Opening Statement
First of all, I don't have any answers on injuries at all. It's a shame their running back got hurt. I love watching that young man play. He plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. Our quarterback, we'll see how he is the next couple of days. And then Walker Little, we'll see where he is. I don't have any answers to any questions about injuries right now.
But as far as the game goes, typical first game. You expect your defense and you hope your defense keeps you in the game as you find your rhythm on the offensive side. We got so many veterans on defensive side. So many fourth- and fifth-year seniors, so much leadership that we knew it was going to take those guys keeping us in the game, and they did. Bunch of stops. Bunch of third-down stops. Got turnovers.
Our big-time players made big-time players, Paulson Adebo and Casey Toohill, our guys made big tackles in open space -- Jordan Fox. I thought we played much better on the defensive line. We got pressure on the quarterback from defensive line position which didn't happen a lot last year. Thought Jovan played well last year but as a group we played better as a unit.
Special teams wise, we don't accept excuses. We have one of the best kickers in America. We've got to get the snap, the hold, the protection, gotta get the kick. Gotta come away with points every time that group goes on the field. Return game, excited about our returners. We've got receivers involved in the return game. We decided to keep Cam Scarlett out of that because of our health as a running back. We knew he would have to carry the load for us. He loves kickoff return; we had to take him away from that. But between Mike Wilson and Connor Wedington, I think we have two guys back there that are not just guys who go back there and catch it, they can break. We've got stay on our blocks, give those guys creases, we've got a chance to make plays. And Mike as punt returner, same thing.
Thought our coverage units did pretty well. Had some nice kickoffs. Got a young punter that we think is going to be outstanding. Had a couple of miss-hits today, but we're staying with him and continue to push him and know that he's going to be better than average. We think he's going to be outstanding. So we're going to stay with him and help him continue to grow. Coach Alamar does a great job with those guys.
Offensively, no mistake about it. Said it in the press conference, been saying it since the beginning of last year, our bowl game last year -- we have to run the ball better. Against an outstanding run defense we did. We were physical up front. We weren't perfect. But we stayed on guys and we pushed guys and gave our running backs a crease. And multiple times today, give Cam Scarlett the credit. We challenged him after the bowl game last year, multiple times today we had a running back one-on-one with a guy in space.
And last year we didn't get enough yards. Outside of Bryce Love we didn't get enough yards. You saw it today with Cam and Dorian Maddox -- guys one-onone in space making guys miss, breaking tackles. That's working hard in the offseason. That's pushing yourself and listening to the critique from a year ago saying where we have to get better. We can't block everything perfectly, especially against a really good, big, physical defensive. Never going to be perfect. Thought our running backs ran through the trash. I thought we did from the running back position.
Quarterback wise, including both quarterbacks, I thought both quarterbacks for the most part played well. Boy, I know there's two throws in the first half K.J. would love to have back. Big opportunities to make big plays. We hit those plays and the game's probably not as close as it was at the end. We've got big receivers. We've got speed receivers. We've got guys that can make big plays. Tight ends can make plays down the field. We've got to take advantage of those. We missed a couple.
Second half too many turnovers. Fumbled the ball twice. Davis Mills is a great athlete as well as being a great quarterback. But he's a young quarterback. And we can't put the ball on the ground. The first one and it's a replay, if he pulls it we probably get about somewhere between eight to 10 yards. The last one that we fumbled, if he pulls it he might have scored a touchdown. They blitzed everybody; if he pulls the ball we have one receiver blocking one defensive back, he has a chance to run and score a touchdown. So those are learning experiences for a young quarterback.
Once again I have no answer on who is going to be healthy enough to play next week. So all I know is we're not going to change our game plan based on who plays quarterback. I think all our quarterbacks can run our stuff. We're going to game plan for the Trojans.
Q. (Question about the targeting)?
I have no comment on the targeting review. I didn't see the video clip of it. I didn't see it happen live.
Q. You talked this offseason about perfecting the fundamentals and getting good at your "core". Game one, how would you evaluate the offense and defense?
Defensively, without watching the film, I thought we were -- probably give us somewhere around a B plus. I really do. Guys ran their gaps. Physical against the run. Quarterback run, get you sometimes, quarterback is unaccounted for and did a good job mixing those in. But for the most part I thought we played really well.
Special teams-wise B, B minus, probably. Thought we could have played so much better. We need the proper snap and kick, and we need the proper punts. But for the most part I thought we played well. We can play so much better.
Offensively, a run game, I'd say B plus. Pass game, I'd say B minus, C plus. We completed the ones that were good. We were in rhythm. We hit our guys. The guys made plays after the catch. We said at the end of last year we're going to be better, run after catch. We did that today, quick balls out there, made some guys miss and go. But for us to be who we want to be, with runs and play actions, we've got to hit the big ones. If they give us an opportunity to hit the big ones, we've got to hit the big ones. And they were there to be hit and we didn't hit them. It was a tighter game than it should have been.
