The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
09.01.2013 | Football
Recap | Box score | Notes | Photo gallery
TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Mack Brown
Opening Statement: Happy with a win. We worked hard on fast start every day of camp and didn't start fast so I don't know what that did to help us. But when we did get started we got started full speed ahead and I thought the defense made some good adjustments at the halftime and the offense got rolling right before the end of the half and played a great second half. Thought the defense made some good adjustments at halftime, and the offense got rolling right before the end of the half and then played a great second half.
If you go back and look at halftime, what had happened to us, we had -- they had forced three turnovers to one. They had 47 plays and had the ball 21 minutes to our 29 plays and nine minutes. So we were either scoring really quickly or turned it over. So it was just everything that could happen wrong in the first half happened wrong. I'm proud of the guys that kept their head in there and kept their composure and played a great second half.
On David Ash and his play: I think it was good. We ended up blowing them out, and it wasn't easy in the first half. We had to fight. We had some adversity, had to overcome some things. That's been one of the things we've been working for David to do better. I thought he really kept his composure well. At halftime, he was in it. Probably Major being on the sideline helped him get through that. I thought he played a great second half.
On if his approach at halftime was a testament that he has faith in the older players: Yes, we've got an older team. They were trying. It just wasn't working out. We talked about it at halftime. Offensively, we were trying to force runs when they had everybody on the line of scrimmage. They were wadding them up. There wasn't anybody outside. We could have thrown the ball any time we wanted to. We decided to go ahead and take it and just start throwing and get them spread out a little bit and then run the ball in the fourth quarter. That's what we did. If this is going to be an offense, you've got to take what's there. That's what the offense is set up to do. You can see the tempo and the two deep really wore them down.
On Daje Johnson and if he did as well as he thought he would: I'll have to watch it on video, but he's really fast, and he's done everything right. He's working really hard. He's in great shape. He's trying to be a team guy. He can play tailback. He can play slot. The first half, there were a couple of routes that he had for the touchdown that he couldn't quite get to. So he hasn't been a receiver that long. They weren't there. They just didn't quite bend it long enough. There was one late in maybe the second half, third quarter that he had that was thrown a little bit too far because he didn't quite bend it enough. There are still some little things that he's got to work on. You can see, when he got the pass, they couldn't touch him. We couldn't get him loose on kickoff return or punt tonight. Hopefully, we can do that more. But also, when he took that sweep, it didn't take him long to get in the end zone.
On if tonight showed how versatile the offense can be: It does. It shows you what we can do. I think we didn't do it at all in the first half and still scored six points and had more yards. We can get better. That's the key for us. We've got to keep improving. It's the first time we've done it as a group in a ball game. So didn't think the substitution was very bad. I thought the defense was better with their substituting because they've seen the up tempo offense every day. I did think that we were able to play two deep, and that really helped us. It helps your injuries, helps your team morale. It should help us next week in altitude. I thought that -- I think there's some real upside to what we're doing. We've just got to improve it.
On what it says about the offense to set a school record for total offense: I thought -- I was surprised when I got off the field and John told me that. It goes so fast, you don't realize it. We rushed for over 300 yards, and David ran the ball well. So that really helped us too. That's something we need to do is have our quarterback be an extra runner in key situations. I thought he looked for the run tonight. That's something he didn't do very much last year. I think the competition will obviously really pick up next week. So we'll know more because Brigham Young plays great defense. I think it's where we need to be going. Like I said, I think we can get a lot better with it.
On Tyrone Swoopes not playing: Major (Applewhite) and I talked about it at the end of the game. We think we're going to be in tight games, and he has not performed well enough to be out in preseason because of his hamstring and he hasn't practiced that much. We thought it would be foolish to put him in a blowout game and maybe throw five times and maybe he doesn't play the rest of the year. I think that's foolish. We'll keep working him. If he gets to be the second team quarterback, he'll play. If one of the other two gets hurt, he'll play. We just decided in the fourth quarter. I don't think it's fair to him, and I don't think it's smart.
On if it's fun to coach a game going into half up 14-7: Yeah, it's not as much fun, but it's a lot better for you. You don't need a scrimmage in an opening ball game, quite honestly. You need some adversity. You need to have to overcome some things. You need for them to play well enough to feel they can be good but understand they didn't do well enough to be good. We've got ssome things we've got to fix. I thought it was a great opener for us. We won. We blew them out. We had our struggles and didn't play well at times. We have a lot of things we need to fix.
