I will update this later today but have a deadline of 2 p.m. for my Advocate story due to the approaching Thanksgiving holiday. Here are the Q&As
WILLIE FRITZ
I'm really excited about the win last week. Our guys really competed throughout the game against a really talented Houston team in really all three phases and did some good things. The last touchdown and defensively the big stop at the end and excellent red zone defense and we did a good job in coverage both on punts and kickoffs. A big win for us, put us in position for this to be a big game. You always want to be playing in gams with meaning. We'll have a great week of preparation. We're going to need to play as well or not better against SMU at their place on Saturday."
Was that as hard as you've had a team play?
"They played hard. I've told the guys I was disappointed in our effort the first half against Memphis. Otherwise our guys have battled and given good effort. Our execution sometimes needs to be better than what it is, but these guys play hard. They lay it on out there. I haven't had very many complaints about the effort. The physicality has been better this year for the most part, too. That's good. That's what you should have. That's what we're striving to do every single week."
How do you get the guys' legs fresh for Saturday?
"We really front load everything at the beginning of the week. We lift and do a lot of meetings on Monday and Tuesdays are a pretty good practice for us. Early in the year it was about two hours and 15 minutes. Now it's about two hours. Wednesday's a pretty big practice. We cut back about 20 minutes on Thursday and we don't do a whole lot on Friday, so we front load the workload at the beginning of the week and then we really back off at the end of the week. I know there's some research about getting after it on Friday and playing Saturday and backing off on Thursday, but I haven't heard a whole lot of people who like it that way. We've been doing it this way for a while, so it gets our guys ready and fresh to go when we get to the game. When we get off the plane, we do about a 15-to-20-minute movement prep, get to the hotel and do a little extra stretch and then they rest a lot more. We call it our final 48 hours in preparation--doing a good job of nutrition, hydration, staying off your feet, recovering, getting extra treatment, studying your game plan more."
SMU has put up huge yardage and point totals almost every week. What makes that offense so difficult to defend?
"They are very challenging. They have a really good group of receivers. One guy has 100 catches. Another guy is a first or second-round draft pick. They've got a talented group of receivers, a really good group of backs, their quarterback knows how to distribute the ball, a diverse offense. They can manufacture offense with changing what they do with motions and shifts. Last week they got into a bunch of tackle over. It's a different formation you don't see very often. It's a really talented group, and they execute very well."
Your secondary has played a lot better in the last few weeks. How encouraged are you by that?
"We're going to have to play well. The other part of it is you have to have pressure. We have to make the guy not pat the ball and get him off his mark. Like all quarterbacks, if he's moved off his spot, the percentage of completions goes down. We've got to do a good job of getting some guys up in his face and not making him comfortable and move that spot and not let him be stationary."
What's been the difference in the two-game win streak from the four-game losing streak?
"Oh, these games, as I said before, are all tough. They are not going to be easy. There’s a play here and there and we’re making the play. There’s a call here and there and we’re making the call. It’s going to be the same way this Saturday. We’re going to have to be on point in the offense, defense and the kicking game. Our guys have to execute and we’ve got to be tough.”
Did you change anything in the way you coached after the losing streak?
"I don't know. I think the compliment I get often times from pro scouts when they come out here and watch is they can't tell the difference between the tempo of practice. That's what it should be. Each week is its own week, and we want to make sure we're giving our best effort every single week. I do believe if you sit back and bask in the glory of success, you probably won't prepare as well as you need to, or if you have a bad week and you sit there and dwell on that, you are certainly going to have a bad week. Sometimes that's tough. The older I get, the more difficult it gets. It shouldn't be that way. You've got to move on."
What about the chance to be bowl eligible and the perception in recruiting. How much does that mean going into December with the early signing date?
"It's huge. It's a goal we've had throughout the year and it's going to be one of our goals every single year. There's still a lot to accomplish. We're trending in the right direction, but that certainly would be a very positive step forward and also another conference road win. That would be big, too. It's going to be a tremendous challenge. They are a good team and have also played some close games this year. This is a very competitive conference, but we know that's out there for us. We certainly know that."
No one's truly healthy at this time of the year, but do you feel good about your team's health?
"We're not bad. We're pretty healthy. Our guys have done an excellent job of going in and getting treatment. Some of these guys have gone in three or four times a day. It's a great job by our athletic training staff to be available to allow those guys to do that. But you're right, everybody's banged up at this time of the year."
Trey Quinn has 100 catches for SMU. What stands out about him?
"He runs nice, precise routes. They get the ball off to him. He's got excellent hands. He moves the chains a lot. The other kid, Sutton, runs more go routes and is averaging 16, 17 yards a catch. Quinn's somewhere around 10,11, but they've got three or four guys that are really good receivers. They are really talented there."
