UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 12, 2022

Jeff Traylor

Press Conference

UTSA - 51, Louisiana Tech - 7

JEFF TRAYLOR: It was nice. Our defense had five turnovers. Made a lot of short fields for us. Offense with our ability to run the football and executing on third down was really impressive. Special teams-wise, we were all glad they could do it.

Really proud and happy for my guys to get that feeling. I'm sure everybody in this room is probably relieved that about middle of the third quarter you could start deciding this thing was almost over, and it was a good feeling.

So any questions?

Q. Jeff, you said (indiscernible)?

JEFF TRAYLOR: The flu two weeks in a row, and the kids don't talk about it. I want to brag on Nick Turner and his staff. Tamiflu and Vitamin C and washed hands and slept.

Just that time of the season. As long as I've been doing this in the month of November, you've just got to get whoever's there. I've said it a million times before. Healthy teams don't win championships. The teams that aren't sick don't win championships. Tough teams win championships.

I've got a tough football team, led by a tough quarterback. That always helps. He played really good again tonight and really happy for him.

Q. Jeff, the 258 rushing yards tonight is a season high. What did you see out of this matchup that you thought you guys could take advantage of the rushing game and continue that performance on the ground?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Our offensive line is getting healthier. Kevorian Barnes is really developing. Brenden Brady has always been a good back. Brenden has been sick all week, and we barely got him to the game and got him out there. Literally in pregame, I said, are you going to be able to do this for me? He said, I can get through today, Coach, but you're going to have to take care of it.

We picked up the slack. (Indiscernible). There's no one that does more for our program than Justin Rodriguez. He's the scout team running back every single day. He's the guy on punt, the kickoff. He's scout team, everything. For him to go out there and have that success, I think you could just tell by our sideline how much it meant for those kids to get it in the end zone.

I tell the kids we've got a modern day Rudy. We might have to have a movie. This might be J.J. and Greg's way to make a million dollars right here. J. Rod might be able to give it to them.

Q. The defense came away with three interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and you held LA Tech to 0-4 on fourth down tries. What can you say about the defensive performance today?

JEFF TRAYLOR: They just got after it. We were not real pleased with the way we finished the game last week. We know how good Harris was at three, six. Harris, 85, the freshman could really go. Hebert, 5, was really good, the quarterback. They've been averaging 37, 38 points a game, and they played really good people.

So they had our attention, and our kids, they played. They were physical. We were a very physical football team today. That's what we take a lot of pride in is being really physical.

Q. After all the tense finishes you guys have had this season, what was it like on the sidelines for you and the players to be able to build a lead and maintain it?

JEFF TRAYLOR: There's always stuff that goes down in those situations, and you got a lot of players playing that you weren't expecting to play. There's always tension and more bickering, believe it or not, in the staff in those kind of games than there are in the real -- the games where you're focused the whole time.

But when you're making mass substitutions on every position, you can imagine the stress. I explain to all my young coaches, this is the worst part of coaching, but this is the best part of coaching. When you're fighting over who's going in the game and when you're going in the game, those are good conversations to be having. Because Will's trying to call it, and we've got 14 guys talking about who's going to be in the game?

It was fun. Chaos. We're not used to it. We haven't practiced it very much this year, and we got some practice tonight. I hope we practice it a few more times. That would be nice.

Q. How much of an advantage was it to be able to get some of your guys out, and how does that set you up for the rest of the stretch run to have some people a little more rested?

JEFF TRAYLOR: We played a lot anyway. It was really good to get Eddie Lee out there anyway. It was good for everyone to see what I've been talking about, him running around and throwing the ball well. It was good.

Cam Cooper out there. It was some young guys on the field. It was good to see Chris out there, Isaiah out there. It was good to see Ty run the ball a little bit. So it was good.

Defensively, Je'Vaun got to make some plays back there, 28, it was good to see that. Those young guys step up and play for us more and more as the season goes because of injuries and illness.

