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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 17, 2011Tommy TubervilleCOACH TUBERVILLE: We'll talk about our first half of the season. The natural thing to do is to look back at the last two weeks in which we've had a lot of disappointed young men sitting in this room two Sundays in a row, which is awfully tough, and the coaches. But I look out more for them than I do coaches because these guys are like our kids. But it's been an interesting first six weeks. We made a lot of progress in some areas, in some areas we haven't made as much as we'd like. Building a team the way we want it, there are a lot of factors that are involved. The number one thing for me as head coach is accountability, and that's for all the players and coaches. Accountable for what they do and how they do it and being a team player. If we're ever going to win a championship around here, we have to learn that one word. Though we've been disappointed and sick to our stomach about how close it comes and yet it's so far away, I can see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel because last year at times I didn't think a lot of the players really worked as a team, accountable to each other. But the last two weeks and even the weeks that we won games, these guys were very accountable to each other about things that they did good, and especially the things that they let the team down on. When you start seeing that in the locker room before a game, after a game, guys trying to prepare a lot more, then you know your programs getting a lot stronger. We never want to accept losing. But if it takes that for us to learn to be accountable to their teammates, to their coaches, to their school, I think it will go a long way for us. I've seen guys that have made mistakes the last two weeks that it's ripped their stomach apart. I've seen them in meetings how disappointed they were that they weren't able to get done what they should have been able to have gotten done. So that's generally what I've looked at this first half of the season on. We're not a great football team. We've got a lot of room for improvement. A lot of potential on this team that will get better and better, but you don't get there until you've learned that word. I want all of them to understand how important it is to do their job. Even if you're only playing three snaps in a game, and you go out there and make a mistake in one of those three snaps and it potentially costs you a game, which, in some instances, really might have in the last couple of games, if you're accountable for that, you understand that. The players see that. They see it really hurts you that you're not going to make that mistake again, then we're making progress. So to that point we're fighting that battle every day, and I think all good teams do that. Right now we're right in the middle of it. I think that's one thing that I'm upbeat about. As most of you see in this business, you see a lot of ups and downs, and we see the same thing. But we see the battles that are fought in this room, in the classroom, that go along with the football games. So I've seen a lot of progress. And I'm proud of these guys. They've fought hard. You just had a young man up here who threw three interceptions in the last game, and I saw more players consoling him than anybody. Here's a guy that makes all these mistakes, but they understand what he's also done. I think the players understand when you throw the ball almost 70 times a game, if you're perfect, then you're not human. I think we're coming together as a team. Whether we're going to win many more games, I don't know. It's going to depend a lot on how much better we get. I see a lot of promise how these young guys are playing. We've got to get to the point of accountability where we can make a lot more progress as we go along. But we've got a pretty good football team. We played a team Saturday night that we all know and we saw that we had a great chance to win. But as I've told you all before, stats don't win a football game. The score does. You've got to get the job done, and they got it done, and we didn't. There were a lot of reasons for that, and we're trying to work those problems out. It's going to be an awfully tough week going up against a team -- we're getting ready to play one of the top teams in the country to work those problems out, but that's good. It gets us back to where we need to be. Get focused and get ready to go. Oklahoma has a very good football team. They have a better team than they had last year. We went there last year, we played and we didn't play very well. We got welcomed because of that in terms of how we got beat. So we've got a lot to prove. We've got a lot of room for improvement, and I'm excited again about the attitude of this team and how they've gone through the first six games and handled the wins and handled losses. Especially the younger guys understanding what they've got to do to make themselves better. Questions? Q. At any point do you have to reevaluate as a team the goals and things like that? COACH TUBERVILLE: No, going into the year as all our players -- it's a usual statement, you take it one game at a time. This week we didn't know what kind of team was going to show up, what kind of team that we'd have. We knew we had tons of room for improvement at every position, lot of young guys playing. So, no, we won't reevaluate. We just try to make it better each week and try to understand what we've got to do to win. I think we've got a pretty good lesson in the first six games of what we've got to do to win, what we've got to do to lose. We could very easily right now be 2-4. There were two ballgames that we were behind considerably in and we came back and won the game. We learned a lot from that. Then there were a couple games, one game we never got the lead, but we had a chance to against a very talented A&M team and a team last week that we led for most of the game, and we couldn't hold on for several reasons. Very good learning experiences that you don't want to go through a whole lot, because it just rips you apart in terms of what you put into a game, all these players, and not have the success that they want to get. Q. Seth talked about they were very well prepared. Can you talk about how you narrow that gap between preparation and executing? COACH TUBERVILLE: It's a fine line when you get into teams that are maybe better than you are how you handle that. But football is a lot of moving parts. It's very easy for us to say no. You look at not just offense, not just defense, how important the other third is, the special teams, where we were absolutely atrocious. Didn't do hardly anything right other than, I guess, an on-side kick. Which is by the way the first one that I've executed since I've been here. But there were no accolades for