ROD TEAMER
SMU has some prolific offensive numbers with a lot of good receivers. How big a challenge is this for the secondary?
"It's a tremendous challenge. It's something that we look forward to as a secondary and as defense as a whole. They are averaging 40 points a game. Obviously we are going to try to keep them to less than that. Their receivers have NFL talent. It gives us a chance to go out and see how we stack up against those guys."
Will it be nice going against a quarterback who won't run 50 yards up the middle when someone loses gap control?
"That helps a lot in what coverages we're able to play and being able to focus more on the receivers and not always having to have eyes on the quarterback. He's a threat to run. He can pull the ball down and run. Obviously it's not his favorite thing to do when you've got four really talented receivers. I'd throw it up to them, too, but it's a relief."
How nice is it to not have to manufacture a reason to care about this game? It's obvious what's on the line.
"Knowing what's at stake, it raises the level of your intensity, but one thing we talk about in this program is self-motivation. Nobody can make you play harder than yourself. It's there and we know that, but we come out and grind every day."
ROBERT KENNEDY
SMU is a prolific passing team. How important will it be to disrupt what their QB is doing?
"It's definitely a key factor in this game. We're planning a few things for them already. It will be a fun game for the D-line and the secondary to show what we are made of."
How much confidence do you get off a win against a team like Houston?
"It helps the atmosphere around us. it's definitely a lot easier to push in the right direction after a big win like that."
JONATHAN BANKS
Is this the biggest game you've ever quarterbacked in?
"It put a lot of pressure on us and the rest of the team, just being able to win this game and become bowl eligible. We've got to come prepared for practice every day so we'll be able pass the test."
Were you brought here to win games like this?
"Yes sir. No doubt about it."
How much more comfortable are you in the offense than you were at the beginning of the year?
"I'm real comfortable. I'm learning some of the read option schemes. That's what I struggled with at the beginning of the season. I'm getting more comfortable in the pocket being able to trust my line to to give me time."
How do you make sure that you use the momentum from the Houston game in a good way rather than what happened at FIU after crushing Tulsa?
"We are just going to stay consistent with what we did last week. We're not going to think about the past. The losing drought is over with. We have the opportunity to become bowl eligible by beating SMU, so that's what we're focusing on."
WILLIE FRITZ
I'm really excited about the win last week. Our guys really competed throughout the game against a really talented Houston team in really all three phases and did some good things. The last touchdown and defensively the big stop at the end and excellent red zone defense and we did a good job in coverage both on punts and kickoffs. A big win for us, put us in position for this to be a big game. You always want to be playing in gams with meaning. We'll have a great week of preparation. We're going to need to play as well or not better against SMU at their place on Saturday."
Was that as hard as you've had a team play?
"They played hard. I've told the guys I was disappointed in our effort the first half against Memphis. Otherwise our guys have battled and given good effort. Our execution sometimes needs to be better than what it is, but these guys play hard. They lay it on out there. I haven't had very many complaints about the effort. The physicality has been better this year for the most part, too. That's good. That's what you should have. That's what we're striving to do every single week."
How do you get the guys' legs fresh for Saturday?
"We really front load everything at the beginning of the week. We lift and do a lot of meetings on Monday and Tuesdays are a pretty good practice for us. Early in the year it was about two hours and 15 minutes. Now it's about two hours. Wednesday's a pretty big practice. We cut back about 20 minutes on Thursday and we don't do a whole lot on Friday, so we front load the workload at the beginning of the week and then we really back off at the end of the week. I know there's some research about getting after it on Friday and playing Saturday and backing off on Thursday, but I haven't heard a whole lot of people who like it that way. We've been doing it this way for a while, so it gets our guys ready and fresh to go when we get to the game. When we get off the plane, we do about a 15-to-20-minute movement prep, get to the hotel and do a little extra stretch and then they rest a lot more. We call it our final 48 hours in preparation--doing a good job of nutrition, hydration, staying off your feet, recovering, getting extra treatment, studying your game plan more."
SMU has put up huge yardage and point totals almost every week. What makes that offense so difficult to defend?
"They are very challenging. They have a really good group of receivers. One guy has 100 catches. Another guy is a first or second-round draft pick. They've got a talented group of receivers, a really good group of backs, their quarterback knows how to distribute the ball, a diverse offense. They can manufacture offense with changing what they do with motions and shifts. Last week they got into a bunch of tackle over. It's a different formation you don't see very often. It's a really talented group, and they execute very well."
