TicketsSMU at Cincinnati
Oct. 21, 2017
Nippert Stadium
Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell
Opening statement:
"This one really, really hurts. I feel bad for those guys in that locker room, specifically the seniors. We went in to this thing as a one game season, having a bye next week and continue to build upon the things we have done. They gave it their all. You saw tonight, they left everything out there. I kick myself to say where can I find those inches. It's on me to take that next step and find a way to get over that hump to find those inches that are out there.
"It's not from a lack of their effort, it's out there. There's some attention to detail, some things we have to do a better job of. I don't mean just as a player, as a whole in everything we do. I'll lay awake from this one for quite a while, especially with the bye week and knowing the effort those guys gave. There's a lot of little things, as you know: the ability to be smart in the red zone…guys that had some questions. We generated some momentum there getting the ball back with 59 seconds left in the half and we really, truly believe that we take this thing into overtime and we have the momentum and we really feel like we're in position to win. But we have to find a way, have to find a way to win. And I think that's the next biggest hurdle."
On if Hayden just trying to hard or to do too much on the last play:
"Yeah. It's a tough situation right there. I know he doesn't want to just give in, but there's times and places when you just have to throw some things away and live to fight another down. Kicking a field goal is not a bad thing. We have to do a better job. We have to put him in positions and situations and have some answers for some things that are happening. But we have to rely on the guys, too, to make some good decisions."
On what happened on that 4th-and-26?
"I don't know. I know we lost the edge right there. They scrambled I think 27 yards on 4th-and-26, or whatever it was. It starts with losing an edge. You know, we're pressuring them on the first three plays of overtime. We almost have a turnover, should have got the ball, then a sack and a sack and then they get that 27. Those are things – you know you don't rep a lot of 4th-and-27s during the week. When it comes down to it, you have to be sound the way you're doing it. If you let a guy scramble outside of the pocket you're going to give him an option. I think that's where you saw they had a chance to make a play and they made it."
On SMU's Trey Quinn:
"He did a good job. It's not just him that did that tonight. It takes the other wide outs and the ability to run the football which I think they did better than I thought they could tonight. That gave them an option and opened up some things. We're having to play a little more off right now, just as we are trying to gather ourselves, and that opened up some of those situations, too."
On going up against high-octane offenses these past few weeks:
"We'll look back. There's some things we did well and some things we have to continue to do. We're figuring out the way we need to play, and I think that's one of the things you see a little bit – we have to set some hedges better and find a way not to turn those bubbles into 10-, 12-yard gains. We have to find a way like we did at the end of the game. The first play of overtime we finally come up and set an edge and cause a turnover and just don't get it. There's the difference in winning and losing. It's right there staring you in the face. Everyone wants to say it's the 4th-and-27, it's not the 4th-and-27. It's having the ability to pick the ball up. It's having the ability to throw the ball away. It's having the ability to make the field goals we have a chance to make. That's the difference in winning and losing. It's not on the 4th-and-27 play that everyone is going to have a glaring look at. It's the other things, the little things we do on a daily basis that we have to do a lot better."
On what do you say to the team after a game like this:
"It's something they don't want to hear. They don't want to hear it, you don't want to hear it, I don't want to talk about it. The ability to be close. Okay, what's that? At some point in time nobody wants to hear it anymore and that's the reality. Those guys in that locker room looking at you with those eyes, you can't stand there and tell them 'you're closer, you're closer, you're closer.' There are some seniors standing there that don't want to hear that because they have four games left, five games left. But it's a reality. The process is continuing to roll but we have to accelerate it. How do you do that? By attention to detail. By finding a way of really committing to the things you're doing. And I'm not just talking about them, I'm talking about everybody, from the coaching staff, everything we do. People ask me 'you have a bye week, what are you going to do?' We're going to go back to work. We aren't going to heal up over a bye week. The only thing that's going to heal is our minds. We're going to have an opportunity to be away on Sunday, to be away on Monday, to get your mind clear. To try to recess how important this is to you and how much you're going to do to win. And I think that's what we really have to find out. Because this can become contagious when things don't go your way. You have the ability to make excuses, and we won't allow ourselves to do that."
