The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Arkansas quotes
09.27.2008 | Football
Sept. 27, 2008
TEXAS COACHES
Head Coach Mack Brown
Opening statement: What a great day for Texas. To have Bobby Layne and Tommy Nobis come back for the Arkansas game, which has meant so much to us for so many years, was really special. Then, to have a game like we had, and have the guys play so hard and well and beat an SEC team that's a rival to us for many years, makes it even more special. I'm proud of our guys, they did not worry about the game being moved, which was an inconvenience for both teams. I thought both teams played hard and played well. We wanted to be physical in the ball game, and without studying the film, we felt like we were physical. We were able to run the ball and Colt [McCoy] continues to play as well as any quarterback in the country.
Coach Petrino is a great coach and he's got a tremendous staff. He will do a great job at Arkansas and you can see that. Their schemes are good and they hit us on some things. We just had a better day than they did today and I'm proud of our guys.
The kicking game continues to get better. I was proud of Justin Tucker and I was proud of John Gold*, and the way we covered punts and kickoffs after the first two. We felt like that was a big improvement.
I think we won the turnover ratio. And again, I thought the way Colt managed the game was really special for all of us. So, I'm proud of the guys and we don't know much about the injuries just yet. Now, we have to get ready for Big 12 to start and we're going to Colorado next week. But, the guys are excited in that dressing room and they are proud of themselves today. Some of these guys remember the 2003 game and a lot of them were in Fayetteville [Arkansas] for the 2004 game. I think they realized more this time that this game is really important to both places. Even Coach Royal and Coach Broyles coming out made it more special.
On having lower expectations because sacks are harder to come by now: We did not say sacks were not as big of a deal, we said that sacks are much harder to get now than in the past. And because of that, we have to look at stats differently. If you're pressuring the quarterback and hitting him and getting him off of his rhythm, that is as important as a sack was in the past. If you are getting sacks like we're getting them now, obviously, it's better because you're forcing some intentional grounding and you're forcing huge lost yardage plays and that makes a big difference on third down conversions.
On the defense: It's really good. I thought our guys played like they had in the previous three ball games. They've played hard and relentlessly. When they gave up a big play, they did not get their heads down. They are getting after the quarterback and he does not get to stand back there very long. Even when he gets the ball off, we've been able to hit the quarterback some and force some turnovers. This is the first team that I thought would come in with the ability to run the ball and try to run the ball on us, and they did. But, they could not run the ball today, and that's a big improvement over the first quarter we played in El Paso. So there are some signs that this team is getting better week in and week out. We still have a lot of things that we have to fix and do, but we are showing signs of improvement.
On Colt McCoy's confidence growing: I thought he regained his confidence after about mid-season last year. He played really well against Oklahoma, and we had a chance to win because of him. But after that game, he played really well throughout. He struggled some at Texas A&M in the first half, but he finished the season with a lot of confidence coming out of the win against Arizona State at the Holiday Bowl. He's just continued to do that. We're pleased with the way he's been managing our team. He's involved, he's excited about the defensive stops and he is just playing with so much confidence right now. It's fun to watch him. He's having fun and the game has slowed down for him.
On how stopping the run early helped them get pressure on the QB: We thought it was the key to the game. We did not think we had to run the ball early, we thought that we had to move the ball. We thought that we had more depth than they did, so if we could have stayed in the no huddle and keep them out in the heat, it might wear them down as the game continued to grow. We felt like they would line up and try to run the ball, in which they did. Michael Smith is a good back and he made a lot of plays for them. We felt like that would be their game plan today and then try to come with the play action and try to hit us on some deep stuff. It was a huge challenge for our guys today to try to stop the run.
On if he is seeing confidence in the defense grow: I'm seeing confidence in our team in all three phases right now, and they are getting better. Colt's confidence is just oozing all over the place with the guys, and the defense is the same way. We're playing a lot of guys and I was proud that our second- and third-team defense played from about five minutes left in the third quarter throughout the rest of the game and didn't let Arkansas score. That's four straight weeks that they've done that. That's just helping us build more depth.
On if he thinks any quarterback in the nation is playing better than McCoy: No. I haven't seen Missouri and obviously, Chase [Daniel] is playing really well. I haven't seen anybody else in our league, really. I don't see how anybody could be playing better than Colt right now. They can be playing as good, but they can't play better. He's just not making any mistakes.
On if winning the first three home games 52-10 means they are playing consistently: It is. Last year, we had ugly wins, if that is possible. We walked in here and said they were wins, but at the same time we knew we weren't dominating some teams that we could've. This team right now has done exactly what they've been asked. We've played with energy each week, we've played hard each week and we've seemed to improve each week. Now, the stage steps up and the teams we start playing will be better than the first four we've played. But, this team is fun. That is a real good trait of a young team so far.
