Phil's Press Conference???

[Grider]

My CSTV was not working (surprise). Can anyone give us the highlights?

[PonyPride]

This is off the top of my head -- notes are in the car.

• Coach Bennett called it a "much-needed win for the program and the players." He said some call the UAB game a miracle, but he calls it a deserved win because of the way the team worked and stayed focused after the disappointing loss to Marshall.

• Coach Bennett said he couldn't remember a time in his 28-year coaching career when his team had felt as good about a win. He said he told them that when they play relentless(ly) for a full 60 minutes, this is the kind of thing that can happen.

• He said he was particularly proud of Jerad Romo, who had taken some criticism (including from Coach Bennett) since the A&M game. He said that after Romo got speared in the back against TCU, if you'd looked at his back, you would have thought there was no way he'd play against A&M. Called Romo "fiery" and a tough kid who always has been a leader, and said that toughness was one of the things that appealed to him (Bennett) the first time he saw Romo on tape as a JUCO quarterback. He also lauded Romo for his maturity, saying that when Romo wasn't starting, he never once showed up at Bennett's office to ask why. He said Romo understood that his opportunity would come, and that he would have to take advantage of it then. He talked about how Romo "takes this personally" and how he (Bennett) has "never questioned Jerad's 'want-to' -- never." He said football is important to Romo, and SMU is important to Romo. When dealing with his young RBs, OLs, etc., Bennett said Romo is "an encourager."

• He said Joe Sturdivant's game was made even more impressive by the fact that he hardly practiced last week. Apparently Sturdivant has a painful hip pointer that limited him to one practice (Thursday) last week, but that his attention during film sessions and position meetings allowed him to be in the right place for those INTs.

• He spoke of the increasing maturity of the team. He said he was proud that the team was able to endure letdowns and still "answer the bell," rather than folding up. He talked about how the team is improving, but is still a team that has to be "hitting on all cylinders" to win.

• A lot of the offensive improvement, he said, was due to better execution. He said they added a few new wrinkles to the offense (i.e. more short passes), but that a lot of it was just the team executing plays that had been in place all year. He also credited the offensive coaching staff for calling an excellent game.

• He said he was pleased with the way the receivers caught the ball, and said he liked getting the ball to Kennedy a few times, calling it "fun" to watch Kennedy drag guys 10, 15, 20 yards downfield after the catch. He said that Kennedy presents some of the same problems for defenses that UAB's QB (Hackney) presents -- very hard to tackle.

There was more, but that's all I can remember at the moment.

[BUS]

Thanks

[Nacho]

Glad to see that Kennedy was finally unleashed. He is a great weapon that has been unused way too long.

[The PonyGrad]

I seem to recall Kennedy doing the same thing vs. Tulsa last year but being call for an unbelievable offensive face mask penalty as he stiff armed the defender. After that I do not recall his number being called. I was thinking at the time, that was not his fault, get him the ball again.

[Grider]

Thanks, excellent stuff.

[Hoop Fan]

I seem to recall Kennedy doing the same thing vs. Tulsa last year but being call for an unbelievable offensive face mask penalty as he stiff armed the defender. After that I do not recall his number being called. I was thinking at the time, that was not his fault, get him the ball again.

I think that was actually the La Tech game, and it changed the complexion of the game completely. We were driving early in the game, got that penalty and the air went out and they whipped us after that.

[PonyPride]

Right, it was against LaTech. The poor guy who tried to tackle Kennedy weighed in at a cool 180 pounds, as I recall .... only 85 pounds lighter than our man Kennedy.