Postgame From Unt And Rice

owl40 · September 29, 2008

For those who were looking for more than what DRC had...here is more from Dodge (at bottom), Cam Montgomery and obviously from the Rice side..

Rice Head Coach David Bailiff

Opening Statement

"We're thrilled with this win. We got back on track and showed we're a pretty good football team. Our defense maybe has some injuries, but young players are stepping up and making plays. Our special teams continue to improve. I thought we absolutely played with great passion and great enthusiasm."

On Turnovers Being the Difference

"Our offense had no turnovers and I believed we had six from North Texas. That was really the difference in the football game, the turnovers and where they occurred. I thought our players did a great job in when we got up we stayed focused and played with effort. I think it's a sign that we're maturing and growing up as a football team. We had a great week of preparation and we need to build on this one. I told the team in there to enjoy it, and when it's over it's all about the next one. The next one is Tulsa. We want to enjoy this one tonight."

On the Offense's Execution

"It was almost flawless execution down the field (for Rice) on the first four drives. You got a great senior in Chase and great senior leader in Dillard. You have a great senior leader in David Berken. We have some other big play guys over there and they were all on the same page. It was one of those nights where you felt we all had one heartbeat."

On the Defense's Second Half

"As soon as the defense got use to the speed, the speed of the routes, I thought we settled down and played well. I'm proud of our defense. We didn't give up any second half points. I thought Ja'Corey Shepherd stepped up and made some plays. He ran those kickoff returns like he wanted to take one to the house. We went to the nickel and the six DBs where we had the one linebacker look. We did the dime with the nose guard and the two defensive ends where he had a 3-2 look. We had very little man, but we had some zone blitz

Rice QB Chase Clement

On Setting NCAA record for touchdowns for a quarterback-receiver combination with Jarett Dillard

"You look back on that and you can really say the Lord had a plan. We came in here to an option offense and now JD and I have done what we've have. It's special and something to look back on and say wow look at the road we've been on - three head coaches, all the ups and downs, it's been a long ride but hopefully we can make this season special, not just because of this record but because of what we do as a team. We can go to bowl game, win a conference championship, all those things we want to accomplish."

On TD Pass to Toren Dixon in First Quarter

"Our offense is designed for everybody to have an opportunity to get the ball on every play. That was something we looked at. We ran that route so much at Texas last week. We thought Toren could get open if we run that route again because we knew North Texas would be working on it. "

On TD Pass to Dillard by Jeramy Goodson in Second Quarter

"For J-Good, we said if "If it's not there, throw it away." Then you look down there, he's covered, he throws it up, and Jarett does his thing and makes the catch. That was a lot of fun. I think tonight we just had a lot of fun on offense.

On Rice's Receivers

"That's why JD [Jarett Dillard] and James [Casey] have had so much success this year, because everybody is a weapon. We've got an opportunity to go to each receiver on every play. Everybody's got their unique skills that they bring to the offense. As much as we can do offensively, that's helped all of our players. It's been good for those guys to step up and realize they've got just as much a role as anybody else on this offense. "

Rice WR Jarett Dillard

On Setting NCAA record for touchdowns for a quarterback-receiver combination with Chase Clement

"On Monday or Tuesday we said we want this record to go ahead and be over with. Now we can put this behind us and just focus on beating Tulsa next week. You really don't recognize what it is until it's broken. I really didn't recognize it until our equipment manager came to me and said she was sending the ball to the College Football Hall of Fame. And I thought, wow, for Chase and me from San Antonio, two guys under-recruited, we had one offer and we chose to come to Rice - to have a football in the College Hall of Fame. That brought my jaw down. I'm just in a state of shock."

On Regaining His Rhythm and Confidence

"It's just all about confidence. I know me - I pressure myself a lot, and if I drop one ball, confidence just drops. I had those two weeks where confidence was like a roller coaster. So I just said, get back to the basics, get back to when you're out there just playing ball. I just had to get back to that practice moment. I just took the Texas game as one step, and then this game I didn't even think about it. This game was just about playing football. If you don't think about the catches, don't think about anything, everything just seems to fall into place and that's what happened tonight."

Rice RB C.J. Ugokwe

On Regaining Offensive Momentum after Previous Two Games

"I think it's really important. We have a great offense and we know that against the team we were going to face (North Texas), we would have a good chance to move the ball. That's what went threw our minds this week. Everything we had practicing all week went exactly that way during the game."

