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Updates from coordinators Casey Woods, Scott Symons

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Updates from coordinators Casey Woods, Scott Symons

Postby PonyPride » Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:15 am

Offensive Coordinator Casey Woods
• Saturday's 77-63 win over Houston was "wild, to say the least."

• (On keeping offense grounded after putting up 77 points on Houston and getting ready to go against USF team going through a coaching change) Focus has to be "just like after tough losses ... got to pick yourself up — there were things to learn from." There is "a chaotic situation in Tampa. I feel for those guys — I've been on a staff that that's happened to before." But USF coaching change "can present its own challenge. (The Bulls') preparation is going to be different. There's going to be some off-schedule stuff, (and) you really just don't know what to expect, so you've got to make sure you shore up your techniques and your fundamentals."

• (On his reaction to watching SMU tight ends catch five touchdown passes Saturday in the Mustangs' win over Houston — three by Ben Redding and two by R.J. Maryland): "I've never been a part of that, but those are nights I've dreamed about."

• (On whether RB Tyler Lavine has "set the tone" for the offense): "I think there's no question. He's the 'closing time guy' ... he's the wild animal that gets in there and gets us all freakin' moving. He's the consummate warrior, right? He shows up and kind of paces himself in the first half, and then when it's time to step on their necks, then he's the guy that certainly leads the charge on that. I can't say enough good things ... I can talk about ... I ain't near as tough as he is. We talk about toughness all the time, and that dude is rugged."

• (On why some teams ramp up their level of play after an in-season coaching change): "I can only assume that there's a shot of energy that comes through that." The remaining assistant coaches are working under contracts that are far different than the deals held by the just-fired head coaches, and those assistants "are real people... They're good coaches, they've got good players and they'll show up ready to fight on Saturday. We can't sleep on that."

• (On following up Saturday's 77-point outburst) "I was telling Coach (Rhett Lashlee) that 'y'all are going to be mad at us after scoring 50 in one of these games coming up. I don't know that the score is reflective of (the way the offense played — and can play going forward). I do know that we tried to emphasize the high level of execution ... and even in times when (the offense) didn't execute, it didn't bite us in this game, but this lack of execution can hurt us in the future. I think we had some ball-security issues down there on the goal line that didn't bite us this game," but that is a big point of emphasis. "We've got to protect the ball crossing the goal line, and doing some of those things to clean up."

"I do think there's an element of confidence — Tanner (Mordecai) brings this whole offense up, Rashee (Rice) brings this whole offense up. Confidence matters. When you think you're good, and you're playing good, it helps you kind of get streaky. I certainly hope that that's what it leads to."

• (On WR Jordan Kerley's return to the lineup) "Jordan is a different element, for sure. Any time he's healthy, when Moochie Dixon is healthy ... we kind of, collectively, got a tick healthier between the Tulsa game and this past week, and i think we all felt that (last) Tuesday. Obviously, Tanner coming back was a big shot in the arm. So just kind of getting those guys through the grind of October — because it always is ... everyone counts it as the second month of the season, but it's really the third month of the season because of fall camp. That's the hardest quarter of the season, I think ... is October."

• "Tanner was unbelievable, he was remarkable. He should have been Player of the Week more than once this year — for sure, this one — and their quarterback (Clayton Tune) did a good job — I thought he was a fun guy to watch, too. I think we've been saying it for the last month: (Mordecai) kind of went through September, and battled some things, learning (the) offense ... and if you remember, three or four weeks ago, I said, 'man, this dude's playing at an elite level.' Now, it wasn't showing up in all the execution pieces, and maybe with some of the defenses we were playing, but as he kind of just kept putting it together and putting it together, that was as elite a performance (against Houston) as I've ever seen ... Some of the throws that he had — the last touchdown pass to Ben Redding — mind-blowing, a 25-yard dart and hits him right in the belly-button. I mean, it's unbelievable, and his competitiveness on that third-down run, that he scored, understanding the situation of the game ... I remember a basketball player, when I was a basketball player and I'd get real streaky and that goal would get real big — it's real big for him out there right now, I think.

Defensive Coordinator Scott Symons
• (On Houston game) "It went to that game where we had to try to make (Clayton Tune) throw under duress, and hope that our guys can make a couple of plays here and there ... and then, like I said, three fourth-down conversions for 21 points, that really was the difference (between the game and a more lopsided SMU win)... Obviously, there's always calls where 'Well, should I have called this here? Should I have called that there?' I wish we had jetted up our D-line more, but looking back, when we did, we didn't really contain them. At the end of the game, we made enough plays to win.

"At that point in the game, you're trying to die a slow death, (and) at some point, you swallow your pride and points don't matter — let's win the game. It really was the way the game unfolded. It was matchups and just became a shootout-fest. 'How deep can we throw it?' and let our fast guys run in space."

• "Those two turnovers in the first half are what separated the game. They never stopped us on offense.... If there's three, four fourth downs that we get a stop, then it's a 80-35 game. But the way that game was going, the way they decided to sling it, it was going to be a wide-open game."

• SMU defensive coaches thought about playing "drop-8, but I think eventually they would have gotten open. Eventually the game would have become a two-minute drill — and that's what it was, a two-minute drill. (The players) know that we've played good defense at times against good teams, and we just have to do it consistently. But .. the tackling piece, and those things, are areas where we've got to get better. That's the main focal point this week: getting guys down in space."

• No update on DT Stephon Wright. "Hopefully he can go this week. We're hopeful."

• (On facing a USF team that just went through a coaching change) "I think in a situation like this, most times, teams play with a lot of spirit, when you see coaches that you've had relationships aren't in the building anymore. They're talented, they're athletic, they've got good team speed.

"They have a good offense. They have two good receivers — one outside (Xavier Weaver) that's one of the better receivers in the conference — and a good running back (Brian Battie).

"You watch them on film — they played Tulane, that's a close ballgame. They played Cincinnati, that's a really close ballgame. They've played good teams in our conference. We're more focused on us and getting better right now. This game means a lot. It's bowl eligibility. We've got three games in — what is it? — 18, 19 days that we play. The whole motto since we got here was that this team wanted to finish at the end of the season and win games down the stretch, which we hadn't done, and we've got an opportunity to go on the road and get bowl-eligible, and that's what we're focused on right now."

• "When it comes to tackling, it's hard during the season. There's fundamentals you can teach within tackling, but to actually tackle at practice, I just think is a little bit irresponsible, with the amount of depth that we have. So like today, we told them 'you have to thud up every single back in the scout team.' We've been doing that, we're going to continue to harp on that, but you've got to teach tackling drills, strike timing, crash tackle, gator-roll tackle — all the different tackles in the amount of time we have. Really, where you've got to improve moving forward is tackling in spring ball and fall camp. I think that has to be a point of emphasis down the road, but it's the technique and the 'want-to,' right? I think that's the other thing, is those guys have got to have a desire to make those plays and get those guys down. That's a mentality and it's a choice. We'll continue to coach the details, we've been through the highs and the lows, and everything in between. I think we've got a good corps that we can continue to build on ... look, I was frustrated after the game — I take pride in what we do, but at the end of the day, we won the game, and at some point you've got to let your be to the side and be happy that ... it's like Coach (Lashlee) said: if our defense hadn't played the way it did in the Cincinnati game, it would have been a 40-point blowout. We needed (the offense) to play good (against Houston) and they did, and luckily it was enough to win."
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