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TEMPLE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 31, 2013Matt RhuleTEMPLE – 6 COACH RHULE: Obviously, we played against a really good football team. Disappointed. I think we shot ourselves in the foot. Obviously, the two missed field goals were difficult for us, and as a result, kind of tried to throw the ball in in the green zone and the red zone later. Spotted them two touchdowns early, and they got a gimme right before the half, which was obviously good plays by them and just miscommunication by us. But I told our team, I was proud of the fact that they didn't quit at the end. I thought for long portions of the game, they proved that they can play with that team. Those first two drives were obviously not the way we wanted to play. The offense, I thought, at times went up‑and‑down the field and had 230 yards at halftime, 240 yards at halftime. Just wasn't quite as good in the second half. Moved the ball and couldn't put it in the end zone. Have to give a lot of credit to their guys. They did a good job. Their coaches did a good job playing more man and taking away a lot of our throws, and we kind of hit a lull there for a while and weren't able to get it started. Had that long last drive couldn't punch it in and tried one more time and dropped the punt. But as far as Temple goes, I think our guys realize they can play at that level. Obviously, you can't play a good team and give plays away, but they can play at that level for extended periods of time, and next week we'll have to do it for a longer period of time. With that, I'll answer any questions anybody has. Q. (No microphone) was it the atmosphere? COACH RHULE: Yeah, I think the very first play the safeties went the wrong way. We blitzed on one side and they spun the other way. You know, you've got a freshman out there, and it's obviously good‑‑ I won't take anything away from them. It was a good run by them. We spun the wrong way, and the ball went 80 yards. The play right before the half, the freshman middle linebacker, wasn't his fault. Looked like it was his fault on film, but it wasn't his. Guys missed the call, and we turned one down the middle of the field. The message to our guys is playing a good team, you can't miss calls and you can't give things away. You can't play 65 great plays and five bad ones. But they are really strong and physical. Some of the double moves they hit, excuse me, the game is long. But their receiver, No. 10, I have a lot of respect for him. At the end of the game, a guy runs down, catches a double move, touchdown, and runs down on the next kickoff, some things our players can emulate. That was a good play by them. But we shot ourselves in the foot by spinning the wrong way, so... Q. Coach Rhule, it was your first official game as a head coach in the record books. What do you take from this game personally, and what do you take from it that you can move forward with and maybe change or do anything different or you personally as your first game as a head coach? COACH RHULE: Well, change, I'd like to win the next one, if I could. But, no, I mean, I told our coaches, we had to show our players what poise looked like and confidence looked like. I went into halftime and told them, I mean, we're playing Notre Dame. We're in South Bend. They're up 14‑0. Our kids rallied back. We scored a rushing touchdown. They've only given up how many rushing touchdowns in the last 31 games, and we just ran out of time. We moved the ball with two or three first downs. So for me, I just told our guys we're going to be aggressive. Connor threw 46 passes, 23 for 46. Couple of those were Hail Marys, and the pressure anchored up in the second half. But, for me, I just get off to a better start, probably, and continue to be aggressive as a coach and as a program. Q. On the first two scoring plays, it looked like the same problem with the same guy? COACH RHULE: No, they max protected and threw a post. He didn't stay high on it. So the next time they threw a post corner. So he got high on it and they threw a post corner. They max protected, and they made it a one‑on‑one, and their kid made the play and our kid didn't. I thought for the rest of the game, he kind of settled down and played really good football. They have outstanding ball skills. Throwing the ball down to Jones on the sideline. He was able to go back up and make plays. Those are things our guys have to see. But they won those one‑on‑ones. We didn't compete well early in the game. Q. (No microphone)? COACH RHULE: And we rode a lot of guys. We played five safeties today. At the end of the game on the last drive, we had Nat L. Smith who hasn't played a ton. So I think the big thing was getting their guys to settle down and trust their technique. I hope that is the one thing they take out of this. The just go back and watch the film. If you do what you're