Monday morning Coaches Quick Hits

Mark Richt talks about his team: “It’s always discouraging to lose any game, so we’re not happy about the won-loss record right now. When you do the job we do and you coach and you teach and you give your guys assignments and you give them things they’re trying to get better at, and you watch the film and you see guys improve, that’s what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t want to throw out anything that would sound like dirty laundry or anything on these kids. The [blame] was spread out across the board. It wasn’t just one culprit.”

Jim Harbaugh pumped about Stanford defense: "I thought our guys did a great job of tackling in space, knocking people back, being in the right gaps and getting turnovers again. This is a defense that's really coming together."

Les Miles praises defense: "Some of those turnovers were spectacular. When they threw that ball, our guys were on it. The defense played well all game."

"Don't pretend for a minute that this team doesn't light up in this stadium. Walking to that stadium through the crowd really drew out the emotion of this team. We took the field, and I can tell you every one of our players in uniform was proud to be in that stadium."

Kevin Sumlin loses QB Case Keenum to torn ACL, also loses backup: "It’s a blow to our team, really to lose both of them and I’m really disappointed for them personally -- particularly for Case.  It’s an unfortunate situation, but different things happen and we’ve got to have some guys who will step up and play. I thought Terrance Broadway coming in at the end of the game in those circumstances on the road and with very limited reps I thought he handled it very, very well for his first time out. We’ve got talented young players and our team’s going to have to rally behind our young quarterbacks and continue to move on."

Houston Nutt will make changes: “There’ll be a few things that we do different. We’re going to add to. I thought if you watch the film from start to finish or saw the game, one thing that you’re seeing is that there’s opportunities there. We left probably anywhere between 17 and 24 points, how you look at it, on the football field.”

“If we had five plays over, we’d be very happy today. And that’s just what we have to get to. We’ve got to get that corrected. And I know we can do it.”

Utah State head coach Gary Anderson upset with special teams: "A huge factor in this game was our inability to execute on special teams. We were given an opportunity to play in a big time game and we didn't produce."

Cutcliffe calls Bama loss “worst defeate I’ve ever suffered” : "I can't say I've been here before, because that's the worst defeat I've ever suffered. That's difficult to deal with, but we've had our backs to the wall before. We know exactly what our record is, and what our opportunities are. We're not going to fix it overnight, but we're going to fix it one game at a time."

Jimbo Fisher talks about mental conditioning: "This is adversity, because you have a loss. But there's other adversities, too, that they deal with. Personal problems. To family issues. To school. I mean, there's 1,000 things. And [the mental conditioning program is] all geared to help that.

"All your good programs in America and all your good organizations at the next level, they all do it. In any sport."

"I've been on some teams that at the time when [adversity] happened weren't good teams.  It's not about the result. We're so caught up — it's about the process. If they keep doing things right, every day, and they keep staying the course, and doing and believing — good things will happen."

Chip Kelly talks about cream-puff non-conference schedule: "That may be the only team in the country in college football that has an open date when you have an open date. And are they willing to come to your stadium? There are not a lot of people in the country who want to come to our stadium.'' 

"Dennis (Erickson) got caught with it, and we kind of got caught with it with Central Michigan (who backed out of a game.”

Urban Meyer: We make a big deal of it around here

One day after defeating Tennessee 31-17 on the road in Neyland Stadium, Urban Meyer credited the Gators’ toughness.

Florida limited Tennessee to 29 yards rushing and 2 of 15 third-down conversions.

Meyer said, "On the road -- we make a big deal of it around here -- you have to bring your toughness. You have to be able to run the football. You have to bring great defense and then your kicking game has to be the difference maker.”

"You look at the road wins we've had around here, against good teams, it's because our defense comes through, our kicking game has some play or consistency where we turn the game around. But the ultimate thing, are you a tough team or not a tough team? If that was not a tough team or prepared team or trained team, we would have gave in in that third or fourth quarter, and the opposite happened."

"It was a great day for the Gators.”

Florida hosts Kentucky this Saturday night.  Meyer added, “We may have to scratch, fight and claw for every win."

Kick-off is set for 7:00 pm EST in Gainesville.

Brian Kelly: Let's control it ourselves

Each Sunday, Brian Kelly answers questions for roughly 20 minutes from a single moderator.  Shortly after, the interview is uploaded to UND.com

It’s sort of “The State of the Irish” and recap of the previous game.

Here’s part of Kelly’s thoughts from today:

(on Mark Dantonio’s heart attack) “Gee, you think about it…18 to 21 years olds impacting your future on a day-to-day basis.  It can stress you out a little bit.  The exciting part is being in a stadium with 70,000 – 80,000 people and the adrenaline and excitement of that. There are trade-offs.  There’s no question, you have to take care of yourself in this profession.”