Q. Jeff, are you going to watch a little bit of the FAU-FIU game tonight? Or you just let this thing play out? What's the mindset moving forward after this one?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I told my team, Greg and J.J. were telling me what the results were, and I wasn't going to think about it until you all told me to. If I need to watch it, I will watch it tonight, but I've got two recruits in for business. I need to recruit a little bit too.

Is that who we're going to play in the championship game, you're thinking, if we were to make that? What are you telling me right now, J.J.?

There you go. Would you just do me a favor because my wife would probably kill me if I was watching another game. Would you just text me and let me know the score. I'm going to be at Pinkerton's for a little bit recruit, and then I'm taking the lovely Care Bear out with some of my high school friends and reminisce. Talk about how young we all are.

Q. To J.J.'s point, you guys are very close to locking up a spot in the title game and home field advantage as well. What does that mean to have it on the horizon?

JEFF TRAYLOR: It's awesome. I know you don't expect me to say that, but it's awesome. We're getting close.

You're one of the few people who has access to our team room, and you saw my hieroglyphics that says do not erase up there. I called the shot to my team. We're going through injuries and still going through injuries with the losses and the turmoil and how tough that is, I really thought it was going to help us later on in the year.

My kids love it when I kind of speak things into existence. So it just gives them confidence. We're almost home. We're almost home. We can see the end now. We can see it. That just makes it more fun.

Football's tough. The first four games are always awesome because you're just getting new. That middle four and middle five, middle six, it's a hard way to make a living. When the season changes and the leaves start to change, that's when all the big games have ever been born. There's a lot of memories with players and coaches. Important games are won in these times of year, and we're almost home. We're to the big games almost.

Q. You guys scored touchdowns right out of the gate today. Was there anything that was clicking immediately that allowed you to have instant success like that?

JEFF TRAYLOR: We've got a really good quarterback and a bunch of really good players out there doing a great job and doing what we ask them to do. I'm just being honest.

We've got a lot of three year starters out there. How about Tykee stepping in to replace J.T. You can't replace J.T. J.T. texted me this morning, the whole team, hydrate. Study your game plan one more time. I'll be watching today. He's the absolute best.

I look at the sideline, and it's just a MASH unit over there. I'm looking at Wisdom and seeing Makai Hart and Meech, and I didn't see J.T. today, right? That's a lot of great players back there. We keep having someone else step up. Again, it's a testimony to the program and the culture and what those kids believe in.

Q. To that point, what did you make of Tykee's game and how he responded to that opportunity?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Other than the first drop in the second half, but he sweats. He is a sweater. He had to have an IV before the game started, he was cramping in pregame. At halftime, he was just drenched. I'm sure his hands were slick.

Other than that, he was really good. He missed a block. Sorry, Tykee, I'm telling all your business here. He played really well. He made some great contested catches. I've told you all that's never been the problem.

What's crazy is he always does this against Louisiana Tech. It's three years in a row now. He made his debut my first year here against Louisiana Tech. Last year he went out there and did it again. And I'll be danged, those guys over there are like why doesn't that guy play every day?

Q. Barnes broke a couple of long runs for you guys. What does it do for the offense to have that home run threat on the ground?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I told you when I got here, that's the way I would like to do. I like to have two backs rotating. It's a tough position. It's good to have a fresh one. We thought we'd have three really. Trelon has just been injured, so we put him on the shelf. We've got to get him well.

We got lucky because he was totally on the shelf this entire week. I'm not sure how much Ven Dog played, but I don't imagine he played much. I think we might got to think about playing T. Haynes again. I'm a big nickname guy. So Terrell Haynes and Venly, I don't even want to say Venly's last name. It's Ven Dog. So those guys, I would think they're pretty close to being healthy.

Q. You mentioned the O-line. It seemed like they opened up some pretty big lanes today. How do you feel about how they've performed given some of the injuries they've had?

JEFF TRAYLOR: They're really good. They've gotten better and better. We're getting some depth. Frankie was out there playing well. Oscar and Dan made some -- and Gavin had a huge catch coming out of the end zone, third down.

Our tight end group is really coming on. We call them the tight friends. Not tight ends, they're the friends of the O-line. So new nickname, tight friends. Friends of the O-line.