The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Tracking the Longhorns: Vance Bedford media availability [Sept. 7, 2016]
09.07.2016 | Football
Defensive Coordinator Vance Bedford met with the local media on Wednesday to preview Saturday's matchup with UTEP
Defensive Coordinator Vance Bedford
On grading the defense's performance against Notre Dame: We gave up 47 points, ten points in overtime. The key that we looked at is this: in the fourth quarter, we had three series of snaps worth 19 yards and two of them went three-and-outs and we got the ball back for the offense. That's the thing I talked about last week. Our first two years here, the attitude would've been such that when we got down, I don't think we could have come back. The attitude right now is that the entire team believes in each other and like each other and care for each other. So what you saw is a full team win Sunday. In the third quarter, we stunk. We didn't do a good job. But you go into the fourth quarter, guys did a good job. After a big play in the first quarter, they didn't score again until late in the second quarter. We've got to be consistent. We've got to be consistent in the third quarter. You look at one of those touchdowns, we had a third down stop, a sack, they had holding called. Three plays later they score a touchdown. We don't have that miscue with the penalty, again you've got points off the board, there's a good chance it would not have gone into overtime.
On Chris Nelson's Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week performance in the game: He showed tenacity. Here's a guy, he came in his freshman year, we redshirted him because of an injury. And to be honest, we flipped a coin and we said, 'Should we play Poona [Ford] or Chris?' Both of them were coming off of injuries. And we chose Poona and we redshirted Chris Nelson. Chris Nelson might be a little bit bigger version of Poona by a half inch. You have two five plugs. They're good technicians. They work hard in practice every single day, and they take coach Haley's coaching to the practice field. So I think we have two outstanding, undersized defensive lineman who do the little things right, so we'll expect big things of Chris and Poona.
On Texas' No. 11 ranking in the AP Poll: I told the defense, I don't know who is putting all these rankings on guys. I don't see it, just like I'm talking about the stars and all these five-star guys. Right now you go from being in no man's land to a top-50 football team. You've got guys buying into all the hype. Yesterday people said you were nobody, now all of a sudden you're somebody. Don't believe that. We won one football game. That doesn't mean a whole lot. We've got to get ready for UTEP. They just had a running back rush the ball 31 times for 249 yards. That's all I know. That's our focus right now. So forget about what people are telling y'all, the pats on the back. One day they love you, the next day they'll put you in the outhouse. So let's not worry about all of that.
On the speed of the defense: Our first year here, I thought we had good speed. You look at that front we had, big Malcom [Brown], Hassan Ridgeway is playing, Jordan Hicks. We had a lot of talent that first year. This year, we have a lot of young talent. That was a veteran football team our first year on defense. This is a young, talented team. And we're going to make some mistakes like we did the other night. But we do have the speed and the athleticism to make some plays up when we get ourselves in trouble. And you saw some of those things Sunday night. As I spoke last week, we have a long way to go. Once we start playing from the mindless mistakes, we're going to make strides in the right direction to continue to help us win football games.
On the leadership Paul Boyette brings to the team: Being one of the few seniors that we have on the team, he's taken a lot of the young guys on the defensive line under his wing. So he's been a positive role model for us and so has Tim Cole and some other guys. He played a solid game for us.
On how the defensive backs performed against Notre Dame: Kevin Vacarro, he played lights out. But you know what, he practices that way. He's another senior. The old man Sheroid [Evans], I tell Sheroid he's been here for 17 years. He ran to the ball like his life was on fire. Jason Hall was another guy. He had his reps, he played extremely hard. You're talking about three guys that were veterans. Those guys stood out to us. Some other guys were inconsistent. Davante [Davis] was inconsistent. He got that fade route on the sixth play of the game for a touchdown. As a defensive back, you have to knock it off your shoulders. That's the biggest thing you have to get to young guys. You're going to get beat. So what? If you want to be a good defensive back, you move on to the next play. That's something we have to continue to stress with our young defensive backs.
On whether Texas football is "back" or not: If you're in the defensive meeting room, there's not a doubt in their minds that we're not back. I can tell you that right now. And the thing about it is it's one game. That's all it is. It's great that everyone's loving us right now and it's versus Notre Dame. There's no one that could be more excited than me. I played here. So this means as much to me as anybody walking around that we beat Notre Dame at home on national television. I think around 14 million people were looking at that ballgame. But it's one game. And I let them know that.
