October 21, 2025 • 31 mins
After Texas' overtime victory over Kentucky, head coach Steve Sarkisian addresses Arch Manning's struggles, playcalling questions, and the success of the special teams at his weekly news conference.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
App you know Saturday's ball game. You know, echo a
lot of the same things I said in the post game,
and that's not always I can always say that, but
there's some things that are very true and some things
that were eye opening when you look to the tape,
I think, you know, Mason Shipley again, what a what
a performance, guys eleven or thirteen on the year, and
his two misses are from fifty five and fifty six,
(00:21):
so tremendous performance. Ryan Nibblett again continue, those were huge
returns for us in the game, and Jack boome Easter
tremendous job. I thought. Defensively, may we found ways to
get stops when we needed to have them, you know.
And credit to Kentucky, I thought they had a decent
plan to kind of move the football. But our guys
(00:42):
to get a fourth down stop on the first drive
of the game I thought was critical. I thought our
ability to pressure the quarterback when we were disciplined in
our rush lanes showed up with five sacks and hurries.
When we got hurt, we got out of our rush lanes,
which led to the touchdown there, the scrambled touchdown. So
definitely areas for improvement there but what a goal line
stand at the end of the game. You know, I
(01:04):
think one of the unsung plays in there is the
play that gets them to the first and goal is
Jalen Gilbo getting getting them out of bounds at the
four yard line to give us a chance to have
that goal line stand. And then again on second down,
they run a little play action past bootleg where Jalen
stays disciplined to cover the tight end in the flat,
(01:25):
which forces the quarterback scramble to get him on the
ground and then inevitably the goal line stand. Some amazing efforts.
Brad Spence, Travis Shaw, Jolani MacDonald, Michael taff Leonge Lafowl.
I mean that Cole Bivard, a bunch of guys with
great efforts there. Now, I think offensively, you know one
thing that I wasn't as aware of post game, but
(01:46):
then you look at the tait. You know, when we
talked about third downs, I was talking about third and
longs after the game, we actually were pretty effective in
our third and lungs. Where we were ineffective was third
and one to six. You know, we were one for
seven on third and one to six Saturday night, and
that that's where we have to We got to be productive.
You know, if we're going to trade to try to
(02:07):
play really complimentary football control in the game, you've got
to convert third and ones, third and twos, third and fours,
third and fives. And we were ineffective in that area
of the game Saturday, which in turn didn't allow us
to extend drives, didn't allow us to keep the defense
on the field, didn't allow us to move the football
to score more points. And so that was an area
(02:28):
where I definitely think we need to improve. You know,
we've made such an emphasis on being better on third
and long because we've had so many. Well, we converted
a few of those. We hit DeAndre for a big
third down conversion, we hit Ryan Wingo for a big
third down conversion, Art scrambles on another third and long.
So we've got to be more effective in the third
and short and third and medium range. You know, I
(02:50):
was very disappointed in myself in our ability to end
the game with the ball in our hands and kick
a field goal to win it. Late, we were in
one mode to get ourselves in the scoring range, and
we got into that mode and I did not do
a good enough job of communicating to the offense. At
that point we were in field goal range. Now it
(03:12):
was about staying in bounds ensure that that game was
going to end with a kick from us, and we
just have you know, we have the play where DeAndre
goes out of bounds, which allows them to preserve a
time out because in reality, the worst case scenario, they
should have gotten the ball back with somewhere between fifteen
and eighteen seconds. And so I don't mind the play call.
I thought the play call was good, the execution was good,
(03:33):
and that's where that point comes in for DeAndre to
decide do I get the first down or do I
have to get down? But I did not do a
good enough job of communicating that in that instance. You know,
at the end of the day, offensively, I've got to
do a better job. I've got to do a better
job putting all of our players in position to be successful.
And that's blocking people, that's throwing the ball to open people,
(03:56):
that's running routes precisely where they need to be. So
that's on nobody but me, and so that that's uh.
When when you can look in the mirror first and say, Okay,
I'm responsible to try to get this you know, fixed
and get better at it. I'm very comfortable with that.
So as we look forward to Mississippi State, Jeff Levy,
uh second season has done a really nice job. You know,
this is a much improved football team. Obviously a high
(04:19):
powered offense, you know, up tempo team. UH that has
you know, knocked off Arizona State already at home this year.
I think, went to overtime with Tennessee already this year
at home and had a chance last week at Florida
to win that game without a without a turnover there
at the end of the game by Florida to seal
the victory. So, like I said, high powered offense does
(04:41):
a nice job of balancing things. Got two good runners,
have two explosive receivers on the on the perimeter and
and Blake shape and is playing good football for them. Uh.
And a defense that is that is you know, goes
and attacks the football. They create turnovers at a high
at a high rate. We've got to continue the trend
that we've been on. We've gone two straight games now
if protecting the football, and that's part of playing complimentary
(05:03):
football that we're not putting our defense on any short
fields and so we've got to do a great job
of that this week. But should be a great environment,
be our four straight game away from dk R, and
we've got it. We've got to take pride and in
the way we perform on the road, and this is
going to be another challenge.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
For us to go do that. More than Steve, I
want to ask you, you know, when the offense has
had their struggles this year, do you see those as
issues that can be fixed during the week or during
the season, or are those more long term things that
can be fixed.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I would probably say they're both right, you know, and
at any time. I think any issue can be fixed
short term. And one of the easiest ways to fix
something if you're not running a specific scheme very well,
you don't have to call it right and we can
we can gravitate more to things that we do well,
whether it's the run game, the pass game, the screen game,
(05:57):
whatever that is. You know. I think I think nat
if you feel like, hey, we're not adequate enough at
a certain position, well you can protect that guy uh
in that position right now and you know, monitor his
development long term, or you say, were protect him now,
but we may need to do something in in the
off season, or hey, you know what, we want to
get better at a scheme, we need to go study
(06:19):
specific coaches that are really good at it, uh to say, hey,
we can get better at that in the off season.
But in the short term, maybe we just don't emphasize
that as much morning like I do after every game,
(06:39):
I look in the mirror first, you know, and I
think a lot of times, you know, human nature would say, hey,
we have a great offensive game that I don't critique myself.
I there's never a game that I don't come out
of or I think, you know what, I probably would
have called something different here in or something different there,
and this game was no different. You know. One of
the plays that I'm probably more upset that about myself
(07:01):
with is the first play of overtime. You know, we
get a holding penalty on on Brandon Baker, but I
didn't need to risk that holding penalty predicated off of them,
you know, scoring not scoring it on their session, and
I didn't call a direct run, which is really what
I should have done. In that instance. I went a
(07:21):
little more game plan mode. I felt like we had
an opportunity to create an explosive play, but that puts
stress on Brandon and that style of run that we
called has a has a has an opportunity to be
a negative type run. And so that was not a
very good call in the game at all. And it's
easy to point to Brand and get in the hold,
but in reality, that wasn't a good call by me.