On Will Muschamp and his defensive schemes: I've said many times that I think Will is a star. He is very knowledgeable, he is very successful in his background and he has high energy and works really hard. I think he's brought so much to us. He and Major [Applewhite] both have brought a tremendous amount of energy and knowledge. The other thing that is key is that both of them have been really great staff guys. The other defensive coaches are buying in. I was standing on the sideline in the early second quarter watching them, and Will looks over to Duane [Akina] and says, "What do you think about these two calls? Which one do you like the best?" So, they are really working well together, and that could have been a difficult thing because Duane was calling them last year. Both of them should get a lot of credit for being able to work through this and it being the best for the team.
On how John Chiles is progressing: Obviously when John goes in, he runs a different offense than Colt. We still have to remember that John did not redshirt, so he's still a young quarterback. We just have to continue to get him better. He threw the ball better today and he was more accurate, but the fumble kind of took him out of some of the stuff he needed to do. We need to continue to get him some more work.
On Ian Harris: He caught one ball and he got to play a little bit. The best thing about Ian getting to play is that it proved to him that his neck and stinger are fine. I know he came out okay because I just saw him a few minutes ago. He just has to continue to get better and help the other two guys.
Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis
On if Colt McCoy is playing as well as he can: Colt is playing at a really high level. He is working during the week at a very high level. He is studying a bunch of tape and he has good questions every day that we meet. On the touchdown pass he threw to Jordan [Shipley], he told me last night that he thought we could get that in there. He had to throw a tight ball because they had good coverage, but Jordan made a great play. He's playing at a really high level and it happens one day at a time, and it happens starting on Tuesdays.
On McCoy being efficient in controlling the offense: Well, our third downs were really good and that is a big part of staying on the field. We were 6-for-6 in the red zone and we played with one turnover, which was one too many. But for the most part, we played really efficiently. The no-huddle worked well again today. We're glad to play quite a bit of two tight ends. We played more two tight ends in this ball game than we had in the first three games.
On the connection between McCoy and Jordan Shipley: Well, they grew up together, and I guess they have been playing pitch-and-catch for a long time and it shows on the field. Jordan knew what kind of ball to expect in the end zone and Colt knew what kind of ball he was going to throw versus that particular look of man-to-man coverage. The slot receivers for us have many perimeters that they can look in and Jordan is just playing extremely well.
Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp
On getting pressure to the quarterback today: I really feel like all year, regardless of the number of sacks, we've gotten good pressure with the four-man rush. With the five-man pressures, we've done well. I've felt like that all year, and I've told the kids to not worry about the sacks. The sacks are going to come because we are getting to the quarterback. Both of these guys held the ball a little longer than the previous quarterbacks we've faced, because they are not as mobile of guys in the pocket. So when they get hemmed up, they don't get rid of the football as well as the other guys we've played. We really wanted to dominate the line of scrimmage and play more of a physical game than they did, and that was the way we played. We stopped the run and made it a one-dimensional game. When you do that, you really open yourself up to more of a pass rush, better coverage and then it's an easier game to call. I felt like we established that early.
On bringing the pressure today: Well, we probably brought more pressure today and that was planned a little bit. Each week, we've been able to do a little bit more. It's our job as a staff to make sure we don't do too much in a new scheme and a new system with new adjustments, especially with some young players at key positions. We had a lot more in today than we've had, and we'll continue to add as we go through the season. But, we can't have the kids thinking, we have to have them react. I thought we did a good job with our reactions today and playing fast.
On if he was more motivated today because they were playing a SEC team: Zero. This was another game and it was just another game on the schedule. They all count for one, and there is not one any bigger than the other, regardless of what anybody says. They all count for one.
On if playing against Arkansas in the past helped him today: Well, there is just familiarity with the players. You're playing some of the guys and some of the players that we recruited in the same areas. But other than that, there was nothing else, because they are night and day to what they were a year ago.
On the performance of the secondary: I thought we did some good things on the back end. When we create one-on-ones for Rak [Brian Orakpo], Sergio [Kindle] and Lamarr [Houston] we're going to get pressure on them. We just try to create one-on-ones. I tell the defensive line that we're going to create one-on-ones for them, and it's their jobs to win their one-on-ones and this guy [Brian Orakpo] is going to win a lot of those, and so is Sergio. That's part of our plan each week.
