CINCINNATI - Head coach Scott Satterfield, redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby, redshirt junior offensive lineman Taran Tyo, and redshirt junior linebacker Jonathan Thompson spoke with the media on Tuesday to preview Saturday's Big 12 opener at Kansas.
The Bearcats and Jayhawks will kick off at noon ET on Saturday at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. The game will be televised on TNT with simulcasts on truTV and HBO Max.
Head Coach Scott Satterfield
Opening Statement
“Before we get started I just want to mention Shawn Clark passed away Sunday night. I wanted to mention his family, Janelle, Gianna and Braxton his two kids. Shawn and I were teammates at App State back in the 90’s, and then coached together for several years, and have been close for a long time. He was a great guy, a really good football coach, and more importantly a great husband and father. He'll be missed. Prayers go out to his family. What a tragedy, 50 years old. Shows how short life is and how we need to live to the fullest. I wanted to mention that first.”
“This is a huge week for us. Starting Big 12 play against a really good opponent in Kansas on the road. It's difficult to win out on the road in the Big 12, but I think Kansas has done a great job since coach [Lance Leipold] has been there, and it's changed that whole program. It's amazing looking at what they were before and what they are now. You watch the film, and they're good in all three phases. They play hard, they’re physical. If you relax on any face, they're going to put it on you. I think it starts with the offense with Jalon Daniels. A guy who's played for six years, an outstanding player who can run, can throw, does it all for them. Makes their offense go. Defensively they’re very active, very physical, very aggressive. Then you look at the special teams with their field goal kicker, I think he’s five-for-five, and then they had a big kickoff return last week for a touchdown as well. So they're very solid in that also. Obviously a great challenge for us, but we're excited about the challenge. I'm looking forward to playing our first Big 12 game.”
On Kansas’ rushing attack
“I think they do a great job with their scheme. They can run the football. But when you're committed to the run, they play action and there goes a guy free. You look on film a lot, there's a lot of guys free and running down the field. Then Jalon [Daniels] has 12 touchdown passes because of it. You have to look at your keys, you can't have your eyes looking somewhere else because then all of a sudden, your guy is going to beat you, and then they're going to make you pay. I think this is going to be a fundamental game for us. That's part of being fundamentally sound, is your eye discipline. I think tackling is going to be huge, watch them play West Virginia. I was sitting at home watching them, and their running backs were making guys miss. So tackling is going to be a big emphasis for us. The quarterback, he's a big, strong guy. So, fundamentally, we have to be able to tackle.”
On reflecting on the first three games during the bye week
“I think looking back on the three games that we played, we obviously did a lot of good things throughout the three weeks, and there are things we need to get better on. We're still working hard to get better, and we're nowhere near where we can be. Breaking it down into three phases, we have been solid in the special team. I still think we can get a lot better on special teams. Defensively, we've been solid there as well. We have to do a better job of creating turnovers. I still think that's a point of emphasis. Offensively, I think we have been more and more efficient throwing the football and we got better with that. I don't think we've ran the ball exceptionally well, I think we've been solid. I think we've been a pretty solid team over the first three games, but we also know that the real season starts now. Big 12 play, everybody's good, everybody's coached well. I think we've seen that as you go and watch all our teams in the Big 12 have done some really good things, and we've already started to see teams beat up on each other.”
On the competitiveness of the Big 12
It's crazy as these teams start playing. I was sitting there watching Utah and Texas Tech, two really good football teams. Somebody's got to lose. You look at Baylor, a really good football team. What's their record, 2-2? It could easily be 4-0 right now. I think Kansas has a really good football team, I think we have a good team. I think as you go through these games, there's going to be a lot of tight games, there's going to be a lot of back and forth, but you got to find some ways to hit your place and limit them in there. I mean, that's really what it's going to come down to, and who goes the best will end up ultimately winning these games. You have to look at all three phases. Sometimes people just look at offense and defense, but the kicking game in this league is going to be huge. Just look at the field position. I mean, it's going to be huge. I think about the Kansas vs. West Virginia game. They had a kickoff return for a touchdown and another kickoff return for close to 50 yards. Their punters, number one net punting in the conference that punted 47.8 yards upon, they're flipping the field. I think that those hidden yards, right there, are huge, I think that's going to be a huge part of the teams that win this league.”