Q. Dorian Maddox's play: We'll continue to see Dorian roll in there and play. Dorian missed some training camp also. He's a little banged up, only been back about a week and a half or so. Hopefully as he continues to get fresh and get healthy I think we have an outstanding 1-2 punch between those two guys. Both guys can run and pass protect and can catch. So really Dorian is going to help us have a healthy camp hopefully for the whole years. They'll be able to rotate in and out and keep each other healthy.
Q. You praised the maturity of this team all through the offseason. Can you take us from a Northwestern score and it was 10-7 how you closed it out and what you saw on the sideline and what you saw on the field in terms of maturity?
It's one of the things that you want as a coach, when things are difficult, I don't have turn into Knute Rockne. I don't have to do all the talking. The talking should come from the players and from the coaches relating to the guys what we need to do next. There's no sense of panic. There's a sense of, hey, we haven't played well enough so they're still in the game, so let's go out there and play better. The fourth quarter chatter I thought was outstanding. Guys were positive. Guys were pushing each other. Guys were trying to go out there and excel. Players were having ideas.
I talked to the coaches in the offseason, and I want our guys to know our stuff so well that they have suggestions, right? Hey, coach we're doing this but they may be giving us this. Maybe we can rush this way. So we can have that dialogue. It's not negative. It's actually really positive. They're seeing the game with the coaches. I think we have great dialogue because of our leadership, because of our age and experience, because of our guys, their unselfish nature, trying to push each other, trying to help each other. Nothing makes you happier than when a guy makes a play, a guy in his own position is the first to come off the bench to celebrate with him. I saw that a lot today. Our guys are invested and they're working really hard, have to clean up a lot of things. Another big test next week.
Q. To follow up on that, after the turnover in the second half from Davis, did you say anything to him?
I didn't need to say much to Davis. I gave him a coaching point in a nice way. But I've told Davis since we started recruiting him, he's probably the one guy on the team that has the exact same mentality as I do, the exact same personality, the exact same kind of you know even keel. Some people see it as a positive; some people don't. But he was upset at himself but not too upset. He knows what he needs to do better. I had no problem throwing him back out there. He knew what to do.
He made two big mistakes. Two big mistakes that he'll learn from. But if he's going to play next week, we're not going to pare the offense down. He knows what to do. And he has the skills to go out and play them. He threw some beautiful balls today. The one down the seam to Colby, heck of a throw. That fastball outside to Michael Wilson, that's not a throw a lot of college football players can make. He just stepped into it, flipped it. He can make all the throws, athletic enough to get out in scrambles for first downs for positive yards. So if K.J. is healthy, he'll go back out there. He's our starter. He's our leader and captain. And if he's not healthy, we have all the faith and confidence that Davis can go out there and win the game.
First of all, I don't have any answers on injuries at all. It's a shame their running back got hurt. I love watching that young man play. He plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. Our quarterback, we'll see how he is the next couple of days. And then Walker Little, we'll see where he is. I don't have any answers to any questions about injuries right now.
But as far as the game goes, typical first game. You expect your defense and you hope your defense keeps you in the game as you find your rhythm on the offensive side. We got so many veterans on defensive side. So many fourth- and fifth-year seniors, so much leadership that we knew it was going to take those guys keeping us in the game, and they did. Bunch of stops. Bunch of third-down stops. Got turnovers.
Our big-time players made big-time players, Paulson Adebo and Casey Toohill, our guys made big tackles in open space -- Jordan Fox. I thought we played much better on the defensive line. We got pressure on the quarterback from defensive line position which didn't happen a lot last year. Thought Jovan played well last year but as a group we played better as a unit.
Special teams wise, we don't accept excuses. We have one of the best kickers in America. We've got to get the snap, the hold, the protection, gotta get the kick. Gotta come away with points every time that group goes on the field. Return game, excited about our returners. We've got receivers involved in the return game. We decided to keep Cam Scarlett out of that because of our health as a running back. We knew he would have to carry the load for us. He loves kickoff return; we had to take him away from that. But between Mike Wilson and Connor Wedington, I think we have two guys back there that are not just guys who go back there and catch it, they can break. We've got stay on our blocks, give those guys creases, we've got a chance to make plays. And Mike as punt returner, same thing.
Thought our coverage units did pretty well. Had some nice kickoffs. Got a young punter that we think is going to be outstanding. Had a couple of miss-hits today, but we're staying with him and continue to push him and know that he's going to be better than average. We think he's going to be outstanding. So we're going to stay with him and help him continue to grow. Coach Alamar does a great job with those guys.
Offensively, no mistake about it. Said it in the press conference, been saying it since the beginning of last year, our bowl game last year -- we have to run the ball better. Against an outstanding run defense we did. We were physical up front. We weren't perfect. But we stayed on guys and we pushed guys and gave our running backs a crease. And multiple times today, give Cam Scarlett the credit. We challenged him after the bowl game last year, multiple times today we had a running back one-on-one with a guy in space.
And last year we didn't get enough yards. Outside of Bryce Love we didn't get enough yards. You saw it today with Cam and Dorian Maddox -- guys one-onone in space making guys miss, breaking tackles. That's working hard in the offseason. That's pushing yourself and listening to the critique from a year ago saying where we have to get better. We can't block everything perfectly, especially against a really good, big, physical defensive. Never going to be perfect. Thought our running backs ran through the trash. I thought we did from the running back position.
