UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 8, 2022

Frank Harris

Press Conference

UTSA 31

Western Kentucky 28

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Frank, what was the mood like in the locker room after today's game?

FRANK HARRIS: Actually got in there pretty late. I couldn't really tell you. But I think the guys are pretty excited we pulled out this win.

Q. What did it mean for you to be able to get the win after last year?

FRANK HARRIS: It definitely meant a lot. We had a couple turnovers on the offense. Went down in the red zone, didn't get it on fourth down. Just those things.

Coming out on the winning end, definitely meant a lot for us. We got a lot to work on still.

Q. How did you feel about the play of the offense overall?

FRANK HARRIS: They were playing real soft, not giving us a lot of throws. We had to run the ball.

I think Brady and Trey did a great job, O-line did a great job of giving those guys some lanes to run through. Just trusting, hitting the holes, and just running.

Q. The run game had their best production of the season this year. Even with the offensive line banged up, how did they do that?

FRANK HARRIS: Yeah, like I said, they were playing a two-high shell, maybe a 38-28 cloud, playing on our receivers, kind of making us run the ball. I think they did a great job of taking what they gave us.

Like I said, the running backs did a great job, the O-line did a great job of creating holes for the running backs to run through.

Q. Were you surprised they attacked you like that defensively?

FRANK HARRIS: I mean, those guys out there, the three receivers, are pretty talented. If I was playing against us, I'd probably do the same thing.

I think we did a great job of adjusting on the fly. Like I said, those guys out front did a great job.

Q. What was your view of the defensive effort today?

FRANK HARRIS: Yeah, Western Kentucky is a great offense, very explosive. Just like last year. I know defense did a great job of just keeping the points low, going out there executing, playing hard.

We had a lot of critical fourth down stops by the defense. Definitely appreciate them holding their end up of the triangle. They did a great job.

Q. The way teams have been defending you through the years, you've had huge passing numbers. How difficult was it to change gears today?

FRANK HARRIS: Like I always say, we just take what the defense gives us. That's Coach Stein, what he always tells us, whatever they give us. He tells me that all the time. If they don't want us to throw deep, throw to my checkdowns, not force anything.

I think we did a great job of doing that, seeing everybody deep, light box, just handing the ball off, letting the running backing go run.

Q. What did it mean for you to close out the game and drain the four minutes?

FRANK HARRIS: Definitely means a lot for us. Coach Traylor trusts us a lot. Fourth down and two, I got the ball to Cephus, he did a great job of just straining and getting a first down.

Q. You could have gone up by three scores or had a chance to extend the lead. They kept hanging around. What was the atmosphere on the sidelines?

FRANK HARRIS: Those are those plays that I wish we had back. We're going to watch film, just keep learning from those things.

We get down in the red zone, go for it on fourth and one. We don't execute that. Stuff like that, we just got to learn from it. We can't have those things versus a great team like that.

We came out on the winning end, so we're happy about it, but we got a lot to learn still.

Q. 4-2 at the halfway point the season, what is your overall assessment?

FRANK HARRIS: I think we're doing a great job of just taking each game by game, going out there and battling, taking what the defense gives us offensively. Defensively they're going out there, doing a great job. Even on special teams, that was a heads-up play by Wakefield.

I think we're doing a great job. But we still have our best football in front of us. We still haven't played a good game on all ends of the triangle. I still think we have a lot to improve on.

Q. Was it a little bit more designed runs for you in this game?

FRANK HARRIS: We always call those plays. The coverage they were playing, I kind of made a lot of design runs kind of myself, kind of what the defense was giving me.

But like I said, we take what the defense gives us. Coach Stein does a great job of calling the plays, and I never second-guess him.

Thank y'all.