So I can look at a lot of different things
(07:43):
within a game, good, bad, and different of the result.
But I'm always looking in the mirror first to say, Okay,
what could I have done differently? What could I have
done better? Not only for the offense but for the team.
And so I'm I'm very comfortable doing that. I've been
doing this a long time and so it's not it's
not something that's new for me.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Hey, Steve, does Arch have any role at the line
of scrimmage in aligning the protection or is that more
of the center's job.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
How does that work for you? That's a combination of both.
You know, there's there's times when when you know, when
we break the huddle, the most most part the center
is going to set the protections. Anytime we want to
change the protections that come from March, and so you know,
I thought, I felt like he's done a good job
of that. You know, I thought we had a couple
opportunity Saturday where he could have changed some things that
(08:30):
didn't happen. We had some other things Saturday where the
line has to react to things as they come, and
we didn't react very well to that either. And so,
you know, we've got to continue to grow in that
phase of our game, and we got to be mindful
of the protections that we carry so that we can
execute him at a at a better rate than we
are right now.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Steve, how much do you think Arch's growth this year
has been hindered by some of the offensive line struggles
and then and then on some of those throws like
the one to Jack or Jack was wide open, is
that become more mental for him because he's maybe worried
about what's what's coming.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I think it's all a combination, right, I mean, it's
it's easy to point to the offensive line. Sometimes we
don't notice it might not be the offensive line. It
might be the running back who's not picking something up.
It might be receivers not being at the right depth,
they're drifting on a route. It might be his own
you know, just air, whether it's mechanically or or missing
(09:30):
a red and so it's all those things. And and
so for a quarterback, when you get those opportunities, when
you have like as I refer to him as layups,
I don't think you need to overthink you. You just
need to take the layup, you know. And and that's
that's challenging when you feel like you're working in a game,
and he would had to work Saturday night. And when
(09:51):
you get those now that's not the time for the
sigh of relief. That's the time to make me be sure.
I drill this throw in here, Let's get this first down,
let's keep it moving, let's create this explosive play. But
to your point, I do think things can add up
on you to where you're like, oh my gosh, I
got this guy open, I got to hit this. You
just need to do what you do and let's throw
the ball and play catch.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
The coach, it seems every time Ryan Nibleck gets a ball,
something good happens. Yeah, Would you ever consider putting him
more involved in the offense, in the backfield or slot
back or something where he touches the ball a lot more?
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, No, I think we have, and his role has evolved.
You know, remember in spring, this guy was playing dB,
right and and then he comes over he's playing receiver,
and then we move him into running back. And nobody
thought in this room, ourselves included, we didn't think he'd
be the kick returner or the punt returner coming into
the season, But his role has evolved as the season
(10:47):
has gone on. He's an integral part of all that
we do on special teams. You know, from a kick
coverage standpoint, he has a huge role in that. From
from a punt standpoint when he's at gunner, his role
doing that, and then obviously finding ways to get him
the ball in his hands on offense, you know, I
think is a huge part. And so you know, I
(11:09):
think if I can get him, you know, three to
five touches a game in some way, shape or form,
that's good. We've gotten him like one or two to
your point, I think we can increase that. And he's
smart enough and tough enough to get all that done.
But he's done a fantastic job of gaining trust of
the staff from this time last year to where he
is today. I just think he's a model for a
(11:30):
lot of our younger players of how to go about
your business to gain trust, so the coaches will put
you in there and put you in significant positions to
make plays in the middle.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
Coach, I want to go inside your mind for a second.
There's a play that lasted two seconds. Art steps back
and releases the ball and gets trucked. The room for
error was like that close to those receiver. What is
that dynamic as a quarterback, what's that dynamic between you
and a receiver? That precision that you have to know
(12:01):
where he's gonna be and he has to be where
you think he's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, no, I honestly I know what play you're talking about.
I think it was a slant pass to Emmitt Moseley.
And was it something that we had felt really good
about if they were going to be playing some man
coverage on third down, which they were in that instance,
and you know, a couple of things could have occurred
in my opinion on that play. I think Arch could
have adjusted his protection to minimize the linebacker coming free
(12:28):
in the a gap. I think two we could have
communicated and executed the protection a little better. On the
left side of the line with Trevor and Nick that
didn't happen. So now you have a free runner, and
now you know, it's about contact courage as a quarterback
and standing there trying to deliver a ball when you
know you're gonna get hit, and so that that's it's
(12:50):
a it's a unique trait to have, and Arch has
a ton of contact courage. But inevitably the throw might
be a little errant, and it might be a little
off when a guy's about to hit you right in
the face, you know, and he just missed the throw,
you know, and unfortunately, I know he'd love to have
that back and probably could have been a created and
explosive play, you know, if if we could have hit
that pass. But you know, we got to do things
(13:12):
before that better, whether it's changing the protection, whether it's
if we didn't change the protection, executing the original protection,
better to minimize that free runner in his lap and
maybe he throws a little more accurate pass to him.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
Steve, you took the blame just now for Brandon's holding
penalty and Deandres you know, fourth quarter, I guess Gaff,
you know, how do you guys clean up those self
inflicted wounds? Because I think your punt team even got
I think three procedural penalties. How do you guys clean
those up and address those?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Going for yeah, I would say, you know, I think
one is offensively. I think we had two penalties in
the game, and that is a that is a much
better number than we were a month ago when it
was a disaster on offense, and so we've cleaned that
aspect of our game up. Unfortunately, the two penalties on
offense occurred, you know, one in the fourth quarter and
then one in overtime, and so how do we almost
(14:04):
have a clean, clean game that way? The things on
special teams were how do I say this without getting fined?
Sometimes that's gonna happen. You know, we were speed breaking
our huddle and we got called for not being set.
We shifted another time, we got called for being in
(14:25):
an illegal formation, and so hey, we're very creative on
special teams. I think coach Banks does a great job.
I think that's why we have some success there. And okay,
if if that's how they're gonna call it today. We
had to make some in game adjustments with the way
we were operating our punt but I think we have
improved pretty dramatically from a penalty standpoint. Knock on wood.
(14:47):
We need to continue that. I mean there's been phases
of our team that we have really improved upon. Obviously
the ball security has been another one. And so that's
just another example of, Hey, when issues like that come up.
The biggest thing for me in the two instances, I
have a communicate better to the offense in drive when
a scenario goes from we need to get into scoring
zone to now, well let's end the game with the
(15:08):
ball in our hands, and I can talk to Arch
and he can communicate to those guys in the huddle.
