Highlights:
-" At our current talent level we’re going to be in a lot of close games that come down to the wire, to the fourth quarter. So ball security, re-pointing a Mike when he walks outside, maintaining leverage on a pass rush so a guy doesn’t escape and he moves the chains and they exchange a drive, those things have to show up consistently when we practice for them to show up consistently in the games in the most critical moments. Because these games are going to come down to 3, 4, 5, 8 plays. So they have to show up better in practice to show up better in the game. And we’re working on it.”
-going for fourth downs and short even near midfield and being aggressive will continue.
“Those plays are about knocking people back. And I get it, we’re not at the level from a size and power standpoint where it’s going to always look pretty, but dammit you have to establish a mentality first, keep getting it done in the weight room and develop, keep getting big old dudes that can knock them back, have faith in your guys and know if it doesn’t work that the other side is going to get the ball back for you.”
-“Tremendous job by Tyler bouncing back, very resilient, extremely productive and played with a lot of confidence. That’s good to see, certainly bodes well for the future.”
“You always want guys on your team that always show a great competitive response. You play this game long enough you are going to get hit in the mouth. So what are you truly made of? We lose a couple of games? What are you made of? You going to buckle, give into the noise? Part of it is knowing what it is to be a great one. Tyler is made of great stuff, has the right DNA. He’s got a couple of guys with him that are doing a really good job to infuse that among the rest of our players and our players are really working hard to try and get there. Tyler, just he epitomized that. Last year toward the end of the year he put up big numbers. Change of scheme, change in coaching staff, there are adjustment periods, he loses his receivers (Mike Harley and Charleston Rambo) and all of a sudden the world is coming down on him. All he did was buckle down, practice harder, get with the receivers, get extra work and boom he had himself a really good game.”
-“(The receivers) played better,” “Guys like Mike Redding, Redding is going to catch JUGS out there till he’s blue in the face. And they brought along Brashard Smith, who took a tremendous step up. Colbie Young, credit to him. Got here very late in the process from Lackawanna Junior College, makes a couple of really big plays. Frank Ladson continues to get better. So guys are improving. Have to keep improving."
- Mario said there were some adjustments made with Josh Gattis’ offense; a quicker pace and less look to the sidelines for adjusted play calls this past weekend. Plus there was more nuance with the play calls.
“Coach Gattis had tremendous success when he was at Michigan and Alabama and the stuff he did there, but it wasn’t working for us early in the season,” “So we adapted the sets and started moving to things that we feel we can do as an organization. Certain areas of our team are ahead of others. Just have to find ways to move the ball and score points. We found ways to move the ball, had success moving the chains, we didn’t put up enough points. That’s the bottom line. There’s been some progress, some improvement, still a way to go.”
-On the busted coverage that gave UNC the first touchdown:
“That play wasn’t on Tyrique,” “We’re in Cover 2 and the safety saw something and bam. Obviously (Stevenson) has got to get his hands on that receiver, follow him and reroute him, but the safety saw something that wasn’t quite there and jumped it. The same play we picked off (later). It took us a little while to get settled in.
“The big plays we have allowed on defense are busts mentally we fix as the game goes on. We have to start better to avoid those big plays. … We have to find a way to win.”
“The two big plays, the long TD early, were both coverage issues,” Cristobal said. “At the same time the real good plays later on were really good communication on the back end and playing out like they’re supposed to."
“Look, we signed up for all this stuff, know we have some work to do and we are all about it. So it comes with it. In terms of trying to get it done right, our guys are trying to. We’re getting progress or whatnot, have to realize that with the way we are, our current talent level and roster depth we have to eliminate, avoid the avoidable. That’s what we have to do and continue to develop and ramp up and get better. Guys are trying and we certainly just have to improve."