Tech game. We had two turnovers in the first quarter of the game, one that we turned over in our own end early and then we were fortunate that Oshane Ximines made a phenomenal tip interception to get us the ball back on the very next play. Then we had a drive at the end of the first quarter. We took the ball all the way down the field and we had Fulgham open on the right side down around the goal line the ball got tipped by Ryan Bee, their outstanding Defensive tackle and their guy was there to intercept it. They ended up taking it back down the field so that ended up being a 14 point swing at the end of the first quarter.
Looking at our individual units starting with special teams, was really pleased with the way we punted and kicked the ball. Bailey Cate punted for a 43.5 yard average which is his best average of the year to this point. We had outstanding kicks by Brad Davis in this game against an excellent returner for Marshall. He placed the ball well, three of his five kicks were touchbacks and that was very good for us. Then to have Nick Rice to hit both of his field goals the second one a 41-yarder that cut the lead to 21 to 13 in the third quarter. So I felt like we punted and kicked the ball well in his game.
Defensively, the first quarter of this game was outstanding for us. We shut them out and held them to 80 yards and this is with some guys in new positions. With Lawrence Garner being out for this game, we had to move Jordan Young from his backer position over to the Mike, we took Sean Carter who has always played safety and moved him down to the backer position. Justice Davila moved from free safety down to Nickel and then true freshman Justinn Richardson started his first game and was our co-leading tackler along with Sean Carter he had eight tackles in the football game, I feel like he played very well. Oshane Ximines had seven tackles, a sack and an interception. He continues to play at a incredibly high level for us right now. The story for us on defense again was some explosive run plays. We were much better against the pass in this game but it was the explosive runs especially at the end of the game that hurt us.
Offensively, it was a tale of two halves. I mentioned the turnovers in the first quarter that held us, we had three points at halftime and we only had 150 yards. In the second half we had 17 points and 250 yards. They did a really nice job Marshall did, making adjustments in pass coverage in this game. They played a lot of two deep coverage which they had not shown in the four years that we had been scouting them, playing them. They specifically had a plan outside to try and get help on both Duhart and Fulgham. What we needed to have happen, when you’re getting a lot of two high coverage and seven box you have to be able to run the ball better. That is something we have to improve on, if people are going to double both of those guys, we’ve got to be able to run the ball and then in play action, get the tight ends more involved. You saw in the third quarter where we got the tight ends involved, we had a couple of big pass plays. Our outstanding freshman tight end Donta Anthony had a big catch down the middle. Got us going on the first drive and then Keion White our redshirt freshman tight end also had a big catch down the middle. You’re also seeing us get the ball on the check downs to the backs more, getting the ball to Isaiah Harper but we’ve got to be better running the football versus seven box right now and two deep and that’s something we’ll work on specifically in practice this week.
Our focus right now is on Old Dominion and fixing a couple of critical things that I feel like we need to fix. I feel like we’re in every football game. We get this game to 28-20 in the fourth quarter and we have a couple of things that we don’t finish on offense or a couple of tackles, we let something out on defense. Our players know we’re just a play or two away from a different outcome. That will be the focus this week as we prepare ourselves to go play Western Kentucky and I will gladly take questions.
Q: What so you see in Western Kentucky, Obviously they seem to be in a similar situation as you guys?
A: Yeah, they are nine points away from instead of being 1-5 to being 4-2, they’ve had some similar close losses. They’ve only played twice at home, both of their losses were by three points. They lost to Marshall two weeks ago by three points in a game they had the ball on Marshall’s 10 yard line. They were going to kick a field goal to tie it, they tried to score a touchdown, the quarterback fumbled. So they easily could have won that game. Yeah, very similar, particularly when you look at it and you say I’ve watched all of their games and it’s the fourth quarter. It’s some execution, parts of it in the fourth quarter. Right now we’re not sure what we’re going to see at quarterback. They’ve had some injuries there, performance has not been what you’re used to seeing for Western Kentucky and that’s been a bit of a challenge for them. So it’s really about us at this point right now. We have to fix some things that are just keeping us from, particularly in the fourth quarter, from having more success.