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Texas A&M Post Arkansas
Press Conference
HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN
Opening Statement:
"Thinking
back to last week, that was a great experience for our team and a great
experience for our fans. I appreciate everyone who traveled up there.
We had a lot of folks up there sitting in the rain. It made a really
good environment. We answered some challenges both offensively and
defensively. We played a different style. We did some things we haven't
done here in the past. That’s probably the first series we’ve ever had
since we’ve been here that we didn’t attempt a pass and were able to
score. That says a lot about our team and our versatility and where our
confidence factor is with the offensive line. It says a little bit
about the maturity level of our team. For a quarterback, sometimes it’s
not the most fun thing to hand the ball off every snap, especially for
our guy. He operated well. Our team operated well. We answered some
challenges in the fourth quarter against a team that is very
well-coached. It's a good win for us. It brings us to the bye week,
which we need. Unlike last year, in which we had 12 straight games
because of the hurricane, this year is a lot different. Five games in,
we’ve got some guys limping around. We've got some guys we need to get
healthy for the next stretch of games. We'll get back into game week
next week to get ready for Ole Miss."
On maturity of Johnny Manziel:
“I’ve
had a bunch of people ask me about his maturity. I don’t know what the
difference is, statistically. I think he’s done a better job of seeing
the field and not bailing right away. He’s used pretty good judgment in
getting out of bounds and sliding. He’s probably slid more in the first
five games than he slid all of last year, which is another sign of
growing up. He’s protecting the football and not being reckless. What
you also see is his understanding of the offense and freedom to adjust
the play. He’s got some parameters, but he’s been able to get us into
some good plays. Everybody talks about the quarterback calling the
perfect play. That’s not what it’s about for us. His job is to keep us
out of horrendous plays. He understands that a lot more this year than
in year one.”
On the defense:
"We need to move forward. As
soon as we get something going, something else happens. I think Darian
Claiborne gives us an improvement from a tackling perspective. Are we
fitting everything right now? No, but we’re better than we were. I
think consistency up front will really help us. Steven Jenkins being
back full time has helped us. We really solidified who we are. It'll be
interesting to see. We'll be putting Isaiah Golden back on the field.
That was the best game Alonzo (Williams) played. He had a bunch of
tackles and held them up at the point of attack. We're not there yet.
We need to get off the field. If you watch the film, we had the fewest
number of mental errors, but they were critical. One guy didn’t make
his assignment and it resulted in a touchdown. Those two backs at
Arkansas are some great backs. They’ve put 100 yards rushing on
everybody. They had a great plan. They threw all kinds of stuff at us
and really kept us off balance. I think we made enough stops and got in
good situations with the ball. When you go on the road and win the
turnover battle, you're usually going to win the game. We’ve really
harped on that. As our defense gets better, we’ve got to be
opportunistic and create turnovers. Offensively, we've got to hang on
to the ball and have success running.”
On the bye week:
“There
are some teams where you don’t want a week off, like last year. You’re
a hot team and you want to keep playing. We need some time. I think
everyone getting off the plane was walking slowly and it wasn’t because
it was wet. We’ve played a lot of young guys. Everyone thinks about the
physical strength of playing through week five or six, but the harder
part is the mental strain. You’ve got the first round of exams and
quizzes coming through that these young guys have to handle. For our
team, the bye week comes at a great time. We need this week, both
physically and mentally. This is the first time in a long time we
haven’t had a practice or a lift. I think that’s a positive thing.”
DEFNESIVE COORDINATOR MARK SNYDER
On the defensive improvements in the second half against Arkansas:
"It
was good to see the improvements. I thought one thing we did well was
the halftime adjustments. I credit our offense big time. The way they
were able to take the game and run the clock was huge.”
On playing more consistently:
"We're
getting some continuity. We need to have some consistency. We play well
in spurts. I thought we played pretty well in the second half for the
most part. They did a good job of showing us some things we hadn’t
seen. Consistency is the key for us, but I do see improvement.”
On the bye week:
"We'll
concentrate on fundamentals and consistency. We have to get ready to
play Ole Miss. There’ll be a balance in our preparation this week.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR CLARENCE McKINNEY
On having four quality running backs:
"It's
a luxury. It’s really good to see all four of those guys out there. Not
only are they being competitive in the game, they’re being competitive
with each other. That's how they do it every day."
On improving the offense:
"The
offense is definitely not where we want it to be. Our goal is to score
a touchdown on every possession. We haven’t done that yet. We convert
about 54% on third down and about 80% in the red zone. We’d like to be
100% on both of those. I think we've done a really good job of holding
on to the ball. We’ve got to cut down on the penalties, though.”
On zero turnovers against Arkansas:
"We
talked to our guys about the weather conditions before the game. We
didn’t change anything. We focus on ball security every day in
practice. We practice carrying the ball the safest way, no matter the
weather conditions. We do a ball security circuit every day after
practice.”
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