On the up-tempo offense and if he thinks it's the reason they pulled ahead: Yes, I think it's exactly what we want it to be, and we'll talk about it tomorrow and see if we need to speed up or slow down at different times. I don't know. You all probably know I haven't talked to the coaches enough to know at what pace we were going, but we went pretty fast. One of the negatives is when you have two three-and-outs, your defense is right back out there if you have a turnover. So if you're going to do it, and we are going to do it, you need to stay on the field. You need to make those things happen. I think the guys like it because anybody can get the ball on any play, run or pass, because there's so many checks. And I think they bought into it, and they'll have fun with it. They do not feel like tonight they played great. And when they find out they had more yards than anybody in the history of this school and scored 56 points and they're disappointed, that will help them move forward.
On Desmond Harrison and how he played: I thought he did pretty well. Just the naked eye, like you all watching him. I did notice he missed a lot of blocks. He did get cramps. So I'm sure the anxiety of playing in front of 100,000 people for the first time and the heat and not being out there very much. I'm not sure how many plays he played. He played quite a bit in the second half. In fact, I think he played most of it. He is fine, and this should really help him going into next week.
On his general thoughts about the defense: We missed some tackles in space early. I thought we tackled much better than last year. It's hard to tell about New Mexico State. They're not as good as we are, but we didn't give up a long pass, except for the one touchdown that I thought was covered well, which did not get loose. I thought we made good adjustments at halftime. I thought we pretty much dominated the line of scrimmage. They didn't get any running yards inside. That was one of the keys to stop them running the ball. I think they had 200 yards at halftime. I looked up, and they had 300 maybe at the end of the game. I thought we played a great second half defensively. In our past three or four years, we couldn't have played that many second and third guys and not given up 21 points. Our depth is much better. That should help us next week.
CO-OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Major Applewhite
On the balanced offensive attack: I think, when you get late in games like that and you have control of the game, you can kind of play with some of those things. I was proud of the way our guys responded and the maturity they had in the second half. We did not start the way we wanted to. We had a good drive going in the first series and a turnover, [then a] decent drive going in the second series and a penalty behind the chains. We didn't execute on the screen. We could have came out like the one Malcolm had later. Then we get in the third series, get down there in the red zone. They made a better call than I did, and had a reception there. David [Ash] made a great throw and a pick on a tipped ball. Probably would have hit Daje much like the other touchdown. In terms of the balance you asked me about, it was just the offensive line did a great job in the second half of [helping us be] able to run the ball, and we had some explosive passes in the second half.
On Daje Johnson's performance: He's an explosive player. I think we've all talked about it for a month now in the summer. He's done a great job when we're getting him the ball and giving him opportunities. It's one of those deals. The better you do, the more we continue to invest in you. This is just the first round of a 12-round bout. It's time to move on to the next one.
On the influence of the tempo on the offense: I'd have to really go back and watch it, to be honest with you. To sit here and kind of speculate right now. I think there was some times when we got lined up quick, and maybe our coverage wasn't as tight as we needed to be. In certain areas, we were able to exploit some things. We were able to get some completions out on the edge. I can definitely tell you the tempo showed up in the third and fourth quarter. You ask any tempo team, and that's what's going to happen. We've got to be in great shape, and Bennie and Jeff did a great job with our guys. You can see in the run game, those two to three-yard gains in the early first half started turning to 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 20, 30-yard runs.
On if Daje Johnson reminds him of anyone else: There's a lot of guys that are like that. I mean, I've heard you guys write about Tavon Austin and that kind of stuff. He's got a unique skill set because he's got so much lower body strength. You see him run between tackles and break tackles. He's got phenomenal hands. He caught it on the seam. He's got return game skills. He's got open toe skills. He's just a very, very talented person. He's very bright. Very bright. He understands where he's at right now as a player and where he needs to continue to work to be the best. I think that's very positive. When he steps on the field, he believes he's the very best player on the field. I'm just looking forward to seeing that opportunity develop.
On calling the game from the sideline: The first half was miserable. The second half got better, a little bit more fun. It was good. I've never done that before. You'd have to ask David if I aggravate him or if it helps. I felt like I had such good eyes on top with Coach Wyatt, and I felt like he could really -- it wasn't too much information, it wasn't too little information. It was a real good communication from upstairs and downstairs, same thing in the run game. We just started off slow, very similar to the Bowl game. Started off slow, and the defense played their ass off and kept us in it. Finally, we started getting things going.
