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LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 12, 2016

Skip Holtz

Ruston, Louisiana

UTSA - 35, Louisiana Tech - 63

COACH HOLTZ: So many of these guys and the things they're doing out there on the field. Just their toughness, their focus, things they're doing, I'm really proud of them. It was not a very clean game. We made a million mistakes. We had a big punt return we gave up. We had a field goal block that went all the way back down. We made some mistakes. It certainly wasn't perfect and it wasn't pretty. But we were able to get it done. Our defense helped them to about 300 yards of total offense, and really, 300 yards and 35 points tells you some of the poor field position that they were put in a couple of times tonight. But like I said, just really proud of this team, really proud of the way that they went out there and the way the competed.

Q. Well, and offensively, we've talked, it's been the Trent Taylor, Carlos Henderson show. But today they combined I think for like seven catches for 36 yards. But you had other guys that stepped up. Ryan Higgins found some other guys. Alfred Smith with a 100-yard game, the touchdown to Marlon Watts. Those other guys start getting involved, you go from dangerous to almost unstoppable?
COACH HOLTZ: Yeah, it happened a little bit last week. And you're starting to see it more and more. They're doing it; people are doubling Trent and they're doubling Carlos. That takes four. That takes four of them out, and then the other two guys are in coverage zero. So there's no safety over the top and there's no help. So we threw a deep ball to Alfred Smith last week and he dropped it; came back, and Ryan's doing a nice job and not trying to force it to where they're two on one, and he's taking what the defense is giving, and some of these other guys are stepping up. And like you said, Marlon Watts joined the party and it was really nice to see Alfred Smith take that deep ball to the house.

Q. They say stats are for losers. I'm a big stat guy here, so I guess I'm a loser. It's not too often that you're going to win a game by, what was the final, 28 points and the other team has 27 more offensive plays.
COACH HOLTZ: Yeah. They controlled the ball. When you look at the time in possession and we weren't very good on third down, and they went for, I believe, six fourth downs and made four of them. So you look at it, they were -- they pulled out all the steps. They tried to run a throw-back punt return and couldn't quite get it off. They tried a number of tricks; they ran a fake punt. This was do whatever we gotta do, do whatever we gotta do to try and find a way to win the game, and they competed hard. They're a good football team, they've done a nice job and they're building their program, but like I said, just really proud of our players and what they were able to do.

Q. Weird night special teams wise. I mean you look down, your boy Shouse 54-yard average. Pleased with that. Two kick returns for touchdowns, which I don't know if that's ever happened in the same game in Tech history. So there were a lot of good things, but you mentioned a blocked punt, punt returns and things like that.
COACH HOLTZ: Yeah, there were some good things. As I told the team, I'm a coach. My job is to correct the mistakes. You know what I mean? And not rub everybody's back because they did good. We did. We're doing some good things, doing some great things on the field, and these guys are playing hard, and like I said, they're doing some really good things and making plays and guys stepping up, guys on defense, and all of a sudden you lose a safety in Cooper and you don't miss a beat. Carlos doesn't play in the second half, you see a couple of these other guys step up. A lot of great things, but you can't have a field goal block and run it all the way back. You can't have a fake punt go against you. You can't have a long punt return. You just can't make some of those mistakes and be a good football team. So those are things we're going to have to clean up, but overall, like I said, I'm certainly not trying to ^ complain about a 28-point win here at home against a game that was billed as No. 1 and No. 2. They've won four of their last five. The only one they lost was a four- overtime game so just proud of what they were able to do.

Q. Trent Taylor kicks an extra point. Does that mean Jonathan Barnes is going to be able to run some routes?
COACH HOLTZ: No. What happened, this week Trent was out during prepractice and kicking, and he made it. And I said, yeah, well, there's no line in front of you. He said, Coach, you call me whenever you need me. So we went to field goal that day, and I said, you know what, I'm going to be a smart aleck, and I said, all right, Trent, let's go. And he ran out there, he took his steps, he put it right through the middle of the uprights, and I was like, you know what, if we get an opportunity to kick an extra point and the game's in hand, I said, I'll give you a chance to kick it. And he said, that's all I want is a chance. He was a little mad at me because I didn't let him kick the 40-something yarder that got blocked, but hindsight he's probably glad he didn't kick that one because that was the one that got blocked. But he's a great athlete. These guys have fun. They've been working really hard, and I'm just really proud of everything they're getting done.

Q. Final question. We're finally at a bye week after 11 weeks of football, and it might not have come at a better time right now. You got a couple of guys beat up. I know Carlos didn't play in the second half. Trent took the big hit. So really, this might be a perfect time, although at the same time we've won, what, seven in a row now. So do you want a bye week?
COACH HOLTZ: Well, we need it. Like you said, we're beat up, and I know Ryan Higgins has been nursing a groin the entire last five weeks, and it's gotten to the point where he can't even practice some during the week. So need to get him healthy. We finish our fall quarter this week, gives the guys a lot of opportunity for this last week to really get on top of these grades and finish this quarter up strong. So you know what, we're going to lift tomorrow, probably meet a little bit on Monday, practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I'm going to give them a couple days off for the weekend, let them get out of here, go home maybe Thursday, Friday, Saturday, get some rest and then come back. But this week is all about Southern Miss and ^ then next week's going to be all about Southern Miss. Normally during an open date I do a lot of underclass training and development, but that's what the bowl game is going to be for, and this just gives us two weeks to get ready for Southern Miss.

Q. Well, congratulations on the win and congratulations on qualifying for the conference championship.
COACH HOLTZ: I appreciate it very much. Really proud of these players. So much credit goes to them for what they've been able to do on the field and they've gotten it done.

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