Rice Defensive end Arnaud Gascon-Nadon

On Gaining Defensive Momentum after First Quarter

"They play pretty much the same type of offense that our offense plays, so we should have been more prepared to play that type of offense. But we were looking for something, looking for a break, looking for somebody to step up. I think when we brought our nickel and dime defense, everybody started to play together. That was a good momentum [shift] for us. Football is a game of momentum. Once you get a play, everything starts to get in place. You don't know why, but you start playing better, and the other team starts playing worse."

On Rice's Second Half Defensive Performance

"We played real well after halftime. We came on strong, we had a couple of stops and a couple of turnovers. We did a good job in the second half."

On His INT Return for a TD in Third Quarter

"I started my pass rush and I saw the quarterback cranking up in my direction. So I stopped and backed off a little bit to see where he was throwing, because I knew it was coming my way. And it was a ball for me. It was a tight spiral just in my hands. I just did what I had to do. The play was going pretty slow, actually. I really saw the ball pretty well."

North Texas Head Coach Todd Dodge

Opening Statement

"We are all embarrassed. As a football team, all of the players and coaches combined--we're all embarrassed by our performance tonight."

On the Game as a Whole

"We didn't tackle very well. I think it begins with that whether it's their (Rice's) receivers after the catch, their running back, their quarterback. I felt like we had really improved, I guess we didn't. We didn't tackle. We didn't give ourselves a chance because of our lack of tackling."

End of Non-Conference Play

"Yes it's very alarming. We're all we've got. I promised them last week when we started preparations for Rice that we wouldn't look at anything past that. If I had any answers I would give them to you, I would give them to my football team first. As we talked about, we're all we have. We are the coaching staff. They're our players. We have to come together as a team. We have to go back to work on Tuesday for our next task and that's Florida International. We're embarrassed. If you're a competitor, I want them to be. I want it to hurt. IF it doesn't hurt, the players, coaches, any of us, if it doesn't hurt your guts then you don't deserve to be in this business. But, on the flip side of it you can't run and hide. We have to stand up and be men. We have to wrap ourselves around each other as a team and we have to come together as a team for the next one."

On Special Teams

"I'll have to look at the video before I look at any of the execution of the blocking but we couldn't hold on to the ball. We're trying different people. We had problems with all [of them]. I think we may have found one in [#10 DB] DaWaylon Cook who did some nice things. Casey--he's one of our top two or three football players and he just got in a funk tonight. We have to keep searching, but we have to catch the football. It starts with that on our kickoff return and on our punt return. [Rice Head Coach] David Bailiff--they've got an outstanding offense. They do a nice job. He (Bailiff) said to me, `Sorry it got to this,' and I said, `You don't have to be sorry if we can't catch a punt or a kick, that's our own [fault].' They're good enough to score enough points without us handing it to them."

On Rice QB Chase Clement and WR Jarett Dillard

"Obviously they are the top [duo] in the country over their careers and probably one of the top duos regardless. They do a tremendous job. We knew it coming in. We didn't do a good job of containing Clement--he scrambled around and made plays. We had one key on defense [and that was to contain Clement]. We had our hands on him. We are just not a very good football team right now. We have potential, but that doesn't mean we've done anything yet. There is a lot of soul-searching to do--we've got 48 hours and then we come back on Tuesday again. These coaches, these players--you can't run and hide."

On Blocked Kicks throughout the Game

"I was visiting with the offense [during the first extra point] so I don't know what happened. On the second on, when they were freezing him before half, it was the height on that. The first one he kicked it and got it up, but on the second one I don't think he got any height on it. I believe we had a little leak [in the blocking] on the first kick, although I don't know where it came from."

On Rice and Coach Dodge's Expectations Entering the Game

"They did what they do--they got it in the hands of James Casey; they got it in the hands of [Jarett] Dillard. They probably did more--they got #3 [Toren Dixon] involved early. They have to feel good about themselves offensively going into conference play as far as getting people involved. The running back ran well. In all of that--the first thing we had to do was contain Chase Clement, not just as a pocket passer."

North Texas RB Cam Montgomery

On What North Texas needs to Improve on

"We couldn't execute. We have to come out and execute the plays that coach calls better. We have to make them work throughout the game. It hurts but we want to get back to work; we're eager to get back to work. We want to get to practice and get better. It doesn't eat at our confidence but most of us want to get better. We know we're better than that, we have a desire to get better."