On the passing of his close friend and former teammate and colleague Shawn Clark
“He was a close friend of mine, it's difficult. Life throws a lot of things at us, and we all have to deal with it. I think in times like this, I think about our players a lot, because we have 100-plus guys on our team. Each week there's something going on with one of our guys, maybe back home, a family member, a loved one. We expect them to come in the building and be focused and ready to go. I think about them, and I think about how I don't want to let anybody down this building. When I'm at home, I have time to think about it and grieve. But when I'm here, I'm focused on what we have to do. I think you have to be able to do that. We always talk to our players about be where your feet are. When I'm here, my feet are here, and that's where all my focus has to be. Obviously you're human too, and it's difficult, but I know Shawn would want that same thing. He was as competitive as anybody. So, when it's time to play, it's time to go to work.”
On the challenge of playing against Kansas QB Jalon Danels
“The number one challenge is experience. He's played a lot of football and he's seen it all, and he's made a ton of plays. There's not one thing that he's not good at. We've seen him do some incredible runs throughout his career. We've seen him make some incredible passes throughout his career. When he's on, he's as good as anybody in the country. We have to do some things to make him a little bit more uncomfortable. If he is comfortable and he's able to make plays like that, he will embarrass you. He's got some really good players around him, I think their offensive line plays good. He's got some good skill players, a good running game, so he presents a lot of issues and a lot of problems.”
On winning the turnover battle against Kansas
“It's a huge stat. It is every week. When the margins are so tight, if you give a ball away, you have a hard time winning. We have to do a better job creating turnovers. We certainly have to take care of the football. If you don't take care of the ball, you have a hard time going on the road to win the game. The turnover margin is huge.”
On Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels and the difference in his play from last year to this year
“I think when you look at their offense, if you can do a great job in stopping their running game, I think that certainly plays in your favor. Because if they're able to get that running game going, then they're just hard to stop. Just as soon as you commit and stop and run, they're going to get somebody free in the passing game, and now he's got easy throws. We need to do a great job of stopping the run to try to limit that. I think Missouri was able to do that and that’s the one game Kansas has lost, even though they did still score a lot of points in that game. I think it gives you the best chance. Knocking them off the sticks and not letting them stay and just throw more routine, that's going to be the key, I think. That comes back to being fundamentally sound and tackling.”
On Kansas’ defense
“I thought they looked great against West Virginia. West Virginia scored late in the game, but they held them all game long, I think West Virginia was 3-for-13 on third downs. I mean, go back to the Missouri game. Missouri hit three fourth downs, two of them scored on fourth down. They were giving Missouri a lot of lot of fits. They were ahead in that game with six minutes to go in the game and then Missouri hit a fourth down. I think it was a fourth and six or seven. They scored to take the lead, and then they're running the clock out at the end. They pop a long one and score, that didn't indicate how close that game was. I thought Kansas played an outstanding game. They also made the quarterback fumble and picked it up and ran it and scored on defense as well. Again, they've done a really nice job in all three phases. I think they're really good. They're really good on defense, and they cause problems. I think they're second in the Big 12 in sacks right now, they're right there at the top. They put pressure on you, and they try to knock you off your six.”
Quarterback Brendan Sorsby
On preparing for an opponent during a bye week
“You get to get a jump start on Kansas. So obviously I did that, and then just focused on the body and the mind and just chilled out and watch football on Saturday. So really nothing, rather than just a little early start on Kansas and just relaxing.”
On how Kansas could defend him on Saturday
“Well, I guess we'll find out. There’s only one way to find out and that’s to go play the game. See if I have to run around, see if they let me run around, or what their game plan is for me. Obviously, we'll be ready to throw it when they do all that. I’m excited for the challenge. They’re a really good team. The quarterback from Missouri did a good job. He's really athletic, so they did a good job of containing him. You have see what you can get away with early on in the game, and then go from there.”
On the Big 12 and how wide open the league can feel
“I don't know if it makes me scared or antsy knowing that can happen. I think it just proves what pretty much everybody in the league has been saying from media days and before, that just about anything can happen any given week. You have to come out and be ready to execute. Or else, you will either get beat pretty badly, or you just will lose a close one because you didn't execute the right things correctly. You have to be ready to go from stop one.”
