UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2022

Jeff Traylor

Press Conference

UTSA 31, North Texas 27

JEFF TRAYLOR: I'll tell you call a quick story. That MC there was one of my very best friends in the world. His name was Matt Camp, president of the school board. We taught Sunday school together. We were childhood friends. He got melanoma in 2009, and they gave him 10 months to live.

He started -- we had nothing when we started, nothing. He got on the school board and helped me. He did everything to help those kids.

He started -- we had no money, so he started doing the radio. He was my J.J. and my Greg, right, except he liked me a whole lot more than those guys do.

But on my 100th win, he was dying, and he got in the Winnebago and he came to the call and he called my 100th win. He passed away that next Wednesday.

I still have the voicemail. He told me, Bro, there was no way I was going to miss your 100th win. I don't know how many more I'm going to see, he said, but when you win No. 300, I'm going to have the best seat in the house.

Tonight was No. 200 for me. I'm 100 away, brother. I'm going to get there.

His life verse was Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding.

We beat Liberty in 2009 for my 100th win, and we were losing at halftime, and I told my kids to not do this to me. I told my kids this story last night in devotion, and hell, they did it even more.

Matt Camp is very special. His wife Deirdre has never been remarried. His son Cade is 22, at A&M, and special people. Miss him, love him, and that's why I got that towel here.

I've had this towel in my office every day on a bat. Matt was a baseball player, died with a bat in his hand, and I keep that bat and that towel in my office. If you ever walk in my office, that's why it's in there.

Questions?

Q. Jeff, how did you get this win today? There was so much back and forth, especially in that fourth quarter; how did you guys get it done?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Our defense. Only allowing 22 yards rushing. They gave us a lot of time to figure out some stuff offensively.

I know y'all think it's just football, a bunch of grunts out there grunting, but there was a lot of scheming going on early, a lot of jab, body shots. Phil Bennett is as good as they come. Our offensive staff, we kind of got shook a little bit with the turnover early, and we were like one play behind the whole time. He changed a lot of his tendencies. We were off a play. The harder we tried, the more we couldn't get out of our own way. But defense held us in there until we figured it out.

Even at halftime we had ran like 45 plays, had 250 yards. We knew they were getting tired over there. I think we ended up with 90 snaps. We rushed for 250, they rushed for 22.

I think y'all know me well enough by now, we're going to commit. Whatever the hell they do, we're going to try to stop that. It was a lot like the Army game plan, and we couldn't stop a forward pass, but we weren't going to let them do what they wanted to do. I know that could be second-guessed, and that's fair, but I just -- I've been on offense my whole life pretty much, so I hate it when somebody makes me play left-handed.

What I mean is like what's happening to us right now. Everybody knows our line is a shell of itself. Everybody is playing coverage and rushing four and getting pressure.

It makes sense, right? Why would you not? They know our line is in shambles. They know how great our receivers are, so it's creating a lot of frustration for us right now on offense.

But our special teams was the key-key. Just think about it, man. Blocked punt, we recovered the squib kick, we kicked away from that great returner the whole night. Lucas, I don't know if they ever caught a punt, and we caught all of our punts.

I bet the yardage we went on hidden yardage was crazy tonight. In those kind of games, man, it really comes down to those little-bitty things.

I know you asked me what was the key. There was a bunch of keys.

Q. What stood out to you about that final drive needing to go 75 yards in less than two minutes there?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Yeah, I've already been asked on the radio, and it's a great question. Hate to give you guys credit ever, but like why didn't I let them score to have more time left. The younger Jeff Traylor probably would have, but four yards, what are you telling your defense? You've got four games left at minimum, and now we've got five for sure. We're going to a bowl.

What are you telling your defense? It did enter my mind because I could have had two time-outs with two minutes, but what are you telling your defense? We're the triangle of toughness, and we're just going to waive it?

I'm not saying I never will. There might be an opportunity. But we gave our guys a chance, and I thought the quarterback draw call was a huge call by Little Willie Stein, great execution by Frank, and he got out of bounds, and then I got Oscar got tired of y'all talking about the UAB being the greatest catch of all time, so he just decided to one up y'all. How about that kid?

Again, what was cool tonight, Frank didn't play his best game, but man, he's the heart and soul of our team. 210, right? Shares Clemens. Brenden Brady, best game he's played, Cibolo; and my man Oscar right from the city. It's a great story. It's a great story.

These kids are unbelievable. They really are. They're going to kill me, but they're unbelievable.

We're getting the day off tomorrow, by the way. We are going to honor the Sabbath.

