WILLIE FRITZ
"We went out and got into Legion Field. We weren't able to get out there yesterday because of Labor Day, so we lifted. The people of Mountain Brook High School have just been awesome. That's where Chip Long played high school football. They allowed us to use their fine weight room facility and they gave us 50 cases of water and PowerAde and snacks and all sorts of stuff. They are going to give us some more today. We appreciate the people in the city of Birmingham. They have just been tremendous, so we went out and practiced today and it was a good workout. I told our guys this is our home field this weekend. I told our guys the first day we were out there about all the big time games that have been played there. I made the mistake of saying I used to listen to Keith Jackson broadcast games. They didn't know who the heck I was talking about, but it's very nice of Legion Field to allow us to practice there and get access to their locker room. It's just a neat situation for us."
On if Oklahoma video revealed anything than different than he saw live:
"No. I thought we were really aggressive. The kids really brought the fight to them. We hit well. We just made too many mistakes. We talk about a plan to win and I've had the same plan every place I've been, and number one is winning the turnover/takeaway margin. We were minus-1. When you play a team of the caliber of Oklahoma, it's got to be plus-1, plus-2, plus-3. We weren't. We just had a bad spurt in that second quarter. The thing that was good about it was the defense answered and held them to field goals when they were put in adverse situations when they had short fields to go. I was proud, the final part of our plan is finishing and we feel like we dominated the game in the fourth quarter. We outscored them 13-0. There are some good things to take away. We'd rather learn those lessons from a W than from an L, but like I told them, we've got a 24-hour pout rule and we've got a 24-hour gloat rule. After we win, we have to move on to the next thing. Sometimes guys are sitting around and they revel in past successes and are not as good the next time they go out, and other times they are still worried about last week's game and don't play very well. We've turned the page and are on to Morgan State. We just want to play better. The biggest improvements are between week 1 and week 2, and we certainly want to do that."
On not overlooking Morgan State:
"We want to go out and play great. We want to play better than we did last week. It's an opportunity for us to get out there and show big-time improvement. We're attacking."
On Cincinnati, Houston and UCF apparently leaving for Big 12:
"I saw something about it the other day. It's really none of my business. I just want to do the best job I can for Tulane."
On dream offense for tight ends:
"We line them up all over the place. We line them up as the widest guy on the field, the No. 2 guy, the No. 3 guy, they'll have their hand in the dirt where they are an attached tight end. They'll be in the backfield kind of as a fullback. The guys have to be smart to do all those different things, and there's opportunities to catch balls. They are going to be open. I think they caught seven balls for a little over 100 yards (actually nine receptions for 120 yards). There were four or five of them where they were wide open with nobody around them. The big part of what coach Long has got us doing offensively is it's really a diverse offense. There's a lot of things going on, a lot of moving parts. If you are a smart guy, you can take advantage of it because you are going to be on the right spot. Those guys are all smart. Tyrick (James), Will (Wallace), Reggie Brown is going to start playing some more and the same thing with Keitha Jones. He didn't play last week because he was banged up a little bit, but he's healthy now."
On two tight ends making for better run/pass balance:
"I think you're right because it's a good matchup sometimes when you have a big guy on a little guy out on the perimeter. Tyrick is probably 240, 245. Will's about 235, 240, so it's a little bigger guy out there on the perimeter. A lot of times people playing nickel are a little more cover guys, and you get them matched up on that nickel, you might be blocking a 180, 185-pound guy."
On if praise after a loss bothers him a little bit:
"It does a little bit. I'm proud of the kids. I'm proud of the effort. We fought through some adversity. It's an unusual story right now. We're in a hotel right now and I don't know how long we're going to be here. We're getting well taken care of. I told my guys at our team meeting yesterday I hadn't been in a hotel this nice until I was over 40 years old. This is a nice play here, the Sheraton. We've been fed well and everything else, but we are disconnected from what normal is right now. We just want to get better. It's easy for me to do that. I've got to convince a bunch of 18-to 22-year olds that every day we have to get out there and focus and concentrate and get better. We're not doing school right now either. We don't have that distraction. Don't let President Fitts hear me say that, but we're not taking classes right now, so we have plenty of time. I told my guys grab these coaches at night. We're all here in the hotel. We're not hard to find."
On if not having classes helps for the short term:
"Well, we still have the 20 hours a week rule. The problem we get into is going to the weight room is a drive and coming back is a drive. Meeting rooms, I'm trying hard not to walk through other people's meetings because we just don't have as many meeting rooms as what we normally have. Guys come down every morning and are trying to find their loop. Our equipment staff has done a phenomenal job, but sometimes they put loop 46 and goof up and put it where 86 is at, and now these guys are all trying to find stuff. It is different, but we've been here long enough now where it is normal."
On having veteran team helping in this situation:
"I think it does. The big part if we've got pretty mature young men. When we go out and recruit, I tell my coaches, hey, find a guy that has had a good 18 years. If he's had a bad 18 years, we are going to have a hard time changing him and getting him to do things the way we want him to do it. We've got good young men. I've got very few problems. I stay on top of these guys. A big part of my job is to help them through this transition from 18 to 22 years of age, but thank goodness, I don't have to just rail on them constantly. Ninety-nine percent of these guys know the difference between right and wrong 24-7."
On if he hopes team will be back in New Orleans next week:
"I have no idea. We'd like that as soon as we can, but we can't go back until everything's fixed and safe for us to go back. I'm putting that in the experts' hands."
On if Merek Glover kicked third extra point on Saturday:
"He did kick and did get an extra point. He's full go for this week. Before the game he felt like he was good, but we waited a little bit. He's full go now."
