UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2023

Dayne Hodge

Cardell Williams

Press Conference

Tulsa 48, Temple 26

THE MODERATOR: Opening statement.

DAYNE HODGE: No. I mean, it was fun to get out there and run around tonight. I felt like it was a good team win. Everybody just coming together, doing their thing. Yeah, and just it was a good team win.

Q. You guys pretty much really limited what they could do. I mean, they got some yards late in the game when it was really over, but they really didn't do much. What was the key to really stopping them?

DAYNE HODGE: It's all in the preparation and game plan. Coach P and the staff, they do a great job of putting us in great situations to go out there and do our job, and they do it to our best of ability.

So it's in the preparation. It's in the game plan. It's kind of been a weird week and a fast week, and Coach Wilson has been great with us, but he's pushing the point to we got to get our work in. You know what I mean?

When we came out there tonight, we felt prepared. We felt like we were in the right spots. It all just kind of came together, and we felt good.

Q. Talking about you really emerged the last couple of weeks, and you've come through. So talk a little bit about getting the chance to play and then being able to come through the way you have.

DAYNE HODGE: You know, Kanion, the starter, he has been a little banged up. I guess the first word that comes to mind is just grateful. You know, as a walk-on it's been a long journey. It's been two and a half years of just grit and grind.

This was the basically the first full football game I've played in in three years, so I'm just grateful to come out here and to play. I just kind of remembered how fun football is.

So, yeah, it's been a lot of work. It's been a lot of grind. I'm thankful for the opportunity. Coach P kind of believing in me and the staff and just throwing me out there. They've been real supportive, real encouraging. Yeah, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help my teammates win.

Q. How did you get here to TU? What's kind of your back story, Dayne?

DAYNE HODGE: So I was a running back in high school as a senior, and I was kind of a basketball player, but I kind of thought that I wanted to play football, and I wanted to walk on.

I knew I was undersized. I kind of have a lot of deficiencies when it comes to I'm not the fastest, I wasn't the strongest. So I just started reaching out to coaches, and the recruiting coordinator at the time got back to me, and he said, You have a spot here as a running back. I wanted to come and play safety, so I know safety film.

I came and just tried to work my butt off, and it's been a lot, a lot of lows, but I'm starting to kind of -- hopefully some of the work is starting to pay off here a little bit.

Q. Was it training camp, or when did you think you might have a shot of seeing the field?

DAYNE HODGE: I think Coach P told me I had a decent fall camp, but you just never really know until you know, and especially being a walk-on. Coach Wilson is amazing with walk-ones. I can't say enough.

I just knew I needed a little opportunity. So I didn't know how it was going to come, but I just knew I had to stay ready, stay prepared, so when my number is called, I could go out there and do what I believe I could do did and do what I think I'm capable of doing.

Q. With regard to kind of the whole team stopping the run defensively seems like a really big part of the success tonight. What went into that for you guys, do you think?

DAYNE HODGE: Like I said, preparation. Just Xs and Os, meetings, films, practices that we've had all week. We've had a lot of walk-throughs.

Like I said, Coach Wilson has been great on us, great on our bodies coming off the short week. Just a lot of mental prep. Knowing when I'm fit in the gap, when I'm not, when I'm in the pass, when I'm not. So just it's the preparation leading up to it, and it showed out there on the field tonight.

Q. Plus two in the turnover battle tonight. How important was it to win that turnover battle?

DAYNE HODGE: Huge. Coach P is always preaching manufacture turnovers. Always saying it. I think we won the turnover battle. To go out there and to win that tonight was huge. I mean, that puts us in the best situation to win football games and do that consistently, so that was big.

Q. Cardell, big night for you, big night for the offense. Felt like you were pretty efficient. What were you seeing out there tonight?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Well, I just had a good grasp of the coverages that we went over all week at practice. The coach has harped on taking care of the ball and making the right decisions. I just trust him to coach and play ball.

Q. I know a lot of the QB run game stuff is more read-based and not like a called QB run game, but I felt like you got more loose a little bit more tonight than we've seen in past games. Is that something you hit on this week in practice that might have been something you guys could take advantage of?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Yes, yes. You know, keep them honest, pull the ball a couple of times, hand it off a couple of times, made plays around the perimeter, made plays up the gap, keep rolling.

Q. How did it feel? You really haven't been able to showcase your running until this game. I mean, you've shown flashes, but I don't think the fans have really seen what you can do running. What did that feel like?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: It felt good to run. It felt good to play with my teammates, the line blocking down the field, the receivers blocking down the field, and just balled up.

Q. We saw it in the Pine Bluff game too where you were 13 of 14, and it was close to that at the start of tonight. When you get into a rhythm, it seems like you're just really, really accurate. What went into getting you into a rhythm, whether it was the preparation this week or the just way the way it was called tonight? How did you kind of find that sweet spot?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Well, I just be calm, take a deep breath, and just play play-by-play. Don't really think about the next play or what happened the last play. You know, just follow all my rules for that play and make the best decisions while taking care of the ball, and it just kept me in a good rhythm because positive plays was coming, so positive energy was in me.

Q. After getting your bruised hand, how long did it take to get back to where it was normal?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: All I know is I'll be ready to play next week every week.

Q. Maybe the last thing for Dayne. I know it wasn't tonight, but maybe take us back to last week. I guess that's your home state. You got to make a big play in that ball game. Just what was -- your very first taste, and to be able to -- what was that like with family watching?

DAYNE HODGE: Yeah, that was my first ever real time playing safety in a football game, and to be able to do it in my home state in front of my family, it was awesome. Like I said, I'm just extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to go out there and play football.

I've learned not to take it for granted over the past two and a half years, so to be able to go out there run around, hit somebody, get hit, and just play the sport I love was awesome.

Q. Last thing for Cardell. I mean, you guys played maybe two of the best teams in the country, and that can make it difficult for fans to know kind of what you guys are. Do you feel like the offense tonight is kind of the first big step in showing people what you guys can be and how much progress you've made since August?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Yep.

Q. Let me ask that differently. You got me. In what way have you guys made progress, do you think? What was showcased tonight? Something you guys can do now that you couldn't have done maybe a month ago?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Putting it all good and went in the red zone and taking care of the ball.