that. We gave ourselves a chance to win even though we were so horrible in that area. So, again, it's a learning experience for probably three-fourths of the players. That's all they do. They don't play offense. They don't play defense. They just play special teams. I think they understand the importance of doing technique and being focused, because one small mistake can cost you a ballgame. So it's a hard lesson to learn, but sometimes you've got to learn it. We'll make some changes on special teams, personnel. We've just had a problem at the beginning of the year. Probably 30% of our special teams have changed because of injury, but that happens. You've just got to have some guys step up and younger guys play and understand the importance of it. That's the reason every Sunday every player doesn't watch offense or defense, but every player and every coach watches every snap of special teams. Even though they're not on it, I want the players on special teams to understand the importance both if you're on it or not on it. So it was a pretty interesting meeting in here yesterday when we watched about 30 plays of special teams. Q. The blocked field goals, was it just an effort thing? COACH TUBERVILLE: I think just focus, a technique problem. It was in both different areas. It wasn't the same one. Like last week we had them blocked from the outside. The first one was blocked between the guard and center this week, and the second was blocked between the guard and the tackle. It's just focus. We don't have a lot of offensive linemen. A lot of our starters have to play on that. Sometimes you get to a point where we didn't score that touchdown, let's kick this field goal, get to the sideline and get ready for the next series, and that snap is as important as everything else. But it's obvious that we didn't have the focus and the accountability on those two snaps to get it done. They just outphysicaled us on that play. Bottom line, there wasn't anything other than the effort. So that's what I'm talking about. Accountability will go a long way, and it's not fun to go through when you're going through it, but I think the importance now of every snap, I think every player understands that. Q. Coach, a little bit off topic -- COACH TUBERVILLE: We wouldn't expect anything different. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the protocol of the postgame handshake? What do you expect from it? What is the point? COACH TUBERVILLE: There are times that I've been very I would say uncomfortable with a handshake at the end of a game. But usually those are built up a year in advance through recruiting, through coaching, through things that you read in the media, and it's usually because of rivalry games. So you just build all those emotions up and then you win or lose, do you want to shake hands or not. But the most important thing we should portray as coaches -- and we should shake hands -- is we show people on television, your fans, young kids watching at home that it is a game. Afterwards whether you win or lose, you can shake hands and go on with it. I think what we saw yesterday was not good for our sport, even though it was in pro football, which is a lot different from high school and college, but it's still about sportsmanship. There are a lot of kids that watch this on TV and YouTube, and they'll see that, and it's not a good example. I don't know either one of these gentlemen, but they are coaches, and it's my profession. We all get hot-headed at some times and get disappointed, but I think sometimes we let our emotions get away from us. Again, I can understand that, but that's where you've got to bite your tongue, go on with it, shake hands, go off the field and go to the next game. Q. Can you talk about the opportunity on Saturday (Inaudible)? COACH TUBERVILLE: Signature would be an understatement. I think we're playing the best team in the country on both offense and defense. Alabama's got a great football team. LSU's got a great football team, Boise, all the teams, Wisconsin. We played this team last year, and we saw how athletic they were, how versatile they were in running and throwing and playing defense, the speed that they have on the team. They're an all-around team. We'll have to play our best game. We'll be challenged with that. We'll tell our players that. There is no reason to tell them any different other than what they can recognize by watching film. They're good. They're well-coached. They've got a lot of tradition. They've lost a small percentage, a very small percentage of games in their home stadium. I don't think they've lost any at night in the last 10, 12 years. So we have a major challenge. But our challenge for us as it was last week and the week before and the week before that is we've got to play better. We have to worry about ourselves more than anything else. It will be our ultimate challenge of the year in terms of a road game and playing a team that's as powerful as they are. We learned early in that game last year we can move the ball. We just lost our poise. We've got to be accountable for what we've done in the past and to each other. And you go into this game as a small-knit group of guys. About 60 on the sideline, and you've got to look forward to playing games like this. And this will be a learning experience for our players. Anything can happen. Several times I've coached against teams that are No. 1 teams in the country and beaten them before. You don't prepare any differently. You just go out and execute and you go play and you try to make things happen. They've got a lot on the line. They're trying to stay at the top of the rankings. I've been there too, done that. You have to fight every team that comes in, because it is a different challenge. We'll be a big underdog in this game, but again it's still about 11 guys playing about 70, 80 plays each, and let the best team win. We're looking forward to it. It's a game that we're excited about going and playing. Two years in a row going to their place has been a challenge, but I think our guys are -- I talked to them yesterday. They're excited about going and seeing how much we've improved since last year. Q. What about their receiving corps as a whole? COACH TUBERVILLE: Their receiving corps? It's speed, quickness. They've got a very good running game to go along with it, because it makes it even tougher because you can't stress one or the other on defense. You've got to be balanced. You've got to play fast. You've got to let lined up. We go fast here at Tech. I think everybody has seen that. We don't go as fast as Oklahoma goes. They go at light speed on offense. So you have to play a lot of players. You have to be prepared for it. There are a lot of things that give you problems. I think a little bit of last year will help us with what they did to us, how we can make adjustments. But we have a lot