On what his message was to the team when they started slow: We're just our own worst enemies. We completed a third-down pass, and then we fumbled. We get in a situation where we get down in the red zone. We make a check. They make a check. We see it. They trick it us. Probably could have taken care of the ball better, and we talked about that, how we could do it. And the third turnover we have, he's getting ready to hit Daje right in the mouth with the ball and it's going to be a touchdown, and it gets batted at the line of scrimmage. So that's part of football. You know, that's part of football. Forget about it, move on to the next play. That is the thing I'll talk to you about tomorrow. We're not happy with the way we played the first half, but that's a sign of a mature team. Not to say it doesn't matter. Just to compartmentalize it, put it in its own place, and move on. Another play, another series, just on the edge of points. So I was proud to see them do that. I don't think they would have done that a year or two ago.
On if he's seen an offense that can be so explosive: Yes, I have seen it. It's all possible. We've got good players on offense. We can be explosive. Just got to execute, like we talked about. It's just a matter of getting out of your own way. Sometimes it's not so much about what your opponent is doing. It's about jumping offsides or holding onto the football or a tipped ball. It's just the reality of the game.
Once things started to fall our way and we got out of our own way and the guys started to play, again, what's encouraging is the maturity of the guys to do that. Coach Brown has challenged our backups all fall camp. If we're going to do this, we're going to be two deep. So it was really encouraging to see our second team going 88 yards for the touchdown drive which really kept it on the ground. So if we can continue to build some depth and start off faster, we can be a good football team on the offensive side of the ball.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR Manny Diaz
On if he was planning a bend but don't break strategy: Well, I don't think you can plan a break strategy. If they're going to get yards, you want them to get it in big plays. I think what we did today was we eliminated the big play. When you look at the yards, let's look at the number of snaps. 104 rushing yards with 38 attempts. Running backs all averaged about two yards a carry. So we were put in a lot of adverse situations early on, and I was proud of the way our guys responded to, I think, four sudden changes in the first half. It's hard to script that. I think we had something like ten three and outs.
So it was a typical first game. There were some things we need to adjust. They did some things that were hard to predict why they would do it and how they did it. Personnel was a mystery. We got a lot of different personnel that we didn't expect, hadn't prepared for, either through our preparation for what we expect on tape or what we've seen from our offense. These guys did a good job battling through the unknown, making the proper adjustments, and really playing well in the second half.
On the defensive line being very active: I was very impressed with the way that they played. Early in the game, the quarterback is throwing the ball. We're getting some poor reads, and really all our rushing yards were coming on the perimeter. So we had to make some adjustments to force the ball to stay inside because we thought we were winning the one on ones in there, but the ball wasn't being the game wasn't played in there. From the second quarter on, we brought the game back inside, and I thought the defensive ends did a very nice job at the point of attack.
On how the defense responded: The biggest thing we wanted to see was our efforts. Obviously, there's things we want to clean up on tape. If someone broke a tackle, they didn't stay broken for very long. That's what I saw tonight. Yards after contact was pretty low. Guys flying around the ball. Again, when you look at what they end up doing, they had 4.1 a play. They were able to get nothing explosive on us, you know what I mean? Again, it's very hard offensively, just looking at what we did to them, it's very hard. If you have to move the ball 300 yards at times, it's tough to do that. Without looking at tape, there's a bunch of things we want to correct next week, as is normal for a first game. I'm pleased with the way they played.
JUNIOR QB David Ash
On what the turning point in the game was: We were getting yards, and we weren't capitalizing because of either turnovers or penalties. Something we just have to cut out. If we do that, that's going to help our game. The game is big game of keep away, and you've got to keep the ball in your hands. If you give it to your opponent, it's going to limit your scoring opportunities.
On why they never felt under pressure even when trailing 7-0: I just think the guys, they're older now. We've been in that situation I don't know how many times, and we've failed before. We've understood it. We've been through it. It helped having Coach Applewhite down there. So much of football is about morale and believing, and I think Coach Applewhite's been in a lot of those situations. It helps when he's seen that, and he knows what to say, knows what to expect, and knows what to do to get guys going.
On if he had a chance to talk to any members of the 1963 championship team: I got to meet them on the way in. It was definitely an honor to get to see some of the people who built kind of the foundation, the legend of this institution we all get to play ball at. Just to see them and meet them. It was an honor.
SENIOR S Adrian Phillips
On the conversations he had with the defense and the adjustments they made: Just stay calm. We've been in that position so many times before. It was different this time with the defense, with the group of guys that you've been with for so long. In the past in those situations, we might have messed up. We might have panicked. This time we just stayed calm. That's part of growing up.