Q. The other play that stood out from that drive was the 4th and 2. It looked like the same call to Zakhari that you guys had tried in other 4th downs earlier in the year --

JEFF TRAYLOR: Twice. I hear you and J.J. and y'all's little stories, talking about that stuff.

Yeah, today in the walk-through, we practiced it again, and I said, understand, President Eighmy dot-com post, they could probably find enough money to pay that 10-year contract off. If I run that same play again and it doesn't work, it ain't going to be good, but I'm coming to you again Zakhari. I believe in you; I love you. And not only did he make the catch and take the hit, just like Cephus, the wherewithal to get that 1st down. Those kids couldn't do anything until I started coaching them. (Chuckles.) They're great players. They're special.

Q. North Texas came in, last week they had run for 475 yards. Y'all limited them to 22 today. What was the biggest factor in doing that?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Coach Loepp and his staff had a great plan. Our kids played their tails off. Man, those kids are different, man. I can't explain it. I really can't. I can't explain it. It's like magic. I don't know. They just get it done.

I wish I could give you some great answer. We did do a lot of stuff, but those are really good coaches. You're not going to out-coach Bloesch and Clements and Seth. Those guys are really good -- that's a great program. They've been playing football, what, 100 years? Great facilities, great money. They've been doing that a long time.

For us to come in here and do what we're doing, it's truly amazing. All my buddies back home make fun of me for the way I say the word "miracle" because I used to say "miracle," but now I say "miracle." It's almost a miracle, honestly.

Q. Can you just talk about what happened at the end of the first half with the clock?

JEFF TRAYLOR: That's about as mad as I've been in a long time. We supposedly upstairs inadvertently stopped the clock on 8, so therefore they said they had to go ahead and put it on 0. I still don't understand it. I was just trying to beg for common sense. He says by rule, he had to enforce it that way.

I was just begging for common sense. We clearly caught the ball at 8. We know we would spike the ball in less than five seconds. By rule, that means there would be three. You can clock the ball as long as you're on 3.

Obviously I lost my argument.

I hate it when common sense is not used. That was the rule they gave me. They were put in a bad spot. The clock should have kept running at 8. They said it didn't. That's why they ran it off.

Q. Jeff, I think you called this a "Goliath game" headed into this one. You guys come out with the win. How big is it in the grand scheme of things moving forward for you guys?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Well, but we're just so beat up. We're just trying to get home. I told Arthur Campos after the game, we're still a hot mess. We're not very good.

My players are fantastic. They're just getting some really bad luck. But I told them -- I've got a million quotes, you know, J.J. Healthy teams don't win championships. Tough teams win championships. We're tough.

Venly, I don't even know how he played. He played tackle; he played guard; he got hurt. T-Haynes got hurt, came out. It's unbelievable what those kids keep doing.

I would like to say we're fixing to get hot, but when I got Maka back and I got Venly back versus Western Kentucky, and we just were rolling for those three quarters, it's almost like the moment I feel like -- it's like I'm being taught to stay humble. The moment I want to poke my head up and go, here we come, it's like whack, whack, whack, whack, there goes somebody else down my line, and that's just hard.

What's happening, man, is they're playing so much coverage on us now, which is why we're running the ball for 260, as well. Those linemen are getting some great boxes to run it. My quarterback draw looks good because it's a light box in there. A lot of cover six, a lot of cover eight, and we're not getting much one in 4-0 anymore.

Q. We saw Rashad in a pretty heavy-duty sling or cast. What can you tell us about his status?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Yeah, it doesn't look good. It doesn't. We're going to get a second opinion next week, but we think he's done for the season. Shoulder. Happened last week. Just another -- one more shot. Thanks, J.J., for bringing that up.

Q. With how many times you guys have been in these kind of late-game back-and-forth crazy dramatic finishes in your tenure here, how comfortable are the guys in those moments? How did you feel like they handled the stretch being what it was?

JEFF TRAYLOR: We never -- honestly, I don't know if y'all ever watch me, but they're a reflection of me. They don't blink. The only time I get upset is when the doggone officials don't agree with me.

Other than that, I'm pretty calm over there because it's the next-plan mentality. They're going to make plays, man. They get paid, too. We like to eat and we like to pay our bills, and both sides don't want to get fired, and this is a crazy business, right? I'm not saying in any way that Seth or Randy -- they do a fantastic job. They should keep Seth forever there if they've got a brain. But we feel that. Both sides coach hard. But you just can't go there in your mind. You just can't go there in your mind.

I love to tell my kids, I don't know what the day brings but I know who brought me the day. That's where I stay in my faith. I just stay there because if you get to worrying about all that other stuff in life, it'll crack you, now. I've been there. I've been down that road, too. It's tough when you get in that mindset.