TEXAS PLAYERS
QB Colt McCoy
On his efficient passing tonight: Give credit to the offensive line, they gave me a lot of time. They played great today. Going into the game, our goal as an offense was to win in the trenches. If the line could win in there, it would give us some time and let us run the ball. Give them the credit, they played great today.
On the offense playing efficiently: Give credit to the defense because they gave us a lot of short fields. That's why we didn't have as many total yards, because we didn't have to go a long way. For us as an offense, that's an easy, quick strike and we love doing that.
On what the team must do before Big 12 play starts: I think it's important for us to continue to play and continue to get better every week. We're doing that. You have to give credit to Arkansas. We fought through the surge, and scored on our couple of opening drives. We're good in our no-huddle offense. We have to continue to do that and continue to practice well. We're practicing really well right now and I think that is key for us. If we can continue to do those things, the little things, and stay focused each week, we have a chance to be pretty good.
On the possibility of being a top-five team before next weekend: We're not worried about that. We're focused on ourselves. We're playing as a team, the offense, defense and special teams. That's key for us and that's what we're focusing on.
DE Brian Orakpo
On if he feels sorry for getting after the QB so often: You can't feel sorry for them because this is football. You can't feel sorry for the opponent. Like coach says, you just have to stop the run, and that made our job a lot easier as far as getting after the quarterback. Because when they get down, it's going to be more of a passing game. But kudos to our defense, you got to stop the run, and that is the number one goal we have been harping on all year.
On why the defensive line was so dominant today: It was our secondary. Our guys were holding guys up and we were stopping the run early. I mean these guys have been playing tremendously back there and stopping their guys, and giving us a chance to put pressure on them. If we're good enough, we're going to get the sack. I can't say so much though. Roy [Miller] and the guys in the middle pushing the pocket makes our job a whole lot easier. I mean, I can only do so much. But, with those guys pushing the pocket, they make the quarterback start scrambling and it creates big plays for us. The secondary is the main key for us.
On getting pressure on the quarterback: You just have to stop the run and we did an excellent job. You don't know how many walkthroughs we've had to try to figure out these plays. With so much work that we put in during the off-season and two-a-days, I think it's finally paying off for us. Guys are also fitting in their gaps. Guys are playing very physical up front and they are finishing their plays.
OT Adam Ulatoski
On the offensive line's performance: We went out there with a physical mindset. Coach [McWhorter] kind of challenged us to go out there and put the offense on our shoulders and we did that.
On Colt McCoy: Colt is a fantastic player. We all knew it, now everyone else is getting to see it. We're all proud of him.
On starting Big 12 play: Starting 4-0 is good but you can't do anything if you don't win the Big 12. To get the goals that we have, we have to continue to get better and continue to play hard every week and win the Big 12. We're 4-0, that's a good start. Obviously, we can always get better at things and we're going to go back to work tomorrow. But 4-0 is a good start.
CB Aaron Williams
On the young players in the secondary growing up: Our confidence every day is growing rapidly thanks to Ryan Palmer and Deon [Beasley] helping us out every day in practice, helping us understand the defense more, so I have the opportunity to get on the field.
On the toughest adjustment to college football: The toughest adjustment is learning plays. It's a faster game. You have to pick up the formations and what they're doing quickly. I give thanks to Ryan [Palmer] for helping me out.
On the moment he knew he would score after intercepting a pass in the fourth quarter: I think one of the linemen almost touched me and I saw the receiver coming down, but once I crossed the 50, I knew I was gone.
On taking the credit from Brian Orakpo for causing some of the sacks: For Orakpo to give us credit for that, that's great. But we couldn't do it at all without their pressure. We'll always give thanks to them.
OG Cedric Dockery
On winning the third game by the score of 52-10: That just comes from hard work and persistence. That's all I think it is. We keep doing what we're supposed to be doing and everything will work out for us.
On the performance in the first four games: It's a really fun experience. Minus the National Championship year, I think this is the best that we've ever played as a unit and it shows up on the scoreboard and in the win column. I just think that if we keep pushing, everything will work out.
On being a part of Colt McCoy's success: I love Colt. Colt is a great player. He's our leader on the field. When I mess up, he'll jump on me. If anybody messes up, he'll jump on them. He's really grown up and has become a great leader. I just think Colt's success has been due to his persistence and us giving him time. I think all that has added up to him having the season that he is.
On starting Big 12 play: I'm excited. I think we have Colorado next week, so we'll have to go up there and be focused. I know that they're a good team. They have a really good defensive line and our offensive line is going to be challenged next week. We're going to have to work this week in practice, prepare mentally and physically for what they have to offer.