On Rice's Football Team

"They were a good team. They played hard. We just didn't execute as well as we should have."

On the Offense Moving Forward

"I think we'll be great. We think we'll be great. We just need to learn how to get better--it's a learning experience. We need to come out and practice harder."

On Turning Around the Negative

"I believe we can be the opposite of [how we played tonight]. We just need to come together as a family. We need to execute the plays that they call. They're called at the right time we just have to make them work. So, yes, I believe we can turn this thing around in a week, I don't think it will be a long process at all. Everybody that the coach puts on the field will give us the best chance to win. I just think the people that are put out there--we need to play with more heart"

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 29, 2008

1. On the Game as a Whole
"We didn't tackle very well. I think it begins with that whether it's their (Rice's) receivers after the catch, their running back, their quarterback. I felt like we had really improved, I guess we didn't. We didn't tackle. We didn't give ourselves a chance because of our lack of tackling."
2. End of Non-Conference Play
"Yes it's very alarming. We're all we've got. I promised them last week when we started preparations for Rice that we wouldn't look at anything past that. If I had any answers I would give them to you, I would give them to my football team first. As we talked about, we're all we have. We are the coaching staff. They're our players. We have to come together as a team. We have to go back to work on Tuesday for our next task and that's Florida International. We're embarrassed. If you're a competitor, I want them to be. I want it to hurt. IF it doesn't hurt, the players, coaches, any of us, if it doesn't hurt your guts then you don't deserve to be in this business. But, on the flip side of it you can't run and hide. We have to stand up and be men. We have to wrap ourselves around each other as a team and we have to come together as a team for the next one."
3. On Special Teams
"I'll have to look at the video before I look at any of the execution of the blocking but we couldn't hold on to the ball. We're trying different people. We had problems with all [of them]. I think we may have found one in [#10 DB] DaWaylon Cook who did some nice things. Casey--he's one of our top two or three football players and he just got in a funk tonight. We have to keep searching, but we have to catch the football. It starts with that on our kickoff return and on our punt return. [Rice Head Coach] David Bailiff--they've got an outstanding offense. They do a nice job. He (Bailiff) said to me, `Sorry it got to this,' and I said, `You don't have to be sorry if we can't catch a punt or a kick, that's our own [fault].' They're good enough to score enough points without us handing it to them."
4. On Rice QB Chase Clement and WR Jarett Dillard
"Obviously they are the top [duo] in the country over their careers and probably one of the top duos regardless. They do a tremendous job. We knew it coming in. We didn't do a good job of containing Clement--he scrambled around and made plays. We had one key on defense [and that was to contain Clement]. We had our hands on him. We are just not a very good football team right now. We have potential, but that doesn't mean we've done anything yet. There is a lot of soul-searching to do--we've got 48 hours and then we come back on Tuesday again. These coaches, these players--you can't run and hide."
5. On Blocked Kicks throughout the Game
"I was visiting with the offense [during the first extra point] so I don't know what happened. On the second on, when they were freezing him before half, it was the height on that. The first one he kicked it and got it up, but on the second one I don't think he got any height on it. I believe we had a little leak [in the blocking] on the first kick, although I don't know where it came from."
6. On Turning Around the Negative
"I believe we can be the opposite of [how we played tonight]. We just need to come together as a family. We need to execute the plays that they call. They're called at the right time we just have to make them work. So, yes, I believe we can turn this thing around in a week, I don't think it will be a long process at all. Everybody that the coach puts on the field will give us the best chance to win. I just think the people that are put out there--we need to play with more heart"

First off, thanks for this post. This is definately more than I read in the DRC.

I numbered them:

1. Does Dodge really, seriously believe that they had improved in tackling? Or is that just coaching talk?

2. Once again, he has NO answers. He seems to not have too many answers to how his team plays all of the games, though based on the results so far, I would say that is correct statement - he really doesn't have any answers.

3. Just team them to "Fair Catch" all the balls.

4. I am not so sure these players need monday off.

5. Call FFR, he has your answer to this one. FFR - Help coach out since we are not going to make a move during the season.

6. Not sure this can be turned around in a week, and nothing worked from the first quarter on, did the players just all of a sudden decide to quit running the plays? Whatever they are doing is NOT working, and hasn't worked at all this season, yet Dodge doesn't think it will take much to turn it around?