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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 14, 2019Matt WellsLubbock, Texas MATT WELLS: Very proud of our guys, their fight, their resolve to come back after a win and continue to prepare. I thought we fought. I thought just like I thought after the game, after watching it a few times, I thought our guys competed to the bitter end and left everything we had on the field. For that, I'm very proud. You know, defensively, got three new starters in new positions, you know, again fifth time in six games we shut the opponent out in the first quarter. We started off very fast and played very, very well in defense in the first half again. That's a couple of weeks in a row we have done this now. Got to learn to finish games in the second half. We have to learn to finish and play better in the second half. We'll continue to address that for us. As far as scheme, coaching, players, all of that kind of good stuff. Offensively, started off slow, the three punts in the first quarter. I thought we picked up some steam after halftime. A little bit of the tale of the tape, it is the second week in a row we have done that on offense and defense. Obviously the goal is to start fast on both sides of the ball, but I thought we threw and caught the ball well, and especially the second half. So with that, moving onto Iowa State, very well coached team. Matt Campbell has done a nice job in turning that program around. Very solid team. It is a team that's used to winning, going to Bowl games. Certainly what we want to be around, about here at Tech. A couple of 8-win seasons the last two years. Very solid on both sides of the ball. They're tough. They're physical. You know, defensively, playing the odd stack, and that defense is designed to stop the run. You see them run the ball, everybody is there, all the safeties. They do a tremendous job in terms of their gaps. Their gap responsibilities are strong up the middle, led by the nose guard, 58. Linebacker core is really good. The guy that stands out, 23. He's out in space. He's everywhere. He's a really good linebacker. You know offensively, Purdy is... Again, here we go. We're in the Big 12. There is a great quarterback every week, and this week is no different. He's very accurate, runs the ball well, and leads that offense. You know, the running back Hall, had a really good game. Freshman, taller kid, lane I'm a little familiar with, a Salt Lake City kid out of East High. #4. Good athlete. A big wide out, #7, makes plays. He presents a match-up problem for us, and so something that we certainly need to be aware of. Big, strong offensive line. I only kind of laugh because it's big, strong. They have a lot of experience, both tackles, the guard, even the kid that plays guard or center, either one, he's a two-year starter, the other three are three-year starters. They have certainly played a lot of football. It will be a tremendous challenge, and one that our guys I believe will be up for and we're looking forward to playing Saturday. With that, I'll go ahead and open it up. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: No knife. No knife. The referees are accountable for their actions and their calls. I expect the Big 12, as I know they already have, to deal with it and continue to deal with it directly and appropriately and swiftly. I trust and believe that they are. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Yeah. That's a question about the sound in a game, certainly came up during the game. You can't play the sound once you address the ball. It becomes a little bit of a gray area for all of us no-huddle teams that want to address the ball. Not supposed to have music, band, piped in music, whatever. So that's certainly game ops. Big 12 Conference, they can continue to address that. I'm not going to sit here in my press conference and address it. I respect the question. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: That's a good question. Because if I knew exactly that answer, we would try and replicate it at halftime. We have struggled a little bit coming out of halftime. We're in talks about that. I mean, we're trying to figure that out. That's a concern. Man, we have started out very, very good. We have been dialed in, we have been ready to play. I believe our coaches have had them ready to play and a credit to our players, I believe they got themselves ready to play, whether it is the last 48 hours prior to kick-off, it is their mental, emotional state that morning, you know, whatever leading up to the game. I think that's been spot on. We have to try to replicate that coming out of halftime. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I think he's unique in his skill set. Similar in the fact that if you don't contain rush, if you're pressuring, you don't contain rush him, you're in trouble. The guy can get out. He can carve you up when he's throwing the ball out on the perimeter. You know what, that was a little bit of a problem Saturday. I thought Brewer did that to us a little bit. We knew it going in. You still have to play the game. Brock is a very talented guy. He's won a lot of football games and a very confident player it seems like on tape. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Well, yeah. Everybody has kind of got their unique twist and everything. Any time you play out of 1 1 and 12 personnel, there will be similarities week to week in terms of this league. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: The biggest thing he does, he gives you a little bit of extra energy and a little bit extra juice I think. I think he fires the whole lineup when he runs through arm tackles. I mean, for him to carry the ball 28 times is a testament to him and his durability. I'm proud of Sarodorick. I think he played well. He caught the ball well. He protected well. You know, I thought he had a breakout game. Very proud of him. