Going into week 2 and a lot of room for improvement, but proud of the way our guys started. First quarter went as well as it could. Once the game was in hand we made some technique mistakes. Tulane has the same team except for one or two, we didn't play well down there a year ago and they forced some turnovers. I think we are a better team than when we played them. The Duke game got out of hand, hurt themselves on special teams and third down was awful, Tulane was 2-of-16, wore down the Tulane D and the kick return sealed the game for them.
On Tulane on film compared to last year
They run well and have good athletes defensively and a couple of good pass rushers. They have struggled to score points and they have the QB back and they have good speed outside and you hope to keep them off the field. If they cooperate and be that bad at 3rd down.
On JT experience compared to last year
The ball security thing was an issue last year and he has to do better with it, he is a dynamic players, he is so quick and fast, he gets away with being less sound in that
On injuries
Beau Hankins is back, Marcus Allen should be back, he may miss today and tomorrow.
On JT ball security
He needs to not carry it in one hand.
On getting newbies in the game
Everyone gets better from the first game to the second game. I'm sure Tulane will, we had some guys go brain dead.
On A-backs
No one played more than 15-20 snaps, they played like I thought they would. They did some things good and all in all it wasn't bad especially for the guys who haven't played a lot.
On A-back blocking
I don't know that you will always knock someone down, at times we got good blocks, TaQuon Marshall knocked a guy on his face, getting the right leverage and right space. When you play better players they will be hard to block.
On non-conference teams in consecutive years changing O or D strategy
Tulane is playing a little different defense against Duke, one of the good things about what we do is we are prepared for us. Last year they played us in a 4-3 and 3-4, they could jump into some goal or 46, that is execution and blocking for us. They will line up in something we have seen. Might be fun if they did.
On freshmen playing
Marcus did some things, has to hold onto the ball and block better. TaQuon is going to be a player, AJ Gray did some things and Brant Mitchell looked good when he was in there.
On the blocking
There wasn't a lot to it, some times they fired the boundary corner.
On Jeune blocking
Everyone was okay, no one was great, we played like we thought.
On what he wanted to do offensively that he didn't
We wanted to throw more but we didn't in the second half.
On Marlon Tulane LB
He is a heck of a player and he was 30 yards deep on a pass, he had a bunch of tackles against us a year ago. He is a good player.
On improvements
blocking the right people, missed some reads, missed some passes we need to run better routes, missed tackles and missed alignments as well.
On backup OLs
Not really.
On college football this weekend
I watched Kansas and South Dakota State, I watched Auburn and Louisville as they self destructed, UGA game a little and the Navy game back and forth, ND. Some of all of it, it is for entertainment.
On factors that will help him pick Skov or Marshall
It is by feel, Patrick is a run you over, physical guy with okay speed. Marcus is a jitterbug speed guy, Patrick will get the tough yards and Marcus will get tough yards when people are blocked and he will make people miss. They played exactly like we thought they would. I just feel it, Patrick is the starter. Marcus is a good compliment, Marcus Allen is good too, I can envision one playing, two playing or even three. I don't believe in picking one for a situation. I don't ever pre-determine who plays well.
On Freddie
He had a good camp and played well Thursday night and part of it was him getting better and part of it was who he was playing. He will have a good challenge, their MIKE last year is back and he is a hard guy to block.
On Byerly
It is always to have a good backup QB, that you are confident you can put in. He missed a couple of easy reads, but he did some good things. He is tough and hard physical guy and he runs through him. The guy in front of him is the starter, but we have confidence in him. I'm trying to win the game and he had unenviable timing to be here with a guy who is really good, we can move the ball.
He handles it really well and he is mature and is a team players and knows his role.
On developing a match up for QB subs
We run two groups in practice so it doesn't change anything, JT isn't the biggest cat in the world so if you run follow plays, Byerly is better for that than JT and he can go in there. We've done it two or three times, we used to get in a power I down there and we might have done it here, we might this week with Jabari and Francis in the backfield as lead blockers (laughs).
On Tulane on film compared to last year
They run well and have good athletes defensively and a couple of good pass rushers. They have struggled to score points and they have the QB back and they have good speed outside and you hope to keep them off the field. If they cooperate and be that bad at 3rd down.
On JT experience compared to last year
The ball security thing was an issue last year and he has to do better with it, he is a dynamic players, he is so quick and fast, he gets away with being less sound in that
On injuries
Beau Hankins is back, Marcus Allen should be back, he may miss today and tomorrow.
On JT ball security
He needs to not carry it in one hand.
On getting newbies in the game
Everyone gets better from the first game to the second game. I'm sure Tulane will, we had some guys go brain dead.
On A-backs
No one played more than 15-20 snaps, they played like I thought they would. They did some things good and all in all it wasn't bad especially for the guys who haven't played a lot.
On A-back blocking
I don't know that you will always knock someone down, at times we got good blocks, TaQuon Marshall knocked a guy on his face, getting the right leverage and right space. When you play better players they will be hard to block.
On non-conference teams in consecutive years changing O or D strategy
Tulane is playing a little different defense against Duke, one of the good things about what we do is we are prepared for us. Last year they played us in a 4-3 and 3-4, they could jump into some goal or 46, that is execution and blocking for us. They will line up in something we have seen. Might be fun if they did.
On freshmen playing
Marcus did some things, has to hold onto the ball and block better. TaQuon is going to be a player, AJ Gray did some things and Brant Mitchell looked good when he was in there.
On the blocking
There wasn't a lot to it, some times they fired the boundary corner.
On Jeune blocking
Everyone was okay, no one was great, we played like we thought.
On what he wanted to do offensively that he didn't
We wanted to throw more but we didn't in the second half.
On Marlon Tulane LB
He is a heck of a player and he was 30 yards deep on a pass, he had a bunch of tackles against us a year ago. He is a good player.
On improvements
blocking the right people, missed some reads, missed some passes we need to run better routes, missed tackles and missed alignments as well.
On backup OLs
Not really.
On college football this weekend
I watched Kansas and South Dakota State, I watched Auburn and Louisville as they self destructed, UGA game a little and the Navy game back and forth, ND. Some of all of it, it is for entertainment.
On factors that will help him pick Skov or Marshall
It is by feel, Patrick is a run you over, physical guy with okay speed. Marcus is a jitterbug speed guy, Patrick will get the tough yards and Marcus will get tough yards when people are blocked and he will make people miss. They played exactly like we thought they would. I just feel it, Patrick is the starter. Marcus is a good compliment, Marcus Allen is good too, I can envision one playing, two playing or even three. I don't believe in picking one for a situation. I don't ever pre-determine who plays well.
On Freddie
He had a good camp and played well Thursday night and part of it was him getting better and part of it was who he was playing. He will have a good challenge, their MIKE last year is back and he is a hard guy to block.
On Byerly
It is always to have a good backup QB, that you are confident you can put in. He missed a couple of easy reads, but he did some good things. He is tough and hard physical guy and he runs through him. The guy in front of him is the starter, but we have confidence in him. I'm trying to win the game and he had unenviable timing to be here with a guy who is really good, we can move the ball.
He handles it really well and he is mature and is a team players and knows his role.
On developing a match up for QB subs
We run two groups in practice so it doesn't change anything, JT isn't the biggest cat in the world so if you run follow plays, Byerly is better for that than JT and he can go in there. We've done it two or three times, we used to get in a power I down there and we might have done it here, we might this week with Jabari and Francis in the backfield as lead blockers (laughs).