“I think you look at all the plays that can impact giving you a different outcome.  We’ll focus on the things that we can correct and look to correct those. That’s nothing they can control.  What they can control is covering the play at the end of the game.”

(on addressing the blown calls by the refs with his team) “We expect that everybody is in it to do the right things and make the right judgments. There’s no do-overs.  I’ve always felt let’s not let the official dictate the games, let’s control it ourselves.  I just have never found any way to get a football team better by complaining about officials.”

“We have to do a better job of controlling the football.”

“We keep letting those big plays occur defensively.”

“I think we’ve only given up 2 sacks in 100 pass attempts.” 

“I thought they (special teams) played well.  I thought we controlled the field position.  By in large, they (special teams) are playing well.”

“I’m not worried about the red zone.  I’m worried about 3^rd & short and 4^th down situations when we have the ability to convert, but that we’re not converting.  Those ball possessions kinds of downs are really where we’ll spend a lot time this week.  Not that we won’t focus on red zone, that we’ve got it all figured out, that’s not what I’m saying, but we have to do a better job on those ball control throws that act almost as running plays for us.”

“I thought we took it to Michigan State at the line of scrimmage when they wanted to run the ball and we got pressure when they went 7-man protection.”

Notre Dame hosts Stanford on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon Coaches Quick Hits

Phil Fulmer slams Lane Kiffin on CBS half-time show: "And often his arrogant attitude turned people off. The bigger question in my opinion is how does a guy like this end up with two jobs with historic football teams like Tennessee and USC?"

Troy head coach Larry Blakeney following 34-33 loss to UAB on 50-yard hail-mary: "It was almost like a bad dream. It seemed like all day long it was headed right toward where it ended up. For some reason, we couldn't get off a number (on the scoreboard) and we had them 99 yards away and they did exactly what they had to do. Great job by them." 

Quoting Arkansas DC Willy Robinson: “We won. We responded to negative situations. We came back. We fought hard. We’re going to celebrate this win.”

Quoting Will Muschamp: “(Texas Tech) ran some picks and we were running a lot of pressure early in the game. As the game grew on, we felt really good about our four-man rush and our plays down the field as players like Curtis (Brown) came off and covered them well. That’s what we ended up doing in the second half and it was effective.” 

Quoting Urban Meyer: “I think that’s who we are right now. You remember the ’06 team we had, the ’05 team we had? We don’t win a game if defense and special teams [don't step up]. . . . At times this offense is looking pretty good. However, we’re nowhere where we need to be.”

SMU head coach June Jones talks about his DC Tom Mason: "He's not an authoritarian-type, a little bit more personable. But he knows how to get on their rear ends, and he also knows how to love 'em up. He's a people guy, and he works at it. Everybody [in coaching] puts in the time. But the players have got to step up for the guy, and our defensive guys have done that."

Despite 20-19 loss at Wisconsin, Dennis Erickson pleased with special teams: "Special teams-wise, we dominated the football game. It was unbelievable the things that we did on special teams. We've improved so much there."

Dooley will not sugar-coat anything.  That's for sure: 

Sarkisian: They read patterns and match routes as well as anyone I've seen in 10 years

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian talked about the Nebraska defense this morning on The Tim Brando Show.

Sarkisian said, “I think the biggest thing about these guys is they are really well coached.  They 2-gap really well up front.  They read patterns and match routes as well as anyone I’ve seen in 10 years.”

“They do a good job of attacking your protections.   If you are one-dimensional with your protections, they will attack you. You have to mix your protections.”

The Huskies are 1-1 on the season.  Sark explained the expectations are a lot higher around UW than in a long time, and assured that even though the Nebraska game is important, the Huskies’ primary goal is to win the PAC-10 conference. 

He said, “At the end of the day, we get a bye (next week) and then we have to go for it (PAC-10 title).”

(on his interview at UW and losing President Mark Emmert) “The interview process for me at UW was unique.  I met directly with President Emmert.  He really conducted the interview.  He has a great love and passion for college athletics.  It’s a big loss for UW on a lot of fronts.  We will miss him dearly.”

Kick-off on Saturday night is set for 3:30 pm EST from Husky Stadium. 

Northwestern OC teaching MOE & NBT

Northwestern offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Mick McCall helping quarterback Dan Persa by helping him understand MOE & NBT.

In the Wildcats’ spread offense, it’s important for Persa to know his “margin of error” and “next best thing.”