So I need to do a better job of that.
And then you know, the play calling, like I said,
you know, I put those guys in a tough situation
there to start overtime. So that wasn't a very good call.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Sarka.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I know you love Trey Wisner. Would you like him
to share the load more in the backfield?
Speaker 7 (15:29):
And what is some of the young guys like Christian
Clarkon need to do to get on the field more.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And finally C J. Baxter and he hopes of getting
him back something. Yeah, C four, you know made a
lot of progress last week was was a practice today
and so hopefully we can get Cedric, you know, more
into the fold. You know, I think, like anything as
a coach, you know, when the game is early in
a game, it's a little easier to rotate and sub players.
(15:54):
And as that game started to go and things started
to get tighter and tighter and tighter, you know, I
think you start to rely on the guys that you
know who've been there and you can trust because the
value of every possession. We were just trying to get
a positive some positive yardage, not have a three and out,
So you rely on some of those guys. I thought
Christian did some pretty good things when he got in
(16:15):
there Saturday night. Sure I would love to play him more,
and we're gonna we're gonna try our best to do
that more so this weekend as well.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
In the middle cur you talking about your offense, Steve,
as far as philosophy, when you're having struggle like this
and when you have in the path, do you try
to shrink the playbook? Do you look at changes in
starting lineup and what do you feel like you're really
doing well?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, No, I think that's a fair question because you know,
as a staff you have to have the real conversation
of Okay, what do we do to help our players
be successful? And it's not about what I know, It's
not about what looks good on the whiteboard when you
draw it up in there. It's about what are our
guys going to execute really well predicated on the defense
(17:01):
that we're playing, and where are our strengths and so,
you know, without without divulging what we're gonna do game
plan wise, I do think you'll see some adjustments this
week to what we do. But at the end of
the day, we have to make sure we're playing complimentary
football with our defense. I think we made that shift
in that adjustment about three weeks ago to say, Okay,
(17:22):
we're playing really good defense, we're playing really good on
special teams. Let's make sure we're playing a complimentary brand
of football. To continue to enhance the way we're playing
in those two phases and play in a style to
where hey, we're protecting the ball. All right, we're gonna
play a field position game. But to do that, you
have to execute third and one to six, right, You've
(17:43):
got to extend those drives, and so that's got to
become a big point of emphasis of ours there because
if you play that way and you're not taking as
many risks, you're not taking as many chances down the field. Man,
you've got to be really efficient in those in those
third down distances, and then you've got to be really
efficient in the red zone because you know that the
game can shrink and so there's not quite as many opportunities.
(18:05):
You got to be really efficient. So we've got to
have a great plan in the third and medium to
short range. We got to have a great plan in
the red area to make sure we're putting our guys
in position to be successful. Uh, it can happen. There's
games that can happen. You know, again, not divulging what
we're gonna do this week, but you know that's that's
one avenue that you can go in and let me
(18:25):
let me just preface it with this, not necessarily shrink
the playbook to where you're not doing as many schemes,
but maybe you don't carry as much and so you
can practice those plays more times throughout the week in
the RPO part of your offense.
Speaker 9 (18:43):
How is arch managing the decisions that go with that
and the reads that go with that, and is that
something that could help everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
If that's kind of cleaned up over the course the
next few weeks. Yeah, No, I think it's been pretty good.
You know, we didn't have you know, again, we're trying
to emphasize our ability to run the ball, when when
our ability to run it there a few weeks back
was that and so sometimes to do that you have
to call a few more direct runs. And I think
(19:10):
where we've evolved maybe there's not quite as many RPOs,
but we're we're reading more people and he's having the
ability to pull the ball. So you have to find
that balance of you know, maybe with Quinn in the
past that was a RPO read. With Arch maybe that's
a zone read option. And so, you know, you can
only do so much. We only have so many plays
in a game. You know. I felt like, you know,
(19:33):
we had some opportunities the other night to throw some
RPO type plays. I didn't think we got great separation,
and so we've got to be better at that on
the perimeter. But we needed that part of our offense
still needs to be there. People need to defend that.
And so again I've said it since his dad got here,
the more things we can do really well, the tougher
(19:55):
we are to defend. But at some point, as a coach,
you got to look at, okay, what are we good
at all, right? And where's our strengths for our players'
purposes to have success? And so you know, part of
that is Archie has he can use his legs and
it's been effective for us all year. And so I
don't want to discount that aspect of it either.
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Hey, coach, you know I don't have to tell you that.
As a head coach, you have so much on your
plate nowadays. You guys got two signing days, a transferporter,
nil early in role leads. You can go down the list, right,
and some coaches have just given up the play calling
duties and going into more of a CEO kind of role.
Have you ever thought about taking that thing off of
(20:35):
your plate?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And if so, why not? Because that's why I got hired.
I was a really good offensive coordinator. So I just
I believe in what we're able to do. You know,
every year we have to continually evolve, and there's years
we're gonna be better on offense and we are on defense.
There's gonna be years we're better on defense and we
are on offense.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know, but.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
It's like if I was if I was the best
outside sales guy and and then I had a startup company,
surely I'm gonna go to the sales meetings if I'm
trying to sell something, right, and so if if that's
one of your strengths, I'm always gonna tap into the
strength that I have. And I think, you know, being
a play caller on offense is one of my strengths.
Some may disagree that's okay.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Coach pass rush last two weeks has really woken up
on something specifically.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
What kind of allowed that?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And you've seen him practicer? Is it just opportunities have
presented itself and they've taken advantage. Yeah, you know, I
think calling in particular, and then I'll get into everybody else.
I think calling in particular. You know, it's probably about
going into the Florida game. I felt a shift in
kind of his approach. Yeah. I felt like he was
pressing early in the season, and I felt like in
(21:46):
the Florida game he became a complete football player. You know,
he defended the run really well in that game. He
had a couple of pretty good rushes. But I feel
like he's not, I hate to say, not trying as hard,
but he's allowing it to come to him. He's playing
a little faster. I think he's taken advantage of opportunities
when they're there. But I think we're all playing better
(22:08):
up front to get back to it, you know. I think,
you know, we're seeing the the evolution of of Brad Spence.
I think we're seeing Lance Jackson. It was great to
get a better version of Ethan Burke. He was a
little banged up there for weeks. I thought we got
a better version of him last week, you know. So
so all in all, I think the rush is better.
You know, we got a sack by Manny Muhammad the
(22:29):
other night, so we're getting it from a variety of people.
But at the end of the day, I think it's
all those guys working well together. And then when Colin
has one on one opportunities, he should be a tough
block forle you know.
