Opening statement
Disappointed in result vs. Wake but also in how they played
Sloppiness was disappointing
Lots of room to clean up
We have a good young QB that needs to take some risks but needs to understand the places where that’s appopriate
Good punter but for Wake to start on their 10 (the pick) was unacceptable
The snap exchange that blew up the drive near the goal line was brutal
They need to be fighting in all three phases
Goal-line sequence was the most frustrating
Defensively they had a plan to force them to run the ball to win
There were flashes of execution there
Tackling was a fundamental technical issue, they had to just finish there
Third down defense was problematic, that was one thing that stood out, that was a missed opportunity
Twice they had Wake backed up and let them out, they expect to hold the line there and play together
They played against a time which has a signature of playing a clean game and using mistakes against you
They own the performance, it’s part of that journey
UNLV
They have lots of respect for Barry Odom
They run three down linemen and three safeties
Generated a turnover against Michigan
Every week there’s a different style offense
Their QB is a good player
They’ll be challenged this weekend
But first challenge is fixing themselves
Were their mistakes caring too much or too little
Would never say there’s a lack of care
Learning to win and dictate terms
Doesn’t want to sound too repetitive (he is with his team)
Too often they look across the field and take control and power
They’re looking across to the opponent to see if that’s good enough rather than play to their strength
This conversation is reminiscent of last season, it felt a lot like their conversations after South Carolina
Joked maybe that means they’re six games ahead
Decisions with the ball and snap decisions, they are focus decisions
Have to make pre-snap diagnosis and control the parts they can control
With QB play, he doesn’t want Swann over-analizying but there are things he has to recognize and times he has to see urgency
They have to push that hard because they have to evolve
He missed an inside fade on a third down
After the delay they held WF to 3
The punt return, they got beaten clearly by the gunner, they have to make a decision to vacate the block there and leave it to Will to navigate
Will had a decision to fair catch, he loved the decision to try to make a play but you have to secure it
They’d just scored a quick-strike TD, were in position to build a lead
None of these are a failure of the heart or caring but there’s details and focus embedded in that and a focus of what it takes to win
No matter the game-day emotions you must commit to do small things well and get to technique faster than your opponent
The DPIs, sometimes that penalty shows up and it was sloppy, fundamental technical play, and that’s not exclusively a player thing, that falls on coaching too
Really doesn’t think their performance changed that much from Week 1 to 3, they just played a better opponent
It’’s driving hope a message that as they move there are nine more wins to be had
But they have to clean up their play
They’ve improved skill, length and physical presence
Julian Hernandez’s play
Julian is fine, they’ve talked about it, he’s accepted responsibility
Everyone in the program has that.
Wake was good with its movement and pressures
He’s focused on UNLV
Junior Uzebu health and health on the whole
Uzebu worked today and is day to day
De’Rickey Wright made it out of the game okay, what a tough kid and a warrior, he’s available Saturday
Savion Riley DTD upper body injury
The rest is bumps and bruises
Christian James is getting back into football activity, they hoped to have him back for SEC play, he leaves that open but not guaranteed
Moves Isa Outtarra and Mann to NT, what’s the reasoning?
They’ve interchangeable parts and can play a number of positions
Defensive scheme going forward, is it opponent driven?
Yes, they want to force teams to play left-handed
To be clear, you never line up in a defense that doesn’t have an answer to either run or pass
Sometimes that means you can live with a 4-yard run or a 6-yard throw
You may take a throw away but give them a 50-50 ball
Nothing about their run scheme was designed to give up 288 yards
Looking at that, it was never unsound
At time Wake challenges you in the run game
Sometimes there are unblocked players at the point of attack and they don’t finish
They had the 74-yard run wrapped up for a 3-yard gain and they didn’t finish
That’s where they went from forcing the run to win but not execute the design of the defense
They had 2-score leads and could run to shorten
What’s the balance between holding players out and giving them a leash to correct
First, they’ll never play a perfect game and so there’s always stuff to correct
They believe the people they put out will execute to the best of their ability
They see evidence to counter the one-off bad plays with good plays
When it comes to not running right route, communicating the right front, there has to be attention given to what’s the best formula to execute, they have those convos every day
In the end their players who earn the right to be on the field will be on the field
So a guy who takes 70 snaps may end up with 40 if the performance isn’t clean
They want to make sure they’re coaching to play better
RB rotation between Smith and Alexander
It has less to do with situation
Alexander was getting carries early, Smith broke a long one and it became a hot hand
It’s a journey and they pull some positives, you can’t bury yourself in negative emotions
It’s a long season, they grow from mistakes and results
They’ve seen strong play from RBs the last couple of games, they’re making plays independent of blocking
Excited to see them continue to grow
Will they look to take more shots downfield given the recent success?
They had more chunk plays in mind, they had a dump-off where a WR ran a wrong route
Another a WR fell down
They believe in their pass game and AJ’s ability
Humprhries continues to get better, 4 targets, over 100 yards
The ball he caught at the last was a really impressive play
Junior Sherrill flashed
McGowan has been consistent, has done great things and you can see the work he put in to be more dependable
Sheppard has been a weapon in the Red Zone
They want to continue to feature it
Take the shots when there, know where to miss
Take a sack where you have to
Every possession needs to end with either a PAT or FG
UNLV’S offense, how do you defend it?