On UC's season high in rushing yards:
"Hand it off. Sometimes you get too fancy and too cute and you want to throw it out there too often. Sometimes you just have to hand it. I think Gerrid Doaks and Mike Warren and Mike Boone and those guys did a good job. It's not always like you're just standing there with nobody in the hole. Sometimes those guys put their shoulders down, run over some guys and make some guys miss and turn a 6-7 yard play into a 40-yard play. That's what it's going to take. You can't rely on throwing the ball to an uncovered guy 35 times a game. You have to force and stack the box and do those things."
On Hayden Moore's poise in the first half; his effort overall:
"You're continuing to see a growth, not just on Saturday, you're seeing a growth on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on the way he prepares and the way he is doing things. I think that's where you're proud of it but your stomach's upside down and it eats itself because you can't finish the thing. But I know that there are a lot of these guys that are going in the right direction."
#18 Tyler Cogswell, TE
On what is it going to take to turn it around:
"Stay positive. Stay up. Make sure everyone is on the same page. We have to fight for these last four. We have four more games and we need to win. All of them are must win games for us."
On what you can take away from this close loss to push the team forward:
"You can take things from every game win, loss, no matter what you can always get better. I think that's one thing that we are good at. We never settle for just being okay. We don't want to be average. In everything we do we want to be better than average."
On what was the feeling going into overtime:
"Just win. Just win. We feel like we got into a position to win. We didn't execute at the end. That's really what it came down to is that we didn't execute."
#20 Carter Jacobs, S
On the outcome of the game:
"It hurts. We were right there, making plays we needed to make. But sometimes in crucial moments we are not making plays that need to made to win football games. That's the difference between being a great team and good team. We want to be a great team, so we have to make those plays."
On the improvement on defense in the last two weeks:
"I think we showed improvements at times. At times on third down I think we could've done a lot better. But I think we did show improvement."
On the fact that the defense and offense aren't always on the same page at the same time:
"We emphasize playing as a team at all times. It's been a struggle for us to have our defense and offense are meshing together. We are trying to find that medium where we can successful on both sides of the ball at the same time."
On SMU's 4th and 26 play in overtime:
"It's just one of those luck plays. We were in good coverage, everyone was covered, and the guy came up and made a play. We lived with it, stopped them on that third down and we were ready to play more football."
SMU Head Coach Chad Morris Postgame Quotes
On the energy in the locker room:
"It's really special right now. I'm so proud of these guys. Hats off to Coach Fickell and his team. We knew Cincinnati was going to be a tough out for us. They were in front of their homecoming crowd. They were 2-5, five of their opponents beating them. We knew we had our work cut out for us. We had to play well. It showed tonight. We had to make some plays. Defense had to step up at the right time. I'm just so proud."
On the culture of SMU's football program:
"I share the culture of our program all the time with the guys. It's more than a belief. Culture is a belief that drives the behaviors that produces a result. I believe our culture was extremely shinning tonight. They believed the entire time. I'm proud of them. Each ounce of fight they had in them. They had to battle back and forth and make some plays. Some guys stepped up."
On the 4th and 26 in overtime:
"You recruit great kids, great players and you ask them to make plays. These kids have made plays for us all year. There is no doubt in my mind that that 4th and 26 will go down in the history of our program. I wish I could tell you I drew that play up, but I did not. They created and executed the play."
On SMU's Overtime record:
"Before tonight, our overtime record was 3-12. This overtime win shows that this program is changing. You can see it. You can feel it. I give our staff so much credit, they as well as their families have sacrificed so much for these players. These players have sacrificed so much. Just to see them experience success, is special. Seeing these players continue to grow, it's special."
On the win overall:
"It's huge. To come and win a game off this magnitude on the road does a lot for your program. It does a lot for our future. It fulfills the belief. We talk about just being 1-0, we achieved that goal. We had a few injuries tonight, but we still made plays and made it happen. We put a freshman in at left guard, Nick Natour. Peyton Alvertin did a great job. He got beat a couple of times, but that's what happens when you are going against a strong defensive line.
"Everything kind of went against us tonight during overtime. We lost a coin flip. We did three bad plays in a row, then we had one guy make a play. Credit to our players for making a play. As well as our coaches for putting them in the position.
"This has been a long 14-days. We came off a game were we gave so much away. To have the emotional roller coaster of the last two weeks and to see them play their hardest tonight, makes me proud."