Speaker 9 (22:40):
And that's starting to show up more and more now, Hey, Steve,
and the expectations are through the roof at this place,
so much that there was full blown panic after a
win in Kentucky. What's your message to the fan base
going into another road game and actually the toughest part
of your schedule still coming up.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I would say that's a great thing, you know,
the fact that the fact that you know, you know,
expectations at the University of Texas are always going to
be high. But I think we've we've raised the bar
from where we were when I got here to where
we are now. Uh, And that's a credit to the
players and the staff and the organization and the administration.
(23:20):
You know, we're a playoff team, that's what we are now.
You know, we're back to back years we've gone to
the semi finals with an opportunity to go to the
national championship game. And so when that becomes the standard,
right then we all have to hold ourselves to that standard.
And that's okay. You know, I don't know what's the
hardest part of our schedule yet. Right We're going We're
(23:40):
going on the road for the four straight week. We're
getting on an airplane to go play a game in
a hotel that's not our own. And that's pretty challenging too,
for not only young people, but coaches and everybody involved.
You know, Shoot, we got home at three thirty in
the morning the other night, we're back in the office
at eight o'clock, back to work, you know, back to
game plan, and we're going to go on the road again.
And so there's different things that are tough about a schedule.
(24:03):
This stretch has been difficult too from a mindset perspective,
and so I know we've got other games down the
road that everybody's looking to. Man, we've got we've got
a bulls eye on this one because this is the
most important game of the season for us, because it's
the next one. And we've said all along the SEC
is a very daunting task when you when you work
(24:24):
your way through our conference. And Michael Taff reminded me
in the locker room after the game the other night,
the SEC champs of last year went to that same
stadium and won thirteen to twelve. And so it's not
always about how pretty wins are in our conference. Sometimes
you just got to find a way to win. And
we were able to do that, and now our focus
is on, by any means necessary, we got to find
(24:46):
a way to win Saturday in Starkville, Mississippi. And it's
gonna be a it's gonna be a challenge, it's gonna
be a tough game.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
A few last quick ones on your left, Chris.
Speaker 11 (24:55):
Yeah, hey, Steve. When a quarterback has an extended stretch
of struggles like our chat against Utah and against Kentucky
this weekend, well goes into the calculus of letting him
play through it versus what you did with Quinn against
Georgia last year and giving him a series or two
of a break.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
You know, I think that I felt like his demeanor
in both games when I was talking to him, he
was seeing things well. His communication was good with coach
Milly what we were trying to do. I think there
were some throws in there that that gave me some
some you know, like, Okay, you know they're there. The
conversion to DeAndre on third down was a heck of
(25:31):
a throw. The ball to m at Moseby over the
middle for an explosive play was a heck of a throw.
So there were plays in there that, Man, I'm like, okay,
we can find his rhythm back. I felt like against
Georgia with Quinn last year, we were a little bit
overwhelmed as an offense in general. He had gotten hit
with a pretty good sack fumble on a corner blitz
that he didn't see coming. So at that point is
(25:52):
I don't know if he was seeing great and so
sometimes taking a step back when you're not seeing things
really well, that's a way to go. I didn't feel
like there was anything happening Saturday night that Arch wasn't see.
He was throwing the ball the right people that were open.
We just missed a couple, you know. And so sometimes
that's that's human nature, you know that, Hey, we're humans.
(26:12):
We're gonna make some physical errors. And and he had
a couple of physical airs the other night.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Hey, Steve against Oklahoma, it seemed like the offense took
a big step forward the line and then Kentucky more struggles.
What are you seeing from the offensive line in terms
of their growth and what is there any confidence loss
among the players that you're seeing in that position.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
No, I don't think there's confidence lost, you know. I
think that, you know, we made a shift going into
the Ou game to play Nicket left guard, and with
the mindset of man, he's gonna feel really good between
Trevor and Cole, you know, I don't think it's ideal
when you lose your starting center in the middle of
a week, and and to take nothing away from Connor,
(26:59):
but there's a little bit of a safety net and
a safety blanket for Nick there, and so I think
them now having this whole week to work together will
be helpful. And again I think we need to understand
something as an offensive line and as a as an
offense in general. You know, when you expose yourself to
issues and if you're not blocking movement very well when
(27:23):
a team and you go study a team to get
ready to play for and they're not a big movement operation.
When you come into the next game, they're gonna do
some things that have caused you issues in the past.
And I didn't think we responded very well to that
against Kentucky. And credit to Kentucky, they have some really
good interior defensive lineman. That number sixty is a player.
(27:47):
They moved more than maybe our guys were anticipating, and
so the reactions to that movement and how we picked
it up was not ideal. And so we have to
plan better for them to get them prepared for or
what might be not just what's always on tape. And
again that's on me, uh to get that done. From
an offensive perspective, we left Roger, Sorry.
Speaker 8 (28:09):
This defense asked a lot.
Speaker 12 (28:10):
You guys defend over eighty plays and maybe your three
or four best players were seventy eight to eighty one
with what they do. Is it unusual because we watch
every snap of your team the way you guys empty
the tank defensively with your personnel constantly bring them in
and out, and then to have that effort at the
end of a ball game.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, No, I think our guys we take a lot
of pride in our style of play. You know, we
play fast, we play physical.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
I think.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
They understand the situations.
Speaker 8 (28:40):
As they.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Try to play a lot of players, take a lot
of defens how to play all of our linebackers, and
we try to minimize some of those reps. We played
a lot of corners this game, and so ultimately, yeah, defensively,
(29:05):
half Or or Anthony Hill, who probably have played the
most snaps in that game, a lot of the other guys,
they were rotating quite a bit, and so that allowed
to be a little bit more fresh than maybe just
the total play count number.
Speaker 13 (29:18):
Hey, Steve, before Ryan's first return, you chose to how
do you make that decision? And does that also impact
play calling when you're on that side of the field.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, I think strategically, you you think about the team itself,
who we are. You think about the opponent who are they?
And you think about what type of game it might be,
especially early on, and so you you try to play
(30:00):
the scenario. And we talked a lot about being a
complimentary football team and making that shift philosophically, I don't know,
you know, a month ago, I'm probably going for that.
But today, the way we're playing defense, the way we're
playing special teams, I can take a little bit of
a different approach, knowing the weapon that Jack is, knowing
the way our defense is playing, knowing, hey, we can
(30:23):
you know, we can flip a field. We can pin
people deep and get the ball back in that spot.