On gameplanning for Kansas’ defense
“They're really talented. He's [safety Devin Dye] a talented player, but you have to treat it the same way going into it. It's the Big 12, so the depth is very good as well. But we have to go into it with the same mindset of either half you have to go in there, we have to attack and we have to put a lot of points up, or else we won't win this game. Regardless of who we're playing. We have to have the same mindset going into each week and if we have to score and we have to find a way to win their drives or what it takes.”
On UC’s offensive line vs. KU’s defensive line
“I'm confident in our line, obviously, but they have a really talented group up front over there. It's on me, not just our offensive line to avoid those sacks. It's getting out of the pocket, not just sitting back there, holding the ball and then just being good with the quick pass game. Whenever the shots are downfield, take it and hold on the ball a little bit. You have to do that and make plays. I trust our guys up front. They've done a really good job so far.”
On getting the running backs more involved on offense
“I usually don't make those calls, but if he wants to run the ball, which I'm sure everybody knows that Satt does like to run the ball a little bit, whether it's with me or the running backs, we're going to do that. But I feel good about the game plan we have going forward, and I'm excited to see what we can do on Saturday.”
On how the performance vs. Northwestern State helped his confidence and the confidence of the offense
“Yeah, it’s huge for us. Obviously against Nebraska we didn't have a great game through the air, but the two weeks after that we had some success throwing the ball. We have to continue to carry that going into conference play and use that confidence and continue to build on it. Like you said, 15-for-15 is ideal, but It's not going to happen every week. It's our job to figure out ways to get completion, to get guys the ball. We just have to go out there and execute one play at a time.”
Redshirt junior offensive lineman Taran Tyo
On being part of an offensive line that has not allowed a sack and going up against Kansas’ defensive front
“I think it's a great challenge. Not a lot of teams have not allowed a sack yet so far this season. It's five right now, maybe even less than that, but it's a great accomplishment so far for us. With how much drawback we've been running in the past couple weeks. It's a great challenge for us to go up against a great D-Line. They're very twitchy. They have great hands. It'll be a great challenge for us.”
On the running game and what it can do this Saturday
“From the film I've watched, and from what Nic [Cardwell] has been saying, they impact the box with a lot of guys. Hopefully our pass game opens up because of that. If we can get a one-on-one with the receiver on the outside, make a play there, and hopefully they’ll back off a little and get that run game going.”
On his comfortability with moving positions
“Two years ago, I played right guard for Ball State. I played a little bit of center, and last season because of injuries had to switch out the tackle. But, I feel very comfortable at guard. On the inside is where my home is. Taking those skills that I learned at tackle and implementing them at guard too, it's helped a lot of my games.”
On the bye week
“I was staying locked in despite obviously having Friday and Saturday off. I watched some football, just chilled. It really helps with your body, getting that reset. But also coming back this week and getting after it today, tomorrow, being locked in on Thursday, being locked in on Friday. Leading up to game day, just being locked in.”
Redshirt junior linebacker Jonathan Thompson
On playing Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels
“He's a great quarterback. He can do a lot of things when stuff goes wrong. He can expand plays, he can affect the game differently than most quarterbacks because he can use his legs, but it's going to be a fun time getting after him. I think we're going to draw up some schemes to get him off the spot, and I think our linebackers and our defense displays a lot of speed, and we'll be able to get to him.”
On staying disciplined against Kansas’s run game.
“We just have to communicate a lot. Stay disciplined with our eyes and forward tackling, maintain leverage, because most of the explosive plays are often missed tackles. We have to make those one-on-ones. We have to be in the right spots for everybody to do their job at a high level so we can stop their run and their pass.”
On starting Big 12 play this Saturday
“I think we're fired up because it's conference play from here on out. We’re ready to go. We've been waiting because this bye week has been a little long, so we're going to get back after it and start the Big 12 off right.”
On Kansas’ running backs
“They're playing with speed. They're both fast. They can make people miss in open space, so we have to do a real good job of playing with poise and staying disciplined with our leverage, and tackling the ball in one-on-ones and matching their speed.”