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I think his practice habits have been very consistent. And leading into the game, you know, in the meetings, his practice Tuesday and Wednesdays, it just has been Sarodorick is always there and he's done a nice job. And I think he reaped some of those awards Saturday, and he played pretty well. Q. (Question).. MATT WELLS: I think anybody can, Don. You know, just because of the circumstances Saturday we needed him to do that, and he certainly stepped up and did that. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Yeah. Should be. Should be up today. Yeah. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: No. It was called. Yes. Is the question did Jack call the play or did we call it? Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: We called it. He didn't check it. Yeah. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I think it was probably the latter. Trying to add to that field goal. You know, we talked a little bit briefly coming out of the game. That was the decision I was going to try to kick it at that point just because of my other factors. We had, you know, played on defense, you know, at that point I thought fairly well in terms of decent in the red zone. We had given up a bunch of chunk yards but we had been decent. You know, right before halftime, in the second quarter we held them to a field goal. They had scored, we had a pick, then they had another touchdown and then the two-minute drive, they drove it all the way down and they got all the way down, a 99-yard drive. But when we were in the tight red, inside the 10, I thought we really bowed up and caused the field goal -- forced a field goal I should say -- dang near blocked it to cause overtime. You know, we had not converted the 4th and 2 earlier, got the pass batted down, had the 4th and 2. We had to go. We got it. I thought we were at 50/50 on offense as we were on defense. That's what led into all of that at that point. Q. Coach, you mentioned you thought the team needs to learn how to finish, but were you happy with what you saw as far as what you just mentioned with the defense, even scoring a touchdown with under 4 minutes to go to take the lead. MATT WELLS: Yeah. You know, what won't show up or won't be real -- you know, a question asked, it is, you know, we have a must-win field goal unit with a minute and 40 seconds to go. I have five guys on that unit that have played 90 snaps or will have played when the game is over 90 some snaps. At that point it was 80-some snaps. They ran down like the freaking game depended on it and their life depended -- not their life -- but they ran down like their hair was on fire. It was Damarcus Fields, Adrian Frye, Doug Coleman, Jordyn Brooks. Riko, we had two offensive players, T.J. Vasher made the tackle inside of the 15. Riko came across the field to get the assist on the tackle. Zeck McPhearson played 90 some snaps. He was the 10 on that. You know, unfortunately, Eli gets the sack, we get them to the minus 1 and then, you know, there goes the rest. Proud, heck yeah, I'm proud. They bowed their neck in the red zone and forced a field goal and you live to play another down and that other down was overtime 1 and overtime 2. Q. After the Eli sack on the play from the minus 1, did you ask the conference office about the next play? MATT WELLS: I haven't found out about it yet. Yeah. We turn plays in. Yeah. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: We're not -- I'm not going to answer that question. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: We do. We do absolutely in terms of being aggressive. If there's a penalty call, there is a penalty called. We're going to be aggressive. There is smart penalties, there's, you know, the penalties we're trying to eliminate in this program. They're pretty snap post whistle, and then we're trying to live with penalties within the play. What's not smart, you know, 1st and 10 holding the run game by an offensive tackle, not very smart. 3rd and 10 against a go daddy like Lockhart, it will happen sometimes, a good player. A defensive holding or a PI down the red zone, it's going to happen sometimes. Live to play another down. So what was the other down? The field goal. We almost blocked it. Little bit of a low kick and Eli almost blocked it, and that's what we would have been talking about. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I think he's had better practice habits and I think those continue to show up on Saturday because he's gotten confident during the week and practiced well during the week. He's come out and played well. We just need to start faster, you know. Him, as well as the 10 around him. I also think Jeb's performance is also related to the 10 guys around him. I think we have protected him well and I think our outside receivers for the second week in a row have made a lot of catches and a lot of the competitive catches. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: It's been that way. Yeah. That's a fairly accurate statement. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Well, I would hope that mentality is with all of our units. You know, I have seen Weston Wright step up on the offensive line. Madison, who is kind of rotating in at the beginning of the year has stepped up. Certainly saw Braden Springer step up and play well in the first half opposite of Jordon. Evan Rambo I thought played really well. He's been down, injured the last couple of weeks and came back and played well. You've seen other guys step up, and that's certainly what we hope for in every room, not just the running back room. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I just want to see Red Raiders make plays. We happened to bring 7 transfers in. At some point they'll all make plays. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Human error. It happens. