Below is the transcript for the Bobby Wilder Press Conference.
Coming off a big win Saturday in our final game at Foreman Field. I am very proud of our team and the way that they performed. We scored on our first six possessions offensively when our starters were in the game. Defensively, when our starters played we got six stops including an interception return by Justin Noye for a touchdown that allowed us with five minutes to go in the first half to start playing our back-up ones and get them some good work.
In this football game our goal was to come out play well and win and we did that. We were +4 in the turnover margin, we did not have a turnover in this game and took the ball away four times. We played good clean football, we only had four penalties total in the football game and we were also able to get a lot of the guys playing time. We had 50 players that played on special teams, 33 on offense and another 32 that played on defense and that was great experience for a number of players that don’t often get a lot of playing time. We had 15 true freshman that played in this game, four guys played for the first time, three of our wide receivers Darrius Savage, Robert Mayo and Aaron Moore played for the first time this season. Our tight end AC White got his first reps so to have that many younger players get in the football game was critical not just for what we’re doing this season but moving forward that helps our team grow and get better. Also to get to participate in the last game at Foreman Field was a special moment for all of those players including our 21 seniors that played in their last home game.
Reviewing our units, special teams, this was not a good overall performance for us on special teams. We allowed a fake punt, we allowed an onside kick, we were inconsistent kicking and punting the ball which will be a focus for us this week during practice. We did have an outstanding play in this game, Isaiah Harper 74-yard punt return where we had our defense on the field set-up to defend the VMI punt team. They had successfully ran a fake on their previous one so we were defending the play but then also when we forced them to punt it our defensive guys did an excellent job setting up a wall on our sideline allowing Isaiah Harper to score on that play.
Defensively against a team that was the top passing offense we faced this year and I felt that we did an excellent job giving pressure on the quarterback. We had four sacks, Oshane Ximines with two more sacks to add to his school record. We held them to 18-for-42 for 216 yards passing, we had a school record of 13 pass breakups, which was outstanding and we were getting our hands on the football throughout the game. Offensively, we kept the ball on the ground the majority of this game. We had 58 rushing attempts during this game, seven different players that carried the ball, three different quarterbacks threw the ball 25 times and we had nine different players that caught passes in this game. When you play a game like that, that you’re heavy favorites, it was really good to see us execute the way that we did in this football game.
This week’s opponent we go to Rice for our final game of the season. Rice’s head coach, Mike Bloomgren, is an excellent football coach. It is his first year at Rice, he was a long time offensive coordinator at Stanford who runs a very good offense. They have excellent coaches as I know a number of coaches on their staff. They have played arguably the most difficult schedule of anybody in our league. Their non-league schedule was an 8-3 Houston team, a 9-2 LSU team, and a 5-6 Wake Forest team. Then also in our league UAB who is 9-2, FIU is 8-3, North Texas 8-3, LA Tech 7- 4 and Southern Miss 5-5. They could end up possibly having lost to nine teams that will play in bowl games. We recognize this is a good football team, they are well coached, they play hard in all three phases, they are working to develop something there and I think they will be a very good football team. We are hopeful that it doesn’t start this week but we know we need to be focused on the process of winning on Saturday to have an opportunity to be successful in this football game.
Q: What kind of offensive identity is Rice attempting to run here?
A: They are multiple and they run over 20 personnel groupings. It is very similar if you watch Stanford play, it’s a pro-style offense and they are one of the few teams in the nation that still huddle and actually bring guys in and out of a huddle to run plays. They want to run the ball, they want to run play action off of that and you can see what they are looking to develop. They have got really good scheme that they run.