You can play a little bit differently. And so you
you allot yourself and to say, you know what I
might call a quarterback, run right here and see if
it pops. And you know, because the blitz is coming,
and if it pops, great, we extend the drive. If
it doesn't, I'm okay popping this ball down here, pinning
them deep and going to playing defense again. And so
(30:45):
philosophically we have to evolve as the season evolves to
where are we as a team, what are we doing
really well, and make sure we're putting our best aspects
of our team in position to go do what they
do really well
App you know Saturday's ball game. You know, echo a
lot of the same things I said in the post game,
and that's not always I can always say that, but
there's some things that are very true and some things
that were eye opening when you look to the tape,
I think, you know, Mason Shipley again, what a what
a performance, guys eleven or thirteen on the year, and
his two misses are from fifty five and fifty six,
(00:21):
so tremendous performance. Ryan Nibblett again continue, those were huge
returns for us in the game, and Jack boome Easter
tremendous job. I thought. Defensively, may we found ways to
get stops when we needed to have them, you know.
And credit to Kentucky, I thought they had a decent
plan to kind of move the football. But our guys
(00:42):
to get a fourth down stop on the first drive
of the game I thought was critical. I thought our
ability to pressure the quarterback when we were disciplined in
our rush lanes showed up with five sacks and hurries.
When we got hurt, we got out of our rush lanes,
which led to the touchdown there, the scrambled touchdown. So
definitely areas for improvement there but what a goal line
stand at the end of the game. You know, I
(01:04):
think one of the unsung plays in there is the
play that gets them to the first and goal is
Jalen Gilbo getting getting them out of bounds at the
four yard line to give us a chance to have
that goal line stand. And then again on second down,
they run a little play action past bootleg where Jalen
stays disciplined to cover the tight end in the flat,
(01:25):
which forces the quarterback scramble to get him on the
ground and then inevitably the goal line stand. Some amazing efforts.
Brad Spence, Travis Shaw, Jolani MacDonald, Michael taff Leonge Lafowl.
I mean that Cole Bivard, a bunch of guys with
great efforts there. Now, I think offensively, you know one
thing that I wasn't as aware of post game, but
(01:46):
then you look at the tait. You know, when we
talked about third downs, I was talking about third and
longs after the game, we actually were pretty effective in
our third and lungs. Where we were ineffective was third
and one to six. You know, we were one for
seven on third and one to six Saturday night, and
that that's where we have to We got to be productive.
You know, if we're going to trade to try to
(02:07):
play really complimentary football control in the game, you've got
to convert third and ones, third and twos, third and fours,
third and fives. And we were ineffective in that area
of the game Saturday, which in turn didn't allow us
to extend drives, didn't allow us to keep the defense
on the field, didn't allow us to move the football
to score more points. And so that was an area
(02:28):
where I definitely think we need to improve. You know,
we've made such an emphasis on being better on third
and long because we've had so many. Well, we converted
a few of those. We hit DeAndre for a big
third down conversion, we hit Ryan Wingo for a big
third down conversion, Art scrambles on another third and long.
So we've got to be more effective in the third
and short and third and medium range. You know, I
(02:50):
was very disappointed in myself in our ability to end
the game with the ball in our hands and kick
a field goal to win it. Late, we were in
one mode to get ourselves in the scoring range, and
we got into that mode and I did not do
a good enough job of communicating to the offense. At
that point we were in field goal range. Now it
(03:12):
was about staying in bounds ensure that that game was
going to end with a kick from us, and we
just have you know, we have the play where DeAndre
goes out of bounds, which allows them to preserve a
time out because in reality, the worst case scenario, they
should have gotten the ball back with somewhere between fifteen
and eighteen seconds. And so I don't mind the play call.
I thought the play call was good, the execution was good,
(03:33):
and that's where that point comes in for DeAndre to
decide do I get the first down or do I
have to get down? But I did not do a
good enough job of communicating that in that instance. You know,
at the end of the day, offensively, I've got to
do a better job. I've got to do a better
job putting all of our players in position to be successful.
And that's blocking people, that's throwing the ball to open people,
(03:56):
that's running routes precisely where they need to be. So
that's on nobody but me, and so that that's uh.
When when you can look in the mirror first and say, Okay,
I'm responsible to try to get this you know, fixed
and get better at it. I'm very comfortable with that.
So as we look forward to Mississippi State, Jeff Levy,
uh second season has done a really nice job. You know,
this is a much improved football team. Obviously a high
(04:19):
powered offense, you know, up tempo team. UH that has
you know, knocked off Arizona State already at home this year.
I think, went to overtime with Tennessee already this year
at home and had a chance last week at Florida
to win that game without a without a turnover there
at the end of the game by Florida to seal
the victory. So, like I said, high powered offense does
(04:41):
a nice job of balancing things. Got two good runners,
have two explosive receivers on the on the perimeter and
and Blake shape and is playing good football for them. Uh.
And a defense that is that is you know, goes
and attacks the football. They create turnovers at a high
at a high rate. We've got to continue the trend
that we've been on. We've gone two straight games now
if protecting the football, and that's part of playing complimentary
(05:03):
football that we're not putting our defense on any short
fields and so we've got to do a great job
of that this week. But should be a great environment,
be our four straight game away from dk R, and
we've got it. We've got to take pride and in
the way we perform on the road, and this is
going to be another challenge.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
For us to go do that. More than Steve, I
want to ask you, you know, when the offense has
had their struggles this year, do you see those as
issues that can be fixed during the week or during
the season, or are those more long term things that
can be fixed.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I would probably say they're both right, you know, and
at any time. I think any issue can be fixed
short term. And one of the easiest ways to fix
something if you're not running a specific scheme very well,
you don't have to call it right and we can
we can gravitate more to things that we do well,
whether it's the run game, the pass game, the screen game,
(05:57):
whatever that is. You know. I think I think nat
if you feel like, hey, we're not adequate enough at
a certain position, well you can protect that guy uh
in that position right now and you know, monitor his
development long term, or you say, were protect him now,
but we may need to do something in in the
off season, or hey, you know what, we want to
get better at a scheme, we need to go study
(06:19):
specific coaches that are really good at it, uh to say, hey,
we can get better at that in the off season.
But in the short term, maybe we just don't emphasize
that as much morning like I do after every game,
(06:39):
I look in the mirror first, you know, and I
think a lot of times, you know, human nature would say, hey,
we have a great offensive game that I don't critique myself.
I there's never a game that I don't come out
of or I think, you know what, I probably would
have called something different here in or something different there,
and this game was no different. You know. One of
the plays that I'm probably more upset that about myself
(07:01):
with is the first play of overtime. You know, we
get a holding penalty on on Brandon Baker, but I
didn't need to risk that holding penalty predicated off of them,
you know, scoring not scoring it on their session, and
I didn't call a direct run, which is really what
I should have done. In that instance. I went a
(07:21):
little more game plan mode. I felt like we had
an opportunity to create an explosive play, but that puts
stress on Brandon and that style of run that we
called has a has a has an opportunity to be
a negative type run. And so that was not a
very good call in the game at all. And it's
easy to point to Brand and get in the hold,
but in reality, that wasn't a good call by me.
