WILLIE FRITZ
Did the first half go about the way you would have drawn it up?
"Yeah, we did a good job with all three phases in the first half. We really controlled the clock. We didn't run the ball as effectively as I wanted to, but they have an unconventional defense. They stacked the box and we were able to throw effectively. For his first game, Jonathan Banks showed a lot of poise. He made some really good decisions and also you get a lot of one-on-one opportunities with the quarterback out on the perimeter, and there were three or four times they had it played fairly well and it still was a gain of five or six yards for us."
Banks' first run was for 21 yards. His first throw was a touchdown pass. Is that what you wanted to see?
"We've got to be multi-dimensional. If they really want to take away the run and pack the box in there, they can do it. It's kind of a bear front. They didn't have a middle close player, a free safety, which they'd done against quite a few people. They are a tough defense. They've stopped a lot of people. That's a very good defense. Their defensive coordinator does an excellent job, so I was pleased with our ability to throw while they were stymying us in the run game."
How impressed were you with the defensive front?
We played great early. We kind of ran out of gas at a couple of points. We kind of stopped rushing a little bit. The other thing, we worked as much as we could on rush lanes, attacking the quarterback with leverage. We knew that his escape path was always outside. Darned if we didn't lose contain probably about five or six times when we could have really stopped them dead in their tracks. The last touchdown, we put in our second group, and it was a pretty quick drive. They didn't play real well. As I told them in the locker room, everybody gets an opportunity to show what they can do at some point and time, and you've got to take advantage of it. Some guys are going to play more, and some guys that had been playing won't be playing. They didn't play quite as well as what they needed to, but it's great to have a win and also see a lot of things that you can improve on."
You talked a lot last year about missing opportunities for big plays on the option when it wasn't executed right. How nice was it to see the pitch to Encalade and the long touchdown run?
"That was really nice. One thing is Banks does a really nice job of pitching the ball. He's kind of natural at doing it. We finally came up with a scheme where we were going to outflank them a little with the long touchdown run by Encalade. It was a really nice fake and attacking the pitch key and pitching off of them by Jonathan."
How would you assess the offensive line play?
"There were some good things, but I was disappointed a little bit that our pass protection wasn't as firm as we needed it to be. We let some people go. Towards the end there we kind of wore them out. (Stephon) Huderson and (Darius) Bradwell came in and really played well. We were knocking them off the ball, and they still had all their 1s in the game. We were doing a good job with the down scheme and running a little counter scheme against them. We had some success with that."
Would you say the offensive line is the area where you need to make the most improvement going forward?
"Yeah, I think we're better up there. We've got more guys that can play. There are more creases and seams, but we have to be able to convert and get first downs and move the chains because this game coming up (against Navy), there might only be eight, nine, 10 possessions per team. You have to take advantage of every single one of them, so we have to match up with them at the very least."
What happened on the two consecutive extra point misses by Coby Neenan?
"It looked like a decent snap and a decent hold. I don't know if his plant foot was too close to the ball or he was out in front of it or his hips were turned, whatever the case may be. He looked good early, but those two extra points are disappointing. Those have to be automatic."
How big is the Navy game after your struggles in conference play last year?
"They're all big. This one's bigger because it is a conference game. It would be nice to be out there in front at 1-0. There's not a whole lot of conference games this upcoming weekend. They are going to be very disciplined. They are in midseason form the first day of preseason camp. They've been running that offense forever. We've spent a lot of time on them. We spent a lot of time this summer and spent a lot of time in preseason camp, so it's not like we haven't seen it yet. We're not going to be putting together a game plan tomorrow. You can't do that with that type of team, so it will be a fun week and a challenging week."
Did the first half go about the way you would have drawn it up?
"Yeah, we did a good job with all three phases in the first half. We really controlled the clock. We didn't run the ball as effectively as I wanted to, but they have an unconventional defense. They stacked the box and we were able to throw effectively. For his first game, Jonathan Banks showed a lot of poise. He made some really good decisions and also you get a lot of one-on-one opportunities with the quarterback out on the perimeter, and there were three or four times they had it played fairly well and it still was a gain of five or six yards for us."
Banks' first run was for 21 yards. His first throw was a touchdown pass. Is that what you wanted to see?
"We've got to be multi-dimensional. If they really want to take away the run and pack the box in there, they can do it. It's kind of a bear front. They didn't have a middle close player, a free safety, which they'd done against quite a few people. They are a tough defense. They've stopped a lot of people. That's a very good defense. Their defensive coordinator does an excellent job, so I was pleased with our ability to throw while they were stymying us in the run game."
How impressed were you with the defensive front?
We played great early. We kind of ran out of gas at a couple of points. We kind of stopped rushing a little bit. The other thing, we worked as much as we could on rush lanes, attacking the quarterback with leverage. We knew that his escape path was always outside. Darned if we didn't lose contain probably about five or six times when we could have really stopped them dead in their tracks. The last touchdown, we put in our second group, and it was a pretty quick drive. They didn't play real well. As I told them in the locker room, everybody gets an opportunity to show what they can do at some point and time, and you've got to take advantage of it. Some guys are going to play more, and some guys that had been playing won't be playing. They didn't play quite as well as what they needed to, but it's great to have a win and also see a lot of things that you can improve on."
You talked a lot last year about missing opportunities for big plays on the option when it wasn't executed right. How nice was it to see the pitch to Encalade and the long touchdown run?
"That was really nice. One thing is Banks does a really nice job of pitching the ball. He's kind of natural at doing it. We finally came up with a scheme where we were going to outflank them a little with the long touchdown run by Encalade. It was a really nice fake and attacking the pitch key and pitching off of them by Jonathan."
How would you assess the offensive line play?
"There were some good things, but I was disappointed a little bit that our pass protection wasn't as firm as we needed it to be. We let some people go. Towards the end there we kind of wore them out. (Stephon) Huderson and (Darius) Bradwell came in and really played well. We were knocking them off the ball, and they still had all their 1s in the game. We were doing a good job with the down scheme and running a little counter scheme against them. We had some success with that."
Would you say the offensive line is the area where you need to make the most improvement going forward?
"Yeah, I think we're better up there. We've got more guys that can play. There are more creases and seams, but we have to be able to convert and get first downs and move the chains because this game coming up (against Navy), there might only be eight, nine, 10 possessions per team. You have to take advantage of every single one of them, so we have to match up with them at the very least."
What happened on the two consecutive extra point misses by Coby Neenan?
"It looked like a decent snap and a decent hold. I don't know if his plant foot was too close to the ball or he was out in front of it or his hips were turned, whatever the case may be. He looked good early, but those two extra points are disappointing. Those have to be automatic."
How big is the Navy game after your struggles in conference play last year?
"They're all big. This one's bigger because it is a conference game. It would be nice to be out there in front at 1-0. There's not a whole lot of conference games this upcoming weekend. They are going to be very disciplined. They are in midseason form the first day of preseason camp. They've been running that offense forever. We've spent a lot of time on them. We spent a lot of time this summer and spent a lot of time in preseason camp, so it's not like we haven't seen it yet. We're not going to be putting together a game plan tomorrow. You can't do that with that type of team, so it will be a fun week and a challenging week."
