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NCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: NORTH DAKOTA STATE v SAM HOUSTON STATEJanuary 7, 2012Willie FritzRobert ShawTravis WatsonFRISCO, TEXAS North Dakota State – 17 THE MODERATOR: Give us your overview of the game, Willie. COACH FRITZ: First off, just a great job by North Dakota State University. You're around a team and coaching staff of your opponent, it's kind of rare in football, it doesn't happen very often, but I found it a really classy outfit. We just want to congratulate them for winning the championship. They really played well today, and without question, and congratulations to them. A couple of great defenses out there playing today, without question. And with a little momentum there at the end of the first half, got the field goal and went into 6‑3 where we really didn't play very well in the first half and we were excited about that. Coach Bohl, fantastic job on the fake punt. That really was a big, big play in the ballgame, and they came back and hit the very next play, and now it's kind of a momentum changer, and had the interception later that really put us behind the eight ball. We're not a team that plays behind a great‑‑ we haven't played behind very often this year, just probably minutes or seconds, I believe. But I'm really proud of the effort that we played with. I don't think we played great. But probably a lot of that has to do with North Dakota State. I think those were the top two defenses in the country without question, and the top two teams. Proud of our guys. Proud of our season. Wish we had a different outcome, but great job by them. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Travis, can you just‑‑ if you can, talk about just the feeling right now coming this far, as far as you guys have. TRAVIS WATSON: Well, obviously we would have liked a better outcome. Like Coach said, North Dakota State did a heck of a job. Their defense really came out and played us well, and we really struggled. But to come this far and do what we've done with this program and turn it around so fast, it's been great to be a part of. And no matter what, this has been the best year I've ever had. And I'm just blessed to be part of this team. Q. Is this the best defense you've seen all season? And what did they do to keep you under wraps most of the game? TRAVIS WATSON: No doubt they're fundamentally sound. Their defensive coordinator did a great job taking away one of our option game. I mean, big ups to them. Just overall good defense but we knew that coming into the game. Q.  Can you take us through the‑‑ I guess you were on the field for on the punt, on the fake, right? Can you just take us through what they did there? Obviously it looked like that whole side was open and it's just a matter of being caught off guard. ROBERT SHAW: Yeah, they caught us off guard. I'm not sure what happened because I was man to man with my player. But I wish it would have been different outcome of that play. And I gave North Dakota State a good job for that. Q. Coach, going into halftime, you guys stopped them on three straight drives. Did you feel you had a little bit of momentum going in and knowing, feeling good about it because you guys have been so good this year in the third quarter? COACH FRITZ: Yeah, we really felt good about things. I told the guys we kind of gathered up before we went into the locker room we really didn't play our best. Going in, make some good adjustments and come out and figure out what would be effective against them, particularly offensively. Momentum changed a little bit. But you gotta fight back from that when they have the big play and score the touchdown and made it 10‑6. Yeah, we were feeling good at that point in time. Q. Coach, could you talk about the first half, you all had opportunities and turnovers, and you realized with a game this close that you're going to have a few chances to make a big play. Talk about those plays and the fact that you guys weren't able to capitalize with points off those. COACH FRITZ: Whenever you get great field position and you get a take‑away, you sure as heck want to convert it into some type of points. We weren't able to do that on a couple of occasions. And we had some short‑yardage situations that we had a difficult time with as well. And they did a really good job defending us and different personnel groupings and understanding what we were going to do. There was a couple times where we could have converted. We didn't have a lot of success on third and short and fourth and short. But they did a good job of playing the situation better than we did. Q. Will, you hit on it a second ago. I wanted you to talk a little bit about the third and fourth down conversions. Neither team was really successful in that area, but seemed like it came to kind of bite you guys a little bit more. COACH FRITZ: We just had a tough time. We had four of 18 third down conversions and one of four on fourth down conversions. And just didn't‑‑ they closed the door on us on quite a few occasions. So those were ‑‑ been pretty good on both those situations this season, but we weren't today. Q. Robert, young team. No reason why you guys can't be back here next year? ROBERT SHAW: We're going to be back. Coach Fritz is a good coach and we have a good coaching staff, and I have confidence we'll be back. Q. You guys really started to move the ball down the field more consistently towards the end of the first half from the offensive line to the running backs. Did you guys really feel that momentum was starting to shift in your direction going into the break? TIM FLANDERS: Of course it was. We was moving the ball down the field. It all started with our defense. They gave them a stop. We just had a couple of big plays, defense out of position, offensive line did a very good job, and that's how we make our way down the field. Q. Coach, as good a fake punt they scored on the next play, they kind of catch you. Was your defense kind of reeling after that having to go back on the field right away? COACH FRITZ: We work all the time on sudden change. It was a good play call. They ran a little screen to the back and caught us in the zone, and lineman came up and blocked the linebacker and then ran off the secondary. So it was the right call at the right time. And many times people take a shot, sudden change situations. They were patient, ran a nice screen play, so it was a good play call. We turned the ball over this season at times as well and had sudden change situations where we've had to go out there and execute, and we just didn't do it that time. Q. Talk about their defensive front and front seven, how they're able to contain your run game when you guys have done such a good job running the ball all season. TRAVIS WATSON: They had a good defensive scheme coming into the game, something we didn't see much. The defensive linemen, they weren't coming off the ball like we were used to. They were kind of playing back and reading, they were able to get us out of position with their slants and twists from their linebackers. So they were really‑‑ they really played us well and got us kind of our rhythm, and it was tough to come back from. Q. Coach, looking at the fourth quarter, you're in a 10‑6 ballgame. You've got possession. Realizing that it's still for the taking either way, talk us through the play that they made the big game changing play, the interception. It seemed like defensively all game they had guys everywhere in the secondary. Very few holes for Brian to stick the ball in. Tell us specifically about that play. COACH FRITZ: It was a pre‑snap read. The linebackers showing that they're playing wide, and on his progression he thought that was going to be the open target, and the guy did a good job of bluffing, probably read his eyes and ended up throwing the ball to him. Great job of converting. We almost had the tackle on him where it would have been a three‑ or four‑yard return. Thought Torres would be able to run him down, but he didn't quite get him and they ended up taking it all the way to the 1‑yard line. It was a huge play. Q. Coach, can you just talk about the previous question, the fact that so many guys are on the team that are young? And are you looking at this as a learning experience after what they've gone through today? COACH FRITZ: We're going to go back and regroup and see everything that's transpired this season. But we are a very young football team, without question. And got a lot of guys coming back. So, you know, it's difficult, because you've got guys like Travis, this is their last crack at it. But the future's very bright for the Bearkats. Q. Coach, talk about the role that their punter played in the game and limiting the field position throughout the majority of the game. COACH FRITZ: Went early, without question. And very good punter. Big punt block. Really one‑man rusher. Heck of a play by Michael Buse. But he's a very good punter. And enabled us to get some pretty good returns, pretty nice punt returns to get some good field position as well. But they do‑‑ they're a solid ball club. They're good in all three phases. Did a really good job with their kickoff coverage. Probably the best kickoff cover team that we've played this season. They're really good on offense and really, really good on defense and played really well in the kicking game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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