ECU PIRATES (2-7 • 1-4 the American) at HOUSTON COUGARS (6-3 • 4-2 American) Saturday, Nov
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ECU PIRATES (2-7 • 1-4 The American) at HOUSTON COUGARS (6-3 • 4-2 American) Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017 • TDECU Stadium • Houston HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE On how he feels about the win “It feels great. I’m proud of the guys and proud of the way they worked. I was obviously concerned, nervous and worried about how they would respond after a big win last week. They came out and had good practices on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and yesterday at the hotel. They started out playing well and got to a lead. I’m proud of the way they played early and not necessarily defensively late.” On if he had used the same plays for D’Eriq King “Same plays and what we feel like is there defensively in terms of what they’re doing structure and coverage wise.” On what he enjoyed from D’Eriq King “His consistency, competitiveness, and focus. I’m very proud of him. He’s been through a lot in terms of coming here with the opportunity to play quarterback, and then Marquez Stevenson got injured 2 weeks before we played Oklahoma last year. ‘Yeah, I’ll do it for the team, I’ll go play wide out.’ He was on pace to catch 60 balls as a true freshman and then Kyle Postma got injured in the Tulane game, so he had to go back to quarterback. He lost the production he had at wide receiver. Then he went into the weight room before we played San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl, suffered a knee injury and was out for 4-5 months knowing he couldn’t fully compete in the quarterback position in the spring. All of that was who he is and who we thought he was in recruiting. He’s proven us right. I’m proud of consistency and plays. We have to continue to be humble, come back the next week and get better.” On if D’Eriq King’s injury played a part in him not being able to compete for the quarterback position in the spring “Yes, him nor Kyle (Postma) went through spring practice. They did some drills, but they never went full 11 on 11. Kyle Allen was the only guy that got any live scrimmage reps, neither one of those guys had any opportunity to compete in the spring. Kyle Postma came back and was healthy all throughout fall camp, but D’Eriq got hurt halfway through and had to have surgery and miss four weeks. For a guy who never really had the chance to step all the way in the ring and fight, he’s done a hell of a job staying poise, patient. That says a lot about his character and how he was raised.” On if the team is starting to reach the potential he envisioned at the beginning of the year “In some cases, yes. I see some discipline, and some accountability. In certain cases of the game, I see guys being hard on themselves. At the same time, you also see some things that aren’t getting better. We have to address those in a different way. We can’t continue to go back and say we’re trying if we’re doing the same thing, then we’re the same. We have to find different ways to get some of these issues fixed. We’re getting ready to play two teams that run triple option, but I’m sure they have a pass in their playbook. We have to get some of those things fixed because at some point in the second and third quarter, we couldn’t cover anything.” On how important it was to answer ECU in the second half “What we talk about as a team is that football is like being on the driveway, it’s a giant game of horse; a guy hits a shot, and you have to hit it, then he misses, and now it’s your turn to put him on the defense. That’s what was going on because they started answering, getting closer and got it to a two possession game. We were getting ready to make it a four possession game, but when we came back from halftime, the script flipped. It made us get a couple of letters in there by scoring quickly and getting a turnover.” On the defense’s health “We had six guys in the backroom that started the season when we went out to Arizona. None of those 6 guys played today, or were healthy enough to play, and every one of them played in that game.” On Brandon McDowell’s performance “That’s a testament to him. He’s a fifth-year graduate transfer which obviously says a lot about him. He’s graduated college, he’s thorough, he pays attention, he’s a smart guy, and he listens in the meeting room. He did great things for us in the return game; punt return and kick return. It doesn’t surprise me that he was in the right place at the right time and then capitalized on it. I’m very proud of him.” On Garrett Davis “He came out of the locker room at the half and was fine. He started cramping in the middle of the third quarter, had to go back in and get an IV. When he came back out, the complexion of the game had changed, so I kept him off.” On the open week next week being good timing “No doubt. If we use it right. I know what we’re going to do as a coaching staff in terms of creating a schedule that’s optimal for recovery, but we only have them four hours a day. So a lot of this is up to these 18 to 22 year olds and what they do with the other 20 hours of the day. We have to do a great job as coaches being on the phone, text messaging, facetiming and making sure we’re doing the right things.” On if D’Eriq King’s performance sparks the need to model offense after Greg Ward Jr… “It allows you to do a lot of the same things that Greg (Ward) was able to do. Today specifically, we tried to take some of the run game out of D’Eriq’s hands, unless it was an absolute advantageous run because he had suffered some really hard hits last week against South Florida. We tried not to feature him in the run game too much. We were doing some things in the run support that allowed us to throw the football more. I was very pleased with the way he stood in the pocket and threw the ball. Those were some things that were hard for us to evaluate when you’re not practicing. When you miss all of spring practice, it’s hard to see can a guy do that. He did a great job at sitting in there and throwing. We just have to keep working, we’re not there. We’re still the same yahoos who lost to a 1-5 team three weeks ago. You have to continue to fight those things and not let those kinds of behaviors come up again. Continue to fight that every day as a coach and a player.” On if it is tough to take the run away from D’Eriq King… “Sometimes when you talk about a dual-threat quarterback, there’s two types: the ones that run when everyone is covered, and they take off and create something. Then there are guys when you call direct runs; this quarterback is going to keep this ball and run like a tailback. Those are the type of things we want to stay away from. When you run between the tackles with somebody like D’Eriq’s or Greg (Ward)’s size, common sense tells you that is not going to last very long. Open it up, spread the field, play fast, and when people are covered or you don’t have a good look to throw the ball. Use what God gave you and go make yards for Houston. He’s done a good job at understanding when those opportunities are, when to save hits, and when to get his eyes back down field and hit open receivers. We just need to continue practicing those things, and as coaches and players stay humble and know we’re not there yet.” On the pass defense in the second half… “Well, you also had two interceptions, but I’m not defending it. I’ve got to back and see if we’re in the wrong place, are we not recognizing when patterns are coming, or are we too predictable with our play calling? There’s a fine line. There are weaknesses to every side of the football. So, there’s things you have to do as a play caller to hide those weaknesses. When you do something to hide them, you’re going to give up something else. In some cases you’re saying, ‘I’ll give up the eight, six and ten yard routes, but I’m not giving up the 40, 50-yard route.’ But there are some things we can do to eliminate that too, so people can’t nickel and dime you down the field. We’ll go back and look at that. It’ll be a point of emphasis for us tomorrow and Monday, but also we’re going ready to play to completely different teams.