Quarterback wise, including both quarterbacks, I thought both quarterbacks for the most part played well. Boy, I know there's two throws in the first half K.J. would love to have back. Big opportunities to make big plays. We hit those plays and the game's probably not as close as it was at the end. We've got big receivers. We've got speed receivers. We've got guys that can make big plays. Tight ends can make plays down the field. We've got to take advantage of those. We missed a couple.
Second half too many turnovers. Fumbled the ball twice. Davis Mills is a great athlete as well as being a great quarterback. But he's a young quarterback. And we can't put the ball on the ground. The first one and it's a replay, if he pulls it we probably get about somewhere between eight to 10 yards. The last one that we fumbled, if he pulls it he might have scored a touchdown. They blitzed everybody; if he pulls the ball we have one receiver blocking one defensive back, he has a chance to run and score a touchdown. So those are learning experiences for a young quarterback.
Once again I have no answer on who is going to be healthy enough to play next week. So all I know is we're not going to change our game plan based on who plays quarterback. I think all our quarterbacks can run our stuff. We're going to game plan for the Trojans.
Q. (Question about the targeting)?
I have no comment on the targeting review. I didn't see the video clip of it. I didn't see it happen live.
Q. You talked this offseason about perfecting the fundamentals and getting good at your "core". Game one, how would you evaluate the offense and defense?
Defensively, without watching the film, I thought we were -- probably give us somewhere around a B plus. I really do. Guys ran their gaps. Physical against the run. Quarterback run, get you sometimes, quarterback is unaccounted for and did a good job mixing those in. But for the most part I thought we played really well.
Special teams-wise B, B minus, probably. Thought we could have played so much better. We need the proper snap and kick, and we need the proper punts. But for the most part I thought we played well. We can play so much better.
Offensively, a run game, I'd say B plus. Pass game, I'd say B minus, C plus. We completed the ones that were good. We were in rhythm. We hit our guys. The guys made plays after the catch. We said at the end of last year we're going to be better, run after catch. We did that today, quick balls out there, made some guys miss and go. But for us to be who we want to be, with runs and play actions, we've got to hit the big ones. If they give us an opportunity to hit the big ones, we've got to hit the big ones. And they were there to be hit and we didn't hit them. It was a tighter game than it should have been.
Q. Dorian Maddox's play: We'll continue to see Dorian roll in there and play. Dorian missed some training camp also. He's a little banged up, only been back about a week and a half or so. Hopefully as he continues to get fresh and get healthy I think we have an outstanding 1-2 punch between those two guys. Both guys can run and pass protect and can catch. So really Dorian is going to help us have a healthy camp hopefully for the whole years. They'll be able to rotate in and out and keep each other healthy.
Q. You praised the maturity of this team all through the offseason. Can you take us from a Northwestern score and it was 10-7 how you closed it out and what you saw on the sideline and what you saw on the field in terms of maturity?
It's one of the things that you want as a coach, when things are difficult, I don't have turn into Knute Rockne. I don't have to do all the talking. The talking should come from the players and from the coaches relating to the guys what we need to do next. There's no sense of panic. There's a sense of, hey, we haven't played well enough so they're still in the game, so let's go out there and play better. The fourth quarter chatter I thought was outstanding. Guys were positive. Guys were pushing each other. Guys were trying to go out there and excel. Players were having ideas.
I talked to the coaches in the offseason, and I want our guys to know our stuff so well that they have suggestions, right? Hey, coach we're doing this but they may be giving us this. Maybe we can rush this way. So we can have that dialogue. It's not negative. It's actually really positive. They're seeing the game with the coaches. I think we have great dialogue because of our leadership, because of our age and experience, because of our guys, their unselfish nature, trying to push each other, trying to help each other. Nothing makes you happier than when a guy makes a play, a guy in his own position is the first to come off the bench to celebrate with him. I saw that a lot today. Our guys are invested and they're working really hard, have to clean up a lot of things. Another big test next week.
Q. To follow up on that, after the turnover in the second half from Davis, did you say anything to him?
I didn't need to say much to Davis. I gave him a coaching point in a nice way. But I've told Davis since we started recruiting him, he's probably the one guy on the team that has the exact same mentality as I do, the exact same personality, the exact same kind of you know even keel. Some people see it as a positive; some people don't. But he was upset at himself but not too upset. He knows what he needs to do better. I had no problem throwing him back out there. He knew what to do.
He made two big mistakes. Two big mistakes that he'll learn from. But if he's going to play next week, we're not going to pare the offense down. He knows what to do. And he has the skills to go out and play them. He threw some beautiful balls today. The one down the seam to Colby, heck of a throw. That fastball outside to Michael Wilson, that's not a throw a lot of college football players can make. He just stepped into it, flipped it. He can make all the throws, athletic enough to get out in scrambles for first downs for positive yards. So if K.J. is healthy, he'll go back out there. He's our starter. He's our leader and captain. And if he's not healthy, we have all the faith and confidence that Davis can go out there and win the game.