So I can look at a lot of different things
(07:43):
within a game, good, bad, and different of the result.
But I'm always looking in the mirror first to say, Okay,
what could I have done differently? What could I have
done better? Not only for the offense but for the team.
And so I'm I'm very comfortable doing that. I've been
doing this a long time and so it's not it's
not something that's new for me.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Hey, Steve, does Arch have any role at the line
of scrimmage in aligning the protection or is that more
of the center's job.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
How does that work for you? That's a combination of both.
You know, there's there's times when when you know, when
we break the huddle, the most most part the center
is going to set the protections. Anytime we want to
change the protections that come from March, and so you know,
I thought, I felt like he's done a good job
of that. You know, I thought we had a couple
opportunity Saturday where he could have changed some things that
(08:30):
didn't happen. We had some other things Saturday where the
line has to react to things as they come, and
we didn't react very well to that either. And so,
you know, we've got to continue to grow in that
phase of our game, and we got to be mindful
of the protections that we carry so that we can
execute him at a at a better rate than we
are right now.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Steve, how much do you think Arch's growth this year
has been hindered by some of the offensive line struggles
and then and then on some of those throws like
the one to Jack or Jack was wide open, is
that become more mental for him because he's maybe worried
about what's what's coming.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I think it's all a combination, right, I mean, it's
it's easy to point to the offensive line. Sometimes we
don't notice it might not be the offensive line. It
might be the running back who's not picking something up.
It might be receivers not being at the right depth,
they're drifting on a route. It might be his own
you know, just air, whether it's mechanically or or missing
(09:30):
a red and so it's all those things. And and
so for a quarterback, when you get those opportunities, when
you have like as I refer to him as layups,
I don't think you need to overthink you. You just
need to take the layup, you know. And and that's
that's challenging when you feel like you're working in a game,
and he would had to work Saturday night. And when
(09:51):
you get those now that's not the time for the
sigh of relief. That's the time to make me be sure.
I drill this throw in here, Let's get this first down,
let's keep it moving, let's create this explosive play. But
to your point, I do think things can add up
on you to where you're like, oh my gosh, I
got this guy open, I got to hit this. You
just need to do what you do and let's throw
the ball and play catch.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
The coach, it seems every time Ryan Nibleck gets a ball,
something good happens. Yeah, Would you ever consider putting him
more involved in the offense, in the backfield or slot
back or something where he touches the ball a lot more?
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, No, I think we have, and his role has evolved.
You know, remember in spring, this guy was playing dB,
right and and then he comes over he's playing receiver,
and then we move him into running back. And nobody
thought in this room, ourselves included, we didn't think he'd
be the kick returner or the punt returner coming into
the season, But his role has evolved as the season
(10:47):
has gone on. He's an integral part of all that
we do on special teams. You know, from a kick
coverage standpoint, he has a huge role in that. From
from a punt standpoint when he's at gunner, his role
doing that, and then obviously finding ways to get him
the ball in his hands on offense, you know, I
think is a huge part. And so you know, I
(11:09):
think if I can get him, you know, three to
five touches a game in some way, shape or form,
that's good. We've gotten him like one or two to
your point, I think we can increase that. And he's
smart enough and tough enough to get all that done.
But he's done a fantastic job of gaining trust of
the staff from this time last year to where he
is today. I just think he's a model for a
(11:30):
lot of our younger players of how to go about
your business to gain trust, so the coaches will put
you in there and put you in significant positions to
make plays in the middle.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
Coach, I want to go inside your mind for a second.
There's a play that lasted two seconds. Art steps back
and releases the ball and gets trucked. The room for
error was like that close to those receiver. What is
that dynamic as a quarterback, what's that dynamic between you
and a receiver? That precision that you have to know
(12:01):
where he's gonna be and he has to be where
you think he's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, no, I honestly I know what play you're talking about.
I think it was a slant pass to Emmitt Moseley.
And was it something that we had felt really good
about if they were going to be playing some man
coverage on third down, which they were in that instance,
and you know, a couple of things could have occurred
in my opinion on that play. I think Arch could
have adjusted his protection to minimize the linebacker coming free
(12:28):
in the a gap. I think two we could have
communicated and executed the protection a little better. On the
left side of the line with Trevor and Nick that
didn't happen. So now you have a free runner, and
now you know, it's about contact courage as a quarterback
and standing there trying to deliver a ball when you
know you're gonna get hit, and so that that's it's
(12:50):
a it's a unique trait to have, and Arch has
a ton of contact courage. But inevitably the throw might
be a little errant, and it might be a little
off when a guy's about to hit you right in
the face, you know, and he just missed the throw,
you know, and unfortunately, I know he'd love to have
that back and probably could have been a created and
explosive play, you know, if if we could have hit
that pass. But you know, we got to do things
(13:12):
before that better, whether it's changing the protection, whether it's
if we didn't change the protection, executing the original protection,
better to minimize that free runner in his lap and
maybe he throws a little more accurate pass to him.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
Steve, you took the blame just now for Brandon's holding
penalty and Deandres you know, fourth quarter, I guess Gaff,
you know, how do you guys clean up those self
inflicted wounds? Because I think your punt team even got
I think three procedural penalties. How do you guys clean
those up and address those?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Going for yeah, I would say, you know, I think
one is offensively. I think we had two penalties in
the game, and that is a that is a much
better number than we were a month ago when it
was a disaster on offense, and so we've cleaned that
aspect of our game up. Unfortunately, the two penalties on
offense occurred, you know, one in the fourth quarter and
then one in overtime, and so how do we almost
(14:04):
have a clean, clean game that way? The things on
special teams were how do I say this without getting fined?
Sometimes that's gonna happen. You know, we were speed breaking
our huddle and we got called for not being set.
We shifted another time, we got called for being in
(14:25):
an illegal formation, and so hey, we're very creative on
special teams. I think coach Banks does a great job.
I think that's why we have some success there. And okay,
if if that's how they're gonna call it today. We
had to make some in game adjustments with the way
we were operating our punt but I think we have
improved pretty dramatically from a penalty standpoint. Knock on wood.
(14:47):
We need to continue that. I mean there's been phases
of our team that we have really improved upon. Obviously
the ball security has been another one. And so that's
just another example of, Hey, when issues like that come up.
The biggest thing for me in the two instances, I
have a communicate better to the offense in drive when
a scenario goes from we need to get into scoring
zone to now, well let's end the game with the
(15:08):
ball in our hands, and I can talk to Arch
and he can communicate to those guys in the huddle.
So I need to do a better job of that.