SOPHOMORE WR/RB Daje Johnson
On good performance after hard camp: Yes it was. I was very excited out there. I just wanted to show everybody how hard I have been working. Give credit to all the line, all the ones blocking for me. It was just a great team effort.
On high score with up-tempo offense: It is expected. The up-tempo offense lets us get on their heels quickly. We'll continue doing that in the future.
On comparing himself to Tavon Austin or De'Anthony Thomas: No, those are just two players I look up to. They're ones I would like to play like and would like to be like.
On being satisfied with his performance: Somewhat, not fully. I'm still working at it and should get there soon.
On whether his new No. 4 makes him look faster: That is what everybody said. Our defense said it makes me look faster so I guess so.
On having so many touches: Yes, I knew during the game I was going to get the ball so I just wanted to give it my all. Whenever they give it to me, I try to score every time.
JUNIOR LB Jordan Hicks
On his general thoughts on how the defense looked: I think we did pretty well tonight. Obviously there are some things we want to fix up but that's with every game. It just feels good to get the first game under our belt and come out with a win.
On the adjustments they made in the second half: Well, they were doing some quarterback run game, and we adjusted to make them force the handoff, which is exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to make them run the ball inside and stop them there. We were confident in what we were doing, we did it well, and we executed.
On how it felt to get out and play in a real game again: It felt good; it felt very good. I could definitely tell it had been awhile, but it felt good. I got back into my groove a little bit in the second half. It was fun to be back out there.
On how he felt going full-speed again: I felt like I needed to get my legs back under me for a little bit for the first half. There were a few times where I wasn't feeling like myself out there. Nothing simulates that game situation, so I was just glad to get back into the game, to have one under my belt, and be back into the system again just running around playing against some other guys, other than our offense that we go against every day.
On his overall impressions of the team defensively: Defensively, we played well. Obviously, like I told everybody else, there are some things that we've got to improve on, but that comes with the first game. It's an uphill battle from here. We're going to continue to get better, come back in Sunday, fix the things that we messed up, and just move on.
JUNIOR WR John Harris
On thoughts about how his big play in second quarter started the game: I just came in and like Coach always says in practice, when you have a chance to make a play, you have to make a play. It was a great opportunity for me. I caught the ball and just happened break free.
On how gratifying it was after all the injuries he has had: Yes it was gratifying. Just with all the things I have been through since I have been here it just felt like it finally broke through. I finally stepped up and made a play for my team and showed that I can make a play in big time situations.
On is this the idea of how the up-tempo offense wears the defense and then big plays happen: Yeah that's the plan. We struggled a little bit in the first half but that is the plan; wear them down. We wear ourselves down every day in practice but we wear them down in the game and mentally we are going out to win. We are going to win the battle.
On why the team didn't press when down seven points: It's just an older group. Like they told us. This is an older group and there are not that many freshmen on the team. There are a lot of juniors, seniors, and sophomores and it is just a really older group. We have been in the big tough games where you have had to hang your head and we have seen that happen but we stuck in there, we kept fighting and we finally broke through that wall.
JUNIOR RB Malcolm Brown
On thoughts about his passing touchdown being his longest in the career: Oh definitely. That was 70-something yards or something like that I believe they told me. As soon as I got the ball, I was wide open. David (Ash) made the right read and I was off to the races.
On thoughts about how the wide receivers were making big blocks, especially John Harris on his touchdown play: That is something they have stressed and Coach (Darrell) Wyatt has done a good job with every single one of those guys. John really saved the play for me.
On what tonight's game told him about his team coming back and dominating: Really it showed us as an offense what we can do. We kind of got off to a slow start, defense was giving us stops and offense wasn't really rolling at first. The defense stayed strong the whole game and offense clicked and that is something that we can be all year.
On how the up-tempo factor into the fact the team came back: Oh definitely. Running that tempo is a good deal for us. You can tire out that defense and just get rolling. Once you get into the rhythm of the up-tempo it is really hard to stop.
On if he could sense the defense being worn down on the field: Oh definitely. You can see that guys aren't really in their stances and guys have their hands on their hips and on their heads and we are hiking the ball ready to play.
SENIOR DE Jackson Jeffcoat
On feeling pressure going into halftime: No because this team is confident. Things like that won't get us down. We're in any game. We knew that we had the ability to get back into the game and ultimately get up on them.
On the defense's performance: Well we held them to seven points and that's important. When you can hold any team down to just seven points that's a success for the defense. We kept them out of the end zone. It was a great performance but we also have things to work on. We have to scrape the rust off and get ready to go.
