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BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 10, 2016

Jim Grobe

Waco, Texas

Baylor - 40, SMU - 10

COACH GROBE: Well, that was interesting. I always have a concern when we play the first game. We're so excited to play and sky high. It's hard to simulate that again the second week.

We, of course, had a tougher challenge today. I think the thing that I was so proud of was how well our kids bounced back. We just didn't have good stuff offensively in the first half. I really thought our defense, to hold them to six points, was really, really good. We were backed up a few times. We did a great job to kind of bow our necks and not let them in the end zone.

But I do have to give credit to SMU. I thought Chad Morris and his staff had a good plan. They gave us some problems early. I think at halftime we figured some things out that really helped us. But for the most part, I thought SMU's kids and their coaching staff did a great job. We knew we were going to have a challenge. We knew that they were going to be ready to play. I think this is a great win. I think some of the best wins you have are when you're challenged and you find a way to get it done.

So for us right now, I told our players in the locker room, we've got to play a lot better going forward. We had too many penalties. Offensively, we had a couple turnovers that we shouldn't have. I thought at times some of the penalties were crazy, the procedure penalties. We just can't do that. That's undisciplined, and we can't do it. Going forward, those things are going to hurt us.

I felt like -- from an effort standpoint, I felt our kids, when it came time to win a football game, they found a way to do it, and that's the bottom line. I'm proud of our staff, proud of our kids. Obviously, I think we can be a good football team. I don't think we showed today the kind of football team we can be.

Now, I want to give SMU credit, though. I think you ought to realize their kids played really, really hard. We've got to improve quite a bit. I think we can be a good football team, but I don't think we played as well as we can play today.

Q. Jim, the interceptions, three of them, two by Orion one by Davion, can you just talk about how big those were in this game.
COACH GROBE: Well, you know, I talked about we needed to force more turnovers defensively. But those turnovers were so big because of where they happened. We had two in the end zone where they were driving on us and ready to score points. And then any time you have an interception for a score, it makes it really good.

So I thought overall, I think we're going to feel like we didn't play the run very well defensively. We're a little soft inside. But we forced some turnovers, and that was huge, and a big, big part of the football game today was our defense kind of bowing up and doing what they needed to do to keep SMU out of the end zone.

Q. Coach, you lose Ryan Reid in the first half, a veteran player, but back there in the safeties, you've got Orion and Davion, who had a big game. How much does that combo help you overcome a loss like Ryan Reid?
COACH GROBE: Well, you always want veteran players back there, and that's what Orion gives us back there. He's kind of the senior leadership back there. So we hate to lose a guy like Ryan because he's our leader over there also.

They had a couple of receivers that were really dangerous, so when he got hurt, we didn't panic, but you really have a concern when your senior corner is down and you know how good their receivers are.

So I like the way our younger guys came in and played on the corner, but I think you make a good point. I think Orion settles them down, and he settles Davion down. Davion's a young guy, was a receiver that we moved to safety. He's going to continue to get better and better. He's very athletic and not real comfortable at times with some of the calls and those type things, but it's because he's young and new to the position. But I think being back there with Orion really helps him.

Q. Jim, that first half, Seth had a few overthrows, some other passes that were behind guys. Then in the second half, it seemed like he made a few more plays, especially the throw to KD for the touchdown. Is that just a sign of a veteran quarterback kind of staying with the process?
COACH GROBE: Absolutely, and I think it's a situation where, when you know a guy like Seth Russell's maybe not got his best stuff, you don't worry about it, you just hang in there with him because you know it's coming. You know he'll get it going.

I think what we're going to see, when we get back and look at video, I think we're going to figure out he missed some throws, but we probably didn't run routes at times as we should have. We've got a lot of young receivers. We've got a lot of guys playing for us right now.

So I think it's probably going to be a combination of Seth will probably tell you that he missed some throws, but then we'll probably look at it and feel like we didn't quite get where we needed to be with our routes.

Q. Jim, Pat said they kind of tempoed you, maybe what you hadn't seen a lot of. Talk about maybe the way Phil adjusted to that. And then do you have any update on Raaquan and Ryan?
COACH GROBE: I think tempo -- you know Chad's going to do some tempo stuff. So we expected him to do that, but they kind of mixed it up. And what happens when you're a defensive coordinator and you're making calls, you're kind of in a groove, and all of a sudden I've got to make a call quicker.

We're trying to not only -- you know, we've got some young defenders. So we're trying to not only make a call to stop the offense, but we're trying to coach them while the series is going so hopefully we can get better and improve as we go.

So it just -- you know, sometimes you've got to make a call a little quicker than you want to, but I think that's a little more of a credit to SMU than a problem for us. Phil did a really, really good job changing gears when the pace changed, but I think what it did, especially in the run game, we weren't quite settled. We didn't quite have our cleats settled in the ground on some of those inside runs. So that's something that we've got to get better at.

We go against each other a lot, so we should be used to pace. That's not anything. I think we just kind of didn't play as well as we needed to early, and as the game went on, I thought we kind of began to play better.

Ryan Reid's got a sprained ankle. We've got Pooh Stricklin's got a sprained shoulder. Mike Sims told me coming down the hallway we'll kind of see how that goes, but there's no real -- you don't know how young guys bounce back. We're hoping that Ryan and Pooh will bounce back early.

Q. Did Raaquan have an injury?
COACH GROBE: Mike didn't say anything about Raaquan. He got dinged a little bit when he came off, but I think he's just fine.

Q. [No microphone].
COACH GROBE: I did not. Maybe I'm just focused more on what's going on out on the field, but I didn't sense that there was a lack of energy from the stands. I think our guys expected to come out and play better, and when we didn't play as good as we can early, I think it kind of threw them off a little bit. I thought there was great energy in the crowd.

It's a little different, though, when it's hot. I mean, you kick at 2:30, the crowd and the players are hot. So that might dampen it a little bit.

Q. Blake Lynch had that fumble on a would be touchdown. He did get a touchdown later on. How important was that? And how many lessons do you find yourself teaching a guy like him? These young guys that you're playing a lot more than you probably would in a normal season.
COACH GROBE: Great point. The thing that I will tell you, show you what a great coach I am, I told him, you might want to carry the ball with you into the end zone in that situation.

But I think what you saw and what we saw that was real exciting, Blake Lynch can play football. He's a really good player, and he's a guy, going forward, we're going to have a use a lot more.

I think he's a young guy. He's got to learn -- I think the biggest issue was he was giving such great effort to try to get into the end zone, and sometimes you forget to secure the ball. But that's what -- you work with young players, and the nice thing today was we were able to win a football game, make a lot of mistakes, but see some of these young guys really step up like JaMycal Hasty, watching him run the football. Watching Blake Lynch play receiver today was really special.

So all these young guys are going to be making mistakes, but as we go forward, you've got a pretty good idea they'll start cutting back on those.

Q. Coach, how nervous were you, or were you nervous on the fourth and one from your own 29?
COACH GROBE: A little -- I told Coach Bennett -- you know, I'm an old defensive coach, and I think we were backed up -- I'm just going to throw a number out. I think we might have gone on fourth down five times behind our 50 yard line, I think, and that is not in my comfort zone. I will just tell you that. I'll tell you that.

But I felt like we really needed to hang on to the football. We put the defense out there too many times, and I really felt like, in those situations, we needed first downs, and KD felt like we were good. We were just rolling and going. The problem is I think KD would feel good on fourth and 20.

But I felt like, knowing our football team, I felt we were capable of making those, and I think extending drives was important for us at a certain time when our defense had been out there too much.

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