Oct. 21, 2017
Nippert Stadium
Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell
Opening statement:
"This one really, really hurts. I feel bad for those guys in that locker room, specifically the seniors. We went in to this thing as a one game season, having a bye next week and continue to build upon the things we have done. They gave it their all. You saw tonight, they left everything out there. I kick myself to say where can I find those inches. It's on me to take that next step and find a way to get over that hump to find those inches that are out there.
"It's not from a lack of their effort, it's out there. There's some attention to detail, some things we have to do a better job of. I don't mean just as a player, as a whole in everything we do. I'll lay awake from this one for quite a while, especially with the bye week and knowing the effort those guys gave. There's a lot of little things, as you know: the ability to be smart in the red zone…guys that had some questions. We generated some momentum there getting the ball back with 59 seconds left in the half and we really, truly believe that we take this thing into overtime and we have the momentum and we really feel like we're in position to win. But we have to find a way, have to find a way to win. And I think that's the next biggest hurdle."
On if Hayden just trying to hard or to do too much on the last play:
"Yeah. It's a tough situation right there. I know he doesn't want to just give in, but there's times and places when you just have to throw some things away and live to fight another down. Kicking a field goal is not a bad thing. We have to do a better job. We have to put him in positions and situations and have some answers for some things that are happening. But we have to rely on the guys, too, to make some good decisions."
On what happened on that 4th-and-26?
"I don't know. I know we lost the edge right there. They scrambled I think 27 yards on 4th-and-26, or whatever it was. It starts with losing an edge. You know, we're pressuring them on the first three plays of overtime. We almost have a turnover, should have got the ball, then a sack and a sack and then they get that 27. Those are things – you know you don't rep a lot of 4th-and-27s during the week. When it comes down to it, you have to be sound the way you're doing it. If you let a guy scramble outside of the pocket you're going to give him an option. I think that's where you saw they had a chance to make a play and they made it."
On SMU's Trey Quinn:
"He did a good job. It's not just him that did that tonight. It takes the other wide outs and the ability to run the football which I think they did better than I thought they could tonight. That gave them an option and opened up some things. We're having to play a little more off right now, just as we are trying to gather ourselves, and that opened up some of those situations, too."
On going up against high-octane offenses these past few weeks:
"We'll look back. There's some things we did well and some things we have to continue to do. We're figuring out the way we need to play, and I think that's one of the things you see a little bit – we have to set some hedges better and find a way not to turn those bubbles into 10-, 12-yard gains. We have to find a way like we did at the end of the game. The first play of overtime we finally come up and set an edge and cause a turnover and just don't get it. There's the difference in winning and losing. It's right there staring you in the face. Everyone wants to say it's the 4th-and-27, it's not the 4th-and-27. It's having the ability to pick the ball up. It's having the ability to throw the ball away. It's having the ability to make the field goals we have a chance to make. That's the difference in winning and losing. It's not on the 4th-and-27 play that everyone is going to have a glaring look at. It's the other things, the little things we do on a daily basis that we have to do a lot better."
On what do you say to the team after a game like this:
"It's something they don't want to hear. They don't want to hear it, you don't want to hear it, I don't want to talk about it. The ability to be close. Okay, what's that? At some point in time nobody wants to hear it anymore and that's the reality. Those guys in that locker room looking at you with those eyes, you can't stand there and tell them 'you're closer, you're closer, you're closer.' There are some seniors standing there that don't want to hear that because they have four games left, five games left. But it's a reality. The process is continuing to roll but we have to accelerate it. How do you do that? By attention to detail. By finding a way of really committing to the things you're doing. And I'm not just talking about them, I'm talking about everybody, from the coaching staff, everything we do. People ask me 'you have a bye week, what are you going to do?' We're going to go back to work. We aren't going to heal up over a bye week. The only thing that's going to heal is our minds. We're going to have an opportunity to be away on Sunday, to be away on Monday, to get your mind clear. To try to recess how important this is to you and how much you're going to do to win. And I think that's what we really have to find out. Because this can become contagious when things don't go your way. You have the ability to make excuses, and we won't allow ourselves to do that."
