UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 24, 2022

Jeff Traylor

Press Conference

UTSA - 52

Texas Southern - 24

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How does it feel to be 2-2 this season?

JEFF TRAYLOR: You know, I have a hard time. That's a tough one on me there.

I'll admit just walking back in the Alamodome, I had a bitter taste in my mouth from the last time I walked out of it, right? The way we played in the first half, I thought I was going to get that bittersweet feeling again.

We're happy. It's hard to win in college football. There's upsets every single day. There's upsets going on right now as we speak.

There's some things I'm really, really proud of, which I'm sure you won't ask me a whole lot about. There's some things I'm very disappointed in, that I'm sure you're fixing to ask me about. So let's get started.

Q. You've mentioned every game you felt like has been a step forward for you guys. Did you feel the same way or more things you have to address?

JEFF TRAYLOR: The second half, zero penalties, really cleaned that up. I was proud of that. Turnovers showed up, which has not been our forté. Two fumbles. I thought the fumble by Kevorian was a huge turning point in the game.

I felt bad for our defense tonight. It's tough enough trying to tackle that quarterback, but when you return a kick for a touchdown, and you have two turnovers, and you're scoring so fast, our inability to run the football, that's hard on your defense.

Q. Frank had a monster game, set the school record for most passing yards. J.T. for most receiving yards. What can you say about the passing game?

JEFF TRAYLOR: They play a lot of one on one out there. I was really surprised they were paying attention to stopping the run, to be honest with you.

We came in wanting to run the ball. We thought they'd play a lot more coverage. That's not what we got. We got some outside line throws, some kids making great plays.

If we can protect him, he's really good. We got to get that fixed, man. I'm really concerned about it. We got it cleaned up last week, and this week it showed up again.

It looked very much like the Houston game. If we could protect him, we're hard to stop. We've got to be able to run the ball so we can get those guys out of those stances where they're teeing off on my tackles. We need to get some guys healthy. That needs to happen fast.

Q. What is the mood like in the locker room? How do the guys feel about how today went, what was your message in that regard?

JEFF TRAYLOR: They're disappointed. Obviously they know they could have played better. Goldberg came in there, made it a whole lot better. World wrestler champion show up. Those kids went crazy in there. That made their whole day. I think they were way more excited to hear him than to hear me.

Q. What do you have to do to get the running game going? Was that a function of how they stacked the box today?

JEFF TRAYLOR: And they did a lot of junk. I don't mean 'junk' to be in any way derogatory. They just did a lot of stuff in there.

Our receivers are so good. You just hate to not put a ball in their hands. Brenden ran hard. We finally got him going. Had the holding penalty. 26-yard run. I thought we were going to get some stuff going.

I got to look at it honestly. I had confidence. We were running the ball so well against Army, so well against Texas. Tonight we took a step back.

I need to be careful. I doubt it is a coincidence that we set the new school record throwing the ball. I know every time I looked out there, it was one on one.

I was frustrated early because we couldn't execute out there. We kept getting one and one and we couldn't get it done.

We were terrible on third down, too. That's unlike us. I'm still sick about that.

Q. You got the first kickoff return in program history. What did that do for you guys at that moment?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I'm just so happy for Chris. His off-the-field stuff... My wife will testify to this. We had just gone on vacation, it was 11:30 at night on a Saturday night. Chris Carpenter called me. Man, we had a great conversation.

He was in a bad spot. I'm glad I took that call. Man, he has just been skyrocketing ever since. I mean, classes, practice, his life. I know his mama, who has been praying and calling me forever, is so happy. His high school coach... I know those people are so happy.

So why am I telling you all that? It's a direct correlation, right? He has got his life going. I couldn't be happier for him.

We've worked really hard at that. I thought it was a big play in the ballgame. You can tell he's got some stuff to him, too. When he gets it, I think all of you kind of got, like I do, he knows what he's doing with it, right? He's going to be fun to watch for the next few years.

Q. What happened to Rashad Wisdom? What is his outlook?

JEFF TRAYLOR: We'll evaluate it. We'll get some more information through the night. Kid's physically tough. Pretty common for him. He doesn't miss much time, though. He seems always to rally back somehow. We'll get that further eval'd.

Q. Overall with the whole roster, how do you feel from a health and stamina standpoint?

JEFF TRAYLOR: We were hoping to get some guys out there, right? Didn't happen. We played a lot of kids on defense. We emptied the bench. We held out probably. I don't know how many starters we held out tonight. They probably could have played. We were just trying to be wise.

I'll have to look. Didn't seem like we got too nicked up. We'll see how that is tomorrow. It always cracks me up when I say 'nicked up' when my trainer's name is Nick. It's kind of funny, I guess (smiling).

Q. You get through non-conference with a 2-2 record. Those first three games have been talked about a bunch. What's your mood at this point of the season?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Oh, man. I'm everywhere honestly. Kind of like this game was.

I need to watch the film. I don't question my kids' effort. We're just not executing like I want us to yet. We're just not as clean as I want. We're not far off, but it's hard when you just keep rotating kids as much as we are right now.

I need to watch the video. Middle Tennessee just beating the heck out of Miami doesn't make me feel great right now, to be very honest with you, especially in Miami. In Miami?

Q. Yes.

JEFF TRAYLOR: That will keep you up all week.

Q. Was there anything defensively that jumped out in particular that you were missing that allowed them to move the ball pretty well?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I was disappointed on zone read a couple times. And once, backer once. I was just saying on the radio show a while ago, I remember one time I had the opportunity to make it third and eight, or second and 23. Well, simple math tells you they got to get 11 and a half each time versus eight one time.

I'm thinking, Let's just back him up, surely they can't get 11 and a half twice. You got 22 and one. Then they got the first down.

I thought their backs were really good. I thought he was really good. They're doing a good job with what that quarterback can do by spreading the field and playing with such tempo. I thought Clarence did a really good job. And his kids are doing what they're coached to do.

You could tell they were up to play us. They gave a great effort. Yeah, they gave us all we wanted. We had to play a lot longer than we planned on.

Q. You mentioned getting the penalties cleaned up. Was that a point of emphasis?

JEFF TRAYLOR: It was all week. It was all week. They got Kevorian for throwing a kid down the sideline. Kevorian is one of the nicest kids in the freaking entire world. I got to watch that.

They called Gavin for holding. Gavin is as fundamentally sound as any kid I got right now.

They called Booker for tacking a kid. But then there is no whistle, and you don't know whether to knock him down or not knock him down.

When you're in my chair, what do you tell 'em? You know what I mean? That's another one. I'm trying to think. There were five. That's three of 'em. I think Booker got one for unsportsmanlike conduct for retaliating. That's four. I don't remember the fifth one.

I know that the second half, we were way cleaner. Really disappointed on third and one. They stoned us. Fourth and a foot. Disappointed on fourth and four. They cover. They did a better job. There's a lot of things I'm disappointed in.

It is what it is. We won, I got to remember that, right? But that's how my locker room is just like me right now. They're in there just disappointed we didn't play better.

Thank y'all. God bless. Birds up.