Last week they employed a different style, 3 safeties and 3 down linemen, you don’t usually do that
They won’t go far from their base
It’s how you diagnose and get proper leverage
If you don’t read keys you create mistakes
Michigan did a good job of keeping UNLV off schedule
They’ll look to establish run game early
Disappointed in result vs. Wake but also in how they played
Sloppiness was disappointing
Lots of room to clean up
We have a good young QB that needs to take some risks but needs to understand the places where that’s appopriate
Good punter but for Wake to start on their 10 (the pick) was unacceptable
The snap exchange that blew up the drive near the goal line was brutal
They need to be fighting in all three phases
Goal-line sequence was the most frustrating
Defensively they had a plan to force them to run the ball to win
There were flashes of execution there
Tackling was a fundamental technical issue, they had to just finish there
Third down defense was problematic, that was one thing that stood out, that was a missed opportunity
Twice they had Wake backed up and let them out, they expect to hold the line there and play together
They played against a time which has a signature of playing a clean game and using mistakes against you
They own the performance, it’s part of that journey
UNLV
They have lots of respect for Barry Odom
They run three down linemen and three safeties
Generated a turnover against Michigan
Every week there’s a different style offense
Their QB is a good player
They’ll be challenged this weekend
But first challenge is fixing themselves
Were their mistakes caring too much or too little
Would never say there’s a lack of care
Learning to win and dictate terms
Doesn’t want to sound too repetitive (he is with his team)
Too often they look across the field and take control and power
They’re looking across to the opponent to see if that’s good enough rather than play to their strength
This conversation is reminiscent of last season, it felt a lot like their conversations after South Carolina
Joked maybe that means they’re six games ahead
Decisions with the ball and snap decisions, they are focus decisions
Have to make pre-snap diagnosis and control the parts they can control
With QB play, he doesn’t want Swann over-analizying but there are things he has to recognize and times he has to see urgency
They have to push that hard because they have to evolve
He missed an inside fade on a third down
After the delay they held WF to 3
The punt return, they got beaten clearly by the gunner, they have to make a decision to vacate the block there and leave it to Will to navigate
Will had a decision to fair catch, he loved the decision to try to make a play but you have to secure it
They’d just scored a quick-strike TD, were in position to build a lead
None of these are a failure of the heart or caring but there’s details and focus embedded in that and a focus of what it takes to win
No matter the game-day emotions you must commit to do small things well and get to technique faster than your opponent
The DPIs, sometimes that penalty shows up and it was sloppy, fundamental technical play, and that’s not exclusively a player thing, that falls on coaching too
Really doesn’t think their performance changed that much from Week 1 to 3, they just played a better opponent
It’’s driving hope a message that as they move there are nine more wins to be had
But they have to clean up their play
They’ve improved skill, length and physical presence
Julian Hernandez’s play
Julian is fine, they’ve talked about it, he’s accepted responsibility
Everyone in the program has that.
Wake was good with its movement and pressures
He’s focused on UNLV
Junior Uzebu health and health on the whole
Uzebu worked today and is day to day
De’Rickey Wright made it out of the game okay, what a tough kid and a warrior, he’s available Saturday
Savion Riley DTD upper body injury
The rest is bumps and bruises
Christian James is getting back into football activity, they hoped to have him back for SEC play, he leaves that open but not guaranteed
Moves Isa Outtarra and Mann to NT, what’s the reasoning?
They’ve interchangeable parts and can play a number of positions
Defensive scheme going forward, is it opponent driven?
Yes, they want to force teams to play left-handed
To be clear, you never line up in a defense that doesn’t have an answer to either run or pass
Sometimes that means you can live with a 4-yard run or a 6-yard throw
You may take a throw away but give them a 50-50 ball
Nothing about their run scheme was designed to give up 288 yards
Looking at that, it was never unsound
At time Wake challenges you in the run game
Sometimes there are unblocked players at the point of attack and they don’t finish
They had the 74-yard run wrapped up for a 3-yard gain and they didn’t finish
That’s where they went from forcing the run to win but not execute the design of the defense
They had 2-score leads and could run to shorten
What’s the balance between holding players out and giving them a leash to correct
First, they’ll never play a perfect game and so there’s always stuff to correct
They believe the people they put out will execute to the best of their ability
They see evidence to counter the one-off bad plays with good plays
When it comes to not running right route, communicating the right front, there has to be attention given to what’s the best formula to execute, they have those convos every day
In the end their players who earn the right to be on the field will be on the field
So a guy who takes 70 snaps may end up with 40 if the performance isn’t clean
They want to make sure they’re coaching to play better
RB rotation between Smith and Alexander
It has less to do with situation
Alexander was getting carries early, Smith broke a long one and it became a hot hand
It’s a journey and they pull some positives, you can’t bury yourself in negative emotions
It’s a long season, they grow from mistakes and results
They’ve seen strong play from RBs the last couple of games, they’re making plays independent of blocking
Excited to see them continue to grow
Will they look to take more shots downfield given the recent success?
They had more chunk plays in mind, they had a dump-off where a WR ran a wrong route
Another a WR fell down
They believe in their pass game and AJ’s ability
Humprhries continues to get better, 4 targets, over 100 yards
The ball he caught at the last was a really impressive play
Junior Sherrill flashed
McGowan has been consistent, has done great things and you can see the work he put in to be more dependable
Sheppard has been a weapon in the Red Zone
They want to continue to feature it
Take the shots when there, know where to miss
Take a sack where you have to
Every possession needs to end with either a PAT or FG
UNLV’S offense, how do you defend it?
Last week they employed a different style, 3 safeties and 3 down linemen, you don’t usually do that
They won’t go far from their base
It’s how you diagnose and get proper leverage
If you don’t read keys you create mistakes
Michigan did a good job of keeping UNLV off schedule
They’ll look to establish run game early