supposed to, do if they're better than you, they're better than you. If they throw the ball up and Jones goes and makes the play, he makes the play. But if you start panicking, we can't win like that. So we settled Robey down, played the freshman safeties, got them in the mix, they made some mistakes, but eventually cooled off and played better. Q. Coach, last year, Chris Coyer was the quarterback, and he changed positions. What were your impressions between Connor Reilly and the connection to Chris Coyer on the field? COACH RHULE: We used Chris as a quarterback a couple times on zone replays and those were good plays for us. He made a couple great catches. Caught the ball and got hit, I think Connor knows that he knows where Coyer's going to be, and he knows he's going to be open. You know, we'll try to get Romond the ball. I thought we went to Deloatch to get the ball more than he ended up getting the ball. Jaylon strong for them was the real deal now. Some of the things we wanted to do, he took out of the game right away. So he's the real deal. But you know Connor, I thought, I don't know how many different guys caught the ball, but Tyler Karpinski just walked on a month ago. I don't know how many catches he had today, but he had some. And Connor did a good job of finding the right guy. Q. Coach, what were your impressions of Rees? Were they similar or different than you've seen on film in previous games? COACH RHULE: That's the thing I said about him. He doesn't get sacked. We got one on him, but they have an NFL offensive line. They're really talented. He does a great job of taking what's there and giving it away. We had hoped he'd throw the ball to us once and twice, and he didn't. He maybe had one overthrow. But he didn't give us any throws. He's a poised player. He understands their system. Some of our guys, we were showing the blitz and we showed it, and he checked. So he's obviously well coached in that system. He's a really smart, tough football player. You can tell. You're out there and you can tell a guy that can use his cadence, get us to show. And our guys I thought figured out, okay, this is what it's like and they hid their disguises better. But he didn't turn the ball over. That is the first thing you want from a quarterback. Q. For a guy that hasn't played, Connor seemed to have good presence out there, felt the rush and made good decisions, and your offensive line seemed to hold its own against the defensive line. Were those areas you were pleased with? COACH RHULE: Yeah, I'm pleased. I challenged them in the fourth quarter. I thought in the end they started hitting our quarterback and I was frustrated. But I tell you, they went straight. They got out of what they were doing. They played man. They rushed. I thought we held, you know, Nix is a great player. Have a ton of respect. I thought Kyle did a good job. We hopefully neutralized him a bit. I didn't realize how big he was until I walked by him. My gracious. Connor proved to everybody in my mind he's a competitor. He's out there, running around, getting first downs. He doesn't take it to the ground. He gets hit. He's probably a little banged up and he keeps playing. So to throw that many passes and have one sack, you know what I mean? That's impressive. Q. Jim's got a long career ahead of him, but first college game. What was your action with him on the sideline? COACH RHULE: I told him he's going to have to come back and win the game for us. That is the mindset he has to have. I hated for him to miss those kicks because he's going to be a great kicker for a long time. But from the missed two kicks and extra point, I hate it for him because he's going to come back and bounce back and be a good kicker. That is unfair for a freshman to have to deal with that in that environment. I thought his teammates rallied around him and told him we need you to come back and help us win the game in the end. Hopefully next week he'll get himself righted up. Q. Did he exceed your expectations today? He didn't take a lot of bad sacks. He seemed to know where the rush was coming from. Is that better than you would have thought he would be? COACH RHULE: No, that's how I thought he'd play and I hoped he'd play, and there are still things, you know? I just love coaching the kid. I'm out there yelling at him on the field, What are you doing? And he's yes, sir. He's a winner. He's got two years ahead, and I think that's a really good defense. 12 points per game last year, and missed two field goals, missed the extra point. Had the ball down in the green zone later, and obviously, the ball's on the 8‑yard line. You'd normally kick the field goal if you feel like you can kick the field goal. So we threw up‑and‑down, and for him to throw that many yards against a good defense, I was pleased with. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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