On the offense's ability to have big plays: I saw it in camp. We knew they had weapons all over the offense. It wasn't a surprise that they were coming out like that.
On talk at halftime: The coaches said, "The score is 0-0. It's 0-0. Go out there and play again."
On offense setting a school record for total yards: I didn't know that but they had some firepower and they were getting after it. We've seen that in practice and we know our offense. We have faith in our offense so that's why we weren't worried. They can do a lot of things.
On junior DE Cedric Reed: He was playing really well and making plays all over the field. I'm very proud of my boy Cedric and I know that I have a guy on the other side making plays. We'll both be able to do things and that will make it hard for other teams as game planning goes.
On having two defensive ends and solid linebackers: Teams will see that we have two good defensive ends on the outside but then if they try to run up the middle we have those tackles and inside-linebackers. That's hard to play against when everyone is doing what they're supposed to do.
JUNIOR DE Cedric Reed
On his thoughts about the defensive line performance: It was great. We did a lot of research and saw that they had a lot of movement. We had good pressure and I think we did our job well.
On thoughts about the play where Hassan Ridgeway almost took the handoff and tackled the quarterback: I loved that. He didn't know who had the ball and he is a big boy so he tackled both of them. I know he is going to be good.
NEW MEXICO STATE QUOTES
NEW MEXICO STATE HEAD COACH DOUG MARTIN
On being up 7-0 in the second quarter: I'm really proud of the way our team played. We all talked about establishing an identity for our football team. Defensively we wanted to be a team that could take the football away, and we took it away three times in the first half. Offensively we just wanted to compete and make plays, and I thought we competed just about as well as we could. We got beat by a better football team. That's the number 15 team in the country and they are a little bit more talented than us at this point. But like I said I am really proud of the way our kids played and fought and I thought they gave a great effort against a great team.
On his team's first half play: 14-7 at halftime is about as good as we could have hoped coming into the game. We just let the game get away from us in the second half. Defensively we gave up too many big plays. Some of that was blitzes and us not peeling off on the running back. We had some mental breakdowns that really hurt us. And offensively we were obviously playing against a really good defensive football team, but we couldn't get points on the board and we needed to get points on our board to give our defense something to play for. But that's credit to Texas—they are a really well-coached football team and they've got a lot of talent.
On his team's offense: I like the way we started offensively. We ran the ball effectively against a really good defensive football team. We had 300 something yards and that's all productive, but what we have to do is find a way to get into the end zone. And the turnovers hurt us. We had too many turnovers and they originated from the quarterback position. We have to do a better job of taking care of the football.
On QB Andrew McDonald's game: Andrew managed the game well. That quarterback position you have to be able to make plays too. And I didn't feel like we made enough plays. We had some opportunities to hit a big throw or check into another play, but he'll get better. It was the first game and again he played his heart out.
JUNIOR LB CLINT BARNARD
On the speed of the Texas players: They are a very talented and very athletic team and I think we kept up with them as best as we could.
On playing a team with so much depth: The way they can rotate players, come in with fresh running backs and fresh cornerbacks covering our receivers - I'm sure it affected us in some way and made us a little more tired. It's a game of momentum and they had the momentum. When you have that along with 100,000 screaming fans it's kind of hard to overcome that. But ultimately that is something we just have to learn to handle when we don't have that depth like they do.
SENIOR QB ANDREW McDONALD
On being up 7-0: I felt that the first half we played great, making plays and our defense was playing great, but the second half we came out a little flat and Texas is a great team and they capitalized on that.
On the brand new offense: I think that with the receivers we have and the line we have it fits everyone. It fits me. I'm good on the move and I make plays on my feet. The tempo of it I think is great and it just works for us.
On his confidence level: I'm a confident person. I believe in our team; I believe in our coaches. That's not an issue, just the mental errors that we did and the turning over the ball is what we have to fix.
SOPHOMORE WR JOSHUA BROWN
On first career touchdown pass: It's a good feeling, especially going up 7-0 on a team like Texas. We were rolling at the time and to do it here of all places made it that much better.
On what he thought their shot of winning was after the first quarter: Coach Martin told us that we are going to be in positions to win any ball game that we play and obviously we were in position to do so. After the first half we fell apart a little bit. That's why we are going to go back tomorrow and watch film to do what we can to correct it.
On only being down 14-7 at half time: As cliché as it might sound we weren't really shocked on our sideline. We knew that we were capable of completing passes and getting good runs. We did that, going up 7-0 and I think everyone else in the stadium might have been shocked, but we weren't.
