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UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 15, 2018

Major Applewhite

Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech - 63, Houston - 49

Q. Major, talk about the passing yards allowed. Does that number strike you in terms of what you guys gave up today?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: Yeah. Yeah, it's unacceptable. We've got to go back and figure it out. Obviously we know it's unacceptable, but a lot of it had to do with tackling. There were some open guys that got behind our coverage, but there were several balls that were caught in the five- to ten-yard range that extended into 30-, 40-yard runs after the catch. You're going to give up some big plays, but then you've got to show up in the red zone, and we didn't force them into field goals. I believe they were 7 of 7 for touchdowns in the red zone, so we didn't play well enough to legitimately say we had a chance to win this game from a defensive standpoint.

Q. That first drive of the second half, you guys come out and score, it's 35-35 at that point and then they go again on that run where you guys only scored one more time besides the one there in the last minute. Was it adjustments or did you feel like your second half offense was a lot different from the first in terms of execution?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: No. I felt like from a 1st and 2nd down standpoint we knew we were going to be in some four-down situations in the second half. That's the way this game is going to be, especially when they're hitting on all cylinders, and we didn't get in good enough position on -- we didn't do well enough on 1st and 2nd down to give us good 3rd down opportunities. We were sitting at 3rd and 8, 3rd and 9, 3rd and 7. If you're sitting there at 3rd and 4 you've got more opportunities to call more of your playbook knowing you're in four-down territory, but we didn't do well enough on 1st and 2nd down.

Q. You lose Garrett on that first drive; was it on the specific -- do you know if it was on that specific play where the guy broke off the big run? Did he get his foot caught or do you know what happened?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: I'm not sure if it was that specific play or the next one that he got hurt on. I know it was that drive.

Q. You brought Sprewell in at that point. Is there any update on what Garrett is looking at right now?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: Garrett is out for the season. He broke his foot. From what the doctors told me, they had him X-rayed, broke his fifth metatarsal, so I don't see him back this season. Unfortunately he's a great kid and worked really hard for this senior year, and it's just a shame, but that's the game.

Q. It looked like Ed came out on a few series there. Was it hydration, cramping, or was everything all right with him?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: No, you've just got to find times to sub him in the 50s, around the 50. You want him obviously there on red zone and 3rd down, but when you're playing a tempo offense like that, you can't have big men out there for 85, 90 snaps. You've got to take them out at times, and you've got to have your backups play well. They did a great job, and give them credit, but they did a great job of taking the game out of the A- and B-gaps and trying to play the ball on the edges, quick throws, hitches, and making our corners and safeties have to tackle in space, and that's what we said the whole week, you've got to bang their wide receivers, you've got to tackle in space, and we did not do a good job of that.

Q. Did you feel like from a pressure standpoint -- the calls there to get pressure, did you feel like that was done, or would you go back and do more or did you feel like in terms of allowing Bowman to get some of those throws off?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: You know, I don't want to speak into such generalities. There's different situations, different down and distances, and I just don't want to paint with a broad stroke, but the reality of it is the ball was coming out so fast that sometimes pressure is better to cover down, and that's what we were doing, we were trying to cover down, and you saw us in position after the ball was caught to make a tackle, and we didn't tackle. I felt like our corners, our safeties were in position to make tackles on four- and five-yard hitches and create 2nd and 6, and instead it turned into a 35-, 40-yard explosive, and that's -- I'm not trying to defend coaches and blame it on kids. That's not my deal at all. But that's the reality of it. The ball is coming out quick, your pressure is not going to get there, so now go tackle the short route, and we didn't tackle the short route.

Q. And on offense a few drops, I think, early on, and that 4th down play. Overall did you feel like that was kind of -- again today in terms of key drops?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: Yeah, I mean, it's not acceptable -- again, I'll say what I said last week. It's not acceptable. We've got to coach it up better. There's some experience that goes into that, and I think you're seeing a young group of receivers that are very explosive. We'll get better as the season goes on, as Coach Guiton and Coach Briles continue to work with them, you'll see them get better. But we had some guys that maybe couldn't do some of the athletic things these wide receivers have done already in three games, but they were good 3rd down players, they were good red zone players, they were very sure handed because they had a lot of experience. We've got to develop that and we've got to stay after that because those guys have that capability. They can be explosive and they can be dependable.

Q. What do you tell the group after a game like this so early in the season that by no means is this the end of the season? What was the message or how do you move on from this?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: Well, you know, just talked about what each side of the ball can do. You can't expect to win any games giving up 63 points, so we've got to tackle better. We didn't do our job. We knew what we needed to do. We didn't do that. So that's on me. I've got to get them prepared. It's one thing to tell them what kind of game it is. You've got to get them prepared to play that type of game. I thought I did that but I didn't, so I've got to go back and see how I can get better from an offensive standpoint. You had some opportunities there to run the ball, we couldn't run the ball, so we were explosive through the passing game, but that leaves your defense on the field for a long time. And then we had a red zone opportunity, and like you mentioned, a couple drops that allowed us to score and make the game tighter.

Q. On a bright note, Major, that first half, Marquez continues to show what he's capable of, the way y'all are using him. When you have a game like this, do you look for those little victories or maybe some silver linings that you can build on and tell them, hey, this game is over but we did this right?
MAJOR APPLEWHITE: I mean, right now I'm so mad from losing that I'm sure over the next 24 hours I'll find some good things from the game. We all will. But at the end of the day we lost. I'm not into silver linings and what are the -- whatever. I'm not into all that stuff. Let's win the game. We didn't do what we needed to do to win the game. What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong as an assistant? What did I do wrong as a starter? What did I do wrong as a special teams player? Get it fixed, and move on to TSU and get your third win.

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