These guys can coach
This week's group of Game Changing Coaches truly deserves the recognition. Read about what they did and we think you'll agree.
Every Tuesday during the season, we recognize the coaches involved in the most outstanding coaching performances from the past weekend. This is our third year of this award winning series.
This year, we are very proud to have Family Relocation, rated the #1 moving company in the country by coaches wives, as the title sponsor of Game Changing Coaches.
Family Relocation has been helping coaches move for nearly 100 years. Regardless of how far you’re moving or where you live, if you want your move to be handled professionally, trust the team at Family Relocation. You and your family will be glad to you did.
See the coaches we have recognized for Week #9 right here.
Urban's evaluation, Gundy wants permanent towers, Lane's presser
Urban Meyer evaluates the Gators’ win over Georgia: “The plan to win…play great defense. We’re not playing great defense. It’s just the way it is. We’re just not. It’s third downs and red zone. So #1, we did not accomplish. #2, turnovers…we did. We created 4 turnovers and gave the Florida offense great field position on many occasions. Red zone, we were 5 of 6. Kicking game, I don’t count it. 6 of 9 goals reached. 2 punts inside the 10 yard line. A game winning field goal, however we allowed a kickoff retuned past the 50 yard line at the most critical time in the game, which absolutely cannot happen.”
Gundy asking for permanent video towers: In the wake of the tragedy at Notre Dame, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said today he plans to ask for the construction of permanent video towers at the Okie State practice fields.
Memphis coach Larry Porter says Tigers got to reevaluate plans: "Losing does have a momentum of its own. First and foremost, I've got to start with me and my staff. We have to be very critical of what we're doing (and) not necessarily second-guessing ourselves, but just continuing to analyze what we're doing and trying to find ways to put our team in position to be more successful.''
Lane Kiffin says Oregon will probably win it all: "What you're going to see is people are going to start copying them like they always do, every #1 is once they start making a run. I'm sure people are going to start copying that. They're probably, I would think, going to run the table and win it all."
(on if defense play good enough to win) "As crazy as it sounds, yes. We did not play very well at all on offense. Some people may say, 'What are you talking about? You scored more on them than they had given up all year long.' That doesn't matter. You have to score more than that to beat those guys. Our defense may some mistakes, we didn't play great, but if we had done what we should have done on offense, I still think we could have won the game and it wouldn't have gotten as lopsided as it did, late."
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Around the country - Monday afternoon
Utah head coach Kyle Whittinham talks about TCU: "You don’t need to say much. We don’t need to harp on that (last year's blowout loss) at all. We hold the advantage 3-2 at this point. They got us last year, but the previous four games were extremely close."
(on if an undefeated team should play for the national championship over a 1-loss team) "Yes. Absolutely. How can you not, if you run the table, (have an undefeated team in the national championship). How can you not put those teams #1 and #2 if they are the only two undefeated teams. I don’t see any way around that."
$386: The average price on StubHub for a ticket to LSU / Alabama in Tiger Stadium.
Mack Brown praises Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder: “Bill Snyder is one of the great coaches at all-time. We’re great friends. He is what Coach Royal is to us. He’s a living legend. He’s one of the best coaches in the country.”
Paul Johnson says, “That was their trademark” in reference to VA Tech special teams: "They probably have not been as productive the last couple of years as they have been before. That was their trademark but they are still very good on special teams and they can change the game at any time, be it blocked kicks or returns. They cover kicks well."
Houston Nutt says Rebels have to get back up against ULL: “We’ve just played top 15 teams back to back to back and gave tremendous effort. We have to get back up for this one. We’ve got to reach down and give more.”
Quoting Vanderbilt head coach Robbie Caldwell: “It’s kinda like the keystone cops. We’re managing to shoot ourselves in the foot.”
“We’re not quite a no huddle, up tempo team. We’re on the bubble of it. We’re back and forth. Right now, we need some playmakers to do that.”
(on long-term plans) “We’re all kind of debating that right now, what our plan for the future right now. We have one in place, but I’m not ready to present it right now.”