Persa, who leads the nation in passing efficiency, explains, "If you don't like something, go to the next best thing. Don't force anything. And know where you have your margin of error. On a sideline throw, throw it outside. Over the middle, throw it low. These are little things that click in your head that do help."

Persa is 38-44 passing with 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in two games. 

McCall knows it’s important for Persa to stay healthy. 

"You have to manage that guy because you can't get through the season with him getting blipped up," McCall said. "I would much rather have other guys run the football. If he needs to make something happen to get a first down and then slide or get out of bounds, that's what we'll do."

Northwestern travels to Rice this Saturday.  Kick-off is set for 7 pm EST. 

Friday morning Coaches Quick Hits

Tim Brewster talks Minnesota money:  "(We are) spending enough money on football for me to win football games."

"We need to spend more money on football and basketball. That's a fact. I've talked at length to [athletic director Joel Maturi] about what we need to do to help take our football program forward. He understands we need to put more money into the football program. ... If we want to have championship success, we've got to get more involved with helping the football program."

Dan Mullen says he would call same 4 plays on GL against LSU last year: "I watched it over and over and over again. I guess because it didn't work I would second-guess myself, but if you put me in the exact situation, I would have called the same exact four plays with how that game was going at that point."

Pete Carroll wants Seahawks to be energetic & emotional: "We're really letting our guys know that we want them to be energetic, to be emotional about the way we bring our game to game day. I want them to feed off one another and to do that they have to let it out, and there's nothing wrong with that."

Lane Kiffin unhappy with Trojans preparation for Minnesota: “We've got a long ways to go. They need to understand that this is a very serious game and not take this opponent lightly because of what happened last week [when Minnesota lost, 41-38, to South Dakota], which doesn't mean anything Saturday."

"Our standards are so high because we are at 'SC and because we have high standards in general, coaches and players. I think everyone, including ourselves, forgets that it is our first year. We expect our players to have picked up three new systems. There's only one coach here from last year out of all the 10 coaches. We do sometimes forget that because we expect our guys to play great and never make mistakes in our new schemes."

Quoting Purdue head coach Danny Hope: “I'm not concerned with the statistics right now. We have great promise as a team, but we've got to make it happen. We're a work in progress, but we've got something to work with.”

Ruffin McNeill says ECU defensive improvement is coming: “It’s going to happen. With nine new starters, you can’t rush experience. There’s no substitute for it. You can’t make it up. You can put them in as many game situations as you can, but the reality of it is they have to go through it actually in a game, and the group has. And each week, they’ll get better.” 

WVU OC Jeff Mullen describes Maryland defense: “They use two different styles.  They play a gap controlled 4-man front and a zone pressure odd front. We just know they are a big, strong, fast, and physical…so we are going to have our hands full.  I think change of speeds is important.  We’ll still be a team that plays with and without tempo.” 

(on criticisim) “I’ve learned something after being here three years. It don’t matter what you do, something is getting criticized. That much I know. Win, lose or draw. I don’t mean that in a negative way. In response to the criticism of the offensive line, something needs criticized. I’m going to get it; I’m OK with it. I wish it was more me than our players. It bothers me when our players get it because they’re college kids and more goes on than the eye sees.”

“Last year the same group led the Big East in rushing, had a 1,500-yard back, gave up the league low in sacks. This year Noel Devine has gone over 100 twice. We lead the league in offensive passing.”

Quoting Rick Neuheisel: "I think the most important thing for us is to realize that we are only two games into a 12-game schedule. While we are discouraged being 0-2, we can fix it as early as this week.”

"To fix it, you have to stack great practices together to have the freedom to play at your highest level on Saturdays and not worry if you are going to play at your highest level."

All-Access with Mack Brown

ESPN’s Pat Forde followed Mack Brown throughout the day of the Longhorn’s season-opener against Rice, a game the Longhorns won 34-17.

You can watch the All-Access video of Brown’s hotel speech and his post-game candid thoughts right here.

Interestingly, after a sub-par performance, Brown asked the team, "How much do you like being at Texas and like being a football player?”

He added, “Some of you like being at Texas more than you've earned the right to be here. I was embarrassed for myself. I was embarrassed for some of my coaches, not all. I was embarrassed for some of you players, not all. … It was kind of embarrassing.”

"Boy, I'm scared. I'm worried about this team. I'm worried about it. We've got some entitlement in this room. Got to get that fixed. Got some selfishness in this room. Got to get that fixed. This isn't Texas football.”

Texas is on the road at Texas Tech this Saturday night.  Kick-off is set for 8:00 pm EST.