And then you know, the play calling, like I said,
you know, I put those guys in a tough situation
there to start overtime. So that wasn't a very good call.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Sarka.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I know you love Trey Wisner. Would you like him
to share the load more in the backfield?
Speaker 7 (15:29):
And what is some of the young guys like Christian
Clarkon need to do to get on the field more.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And finally C J. Baxter and he hopes of getting
him back something. Yeah, C four, you know made a
lot of progress last week was was a practice today
and so hopefully we can get Cedric, you know, more
into the fold. You know, I think, like anything as
a coach, you know, when the game is early in
a game, it's a little easier to rotate and sub players.
(15:54):
And as that game started to go and things started
to get tighter and tighter and tighter, you know, I
think you start to rely on the guys that you
know who've been there and you can trust because the
value of every possession. We were just trying to get
a positive some positive yardage, not have a three and out,
So you rely on some of those guys. I thought
Christian did some pretty good things when he got in
(16:15):
there Saturday night. Sure I would love to play him more,
and we're gonna we're gonna try our best to do
that more so this weekend as well.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
In the middle cur you talking about your offense, Steve,
as far as philosophy, when you're having struggle like this
and when you have in the path, do you try
to shrink the playbook? Do you look at changes in
starting lineup and what do you feel like you're really
doing well?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, No, I think that's a fair question because you know,
as a staff you have to have the real conversation
of Okay, what do we do to help our players
be successful? And it's not about what I know, It's
not about what looks good on the whiteboard when you
draw it up in there. It's about what are our
guys going to execute really well predicated on the defense
(17:01):
that we're playing, and where are our strengths and so,
you know, without without divulging what we're gonna do game
plan wise, I do think you'll see some adjustments this
week to what we do. But at the end of
the day, we have to make sure we're playing complimentary
football with our defense. I think we made that shift
in that adjustment about three weeks ago to say, Okay,
(17:22):
we're playing really good defense, we're playing really good on
special teams. Let's make sure we're playing a complimentary brand
of football. To continue to enhance the way we're playing
in those two phases and play in a style to
where hey, we're protecting the ball. All right, we're gonna
play a field position game. But to do that, you
have to execute third and one to six, right, You've
(17:43):
got to extend those drives, and so that's got to
become a big point of emphasis of ours there because
if you play that way and you're not taking as
many risks, you're not taking as many chances down the field. Man,
you've got to be really efficient in those in those
third down distances, and then you've got to be really
efficient in the red zone because you know that the
game can shrink and so there's not quite as many opportunities.
(18:05):
You got to be really efficient. So we've got to
have a great plan in the third and medium to
short range. We got to have a great plan in
the red area to make sure we're putting our guys
in position to be successful. Uh, it can happen. There's
games that can happen. You know, again, not divulging what
we're gonna do this week, but you know that's that's
one avenue that you can go in and let me
(18:25):
let me just preface it with this, not necessarily shrink
the playbook to where you're not doing as many schemes,
but maybe you don't carry as much and so you
can practice those plays more times throughout the week in
the RPO part of your offense.
Speaker 9 (18:43):
How is arch managing the decisions that go with that
and the reads that go with that, and is that
something that could help everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
If that's kind of cleaned up over the course the
next few weeks. Yeah, No, I think it's been pretty good.
You know, we didn't have you know, again, we're trying
to emphasize our ability to run the ball, when when
our ability to run it there a few weeks back
was that and so sometimes to do that you have
to call a few more direct runs. And I think
(19:10):
where we've evolved maybe there's not quite as many RPOs,
but we're we're reading more people and he's having the
ability to pull the ball. So you have to find
that balance of you know, maybe with Quinn in the
past that was a RPO read. With Arch maybe that's
a zone read option. And so, you know, you can
only do so much. We only have so many plays
in a game. You know. I felt like, you know,
(19:33):
we had some opportunities the other night to throw some
RPO type plays. I didn't think we got great separation,
and so we've got to be better at that on
the perimeter. But we needed that part of our offense
still needs to be there. People need to defend that.
And so again I've said it since his dad got here,
the more things we can do really well, the tougher
(19:55):
we are to defend. But at some point, as a coach,
you got to look at, okay, what are we good
at all, right? And where's our strengths for our players'
purposes to have success? And so you know, part of
that is Archie has he can use his legs and
it's been effective for us all year. And so I
don't want to discount that aspect of it either.
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Hey, coach, you know I don't have to tell you that.
As a head coach, you have so much on your
plate nowadays. You guys got two signing days, a transferporter,
nil early in role leads. You can go down the list, right,
and some coaches have just given up the play calling
duties and going into more of a CEO kind of role.
Have you ever thought about taking that thing off of
(20:35):
your plate?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And if so, why not? Because that's why I got hired.
I was a really good offensive coordinator. So I just
I believe in what we're able to do. You know,
every year we have to continually evolve, and there's years
we're gonna be better on offense and we are on defense.
There's gonna be years we're better on defense and we
are on offense.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know, but.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
It's like if I was if I was the best
outside sales guy and and then I had a startup company,
surely I'm gonna go to the sales meetings if I'm
trying to sell something, right, and so if if that's
one of your strengths, I'm always gonna tap into the
strength that I have. And I think, you know, being
a play caller on offense is one of my strengths.
Some may disagree that's okay.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Coach pass rush last two weeks has really woken up
on something specifically.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
What kind of allowed that?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And you've seen him practicer? Is it just opportunities have
presented itself and they've taken advantage. Yeah, you know, I
think calling in particular, and then I'll get into everybody else.
I think calling in particular. You know, it's probably about
going into the Florida game. I felt a shift in
kind of his approach. Yeah. I felt like he was
pressing early in the season, and I felt like in
(21:46):
the Florida game he became a complete football player. You know,
he defended the run really well in that game. He
had a couple of pretty good rushes. But I feel
like he's not, I hate to say, not trying as hard,
but he's allowing it to come to him. He's playing
a little faster. I think he's taken advantage of opportunities
when they're there. But I think we're all playing better
(22:08):
up front to get back to it, you know. I think,
you know, we're seeing the the evolution of of Brad Spence.
I think we're seeing Lance Jackson. It was great to
get a better version of Ethan Burke. He was a
little banged up there for weeks. I thought we got
a better version of him last week, you know. So
so all in all, I think the rush is better.
You know, we got a sack by Manny Muhammad the
(22:29):
other night, so we're getting it from a variety of people.
But at the end of the day, I think it's
all those guys working well together. And then when Colin
has one on one opportunities, he should be a tough
block forle you know.