Dooley explains what happened at South Carolina: "On defense it was a very similar script as Alabama. Played pretty good and then gave up just five huge plays -- three of them in the fourth quarter, which was the difference in the game. It all came down to either poor execution of the defense or an inability to tackle the runner, and we've got to get better at those things."
Charlie Strong's Monday press conference:
In case you didn't have a chance to watch
This weekend there were a number of extremely impressive performances led by some great coaches. Take a minute and check out this week's Game Changing Coaches.
We are very proud to have Family Relocation, rated the #1 moving company in the country by coaches and their wives, as the title sponsor of Game Changing Coaches.
Family Relocation has been helping coaches move for nearly 100 years. Regardless of how far you’re moving or where you live, if you want your move to be handled professionally, trust the team at Family Relocation. You and your family will be glad to you did.
Monte compliments Chip Kelly, Canales explains style and new motto
Monte Kiffin compliments Chip Kelly, says it’s not the tempo, but their execution: "That guy is such a good coach. I respect him so much just from watching their tape. It's the discipline they have. The offensive line does a great job. The receivers do a great job of downfield blocking. They don't beat themselves very often."
"I mean, you're hanging in there, but then they just get you. You get a lot of guys up to stop the run and then, they play-fake. You can't get beat like that. Arizona State played them like that and they get four or five big plays. I don't think it's so much the tempo, it's really just that they execute so well."
North Texas interim head coach Mike Canales talks about his style and new team motto, North Texas defeated WKU 33-6: “The only way I know how to coach is to have high energy and show emotion. That is what I brought and I expected [the players] to play a certain way. If they were not going to meet our expectations, then we were going to leave them home.”
“Our motto is going to be that we are going to lock the gate and go to work. If it is at 2:40 or 2:50 or whatever time we are going to practice, that gate is going to be locked. There is a time to play and a time to work, and we are going to work. I am going to demand a lot and expect a lot.”
Ralph Friedgen pumped up about Terps’ special teams play: "One game [Clemson] we didn't play very well. In all the other games we've played, special teams has been a decided advantage for us."
"I'll bet you couldn't go to another college in the country and find as many wide receivers helping on special teams."
Ron Zook completely focused on Saturday’s game against Michigan, not rankings: "You'll see my last (ballot). I hope we're on that last one because that means we have continued to improve.”
"It doesn't matter who's ahead of us or behind us. It's what are we going to do right now? The only thing I want our guys thinking about is this next game. This is a critical game for us."
Mississippi State AD talks about Dan Mullen
Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin says he isn’t surprised by the Bulldogs 7-2 record because of their head coach Dan Mullen.
Stricklin talked this morning with Bo Bounds of 105.9 The Zone in Mississippi about the growing speculation that another program will attempt to lure Mullen out of Starkville in the next couple of months.
Stricklin said, “I don’t want to say we are surprised (by our recrod). Dan is a winner. Dan is so smart at taking what he has to work with and maximizing it. We’re not the fastest or biggest, but we are a pretty good team.”
“We’re like that guy in the US Open each year. We hit it in the fairway, not very far. We’re not very fancy, but we’re there in the end.”
“We’re not surprised that other people might be looking at Dan Mullen. We’re going to be smart and aggressive with our coaching staff going forward. Dan and Megan love Starkville. They were out in costumes last night trick or treating. He’s focused on how can I make Mississippi State as good as it can be.”
“We’re set up to be pretty good the next few years. I joked with him the other day about putting a statue in his next contract. We’ve never built a statue here (of a coach). There’s a number of different places (where one coach built it and stayed). You look at Frank Beamer, Oregon did it mainly with one guy, Boise has taken a consistent approach. We want to put ourselves in that situation.”
“We have access to talent. There’s a ton of potential here. The first time we talked with Dan in that hotel (interview), he didn’t talk about the problems. He talked about the opportunity.”
Mississippi State is OPEN this weekend. The Bulldogs will travel to Alabama in two weeks.
