Opening statement:
“Congratulations to ECU on the win. They earned it. I also would like to apologize for our football team for how that ended. I’m embarrassed as a coach. I know our players are too
“It’s not how people in this program, players in this program, staff in this program want anything to do with something like that. To me, it's a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players and there's no excuses for it. And so I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.”
“As far as the game goes, there was a lot of plays in this game. I was proud of how we fought back, got back into the football game, flipped the momentum, took a lead, and then just didn't finish. We had two drives offensively where we could have ran the clock out and didn't.
“Defensively, we had them third and 10 on the 21, give up the 79 yard touchdown run. So we had our chances to win that football game and didn't get it done.”
Was redshirt freshman running back Daylan Smothers hurt to start the second half? What was the difference in the second half?
“He was not hurt, so I'm not sure why you thought he was.
“We started stopping people, man. In the first half, they were 7-8 on third down. So we got some stops. We forced two turnovers. Offensively, we took advantage of field position, scored multiple touchdowns and started playing complimentary football. In the first half, we had drives that ended without points several times. Moved the ball well throughout the first half and did nothing to stop them. They were 7-8, like I said, on third down. They rushed for 300 and some yards.
“Hard to win a football game when you give up 300 yards rushing.”
Redshirt freshman nickel Tamarcus Cooley had two big interceptions, but do you question the play-calling after those drives on offense?
“Sure. We didn't get first downs, so yeah, you can question that. You can question blocking too, right? Every play you call, if you block it well, it's a good play. Those plays did not get enough yards and didn't get first downs. Easy thing to do is blame the play caller, right? There's 11 guys on the field, and you can block and run and catch and all those things too. So it's everybody's fault when it doesn't get done. Always look at, ‘Could we have called a better play?’ Of course. When you don't get a first down, it's easy to point the finger at that guy. There's a lot of things we could have done. That's just one of them.”
What allowed them to run the ball well?
“Missed tackles. Guys not getting off blocks. Got caught in a couple right defenses as well. Third and 10, they're down — that's a good play call by them, right? They're down one, third and 10, you're thinking they're going to throw the football. He was in a pass blitz, and they split it, and we didn't get it down. So that was a good call by ECU. We also had enough guys there. Back [Harris] made a guy miss. But stopping the run is about a lot of things. It's gap integrity, it's beating blocks, it's leveraging the ball, it's tackling and it's pursuit.
“There was a lot of those things that weren't good enough in this game.”
What did you say about the team about playing well in the fourth quarter in the past?
“That's exactly what I said to them. CJ [Bailey] was in the huddle. We were down there in a TV timeout, and I said, “You're the best fourth quarter team in college football. Let's go win. And we did. We went down and scored. Defense stopped them, went down and scored, took the lead.
“I don't know, 3:40 left, and had a chance to get a first down, make them burn their timeouts, and we didn't get it done. Defense didn't stop them. We've been a good finishing team all year, and that was the theme of this whole bowl, was finish. Finish, finish, finish. And we got right there. Three and a half minutes away, and not enough.
“Offensively, we've got the ball still, and we're driving it down with a chance to score. It's tough. Hollywood had a hell of a football game. The ball goes through his hands, and that kid makes that play 99 times out of 100, and he didn’t.”
As you go into the offseason, you have time to reflect on this year, what will you take away, and what will you try to build on in the future?
“Five one-possession losses. We had five tough like that, down to the last minute and a half. Gut-wrenching. It's hard when you lose a game like that five times. We also had some one-possession wins that were incredible. Our last game of the year was one of them.
“We played a lot of young guys, this [Bailey] being one of them. We've got a lot of growing to do. That's what this offseason is going to be about. It's going to be about learning how to finish and put ourselves in position to win those one-possession games. Ten-win seasons, which is what we're talking about, like five of them. Those five go the other way, it's 11 wins. You've got to win one-possession games.
“Look at Kansas City Chiefs right now. I think they've won 12 of them. If you want to be a great team, you've got to win those games. We're not good enough to do that right now. We're not. It's been both sides of the football. It hasn't been offense, defense. Both sides have had chances to close out games.