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I told you. I said it in here, didn't I! Why are you laughing, man! I said they're going to. Could, and they'll come in bunches. Dang it. I think we still left one more out there. I thought we left two out there against Oklahoma State. We're going to continue to coach it, and strain the ever-living far out of these players in terms of how to protect the ball. We do so much good on good in terms of ball security, as well as our takeaway circuit. Our guys I think have really bought into that, and they can see where that can help this program. And you know, that's part of the plan to win, is taking care of the ball. This week, it was zero, right? It was 3-3. You saw what happened in the game. It means it is -- you know, game went to overtime. You know, I think if we had created another one or we would have given up one less. We certainly had two of those that came in bad times, right, red zone, had a pick and a fumble in the red zone. Those two I think balls started on the plus 21. Those cost us. Just take one of them away. That's a field goal. Take two -- I don't want to get into that game. You see where taking care of the football is a big part of the plan to win. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: It was a big, big play at a big time. Yeah. It was a big stop. He was in the right spot at the right time. He made a nice play with a cast on his hand. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: He's fine. He just got stepped on. Yeah. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: I think they handled 6:30 meeting this morning very well. They were bright eyed, not one guy was late. I put a lot of stock into that, the way they act, the body language. We got to go back to work this afternoon and got to have a great Monday. Q. What about Smith this week, what can you tell us about it? MATT WELLS: Day-to-day. Day-to-day. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Seth, I believe we're going to x-ray him soon. I don't know the exact date. If, you know, the next -- the next x-rays should be within the next week or so. I know we're close. Just to see his status potentially at the end of the year, probably being after bye week if that's a possibility or not, Don. Yeah. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: It was just a really, really shattering break, if you want to say it that way. It is an area of the body that doesn't get a whole lot of oxygen -- I think that's the right term, if you all -- that may be jacked up right there -- it is a slow healing deal. It is a really, really slow healing deal. It's not any of the kids' fault. I tell you Seth busted his tail in the training room, he's here every day, with our guys every day, he's doing a great job. If we can't get him back this year, we'll look to get him back next year obviously. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: You're very observant. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Yeah. Thomas Leggett is big time. I love that kid. He's one of our captains. He's played very consistent. He's a consistent special team player. He was out Saturday, and he was into it as much as anybody on the sidelines with his energy and his juice, and I respect that and I'm very thankful for that. He's a tremendous teammate. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Well, 58, the nose is the first thing you see when you step on. He's a kid out of El Camino, Juco. A real good player. I think their linebacker core is very solid. 23 is all over the place. He plays out on the edge, the perimeter of the field, if you will. Very athletic and very strong. They're a little bit more zone based than man based in the back end, and that defense, very well coached. Coach Hickok has done a great job over time. It has been a defense that seems as now I get into the league that I have heard quite a bit about, and I think that there is other teams copying some of that stuff, mimicking, and that's -- what do they say? It is flattery, whatever. I don't know even know that saying. Help me out, Williams. What have you got? Yeah. There you go. Imitation, sincere form of flattery. Thank you. I'm on camera too! I didn't have that quote ready! I think that's respect, man. College football, a lot of stuff that guys do, we all do. We beg, borrow and steal from people, and if it fits our personnel, we do it. But that's been a defense I think that's been ahead of its time a few years ago and still is very, very solid. They do a great job. Very well coached. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Yeah. Real good. He took the scrambles when they were there. Just thought one of those picks was forced, the other ones just a little bit low and they got tipped down there in the red zone. I think he's doing a good job of going through his progressions, through some out of bounds and scrambled when it was there. You've got to be smart and aggressive. Sometimes that's an oxymoron, but you have to be able to be aggressive at times and be smart and take the loss, get the ball back to the line of scrimmage or scramble to make positive yards if you can. Q. (Question). MATT WELLS: Yeah. It was really his third, fourth read technically. Not all picks are bad. The results are always bad. The second one in the red zone, he just threw the ball a little low. That happens to all of us. It got tipped. Johnston was in the right place at the right time. Let me go ahead and mention, I know he's out for the year, what a stud. That guy is a great player. I don't know if I am able to say he's the heart and soul of that defense, but just from an outside perspective looking in I have a tremendous amount of respect for that kid, the way he played, and the way you saw on tape all year. That kid, he's a tough football player. He seems like he's really smart. He's all over the place. He makes a ton of plays. Unfortunately, an injury puts him out the rest of the year. I just I got a lot of respect for that young man. Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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