On UC's season high in rushing yards:
"Hand it off. Sometimes you get too fancy and too cute and you want to throw it out there too often. Sometimes you just have to hand it. I think Gerrid Doaks and Mike Warren and Mike Boone and those guys did a good job. It's not always like you're just standing there with nobody in the hole. Sometimes those guys put their shoulders down, run over some guys and make some guys miss and turn a 6-7 yard play into a 40-yard play. That's what it's going to take. You can't rely on throwing the ball to an uncovered guy 35 times a game. You have to force and stack the box and do those things."
On Hayden Moore's poise in the first half; his effort overall:
"You're continuing to see a growth, not just on Saturday, you're seeing a growth on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on the way he prepares and the way he is doing things. I think that's where you're proud of it but your stomach's upside down and it eats itself because you can't finish the thing. But I know that there are a lot of these guys that are going in the right direction."
#18 Tyler Cogswell, TE
On what is it going to take to turn it around:
"Stay positive. Stay up. Make sure everyone is on the same page. We have to fight for these last four. We have four more games and we need to win. All of them are must win games for us."
On what you can take away from this close loss to push the team forward:
"You can take things from every game win, loss, no matter what you can always get better. I think that's one thing that we are good at. We never settle for just being okay. We don't want to be average. In everything we do we want to be better than average."
On what was the feeling going into overtime:
"Just win. Just win. We feel like we got into a position to win. We didn't execute at the end. That's really what it came down to is that we didn't execute."
#20 Carter Jacobs, S
On the outcome of the game:
"It hurts. We were right there, making plays we needed to make. But sometimes in crucial moments we are not making plays that need to made to win football games. That's the difference between being a great team and good team. We want to be a great team, so we have to make those plays."
On the improvement on defense in the last two weeks:
"I think we showed improvements at times. At times on third down I think we could've done a lot better. But I think we did show improvement."
On the fact that the defense and offense aren't always on the same page at the same time:
"We emphasize playing as a team at all times. It's been a struggle for us to have our defense and offense are meshing together. We are trying to find that medium where we can successful on both sides of the ball at the same time."
On SMU's 4th and 26 play in overtime:
"It's just one of those luck plays. We were in good coverage, everyone was covered, and the guy came up and made a play. We lived with it, stopped them on that third down and we were ready to play more football."
SMU Head Coach Chad Morris Postgame Quotes
On the energy in the locker room:
"It's really special right now. I'm so proud of these guys. Hats off to Coach Fickell and his team. We knew Cincinnati was going to be a tough out for us. They were in front of their homecoming crowd. They were 2-5, five of their opponents beating them. We knew we had our work cut out for us. We had to play well. It showed tonight. We had to make some plays. Defense had to step up at the right time. I'm just so proud."
On the culture of SMU's football program:
"I share the culture of our program all the time with the guys. It's more than a belief. Culture is a belief that drives the behaviors that produces a result. I believe our culture was extremely shinning tonight. They believed the entire time. I'm proud of them. Each ounce of fight they had in them. They had to battle back and forth and make some plays. Some guys stepped up."
On the 4th and 26 in overtime:
"You recruit great kids, great players and you ask them to make plays. These kids have made plays for us all year. There is no doubt in my mind that that 4th and 26 will go down in the history of our program. I wish I could tell you I drew that play up, but I did not. They created and executed the play."
On SMU's Overtime record:
"Before tonight, our overtime record was 3-12. This overtime win shows that this program is changing. You can see it. You can feel it. I give our staff so much credit, they as well as their families have sacrificed so much for these players. These players have sacrificed so much. Just to see them experience success, is special. Seeing these players continue to grow, it's special."
On the win overall:
"It's huge. To come and win a game off this magnitude on the road does a lot for your program. It does a lot for our future. It fulfills the belief. We talk about just being 1-0, we achieved that goal. We had a few injuries tonight, but we still made plays and made it happen. We put a freshman in at left guard, Nick Natour. Peyton Alvertin did a great job. He got beat a couple of times, but that's what happens when you are going against a strong defensive line.
"Everything kind of went against us tonight during overtime. We lost a coin flip. We did three bad plays in a row, then we had one guy make a play. Credit to our players for making a play. As well as our coaches for putting them in the position.
"This has been a long 14-days. We came off a game were we gave so much away. To have the emotional roller coaster of the last two weeks and to see them play their hardest tonight, makes me proud."