Mack Brown talks about 2010 struggles
Mack Brown, disappointed with the 30-22 loss to Baylor, emphasized during his press conference today that turnover margin and red zone touchdowns are the stats that matter to this Texas team.
Brown said, “People got to understand I’ve been 2-20 at one point, so I’ve been here.”
Criticizing coaches, pulling players, and finger pointing won’t do anything, said Brown.
“They (fans) want you to make them feel better, but none of those things help you win. There is absolutely no finger pointing. We have to make plays in the kicking game, which we haven’t done.”
Brown pointed out that last season’s team had 26 takeaways at this point in the season, but this year’s team only has 11 takeaways. The penalties are the exact same (59). The third-down conversions are down 3% from 44 to 41%. The problem is last year’s team scored touchdowns 63% of the time inside the red zone. This year’s team is scoring touchdowns just 42% of the time inside the red zone. Last year’s defense allowed touchdowns 53% of the time inside the red zone. This year, opponents have scored TD’s on 14 of 22 opportunities.
“The offense moved the ball probably the best all year. Goes to show you turnover ratio and red zone touchdowns are what’s important. Garrett Gilbert had his best game. We had 5 dropped passes and 2 of them for touchdowns. We have to get better and catching the ball.”
“We have to make more plays in the red zone. We feel like we’ve got to be more wide open and make plays in the red zone.”
“Robert Griffin is really good. Their receivers are really good. And their punter was GREAT.”
“We stopped the run, but for one big play. You take out the 69 yard run, they run for 2.9 per rush. But you can’t take out the 69 yard run.”
“We did a very poor job on kick-off returns. We have not been very good there all year.”
“Punt block & return has been a struggle to say the least.”
“There were 5 balls on the ground that we didn’t get.”
Texas is 4-4 and travels to Kansas State this weekend.
Lane Kiffin takes blame, Neuheisel passes on post-game question
Lane Kiffin upset with his own performance following 53-32 loss to Oregon: “We were terrible on offense. I wasn't very good myself. I didn't get us in a rhythm. Matt didn't play very well. (But) I didn't help him very much.
“They blitzed over 80 percent of the time. I should have helped him with easier completions. I felt we had to press and be aggressive because of who we were playing against so we didn't have a lot of 4- and 5-yard completions.”
Trailing 26-21, Rick Neuheisel decided to go-for-it on 4th & 11 from the UCLA 19 yard-line with 2:23 remaining and three timeouts: "That's all speculation, and since I don't have to, I don't have to answer the question. I make decisions based on the facts at hand. I felt like it was the best choice."
TCU head coach Gary Patterson doesn’t care about polls: "What difference does it make if we're third or fourth? It makes no difference. It doesn't mean anything to me. We have to beat Utah, period."
(College Gameday is going to Salt Lake) "They know all that stuff. Athletes aren't like that. That's for fans. All they care about is the next opponent."
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly wants Irish to improve as a program down the stretch without numerous players due to injury: "There's so much more to it than just winning the game. We can still be moving forward and being closer and closer to where we want to get to, even without those (injured) players. … We can continue to make progress even though it's not how progress is defined."
(Kelly was criticized for a play-call late in the game) "Over my career I have not second-guessed my play-calling. You always look at the execution of a play, and whether the players are in position to execute it."
Hawaii offensive coordiantor Nick Rolovich disappointed despite 45-10 win over Idaho: "It was a little sloppy. We dropped some balls. We missed some protection. We missed some throws. We're going to need to clean that up going into next week's game. But the kids played well enough to win. They made some plays. And Mo had a great game. You don't expect him to go (1-for-7) to start the game, but I thought he made some big throws down the stretch. After the first (two) series, he was pretty lights out, I thought."
Dan Mullen is happy about 24-17 win over Kentucky, but knows Mississippi State passing game has to come along: "No matter how many things we have to improve on, which (is) an awful lot, it always leaves a big smile on your face. And we'll enjoy it, I promise you that."
"What we have to do is clean up our pass game. I don't want to change the 214 yards a game running. I just want it to be over 200 passing as well."
