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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 10, 2011

Bryan Harsin

Q. I asked Coach Brown if he's still trying to figure out separation at the quarterback and would like to see one of them separate. He told me to ask you.
COACH HARSIN: Right, and rightfully so, yeah. You know, I'll say this about every position on offense: We're always looking for guys to separate and step up and compete. It's a competitive battle all year long, and each week in practice, each game is another opportunity for those guys to compete, show what they've got, take advantage of their opportunities, get more opportunities based off their performance, and the quarterback is no different.
As you go back and you evaluate the games, you look at what they did well, what we need to work on, what needs to happen in practice this week, and if those things happen for both, then they're both right there and doing what we've been doing. You're always looking for a guy to step up and separate himself, and we'll continue to do that all year long at every position.

Q. What did you take from looking at the film specifically on Case and David?
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, well, you know, what's bad and what is going to be bad regardless are the turnovers. That is one thing that we've talked about and know that we have to eliminate in order to be competitive and playing in the games, no matter what scenario or who you're playing, and that's got to be handled.
You know, to have three of those for touchdowns, that's very difficult, puts our team in a very difficult situation. So you know, the previous two games we had no turnovers on offense, and you could see the result, and we've got to go back to why that happened and where it happened from a protection standpoint. Myself, I've got to help those guys out in protection, and then we've got to protect the football and just be smart in those situations, and we reserve the right to punt and not put our defense in a bad spot and let those guys play and try and get the ball back for us.

Q. Do you think there's any confidence issue with such young players that only have four or five games under their belt?
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, you know, youth or not, we went in there with a plan and felt like our preparation leading into that week was good. And give credit to OU; they did a great job off defense, those guys flew around. That's a very physical, fast defense, and they created problems. We knew there was going to be some issues. It wasn't going to be a perfect game. The hard part isÂ†‑‑ are the turnovers and how we could have eliminated those, the sacks, and looking at what our plan was there.
I know that we could have eliminated some of those sack issues by getting out of some plays. That's on me in order to do a better job of making sure we're in better situations of the but those scenarios right there, we really kind of hurt ourselves from that standpoint, and then it was compounded with the turnovers and then the turnovers for touchdowns.

Q. They had, I think, 17 tackles for loss. What do you look at? Is that a combination of things? How do you fix that?
COACH HARSIN: Well, it's never one thing, and it's never one position. It's a combination. And you know, again, I think the biggest thing is as we go backÂ†‑‑ I thought our guys played very hard. I thought they were out there doing what we asked them to do. Obviously there were some guys on their defense that made plays, and we expected that to happen. But I'll go back to the plan and making sure that frobSBteSBzdGFuZHBvaW0IHRoYXQgd2UgZG9uJ3QgaGF2ZSB0aG9zZSBuZWdhdGl2ZSBwbGF5cy4g
Got to be able to get rid of the ball, got to be able to eliminate some pressure situations there with some protections, and that would have helped that situation with the negative yardage plays.
But you know, OU, they took advantage of it, and they were flying around, and the guys when they had opportunities to make those tackles, they did, and they didn't miss, and it's a credit to those guys.

Q. Anything you would have done differently going in? Anything that you maybeÂ†‑‑ not regret, but just anything different?
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, there's alwaysÂ†‑‑ as you go back and you look at every single game, win or loss, you go back and look at what was your plan, what would you do differently. There's several things in there, like I talked about, and as you go back and look at it, that's something as you go into this week of practice now you really prepare for. You prepare for the situations that we were in that we had the turnovers, how do we eliminate those, whether we hang onto the football, takin`Â†that sack, or throwing it away in that scenario there, and we've got to re‑emphasize those things and continue to improve that and really just correct some of the decision making, some of the schemes that we used in there, as well, do a better job from that standpoint myself, and make sure that we have a better week of practice this week on those type of situations.

Q. Do you need to find a way to get DJ Monroe the ball more? Seems like when he does touch it he's productive.
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, that's always something in the plan, to get him the ball. I think we try to utilize our personnel the best we can, and each week is a little bit different. Obviously you look at teams we're scouting, as well, so we're trying to find ways to get those guys the football, and he's the guy that with the ball in his hands has done a very good job for us, so we'll continue to try to find ways to get him the football and try to be creative that way and get him out in space and let him do his deal.