"We went out and got into Legion Field. We weren't able to get out there yesterday because of Labor Day, so we lifted. The people of Mountain Brook High School have just been awesome. That's where Chip Long played high school football. They allowed us to use their fine weight room facility and they gave us 50 cases of water and PowerAde and snacks and all sorts of stuff. They are going to give us some more today. We appreciate the people in the city of Birmingham. They have just been tremendous, so we went out and practiced today and it was a good workout. I told our guys this is our home field this weekend. I told our guys the first day we were out there about all the big time games that have been played there. I made the mistake of saying I used to listen to Keith Jackson broadcast games. They didn't know who the heck I was talking about, but it's very nice of Legion Field to allow us to practice there and get access to their locker room. It's just a neat situation for us."
On if Oklahoma video revealed anything than different than he saw live:
"No. I thought we were really aggressive. The kids really brought the fight to them. We hit well. We just made too many mistakes. We talk about a plan to win and I've had the same plan every place I've been, and number one is winning the turnover/takeaway margin. We were minus-1. When you play a team of the caliber of Oklahoma, it's got to be plus-1, plus-2, plus-3. We weren't. We just had a bad spurt in that second quarter. The thing that was good about it was the defense answered and held them to field goals when they were put in adverse situations when they had short fields to go. I was proud, the final part of our plan is finishing and we feel like we dominated the game in the fourth quarter. We outscored them 13-0. There are some good things to take away. We'd rather learn those lessons from a W than from an L, but like I told them, we've got a 24-hour pout rule and we've got a 24-hour gloat rule. After we win, we have to move on to the next thing. Sometimes guys are sitting around and they revel in past successes and are not as good the next time they go out, and other times they are still worried about last week's game and don't play very well. We've turned the page and are on to Morgan State. We just want to play better. The biggest improvements are between week 1 and week 2, and we certainly want to do that."
On not overlooking Morgan State:
"We want to go out and play great. We want to play better than we did last week. It's an opportunity for us to get out there and show big-time improvement. We're attacking."
On Cincinnati, Houston and UCF apparently leaving for Big 12:
"I saw something about it the other day. It's really none of my business. I just want to do the best job I can for Tulane."
On dream offense for tight ends:
"We line them up all over the place. We line them up as the widest guy on the field, the No. 2 guy, the No. 3 guy, they'll have their hand in the dirt where they are an attached tight end. They'll be in the backfield kind of as a fullback. The guys have to be smart to do all those different things, and there's opportunities to catch balls. They are going to be open. I think they caught seven balls for a little over 100 yards (actually nine receptions for 120 yards). There were four or five of them where they were wide open with nobody around them. The big part of what coach Long has got us doing offensively is it's really a diverse offense. There's a lot of things going on, a lot of moving parts. If you are a smart guy, you can take advantage of it because you are going to be on the right spot. Those guys are all smart. Tyrick (James), Will (Wallace), Reggie Brown is going to start playing some more and the same thing with Keitha Jones. He didn't play last week because he was banged up a little bit, but he's healthy now."
On two tight ends making for better run/pass balance:
"I think you're right because it's a good matchup sometimes when you have a big guy on a little guy out on the perimeter. Tyrick is probably 240, 245. Will's about 235, 240, so it's a little bigger guy out there on the perimeter. A lot of times people playing nickel are a little more cover guys, and you get them matched up on that nickel, you might be blocking a 180, 185-pound guy."
On if praise after a loss bothers him a little bit:
"It does a little bit. I'm proud of the kids. I'm proud of the effort. We fought through some adversity. It's an unusual story right now. We're in a hotel right now and I don't know how long we're going to be here. We're getting well taken care of. I told my guys at our team meeting yesterday I hadn't been in a hotel this nice until I was over 40 years old. This is a nice play here, the Sheraton. We've been fed well and everything else, but we are disconnected from what normal is right now. We just want to get better. It's easy for me to do that. I've got to convince a bunch of 18-to 22-year olds that every day we have to get out there and focus and concentrate and get better. We're not doing school right now either. We don't have that distraction. Don't let President Fitts hear me say that, but we're not taking classes right now, so we have plenty of time. I told my guys grab these coaches at night. We're all here in the hotel. We're not hard to find."
On if not having classes helps for the short term:
"Well, we still have the 20 hours a week rule. The problem we get into is going to the weight room is a drive and coming back is a drive. Meeting rooms, I'm trying hard not to walk through other people's meetings because we just don't have as many meeting rooms as what we normally have. Guys come down every morning and are trying to find their loop. Our equipment staff has done a phenomenal job, but sometimes they put loop 46 and goof up and put it where 86 is at, and now these guys are all trying to find stuff. It is different, but we've been here long enough now where it is normal."
On having veteran team helping in this situation:
"I think it does. The big part if we've got pretty mature young men. When we go out and recruit, I tell my coaches, hey, find a guy that has had a good 18 years. If he's had a bad 18 years, we are going to have a hard time changing him and getting him to do things the way we want him to do it. We've got good young men. I've got very few problems. I stay on top of these guys. A big part of my job is to help them through this transition from 18 to 22 years of age, but thank goodness, I don't have to just rail on them constantly. Ninety-nine percent of these guys know the difference between right and wrong 24-7."
On if he hopes team will be back in New Orleans next week:
"I have no idea. We'd like that as soon as we can, but we can't go back until everything's fixed and safe for us to go back. I'm putting that in the experts' hands."
On if Merek Glover kicked third extra point on Saturday:
"He did kick and did get an extra point. He's full go for this week. Before the game he felt like he was good, but we waited a little bit. He's full go now."