Speaker 9 (22:40):
And that's starting to show up more and more now, Hey, Steve,
and the expectations are through the roof at this place,
so much that there was full blown panic after a
win in Kentucky. What's your message to the fan base
going into another road game and actually the toughest part
of your schedule still coming up.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I would say that's a great thing, you know,
the fact that the fact that you know, you know,
expectations at the University of Texas are always going to
be high. But I think we've we've raised the bar
from where we were when I got here to where
we are now. Uh, And that's a credit to the
players and the staff and the organization and the administration.
(23:20):
You know, we're a playoff team, that's what we are now.
You know, we're back to back years we've gone to
the semi finals with an opportunity to go to the
national championship game. And so when that becomes the standard,
right then we all have to hold ourselves to that standard.
And that's okay. You know, I don't know what's the
hardest part of our schedule yet. Right We're going We're
(23:40):
going on the road for the four straight week. We're
getting on an airplane to go play a game in
a hotel that's not our own. And that's pretty challenging too,
for not only young people, but coaches and everybody involved.
You know, Shoot, we got home at three thirty in
the morning the other night, we're back in the office
at eight o'clock, back to work, you know, back to
game plan, and we're going to go on the road again.
And so there's different things that are tough about a schedule.
(24:03):
This stretch has been difficult too from a mindset perspective,
and so I know we've got other games down the
road that everybody's looking to. Man, we've got we've got
a bulls eye on this one because this is the
most important game of the season for us, because it's
the next one. And we've said all along the SEC
is a very daunting task when you when you work
(24:24):
your way through our conference. And Michael Taff reminded me
in the locker room after the game the other night,
the SEC champs of last year went to that same
stadium and won thirteen to twelve. And so it's not
always about how pretty wins are in our conference. Sometimes
you just got to find a way to win. And
we were able to do that, and now our focus
is on, by any means necessary, we got to find
(24:46):
a way to win Saturday in Starkville, Mississippi. And it's
gonna be a it's gonna be a challenge, it's gonna
be a tough game.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
A few last quick ones on your left, Chris.
Speaker 11 (24:55):
Yeah, hey, Steve. When a quarterback has an extended stretch
of struggles like our chat against Utah and against Kentucky
this weekend, well goes into the calculus of letting him
play through it versus what you did with Quinn against
Georgia last year and giving him a series or two
of a break.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
You know, I think that I felt like his demeanor
in both games when I was talking to him, he
was seeing things well. His communication was good with coach
Milly what we were trying to do. I think there
were some throws in there that that gave me some
some you know, like, Okay, you know they're there. The
conversion to DeAndre on third down was a heck of
(25:31):
a throw. The ball to m at Moseby over the
middle for an explosive play was a heck of a throw.
So there were plays in there that, Man, I'm like, okay,
we can find his rhythm back. I felt like against
Georgia with Quinn last year, we were a little bit
overwhelmed as an offense in general. He had gotten hit
with a pretty good sack fumble on a corner blitz
that he didn't see coming. So at that point is
(25:52):
I don't know if he was seeing great and so
sometimes taking a step back when you're not seeing things
really well, that's a way to go. I didn't feel
like there was anything happening Saturday night that Arch wasn't see.
He was throwing the ball the right people that were open.
We just missed a couple, you know. And so sometimes
that's that's human nature, you know that, Hey, we're humans.
(26:12):
We're gonna make some physical errors. And and he had
a couple of physical airs the other night.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Hey, Steve against Oklahoma, it seemed like the offense took
a big step forward the line and then Kentucky more struggles.
What are you seeing from the offensive line in terms
of their growth and what is there any confidence loss
among the players that you're seeing in that position.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
No, I don't think there's confidence lost, you know. I
think that, you know, we made a shift going into
the Ou game to play Nicket left guard, and with
the mindset of man, he's gonna feel really good between
Trevor and Cole, you know, I don't think it's ideal
when you lose your starting center in the middle of
a week, and and to take nothing away from Connor,
(26:59):
but there's a little bit of a safety net and
a safety blanket for Nick there, and so I think
them now having this whole week to work together will
be helpful. And again I think we need to understand
something as an offensive line and as a as an
offense in general. You know, when you expose yourself to
issues and if you're not blocking movement very well when
(27:23):
a team and you go study a team to get
ready to play for and they're not a big movement operation.
When you come into the next game, they're gonna do
some things that have caused you issues in the past.
And I didn't think we responded very well to that
against Kentucky. And credit to Kentucky, they have some really
good interior defensive lineman. That number sixty is a player.
(27:47):
They moved more than maybe our guys were anticipating, and
so the reactions to that movement and how we picked
it up was not ideal. And so we have to
plan better for them to get them prepared for or
what might be not just what's always on tape. And
again that's on me, uh to get that done. From
an offensive perspective, we left Roger, Sorry.
Speaker 8 (28:09):
This defense asked a lot.
Speaker 12 (28:10):
You guys defend over eighty plays and maybe your three
or four best players were seventy eight to eighty one
with what they do. Is it unusual because we watch
every snap of your team the way you guys empty
the tank defensively with your personnel constantly bring them in
and out, and then to have that effort at the
end of a ball game.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, No, I think our guys we take a lot
of pride in our style of play. You know, we
play fast, we play physical.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
I think.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
They understand the situations.
Speaker 8 (28:40):
As they.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Try to play a lot of players, take a lot
of defens how to play all of our linebackers, and
we try to minimize some of those reps. We played
a lot of corners this game, and so ultimately, yeah, defensively,
(29:05):
half Or or Anthony Hill, who probably have played the
most snaps in that game, a lot of the other guys,
they were rotating quite a bit, and so that allowed
to be a little bit more fresh than maybe just
the total play count number.
Speaker 13 (29:18):
Hey, Steve, before Ryan's first return, you chose to how
do you make that decision? And does that also impact
play calling when you're on that side of the field.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, I think strategically, you you think about the team itself,
who we are. You think about the opponent who are they?
And you think about what type of game it might be,
especially early on, and so you you try to play
(30:00):
the scenario. And we talked a lot about being a
complimentary football team and making that shift philosophically, I don't know,
you know, a month ago, I'm probably going for that.
But today, the way we're playing defense, the way we're
playing special teams, I can take a little bit of
a different approach, knowing the weapon that Jack is, knowing
the way our defense is playing, knowing, hey, we can
(30:23):
you know, we can flip a field. We can pin
people deep and get the ball back in that spot.
You can play a little bit differently. And so you
you allot yourself and to say, you know what I
might call a quarterback, run right here and see if
it pops. And you know, because the blitz is coming,
and if it pops, great, we extend the drive. If
it doesn't, I'm okay popping this ball down here, pinning
them deep and going to playing defense again. And so
(30:45):
philosophically we have to evolve as the season evolves to
where are we as a team, what are we doing
really well, and make sure we're putting our best aspects
of our team in position to go do what they
do really well
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