LB Roddrick Muckelroy
On the defense's performance: We were playing good, the defense as a whole. I give a lot of credit to our defensive line because they were doing an excellent job today. They weren't letting anything get back to us. I just thank our D-line today.
On the secondary's part in the high number of sacks: We had a couple of coverage sacks. I played the pass well. In one situation when I was playing man, I got a pass interference. But today as a defense, we performed well. We can still get better. We need to get to work tomorrow and start preparing for Colorado.
On stopping the run: Coach came into the game today saying that was going to be the number one thing, they were going to try to run the ball. They tried to come out and do that, but we were successful in stopping it.
On starting Big 12 play: It's good to have this type of game. Next week when we roll into the Big 12, we're going to keep the train moving forward and try to avoid setbacks.
DT Roy Miller
On his individual performance: I did all right. They ran the ball away a lot and I slid into a lot of double teams, but I think I played well.
On the amount of double teams he faced today: It seems like every week I'm getting double-teamed more and more often. The good thing is it's freeing up a lot of people and they are making a lot of plays. That's all I want to do. I want to be disruptive and help my teammates. We're all in it together. Obviously Rak (Brian Orakpo) and all those guys made a lot of big plays because as a defense we played well together. We know our parts in the defense. I know our priority was stopping the run. I'm happy for all those guys. I don't know how many people got sacks, but I'm happy for them.
On the secondary's performance: The secondary has been surprising me every week. They've been going against different looks, great quarterbacks and great receivers, so I'm proud of them. Their improvement is very satisfying. The young guys are doing a lot better every week. They're giving us a chance to get after the quarterback.
CB Ryan Palmer
On the defensive unit: I thought we were close to playing a complete game. The crazy thing about it is we can still grow from the mistakes we made.
On how the secondary has improved: We're doing pretty good. We're finally understanding the defense, not just me and some of the guys who have played, but the young guys, too. I'm just really encouraged from how this secondary is playing. We didn't give up a lot of passing yards this game, we finally just buckled down and played good coverage.
On the defense's performance today: [Brian Orakpo] and them got after it. He gives credit to us but we give credit to him because if he gets back there, we don't have to cover that long. It goes both ways. We're starting to get a blue-collar identity no matter who we play. We're hard-nosed and really tight as a defense. We're going to continue to grow.
On Aaron Williams: A.J. is a hard worker. He is my backup in nickel, so he's always asking me what to do. He sat on the route and caught him a good one. I was running after him the whole way. That's the thing about this defense, there is no jealousy anywhere. If a guy makes a play, we're all going to jump on them.
WR Quan Cosby
On Arkansas: They were real physical. I felt the physicalness that they were, they tried to rip my head off a few times. They were a good team. They played real well. Everybody fought real hard, our defense played outstanding. It was just another great game for us.
On Texas QB Colt McCoy: We see it all the time so it's one of those things where we're kind of expecting it. If he makes a bad throw we're like, 'What's going on?' Colt's one of the best in the business, in my opinion. He's going to continue to get better and we're going to get better and hopefully good things will happen.
On the team's confidence level going into Big 12 play: We're going in undefeated and getting better each week. Our main goal is, of course, to win all the non-conference games but even more to get better each week. We're confident that we did that. We just want to continue to keep those goals in mind and try to continue to get better because the Big 12 has some really strong teams.
On what this win makes the team: That makes us a team who goes out there and competes. We're going to try to match (the opponent's physicality) or try to be more physical. That's all we try to do. We played a really good team out there, a good SEC team, so it was a good win for us.
WR Jordan Shipley
On his first touchdown catch of the game: That was fun. It's just kind of a (route) we work on in certain situations where he throws it short and outside intentionally and I just tried to concentrate on the ball and make sure I keep my feet in bounds.
On how often he is the target of that route: I actually don't get them that often, really. We practice it a lot so it just kind of comes naturally whenever we're out on the field.
On if the team is concerned with their national perception: Not at all. The only thing that matters to us is just that we keep winning games. We're not going to concern ourselves with what the rankings are, who says we're good, who says we're not good, we don't care. We're just going to try to go play every week and keep winning ballgames.
On where the team stands going into conference play: I think we're playing well. We definitely have things we can improve on, both offensively and defensively. Our defense is playing lights out and I think that's going to give us a lot of confidence going into conference.
DE Henry Melton
On if he believes they can be a dominant defense: I believe. (Will) Muschamp came and put this in our heads. We're just getting started with the whole defense.
On Will Muschamp's energy level: He's a really exciting guy. He gets me riled up.
On where the defense stands heading into conference play: Muschamp calls the defense and we execute the play. Like I said, we're just getting after it. We're starting put everything together in our defense. We're just getting started, pretty much.