“We've got to work really hard as a coaching staff and putting our guys in great positions to finish, coaching them well. They've got to train hard, and they've got to go make plays for us. That's what this season was about. It's about some gut-wrenching moments. We went through a lot. We go back to [senior quarterback] Grayson's [McCall] injury and all the stuff that happened from that. CJ's emergence as a starter and a leader of our football team, and he's got a great future here. I'm excited to be his coach. I really am. I'm very proud of him. I know he's going to take this loss hard because that's how he's wired. There's a lot of good young players.
"You watched that game, Noah Rogers and Hollywood Smothers. These guys are young. They're redshirt freshmen making plays. So there's a lot to build on. We look forward to doing that with them too.”
What could have been done better to close out drives?
“We had some penalties that hurt us. We know there were some positive plays that were called back and created second and extra longs and got us off schedule. So that's the first thing that comes to mind. We had two critical holding penalties after positive plays.
“Other than that, I thought we ran the ball really well in the first half. Threw the ball around, caught it.”
You guys start next season against East Carolina. What do you have to do to regroup and get ready for the game?
“I mean, we've got time to think about that. I mean, tonight's more about these guys and things we've got to do. We come back in January, we'll start forward, and we're not going to be talking about the first game for a while. We've got a lot of things to work on, and playing them is not one of them. A lot of things.”
Did you ever think about a military career? Did you have family that served? Just what does it mean to be in the military?
“It’s special to be in Annapolis. You look up on that ring of honor and see all the wars. Most places you go, they have famous players' names and Pearl Harbor, and you just look out there and you see it. I mean, it's pretty crazy being on a naval base at a place like this. My father was in the Navy. My father-in-law was in the Army, served in Vietnam. So the military has a very special place in my heart. Yeah, it was great to be here.
“It was a wonderful trip, the Bowl Committee and everybody here. Washington, D.C. is a special place. Being in the nation's capital with these guys, letting them see the monuments. There's a lot of history here. There's a lot of really, really incredible things to be a part of with the team.”
“Congratulations to ECU on the win. They earned it. I also would like to apologize for our football team for how that ended. I’m embarrassed as a coach. I know our players are too
“It’s not how people in this program, players in this program, staff in this program want anything to do with something like that. To me, it's a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players and there's no excuses for it. And so I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.”
“As far as the game goes, there was a lot of plays in this game. I was proud of how we fought back, got back into the football game, flipped the momentum, took a lead, and then just didn't finish. We had two drives offensively where we could have ran the clock out and didn't.
“Defensively, we had them third and 10 on the 21, give up the 79 yard touchdown run. So we had our chances to win that football game and didn't get it done.”
Was redshirt freshman running back Daylan Smothers hurt to start the second half? What was the difference in the second half?
“He was not hurt, so I'm not sure why you thought he was.
“We started stopping people, man. In the first half, they were 7-8 on third down. So we got some stops. We forced two turnovers. Offensively, we took advantage of field position, scored multiple touchdowns and started playing complimentary football. In the first half, we had drives that ended without points several times. Moved the ball well throughout the first half and did nothing to stop them. They were 7-8, like I said, on third down. They rushed for 300 and some yards.
“Hard to win a football game when you give up 300 yards rushing.”
Redshirt freshman nickel Tamarcus Cooley had two big interceptions, but do you question the play-calling after those drives on offense?
“Sure. We didn't get first downs, so yeah, you can question that. You can question blocking too, right? Every play you call, if you block it well, it's a good play. Those plays did not get enough yards and didn't get first downs. Easy thing to do is blame the play caller, right? There's 11 guys on the field, and you can block and run and catch and all those things too. So it's everybody's fault when it doesn't get done. Always look at, ‘Could we have called a better play?’ Of course. When you don't get a first down, it's easy to point the finger at that guy. There's a lot of things we could have done. That's just one of them.”
What allowed them to run the ball well?
