Opening Statement
When you play a team like that, where you’re pretty much overmatched in every position, you have to play nearly perfect — and we didn’t do that today. So, just like every other game, regardless of the score, we’ll try to pick up on the positive plays we made today, correct the negatives, and then put this behind us after tomorrow and move on to our next game. We’ll try to go 1–0 next week. I’m proud of the guys’ effort. I think it was a very physical game; you just have to play better when you’re competing at that level. You talk about some of the positives. For me, the positives were in this game and especially the first half, when we got some three-and-outs against that team.
Q: What do you think about your defense? Being able to stop them and force two field goals — what do you think of that performance?
A: Yeah, that was great. They had short fields on both of those field goals. After they took the opening drive and kind of did what they wanted, I think our guys settled in and got used to what they were seeing. We forced some three-and-outs after that and then held them to field goals on less-than-50-yard drives. That was huge. That’s something we can build on. What I told the team afterwards was, yes, it stings now. It’s terrible in the moment, but it’ll help us. Facing that level of opponent, being able to go in there and play as physical as we did, will have a cumulative effect on us in a positive way down the road.
Q: What impresses you about Drew Allar? What stands out?
A: He’s a big, tall pocket passer. He had a lot of time back there, so he was able to find his receivers. They did a great job. I give their offensive coordinator a lot of credit because they mixed up personnel really well. They hit guys out of the backfield, and their tight ends created mismatches at the line of scrimmage. If you cover things downfield, they’ll hit the check-down and still pick up the first down. I think their quarterback has a very good understanding of what his coach is asking him to do, and he managed the offense really well. I didn’t think he was an overly mobile guy, but he scrambled and got a couple of big first downs today. If we could have held him there, maybe we could’ve forced a punt. But he kept the sticks moving, throwing the ball. Obviously, in those final drives, he made some key plays.