LB Sergio Kindle
On what he thinks the team's pass rush did to the Arkansas offense: Hopefully it disrupted his throwing pattern, kind of get him off rhythm, because it may look bad on paper how they played against Alabama, but they actually a good game. They just had some unfortunate turnovers. I guess we kind of took from what Alabama did and tried to game plan in that way and try to use our speed off the edge and up front to get to the quarterback.
On where this performance ranks among how they've played this season: I can't rank it, that's up to everybody else. We gave up the least points this game so I guess it would be on top. With them being a better challenge for the team, so I guess this would be up top.
On what giving up 11 rushing yards tells him: That we played good run defense and that we had a good game plan, basically. They're capable of way more yards than that as you can see in their first three games, we just had a good game plan and it worked for us.
On if getting seven sacks again feels good for the defense: It does feel good, and at the same time, it makes it easier for our defensive backs. Getting pressure makes it easier. You can get a bad ball and come down with it. Either way, it's a plus. It's a win.
On the rivalry with Arkansas: Everybody was talking about Coach Royal and how they had the big Southwest Conference rivalry with Arkansas every year, basically being the top two teams. The last time that we played Arkansas at home we didn't come out with a victory in 2003. Our thing was, if we win, (the former players and coaches) can celebrate, so that's what we came out to do.
ARKANSAS HEAD COACH AND PLAYERS
Head coach Bobby Petrino
On Texas: Texas beat us in every way. Physically, they were a little stronger than we were, definitely. They out-executed us. We couldn't get anything going offensively, and when we did, we missed the field goal and couldn't get the ball in the end zone. Defensively, we had a heck of a time getting off the field. We have to give a lot of credit to their football team. They have a very good football team. Their quarterback (Colt McCoy) was very impressive. He can throw the ball, run the ball, but most of all, it was just the way he ran their operation and executed their offense. We tried to blitz, and then he would make a pass-check for a touchdown. We would try to blitz another way and he'd make a run-check and get a big play. They were very efficient and they beat us in every phase.
On Texas' defense: Some of it was blitzing, some of it was one-on-one matchups...one-on-one pass rush moves to get in the backfield. They got us once with the blitz, a corner blitz. And we got hit another time. Basically, they didn't try to do anything fancy. They lined up and played their techniques and overpowered us a little bit. We had no rhythm, and the negative plays really hurt you. We got sacked early, and that puts you in negative positions. They got after our quarterback pretty well. We did get a few things going and they were able to stiffen. We still haven't found an efficient way to run the football, where we can keep moving forward and get ourselves into third-and-medium, third-and-short situations. They're (Texas) a good front seven...they're good up front. Their linebackers run and tackle well. We'd have a couple plays out in the open, and their speed and ability to tackle was very good.
On how his team compares to its last two opponents, Alabama and Texas: We're a long way from being the quality of those two opponents that played us the last two weeks. Physically, in the front on offense and on defense, just being able to execute...being able to understand what you're trying to do and execute and do it over and over. We're not consistent. We're a ways away from being able to execute the way those teams do.
QB Casey Dick
On overall game: Well to start off I give them all the credit in the world. They came out and executed well. I just thought they came out and executed at everything they did. We got to be able to come out and execute better and just get better at the basic fundamentals.
On Texas' defensive pressure: They did a good job at getting through our offensive line but like I said we got to be able to execute better. Maybe change the protection here and there but we'll try to take a look at it, get things sorted out and get back to work tomorrow. They just did a great job of mixing it up. We got to be able to withstand that and make some plays.
On fumble at the end of the first half: It's tough to get out of the pocket and make the play, I didn't even see the guy coming from behind me. I got to be able to hang on to the ball with two hands.
On the Texas defense: This is just your ordinary Texas defense. Not saying they are better they are better (than Alabama). They played well and mixed things up with blitzes and everything like that. It's just your typical Texas defense.
On the mood of the team: Everyone is upset, but that's part of it sometimes. We got to fight through and come back to work tomorrow.
C Jonathan Luigs
On the loss: Coming in, I thought we were ready to play. We had good practice, good preparation over the past two days, and we had a good game plan. We got out-executed. Not everyone was doing the right thing on the right play. When you do that against a good team, they will hand it to you.
On how the team can improve in the coming weeks: I really don't think it's that simple. We've really got to look at this film. You have to really look at yourself and improve what you can. It will take a lot of work - just look at the score. I give them (Texas) a lot of credit, but it shouldn't have been like that. I've never experienced that...being beat like that in back-to-back weeks. It will take the leaders on the team to step up and try to turn it around. It's tough but there's only one way to go, and that's up.