of players that were playing on Friday night's last year playing in this game. So they've got a lot to learn. It will be a growing experience. It will be a challenge that I think our guys are looking forward to. Whenever you play against a top ranked team in the country, it's always on big-time television. It will be a good chance for us to go and show people what we've done in a year's time because this is, I guess, the last road game that we've lost since last year. Q. Any discussion at all about the magic number six, getting bowl eligible? COACH TUBERVILLE: No, if we were down to a couple of games, it would be different. There is a lot of water underneath the bridge. We're halfway through. Just looking at the schedule for the season, we knew it was going to be tough the first half, and we knew it was going to be tougher the second half. This group, I like its attitude of just, hey, let's go play and get better. I think our coaches have done a good job of selling that point. Not worrying about who you play, just worry about yourself and try to not let your teammates down. Play full speed, and hopefully we can stay a little healthier than we did the first half of the year in terms of play makers so we can possibly be a little bit better in scoring points and being a little bit more consistent. Q. Could you talk a little bit about how moving forward with the defensive work when it comes to making adjustments at halftime, and how you get that spurt to turn that key a little bit so that when you make those adjustments they're moving down the field? COACH TUBERVILLE: You know we're not good at right now? We're not good at going out there and saying we can play this one coverage and this one front and we can play with anybody. The problem that we're having to do right now is we're so young and small in some areas that we're having to play different things and play chess too much. Sometimes you can make too many moves. So when we got into the game the other day, we were pretty much basic and simple and guys were confident where they'd lineup, making plays, flying around making tackles. All of a sudden they switched into the mode of throwing the ball more. We didn't make that adjustment very well. From going to see more run to pass. They got us on a couple of deep balls, couple of crossing routes, and it kind of put us in a deal with where we've got to do something, some adjustment to stop them. But we're not as good as those adjustments as we are playing base defense. You play good football teams and the teams that I've been on that have won championships over the last 25 years are teams that go out and say if you're going to beat us, you're going to beat us at our best stuff and you're going to make us change. We're not good enough to do that yet. We've got to make too many changes. When you make changes, it puts a little bit of doubt in the players of am I lined up right? Do I have this gap? It's just a growing experience. We've got to keep growing and get better at what we do best. Saturday night's first half was the best half of the defense that we've played since I've been here. And the second went back to kind of the old ways. It's a four-quarter game. We just did not finish that game. We didn't finish in a lot of areas, offense, defense and especially special teams. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH TUBERVILLE: Yeah, Darrin tried to go yesterday. He's probably another week or so out. Ben McRoy didn't come out yesterday. He stayed in with the trainers, so we won't know on him. Derrick Mays, same thing. They're pretty doubtful to make this trip this week. But we've had guys that have stepped in and done pretty well. We're not going to play anybody that's three-quarter speed. We're not good enough to do that. We've got enough in most areas to say this guy can go a hundred percent. He's going to be much better than the guy that's three quarters or 90%. Q. What is Ben's injury? COACH TUBERVILLE: He had migraines during the game and he hurt his hip. It's just one of those deals. Those speed guys tend to get beat up a little quicker and more often than us slow folks. Q. Does Oklahoma look like a good football team? COACH TUBERVILLE: Yeah, it will be the most complete team. Last year it was by far the most complete team we saw because you've got to play defense to win championships. Well, they play defense. They know how to spread it out and they know how to tighten it up on offense and run the football. They've got a great quarterback, and they've got running backs. They've got everything that you're looking for. Again, then you've got to go out and execute. As a team going in, we'll be the underdog. We've got the same amount of people. We just need to go execute. We have to worry about us and lining up and playing and tackling. It all gets down to blocking and tackling once you get into a game like this. Hopefully, we're more accountable than we were last week and everybody plays better. If we do, we'll have a great chance. Q. Your receivers were never as productive as Alex has been at that spot. (Inaudible)? COACH TUBERVILLE: Oh, in certain situations. It would be hard to beat Alex Torres out now. This kid catches everything that's thrown to him. Even more than that he's had a great couple of games, but you need depth. There are times in a game where you're running -- we've had 205 snaps in two games. That's a lot of snaps. So we need receivers. He could use a break. But Darrin's a good ways away from being a hundred percent, and Alex Torres is as good a receiver in this league catching the football. Exactly what Seth needs. He needs somebody that he knows when he's going to throw it in the area, it's going to be caught. It goes a long ways when you have a lot of confidence in players. Q. You see him on the outside rather than on the inside? COACH TUBERVILLE: I think what we see, what we're seeing coverage-wise, I think probably right now he is. But you get down in that red zone, and it's awful hard to recover those 6'5" receivers, and that's where Darrin was so good with catching the ball and out-jumping people, because you don't see 6'5" corners. Darrin will make us better when he comes back. But he's not going to make us better until he's a hundred percent. He's not there. He went through our scrimmage yesterday with the younger guys, and he had a tough time. Let's put it that way. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH TUBERVILLE: He might could go one or two snaps, but if he's got to jump off the wrong foot, he's going to have problems. If you have that ankle injury, the strength leaves you. You don't get it back just because the soreness is gone. You still have to build that strength back. So it's just unfortunate the type of injury that he had. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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