Your secondary has played a lot better in the last few weeks. How encouraged are you by that?
"We're going to have to play well. The other part of it is you have to have pressure. We have to make the guy not pat the ball and get him off his mark. Like all quarterbacks, if he's moved off his spot, the percentage of completions goes down. We've got to do a good job of getting some guys up in his face and not making him comfortable and move that spot and not let him be stationary."
What's been the difference in the two-game win streak from the four-game losing streak?
"Oh, these games, as I said before, are all tough. They are not going to be easy. There’s a play here and there and we’re making the play. There’s a call here and there and we’re making the call. It’s going to be the same way this Saturday. We’re going to have to be on point in the offense, defense and the kicking game. Our guys have to execute and we’ve got to be tough.”
Did you change anything in the way you coached after the losing streak?
"I don't know. I think the compliment I get often times from pro scouts when they come out here and watch is they can't tell the difference between the tempo of practice. That's what it should be. Each week is its own week, and we want to make sure we're giving our best effort every single week. I do believe if you sit back and bask in the glory of success, you probably won't prepare as well as you need to, or if you have a bad week and you sit there and dwell on that, you are certainly going to have a bad week. Sometimes that's tough. The older I get, the more difficult it gets. It shouldn't be that way. You've got to move on."
What about the chance to be bowl eligible and the perception in recruiting. How much does that mean going into December with the early signing date?
"It's huge. It's a goal we've had throughout the year and it's going to be one of our goals every single year. There's still a lot to accomplish. We're trending in the right direction, but that certainly would be a very positive step forward and also another conference road win. That would be big, too. It's going to be a tremendous challenge. They are a good team and have also played some close games this year. This is a very competitive conference, but we know that's out there for us. We certainly know that."
No one's truly healthy at this time of the year, but do you feel good about your team's health?
"We're not bad. We're pretty healthy. Our guys have done an excellent job of going in and getting treatment. Some of these guys have gone in three or four times a day. It's a great job by our athletic training staff to be available to allow those guys to do that. But you're right, everybody's banged up at this time of the year."
Trey Quinn has 100 catches for SMU. What stands out about him?
"He runs nice, precise routes. They get the ball off to him. He's got excellent hands. He moves the chains a lot. The other kid, Sutton, runs more go routes and is averaging 16, 17 yards a catch. Quinn's somewhere around 10,11, but they've got three or four guys that are really good receivers. They are really talented there."
ROD TEAMER
SMU has some prolific offensive numbers with a lot of good receivers. How big a challenge is this for the secondary?
"It's a tremendous challenge. It's something that we look forward to as a secondary and as defense as a whole. They are averaging 40 points a game. Obviously we are going to try to keep them to less than that. Their receivers have NFL talent. It gives us a chance to go out and see how we stack up against those guys."
Will it be nice going against a quarterback who won't run 50 yards up the middle when someone loses gap control?
"That helps a lot in what coverages we're able to play and being able to focus more on the receivers and not always having to have eyes on the quarterback. He's a threat to run. He can pull the ball down and run. Obviously it's not his favorite thing to do when you've got four really talented receivers. I'd throw it up to them, too, but it's a relief."
How nice is it to not have to manufacture a reason to care about this game? It's obvious what's on the line.
"Knowing what's at stake, it raises the level of your intensity, but one thing we talk about in this program is self-motivation. Nobody can make you play harder than yourself. It's there and we know that, but we come out and grind every day."
ROBERT KENNEDY
SMU is a prolific passing team. How important will it be to disrupt what their QB is doing?
"It's definitely a key factor in this game. We're planning a few things for them already. It will be a fun game for the D-line and the secondary to show what we are made of."
How much confidence do you get off a win against a team like Houston?
"It helps the atmosphere around us. it's definitely a lot easier to push in the right direction after a big win like that."
JONATHAN BANKS
Is this the biggest game you've ever quarterbacked in?
"It put a lot of pressure on us and the rest of the team, just being able to win this game and become bowl eligible. We've got to come prepared for practice every day so we'll be able pass the test."
Were you brought here to win games like this?
"Yes sir. No doubt about it."
How much more comfortable are you in the offense than you were at the beginning of the year?
"I'm real comfortable. I'm learning some of the read option schemes. That's what I struggled with at the beginning of the season. I'm getting more comfortable in the pocket being able to trust my line to to give me time."
How do you make sure that you use the momentum from the Houston game in a good way rather than what happened at FIU after crushing Tulsa?
"We are just going to stay consistent with what we did last week. We're not going to think about the past. The losing drought is over with. We have the opportunity to become bowl eligible by beating SMU, so that's what we're focusing on."
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