Q. Everyone talks about OSU's offense, but they've got a defense over there, too, that can be a problem.
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, they're an entire football team. That's not just one side of the ball. And the reason why they've been so successful, offense, defense, special teams, you see that. It's an entire football team. They're doing a nice job. They're flying around and playing with confidence. Defensively you see a lot of the same things we saw last week. You see speed on the field. You see guys making plays. They're very opportunistic on defense, and so it's another big challenge for us, the speed of the game, just playing against those guys. We've got to do a great job in preparation preparing for those guys and their speed.

Q. Have you ever had a 4th and 49 before in your life?
COACH HARSIN: No, no, haven't had that.

Q. Without a penalty.
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, yeah. That's tough. There's not a lot of calls for 4th and 49. I think there was actually aÂ†‑‑ there was one team that had, I think, maybe a 4th and 50‑something during the week, but that puts you in a tough spot right there.

Q. They say the best defense is the best offense, and to keep their offense off the field, I guess your offense has to control the ball and have some long plays. How do you expect to go about it this week, and I guess the running game has to be huge?
COACH HARSIN: Well, I think all those things. Everything we've done up to this point that we've emphasized has to continue, and the number one thing will be turnovers. Running the ball, throwing the ball, we know we have to do those things, but we can't turn the ball over. And if that happens again, you're putting those guys in good field position. They've obviously got a good offense and they can take advantage of that, and we don't want to do that. So we take care of the football and we do those things number one, then we've got to find ways to run the ball and get the ball downfield, but it's always going to be about turnovers.

Q. Is there a concern that you put the idea in Case and David's head of being too conservative because of the turnovers? You're playing a similar type team this week. Is there any concern?
COACH HARSIN: No, I don't think so. We're going to go play our game, and I don't think those guys are being conservative. As we moved around in the pocket, those guys got hands on the football, and we've got to protect the football better back there. We've got to protect our quarterbacks better. And that comes with our protection schemes and those type of things.
You know, it's not that mentality, it's just we've got to protect the football mentality better, and we'll continue to be as aggressive as we can and run the football and do all those things that we've been doing up to that game. But the number one thing will be protecting the football and taking care of our quarterbacks back there and not getting in turnover situations.

Q. How much did playing Oklahoma kind of prepare you for this week and beyond with the really, really good teams?
COACH HARSIN: Well, we knew this: We knew going into this game and the speed of the game is going to change. It's going to continue to chage from this point on. And really what you get, you get a very good idea after playing a team like that of how you need to prepare in practice, and you won't be able to get those looks from your scout team. They're not going to be as fast and as big as what you see on game day. So you've got to go out there thinking that that opponent next to you is that big, is that fast, and you've got to practice that way. You've got to get in position extra quick in your scout team periods and just understand that by getting there right now, that guy may not be there, the scout teamer, but against OU and Oklahoma State they're going to be there. So that speed of the game and watching it, that's what you learn from and that's what you've got to take into your preparation.

Q. With the turnovers, did that kind of take Fozzy's factor out, or did you have to have him pass protect?
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, you know, Fozzy did a great job. I mean, I think the one thing is that he's been in that game a few times. He came out there, his mentality was out there to play. He had kind of seen everything and been there and done that, did a great job. We got into a situation, yeah, where we had to utilize him in protection and try to throw the ball a little bit more because we were behind, but he's a guy that each week continues to step up and make plays, and we've been very happy with what he's done for us, and we're going to continue to try to get him the football, and he just continues to make things happen.

Q. You mentioned the speed of the game against a team like OU. The gadget plays, the trick plays, didn't work. Can that be linked to the speed, or was it more execution on your side?
COACH HARSIN: A little of both, more the scheme, but the speed, as well. You know, those guys coming off the edges and trying to get those guys picked up, obviously, again, just makes that a little bit more difficult. You know, that's what we have to go back and prepare for and just understand that, that it's not going to get any slower. I mean, we're going to be playing a lot of fast individuals out there and a lot of fast defenses and teams that are very opportunistic, and we've got to make sure that we're putting our guys in the proper situation to be successful on those plays, too, and that comes back to me.

Q. The offensive line, can you just speak to what you saw on film and how much effect they hadÂ†‑‑
COACH HARSIN: Yeah, they were going against some good players up front, but they did a great job of fitting up on their guys and battling through. OU made plays, and when those happen, we've got to be able to on the back end of it either get rid of it, find the quick throw and get the ball out of our hands. That's what's going to happen. So it's not just one person, it's an entire group, and that's what happens when you play against good defenses. Everybody has got to kind of help out and account for each other, and as we look at that game and we prepare this week, those things are things that we're talking about and keeping in mind.

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