“Missed tackles. Guys not getting off blocks. Got caught in a couple right defenses as well. Third and 10, they're down — that's a good play call by them, right? They're down one, third and 10, you're thinking they're going to throw the football. He was in a pass blitz, and they split it, and we didn't get it down. So that was a good call by ECU. We also had enough guys there. Back [Harris] made a guy miss. But stopping the run is about a lot of things. It's gap integrity, it's beating blocks, it's leveraging the ball, it's tackling and it's pursuit.
“There was a lot of those things that weren't good enough in this game.”
What did you say about the team about playing well in the fourth quarter in the past?
“That's exactly what I said to them. CJ [Bailey] was in the huddle. We were down there in a TV timeout, and I said, “You're the best fourth quarter team in college football. Let's go win. And we did. We went down and scored. Defense stopped them, went down and scored, took the lead.
“I don't know, 3:40 left, and had a chance to get a first down, make them burn their timeouts, and we didn't get it done. Defense didn't stop them. We've been a good finishing team all year, and that was the theme of this whole bowl, was finish. Finish, finish, finish. And we got right there. Three and a half minutes away, and not enough.
“Offensively, we've got the ball still, and we're driving it down with a chance to score. It's tough. Hollywood had a hell of a football game. The ball goes through his hands, and that kid makes that play 99 times out of 100, and he didn’t.”
As you go into the offseason, you have time to reflect on this year, what will you take away, and what will you try to build on in the future?
“Five one-possession losses. We had five tough like that, down to the last minute and a half. Gut-wrenching. It's hard when you lose a game like that five times. We also had some one-possession wins that were incredible. Our last game of the year was one of them.
“We played a lot of young guys, this [Bailey] being one of them. We've got a lot of growing to do. That's what this offseason is going to be about. It's going to be about learning how to finish and put ourselves in position to win those one-possession games. Ten-win seasons, which is what we're talking about, like five of them. Those five go the other way, it's 11 wins. You've got to win one-possession games.
“Look at Kansas City Chiefs right now. I think they've won 12 of them. If you want to be a great team, you've got to win those games. We're not good enough to do that right now. We're not. It's been both sides of the football. It hasn't been offense, defense. Both sides have had chances to close out games.
“We've got to work really hard as a coaching staff and putting our guys in great positions to finish, coaching them well. They've got to train hard, and they've got to go make plays for us. That's what this season was about. It's about some gut-wrenching moments. We went through a lot. We go back to [senior quarterback] Grayson's [McCall] injury and all the stuff that happened from that. CJ's emergence as a starter and a leader of our football team, and he's got a great future here. I'm excited to be his coach. I really am. I'm very proud of him. I know he's going to take this loss hard because that's how he's wired. There's a lot of good young players.
"You watched that game, Noah Rogers and Hollywood Smothers. These guys are young. They're redshirt freshmen making plays. So there's a lot to build on. We look forward to doing that with them too.”
What could have been done better to close out drives?
“We had some penalties that hurt us. We know there were some positive plays that were called back and created second and extra longs and got us off schedule. So that's the first thing that comes to mind. We had two critical holding penalties after positive plays.
“Other than that, I thought we ran the ball really well in the first half. Threw the ball around, caught it.”
You guys start next season against East Carolina. What do you have to do to regroup and get ready for the game?
“I mean, we've got time to think about that. I mean, tonight's more about these guys and things we've got to do. We come back in January, we'll start forward, and we're not going to be talking about the first game for a while. We've got a lot of things to work on, and playing them is not one of them. A lot of things.”
Did you ever think about a military career? Did you have family that served? Just what does it mean to be in the military?
“It’s special to be in Annapolis. You look up on that ring of honor and see all the wars. Most places you go, they have famous players' names and Pearl Harbor, and you just look out there and you see it. I mean, it's pretty crazy being on a naval base at a place like this. My father was in the Navy. My father-in-law was in the Army, served in Vietnam. So the military has a very special place in my heart. Yeah, it was great to be here.
“It was a wonderful trip, the Bowl Committee and everybody here. Washington, D.C. is a special place. Being in the nation's capital with these guys, letting them see the monuments. There's a lot of history here. There's a lot of really, really incredible things to be a part of with the team.”
